New to using MeGUI - Please Help

[Whimick]

Hello All,

I would like to start using MeGUI instead of AutoGK for encoding MPG2 (16:9) files to avi (Xvid) for use with my DVD set top box.

How ever the results I have been getting have been variable, for example the picture having black lines on both sides of the picture, and blocky moving images.

Can any one help by telling what presets I should use. I looked through the forum, but found a confusing

Many Thanks

Whimick

[Sharktooth]

it's not a matter of presets. black lines should be cropped away and the blocky moving images means bitrate is too low.
please read the guides and make use of the auto-encode or one-click encoder features that is way easier for newbies until you get familiar with megui.

[Whimick]

Thanks Sharktooth.

I am using the presents and auto-encode, I have also looked through the guides and found them a little confusing.

Thanks

Whimick

[Sharktooth]

MeGUI has different ways to do what a user need.
You'll find it has different workflows. One of them is as follows:
1 - Click Tools-> File indexer and open your first VOB file. Click the audio track(s) to extract, enqueue and run the job.
2 - Tools -> Avisynth script creator (it should be automatically opened after finishing the indexing but...). Deinterlace, Crop, resize, denoise as needed. Save the script.
3 - MeGUI automatically loads your AVS and your extracted audio track in the main window (if it doest for whatever reason do it manually). If you need more audio tracks, just right click and add them.
4 - Set audio and video encoder/presets and click Auto-Encode
5 - Select filesize, container etc... and output file then enqueue.
6 - Run the jobs.

If you need chapters, subs etc you can find the tools needed in the tools menu. You may need to do that after the indexing.
There are several other methods too... including the manual encoding and the one-click tool...

[Whimick]

Thanks Sharktooth for you reply.

I have manged to solve the black line problem which was at each side of the images by setting the size to 720x400, and have improved on the Xvid's quality.
For example with AutoGK I was geeting execellent results with setting the size of my Xvids to 500Mb for every hour of Mpeg2. How every I do not get as good a result with MeGUI when set to Xvid: *scrathpad*.

I will have to keep playing.

If you can offer any more help I would be greafull

[Sharktooth]

The "Scratchpad" preset is NOT meant to be used. It's just a starting point to make your own presets.
Use one of the "2pass" presets (Hometheater variants are made to ensure standalone players compatibility).
Start with "2pass Balanced (Hometheater)" and see if it satisfies you. If not, you can get some more compression/quality by using "2pass HQ...".

[Whimick]

Thanks Sharktooth,

I been playing MeGUI and have been able to improve the quality of the Xvid, they are still not as good as AutoGK, so there must some setting that need tweaking.

Whimick