Problems loading a huge mkv file

[andy_blah]

I've been trying to load a 10GB .mkv file containing over 3 hours of H.264 video at 50FPS. First I tried to open it with FFMpegSource2 with the following script:
LoadCPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\ffms2.dll")
FFVideoSource("TS_Cam.mkv").Spline64Resize(848,480)

However it seems to make MeGUI crash after a few minutes of unresponsiveness and when opening it VirtualDub causes it to hang for ages (left it for over 20 mins, and no index file was created even after that time)
I also tried importing the video with just plainly DirectShowSource, but it gives out this error:

http://i.imgur.com/U8AJQzS.png

Which it pretty much does so with every .mkv file I try to load in AviSynth for some reason.
Any suggestions on what to do to fix this issue?

Also I forgot to mention that I don't have that much of a fast PC (the reason why I re-encode the video), and I have literally no HDD space left for anything else to do, haha XD (except the 2GB for the re-encoded video)
Specs: CPU 2.26GHz Celeron D, 1.25GB RAM, NVidia 5500FX AGP 4x 256MB VRAM

Please refrain from suggesting to get a new PC as it isn't helpful to my case.
Thanks in advance ^^

[creaothceann]

1. Is ffms2 a C plugin? Try commenting out the first line.
2. Try DSS2 instead of FFVideoSource (install the k-Lite codec pack and copy avss.dll to Avisynth's plugins directory).
3. See if MPlayer can open the video; you could use mencoder if that's the case.

[andy_blah]

1. Yes it is. When I comment or remove the C, AviSynth isn't able to read the function. ^^

2. Thanks, this fixed it. I took the dll out of Haali Media Splitter since I had it already installed, and I don't want a codec pack to override CoreAVC ^^
I hope this one works as good as the one in K-Lite?
The picture seems to be flipped horizontally, anything I can do to fix it? (besides the AviSynth filter for that purpose)
Also, is there any reason why I get that Access violation error with the normal DSS?

3. No need to try this one out as the previous step fixed the problem. But thanks for suggesting =)

[setarip_old]

I have literally no HDD space left for anything else to do, haha XD (except the 2GB for the re-encoded video)
Also, is there any reason why I get that Access violation error with the normal DSS? You may have insufficient temporary working space (which many times requires double the filesize...)

[creaothceann]

I only had vertical flipping with DSS2 when loading files that contained video in RGB colorspace; just mirror it and go through the file to see if there's no other problems.

k-Lite includes the Haali Media Splitter, but to be absolutely sure you could check if Haali has a new version out.

[andy_blah]

@setarip_old: It occurs only with mkv files and it happens with any video file, regardless of size and contained streams. I just checked with a ~250MB mkv file and on that HDD I had over 2GB of free space, so I'm not sure if that would be the issue ^^;
I also tried to restrict AviSynth's memory usage to 512MB RAM in case Haali caused a memory leak but it didn't fix the problem.

@ creaothceann: That's certainly odd, the colour space of the current video file is YUV. I tried loading the script and the video directly into MPC and seemingly the script doesn't load (comes out with a long error log) but the video itself plays well and not flipped.
By mirroring you mean to flip the image?

[creaothceann]

Yeah.

[andy_blah]

Seems now MeGUI shows up an error when I try to encode:

MeGUI encountered a fatal error and might not be able to proceed. Reason: The file D:\TS_Cam.avs cannot be opened.
Error message to your reference: Can't open D:\TS_Cam.mkv: 800410217
(D:\TS_cam.avs, line 2 )

The avs script is as follows:
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\avss.dll")
DSS2("TS_Cam.mkv").FlipVertical().Spline64Resize(848,480)
I tried reinstalling Haali, since I've read somewhere that it might be the splitter that could cause the file to not be loaded.
It's weird though how the preview opens up but when it is to encode the video it doesn't work...

[sneaker_ger]

However it seems to make MeGUI crash after a few minutes of unresponsiveness and when opening it VirtualDub causes it to hang for ages (left it for over 20 mins, and no index file was created even after that time)

For this kind of big file it can be a good idea to drag&drop the file on ffms2's ffmsindex.exe. It will index the file and show the progress in percent so you can see whether it is still working or whether it has crashed/stalled.

[andy_blah]

Thanks, I wasn't aware the filter came with that executable ^^
I'll wait for a DSS2 solution though, since I'd prefer to use CoreAVC for decoding rather than FFMpeg, as it's quite faster, meaning less encoding time.

[creaothceann]

I'd just install k-Lite, by replacing your current configuration there's a chance that the bug will vanish (the "turn it off, turn it on again" solution).

The codec pack has functions to detect broken filters. You can also continue to use CoreAVC, but I'd do a speed test to see if the LAV filters aren't faster.

[andy_blah]

I'd love to test it out do, only if encoding with DSS2 would work...
I'm not very keen on installing a codec pack, as it only adds clutter and I rarely play videos in MPC or any other DirectShow-based player. Is there any other way to find/fix broken filters?

[creaothceann]

I'm not very keen on installing a codec pack, as it only adds clutter
I don't really think so, but in any case there are several variants (http://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm) available and you can choose (https://i.minus.com/icjB3eqVB3eV.png) what you want to install.

Is there any other way to find/fix broken filters?
Not to my knowledge, no.

[Mole]

You could also use DGIndexNV to index the mkv file, then use DGSource.

[andy_blah]

Unfortunately I don't have a video card that decodes h.264 natively ^^;
My NVidia card is quite old and on AGP, so I'm not sure if I would be able to use that either.

[andy_blah]

*bump* Any other suggestions?

[andy_blah]

Is that like HuffyYUV or Lagarith? In that case I cannot do it due to the lack of HDD space and the size of the file would be most likely immense (could get over 100GB for a +3h HD content at 50FPS)

[StainlessS]

UT Video (Fast decoding YV12 & YUY2 & RGB codec)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143624&highlight=utvideo

DOS batch file.

setlocal

REM Where to Find ffmpeg
set FFMPEG="C:\BIN\ffmpeg.exe"

REM Where to get input file, No terminating Backslash, "." = current directory
set INDIR="."

REM Where to place output file, No terminating Backslash.
set OUTDIR="D:\AVS\AVI"


FOR %%A IN (*.wmv *.mpg *.avi *.flv *.mov *.mp4 *.m4v *.RAM *.RM *.mkv *.TS) DO (
%FFMPEG% -i "%INDIR%\%%A" -vcodec utvideo -acodec pcm_s16le "%OUTDIR%\%%~nxA.AVI"

)


Pause


Maybe not of use on this occasion, yes 100GB's.

[andy_blah]

It could definately come in handy when I'll want to record some old games in RGB low resolution which I would then upscale (nearest neighbour) to HD resolution, but for that, Lagarith would be a better alternative.

[StainlessS]

I hardly ever use Lagarith or HuffYUV (any more), IMHO UT Video is better.

[andy_blah]

From reading the codec's description, it has slower encoding speed than HuffyYUV and less compression efficiency than Lagarith, wouldn't that make it less ideal in the things I want to use it for? Mind you I don't have a very fast PC.

[StainlessS]

The 1st post on UT Video thread was last updated more than 3 years ago.
You need to visit the "author's blog" to get it, and its in Japanese.

I like it mostly for it's decoding speed. UT is quite actively developed.
Having said that, just noticed a new update, v13.1
Download page:
http://umezawa.dyndns.info/wordpress/?p=3952

[andy_blah]

Do you know of any more recent review in english then? Or some benchmark reports. I'll try it in the end to see for myself.
The decoding time is useless for me in the case of recording, since I would need fast encoding speed to compensate my slow PC and not have frames dropping off. ^^;
Anyway, thanks for the link.

[StainlessS]

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Ut-Video-Codec-Suite

Lots more hits on google

http://www.google.co.uk/search?output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=ut+video&btnG=

[creaothceann]

DOS batch file
"Windows batch file" (and the windows they create are not "DOS windows" but console windows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32_console))

It could definately come in handy when I'll want to record some old games in RGB low resolution which I would then upscale (nearest neighbour) to HD resolution, but for that, Lagarith would be a better alternative.
Check out ZMBV, the codec used by and included with DOSBox. It looks at previous frames so it compresses well, but it needs RGB16 or RGB32 input.

[andy_blah]

@ creaothceann: I was aware of ZMBV but I need to use it outside of DosBox. I knew it also has a limited range of resolutions it can encode, but I'm not aware of whether it can be used in other programs and their encoding utilities (VirtualDub or the said emulators).
I'll try that too once I get my project started.

[Mole]

Look man, if you are really serious about doing this, I think it's about time you upgrade your PC at least to get a VGA card which can handle DGIndexNV and it'll work like a charm.

Right now, your hardware is just too limited to do many of the solutions proposed, so this should already be good indication to you that your hardware simply isn't up to the job.

[andy_blah]

Alright, then I declare this as without any solution. As I said that's not a solution for me in my case. As much as I'd wish to upgrade my hardware it's not possible.

[StainlessS]

Please refrain from suggesting to get a new PC as it isn't helpful to my case.

I dont know what country you're in, but here in the UK, I got a Core Duo dual core (using it now) 2.13GHz, with 2GB DDR2 RAM and 320GB SATA 2 HD for a tenner (£10) at a car boot sale. (Wimbledon Stadium).

Since then, it's now got 4 internal HD's and 3GB RAM (XP)
and 4 external USB drives

There are certainly reasonable (or better than reasonable) deals in the UK, perhaps where you are too. Good luck.

[creaothceann]

I was aware of ZMBV but I need to use it outside of DosBox. I knew it also has a limited range of resolutions it can encode, but I'm not aware of whether it can be used in other programs and their encoding utilities (VirtualDub or the said emulators).
When you download and install DOSBox, it creates a directory called "Video Codec" in its installation directory. You can install the codec from there.

The resolutions don't matter, only the color format.

[andy_blah]

I dont know what country you're in, but here in the UK, I got a Core Duo dual core (using it now) 2.13GHz, with 2GB DDR2 RAM and 320GB SATA 2 HD for a tenner (£10) at a car boot sale. (Wimbledon Stadium).

Since then, it's now got 4 internal HD's and 3GB RAM (XP)
and 4 external USB drives

There are certainly reasonable (or better than reasonable) deals in the UK, perhaps where you are too. Good luck.

Well unfortunately no. No such thing as car boot sales or such low prices for any sort of hardware. But I'll keep your suggestion in mind for when I move to UK, later on this year. Thanks ^^

When you download and install DOSBox, it creates a directory called "Video Codec" in its installation directory. You can install the codec from there.

The resolutions don't matter, only the color format.

Oh, I meant to use the codec outside of DosBox, my bad ^^;
Thanks for the info!

[andy_blah]

It is already H.264 ^^

[osgZach]

If you have ffdshow I think you should be able to open zmbv with DirectShowSource or something like that. I swear I remember converting a recording of StarGunner made with Dosbox to h.264 a couple years back

[creaothceann]

If you have ffdshow

If you have DOSBox, you can just install the codec (http://i.imgur.com/OReimff.png) and open the file with AVISource.