Ewwww....Macroblocks

[DigDub]

I'm experimenting with XviD now. Using 260202 build. Everything default except using Divx Fourcc instead of XviD FourCC. No Luminance Marking in 1st pass, Luminance Marking on in 2nd pass.

The fast motion scenes looks great, more details than a Divx3 encode. But scenes with a uniform background colour has A LOT of macroblocks, especially blue color background. For e.g, a person talking in front of the wall. The person's face is detailed, but the wall behind him has a lot of macroblocks.

I have tried turning off Luminance Masking, but its still the same. Should I try an older build?

[sierrafoxtrot]

couldn't hurt ... try koepi's 17-02-2002 build, or nic's 25-02-2002, and use the symmetric compression set at 25%, that works like a charm. and oh, i'd turn off luma masking, i just don't use it anymore...

[DigDub]

Where can I download Koepi's build? When I click on his link in his signature, I only get a bunch of Nandub guides. Or where can I find Nic's older builds. I'm currently using Nic's 26/02 build.

And how can I uninstall the previous builds? Or the files will be overwritten if I install another build?

Thanks.

[sierrafoxtrot]

er ... not really sure, because the only place i know which has an archive instead of the lastest build is umaniac's. i think it might be worth checking out his latest build, or something, if not, i could email you the binaries.

let me know.

[DigDub]

U have umaniac's url?

And how can I uninstall the previous builds? Or the files will be overwritten if I install another build?

Thanks.

[sierrafoxtrot]

umaniac is here

http://www.heimsnet.is/kg/

can't remember whether i used his builds or not :confused: there's like tens of different binaries i've got. anyway, just go to control panel > add/remove programs and uninstall the xvid codec. i normally do that before i re-install a new build.

works for me :p

[Koepi]

http://roeder.goe.net/~koepi/

it's the link called XviD Options Explained.
I thought this was self explanatory...

[DigDub]

Thanks Koepi. Will try out your builds and see how it goes. Was horrified to see the macroblocks cos my impression of xvid from reading Doom9's review is pretty good.

Btw, just realised that XviD is DivX spelt backwards. :D

[DigDub]

Ewww....the macroblocks are still there. Tried out Koepi's 26/02 and 25/02 builds, still the same. In advanced tab, I set Min quant=1 and Max quant=31. Using quant type h.263.

[Koepi]

Hm, that's really strange.

I just get very seldom blocks (i.e. in the Matrix [1cd with 26022002-1 (koepi)] on very low bitrate conditions, just 3 or 4 scenes affected).

Can't reproduce your results.

How is the compressability in first pass and how big should it be in second?

(for example, first pass size 1.000.000kb, second pass desired 140.000kb will look like shit, whatever you do ;) )

Regards,
Koepi

[DigDub]

'How is the compressability in first pass and how big should it be in second?'

How do I check this? Sorry. I'm new to XviD.

[Koepi]

Fetch my nandub stats reader and open the resulting <blah>.stats file you created on first pass.
There is a field on the top left showing you the first pass size in MB.

Or you use debugview (shipped with nandub or find it at www.sysinternals.com [or www.wininternals.com? I never get it which site is the correct one]) on your both passes, there you can see what XviD does.

Regards,
Koepi

[Franko30]

Originally posted by Koepi

Or you use debugview (shipped with nandub or find it at www.sysinternals.com [or www.wininternals.com? I never get it which site is the correct one])


It's

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/utilities.shtml
for NT/2K/XP

or

http://www.sysinternals.com/win9x/98utilities.shtml
for Win9x/98


Frank

[DigDub]

Using the statsfile reader, first pass size is 1753MB. Final ripped size of the movie is ~650MB.

[Koepi]

Compressing a movie by a factor from >3 can't look good, you have to tweak your input source... (a factor <2 usually is looking good)

Regards,
Koepi

[DigDub]

Koepi,

Sorry. How do I tweak my input source? Use GKnot? I used the 2-pass external option too, using GKnot to scale the curve, and the stat file reader shows the first pass file size as 596. But it still turns out to be very blocky. U can go to my ftp server to dnload a short clip. I have sent u the details using Private Message.

[Koepi]

there are several ways of tweaking the source:

a) lower the resolution (i.e. instead of 720xXXX use 640xXXX)
b) If the source is noisy, apply a filter like temporal smoother

etc etc

Regards,
Koepi

[Koepi]

Ok, watched your sample.

As it's very short I can not tell how the whole movie looks, but this is more than what I'd expect by this compression ratio.
I can't see "real" blockyness in there, that looks another way.

Did you change something between first and second pass?
For example, did you do the first pass with 720x400 and before the second pass changed that to 576x240?

I still suggest using temporal smoother with a low value, i.e. 1.

And don't forget to make your first pass as well again after that!

Regards,
Koepi