Stutter caused by EPSZ code ?

[Uli]

Hi @all!

I've noticed some stutter on my recent encode. It's "Die purpurnen Flüsse", sorry, don't know the english title. It's the weird film with Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel about a serial killer... btw. great movie!

In the opening sequence there is a long scene taken from a helicopter over a wide moving landscape. Here is where the stutter occurs. The camera is following a car on the street. The car itself moves smoothly, but the surrounding landscape moves jerky. If i take the same scene with an older build (approx. beginning of april) the jerkiness is gone?

I suspect EPSZ code, cause in the description is said, that its prefer big moving objects over little details. The landscape in the above mentioned scene consists many trees, so i think it treats it as a big moving object instead of a group of many small objects, hence the jerkiness in the moving of the woods.

FYI:
Thunderbird 1400, 512 MB RAM, Geforce 2 GTS latest driver, Mediaplayer 6.4
XviD: NIC's build 05/13/02 and NIC's build from beginning of april.
Settings: all default, except motion search: ultra high, alternate curve compression

any suggestions?

greetz, Uli

[rui]

Hi Uli.
I always liked the EPSZ enabled builds, and till today didn't had any problems with them.
Maybe if you try to do the encode using uManiacs builds, which don't have EPSZ code enabled, you could find if thats's what is causing the problem.
If in fact turns out to be the EPSZ code, then... (Rui leaving space for xvid developer step in) :D

EDIT: Hummm..just saw that you already tried a Nic's build without EPSZ enabled. And you didn't have those problems?

[Uli]

Originally posted by rui
... And you didn't have those problems?

Yup, that's right!
With the older build, the woods move as smooth as the car...
That's strange, since the overall quality of the XviD encode is stunning great! I will test other movies with detailed moving backgrounds to further investigate this behaviour.

greetz, Uli

BTW: forgot to mention that i use Win98SE.

[Uli]

Sadly i must confirm this bug (?) also in "Ghosts of mars".

There is a scene, where the camera spots on the side of a train from a parallel helicopter perspective, while the train is moving fast thru the mars landscape. The same effect also appears here:
The train and its movement are perfectly smooth, while the moving of the background is jerky. To precise the effect: It looks, as if the trains movement is in every frame, where the backgrounds movement is updated only every 2nd or 3rd frame.
The scene from "Die purpurnen Flüsse" is from 00:02:30 to 00:04:00, the scene in "Ghosts of mars" is from 01:20:12 to 01:20:20. In both the jerkiness is clearly visible.
Switching the XviD-DS-filter has no effect also with ffdshow its visible.

If i use an older XviD build (Nic's 27.03.2002) the jerkiness is gone!

An older XviD-encode from "Snatch" ( the scene where dogs are hunting a rabbit and the camera spots directly on the dogs with fast moving background ) does'nt show this effect. Unfortunately i don't have the DVD at hand to reencode that scene with the newer build ;)

So i conclude: It has to do with EPSZ code :(

greetz, Uli

[rui]

Uli, i for one wish to thank you for the time you spent in those tests.
Like i said, i am a big fan of EPSZ, but i remember Koepi saying that EPSZ is experimental, so we probably should expect some problems to arise.
But if you still want to have the latest build, you can always donwload uManiac's builds (which are the mõst recent anyway), and then overwrite the xvid.ax with the xvid.ax that comes with Nic' build.
That way you have the most recent xvid build, with no EPSZ code, and with xvid ds filter with post processing.
Or turn to ffdshow ;)

[kilg0r3]

nd then overwrite the xvid.ax with the xvid.ax that comes with Nic' build
are sure this would work?

from nic's binary page:
EPSZ and EPSZ^2 activated

[Uli]

Originally posted by rui
Uli, i for one wish to thank you for the time you spent in those tests.
...
But if you still want to have the latest build, you can always donwload uManiac's builds
...


I'll do it right now and will post the results tomorrow ;)

Thanks and good night, Uli

@kilgOr3:

Yes, that will work, cause the EPSZ code is only for ENcoding, not for DEcoding.

[Uli]

False alert!

I apologize for blaming XviD for nothing :stupid:

Same result with uManiacs latest build and even with "good old" DivX 3.11 and Nandub. I suspect the latest change in graphics driver. When i look the encoded file over TV-out, then there is no stutter at all and the quality is blinding great :D
Maybe the effect is depending on the refresh rate of the monitor. I'm very picky with high refresh rates ;) On my Notebook the stutter occurs too ( 60 Hz LCD ). The frame rate of the movie is 25.00 PAL.

So thanks for your replies and please excuse my false alert and taking your time, i'm a great fan of XviD :)

greetz, Uli

[kilg0r3]

Thank YOU! for i won't feel so lame myself next time :D

[rui]

Glad to read the good news, Uli :)