XviD Stats Viewer: Analyser for 1st pass log

[NiTroGen]

After seeing & using PerfectXvid by TheUnforgiven & StatsReader by Koepi, I've decided to make a graphic viewer of XviD stats file that shows a frame size distribution graph and suggests the settings for alt. curve aggression. Please tell me your opinion about my program.

EDIT: Current version is 1.65. Check page 4 of this post...

[BiaTch 5.0]

I hope this work well, I'm too dumb to understand PerfectXvid by myself &no one wants to make a explanation thread for newbies.

[NiTroGen]

Well, I'll be honest. I haven't exactly understood PerfectXviD. I think that the most important is the frame size distribution related to the average frame size, so I've made a graph of it. This program can analyse a stats file, while it's being created, without creating problems to encoding procedure. That's why I added the "Refresh" button.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my program needs the runtime libraries of Visual Basic 6.

[Maurizio]

Fine little program !
can we know how the suggested values are calculated ? :)
regards
Maurizio

[NiTroGen]

That's easy. High and low distances from average are the maximum and the minimum framesizes related to the average frame size. You can see this at the picture below:
http://ukbdelo.ru/admin/altcc.gif
(made by FiW, posted on another thread)

The curve aggression is suggested according to the related difference between the number of frames with bigger size than the average and the ones with smaller size. If there is a small difference then "Medium" is suggested. If there are more frames with bigger size than the average, then "Low" is suggested and vice versa.

[Koepi]

Ouch, that's a strange criteria for low, medium and high aggression.

The aggression just determines how fast overflow gets redistributed, so that attempt is flawed.

You most likely want a linear scaled curve as it gives the most constant quality possible with xvid. But see the statsreader thread for further details.

Regards,
Koepi

[NiTroGen]

OK, I'll try to understand better the curve aggression by reading the StatsReader thread. Thanks...

[Koepi]

It's unlikely to find out about curve aggression there ;) You'll find the settings how to linear scale the curve ;)

Regards,
Koepi

[NiTroGen]

Now I have removed the suggestion about the curve aggression type, but I have added a new graph of framesize related to frame number than maybe can help you predict it. Also, now the program can ignore the ending frames.

[NiTroGen]

I've changed the GUI to take less screen space and added an option to create graphs after file opening or refreshing. Here is the new executable.

Note: TABCTL32.ocx and COMDLG32.OCX are not included with this package.

[Maurizio]

After installing, when I start the program, it goes searching
for a file called data1.msi, that I don't have.
If I ignore the message, the program starts, but when i try
to open the stats file it gives runtime error 429
(activex component cannot create the object)
I'm trying on win2k professional, 5.0.2195, no service pack.
Any suggestion ?

[NiTroGen]

You probably don't have the required files: TABCTL32.ocx and COMDLG32.OCX. I've attached them here.

From now on, I won't include TABCTL32.ocx (COMDLG32.OCX is not needed anymore) in the setup package, because of the attachent size limit, but you can always find it here.

[NiTroGen]

Somebody stop me!!! Another update in a few hours.

Some bugs are fixed and a new feature is added: 2nd Pass Simulation. Well, don't ask about the method I used to simulate 2nd pass, because it is NOT right at all, but the result is very similar to the one obtained by Milan's ffvfw simulation. So, you can have a "misty" look of the final video quality. I'm still trying to find a more accurate method for the simulation...

[NiTroGen]

Now the 2nd pass simulation is more accurate than before. That doesn't mean it's perfect, but the obtained results are closer to the real ones. That's because of some options I added in the simulation tab, such as quantizer limits and I-frame % boost. You can see now the final size of the video using the simulation results, and a quality percentage of the final video. I also added some more info about the stats file. COMMDLG32.OCX is not needed any more, because of some API calls, but you still need TABCTL32.OCX.

I'm waiting for your comments, to make this program better...

[NiTroGen]

I've just released version 1.10 beta (there will always be the beta suffix, until the methods used in my program are approved by the XviD community). There are MANY bug fixes and a some new features added. Now you can ignore the last 1% to 5% of maximum framesizes in the framesize distribution, so the high distance value won't be set too high. Also you can copy the high and low distance settings directly to the registry, so XviD will have them the next time you'll open the configuration dialog.

And last but not least: A motion distribution graph is added. Motion is calculated as the summary of k-blocks and m-blocks in a delta frame. In plain english, it's the part of the frame that has changed, compairing it to the previous keyframe. This motion distribution is used to suggest the curve aggression type.

@Koepi:
I think this method is good to suggest a curve aggression type, but I'm not sure if the motion calculation algorythm is correct. Using your Nandub Stats Reader, I saw that you define motion as the number of k-blocks, but I think that m-blocks should be considered as motion, too. Anyway, I'm waiting for your suggestions about this "motion" thing and the curve aggression type.

[Koepi]

Again, flawed attempt, sorry.

take a look at your debugview output during 1st pass encoding and see why you'll always get 100% motion.

The nandub statsreader was never really finished, and if you'd read the threads back then you'd know that I was too lazy to implement the nandub way of motion calculation, which is far more complex than just showing the amount of any block types.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by Koepi
Take a look at your debugview output during 1st pass encoding and see why you'll always get 100% motion.
.
No, I do not always get 100% motion. Motion varies from 0 to 100%. I don't know why you say that.

About the curve aggression; I have read in this forum that a movie with many scenes of high motion should get low aggression and vice versa. So to suggest the appropriate curve aggression type we must do a motion distribution. But the real problem is "how to calculate motion". I do not agree with the nandub way of calculation (though I'm trying to understand and implement it in future versions of stats viewer), because it does not take into account the m-blocks, which, I believe, contribute as much as the keyblocks in the motion value.

[Koepi]

See, and that's why your attempt is flawed:
This is about mathematics, and not believe.

But: _believe_ me, you just want to respect kblocks for motion calculation.

example (taken from fixed quant credits):
[1016] 1st-pass: size:2247 total-kbytes:1732591 inter quant:20 H.263 kblocks:328 mblocks:346
[1016] 1st-pass: size:2651 total-kbytes:1732593 inter quant:20 H.263 kblocks:332 mblocks:348
[1016] 1st-pass: size:2742 total-kbytes:1732596 inter quant:20 H.263 kblocks:276 mblocks:402

that'd even in the credits mean 100% motion.

During the movie it's even worse, I always have about 680mblocks, and if this value drops, it's the kblocks added to the mblocks which fill the 680.... Skipped blocks are very seldom.

So, what does this mean?

I spent too much time explaining you why your program/attempt is flawed, you deny that, I explain again,...

This is my last post here as I now feel somewhat abused.

Write whatever you like, but I won't recommand that to anyone as you make impropper assumptions, don't listen to corrections of those,...

Wasted time.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by Koepi
I spent too much time explaining you why your program/attempt is flawed, you deny that, I explain again,...

This is my last post here as I now feel somewhat abused.

Write whatever you like, but I won't recommand that to anyone as you make impropper assumptions, don't listen to corrections of those,...

Wasted time.
I'm sorry, Koepi, :( I didn't want you to feel abused nor make you angry. I do not deny that my attempt is flawed. But I am really trying to learn from my mistakes and correct them. I just want to make a software that will help me, you and anybody else, to find the optimal curve aggression settings for XviD encoding. I have many questions and I need as much help as I can get. Please, I know that I'm wasting your time, but just pointing my mistakes is not enough, I need to know the right way to correct them.

Has anyone the good will to answer some questions that I have?
- Does the curve aggression type depend on the motion distribution? If not, then to what does it depend on?
- Is there a way to calculate the motion value of a frame? Is the nandub method accurate?

[Koepi]

Hi again,

hopefully you won't ignore my proposals here again ;)

XviD has nothing which would be close to nandub's motion detection engine.

Curve aggression hasn't changed and thus determines

a) how fast overflow gets compensated (i wrote that earlier already!) and
b) due to a cosine/sine bias of the curve, whether you prefer huge frame higher quantized than small frames or vice versa.

From my experience a) is much more "visible" effect than b).

So it's best to leave that at medium aggression. If you get problems with your quantizer distribution, you can try fidling around with that, but that's not easy to see before having done a second pass.

Since you get the most constant quality using a linear scaled curve I'd suggest not to fiddle around with altCC settings too much, as they can do real harm to your encode when setting impropper values.

If you find a nice high/low value that's ok. You could set a min. req. quality or the strength so that you have a "smooth" high/lowpass behaviour.

Everything else sounds like an adventure to me ;)

Regards,
Koepi

[NiTroGen]

Thanks, Koepi, for the proposals. I never ignored your proposals before, but I was trying to understand them, as well as the mechanisms they were based on. I considered all that you said about altCC and I'll try to adjust my program to use the linear scaled curve, using all the info I can find in the StatsReader thread.

Thanks again, and sorry if I tired you.

[NiTroGen]

I've just released XviD Stats Viewer v1.20.

Here's the change log:
----------------------
+ Added linear curve compression (It's quite accurate. Just some small fixes needed to achieve optimal result).
+ Added auto load button.
+ Added start & end frame range selection (and auto load).
* Updated the motion engine. Now it's the same as NanDub's.
* Alt. Curve Compression type is not suggested, as it cannot be determined by the stats file.
* Many bugs fixed.
- Removed the 2nd pass simulation, since it was completely flawed. It's very difficult to write the actual routine. (It's in 2pass.c file and I must convert it to Visual Basic.)

I'm waiting for your comments, bug reports or suggestion.

And the Official XviD StatsViewer Site (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/statsviewer) has just been created. Latest versions can be found there. The guide is still under construction.

[NiTroGen]

I've just released XviD Stats Viewer v1.30.

Here's the change log:
----------------------
+ Added some more info on the results of the linear curve compression.
* Updated the linear curve compression formula. Up to 10 passes are used to achieve desired AVI size.
* Updated the minimum I & P-frame calculation formulas. Many thanks to Koepi for this one.

Well, you should test the scaling formula now :D .

[neo_born]

Originally posted by BiaTch 5.0
I hope this work well, I'm too dumb to understand PerfectXvid by myself &no one wants to make a explanation thread for newbies.

So true ...I find this with xvid in general ....I think it must be the encoding tool of the 3l!t3 ladz. ie far beyond the reaches of understanding for us mere mortals who love and njoi en-coding ourselves.:angry:

[Koepi]

Instead to complain how EVIl we 31337 14D5 are, don't waste our and your time writing that _crap_ (yes, you read right, what's that for a post?).

READ the guides, read the forum, read the xvid help file...

After you read all available and bsic information you can start asking.

But simply complaining that we don't implement a chip with our knowldge in your head or that we don't magically beam over enlightenment is more than rotten.

Koepi

[Teegedeck]

Originally posted by neo_born


So true ...I find this with xvid in general ....I think it must be the encoding tool of the 3l!t3 ladz. ie far beyond the reaches of understanding for us mere mortals who love and njoi en-coding ourselves.:angry:

All the information is there, in various guides, the tooltips in the codec-setup and in various threads on the forum, so don't complain about noob-unfriendliness.

Just hit the "load defaults"-button and encode! It's good enough! The "advanced" stuff and stats-readers and the like are for people who enjoy playing around with them. If you don't have the neccessary background-knowledge you'll only get worse results playing with tools you don't fully understand. It is precisely you that the simple mode was made for, enjoy it!

[iago]

So true ...I find this with xvid in general ....I think it must be the encoding tool of the 3l!t3 ladz. ie far beyond the reaches of understanding for us mere mortals...

@neo_born

Can you please tell us (and enlighten all those helpless people wandering around in oblivion in the XviD board) about where else you can find a more active and useful forum in which "all" the codec/encoding related problems are discussed as widely and with full support of the developers themselves as here?!!

That's merely pointless complaint as Koepi remarked too!

iago

[NiTroGen]

I've just released XviD Stats Viewer v1.40. Now it can save a text report of the analysis, as well as info about each frame (optional).

[Rrrough]

@NiTroGen

nice to read, but where is it ? did u attach it to the post ? it's not on the xvid stats viewer site as of yet.
looking forward to testing it, thanx in advance.

cheers

[NiTroGen]

Here's version 1.50 of the XviD Stats Viewer. I've added support for B-Frame reporting using Koepi's 14/11/2002 build and later releases. Now, all I need to do is to update the linear downscale formula to support B-Frames.

[Dams]

It seems a cool program and helpfull.

I'm a noob in Xvid encoding, so I tried to understand all of this tool. ;)

[NiTroGen]

I should test my programs better before releasing them. :stupid: I'm sorry about the really fucked up framesize distribution graph. Here's the fixed compilation.

BTW, all previous versions have been removed from this post. If you want any of them, just visit StatsViewer's website.

[kastro68]

I read Iago's walkthrough on using Xvid and he said to disable AltCC. Is this information out of date, or is it still best to disable AltCC.

[Gaia]

I have been using linear scaling for long time with good results but it's up to you.

[kastro68]

I have been using it on med aggro as well... I was just shocked when his walk through said to disable it.

[Gaia]

Kastro i don't know was that post for me but if you do linear scaling it means you disable Altcurve scaling. I have got much better results without Altcurve scaling.

[kastro68]

I want to ask how to use linear scaling, but i'll use the search button first

[iago]

@kastro68

Don't get shocked ;), because if you follow the guide then it means you are already using "internal linear scaling" (for external linear scaling, you have to use Koepi's great StatsReader): disable Alternative Curve System and set high/low values to 0/0 in the "Two Pass" tab and you get a linear scaled curve.

regards,
iago

[Kaiousama]

I've a little problem, the program doesn't start and return this error : "Class not registered. You must install these file: MSSTDFMT.DLL"

Note: in my pc i've installed the last VB6 runtimes, and the TABCTL32.OCX file

Have you ever seen this error? Thanks

[kastro68]

I was just concerned because koepi wrote somewhere that it is usually best to leave xvid on its default settings...I think koepi also said not to cap the quantizer values. Just some inconsistencies with what others recommend.

I think Koepi also wrote that using statsreader for ext 2 pass produces very similar results to using xvids internal scaling.

Well i haven't been quite up to date with Xvid for a while because of exams.

Thanks for the advice.

[cult]

@Kaiousama
try to run regsvr32 for this dll...

[Kaiousama]

@cult: Thanks, now all's going right! (what a lazy am i? :D )

@ nytrogen: can you add or even specify that the msstdfmt.dll is required for running the program, on your site? (because i've tested it's not my computer fault the deficency of this dll, because the standard istallation of winXP e win98 doesnt install this file, like the tabctl32.ocx)

Bye

[NiTroGen]

@Kaiousama:

The full installation package of version 1.40 was flawed. If you install the full installation package of version 1.20 and then update to v1.51 there is no problem. I've made a new full package of version 1.51, but for some weird reason I cannot upload it to the site. So if anyone needs "msstdfmt.dll", I've attached it below (you can also find it here (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/statsviewer/msstdfmt.rar)). Don't forget to "regsvr32" it!

Edit by Swede: I removed the attachment since I'm not really sure it's legit to redistribute it. I could be wrong though and if this is the case I'll put it back.

[Tester]

@NiTroGen

hi,

i've testet your program with lord of the rings (special extendet).
3:38h on 3 CD's. The result was very great. Almost perfect image quality and only 180 kb size deviation on 1.9 GB :-)

One question: The "press me" button in the "linear curve scaling" register sets (beside other values...) the bitrate payback delay to 1.
What does this mean? Using the StatsReader of Koepi, he does not mention to set this to 1 (only disabling alt-cc, and set i-frame boost / low/high distance to 0, like yours)

THX

Tester

[NiTroGen]

@Tester:
I'm not an XviD guru (yet!) and I'm still trying to figure what each option does and how it affects the encoding process, so instead of explaining how payback delay works, I'll quote here a small part of Koepi's XviD Options Explained document.
The curve compression is controlling the "smoothness" of the scaled bitrate curve. If you set curve compression low/high to 0, you'll disable it, having "perfect VBR" (you have to set payback delay to 1 then as well).
Payback delay is the number of frames which should be used to compensate for under- or overuse of bits
Because we need a "perfect VBR" when we use the linear curve compression, I set payback delay to 1 as well.

[Koepi]

Well, I have to update that info, sorry for the mess!

For perfect VBR, the bitrate achieved for each frame _must_ be the one we predicted. This is very hard to do, and due to some features in xvid simply impossible - therefore this "leaky bucket" overflow system.

Setting payback delay to 1 isn't really closer to perfect VBR as it degrades some frames seriously - it's just a theory made up of an incomplete model (ask dr. google about creating models of the reality and interpreting the results), so reality is: set it to 10-12 seconds, for PAL: 250-300, for FILM 240-264, for NTSC 300-360, it will sure help picture quality.

I hope this helps.

[NiTroGen]

What about the payback method? Should it be with bias to small frames or not, when trying to achieve the best linear downscaling?

[Koepi]

i prefer bias. i think i wrote that in the statsreader thread.

[Tester]

well, I testet 2 encodes with lord of the rings (pal 25 fps) with following settings

disable alt-cc
i-frame bosst: 0
low/high bitrate scenes: 0
quant: 2 - 31 (i, p)
h.263 (both passes)
i-frame: 250, 6

But the first time with bitrate payback 250, and second time with 1 (both bias)


I have the impression that the second one is better and more constant in quality.

final size: 1909000kb
Size deviation of first encode: 186kb
Size deviation of second encode: 1688kb

Is the only disadvantage of setting payback to 1 the size deviation?

@koepi: are these settings usefull also for your newer builds (21.11.2001) and with new functions like qpel and b-frames, or can I use StatsReader, too?

[NiTroGen]

OK, new version is up! Now skipped frames can be reported too, and payback delay does not change when you press the "press me" button. And the installation package is different now. VB6's installation system is used, instead of NSIS, and all nessecary DLLs & OCXs are included, except the VB6 runtime libraries of course.

Download the new version here (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/statsviewer/XviDStatsViewer152.exe). VB6 runtime DLLs can be found here (http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb60pro/Redist/sp5/WIN98Me/EN-US/vbrun60sp5.exe).

[The Link]

I get a runtime error 424 when loading a stats-file! I have installed VB6 runtime before.

Regards,

The Link

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by The Link
I get a runtime error 424 when loading a stats-file! I have installed VB6 runtime before.

Regards,

The Link
OK, I've fixed this bug and attached the new executable file. Copy it over the old one.

[NiTroGen]

StatsViewer is updated to version 1.60
Change log:

+ Added a frame listing window. (Really slow output!!!)
+ Added some presets of XviD settings. Looking forward to your comments, suggestions, etc...
+ Added some simple calculation routines for estimated video size, bits*(pixel/frame), etc...
* Refresh button moved outside the tab panel for easier access.
* Some small bugs fixed.
- Linear curve compression function was removed, because of its implementation in the XviD codec.
As you can see, I have removed the curve scaling function. Now you can find some setting presets, which are automatically set by the press of a button: Linear Curve Scaling (the well-known compression), Normal Curve Scaling for low motion movies (gives a low/high compression of 10%/10%), Alt.Curve Compression (gives a low/high of 100/1000 if no stats file is loaded and the suggested settings if a stats file is loaded).
If you have some presets of your own of some suggestions to make, please post in this topic.

You can find the new version on the Official Site (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/statsviewer) or attached below (please wait to be approved by the moderators).

[OBcecado]

Thanks for that new release, Is it safe to use it with b-frames now ?
Keep up the good work.

Best regards.

[OBcecado]

I think I've found a bug...
In frame size graph, when the Frame Information button is pressed I get a error message saying : Run-time error '30006': Unable to allocate memory for flexgrid.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by OBcecado
Is it safe to use it with b-frames now ?Yes it is, because it lets XviD handle the curve and does not alter the stats file.

Originally posted by OBcecado
I think I've found a bug...
In frame size graph, when the Frame Information button is pressed I get a error message saying : Run-time error '30006': Unable to allocate memory for flexgrid.I haven't tested with a "large" stats file. My stats contained about 20000 frames. I'll finish an encode of a full movie tomorrow (about 190000 frames) to check your report.

[ookzDVD]

@Nitrogen,

The latest v1.6 is awesome! :)

[azra28]

Is someone could get me an adress because I can't acces to site

[cult]

there u go:
http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/statsviewer

[azra28]

Thks to u

[Didée]

Spontaneous idea:

- Calculate splitpoints for 2/3/(4?) CD's from the stats?

That'd probably not be for exact splitting. But one could do a 1st-pass with very quick settings, to get roughly the overall bitrate distribution. After that, one could find a nice splitpoint in the area of the calculated one, and perform seperate 2pass-encodings for each CD, that all fit perfectly.

[Blueseb]

great tool, indeed.
it would be fine to add a simple scaling calculator for final movie size, 'cause when i do 1st pass on a part of the movie i have to calculate manually the 'desired avi size' for that part :o

furthermore, you could integrate your bitrate calculator in stats viewer

furthermore, total movie frames could be retrieved from the .d2v file

...furthermore, you cold add an artificial intelligence and a telepathic unit to realize all my wishes before i ask for... :D

ok, no joke: i appreciate your work, i only wanted to suggest some (imho) useful feature for the 'calculation' tab :p

[NiTroGen]

It is nice to know that my work is appreciated!

Originally posted by Didée
Spontaneous idea:

- Calculate splitpoints for 2/3/(4?) CD's from the stats?

That'd probably not be for exact splitting. But one could do a 1st-pass with very quick settings, to get roughly the overall bitrate distribution. After that, one could find a nice splitpoint in the area of the calculated one, and perform seperate 2pass-encodings for each CD, that all fit perfectly.
It is not a bad idea, but when splitting an AVI, you should take into accound the size audio stream. Also, when you have a VBR audio stream, there is no way to find the split point, unless you analyse the audio. Sorry, but it is too hard for me to do that. This program is just a s.stats file viewer.

Originally posted by Blueseb
it would be fine to add a simple scaling calculator for final movie size, 'cause when i do 1st pass on a part of the movie i have to calculate manually the 'desired avi size' for that partHaven't I already done that? :confused:

Originally posted by Blueseb
furthermore, you could integrate your bitrate calculator in stats viewerWell, I'll think about it.

Originally posted by Blueseb
furthermore, total movie frames could be retrieved from the .d2v fileDo you know how can I retrieve that information from the .d2v file, using Visual Basic 6? ;)

Originally posted by Blueseb
...furthermore, you could add an artificial intelligence and a telepathic unit to realize all my wishes before i ask for...I already have a .dll that can do this kind of stuff. I'll find a way to implement it in my program. :p


I'm currently working on next version and besides the bug fixes, I'd like to add something new before releasing it. Any other suggestions?

[Blueseb]

Originally posted by NiTroGen
Originally posted by Blueseb
it would be fine to add a simple scaling calculator for final movie size, 'cause when i do 1st pass on a part of the movie i have to calculate manually the 'desired avi size' for that part

Haven't I already done that?

DOH! I was too criptic. The fact is: I do a test on a part of the movie, e.g. 5%, then I load stats file and enter total movie frames, the program gives me the estimated size of the 1st pass file, e.g. 1000 MB. Now i'd like to scale the final movie size to 700 MB, not the current 5% file, so i have to calculate 5% of 700=35MB and enter this as desired avi size (as you can see it's only a question of laziness
:p but i hope i've been more clear now)

another issue: a clip 640*266=170240 pixel/frame, loaded stas in your program returns 174080=640*272 :confused: how can it be???

[kilg0r3]

hi nitrogen,

since your site tends to be incredibly slow, i thought it might be useful for you if host your little program on my modest, little place.

cheers

kilg0r3

[crOOk]

@NiTroGen
Great tool you made!
originally posted by NiTroGen
It is not a bad idea, but when splitting an AVI, you should take into accound the size audio stream. Also, when you have a VBR audio stream, there is no way to find the split point, unless you analyse the audio.
Would you mind implementing an experimental feature that would calculate the splitpoint(s), WITHOUT taking the vbr audio streams into account? I don't think they have that big of an impact on the total size. The outcome might not be exact, but at least one could avoid a result in which each part has a size further than 5-10MB or so away from the aimed 702MB. If the size would only be within two MBs or so around the CD size, most people I think won't mind and will still overburn the video or cut off the last part. Without the possibility to insert keyframes in the middle of the bitstream, this part of the movie has to be encoded again sometimes :(. Please think about it, it might help making a great tool even better :D.

[NiTroGen]

I've been very busy the last 2 months and I really couldn't find time to spend on Stats Viewer. I attach the "unfinished" version 1.61, which was compiled 2 months ago. I really wanted to add more stuff, before releasing it. Anyway, since there will be no releases at least for one month (or maybe two!!!), I give you this version, which has some bugs fixed and a better frame information list. This version will not be upped on the official site, until it is finished.

BTW, I've read all you suggestions and I'll see what I can do. ;) But, as I already told you, I don't have enough free time to spend on StatsViewer, so be patient.

PS. MSFLXGRD.OCX is needed!!!!

EDITED by Koepi: old, outdated attached version deleted as on the site a newer version is up.

[NiTroGen]

New version 1.65 - 24th May 2003

Changes from 1.60:

+ Added min, max & average keyframe distance reports (seems to work fine).
+ Added max sequential P-frames report (may be buggy).
+ Added max sequential B-frames report (works fine).
* Frame list window fixed.
* Some small bugs fixed.
* Report to text file updated with new information.
- Suggestion of Curve Aggression removed, because no suggestion can be made by reading the stats file (as told by Koepi on this thread).
- Console window removed to save some window space.

!!! MSFLXGRD.OCX is required to run this version.
The calculations suggested at the posts above are not implemented in this version. They are NOT ignored and they may be included in the next version 1.70.

Get the new version from the Official StatsViewer Site (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/statsviewer).

[NiTroGen]

And there is a new URL of the StatsViewer's web site. Very fast!!!
Update your bookmarks --> http://users.uoi.gr/ch02029/statsviewer

[Thistleknot]

Is there any advice on using alt-cc with low bitrates? Such as not using the ignore last 1% tool (I'm thinking with low bitrate movies you need those high % for those scenes, otherwise your cutting off needed bitrate in an overall low quality film), I noticed using alt-cc with a low bitrate encode and during high action (or is it motion?) scenes it looked quite bad.
What average bitrates should I use the last 1% tool on? Above 900 kbps? Or does it also depend on the size of these last 1% frames?

Also, is there any way to determine the type of curve aggression to use from the displays in Stats Viewer (such as the frame size distribution graph)? At first I was getting non "skateboard ramp" looking distributions, now I'm getting nice curved distributions, so I assume using Medium is the way to go.

And if someone could point me in the direction to find an explanation in lamen's terms how to use "Explaining the Alternate Curve Compression Algorythm" picture that comes with NiTroGen's fine progam.

[OBcecado]

Hi, just to ask if it's windows 2k sp4 problem that doesn't include this dll: msstdmft.dll or you forgot to include it. :p


Keep up the good work.