Selecting a build

[FreQi]

I want to start encoding with XviD, but I am not sure which build I should use. I have found three sources to choose from (are there others?): uManiac's instant builds, Koepi's or Nic's.

The ones from uManiac are tempting because they are the most up to date on the CVS, but no one knows if they are broken. Probably not the -best- choice since I want my encodes to be backwards compatible (and often times using the most recent codec to encode means you need the most recent to play it)

Koepi's sound like they are optimized for certain processors, but I just read a thread on how it crashes on other processors. Is that only when trying to encode?

Nic's build is the one I suspect most people are using simply because it's the one the Doom9 guides link to, but with all the development on XviD (I know it stopped atm, but) it seems like it's a pretty old build. That's probably a good thing in terms of forward compatibility, but does it lack in features and contain bugs?

Thanks for helping me determine what build to use. I intend on using it for encoding the whole season of 24 and Alias, so I don't plan on changing builds for the next couple months here...

[Emp3r0r]

If you are looking for a recommendation then I would have to point to all of them. The source is mostly the same anyway. Umanic's is straight daily cvs. Nic's are solid releases and Koepie's are the most bleeding edge with experimentation. Pick any and have fun!

[Koepi]

Sine when are my binaries more experiemntal than uManiac's or Nic's?

That's not true.

My builds are rock solid, and if they're not, they're replaced with a build that is (therefore the -1 etc numbering).

Regards,
Koepi

PS: for playback on non-actual processors you should use ffdshow anyways!

[Nic]

Hiya :)

Its been a while:

http://nic.dnsalias.com

for a new build :D

Could you tell me if the DShow filter stills crashes explorer.exe?
(hopefully it should catch the exception now....but I think its wishful thinking...because its actually a xvid decoding problem)

Cheers,
-Nic

[soujir0u]

Thank you, Nic. :)

[iago]

@Nic

Nice to see you release builds again :). However, at least on my system ;), your new build causes crash in VirtualDub when you use lumi masking (which is something very useful imho to automatically avoid the use of lumi masking :)).

BTW, I'm using avisynth 2.05.

Just wanted to inform you.

kindest regards,
iago

[Nic]

LoL I dont know why though, I havent been keeping that close an eye on the CVS recently...But I know that you cant compile with BFRAMES & BFRAMES_DEC on anymore (not without making changes), so there must have been a change to cause that lumi crash (I think :) )

Cheers,
-Nic

[kyousuke]

congratulations nic!
i waited your build since a long of time :)

++ :D

[Dark-Cracker]

hi,

i think the best build to use is the koepi build it was optimized but if u have a P2 or K6 use the umaniac build (not optimized) because the koepi build crash on these computer (because it compiled using intel compiler).
the nic's build crash when i use lumi masking (i have a P3).

PS: there is a new modulated HIq in the koepi build but i am not sure it was fully installed (in the config.h there is not the itemdate of this mode).

bye.

[Nic]

Use whatever you want, but if lumi-masking crashed it wasn't due to my build, but due to that particular version of the CVS...

Also my build will work with K6-2's etc...
& mine has EPZS unlike umaniac's insta-build....

& why ask me to make a new build Dark-Cracker if you don't like my builds?

Cheers,
-Nic

ps
Ill make a rebuild soon & hopefully the lumi code will be working then....

[Dark-Cracker]

@nic
>why ask me to make a new build Dark-Cracker if you don't like my builds?

i have never say that i don't like your build :) , simply that it crash with lumi-masking.

[FreQi]

I did a test encode with nic's older build using the lumi-masking and didn't have any problems. I take it this is a problem with the more recent build?

I'm still not really sure which build would be the most appropriate one for me to use. If I encode something with Nic's build, someone else can play my encode with anyone else's build right? Or will there be potential problems by using one build vs the other?

I'm basically looking for the most compatable since I intend on use these encodes on various platfoms, including Xbox Media Player (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.com/). And I plan on using the same build for several months so that all the episodes I encode of the upcoming shows will be done in the exact same format.

[iago]

@FreQi

In my opinion, just pick one of the latest builds (either Koepi's or Nic's or uManiac's) and make your own decision by trying them and seeing the results yourself ;).

Regarding lumi-masking, you'll already be better off without it! So no problem I guess whichever you choose ;).

iago

P.S.: No, you won't have any decoding problems. And you can also use ffdshow filter to decode XviD content, but just don't use post-processing.

[FreQi]

At the risk of sounding like a complete weenie, why would I need/want ffdshow if I already installed the XviD codec? Are the two complimentary or are they exclusive?

oh yeah, and I'll have to try my test encode again without the lumi-masking (the guide gave me the impression that it was a good idea for 1-cd encodes, so...)

[ookzDVD]

Which build ?
hmmm... I prefer use Koepi's build, I think you know why ;)

[Nic]

Yup all the builds are compatible with each other...so use which ever you wish :) (were not competing)

Milan asked me yesterday for my DShow source code because alot of people seem to prefer my DShow's PostProcessing...so hopefully he'll be able to combine it into ffdshow & then you can get the best of both worlds with his filter... :D

Now ive just got to go find the source.... :)

Cheers,
-Nic

[Koepi]

Hehe :)

I have to agree: we're not competing. We just have different binaries up. E.g.: If you want to use the stats reader with credits options, you unfortunately have to rely still on my build as foxer's changes didn't make it into CVS yet :(

Regards,
Koepi

[FreQi]

So I have been reading a bit more on FFDShow, and wanted to see if I understand this right, since I'll probably be putting this in nfo's and such. :D

I can use any build of XviD (currently, the older build of Nic's) to encode my videos. Then, other people can use any build of XviD to play the videos back, OR they can forget about installing XviD all together, and just get ffdshow from http://cutka.szm.sk/ffdshow/.

I never heard of ffdshow before, so I wanted to make sure that's right, but it makes sense that any build of XviD would play any (older) version of xvid encodes (kinda like divx5 plays any older divx's).

[Nic]

Yup, I think thats right apart from the odd case where something like XviD interlacing was used to do the encode, etc as this could cause incompatibility (i think :) ).

-Nic

[Koepi]

XviD produces MPEG4 streams.

The playback filter doesn't change nearly as much as the encoder part.

Since the resulting bitstream is mpeg4 compliant, you can playback it with any mpeg4 compliant playback filter.

I hope this helps you understand it better.

Regards,
Koepi

P.S.: you don't plan doing illegal things, don't you? :(

[Dark-Cracker]

hi,

the codec are separete in 2 parts : one for encoding and one for the rendrering (the directshow filter).

u could read an xvid without the xvid codec encoder, but u need the xvid decoder.

when u install the nic's build it will install on your computer the xvid encoder and the xvid decoder. but u could install ffdshow who are only an xvid decoder.

i hope u have understand my bad english else i suppose an another people could explain you this very much than me.

@nic
i hope my latest post don't have hurt u ? i know u make a good work for the xvid scene, and the xvid build are not an copetition or an race :).

bye

[EDIT] damn i was to slow , 2 posts while i writting & posting this.

[Nic]

@DC: Nope not at all :) OT: I looked for that WarpSharp.dll everywhere for you but I cant find it :(

-Nic

[ookzDVD]

@Nic,

about your XviD DS filter, is there any chance to add the noise feature like ffdshow ?

[Nic]

Im going to go the other way :) Milans going to add my PostProcessing to ffdshow. I dont have much time & seeing ffdshow is so popular its probably the best solution.

-Nic

[FreQi]

Heh, not illegal. That's part of the reason I want to switch to XviD from DivX. The questionable legality of DivX3 makes XviD an interesting alternative. I just might use OGG for audio as well because of the copyright BS that surrounds MP3's, but now I have to determine what would be needed to play back OGM's. I imagine people would need the OggVorbis DirectShow filter (http://tobias.everwicked.com/), and this FFDShow (http://cutka.szm.sk/ffdshow/). Right?

In any case, I just like to collect tv shows on my computer like the previous generation did on their vcr's. It's a bit of a hobby (http://freqi.net/episodes/) and I have quite a stack (http://freqi.net/episodes/sfvs/) of episodes and misc clips under my belt.

[geneyu]

Which one support SMP?
i am using TYAN 2466 £« 2X1700 Atlon XP

[Acaila]

None do atm, SMP support is currently broken. AFAIK it's because of the B-frame code, and SMP doesn't have a high priority I can imagine.

Ps. nice mobo you got there :D