Conversion Tool from DivX3/4 to MPEG4 ISO, both based on Windows and Linux - paid job

[gldblade]

Well, I don't have any DivX 3.11 rips (actually, I don't have any, I'm fully legit), but I'm sure someone out there is wondering: this tool will be free, right?

:)

*Edit*
Well, relatively legit. I do decrypt DVDs, so technically I've broken the law.

[-h]

Yeah it'll be free. My target finish date is tomorrow or the day after, since it's bugging me. I had to install a bunch of extra software to debug it, and I don't like it being on my computer.

-h

[dan_vegas]

Any chance I can beta test this ?
I own a Kiss DP-450 and would love the ability to convert my old rips from Divx 3.

[ChristianHJW]

Before the Beta there comes always an alpha first ;) ...

This proggie seems to bug -h A LOT !! I hope he doesnt loose interest in making it :( ...

[dan_vegas]

I dont mind if I have to Delta test it, I just want to get my hands on it :sly:

[-h]

Nah it doesn't bug me, I just don't have much free time anymore :(

-h

[dan_vegas]

I'll come round and do your laundry for you if it makes this tool available any quicker !!

:p

[mpeg4everybody]

Originally posted by -h
Nah it doesn't bug me, I just don't have much free time anymore :(

-h

Just put your source code somewhere, i'm sure someone with free time will take it over.

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by mpeg4everybody
Just put your source code somewhere, i'm sure someone with free time will take it over.
-h might be worried about somebody using the code to sell to the original company for this "paid job"

[-h]

Eh? I'm not selling code to anyone, it's going to be released freely.

It's actually not that much code, it's just debugging the traps in libavcodec that's painful.

-h

[PowerMacG4]

Yeah, it can be a pain to play with ffmpeg.

He can't not release the source and then get paid for his work, since he is using code written under the GPL (or is it LGPL) license.

[easyfab]

I've discovered this project today and i'm very surprised.
To "convert" divx3->mpeg4 without reencoding? whao, would be nice :)
Few questions:
-Is the conversion just an index modification or more ?
-Will the quality through the mpeg4 decoder be the same as the more specific divx3 decoding ?
-Will the transcoding file have ~the same size as the original ?

I wish you good luck for this useful tool :)
Thanks again -h

[-h]

Quality will be identical, output size will be (perhaps significantly) larger, and the modification involves decoding all motion vectors, block modes and dct coefficients, then encoding them into MPEG-4 format.

-h

[easyfab]

Thanks -h for answering.

Finally the conversion is not so easy/direct that i meant.

[dattrax]

-h

What are you doing about VOP edges? If I remember correctly the make_edge() is different between 3.11 and 4/5/xvid. Also aren't there some chroma rounding differences of motion vectors?

Jim

[dan_vegas]

I dont mind an increase in file size so much.
I have been re-encoding my 1 disk(700MB) divx3 rips to 2 disk divx5 so I can keep most of the original quality.

Will it take much time to convert from divx3 to 5 using this method?

[ChristianHJW]

Originally posted by dattrax
What are you doing about VOP edges? If I remember correctly the make_edge() is different between 3.11 and 4/5/xvid. Also aren't there some chroma rounding differences of motion vectors?

- h,

with more experts entering the scene on this issue, wouldnt it be worth considering to release the sources you have now, so some people could make suggestions ? Of course, only sources, no binaries yet ...

Christian

[dan_vegas]

Agreed, you know what they say, two heads being better than one and all that.

[dan_vegas]

has anyone heard any news on this from -h yet ?

[ChristianHJW]

Dont put pressure on him .... lets try to be patient :D

I am convinced he wants this tool to be out as badly as we want it ;) ...

[Acaila]

ChristianHJW wrote:
with more experts entering the scene on this issue, wouldnt it be worth considering to release the sources you have now, so some people could make suggestions ? Of course, only sources, no binaries yet ...
dan_vegas wrote:
Agreed, you know what they say, two heads being better than one and all that.
If I were a software developer I would probably be offended by those remarks. It's like being told, "you're not good enough, you're not fast enough, let someone else take over what you started."

Of course you two are correct that more people working on a project can increase the quality and speed of development, but it still feels like coming short when you're being told this.

In short, let -h work on it how/when he wants to and stop bugging him about it.

Sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes here...

[elcabesa]

hy
maybe i'm wrong, but looking this situation in a FREESOFTWARE way, christianHJW is right, if there are other people that can help why not make them able to help? it's my point of view and it's not perfect ,not right not wrong, only my point of view =)

to -h
please make it the best=)

[ChristianHJW]

Originally posted by Acaila If I were a software developer I would probably be offended by those remarks. It's like being told, "you're not good enough, you're not fast enough, let someone else take over what you started."

Remember Acaila, -h is from 'down under' ... those guys are quite robust, i'd be surprised if he would feel offended from my suggestion to release what he has got right now ... ;)

[easyfab]

I agree with Acaila, let -h have the time to do his tool and let him have fun to do that.
It's cool to share with other but it's more exciting to succeed a hard job alone.

Have fun -h :) and give us a good tool

[dan_vegas]

Originally posted by dan_vegas
has anyone heard any news on this from -h yet ?

Lets stop this already, I only asked if anyone had heard any news.

You are all right in one way or another.......except easyfab! :p

[cinghio]

Hi -h and all other guys,

Would it be feasible to find an optimized algorithm for a direct transcode MPEG2 => MPEG4 without any resize/filter/crop (i.e. NULL transformation)?
In this case iDCT and then DCT stages are, obviously, to be avoided, but is there any other process that could also be avoided?
Quantization can be bypassed?

It would be very useful for storage of DVB recorded material (varios resolutions, form factor needed).

Is the approach feasible and convenient?
Or is there any unavoidable obstacle?

Thanks for your attention

[PowerMacG4]

You cannot transcode MPEG-2 to MPEG-4.

[mpeg4everybody]

Originally posted by PowerMacG4
You cannot transcode MPEG-2 to MPEG-4.

You may not be abble to do a completely lossless transcode, but you can certainly increase the speed by using information from the mpeg2 stream to encode.

For example, you could use the motion vectors used in the mpeg2 encoding to accelerate the motion estimation steps. I'm also pretty confident you can find enough information in the mpeg2 stream to enhance the bitrate control mechanism...

Off course it may not be optimal, but i think it could potentialy greatly speed up the encoding.

[sysKin]

Originally posted by mpeg4everybody
For example, you could use the motion vectors used in the mpeg2 encoding to accelerate the motion estimation steps. I'm also pretty confident you can find enough information in the mpeg2 stream to enhance the bitrate control mechanism... No this wouldn't work - you would have to use the same P/B decisions as in mpeg2, and this would look bad in mpeg4.

[jamieuk]

good luck with the work you are doing on this tool -h, this tool will meen a lot to alot of people on the net, cant thank you anuff 4 the work you are putting in 2 this.

will donate some money to you if you set up a pay method when you have finished, as i think every 1 else should

[dan_vegas]

bump

[ChristianHJW]

Hey -h !!

I bet a bottle of finest Scotch ( Macallan 18 yrs. , Dalwinnie, whatever ) that the matroska team will release their DShow parser and matroskadub earlier into public beta status than you can do with your tool .... accept the bet ??? :D :D ...

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by ChristianHJW
Hey -h !!

I bet a bottle of finest Scotch ( Macallan 18 yrs. , Dalwinnie, whatever ) that the matroska team will release their DShow parser and matroskadub earlier into public beta status than you can do with your tool .... accept the bet ??? :D :D ...

omg :D

[dan_vegas]

FAO ChristianHJW, what will matroskadub do please explain ?
I need to be able to convert my old divx 3.11 movies to divx 5/xvid so I can watch them on my hardware Kiss DVD player, will matroskadub be able to do this ?

If so when will it be released ?

[bond]

seems like -h disappeared!?

[zulu]

Originally posted by dan_vegas
FAO ChristianHJW, what will matroskadub do please explain ?
I need to be able to convert my old divx 3.11 movies to divx 5/xvid so I can watch them on my hardware Kiss DVD player, will matroskadub be able to do this ?

If so when will it be released ?

hehe..no, matroskadub won't convert your old divx3 movies for you.
it's a vdub modification supporting the new upcoming matroska container format.

[dan_vegas]

i guessed you would say that.

well then, what are the chances of getting matroska container support for my DVD player ??

I think that was what was mentioned at the start of this thread

[ChristianHJW]

Originally posted by dan_vegas well then, what are the chances of getting matroska container support for my DVD player ?? I think that was what was mentioned at the start of this thread

Well, this question is extremely hard to answer. I guess its all depending of the pressure that the buyers of 'DivX' PLayers put onto the manufacturers, with respect to their inability to play DivX3 movies.

Sure, all of them will explain in the docs that DivX3 is NOT supported in their units, but i am not sure everybody will read this before buying the unit. I expect that the service departments of KiSS and Neuston, if such are existing, are having a pretty hard time right now .. lol :D !!

The only feasible solution i could see for them, was to make or distribute a tool that would allow the customer to convert his DivX3 AVIs into MPEG4 ISO files, and to a container that will allow to support
- VBR MP3
- AC3 audio
- mode2 form 2 ( 800 MB )

Only 2 containers come to mind, being OGM and soon matroska.

To answer your question about matroskadub, i dont think that -h's conversion tool could be integrated into matroskadub easily, but maybe a command line tool with a nice GUI could do this for you ? ;) ...

I suggest you guys spam KiSS and Neuston with support requests for matroska .. LOL :D :D !!

[dan_vegas]

sorry it has come to this, i wish someone could prove me wrong.....-h ????

"Conversion Tool from DivX3/4 to MPEG4 ISO, both based on Windows and Linux - paid job" == VAPORWARE

[dan_vegas]

sorry it has come to this, i wish someone could prove me wrong.....-h ????

"Conversion Tool from DivX3/4 to MPEG4 ISO, both based on Windows and Linux - paid job" == VAPORWARE

[sam_b]

How the hell can software to be released under GPL being coded by one person FOR FREE IN HIS OWN TIME be vapourware? Twice.

-h has a job, as have most people who code for XviD etc.... If he does not have time to finish it, or the debugging just plain does his head in, you have not lost anything. He owes you and has promised precisely nothing.

P.S. Sorry about by rant, I've just been programming TI DSP code for 9 hours straight....

[seewen]

Sure, all of them will explain in the docs that DivX3 is NOT supported in their units, but i am not sure everybody will read this before buying the unit


Kiss will be able to read DivX 3.11 soon. The public firmware will be released in a few days/weeks .

http://www.kiss-technology.com/news/content.asp?id=52

( and actually, Kiss is alredy able, since firmware 2.6.3, to read "GMC" ).

[avc]

Originally posted by sam_b
How the hell can software to be released under GPL being coded by one person FOR FREE IN HIS OWN TIME be vapourware? Twice.

-h has a job, as have most people who code for XviD etc.... If he does not have time to finish it, or the debugging just plain does his head in, you have not lost anything. He owes you and has promised precisely nothing.

P.S. Sorry about by rant, I've just been programming TI DSP code for 9 hours straight....

You are absolutely right. -h might be fired by his boss if he keeps thinking the debugging all night long. And his promise is nothing though.

I saw some one in Divx forum said the motion vector in Divx3.11 is quite different with MPEG-4 too (extended UMC). because of the dpcm coding of motion vector, re-doing motion search is necessary. Then it is another pain for -h.

[dan_vegas]

hey look guys, i apologise for complaining. i understand about the problems that cause projects like this to take longer than anticipated.

[ubow]

Originally posted by dan_vegas
hey look guys, i apologise for complaining. i understand about the problems that cause projects like this to take longer than anticipated.

Well, I didn't interpret your query as a complaint, although the use of the term "vapourware" could have been a little more tactful, since the word seems to elicit surprising defensive responses from developers :)

I think it's a valid question to pose though... what happened to this project? Several weeks ago -h said "my target finish date is tomorrow or the day after" so obviously the project has reached an impasse of some kind.

There's no need to treat -h with kid gloves though, as "what's the status of the project" is a question that he will hear ALL his life if he works as a developer.

Even though -h has stated that he's doing it for free, there is still a "paid job" being offered by Neuston for this project so perhaps someone else could step up to the podium and tackle this problem if ..... and I repeat IF... -h has abandoned it.

[ChristianHJW]

Originally posted by ubow
Even though -h has stated that he's doing it for free, there is still a "paid job" being offered by Neuston for this project so perhaps someone else could step up to the podium and tackle this problem if ..... and I repeat IF... -h has abandoned it.

Sorry for not having adressed this problem earlier, but the guys simply dont reply to my emails anymore. Things start to make sense of you go to the SIGMA designs homepage and see that they obviously have found a way to make their EM 8500 play DivX 3.11 ... dont ask me what deal they have with M$, maybe they promised to implement WMV9 in return, i have no other explanation ....

... in short : somebody change the subject of this thread and cancels the 'paid job from Neuston' ... it seems its not valid anymore :( ....

[tiki4]

Anyway, has someone seen -h recently? Seems he's vanished totally. What a shame, he's been a nice guy round here. I surely miss him.

tiki4

[Nic]

I sent him a mail not too long ago...he normally replies pretty much straight away even when he wasnt on the forum much. But no reply this time :(

Hope he's ok and enjoying himself :)

-Nic

[MarkCoolio]

Just found this thread on my bookmarks...
Any news from -h?

[BoNz1]

Yes, see this thread, http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55087 as for any progress on the tool, well only -h would know. If it does get done then that would be great but I guess it is less of an issue now since a lot of these players now support 3.11, however not properly, but thats another topic, ;)