ffvfw

[athos]

well i think it's time to start a new thread about this. iäm not sure it belongs in the xvid forum, but the ffdshow discussion has always been here so i'll post this here too. I made a new build of ffvfw today, download from http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html
From the changelog it seems 2-pass has been fixed.

For those who dont know, this is milans vfw implementation of the encoding part of libavcodec/ffmpeg. The decoding part is ffdshow. These two can work more or less together.

Update: I did a small test with 2-pass qpel and it worked alright. B-frames in 2-pass does not seem to work yet though.

[-h]

I have been testing recent builds of ffmpeg, and am quite eager to try porting libavcodec's fDCT over to XviD - it appears to be less accurate (a full 1 dB lower PSNR than XviD when quantizer is fixed), but bitrate savings are quite significant and it's an effective pre-filter.

Trellis quantization also gives significant quality improvements at a given bitrate - around 0.3 dB in my tests, very useful for the 2nd pass.

-h

[sam_b]

Cheers athos.

I have been testing (your previous build) recently as well, and am very very impressed by it, particularly its qpel - although I suspect 90% of libav mpeg4 is cut-and-paste XviD code.

Were there problems with the 2-pass qpel? I just did Arlington Rd. with Qpel and I though it did a very fine job. B-frames just crash for me, or just plain look bad.

-h, could you explain trellis quants to me? I have yet to find a good explanation on the net. Also, how are they meant to be used. I tried on a 1pass-quality encoding, and it seemed to reduce the quality slightly after reducing the quality setting to match the filesizes.

[NiTroGen]

For anyone having problems with downloading from http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html, you can also get all builds of ffvfw since April 2002 from this unofficial site (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/ffvfw/) of ffvfw that I've created.
Thanks Athos for the new build. I'm looking forward to finishing my XviD encoding of "MIB2" and testing ffvfw.

[athos]

Originally posted by sam_b
Were there problems with the 2-pass qpel? I just did Arlington Rd. with Qpel and I though it did a very fine job.
I did not try 2-pass for the previous build, but the changelog mentions 2-pass so i assume something has been done in this area.
B-frames just crash for me, or just plain look bad.

Crashes for me too

[sam_b]

I cannot reach ffvfw from virtualdub. It does not appear in the codec list for me. Reinstalling the previous version makes it appear again. If I copy the dll from the new ffvfw, install the old one, and then copy back the new dll into the system32 dir it still doesn't appear in vdub(mod). I have tried uninstalling before reinstalling. Any ideas?

[Suikun]

Originally posted by sam_b
Cheers athos.

I have been testing (your previous build) recently as well, and am very very impressed by it, particularly its qpel - although I suspect 90% of libav mpeg4 is cut-and-paste XviD code.

[...]


libavcodec is a part of ffmpeg, which is yet another MPEG-4 implementation (see ffmpeg.sourceforge.net). It was developed before XviD :)

[Suikun]

On another note, this version of ffvfw can cause macroblocks to become pink over time when not using the original MPEG-4 encoder (like MP42 and so on).
On pans macroblocks slowly get pink...looks like a DCT error accumulating over time...

[-h]

This version of ffvfw has a QPel bug which performs HV interpolation incorrectly. It has since been fixed in ffmpeg's CVS.

Most of the code people here use (MPEG-4 specific) was written by Michael of the ffmpeg team - none of it is from XviD, and most of the structure is radically different too.

Perhaps try this paper (http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~iap/facultypublications/villasenor/villasenor_2000_TIP_9_8_1431.pdf) for a description of trellis quantization. I tested by performing a 1st pass without trellis, and performing two second passes - one without trellis, one with, and comparing PSNR of the identically-sized output files.

-h

[easyfab]

Whao!
I 've D/L the new version and made little tests.
(Xvid has a lot of parameters to play with but ffvfw has much more :)but i don't know the most of them (X1 ? diamonds 2 or 6 ? ...). i think i must go to the ffmpeg faq's for have the answers.)

The tests:
xvid,divx,ffvfw codecs
1)
all codecs with basic parameters (no b-frames, q-pel ...)and 2 pass encode
10 sec action and 20 sec normal scene
bitrate ~250kbs and ~750kbs.
Decoder ffdshow without PP
Results FOR ME 1)ffvfw 2)XVID 3)Divx in 250kbs
Results FOR ME 1)XVID 2)ffvfw 3)Divx in 750kbs
2)
Same but with b-frames enable @ ~750kbs
Results 1)xvid 2)divx 3)ffvfw
I think the b-frames code in ffvfw in not completly implemented

Conclusion : The ffvfw codec is and could be an alternative to Xvid and other mpeg4 codecs in few times if it progress at this rythm.

[sam_b]

@Suikun
I am aware of what libavcodec and ffmpeg are and I know they are quite old. It's just I didn't think that MPEG4 was a significant part of it, and I though it was a (relatively) recent addition. libavcodec's capabilities amaze me, it really can seem do pretty much anything. mplayer too. Didn't mean to offend anyone.

It it's MPEG-4 code really not based on even OpenDivX (which is pretty old)?

@-h

cheers for the link, but I get a 404 Not Found from it.
I'll give trellis a second go. When I figure out how to install it.... :D

[athos]

sam_b> did you put msvcr70.dll in Windows/system(32)?
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr70

[sam_b]

Still no go I'm afraid. Can install 0401 and it works fine. 1104 just makes the codec disappear from the list after restarting vdubmod. My win2k SP2 is only 1 day old! Why must it taunt me so!

[easyfab]

@sam_b

I had the same pb in capture mode.
For me, i just unselected "unable image processing" and it works again
(colorspace pbs perhaps?)

[-h]

cheers for the link, but I get a 404 Not Found from it.

Goodness look at that. You can still access the google cache if you search for "trellis quantization dct", it's the top match.

-h

[birdy]

WOW!
I am really impressed! I have been trying all the builds of divx and other codecs one by one and I didn't know about ffvfw!

What is this damn Libavcodec???
The quality of what I captured with it is amazing!!!
Please guys, point me to a guide (how to, options explained etc) for this and help me figure it out.

Also I don't know if its me having problems or a bug but in iuvcr I get load of access vialation errors when setting the codec!~:(

[athos]

Originally posted by birdy
What is this damn Libavcodec???
The quality of what I captured with it is amazing!!!
Please guys, point me to a guide (how to, options explained etc) for this and help me figure it out.

libavcodec is part of ffmpeg, http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/

[birdy]

Originally posted by athos
sam_b> did you put msvcr70.dll in Windows/system(32)?
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr70


it's looking for msvcp70.dll too! and here is the link:
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcp70

After adding both dll's it worked for me :) and what a surprise!
Between the build from 2003 01 04 and the 2003 01 11 there is so much change and improvment!!!

If the guy or guys involved in this project continue the job at this speed I guess there is a damn promissing futur for ffvfw.

hehe I am so exited about this that I want to talk about it! But there are so many options with it that I have to test that I better keep the talking for later with a little more experience and avoid saying some stupid things ;)

Only thing I can say for now is that it's really worth that all of you give it a try and you will be surprised!

[NeVeRLiFt]

I know your testing it with captures Birdy using the Cyberlink filter ;) And I know how nice your captures look. But how much smaller or better does it get than using XviD??? I use XviD and the Cyberlink filter and have files that are just over 2mb for 1min sample using a 512x384 res and that quality is as good as a SVCD capture? Are you getting 1mb for 1min with this?

Whats the avg for the size of a 5min capture?

(and I know the size depends on whats happening in the scenes but I usually avg 3-8mb most times, with you PAL based satellite using S-video you must be having a better time of it than me)

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42088

posted here about the way we capture using XviD and people liked it :D

[sam_b]

Thankyou Birdy!!

[birdy]

hey Neverlift :) nice to see you here m8.
Well I guess if there is one here who know me well it's you.
As you know I capture my files to 768X576 and the file size is not the first issu for me. My goal is to make 1movie fit on 2 Cd's so I can preserve the maximum possible quality. But what I can say about size improuvment with this codec is that for the same source and same picture I get about 1 to 1.5mb/m less file size with this codec compared to xvid. (my captures are normaly ment to be arround 10 to max 12 MB/M)

What I found very interesting with this codec was all the options and possibilities it gives you to configure it and also the speed of development of this codec! Seems these guys are really putting time and working hard on it!

Anyway it all seems very promissing and I am ready to bet on it as becoming a successful and popular codec.

There is Only one wish I have and its that codec developers try also to optimize there codecs for direct capture too! Ofcours this is possible and we get very good quality already with the existing codecs. But it seems that encoding(Converting) is what they are all mostly focused on for now.

[-h]

But what I can say about size improuvment with this codec is that for the same source and same picture I get about 1 to 1.5mb/m less file size with this codec compared to xvid. (my captures are normaly ment to be arround 10 to max 12 MB/M)

I don't understand - how are you capturing? Fixed bitrate or fixed quantizer? The fDCT function in libavcodec is less accurate, so file size (and detail) is lower at a given quantizer than XviD. If ffmpeg is smaller with fixed bitrate encoding, something is wrong with rate control.

What I found very interesting with this codec was all the options and possibilities it gives you to configure it and also the speed of development of this codec! Seems these guys are really putting time and working hard on it!

Michael does put a lot of effort into ffmpeg. The modular nature of supporting multple codecs means most options *have* to be configurable. Sometimes this is a problem.

Anyway it all seems very promissing and I am ready to bet on it as becoming a successful and popular codec.

It already is - it's just taken windows users a while to figure it out :)

There is Only one wish I have and its that codec developers try also to optimize there codecs for direct capture too! Ofcours this is possible and we get very good quality already with the existing codecs. But it seems that encoding(Converting) is what they are all mostly focused on for now.

Not really, ffmpeg is designed for capturing as well. There's not much you can do to speed it up, apart from resorting to inferior motion estimation modes like zero vectors.

-h

[Dali Lama]

Wow, a lot of settings to understand in the latest ffvfw.

I was wondering is there any information I can read up on the different Motion Estimation routines and Masking techniques?

Also, is the MPEG-4 Encoder without B-frames and QPel standard MPEG-4? How about with B and Q?

Thanks all for re-introducing this interesting and high quality MPEG-4 codec.

Dali

[AlphaDivxMovies]

There ain`t much information unless you search google for every bit of optional parameters in ffvfw.
Where do they hang out? Do they provide some explanation to what is happening or we have only the changelog? It`s hard to test something you know nothing about!

[slavickas]

nice link on settings test
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=1478400&forum_id=1506

[sillKotscha]

sorry mates,

I've tried different days, times, both websites but I can't download it... either site not found or a fabulous websearch :confused:

where may I get it??

regards Sill

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by sillKotscha
sorry mates,

I've tried different days, times, both websites but I can't download it... either site not found or a fabulous websearch :confused:

where may I get it??

regards Sill
Just checked my site and guess what... It was found! Sorry, but I don't know what's the problem. Try this one (http://62.103.124.5/ffvfw/ffvfw-20030111.exe). Does it work?

[Assault]

I have the same problem as sillKotscha. I cannot download ffvfv neither by Athos' link nor by NiTroGen's. NiTroGen's new link doesn't work either. :(
I don't know whether it's important but we are both from Germany. Just a thought. :confused:

Regards
Assault

[molerus]

Hello folks!

I've just started using ffvfw and I must say I have some petty troubles and one BIG problem:( . The file I have encoded cannot be loaded into VDub. It says either that video frame are corrupted or crashes.

What should I do?????

Regards
Maciek

[unixfs]

Hi,

afair older versions of ffvfw were supposed to be compiled with with mingw/msys but when I try it I get this error in the dll-build part:

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/nico/ffvfw/src/ffmpeg/libavcodec'
dllwrap --mno-cygwin --target=i386-mingw32 \
-o ffvfw.dll -def ./driverproc.def config.o driverproc.o codec.o 2pass.o config.res.o \
-Lffmpeg/libavcodec -lavcodec_enc \
-Lxvid -lxvidcore \
-lgdi32 -lcomdlg32 -lwinmm -lcomctl32 \
-L/usr/lib/mingw -lcrtdll \
/usr/lib/mingw/dllcrt1.o -lmingw32
make: *** [ffvfw.dll] Error 1



Can anyone help me to solve it, please?

[Koke]

Originally posted by Assault
I have the same problem as sillKotscha. I cannot download ffvfv neither by Athos' link nor by NiTroGen's. NiTroGen's new link doesn't work either. :(
I don't know whether it's important but we are both from Germany. Just a thought. :confused:

Regards
Assault

Don`t right click->save target, try left click.

[Koke]

Originally posted by molerus
Hello folks!

I've just started using ffvfw and I must say I have some petty troubles and one BIG problem:( . The file I have encoded cannot be loaded into VDub. It says either that video frame are corrupted or crashes.

What should I do?????

Regards
Maciek

Set fourcc to xvid and when done open it in AVIC, set fourcc
description to xvid and voila, you have an xvid avi!

[sillKotscha]

Originally posted by Koke
Don`t right click->save target, try left click.

you're really one of those funny guys : lol : :D

I gave up trying to download ffvfw... although I even have 3 possibilities now to download, it still won't work...

- Sill

[sam_b]

You want it emailing?

[Assault]

@ Koke
I could finally download it a few minutes ago. I don't know why but until now my computer wasn't able to load the pages. The direct link didn't work either until today but it was definately not because I did a right click. :D :D
Thanks anyway. ;)

Regards
Assault

[sillKotscha]

you have a PM :D

[easyfab]

Originally posted by unixfs
Hi,

afair older versions of ffvfw were supposed to be compiled with with mingw/msys but when I try it I get this error in the dll-build part:

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/nico/ffvfw/src/ffmpeg/libavcodec'
dllwrap --mno-cygwin --target=i386-mingw32 \
-o ffvfw.dll -def ./driverproc.def config.o driverproc.o codec.o 2pass.o config.res.o \
-Lffmpeg/libavcodec -lavcodec_enc \
-Lxvid -lxvidcore \
-lgdi32 -lcomdlg32 -lwinmm -lcomctl32 \
-L/usr/lib/mingw -lcrtdll \
/usr/lib/mingw/dllcrt1.o -lmingw32
make: *** [ffvfw.dll] Error 1



Can anyone help me to solve it, please?

What version of the sources have you? because with the lastest i think you must modify the makefile. And now i just can't access to the cvs (with wincvs or with ie) is there a sourceforge prob or what?

[Koke]

Thanks for laughs but this was partly sincere
advice. Why?
When I have tried to open link in a new window
another page opened, normally having no near relation
to FFvfw so, at first, I`ve thought link is no good one.
But then when I clicked it directly there it was!

I know that you knew, but, on the other hand,
one never knows...

:rolleyes:

[molerus]

Hello

Thx Koke for your reply.
I was changing fourcc to XVID earlier, but I was doing it with Nic's XviD installed. It seems that with Koepi's build everything is OK.

I have now another issue.
I'm using ffvfw build 13-th jan.
There are some masking facilities avaiable, like luma masking, P-block masking etc. I tried to use them with the quality set to 100%.
With or without these maskings there are no differences neither in filesize nor in quality. Do these maskings work? (I checked the Masking checkbox).

By the way - where should I look for the latest builds??

[molerus]

Ooooooppssssss

My mistake:D

It was build 2003-01-11

sorrry:scared:

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by molerus
By the way - where should I look for the latest builds??
When a new build is out, I'm sure that Milan, Athos or whoever compiled the build will make a post here.
I am willing to host any new build to my web space (see my signature), so please feel free to send me (nitrogen@freemail.gr) any builds you make.

[birdy]

I hope that at the same time as improving the codec with new builds someone will start making a guide/option explained doc for it.

[unixfs]

Originally posted by easyfab
What version of the sources have you? because with the lastest i think you must modify the makefile. And now i just can't access to the cvs (with wincvs or with ie) is there a sourceforge prob or what?

It's the last version available on Milan's site.
Now I've seen that there are other versions available, but those binaries never work for me: whatever settings I use, VD and VMod (in XP Home) die with error -100.

Is MPEG1 encoding actually working for someone?

Thanks

[athos]

New build today. Includes (some) wmv9 support, havent tested myself yet. Compiled with Visual Studio 6 and Intel C++ Compiler 7.0, should not require any additional dlls (such as msvcr70.dll).

Webpage: http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html
Direct download: http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw-20030120.exe
ChangeLog: http://athos.web1000.com/changelog

I have emailed it to NiTroGen too, so he can put it up on his site.

Still no word from milan if he wants me to put up builds on sourceforge.

[Valky]

changelog link doesn't work.

Actually none of them doesn' work :)

[lat3ralis]

The links work fine for me :D

lat3ralis

[birdy]

all 3 links work perfect here.
right click the links and choose "open in new window" and not "save target as"
can't wait to test the new build :)

[Valky]

well..this is strange..even if I do everything (open in new window or manually write the url) it just doesn't work :(

It always opens this url for me and redirects: http://web1000.globalreachinc.com/404/mainstream/abcsearch2.html

strange..

[sillKotscha]

for me is it exactly the same but I think it's due to our browser(s), I assume you're using IE. Someone told me that using another browser i.e. opera/ mozilla is maybe able to open the desired page.

I think putting the binaries to sourceforge will be the best idea. ;)

- Sill

[AlphaDivxMovies]

Ffvfw rocks! What doesn`t rock is the total lack of information!
Since no one cared for the common joe out there i dug and found this cool link: http://rguyom.chez.tiscali.fr/libavcodec_tests.html

Hope it helps other users out there to test this codec implementation
and participate in it`s development.

Regards
AlphaDivxMovies

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by athos
I have emailed it to NiTroGen too, so he can put it up on his site.

Got it and uploaded it!

[Koke]

Do I have to remove those two dll`s from
previous build since 2nd pass in VDub
gives me an error? Previous version
works fine.
New version gives normal output in Vidomi
(one pass), old one crashes it.

Thanks

P.S. scarred to remove dll`s from system...:scared:

[athos]

Originally posted by Koke
Do I have to remove those two dll`s from
previous build since 2nd pass in VDub
gives me an error? Previous version
works fine.
New version gives normal output in Vidomi
(one pass), old one crashes it.

Thanks

P.S. scarred to remove dll`s from system...:scared:

There is no need to remove those dlls, allthough it should not cause any problems to do so assuming you remove the correct ones. I suggest you keep them, as you might install software in the future which needs them. They are for programs compiled with Visual Studio C++ 7.0.

[Suikun]

This version of ffvfw seems to ignore quantizer restrictions and the b-frame ratio and offset.
On another note, does masking actually do something? Just wondering, as all frames have "clean" avarage quants (like 4.00 and 2.00), which does not happen with XviD's luminance masking.

[molerus]

Does a msking work at all!!!

I encoded my short clip with the quality set to 100% and using all kinds of masking and it generated THE EXACT filesize as without any boosters.

Do I do something wrong?

[athos]

I'm sorry, I dont really know anything more than you guys. I just check out the files with cvs and compile them. I think the best place to find information on this is to study the ffmpeg and libavcodec documentation.

[easyfab]

Thanks athos for the build. Very promissing :)

I have just a little question about compiling ffvfw. i try with mingw and i have probs with Tffvfwpage.cpp and tffvfwpage.cpp, do i need directx sdk and something so ?

[athos]

Originally posted by easyfab
Thanks athos for the build. Very promissing :)

I have just a little question about compiling ffvfw. i try with mingw and i have probs with Tffvfwpage.cpp and tffvfwpage.cpp, do i need directx sdk and something so ?

I have DirectX 9 SDK and Microsoft Platform SDK (August 2002) installed. For the latest build I also installed Windows Media Format 9 SDK.

I think you at least need DXSDK (8.1 should work too).

[easyfab]

Thanks i'll try

[gldblade]

Looks very impressive.

My god, anyone care to explain the motion estimate settings? I have an idea how it all works, but what are the specific differences between different settings. For example, X1 vs EPZS for motion estimation.

[Suikun]

Originally posted by gldblade
Looks very impressive.

My god, anyone care to explain the motion estimate settings? I have an idea how it all works, but what are the specific differences between different settings. For example, X1 vs EPZS for motion estimation.

Well, for the ME algorithm you can easily test it yourself. Just encode something at const quant 2 (or just do a first pass) and compare the filesizes. The smaller one should in most cases have the better ME, for the ME had found better matches for macroblocks, thus reducing the filesize and improving quality. XviD uses EPZS(²), which seems to be a lot better than X1.
All that SAD, SATD and SSE stuff describe the way the macroblocks of the current picture are compare against the reference frame. XviD uses SAD for example. SATD gives small improvements as far as I know, but is slower. A recent comparison (it's linked somewhere in this thread, I think) showed that DCT gave the best results PSNR wise, but it's even slower than SATD.
Normally this comparison only takes the luminance component of the macroblocks into account, so enabling the Chroma checkboxes will make it do checks agains chrominance, too, which can also give quality and filesize improvements (I guess).
Qpel is, of course, quarter pel motion search precision. It can also improve quality in exchange for encoding and decoding speed.
The high quality checkbox makes ffmpeg encode all macroblocks in all possible modes and choose the best in filesize/quality terms. 4MV allows it to occasionally split a 16*16 macroblock into 4 8*8 blocks for motion vectors, which also can improve quality sometimes.
I can't tell you anything about ME prepass and last predictor count, sorry. But the mentioned test suggested a value of 5 for the latter.
Well, I hope this helps. Someone correct my mistakes, for I certainly have made some...

[AlphaDivxMovies]

FFvfw is evolving very fast and they keep on adding more funcionality!
Seems colossal work compared to other projects.
With the latest builds some facts are present:

The best psnr results seem to derive from these settings:

- Trellis Quantization is quite efficient (alone or otherwise)
- From ME side EPZS is the only viable and stable option
- SATD is efficient and relatively CPU friendly but for the very last bit use DCT, slow but with slightly better results.
- Always use 4MV and HQ specially with B-frames.
- B-frames: Use no more than one and avoid them with animated content.
Seems a little too quirky to me so i avoid using them ( 2CDs :))
- Qpel seems promissing but is broken at the moment. Color bleeding everywhere. Next build maybe?
- ME prepass and last predictor count: I use always but after every I-frame works fine and seems less cpu intensive, 3 to 5 on last predictor count works ok for me.
- Works fine in YV12.
- "EPZS diamond size doesn't seems to provide an noticeable gain."
- "Never use v4mv alone, not only you will loose speed but also PSNR!"
- "vhq is only marginaly useful for most scenes, but on the anime one (PM) it's a really huge win!"
-"one B frame + SATD (*cmp=2) wins, sometimes by a large margin. "

For more detailed info check out: http://rguyom.chez.tiscali.fr/libavcodec_tests.html

Seems quite promissing, i did a movie test and it gave better quality thant Xvid at Quantizer 2 and all 1 pass modes, i just can`t get 2-pass to work on my computer, pity, i do first pass ok but second pass crashes all over the place.

Regards
AlphaDivxMovies

[sam_b]

I found no colour bleeding after *unticking* Autodetect Bugs in latest ffdshow.

[AlphaDivxMovies]

But there is still a bug and likely to be corrected. :)

[gldblade]

Thanks suikun.

What does last predictor count do?

[athos]

New build, changelog:
2003-01-28 14:03 milan_cutka

updated libavcodec

2003-01-28 13:50 milan_cutka

working on presets 3

2003-01-28 07:39 milan_cutka

no message

2003-01-28 06:50 milan_cutka

working on presets 2

2003-01-27 15:37 milan_cutka

working on presets

2003-01-27 06:47 milan_cutka

few fixes

2003-01-24 15:47 milan_cutka

no message

2003-01-23 16:12 milan_cutka

decoding support for HuffYV12

2003-01-23 15:30 milan_cutka

theora cleanup, mpeg1 muxer

2003-01-23 07:06 milan_cutka

huffYV12 encoding, graph currently disabled

2003-01-22 17:17 milan_cutka

saving ffdshow settings to bytestream (no loading yet)

2003-01-22 16:13 milan_cutka

wmv9 complexity settings, alligned allocators for lavc

2003-01-22 06:44 milan_cutka

no message

2003-01-21 15:08 milan_cutka

trellis quant not allowed for mjpeg

2003-01-21 06:39 milan_cutka

reading properties
Should be up at http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html
Direct Link: http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw-20030128.exe

[CavalloPazzo]

As usual the link doesn't work... at least for me. I'm waiting for Nitrogen to put a link into his site.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by CavalloPazzo
As usual the link doesn't work... at least for me. I'm waiting for Nitrogen to put a link into his site. Sorry, but I can't get this build from Athos' page to put it on my site. Athos, can you email it to me?

[AlphaDivxMovies]

I have sucessfully (methinks at least) used the latest version of Ffvfw in 2-pass mode and used Koepi`s Xvid StatsReader to scale the resulting stats file and adding keyframes to chapter locations.
I used no b-frames, no Qpel and no masking, i used a trailer (Intimacy) and a full movie (Final Destination) and in both i hit the desired size right on! I only had a 124kb variation in the trailer and 340kb for the full movie (in excess). Visual quality surpasses IMHO Xvid, Divx and Divx311, it looks very very good!
Doing another 2-pass mode on Final Destination but with B-frames and Masking, i do not like the Qpel feature, seems too quirky to be used in high quality encodes. Will post results later perhaps a bit more detailed.

Regards
AlphaDivxMovies

PS - @athos - I do not mean to be annoying but could you say how you compiled Ffvfw? I can checkout the latest CVS but VC7 refuses to compile it (i have nasm installed), a simple pointer would be enough, i just can`t find info elsewhere, sorry and thanks in advance!

PS2 - Thanks for your latest compile!

[athos]

NiTroGen> Sorry, I forgot. Mailed it now.

AlphaDivxMovies> You need DirectX SDK, and also Windows Media 9 SDK (for WMV9 support). You might also need Microsoft Platform SDK and possibly STLPort (not sure about these).

[gldblade]

As usual the link doesn't work... at least for me. I'm waiting for Nitrogen to put a link into his site. Are you left-clicking on the link? Because if you right-click save, or if you use a download manager, you'll simply be downloading a webpage that says that direct linking isn't allowed. If you left-click, you'll get this webpage as well, but you'll also get a download link that works.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by gldblade
Are you left-clicking on the link? Because if you right-click save, or if you use a download manager, you'll simply be downloading a webpage that says that direct linking isn't allowed. If you left-click, you'll get this webpage as well, but you'll also get a download link that works.

This is the message I get when I left-click:
We are sorry, but the file you are trying to download is larger than the maximum length permitted under current network conditions. Please try again later when network conditions change. The file you were trying to download was 501413 bytes.

Anyway, you can also get the binary from my site now.

[Koke]

Hi!
Just informing that this new
build can`t use preprocessing
option from ffdshov (jan 03 2003)
It is greyed. Previous builds could use it.

Regards

[unixfs]

Hi,

can you add decoding support for mpeg[12] in avi, please?

Thanks.

[Tommy Carrot]

Wow! Let me praise this thing!

I'm very impressed with ffvfw's low bitrate (quantizer 6-10) handling.
I've always hated how xvid and divx(4-5) creates texture flowing (sorry, i cannot explain it better) at low bitrates. It's not a bug, just the way they handle motion.

FFVFW remains clean of this. I did a comparation with xvid, and detail-wise they are about the same, but FFVFW is free from this floating/flowing texture thing.

And i like how many options it gives. Speed-wise it's slower, but i prefer quality over speed (within a reasonable limit of course).

At higher bitrate (2cd rip) xvid is the better, because it's faster, and the above mentioned problem disappears, but at low, ffvfw is the winner by a wide margin.

The only problem i've got: every key-frame causes strong blocks, which disappear only several frames later. At fix quantizer, xvid's keyframes are more detailed.

I've used ezps, chroma, sad, qpel, size 1 diamond, h263, but no bframes and trellis quantizer(i've heard it's a very good option, but i found no quality gain with it, just great speed loss).

[Billy|B-A]

I may have a small bug, or maybe its something I am doing wrong. When I finsih the 1st pass and try to start the 2nd pass it will crash cause the stats file is in use. The codecs is still holding the rights to the stats file. But if I close vdub, then reopen it I can encode using the stats file.

Its a small problem, but its a irritating 1. Keeps me from queuing jobs on the same stats file.

VirtualDubMod/VirtualDub
ffvfw-20030128.exe
Windows XP Pro

[edit]Took out a line. guess i am not asking for help =\

[bilu]

This codec seems very interesting, I will try it ASAP :)

Anyone found any suggestions on masking?

Bilu

[bilu]

Well, I haven't tested yet, but I've been a good boy :D


After reading this on the ffmpeg mailing list...

====================================================

From: Felix Buenemann <atmosfear@us...>
Re: libavcodec documentation
2003-01-30 05:29

On Wednesday 29 January 2003 17:43, Michael Niedermayer wrote:
> Hi
>
> On Wednesday 29 January 2003 12:06, Philippe Ney wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Is there some libavcodec documentation somewhere?
>
> hmm, not much AFAIK, except the source itself, for example see avcodec.h /
> apiexample.c in ffmpeg CVS or vd_ffmpeg.c / ve_lavc.c in mplayer CVS
add DOCS/tech/libavc-options.txt to the list (from mplayer), it's only about
en/decoding parameters though.

>
> Michael

--
Best Regards,
Atmos

===============================================================

... I've found some docs on libavcodec (the base of ffvfw)

encoding-tips.txt (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/main/DOCS/tech/encoding-tips.txt?rev=1.2&content-type=text/plain)

libavc-options.txt (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/main/DOCS/tech/libavc-options.txt?rev=1.38&content-type=text/plain)


Edit: I removed the attachments and put the links instead.


Bilu

[bilu]

Originally posted by Billy|B-A
I may have a small bug, or maybe its something I am doing wrong. When I finsih the 1st pass and try to start the 2nd pass it will crash cause the stats file is in use. The codecs is still holding the rights to the stats file. But if I close vdub, then reopen it I can encode using the stats file.

Its a small problem, but its a irritating 1. Keeps me from queuing jobs on the same stats file.

VirtualDubMod/VirtualDub
ffvfw-20030128.exe
Windows XP Pro

[edit]Took out a line. guess i am not asking for help =\


I have the same problem too, even using AVS2AVI. Same version and same OS.

Bilu

[NiTroGen]

@Milan, Athos:
Although the latest libavcodec release is version 0.4.6, in the change log (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/changelog.html) you can see that version 0.4.7 has been released, but not mentioned anywhere:
version 0.4.7:

- qpel encoding (Michael)
- 4mv+b frames encoding finally fixed (Michael)
- chroma ME (Michael)
- 5 comparission functions for ME (Michael)
- b frame encoding speedup (Michael)
- wmv2 codec (unfinished)
- user specified diamond size for EPZS (Michael)
I think that currect CVS snapshot (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/cvs/) is version 4.0.7. Is it possible to have a new build using this version of libavcodec?

[easyfab]

This "version" (0.47 change every day) is already in ffvfw.
Milian make an update very often and as you can see the latest ffvfw has b-frames, chroma me ...

[NiTroGen]

Check the latest build's about box:codec build date: Jan 28 2003, 22:40:54
libavcodec_enc: version 0.4.6, build 4654 (Jan 28 2003, 22:09:03)
XviD: API version 2.1

[easyfab]

Originally posted by NiTroGen
Check the latest build's about box:

Yes it's indicate 0.4.6 but it's 0.4.7
Just look the file "version" in the ffmpeg cvs directory it's already 0.4.6
I think they forgot to change it.
Milian updated libavcodec for 6 days now (look in the ffvfw cvs directory)

[athos]

Well I put up a new build today, I'm not sure if libavcodec is 0.46 or 0.47, about box says 0.46. also mailed it to nitrogen

[NiTroGen]

Thanks Athos for the new build, but I had no mail from you yet! :( And as usual, I can't access you page. :angry: Is it possible to mail it again? :D

Thanks again!

BTW, how about changing the provider of your web space, since may people cannot access your page. ;)

[Sgt_Strider]

what does this program do? I went to the ffvfw's official page and still can't find any info to help this noob understand what it does.

[athos]

i mailed it again. i will look into putting it on another webspace when i get home from work.

[NiTroGen]

OK, I got it now. I'll put it on my page tonight.

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by Sgt_Strider
what does this program do? I went to the ffvfw's official page and still can't find any info to help this noob understand what it does.

It's an mpeg4 codec, just like xvid/divx. With much more options, so the chance of confusion is large, but some of that option is amazing (switching off ME, for example). :D

EDIT: ME=Motion Estimation, not 'me'. :D

[Sgt_Strider]

Originally posted by Tommy Carrot
It's an mpeg4 codec, just like xvid/divx. With much more options, so the chance of confusion is large, but some of that option is amazing (switching off ME, for example). :D

EDIT: ME=Motion Estimation, not 'me'. :D

Is it actually better than xvid? I was getting the impression that ffvfw is some sort of program that compliments xvid.

[sam_b]

Try it - preferably at several quality settings and compare. Most of the settings you need to know about are fairly self explanatory. It (in use) has nothing to do with XviD AFAIF. Are you thinking of ffdshow?

You might want to pass on b-frames at least at first.

[digitize]

Suikun was nice enough to tell me a few things about it, and really it's an alternative to divx 3.11. It's better than divx3 and outputs compatible bitstreams. I trust Suikun is right about it, he's a good encoder.

[Suikun]

Originally posted by digitize
Suikun was nice enough to tell me a few things about it, and really it's an alternative to divx 3.11. It's better than divx3 and outputs compatible bitstreams.

There's actually one thing about encoding to DivX3 with ffvfw you should know about: DivX5's DivX3 playback is very, very broken (at least it was with 5.02, dunno about 5.03). There might be strange blocking artifacts on scenechanges and high motion scenes.
I didn't notice that on my first encodes, so imagine my rage when I noticed that DivX5 screwed up all my work.
A workaround for this is setting the FourCC of the avi to MP43 (remember: DivX3.11 is nothing but a hacked M$-MPEG4v3 codec. The internet's most used codec was made by M$, whee!). _Almost_ everyone should have M$'s MPEG4 codecs installed.
Yet, ffvfw is THE encoder if you're bound to DivX3 compatibility. It's ME is waaay better, it doesn't introduce that annoying smearing (DivX3's block skip decision SUCKS!) and it uses XviD's 2pass algorithm.
As for ffvfw's relation to XviD: In the "Encoder" option you can choose to either encode with libavcodec (see www.ffmpeg.org) OR XviD, in which case ffvfw will use xvid.dll. ffvfw is just a frontend for these encoders.

[digitize]

@Suikun
Yeah i remember that happened with asagiri no miko for you, and i noticed stony used mpeg 4v3 for hng.

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by Sgt_Strider
Is it actually better than xvid?

I've wrote about my opinion earlier it this topic in a greater detail. I find it similar or slightly worse at high bitrates, at low bitrates (quantizer 5-10), ffvfw is much better imo. Much less artifacts. Of course the different options can greatly alter the result.

[athos]

Note: I have had some trouble with gabest's excellent Media Player Classic, and after some advice posted in the MPC thread I uninstalled ffvfw and now it runs fine. I'm not sure if this is only related to the latest builds of ffvfw, as gabest himself says he has xvid, ffdshow and ffvfw installed, and no problem with MPC.

Also, for some other guy uninstalling ffvfw did not help.

[bill_baroud]

yeah, i had some problem with MPC, i didn't why (mpc launch, use 100% CPU but never show itself). I have just deinstalled ffvfw after read athos comment and it's fine now.


btw, i couldn't achieve a 2nd pass int with ffvfw (20030209) both with vdubmod & vdub 1.4.13 and avisynth 2.07/2.5beta.

First pass were ok, but 2nd crash with an "maybe corrupt video data (-100?)" :(

i was eager to test some new build after tests some months ago (with the first public build by milan).



btw, i'm running XP home(damn) on a compaq laptop 1800+ 256DDR.
no directx 9, no sp1.

[Kurosu]

I have seen that, when MPC is launched, an enormous amount of memory (around 550MB under Win2K SP3) is suddenly used (MPC doesn't seem to take that much memory, though).

Same happens with DVD2AVI, but not VirtualDub.

@bill_baroud
Did you try to close Vdub, restart it and restart the 2nd pass ?

I think the codec doesn't close the stats file, and untill the codec instance is unloaded, the file is locked in write-mode (can't be read).

[Suikun]

Originally posted by bill_baroud

First pass were ok, but 2nd crash with an "maybe corrupt video data (-100?)" :(


In some builds there is a bug which prevents ffvfw from starting encoding twice in one VirtualDub session, so after you abort or complete an encode, you will need to restart it.

[OntzA]

There's a solution to the MPC issue. When you install ffvfw don't tick Directshow filter. It seems MPC doesn't like ffvfw as directshow filter :(

[digitize]

I downloaded the newest build of ffvfw and tried to do a quick encode. I load an avs file:

#########
loadplugin("f:\avs2.5\plugins\vsfilter.dll")
opendmlsource("video-file.avi")

textsub("ssafile.ssa")
########

When i just try to do the first pass, vdub crashes, when i try vdubmod this error appears just when i click compression:

The procedure entry point WMCreateWriter could not be located in the dynamic link library WMVCore.DLL.

I can continue on to configure the codec, but when i go on to do the first pass vdubmod crashes. Im using a amd athlon tbird cpu 1.3ghz, id appreciate if anyone could help, thank you.

Edit: I've tried with previous builds, but vdub still crashes, and i've redownloaded wmvcore.dll to insure the one i had wasn't corrupted, and still vdub crashes.

[digitize]

Ok, I've made some progress... well not really, I no longer get the wmvcore.dll error, now it just freezes up when i try to do the first pass. Im just doing a simple divx3 (with a fourcc of mpv3) first pass encode, and vdub crashes.

[digitize]

Nevermind... I got help from a friend and figured out the problem :)

[echo]

Just a few bugs that I found in the 20030122 version:

1. During 1-pass encoding, I can't change the quantizer of B-frames whatever value I give to the b-frame offset and multiplier. They are always reported as quant 2 using ffdshow's OSD. (Quant type H.263)

2. XviD encoding produces videos that are half greyscale and half green.

3. When selecting XviD encoding, two passes 1st pass, if you click on the slider that changes the quantizer (I know I shouldn't do that and that it makes no sence anyway) VirtualDub(mod) crashes.

Anyway I like this baby with all its options. And I love that it is actually faster than XviD by about 20%. Thanks!

[suni]

i still dont get the 2pass mode to work for me :o

im getting the -100 error or crashes in virtualdubmod.exe

so are there any new findings or did i overlook something obvious everybody else found on his own ?

thanks :)

[Kurosu]

Another bug-report, although quite small:
the quantization matrix used is always H.263, even if mpeg is selected. The bitstreams are perfectly identical, and I assume by comparing the filesize ot a xvid encoding, using H.263 quant. matrix, that it is H.263 that is always used in FFVfW.

@Suni
No idea, except for the file locking problem you surely have checked.

[Tommy Carrot]

I've a small question: is ffvfw really being an mpeg4 compatible codec? Because nor xvid, neither divx can decode it. And the codec's motion handling is much closer to divx311. Is it impossible that ffvfw is somewhat microsoft mpeg4 compatible?

[Kurosu]

I can replay ffvfw mpeg4 content (ie encoded as mpeg4) by ffdshow, xvid and divx5 (depending on the Fourcc I choose). I haven't tested the other divx3/... compliant encoding, but users have reported in that thread that it can be decoded by plain divx3.11. It's either a fourcc problem or the xvid codec installed you use.

The codec 'motion handling' is completely alike xvid (ezps, unless it has changed in the latest xvid builds), and has other motion estimation algorithms (maybe closer to divx3.11 encoder - decoder seems to support more precise motion vectors than his encoder provides). ffvfw is indeed mpeg4 compatible, as you can choose in the encoder dropdown menu divx3/ms mpeg4 v3, ms mpeg4 v1 and v2. All except 'XVID encoder' seems to use specific settings of ffvfw (motion estimation, bframes, qpel, etc).

[Tommy Carrot]

Sorry, but when i tried to decode the content in the virtualdub with the xvid codec (no matters which build), all i got was an error message. The same with divx503. And vice versa.

BTW, i ain't referred to the ME algorithm. Just the feeling. The blocks are much more stationary than in the xvid/divx encodings, in fact, nearly the same behaviour than divx311. I know this doesn't mean anything, but still... And i remember someone mentioned that ffvfw is divx311 compatible, not mpeg4. Maybe just my memory playing with me. :)

[digitize]

@Tommy Carrot
I think that you read that it can create divx3 compatible streams, not that it only creates divx3 compatible streams.

[ookzDVD]

2pass- 2nd pass trick,

Please close the Vdub and retry again the 2nd-pass should working :)

[easyfab]

There is some changes in cvs.
Can someone make a build (athos :) )?
Thanks

[athos]

Originally posted by easyfab
There is some changes in cvs.
Can someone make a build (athos :) )?
Thanks

Your wish is my command. A new build has been mailed to nitrogen.
ChangeLog:
2003-03-15 22:39 milan_cutka

wmv9 decoding (at that's all for today)

2003-03-15 22:02 milan_cutka

fixed extradata, WMV1,WMV2 decoded by libavcodec, working on wmv9
decoding

2003-03-15 17:05 milan_cutka

wmv codec interface support for encoding (wmv9 in AVI)

2003-03-14 08:40 milan_cutka

updated vc6 project

2003-03-14 08:10 milan_cutka

no message

2003-03-14 06:36 milan_cutka

many bugfixes, few new features, ...

2003-03-13 15:57 milan_cutka

no message

[ookzDVD]

@athos,

I think nitrogen is still "off-air" :)

do you mind if you upload the build to your website ?

Thank you.

[kilg0r3]

Has anybody made any serious quality comparisons between xvid and ffvfm already?

[athos]

Originally posted by ookzDVD
@athos,

I think nitrogen is still "off-air" :)

do you mind if you upload the build to your website ?

Thank you.
Done.

[ookzDVD]

@athos,

Thank you.

PS.
which one ?
I can't find it on the http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html

[athos]

Sorry, forgot to update the html. Should work now, the direct link (i dont think it works since the webserver checks for referrer) is http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw-20030316.exe

[Uli]

Originally posted by ookzDVD
@athos,
...
http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html

I can't get it :(
I always get redirected to
http://download.startsurfing.com/index.html?affid=global

which wants me to download some dam'n privacy stuff?

greetz, Uli

[sam_b]

Right, this is getting silly, so (assuming it's OK with athos) here's a mirror:

http://dubya.plus.com/ffvfw-20030316.exe

Don't y'all go burning my ADSL connection :D

[kilg0r3]

It's too large it seems.

We are sorry, but the file you are trying to download is larger than the maximum length permitted under current network conditions. Please try again later when network conditions change. The file you were trying to download was 531884 bytes.

[Uli]

Originally posted by sam_b
...
Don't y'all go burning my ADSL connection :D

gee, thanks ;)

greetz, Uli

[easyfab]

Thanks athos,

I've made some little tests:
- the 2 pass works correctly again :) (on a 2min test file)
- wm9 directly in avi don't work for me (some more tests to do)

[Kurosu]

On a Duron 700 (not a Morgan core, therefore), the codec provokes the crash of any application that loads its dll. It seems the CPU features aren't inspected well, or that an invalid instruction is used (like SSE code). Build from 9th of February works ok.

On a side not, what are the requirements for building by oneself the codec? I suspect:
- cygwin with gcc, binutils, make and mingw runtime (from ffdshow)
- Visual C++ for final build
Buy then, what are the steps for building it?

[athos]

Essentially, you gcc "make" the parts that are gcc, and then build the VC parts.

But you need some more stuff, like Nasm, DirectX SDK (for DirectShow filters), Windows Media SDK and Samples (for WM9), STLPort, and of course NSIS for making the installer. There might be more that I cant think of right now.

[ookzDVD]

Originally posted by easyfab
[B]Thanks athos,

I've made some little tests:
- the 2 pass works correctly again :) (on a 2min test file)


I just test the 2 pass,
the 1st-pass was OK, but the 2nd-pass was error.
I have to close the VirtualDubMod and restart the 2nd-pass again
to make it works :(

[Koke]

Here it`s OK. Both jobs went fine (whole movie)
in VDubMod.

[NiTroGen]

OK, the new build is on my site, too. Sorry for the delay. I had a trip this weekend. How should I know that Athos made a new build? :(

[athos]

Originally posted by NiTroGen
OK, the new build is on my site, too. Sorry for the delay. I had a trip this weekend. How should I know that Athos made a new build? :(

Hey, I almost didnt know it myself ;) I check the cvs regularly, but I missed this long-awaited update. Tried ffdshow too but it wont compile. Well, I hope milan will check in here soon so he can see how much his work is appreciated.

[Calculon]

"- the 2 pass works correctly again"


Same for me. I set VDubMod to encode Star Trek IV which is about 2 hours long while I was at school and it worked like a charm...

[kilg0r3]

I don't want to nag anybody here but what about quality comparisons?

[unplugged]

Excuse me, I'm interested for first time to ffvfw,
where can we get recent binaries?
Nitrogen, your web pages seem down since severals days... :(

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by unplugged
Excuse me, I'm interested for first time to ffvfw,
where can we get recent binaries?
Nitrogen, your web pages seem down since severals days... :( I've just checked them and they seem fine. Did you try Athos' web page?

EDIT: Check the new ffvfw site: http://nitrogen.kicks-ass.net/ffvfw It's on a new server. It should be faster, but it may be offline sometimes.

[ookzDVD]

@nitrogen,

Your website is OK, I can open it and it's updated.
Thank you.

@forum,

2 pass with b-frame is still broken.
2 pass without b-frame is OK!

[Koke]

2 pass with B frames (3) is OK here.
Avisynth 2.5 + VDubMod with script:

LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\AviSynth2\PluginYV12\unfilter.dll")
LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\AviSynth2\pluginYV12\decomb.dll")
LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\AviSynth2\pluginYV12\mpeg2dec3.dll")

mpeg2source("D:\VOBs\john q\johnq.d2v")


crop(16,16,-16,-16)

lumafilter(-1)
unfilter(-5,-5)
BicubicResize(608,336)

levels(0,1.165,241,46,246)

unfilter(70,70)

[Kamui-Dash]

Hmm, I dont see Encoder: Divx3 on the latest ffvfw-20030316.exe build anymore. Can sum1 help?

[raistlin2k]

using m2a px3 0.16c:

Can't encode a video with 720x312 pixels, found the reason 312 is not a multiple of 16, changing to 320 works perfectly.

WHY does ffvfw require a resolution dividable through 16, DivX & XVId do not??

Could you fix this, please?

Thanks
Raist

[sam_b]

You should always use multiples of 16, even with divx and xvid, for various reasons.

[trbarry]

But you need some more stuff, like Nasm, DirectX SDK (for DirectShow filters), Windows Media SDK and Samples (for WM9), STLPort, and of course NSIS for making the installer. There might be more that I cant think of right now.

Is there WM9 support in ffvfw now?

- Tom

[Kamui-Dash]

The newest Lib codec doesnt show up in vdub, could sum1 help me?

[bill_baroud]

@TrBarry:

latest changelog says

2003-03-15 22:39 milan_cutka

wmv9 decoding (at that's all for today)

2003-03-15 17:05 milan_cutka

wmv codec interface support for encoding (wmv9 in AVI)


but i suppose you already know it

[raistlin2k]

You should always use multiples of 16, even with divx and xvid, for various reasons

Which reasons?

I encoded more than 180 movies, quite often with 720x312, no problems at all, so why should I use multiples of 16. I don't write this to offend anyone, I just really want to know since I always want to improve my encodings!

Thanks
Raist

P.S. Although I should perhaps always use multiples of 16, could it be arranged that I can select ffvfw from Compressor-choose-windows even if I'm encoding with other resolutions? Thanks

[Kurosu]

why should I use multiples of 16.

Because MPEG encoders divide the picture in blocks of 8x8 (rather, 16x16 for luma), and performs most operations on such units. Using non MOD16 resolutions needs a more difficult handling (that's why sometimes the output exhibits strange artifacts) and some kind of 'padding'. See it as inefficient as if leaving black borders not on MOD16 boundaries. Only supporting MOD16 resolution is then maybe a choice to simplify the coding.

If it's a matter of encoded aspect ratio, 720/312 ~ =2.307
The official SAR is normally 2.35, so 720/304 ~ = 2.368 is much closer
(should be 306 to be closer to 2.35). But are you really able to make the difference between such close aspect ratios?


could it be arranged that I can select ffvfw from Compressor-choose-windows even if I'm encoding with other resolutions?

I don't think so. Using MOD16 resolution enables to make assumption on data alignement and data size. Forcing non MOD16 resolution into ffvfw through some kind of hack would probably lead to memory leaks and alignement exceptions.

[sam_b]

And graphics card drivers can be buggy (on playback) with non-mod16 resolutions. Some don't even like non-mod32 resolutions horizontally.

[athos]

Originally posted by trbarry
Is there WM9 support in ffvfw now?

- Tom
There is, but I'm not sure if or how well it works. I know milan is working on it though.

[sungey]

if you are encoding using Xvid for Divx playback ... u need to use mod 32 for width and mod 16 for height ... height non mod 16 (e.g mod 8) will produce artifacts ...

[sungey]

one question bout ffvfw Divx3 encode ... in Nandub .. there's an option called crispiness modulation which change the crispiness of the frame according to the motion (it masks the blockiness in high motion better)... does ffvfw does the same thing ?... if my eyes didnt fail me .. i think high motion in ffvfw divx3 isnt masked as good as nandub's encode ... any idea ?

[athos]

New build up @ http://athos.web1000.com/ffvfw.html
Also emailed it to nitrogen.
Changelog:
2003-03-25 08:55 milan_cutka

updated vc6 project

2003-03-25 06:55 milan_cutka

more mpeg2enc controls, strip removed from nsi, assume interlaced
if dy>... option

2003-03-24 09:34 milan_cutka

some vflip issues

2003-03-24 06:56 milan_cutka

support for more colorspaces when decoding, changed the way how the
graph works (again), few fixes

2003-03-21 14:57 milan_cutka

no message

2003-03-21 08:58 milan_cutka

vc6 project update, crashes on exit :(

2003-03-21 06:38 milan_cutka

aspect ratio selection (needs more work), AVISynth script playing
using fake avi file (just a proof of concept now)

2003-03-20 15:26 milan_cutka

cosmetic fixes, dshow filter can connect directly to file writer
filer (or similar)

2003-03-20 08:37 milan_cutka

vc6 project update

2003-03-20 06:44 milan_cutka

mpeg2enc two pass encoding possible, working on mpeg2enc config
pages

2003-03-19 15:03 milan_cutka

trying to design mpeg2enc configuration pages

2003-03-19 08:27 milan_cutka

vc6 projects update

2003-03-19 06:47 milan_cutka

an _attempt_ to use mpeg2enc in ffvfw (WIP)

2003-03-19 06:45 milan_cutka

libavcodec modifications: don't obey qmin/qmax in RcOverride
sections, compute frame average quantizer

2003-03-16 21:58 milan_cutka

few fixes, libavcodec hack: adaptive quantization in fixed quant
mode
This time I have enabled ff_theora (was in another project) and milans new mpeg2enc. Don't know if either work.

[NiTroGen]

Thanks, Athos. I've uploaded it to my site (http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/ffvfw) and to its faster (but not always online) mirror (http://nitrogen.kicks-ass.net/ffvfw).

[slavickas]

hi
how to playback theora ?
and why it needs debug version of msvcrt?

[athos]

Originally posted by slavickas
hi
how to playback theora ?
I havent tried it myself, but did you try with the ffvfw ds-filter? Ie register ffvfw ds filter and then encode using FOURCC FFVFW.
Originally posted by slavickas
and why it needs debug version of msvcrt?
This is probably me compiling some part of ffvfw using debug settings by mistake. I will try not to do this for next release.



Good news!
I got mail from milan today, he says he will soon be back on the forum!

[raistlin2k]

I got mail from milan today, he says he will soon be back on the forum.

Sound like "Return of the Jedi" to me;)

Really good news, Milan is the king of MPEG-4 in my opinion, neither DivX nor XVID can keep up with FFVFW!

Raist

[kilg0r3]

It seems :stupid:. I know. Might be that I am just :cool: (just blind). But I haven't found a guide or options-explained document. So how did you guys learn to use and understand the features of ffvfw?

[Nic]

Just incase others were having difficulty grabbing the latest file like I did Ive mirrored it at:
http://nic.dnsalias.com/ffvfw-20030325.exe

Hope athos, nitrogen & milan dont mind

-Nic

[athos]

Originally posted by kilg0r3
It seems :stupid:. I know. Might be that I am just :cool: (just blind). But I haven't found a guide or options-explained document. So how did you guys learn to use and understand the features of ffvfw?

If you check earlier in the thread, there are some links to pages explaining the options of ffmpeg. ffvfw is basically a vfw interface for ffmpeg, with a gui for setting these options.

[HarryM]

Do Huffyuv (YV12 mainly) in ffvfw is O.K. finally?

I have problems with random color streaks in captured video.

[milan]

@HarryM
I've got similar artifacts with median prediction. I'll check this in mencoder too to compare results and if it prooves to be bug in libavcodec I'll send a mail to Michael.

@kilg0r3
I've tried to gather some info to html pages in ffvfw and there are some hints in configuration pages too. Of couse more detailed description would be surely needed. As I'm finalizing ffvfw feature-wise (yes, I'm doing it), I'll try to write some guide. Of course I'm not pretending I fully understand every libavcodec option.

@raistlin2k
I can't tell if libavcodec is realy so much better than XviD or DivX, but of course I'm satisfied with it. Other way there would be no ffvfw. And please don't thank me for MPEG-4 encoding in ffvfw. ffvfw is just a frontend for libavcodec, which is an extraordinary piece of code and it's being maintained by much better developers than me.

I'd like to thank Athos and all of you for distributing and using ffvfw. I'm sorry for not comunicatiing with you for last few months.

P.S. I realy don't like the ffvfw name anymore. Do you have any suggestions how it should be named? Now it's not even only ffmpeg (libavcodec) based and not only VFW codec (DirectShow interface is present and DMO is planned).

[Nic]

@milan: in the development forum (mpeg-2 transcoder thread), I made mpeg2enc (from mjpeg.sf.net) into a little commandline app for encoding from avs files. I changed bits and pieces of the code to make the assembly,etc compile nicely in vc6, etc. I never did release the code, if you think it would be useful let me know.

Otherwise, im just wishing you well on ffvfw, I love the interface and options :)

-Nic

[kilg0r3]

The wa avisynth.org does it with the wiki pages is a nice possibility to create and maintain documentation.

[milan]

@nic
I know about your effort and this was the reason for choosing mpeg2enc as a mpeg2 encoder library for ffvfw (of course it would be much better to have mpeg2 encoding support directly in libavcodec, but I seriously doubt I'd be able to do this). I had to change some code for it to support feedeing frames from external library and passing in back instead. To use assembly routines it must be compiled using GCC, but I'd like to see your mpeg2enc code. I don't know if you've tested mpeg2 encoding in ffvfw. I realy need help with this, because I'm not very familiar with all of these MPEG2 features and I'm currently not able to make proper GUI which would allow to enter valid parameters combinations only.

@kilg0r3
I know almost nothing about the wiki concept, but I'll look at it. But it's not problem for me to maintain the documentation - the hardest part for me is to convince myself to not just write code and add new features, but also to write few words about them :(

[Nic]

@milan: I spend a lot of my time getting gcc assembler to compile in VC6 lol, I really should just use gcc (especially as I use it on the mac at work), I think my code needs the Intel Compiler to compile though (it sticks less to ISO than MSVC, far more forgivingof C code).

I tried to compare ffvfw yesterday, but when I installed it it somehow made Media Player Classic unable to load (id load MPC and the window wouldn't open and MPC would use 99% of the CPU).
I uninstalled ffvfw and MPC worked again (I needed it to play WMV9 at work. But ill try it on my home computer and test.

Id love to compare the speed, mine is very slow (maybe because im using C for a few functions instead of the MMX code, because I failed to convert the assembly correctly in places).

If you get any free time, try looking up mp1e (Realtime MPEG-1 encoder, its part of the zapping project now I think). it used to only do I-Frames, but now does B/P frames, been meaning to look into it for a while. Apparently faster & better quality than ffmpeg MPEG-1 encoding, or so ive heard. Havent had time to look into it yet.

Good luck and ill help wherever I can & whenever ive got the time,
-Nic

[milan]

Please remove (or just rename) ffdshow.ax when try to use ffvfw.
It seems there are some compatibility problems when ffvfw is trying to access ffdshow through COM interface for image preprocessing. Or try to uncheck the WMV9 checkbox on ffvfw Decoding pase. Please let me know if this will help. I'm sorry, but I can't check it now.

[raistlin2k]

Dear Milan!

I guess I still have to thank you, I know you didn't make FFMPEG but you are the guy who brought it to us via FFVFW, so THANK YOU!

Just a question: Could you allow VFW-interface encoding of videos using not multiples of 16?? I know that this might result in artefacts and less compressibility, but I would really like to test this, since even DivX works with such resolutions.

About the name of FFVFW: Indeed, it's quite hard to speak it out
:p , DivX or Xvid is much easier to say, especially if you're drunk :) I guess the name should show up that this is a really ultimative encoder offering several encoders in one interface (theora, wmv9, mpeg4, h263...) What about MUVIE (MUltiple VIdeo Encoders)??

Thanks again
Raist

P.S. I think I found a bug in FFDSHOW, giving me pink artefacts in in the black letterbox on top of the movie, disappearing when enabling "USE XVID" in ffdshow interface.

P.P.S. When you're renaming FFVFW, what about a new name for FFDShow?
So we see that they are from the same guy!

[milan]

OK, I'll disable that "mult. 16" check, it's realy obsolete.

Thank you for the MUVIE name suggesion.

P.S. what was the movie resolution?
P.P.S. I think it's too late to rename ffdshow. It's now pretty well known and it would be just confusing. BTW I still don't know what those FF letters mean in ffmpeg name.

[Koke]

Originally posted by milan
BTW I still don't know what those FF letters mean in ffmpeg name.

Then it could be FFX :)

Regards and my respect for your work!

[kilg0r3]

what about 'hydra', after the monster with the thousand heads?

[Koke]

Hydra sounds mean, I like it.

[raistlin2k]

Hydra is really nice.

@milan
Resolution was 712x312. I will try & see if the artefacts are also there using 720x320 (16x)

If so, I will try to rip the few seconds out so I can upload them somewhere.

Thanks
Raist

[easyfab]

Yes "Hydra" would be a nice name.
And thanks again milan for your work.

Just one question : Would it be possible in the future to compile with mingw/cygwin or another free compiler (i don't have vc6 and don't want to spend money)or must the DS filter obligatory be compile by vc6.(I'm a newbie in compile so excuse me if the question is stupid)

[kilg0r3]

I fear hydra is not very original. try a search on google with the key words hydra and software. :(

[Kamui-Dash]

Hmmp, I dont get these new ffvfw builds. What I dont get is the libavcodec selection is not present as the OCT 10 2002 build. Can someone help please so I could test the newer builds. I also had a problem encoding it from job control list :(

[raistlin2k]

@Kamui-Dash

Try it here:
1.http://nic.dnsalias.com/ffvfw-20030325.exe
2.http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/ffvfw
3.http://nitrogen.kicks-ass.net/ffvfw

For me, third one worked always perfect & super-fast
MANY THANKS TO NITROGEN!

Hope this helps ya!
Raist

[Kamui-Dash]

Thanks man, I'll look into this.

[Kamui-Dash]

Still no luck :( I wish the installation was like other codecs, ffvfw doesnt show up in vdub codec selection anymore. Any1 knows how to install this correctly and choosing the libav codec as well? The earlier version were easier to install so I guess thats how I got it running.

[sungey]

hmm .... before installing ffvfw .. i just delete ffvfw.dll and libavcodec.dll ...

[sam_b]

I had this problem a while ago, seems like I was missing a few MSVCR70.dll-like files. There a a few mentioned earlier in the thread.

[milan]

@easyfab
It's one of my goals to have ffdshow and ffvfw compileable using free tools. With ffdshow this is possible, but filters using optimized assembler code would be disabled. I would have to convert all Visual C++ inline assembler to NASM. ffvfw (or MUVIE or hydra :) ) contains makefiles for mingw build too, but recently this had been by incorporating avisynth colorspace conversion routines. These are in VC inline assembler and NASM conversion would be required too. If you'd need mingw build process working now, I can use some #ifdefs to disable that code and don't use AviSynth routines when compiling using GCC.

And yes, even directshow filters can be compiled using mingw. I've make a patch to Microsoft baseclasses library. The patch is located in ffdshow CVS in ffdshow/src/baseclasses directory with some instructions how to apply it.

MSVCRT70: I'm not packaging this library with ffdshow/ffvfw. Releases should be compiled in VC6 to not require this dll.

Again thanks for new name suggestions, I still have to made some cleanups to ffvfw code and most probably new build will be released with a new name.

[easyfab]

Thanks for answering.
I'll make some try with the patch to compile ffdshow using mingw.

[easyfab]

Thanks for answering.
I'll make some try with the patch to compile ffdshow using mingw.

[DDogg]

milan, thanks for the makeavis/frameserving addition to your filter. I have some reports to make as I am running into a few problems loading the "fake" avi into Video Vegas even with rgb24 forced in the decoder tab. Where would you like this subject reported? Sh0dan, started a thread in avisynth usage on the subject. Would that be ok with you?

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49964

[raistlin2k]

I can't use the pre-processing in the encoder, although FFDSHOW is installed (latest), it's greyed out.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Raist

[sh0dan]

Would anyone be so kind to release i new binary (unless there are very serious bugs). It contains some great fixes for the MakeAVS users.

[DDogg]

cough Bump

[sh0dan]

Seems like everybody is busy. I uploaded a version I compiled a few moments ago, from a fresh CVS checkout, to the AviSynth CVS binary site in my sig. All I can say is that it works here.

[easyfab]

Thanks for the build shOdan,
But have you disable ffmpeg because it is no more in the codec list ??
I have xvid, theora,wmv, mpeg2enc, isompeg4, windows media but not ffmeg.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by sh0dan
Seems like everybody is busy. I uploaded a version I compiled a few moments ago, from a fresh CVS checkout, to the AviSynth CVS binary site in my sig. All I can say is that it works here. Thanks for the new build. I've uploaded to my site.

[athos]

good work sh0dan!

here's the changelog:2003-04-15 09:49 milan_cutka

also look in ffvfw.dll folder for dynamic libraries

2003-04-15 06:47 milan_cutka

mb_stride

2003-04-14 14:24 milan_cutka

headers cleanup

2003-04-14 06:53 milan_cutka

WMV9 Screen codec in AVI support, HuffYUV (YUY2) encoding,
XVID_CSP_YV12 input for XviD encoding (bypasses bug in XviD
XVID_CSP_USER input), generic support for multiple colorspaces for
encoding, can be compiled using GCC (omits AviSynth colorspace
converters), stores/loads ffdshow settings in ffvfw state data

2003-04-12 06:59 milan_cutka

fixes in colorspace conversion

2003-04-11 15:45 milan_cutka

XVID_CSP_YV12, XVID_CSP_I420 -> XVID_CSP_USER conversion cleanup,
fixed forcing of input colorspace

2003-04-11 12:08 milan_cutka

using Tconvert

2003-04-11 07:53 milan_cutka

working on more generic colorspace conversion class, psnr display
for libavcodec and xvid, raw video decoding, updated libavcodec

2003-04-11 07:50 milan_cutka

working on more generic colorspace conversion class, psnr display
for libavcodec and xvid, raw video decoding, updated libavcodec

2003-04-08 15:55 milan_cutka

working on psnr stats

2003-04-08 14:40 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-08 14:30 milan_cutka

updated libavcodec, allow mb quant limits only when adaptive
quantization enabled

2003-04-08 12:08 milan_cutka

video properties in makeAVIS

2003-04-08 10:27 milan_cutka

fixed output to YUY2 (and generally flipped) colorspaces, forcing
interlacing in makeAVIS (break AVIS backward compatibility)

2003-04-03 09:04 milan_cutka

trying to compile makeAVIS with mingw

2003-04-03 06:44 milan_cutka

updated makefiles

2003-04-02 16:51 milan_cutka

fake AVIs can force output colorspace

2003-04-02 15:12 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-02 15:09 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-02 14:31 milan_cutka

YUY2 -> YV12 fix in decoder, updated libavcodec, updated GUI to
better reflect libavcodec features

2003-04-02 06:45 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-01 15:24 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-01 12:29 milan_cutka

fixed crash when wmv9 wasn't available

2003-04-01 11:32 milan_cutka

load wmvcore.dll at runtime

2003-04-01 10:15 milan_cutka

updated libavcodec, WMV codecs FOURCC autodetection

2003-04-01 06:46 milan_cutka

cleanups and fixes

2003-03-28 10:45 milan_cutka

updated vc6 project

2003-03-28 06:48 milan_cutka

improved Theora supports, always show disabled checkboxes and radio
as unchecked, IffProc3, changed dll search order, warning fixes

2003-03-27 16:34 milan_cutka

va_end

2003-03-27 16:33 milan_cutka

no message

2003-03-27 10:08 milan_cutka

more precise sup_trellistQuant

2003-03-27 06:38 milan_cutka

mostly just cosmetic changes

2003-03-26 14:49 milan_cutka

,

2003-03-26 14:42 milan_cutka

more detailed version info (not yet for libswscale.dll)

2003-03-26 10:53 milan_cutka

let's call it "multipass encoding" (only for libavcodec)

[Kamui-Dash]

Nice work :D

[milan]

Hi,

thank you sh0dan for the build. I wanted to release new build just today. Not yet on SourceForge, but just for you here to test it. After changes to support multiple colorspaces for encoding and update to generic colorspace conversions I need reports about how it's working. Thank you in advance for feedback.

And for release I think I should change not just the ffvfw name, but also the license. It will of course remain GPL, but I would like to add two things (inspired by XviD):

1. ffvfw is just for educational purposes
2. it's possible to use it through VFW and DirectShow interfaces even from non GPLed apps

About ffdshow in ffvfw: you'll need latest CVS version of ffdshow because ffvfw uses few new functions which are not present in older ffdshow builds.

[Selur]

@milan:Any plans/news about when to release a new ffdshow alpha ?

Cu Selur

Ps.: Thx for your great work :)

[milan]

I would like to solve some issues first. For example when ffdshow is processing MPEG2 decoder output (for example from InterVideo decoder filter) the image stops after few frames. I think this has been reported before, but only now I'm able to test it. Then there is a crash when image size changes just before processing of first frame. I've tried to work on this last weekend but without suceess.

[Selur]

Okay, thx for the info :)

[raistlin2k]

About ffdshow in ffvfw: you'll need latest CVS version of ffdshow because ffvfw uses few new functions which are not present in older ffdshow builds.

I have FFDShow from new-year (alpha). Could someone provide me with a new one build from CVS so I can try the pre-processing of FFDShow inside of FFVFW?

Thanks a lot in advance
Raist

[milan]

Please wait a moment. I'm now working on ffvfw/ffdshow/ffvdub cooperation and ffdshow COM interfaces are changing quite often.

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by easyfab
Thanks for the build shOdan,
But have you disable ffmpeg because it is no more in the codec list ??
I have xvid, theora,wmv, mpeg2enc, isompeg4, windows media but not ffmeg. Same problem here. I have only XviD, Theora and mpeg2enc MPEG1/2. What happend to the other format support? There is still the following text at the about box:- various compression methods:
MPEG 4 compatible (Xvid, DivX 4, DivX 5) using libavcodec or XviD
Divx 3 compatible, MSMPEG4v2, MSMPEG4v1
WMV1/7, WMV2/8
H263, H263+
HuffYUV in YV12 colorspace
MJPEG
MPEG 1
Theora (not for regular use, format isn't stabilized yet)
MPEG 2 by using mpeg2enc code from MJPEGtools project
all Windows Media Video 9 supported encoders with output to asf/wmv file or AVI

[milan]

There in old version of libavcodec_enc.dll and ff_mpeg2enc seems to be outdated too.

@sh0dan:
Please recompile these libraries and put a new installer to your site. I'm sorry I'm in a hurry now and can't do that.

BTW perhaps I should modify VisualStudio project files to check these dependencies and run the makefiles.

[kempfand]

Thanks for the ffvfw.

I works great with TMPEG (with 'DirectShow Multimedia File Reader' option activated), and fake-AVI's also play great in e.g. ZoomPlayer.

In CCE (any built), I get an error 'couldn't find approproate video codec for 'AVIS'). GSpot 2.1 also shows not fourC installed for 'AVIS'.

Any hint on how I can RegEdit this would be highly appreciated.

Regards,
Andreas

[DDogg]

kempfand, seems like I remember I had to create a new string and set vidc.avis = ffvfw.dll in drivers32 in registry for makeavis to work with cce 2.50
CCE is such a pain in the backside sometime.

[sungey]

anyone here uses Statsreader to read .stats file generated by ffvfw ? Or is there any better way to read the stats file ?

[kempfand]

DDogg,

Your hint works like a charm (CCE 2.50 up to 2.67.00.09):

"vidc.avis"="ffvfw.dll" into
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32]

Thanks a million & regards,

Andreas

[sh0dan]

@milan: Sorry about the older libraries - I just copied the libraries from the last build, because I didn't know where to get them. I don't have access to the system that compiles this, as I'm on my backup computer at home.
I think someone with the proper setup should do a binary - I'll update the one on the site, when you post it.

[Kamui-Dash]

This is pretty dumb but I was wondering if any1 got 2pass working from jobcontrol? I usually gets PARSE ERROR. Does any1 knows what this means?

[grabengulli]

I try to compile the libavcodec_enc.dll but i have had an error:

ffvfw\src\ffmpeg\libavcodec\ratecontrol.c(131) : error C2520: conversion from unsigned __int64 to double not implemented, use signed __int64

what can i do?

thanks,
GrGu

[athos]

Originally posted by grabengulli
I try to compile the libavcodec_enc.dll but i have had an error:

ffvfw\src\ffmpeg\libavcodec\ratecontrol.c(131) : error C2520: conversion from unsigned __int64 to double not implemented, use signed __int64

what can i do?

thanks,
GrGu
Do you compile with gcc? what version?
I suggest you use gcc for this (libavcodec, mplayer and libmpg2), as parts of the code is hand-optimized in assembler. If you use VC++, these parts will be unoptimized, or rather only the usual automatic optimizations by the compiler. I have compared using gcc and intel c++ compiler in vc++, and gcc is a lot faster thanks to the assembly parts.

[grabengulli]

I have tried it with gcc and all works fine. Thanks.

Grgu

[milan]

@kempfand
I wanted that registry entry to be added by installer, but then ffvfw was reported twice by VirtualDub and other VFW software so I decided to not do this.

@sungey
Stats files produced by ffvfw should be compatible with those produced by XviD. However ffvfw doesn't fill kblk, mblk and ublk fields. If needed I could fix that.

@grabengulli
Which Visual C++ version are you using? I just tested it with VC6+SP5+Processor pack and it compiles fine. Of course GCC is preferred compiler for libavcodec, but I want it to be compileable using VC too.

@Bach, @Kamui-Dash
I'll check that immediately.

[milan]

@Bach
I'm not able to get that error. Please try to capture debug data using DebugView (www.sysinternals.com), maybe there will be something useful.

@Kamui-Dash
Which version of VirtualDub are you using? ffvfw state data are quite long (usually about 1500 bytes) and maybe not every VirtualDub version is able to handle that. I just tested VirtualDubMod 1.4.13 and it works fine.

BTW I updated ffvdub and had similar problem storing the filter data to allow scripting support. The buffer supplied by VirtualDubMod was not big enough.

[Blight]

milan:
are you keeping tabs on the ffdshow thread? there are a few bugs I've reported that could use resolving.

[milan]

I'm now focused more on ffvfw. I know about ffdshow issues which need to be solved, but I'd like to do that after ffvfw release.

[Kamui-Dash]

I used a vdub ver where i first copied the vdub files in nandub folder than vdubmod in it afterwards. The problem has been solved after I installed vdub in its own folder. :D

[JasonFly]

What does really mean Divx3 when choosing the encoder setting.
Does it mean that the movie will be encoded whith ffvfw and will only have a div3 fourcc or does it mean that you can encode in divx3 with ffvfw?

[milan]

When selecting Divx3 ffvfw uses libavcodec to encode video to DivX 3 compatible format. You should be able to decode it by the original DivX 3.11 codec. Same goes to MSMPEG4v2, however older versions of libavcodec produced buggy streams.

[grabengulli]

Originally posted by milan
@grabengulli
Which Visual C++ version are you using? I just tested it with VC6+SP5+Processor pack and it compiles fine. Of course GCC is preferred compiler for libavcodec, but I want it to be compileable using VC too.


I use VC6+SP5 but without the Processor pack . Only with MASM & NASM.

[milan]

Then try to install the processor pack or at line 69 of ffvfw/src/ffmpeg/libavcodec/common.h (applies to current CVS) change

# define uint64_t_C(c) (c ## ui64)

to

# define uint64_t_C(c) (c ## i64)

However I don't know how it will affect the encoding, but I guess it should be OK. Even in ffmpeg CVS the i64 suffix is present, I changed it only in ffvfw CVS copy of libavcodec.

[LigH]

Nitrogen's mirror seems to be dead, but the greek Pathfinder is still alive:

http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/ffvfw

[unixfs]

Hi,

using ffvfw-20030325.exe (15/4 release crashes when using mpeg2enc)
I made a couple of short two-pass encoding of a black and white movie and a cartoon, using mpeg2enc-mpg1 and the following settings:

resolution: 352x288, search-radius 32, 4x4: 2, 2x2: 2, no alt-curve, payback proportionally, 772 kb/s, output to an external file.

I compared the output of both with the corresponding encodings made using libavcodec's MPEG1; to me it seems that mpeg2enc's results are
quite superior, but are much slower (roughly 9 fps during both passes on my Athlon XP 1500+). Surely it's a good solution for making VCDs without using TMPG.

@milan: as far as I know mpeg2enc doesn't support 2-pass encoding natively, is it a feature that you added? It's great!.

Can it be made faster? :)

Thanks very much for you excellent work.

[milan]

I didn't performed any comparison of libavcodec mpeg1 encoding and mpeg2enc. I added mpeg2enc because I wanted to have an MPEG2 encoder in ffvfw and when Nic released his mpeg2enc compile I tested it and it seemed quite good to me.

I don't know if I can make it faster. Maybe it'd be useful to replace mpeg2enc quantization and DCT routines with those from libavcodec, but I don't think I'm capable of doing this now.

mpeg2enc two pass encoding uses the XviD two pass code. I find it very flexible and using it for Theora too. However this code doesn't have option for setting minimum bitrate which would be probably useful for MPEG1/2 encoding.
In MJPEGtools CVS log I saw that the mpeg2enc developers are implementing their own two pass encoding routines.

[sungey]

EDIT : wrong forum ... sorry

[grabengulli]

Originally posted by milan
Then try to install the processor pack or at line 69 of ffvfw/src/ffmpeg/libavcodec/common.h (applies to current CVS) change

# define uint64_t_C(c) (c ## ui64)

to

# define uint64_t_C(c) (c ## i64)

However I don't know how it will affect the encoding, but I guess it should be OK. Even in ffmpeg CVS the i64 suffix is present, I changed it only in ffvfw CVS copy of libavcodec.

I have tried it but it dosn't work. I have had the same error like before. I think this is an error at Visual Studio on my PC and not in the Source Code, because yesterday I had the same error in an other Source Code.

GrGu

[downloada]

hi,

i don't know if this has been posted in this thread before (if it's been, than sorry!), but i have a problem with the 2003-03-25-version of ffvfw.

since i installed that version, everytime i open the "compression"-dialog in vdub/vdubmod, an error message saying msvcrtd.dll was missing pops up twice, the same thing happens when clicking on ffvfw in that dialog. i don't have that .dll on my pc and i couldn't find it on the net, so i don't know what would happen if i put that dll in my windir.

i didn't encode with it (just installed it because it was needed for one ffdshow-version), but it's impossible to do an automated encode via gordianknot with this errormessage, because i have to click it away twice. for now, i have uninstalled it and everything works fine, so it has to be a problem with ffvfw.

cu

[Assault]

@ downloada
A simple search in google returned that ;) http://freespace.virgin.net/nick.brandon/msvcrtd/

Regards
Assault

[athos]

New build up today @ http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com/ffvfw-20030502.exe

Changelog since my last build (2003-03-25):
2003-05-01 07:53 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-30 14:56 milan_cutka

fixing AviSynth script in AVI

2003-04-30 13:53 milan_cutka

xvid doesn't support selecting qmin/qmax separately for I,P frames
in CBR mode - GUI updated

2003-04-30 12:24 milan_cutka

AviSynth and uncompressed video only installation package

2003-04-30 09:10 milan_cutka

outdated

2003-04-30 09:09 milan_cutka

fixed some dialog flickering when changing codecs and modes

2003-04-30 08:25 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-30 07:03 milan_cutka

separate quantizer min/max for I,P,B frame types in libavcodec,
redesigned quantizer dialog, working on xvid two pass code to
support multipass encoding

2003-04-25 14:08 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-25 09:29 milan_cutka

fixed memory leaks in mpeg2enc (>20MB), cosmetic

2003-04-24 15:37 milan_cutka

fixed changing of encoder without closing the application

2003-04-24 15:10 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-24 14:46 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-24 14:32 milan_cutka

reduce huge fpsRate and fpsScale value

2003-04-24 12:35 milan_cutka

encoding to uncompressed video, dialog creation cleanup

2003-04-24 07:19 milan_cutka

updated VS.NET project, cosmetic

2003-04-23 19:01 milan_cutka

cleanup

2003-04-23 18:35 milan_cutka

storing valid kblks,mblks,ublks data to xvid two pass code stats
file

2003-04-23 15:04 milan_cutka

OGM muxer

2003-04-23 06:58 milan_cutka

working on sound support

2003-04-22 13:11 milan_cutka

I'm able to get some sound from it, crashes of exit

2003-04-22 08:11 milan_cutka

vc6 project update

2003-04-22 06:22 milan_cutka

support for quantizer bias, working on sound support in makeAVIS,
cosmetic changes on stats page

2003-04-16 06:27 milan_cutka

cosmetic

2003-04-15 09:49 milan_cutka

also look in ffvfw.dll folder for dynamic libraries

2003-04-15 06:47 milan_cutka

mb_stride

2003-04-14 14:24 milan_cutka

headers cleanup

2003-04-14 06:53 milan_cutka

WMV9 Screen codec in AVI support, HuffYUV (YUY2) encoding,
XVID_CSP_YV12 input for XviD encoding (bypasses bug in XviD
XVID_CSP_USER input), generic support for multiple colorspaces for
encoding, can be compiled using GCC (omits AviSynth colorspace
converters), stores/loads ffdshow settings in ffvfw state data

2003-04-12 06:59 milan_cutka

fixes in colorspace conversion

2003-04-11 15:45 milan_cutka

XVID_CSP_YV12, XVID_CSP_I420 -> XVID_CSP_USER conversion cleanup,
fixed forcing of input colorspace

2003-04-11 12:08 milan_cutka

using Tconvert

2003-04-11 07:53 milan_cutka

working on more generic colorspace conversion class, psnr display
for libavcodec and xvid, raw video decoding, updated libavcodec

2003-04-11 07:50 milan_cutka

working on more generic colorspace conversion class, psnr display
for libavcodec and xvid, raw video decoding, updated libavcodec

2003-04-08 15:55 milan_cutka

working on psnr stats

2003-04-08 14:40 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-08 14:30 milan_cutka

updated libavcodec, allow mb quant limits only when adaptive
quantization enabled

2003-04-08 12:08 milan_cutka

video properties in makeAVIS

2003-04-08 10:27 milan_cutka

fixed output to YUY2 (and generally flipped) colorspaces, forcing
interlacing in makeAVIS (break AVIS backward compatibility)

2003-04-03 09:04 milan_cutka

trying to compile makeAVIS with mingw

2003-04-03 06:44 milan_cutka

updated makefiles

2003-04-02 16:51 milan_cutka

fake AVIs can force output colorspace

2003-04-02 15:12 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-02 15:09 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-02 14:31 milan_cutka

YUY2 -> YV12 fix in decoder, updated libavcodec, updated GUI to
better reflect libavcodec features

2003-04-02 06:45 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-01 15:24 milan_cutka

no message

2003-04-01 12:29 milan_cutka

fixed crash when wmv9 wasn't available

2003-04-01 11:32 milan_cutka

load wmvcore.dll at runtime

2003-04-01 10:15 milan_cutka

updated libavcodec, WMV codecs FOURCC autodetection

2003-04-01 06:46 milan_cutka

cleanups and fixes

2003-03-28 10:45 milan_cutka

updated vc6 project

2003-03-28 06:48 milan_cutka

improved Theora supports, always show disabled checkboxes and radio
as unchecked, IffProc3, changed dll search order, warning fixes

2003-03-27 16:34 milan_cutka

va_end

2003-03-27 16:33 milan_cutka

no message

2003-03-27 10:08 milan_cutka

more precise sup_trellistQuant

2003-03-27 06:38 milan_cutka

mostly just cosmetic changes

2003-03-26 14:49 milan_cutka

,

2003-03-26 14:42 milan_cutka

more detailed version info (not yet for libswscale.dll)

2003-03-26 10:53 milan_cutka

let's call it "multipass encoding" (only for libavcodec)

[LigH]

Thank you for this new build: I was just about to ask why I was unable to select several encoding models (e.g. even MPEG-4) in previous versions; but with this build, they all above "Theora" are available again (in previous versions, the list started with Theora).

[sungey]

thanks for the new build

[slxslxslx]

can not download the new build
:(

[NiTroGen]

Originally posted by slxslxslx
can not download the new build
:( Try to download it from my site(s)...

[aliens3]

I have some video clips encoden in wm8 and when i discovered that ffvfw can decode wmv1 and wmv2 I was happy..
Unfortunately, wmv1 works ok but not wmv2. when I open in vdub an avi (created with asftools) everything is weird.. green and pink..wmv1 works ok, still..

[MystSith]

In ffvfw, there is an "image preprocessing" with ffdshow image filters.
How to use it?

[moonman]

Mystsith:
If you mean to use ffdshow to do postprocessing you should do this:

You must have both ffvfw and ffdshow installed. Then in vdub mod, select ffvfw as codec and under configure choose witch encoder such as xvid for an example. then make your settings for that encoder. Under "Input" settings enable "image processing" and then go in to "configure" now you are in ffdshow. There you can make all your postprocessings you want for example resizing. Many of the filters ffdshow uses is from avisynth but built in. You can even use a avisynth script there if you want. this is the way i encode mpeg4 and i think it is the easiest way. Make sure you have the most recent versions of ffdshow and ffvfw.
moonman

[Uli]

Hello,

installing the latest build of ffvfv (ffvfw-20030502.exe) on Win2K running P4 Willamette 1.8 GHz stops VirtualDub and VeeDubP4 from working. Uninstalling ffvfv solves the problem. The processes of VirtualDub or VeeDubP4 are starting at 99% CPU load and keep hanging until killed with task manager.

anyway, greetz, Uli

[LigH]

Because ffvfw is able to handle WMV9, among others it expects also the WMV9 codecs being installed; if not, VirtualDub reports missing DLLs (first MSVCRTD.DLL, then WMVCORE.DLL). This might be due to static linking of the DLLs.

http://freespace.virgin.net/nick.brandon/msvcrtd/ - here you can find the MSVCRTD.DLL, unzip it into the system or VDub folder. Size: 145 KB (ZIP).

http://nic.dnsalias.com/WMNicEnc/wmfdist.exe - an early, but still official redistribution, which can be installed even without Windows Media Player 7 (the current WM9 codec pack requires that). Size: almost 4 MB.

As usual, searching for files with http://www.filemirrors.com can help, too.

[Nic]

@LigH: I updated it a while back, its the latest from the WM9 SDK :)
(strange the msvcrtd.lib are needed, thats a MFC Debug library, WMVCore.lib is needed whenever you work with the WMF SDK)

-Nic

[athos]

Originally posted by Nic
(strange the msvcrtd.lib are needed, thats a MFC Debug library [...])Perhaps I accidentily compiled some part as a debug release, will double check this for next release.

Originally posted by LigH
As usual, searching for files with http://www.filemirrors.com can help, too.
Another useful place is http://www.dll-files.com/. However the aim is that no additional files should be needed when installing ffvfw or ffdshow.

[lamer_de]

The 2003/5/2 build crashes my Vdubmod 1.4.3 without any notice instantanously after I start encoding regardless the codec and settings.

I don't rember installing WMV9, but I don't want to if I don't have to (still using wmp 6.4) and I don't get any error messages about missing dlls either. ffdshow from 2003/04/24 is installed.

The 2003/4/15 build of ffvfw works flawless though. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

TIA,
lamer_de

[LigH]

Originally posted by athos
Another useful place is http://www.dll-files.com/.

I would not recommend to download single DLL files: You'll never know which DLLs are required in a chain or network of DLL dependencies, or which require a registration (using regsvr32). In general I'd say, better know which package installs the complete set of DLLs (but unfortunately, some are installed only together with very disturbing but unnecessary libraries or programs - so it sometimes can indeed be a preferable way to download DLLs one by one).
_

By the way: I once tried to transcode the "Matrix Reloaded Final Trailer" (QT6, Sorenson 3 Pro, 1000x540 pixels) because even a P4 @ 1800 MHz was not able to play it smoothly; I used the QuickTime VFAPI Plugin via the AviSynth VFAPI import snippet (where I had to pull down the frame rate by 25 - ever seen a movie at 600 fps?). And due to my "cockiness", I saved it as Ogg Theora video, using ffvfw. The result looked quite strange, as if the chroma components were shifted against the luma, when I didn't crop or resize the video. After resizing down to a width of 800 pixels, it looked well, though.

Maybe not the highest priority, but you might want to watch that.

[NiTroGen]

I've moved my ffvfw archive to a new and very fast server.
Update your bookmarks --> http://users.uoi.gr/ch02029/ffvfw/

[LigH]

Here two URLs for pictures to display the Theora bug:

http://www.ligh.de/pics/Theora_1000x540.png
http://www.ligh.de/pics/Theora_800x432.png

[sh0dan]

We are getting reports of people having big problems with the ffvfw avisynth edition - I cannot reproduce.

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening:

From this thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54633).

[Colyptic]

Anyone know if trellis quants are MPEG4 compliant?

Only reason I ask is becuase I plan on getting a hardware MPEG4 player in the next few months, but dont have access to one yet. I'd like to take advantage of the trellis quants (tested and like the results compared to without) but if its going to be a compatibility issue I will stick with what I've been doing and not use them.

[slavickas]

Originally posted by Colyptic
Anyone know if trellis quants are MPEG4 compliant?

Only reason I ask is becuase I plan on getting a hardware MPEG4 player in the next few months, but dont have access to one yet. I'd like to take advantage of the trellis quants (tested and like the results compared to without) but if its going to be a compatibility issue I will stick with what I've been doing and not use them.

trellis quants just means that quantization is done in that way that it should lower bitrate, it isn't something special like bframes, qpel or gmc

[Animaniac]

Originally posted by LigH
Here two URLs for pictures to display the Theora bug:

http://www.ligh.de/pics/Theora_1000x540.png
http://www.ligh.de/pics/Theora_800x432.png

I can confirm the same bug using ffvfw (AviSynth "lite" edition). I was transcoding a 5-minute DVD clip.

Settings:
1-pass encoding
Max I-frame interval: 240
Min I-frame interval: 1
High Quality enabled

[S_O]

When does the next build come out, because I yust read something in the CVS of ffmpeg (in the description of the file "ffv1.c"):
FFV1 codec (our very simple lossless intra only codec, compresses much better than huffyuv)If it´s as fast as Huffyuv, that would be really great! Is it possible to add this codec to ffvfw (and ffdshow) soon? That would really useful for capturing.

[Colyptic]

thank you very much Slavickas

[superdump]

I keep getting this error when I try to save my video as an avi in virtualdub (virtualdubmod just bails out and so does avs2avi):

An out-of-bounds memory access (access violation) occurred in module 'ffvfw'.

I have the latest build by athos of ffvfw 02-05-2003 and I've tried both avisynth 2.5.2/2.0.8 and mpeg2dec3.dll/mpegdecoder.dll (both nic's). What am I doing wrong? :)

Thanks

EDIT: typo

[superdump]

I just tried with the very latest vdubmod CVS and had the same problem. This is what I get from the Advanced thingy...

Sorry for the length :S I will edit this lot out when my problem has been solved. I hope this helps. Thanks.

EDIT: Removed report. If any developers want it then just say and i'll PM you with it or something. Thanks for the silence people. :p :)

[superdump]

I've just added the line "YV12toYUY2(interlaced=false)" in my avs and unchecked "force input to YV12" and selected full processing mode in vdubmod and it's working..... So I'm guessing it's some sort of problem with YV12.

Thanks

EDIT: well at least it started this time....

An out-of-bounds memory access (access violation) occurred in module 'libavcodec_enc'...
...while compressing frame 3446 from 07366000 to 07400020 (VideoSequenceCompressor.cpp:373)...
...while running thread "Processing" (thread.cpp:90).

EDIT 2: ok i changed the motion estimation things from SSE to SATD and it works now, but it still doesn't like YV12 unless I use YUY2 in the avs but it doesn't mind fast recompress in vdubmod. I dunno. Crazy. :)

EDIT 3: This is very strange. I tried removing the YV12toYUY2 conversion and left the motion estimation options as SATD. I had tried this previously but it didn't work, it works now. Without b-frames at my kind of bitrate ffvfw is too blocky during motion.

[Wilbert]

@Milan,

Could you have a look at this thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52503

Summarized:
"The install app for AVIsynth v2.52 wipes out a setting in your VFAPI config, and the result of this is no VFAPI "writing" support."

Somehow the installation of the included ffvfw overwrites some VFAPI settings ...

[superdump]

*bump*

Has/is anything new and significant been/being added to ffvfw?

[Animaniac]

The ffvfw and ffdshow CVS trees are pretty active (changes have been made >=29 hours ago)... I'd really appreciate new builds of each. :D Milan, what's ff_libmad?

[Dark-Cracker]

yes yes yes a new build with MPEG matrix for divx 3 :) plz plz plz

[BoNz1]

Originally posted by Animaniac
what's ff_libmad?

It is the mpeg audio decoder http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/ that works with ffmpeg, AFAIK.

[Animaniac]

Originally posted by BoNz1
It is the mpeg audio decoder http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/ that works with ffmpeg, AFAIK.

I assumed it was a MAD implementation, but what I meant was is ff_libmad an encoding implmentation or a DirectShow decoding implementation? Is this going to be integrated into ffdshow? The MAD decoder supposedly produces better results than the FhG decoder.

[S_O]

Milan is already programing a ffdshow audio decoder, MAD will be the decoding engine for mpeg-audio.

[superdump]

Has there been any progress on the libavcodec? or any of the other video codecs?

And is there any chance of a new compile from athos anytime soon? :D

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by superdump
Has there been any progress on the libavcodec? or any of the other video codecs?

And is there any chance of a new compile from athos anytime soon? :D

It contains now FFV1 lossless codec, which supposed to be much more efficient than Huffyuv (although i don't know if it is better than VBLE). It would be great to try it.

[superdump]

Athos: Can you pleeeease please please compile a new version for us all to try out? I think I speak for us all when I say we'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

[Animaniac]

In AviUtl, when ffvfw is selected, it causes AviUtl to crash.

[IvS]

Originally posted by superdump
Athos: Can you pleeeease please please compile a new version for us all to try out? I think I speak for us all when I say we'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

Ahm...allow me to endorse this request :)...

[superdump]

I have spoken with Milan since that post and it appears there is very little going on with ffvfw for a new compile to be worth it.... We'll see though. NeroDigital's directshow codec should be out sometime this month. :) There's something to play with.

[superdump]

Actually... after running a few tests just recently, ffvfw's mpeg4 implementation STILL performs very well. And this is without b-frames working with chroma motion estimation!

Athos, could you please compile us a new version to play with? :) I have noticed new features such as 3ivX (blech :P), FVF1 (which we have already talked about), sklmp4 (Skal's mpeg4 implementation) entering into ffmpeg and hope that these will be ported across to ffvfw by Milan soon. (Though he seems to be on holiday or something. :))

Have fun, people.

[athos]

theres not much going on with ffvfw right now, I dont think a new compile would do much difference.

[superdump]

Have they fixed b-frames with chroma motion estimation?

[MarkCoolio]

@athos...
anyways would love to see a new compile even without big changes :)
keep up the work!

[athos]

For those who dare, you might want to take a new look in http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com/
...

[Sagittaire]

It's an excellent news ... And does the development of Theora progress?

[Sagittaire]

Theora 2 pass mode bug. The second pass has the same size than first pass. The select final size for Theora has no influence ...

[Tommy Carrot]

The FFV1 lossless codec inside of ffvfw seems to be VERY promising! It easily beats LOCO and VBLE codecs (sometimes 20-30% shorter than them), not to mention huffyuv. The performance is poor yet, and it's a little bit buggy, but very promising.

[Animaniac]

2 pass MPEG-4 encoding produces garbage for the 1st 6 [sic: edit] frames for the 2nd pass.

[IvS]

Thank you athos!
I don't consider this ffvfw build a minor improvement over the previous, because this one has support for b-frames with chroma motion! It produces very nice results! (the help files are outdated)

edit: as superdump just informed me, and i checked, 2-pass with chroma and b-frames ist death :\.. oh well :). on to test ffv1.

[RadicalEd]

ffv1 ROCKS

Huffyuv (yuy2): 373 mb
Huffyuv theoretical yv12: 290 mb
FFV1 (yv12) VLC: 227 mb
FFV1 AC: 207 mb
FFV1 AC context 2: 199 mb

I dunno what context or VLC/AC do, but they're great. Playback isn't realtime on a 1ghz tbird, but I'm more interested in using lossless for storage.

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by RadicalEd
ffv1 ROCKS

Huffyuv (yuy2): 373 mb
Huffyuv theoretical yv12: 290 mb
FFV1 (yv12) VLC: 227 mb
FFV1 AC: 207 mb
FFV1 AC context 2: 199 mb

I dunno what context or VLC/AC do, but they're great. Playback isn't realtime on a 1ghz tbird, but I'm more interested in using lossless for storage.

I think VLC and AC are the entropy coders for h.264. VLC is much faster, while AC (arithmetic coder) is more efficient.

I don't know exactly, but i suppose context other than 0 is lossy.

It's too slow right now for being useful, but hopefully it will be faster.

EDIT: i was wrong, 'context' setting other than 0 is still lossless, and can reduce the filesize even more. Anyone know what's this?

[gino25]

I have tries to encode a video qith ffvfw using h263+

Ma i can' t decode it.

What decoder must i use?

[haibane]

Originally posted by gino25
I have tries to encode a video qith ffvfw using h263+

Ma i can' t decode it.

What decoder must i use?

ffdshow can decode h.263+


I can't see xvid in there anymore.....
is it removed?

[BoNz1]

Milan is working on XviD dev-api-4 for ffvfw so stay tuned for more info. Looks like he hasn't completed it yet, thats all :).

[gino25]

But where i must set h263+ decoder?

In ffvfw last version i have (in the decoder dialog):
Xvid
div3
divx
dx50
mp43
mp42
mp41
hfyu
wmv1/7
wmv2/8
wmv9,mss2
raw video
other mpeg-4 codecs



But no h263

[IvS]

gino25, as haibane said, just use *ffdshow* to decode h263+.

[LigH]

:eek: They are allowed to use arithmetic coding? Wow - when I was in the college and studied computer science, I read that this algorithm is patented by IBM! :D

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by LigH
:eek: They are allowed to use arithmetic coding? Wow - when I was in the college and studied computer science, I read that this algorithm is patented by IBM! :D

I guess they don't really care.

[cweb]

Could there be an option to write to a different file every 2GB or 1GB?
It would be useful for win98 users or anyone stuck with FAT32, doing video capturing.

I'm currently testing the MJPEG option - it seems to work well.

Great stuff - thanks to the author - keep it up..

Edit: I did a capture with ffvfw's mjpeg format and while I can play
it back with Zoom Player and read it in Virtualdubmod, it seems that
I cannot get it to open in an avs script with avisynth. It gives the error "There is no decompressor for MJPEG"... I'll see if I can get around that otherwise there should be some option in ffvfw itself, please...

Edit 2: I discovered a roundabout solution which works well - open the source file (ffvfw mjpeg) in Vdubmod (since it has the internal decompressor for mjpeg) and start the frameserver, creating a file with the .vdr suffix. Then reference this vdr file using avisource("file.vdr") in an avisynth script and hey voila' - the solution (you can then open the script as usual).

[superdump]

cweb: If avisource("something.avi") doesn't work try directshowsource("something.avi",fps=##). It may just be that there's only a ds decoder for it.

[BoNz1]

Originally posted by cweb
Could there be an option to write to a different file every 2GB or 1GB?
It would be useful for win98 users or anyone stuck with FAT32, doing video capturing.

Yup, virtualdubmod and vdub both have supported this for a very long time, save as a segmented avi and limit the size of the files to 2GB or 1GB or whatever you want.

[cweb]

I know but I need it to occur while I'm capturing with VirtualVCR as the latter's author won't implement the same type of segmentation. Vdubmod doesn't capture (when I try it bombs out) and in any case you need the wrapper which loses some frames. I know of vdub+vcr and have a copy, but I still prefer the results I get with VirtualVCR (a wdm application).

[cweb]

Originally posted by superdump
cweb: If avisource("something.avi") doesn't work try directshowsource("something.avi",fps=##). It may just be that there's only a ds decoder for it.

Precisely - but that's so slow... that frameserving from vdubmod was faster for me...

[cweb]

For the MJPEG file capture with ffvfw, I installed Morgan's MJPEG v3 for decoding within avisynth, but the colours are wrong from the middle of the picture down - the bottom half is all green!

Seems like I'll have to either keep frameserving as above, or I'll now try to see what happens with MPEG1 to a separate file.

Edit: Writing to an external mpeg1 file with ffvfw gives me a 0 length file. Perhaps that doesn't work yet.

Edit2: Just for fun as an aside, I tried a capture of a few seconds with Morgan's MJPEG. When I read it within avisynth using avisource, the colours become all bluish. Weird... So, the ffvfw solution with frameserving is the only one which works for me (and I can capture 30mins with it before the file becomes too large for FAT32) so far.

Edit3: The morgan mjpeg blue bug, as I found by searching these forums, is remedied with SwapUV().... that's ok now.

[haibane]

I was playing around with the mpeg1 option(not the mpeg2ecn mpeg1). The quality was very good consider that it requires very little power to decode.
When I enable b-frame, during the play back, it just shows blended frame. Is there someting wrong with the encoder or it's the decoder's fault? I'm using ffdshow 8/16.

[superdump]

athos: It's been over a month since the last compiles you made. Do you feel like compiling unpdated versions of ffdshow and ffvfw again? :)

I haven't had any problems with either of the 2003/08/16 builds aside from 2-pass b-frames when using chroma not working. (I can't remember if I tried without...)

Thanks

[Rober2D2]

This thread has become a bit too long to search in, so could anyone post which are the most recent links to ffvfw binaries and sources, please?.

I have seen a few at the beginning of the thread, but I suppose they are a bit outdated.

[superdump]

Athos' binaries (http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com) for ffdshow and ffvfw.
The sources can all be obtained from the CVS of the FFMPEG project on sourceforge if I am not mistaken.

[Rober2D2]

Thank you, Superdump

[easyfab]

Originally posted by superdump
Athos' binaries (http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com) for ffdshow and ffvfw.
The sources can all be obtained from [B] the CVS of the FFMPEG [/project on sourceforge if I am not mistaken.

No not the FFMPEG project but a CVS branch of the FFDSHOW project.
FFDSHOW and FFVFW are milan's projects which include ffmpeg codec .
And now if i make no mistake the ffvfw branch is include directly in ffdshow.

[athos]

sorry, i have a lot of things going on right now with work, but i will try to compile new binaries soon.

[superdump]

easyfab: Thank you for the correction. :)

athos: Cool.

[athos]

new build is up @ http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com/
Please note: this is an unofficial build, milan has not authorized it.

[Tommy Carrot]

ffv1 (the lossless codec) seems to really use delta frames, because when i set keyframes distance to 125, the output is smaller compared to when every frame is keyframe. The gain is not large (688M to 703M), but here was a long discussion about the uselessness of delta frames in lossless codecs. Can anyone explain how is it works in ffv1?

[Vash]

Just testet FFVFW for the first time using the latest version. Extremely useful! Especially in my XVID encodes. Great Work!
There is only one thing: I can´t find an option that enables a custom quantization matrix like HVSgood (which I prefer). Has this option been impleted jet?

[LigH]

Update: My mirror of ffdshow, ffvfw and some XviD builds (up from 2003); now dynamically created via PHP:

http://www.ligh.de/software/mirrors.phtml

[unixfs]

Hi,
I noticed that mpeg2enc-mpeg1/2 doesn't realize what the input
colorspace is: if I have a YV12 source I have to force it in the input section, otherwise the output has diagonal green lines.
In the other case the encoding proceeds well, but at half the speed (13-16 fps).
Why? Maybe mpeg2enc makes its own color color conversion? In this
case it would be redundant.
And what default colorspace does it expect?

Thanks.

[cweb]

Latest ffdshow (september version) from athos' site gives me a divide by zero error.
I use zoom player, but I get the same error using WMP.

edit: I found the solution - uninstall ffdshow, then reinstall.
I had as usual just installed over the old version (august).

[Die*wrek*show]

I was planning to install ffdshow 4-24 and ffvfw 4-15(currently i only have xvid root installed). Then athos came out with new builds of both. I'm not considering ffdshow 10-28 but I might go with ffvfw 10-28, anyone want to comment on its stability?

[athos]

I can tell you right now that the october version is most likely slower because i was not able to compile using assembly optimized code.

[sh0dan]

FYI there is a freshly compiled version up the the second link in my sig. Milan had implemented better sound support for MakeAVIS, so I though I'd try it out. There is both a "light" ffvfw-AVIS and and ordinary ffvfw build.

NOTE: I have NO idea if this build is even the least stable, SO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK! All I can say is that it appears fine, and the MakeAVIS functionality works.

[athos]

Cool, did you have any problems with compiling libavcodec using gcc/nasm? I get an error that nasm cannot find a header file, and then i edit the reference to that header file, addin "./" in front of it to force nasm to look in the same directory. after that it doesnt complain while compiling, but instead when linking that there is some bad reference in the resulting object file. do you recognize this? i use cygwin for gcc/nasm/mingw, what do you use?

[easyfab]

Thanx Sh0dan.

Did you compile it in debug mode ? (need msvcrtd.dll)
Sorry for the stupid question (i'm not a coder) but did the debug mode have any influence (speed, stability, quality)?

[sh0dan]

@athos: I compiled it useing MSVC++ 6. There was a typo in the library include list. "mscvrt.lib" should be "msvcrt.lib" - this was the only issue I had with libavcodec.

@easyfab: No - I can check which libraries it uses - but not before monday.

[UPollaehne]

@sh0dan: There is a problem with the November 13 ffvfw full version.

The ff_wmv9.dll is linked against the msvcrtd.dll.

The only reason I found this one was because I had to install on a new computer without any development stuff.

[sh0dan]

@UPollaehne: Thanks - I'll do a new compile tomorrow!

[sh0dan]

Fixed - download at the same page!

[UPollaehne]

Originally posted by sh0dan
Fixed - download at the same page!
Thanks, now I can test my video processing stuff before polluting the machine with development software.

[athos]

Unfortunately you loose a lot of speed when compiling libavcodec with VC++, I will try to put up a gcc/nasm build soon.

[PowerMacG4]

Originally posted by athos
Unfortunately you loose a lot of speed when compiling libavcodec with VC++, I will try to put up a gcc/nasm build soon.

Why is that?

[athos]

because the assembly optimizations are for gcc/nasm. if you compile in vc++ it will be regular c code.

[ookzDVD]

I just did a simple test (3 minutes trailer) with the
latest ffvfw build 17-11-2003 downloaded from :
http://cultact-server.novi.dk/kpo/avisynth/avs_cvs.html

Encode using ffv1 and got error while playback the result use
ffdshow athos's build 10-28-2003.

Any idea ?

[CruNcher]

@ookzDVD
ffv1 is damaged in the latest build use a older one or ffmpeg directly
with the new one you get higher filesize damaged files that @ playback crash when used VLC encoding when AC was used the files are playbacked but you see only jumping colored lines (70th effect).

[sh0dan]

Originally posted by athos
because the assembly optimizations are for gcc/nasm. if you compile in vc++ it will be regular c code.
Why isn't the nasm assembly used to the VC++ compile?

ffv1 is damaged in the latest build use a older one or ffmpeg directly
ok - should I just remove the full ffvfw nov 17 build? There is no point in keeping it, if it is buggy I guess.

[ookzDVD]

Originally posted by CruNcher
@ookzDVD
ffv1 is damaged in the latest build use a older one or ffmpeg directly
with the new one you get higher filesize damaged files that @ playback crash when used VLC encoding when AC was used the files are playbacked but you see only jumping colored lines (70th effect).

Thank you for the confirmation, but I just try the athos's build
dated 10-28-2003, and the result is the same broken ffv1 playback.

I hope you can tell which build should I use to make the ffv1
encoding is possible and playback is ok.

Thank you.

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by ookzDVD
Thank you for the confirmation, but I just try the athos's build
dated 10-28-2003, and the result is the same broken ffv1 playback.

I hope you can tell which build should I use to make the ffv1
encoding is possible and playback is ok.

Thank you.

In 09-27-2003 build, ffv1 works flawlessly.

[winman]

The athos's ffvfw 09-27-2003 build is also 25-50% faster thanks to gcc/nasm assembly optimizations.

[ookzDVD]

@Tommy & winman,

Thank you for the info,
I just download it and try to encode with FFV1,
the result .avi is still can't be playbacked. I saw green screen
on my MPC.

PS. maybe I've missed important setting for the codec,
please could you tell me more about the setting ?
* VLC/AC
* context
* etc ?

Thank you.

PS. ffdshow 2003-10-28.

[Ghim]

I tried to use ffvfw with Virtualdub to encode in H263 format (not H263+) but it seems to be broken.
Can anyone confirm this ?

[CruNcher]

the 13 Nov build is also ok thats what i use for ffv1

[winman]

@ookzDVD

First of all, make sure that the encoded avi does playback properly in Vdub.

If it does you have a couple of choice:

Turn off FFV1 decoding in the ffdshow 2003-10-28. MPC should now use ffvfw 2003-09-27 for decoding (you will see AVI Decompressor (FFV1) under filter).

Or, copy the libavcodec.dll and libmplayer.dll file from your ffvfw 2003-09-27 folder and drop it into the ffdshow 2003-10-28 folder.

Finally, the best solution, uninstall ffdshow 2003-10-28 and install ffdshow 2003-09-27 :)

I downloaded the ffdshow 2003-10-28 and also got the green screen. It seems that libavcodec support for FFV1 is broken in both ffvfw and ffdshow 2003-10-28 builds.

BTW, I still use ffdshow 2003-04-24... All the latest ffdshow either crash or freeze when playing Packeted Frames DivX50 avi with Chroma Dering postprocessing on.

As for ffvfw setting, the default work fine for me:

YV12
VLC
0
250

[ookzDVD]

@winman,

Thank you for the update,
I did try encode use the build 2003-09-27 and disable the ffdshow
for ffv1, and everything is working now. :)

@CruNcher
What is your decoder anyway ?


PS. Wanna try with 2003-11-13 build again.

Thanks.

[bond]

heya

i think i am blind :D
ffmpeg offers two error resilience methods: data partitioning and resync markers
i only find the data part option in ffvfw, but not the resync markers (called "error resilience" in the ffmpeg docs)!

would be great if this option could be implemented in ffvfw too :)

edit: and doesnt ffmpeg support outputting real .mp4 streams (i mean no avi hacks aso)?
if yes, would be great if that could be possible in ffvfw too

[Doom9]

if I may interject. Is there a way to use the standard ffmpeg 2 pass encoding method rather than the xvid one when using libavcodec's internal mpeg4 encoder?

[nicksteel]

I'm testing ffvfw with an NTSC anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 DVD. I wish to make a test NTSC anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 DVD. I'm using Forcefilm in DVD2AVI. My avisynth avs, which I load into VDub, only contains the mpeg2source line with the d2v file.

I run Pulldown.exe at the command prompt as: "pulldown myfilmIN.m2v myfilmOUT.m2v" to get 23.976fps.

:confused:TMPGEnc Author says that the GOP is "too long" (must be 18).

:confused:Which settings, if any, should I change in ffvfw?

:confused:What settings should I choose in DVDPatcher?

Sorrrrrry about all the questions, but you can see I'm a bit confused. My encoding is usually confined to PVR250 TV captures, but I'm using this method to figure out how to use ffvfw.

I would sincerely appreciate any aid / advice.

[bilu]

Any news on this codec?

I'd like to hear some feedback on MPEG-1/2 encoding with FFVFW, seems to have potential versus TMPGEnc and CCE.

These guys have been crazy about it :)

http://kvcd.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=68


But from what I heard it's not very stable in the 2-pass and rate control arena (I'm just talking about MPEG-1/2 here).



Best regards,
Bilu

[nicksteel]

Look on kvcd.net for some settings at:

http://www.kvcd.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8808&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=16

I've used the KDVD settings with very good results. The only real problem is the maximum bitrate sometimes generated. It hasn't affected my standalone player so far. I do PVR250 analog cable TV captures to DVD with a couple or three movies per DVD. Very good results.

[bilu]

My goal wasn't really FFVFW but FFMPEG, until I saw this post :rolleyes:

http://kvcd.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=62465#62465

I wanted to use FFMPEG or FFMPEG-based solutions like Mencoder for DVD backup under Linux/FreeBSD because it's 4 times faster than mpeg2enc/mjpegtools-based solutions like transcode.

I have a thread on that subject. But in Kwag's opinion FFVFW already corrects some stuff from FFMPEG, it's not just a frontend.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69598


Bilu

[nicksteel]

I'm reading every post I can find concerning rate control. I really like ffvfw's quality, but realize some people are experiencing high bitrates. Perhaps someone will discover a solution.

[jcsston]

Would it be possible to add DV decoding to ffvfw?
The only other free DV VFW codec I know of is the Panasonic one which only does RGB in/out and it's YUV->RGB routines are not the best in quality.

[celtic_druid]

It already has it, well at least ffdshow's VFW decoder does.

[ernstblaauw]

Can I somewhere download a copy of ffvfw.dll with MakeAVIS? I have problems with MakeAVIS deliverd with the latest fddshow (the first time I tried MakeAVIS). A guy in another forum has the same problems as I, and his problems began at the momemt ffvfw was integrated in ffdshow.
The problem is that DVD2SVCD cannot read a fake AVI made by MakeAVIS. In the preview window, a AviSynth error is showed: could not decompress frame 0.
So my question: Can I download somewhere the latest version of ffvfw.dll with MakeAVIS?

[LigH]

The same question in 3 different threads - this is usually called "crossposting"...

[ernstblaauw]

Originally posted by LigH
The same question in 3 different threads - this is usually called "crossposting"...
Well, here I asked where i can download ffvfw. In the ffdshow forum, I asked for a solution for the latest version.
And the third post..:eek: I will edit that post

[Wilbert]

The link to a working makeAVIS version: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84481 (the end of the first post)

[Abond]

I have rather weird question: Can avisynth open makeAVIS avi files?;)
I cannot test it right now.

[ernstblaauw]

Originally posted by Wilbert
The link to a working makeAVIS version: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84481 (the end of the first post)
That version does not extract the audio and puts the extracted audio in the fake AVI. That's necessary for DVD2SVCD. Has anyone another MakeAVIS version?