What kind of questions would you like to see in the upcoming Newbies FAQ?

[RPT]

Hi there .... one thing I think should be included in any newbie FAQ is a clear description of codecs ... what they are, how they work, how they interact with other applications / processes (CCE, DVD2SVCD, etc). I don't consider myself a newbie (millions might disagree) but I still have trouble conceptually getting a handle on this.

[NewbieIntheDell]

I never thought it might be the problem of the stand-alone DVD player. Thanks.

Hi, RTP, what is codecs?

[jggimi]

http://www.doom9.org/glossary.htm#Codec

[stewart2000]

being as some people have a bad memmory and loose things easy, specially serial numbers....how about a place we can keep them safe?

[killingspree]

eh? what's that to do with a newbie FAQ??

[metramo]

I think the question to ask and anwer is: What are the different formats and which tool/operation get me from one to the other.

I had the problem when at first I ripped a CD and produced a DivX file, then I tried to produce a DivX file from a TV recording which was in Mpeg. The tool neo didn't work at all. I finally used DrDivx.

Anothe time I tried to rip a newer film and the sound didn't come out. So I upgrade Neo, but this time the tool didn't guide me to the correct process rip, compress so I was lost.

The answer should be in the form of a diagram

DVD -- ripping -> VOB -- ??? -> MPEG -- encoding -> .avi file

But this is probably to simple and also wrong.

[shevegen]

As a newbie, I like organized FAQs.
In fact, I love those FAQs to be in a question-answer style, and I want that the FAQs are consistently up-to-date, and not too long, and not too short. (If in doubt, I rather want them to be a bit too long - this way I can learn more).

I also want the FAQs to use CSS - I dislike plain html FAQs without visual helps of colour and other CSS techniques. It does not have to be something stunning at all - it just has to be helpful and consistent. A simple clean design, nothing that takes hours to work on!

As a newbie I also like to have many links available in case I run into problems AND i also want to have certain techniques tested thoroughly, for example Capturing any content, or relaising video information in a server or via bluetooth/WLAN.

As a newbie i also DO like that there are explanations given - I might not understand it completely, but it is a good start to have them, and I can come back happily to it at a later time to reread through it.

As a newbie, and upcoming video expert (hehe, i am talking about the newbie point of view, not mine!!)
I want to be able to convert multimedia information into other files - mpeg2 to avi/divx, matroska into DVD compliant stuff, wmv into mpeg1 and so on, and then I want to be able to create VCD SVCD and so on things.

[jemaricld]

i would like a version of dvd43 thats compatible with 64 bit

[jemaricld]

is lightscribe software you can add to an existing burner

[goregirl]

THANK YOU SO MUCH JOLARD!!:cool:

[mg262]

One very specific request: a section with a description of each piece of software that has its own forum section. (I'll write out a couple if it's any use!)

For quite a while I got DVD content into AVISynth by opening the Vob in VirtualDub and re-saving it is as a ginormous AVI... DVD2AVI sounded like some kind of one click backup program. :o

[MarcioAB]

Normally a "How To" request is more specific and more extense than a simple FAQ so, maybe we could have a Frequently Asked How To guide and let the FAQ point to it when necessary.

My two pennies ...

Thank you.

[Schnoodledorfer]

I think a list of local stickies (and perhaps other important threads) would be useful. Sometimes it's not obvious where to look for them, nor that they would even exist. Furthermore, the search function doesn't necessarily find them. The forum rules have links to the FAQs on the regular web pages, but not to the FAQs inside the forum.

Example: bond's MP4 FAQ (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=381366#post381366). That's a sticky in the "New and alternative a/v containers" forum, which is a subforum under "MPEG-4 and Co.". It wouldn't occur to me to look for MP4 information there since MP4 isn't particularly new, nor is it an alternative to MPEG-4. (I would have expected it under some sort of "general" forum, FWIW.) The search is no use, because a search for "MP4 Faq" yields "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.", even though that's the exact title of the thread! :confused: So, I think a newbie could easily be excused for not knowing that the FAQ existed.

That's the sort of thing that would be helped with a specific "look here first" list, rather than expecting (hoping?) the newbies to find the information themselves.

My main concern about this is that perhaps this information shouldn't be in the newbie FAQ; instead perhaps it should be somewhere more obvious to everyone.

My 2¢ worth.

[uliudo]

Originally posted by Schnoodledorfer
instead perhaps it should be somewhere more obvious to everyone.

We are all newbies at heart.


But seriously though, not a bad idea. Unfortunately, what might be an important post to some may not be to everyone. The sheer volume of posts on Doom9 inevitably make it hard to find some things (a search that yields 50 pages of links is often as useless as one that yields none) but it is this volume that also would make an "important threads" area fill quickly.

Not long after starting this area there would be so many "important threads" that it would be like reading a book with every other word highlighted as "important."

So, while it is not perfect, we must all :search:

[koave]

hi, i got a question u can add in the newbie guide

how do u fix the .mkv video file, when i play there are 2 sounds overlapping; english and japanese?

how can i convert from .mkv file to .avi or other video file types?

[ivoh]

how can i open the vob,ifo... etc. files (what i got in my hard-disk) in some kinda player?

[Guest]

@ivoh

I asked you in a PM to change your avatar as it violates rule 4. You ignored my request, so I struck you for rule 4. Now I am asking you again. If you do not comply, you will be struck for rule 16, which will result in a suspension.

[faenwyn]

Maybe we should link to this thread by markrb (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19566) as well as the pie thread. (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7770) They are very well written threads about how to behave when you are a newbie (or quite experienced too for that matter), but since they are 'hidden' (sticky in fact;)) in the DVD2SVCD-basic forum it's not necessarily the first place a newbie would go look.



YEA, What he said! I do use the search button, but I don't get anything close to what I am asking about. I don't think I am using the right words. DUH! I don't know the right words because I am a newbie!:confused:

[tominator]

Id like a good guide on cropping and resizing.

[SallyDog]

Id like a good guide on cropping and resizing.

I think that would be a great guide.

However, what exactly is the definition of "upcoming" :D

[aly26m]

wouldnt it be a good idea to have a guide to all guides or FAQ with links to specific sections
well the earlier sentence is more in a lighter vein though one issue which i would like to be handled is Reconversion. Me for one has been facing a lot of issues trying to reconvert divx to xvids and vice versa esp. when it involves file resizing. Most of the times sync goes out whenever i try to resize.

[rwest]

1. A suggested list of programs in accordance to experience.
ie. simple/advanced/and complex

2. Also the latest programs available with thier level of expertise needed.

[laura_lee]

1 classifying problems
2. before asking for helping ,go to FAQ first.

[bananacreamandpeca]

But I really would like some sort of central-help that helps newbies
understand the causes of off-sync audio/video in general.
And what you can do about it.

So noobs like me (and future noobs) wont have to ask
out-of sync questions for their own specific encoding problems again.
This will help relieve aggrevation that novice users have with these questions.
Will help cleanup the sub-forums in the future. And part of the 0-reply threads will stay away.

And saying I have to use the search, well the search sucks. Especialy with this subject.
I get 1001 threads about dvd->avi audio sync problems, None wich covers my problem.
Well yes, 1 tiny bit of info.
that says it will explain why mp3-vbr is troublesome with video streams.
And then the link is broken or dead on some stupid old vdub-site.

So please.

[bananacreamandpeca]

The yahoo-search engine is also very powerfull.

When you goto yahoo-Q&A. You can immediately start typing
a question you have.
And it will instantly suggest the right subforum for it (9-10 times)
If you could implement a similar help -function on doom9.
Cuz all these threads and a ton of info.
And I still dont know where to look.
Paging through 15 pages of text. And none helps me.
And tehre are a lot of dutch poepl here who like myself
do not master the englisch language well.
So they make shitty manuals that use dutch grammar with english words in it.

[Schnoodledorfer]

If you could implement a similar help -function on doom9.


... and if pigs could fly. ;)

The search function is supplied by vBulletin®, which is the forum software. It doesn't even index words of 3 characters or less, so there is no point in specifying things like "AVI", "mux", "MP3", etc. (If you set it up so it did, the search engine would slow down far too much.) Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, there is no reasonably simple and inexpensive solution to the problem that the search engine is inadequate. Given that this is a free volunteers-only site, some compromises must be made.

I'm not connected with anyone who runs this site, but I've been frustrated enough in the past to look into this somewhat. I got to the point where I could see that the people who run this place are doing about the best that can be expected. Reality sucks sometimes.

When I search these forums I often use Google and include the term: "site:forum.doom9.org" (or "site:doom9.org", to search the Doom9 web pages as well). It probably is possible to do the same thing with Yahoo, but I don't know the syntax.

My main gripe with those who run these forums is that they don't (last time I checked) provide this information where people would easily see it. That could easily be done, I think. (On the other hand, one can find that information by searching for "search", even using the forum search engine - it gets mentioned in posts occasionally.) While I'm thinking about it, I probably should at least put that information in my signature. I don't have many posts, but someone might see it and benefit.

[Bh4i]

Some basic tools to demux and mux maybe?

[throwawayaddy]

I am new to the forum, and I don't know exactly what goes on here, but it would be cool if one of the pros made some videos using this software (http://www.camstudio.org)... such as installing VirtualDub, AviSynth, as well as common tasks. You could toss the videos up on youtube or something.

Also, some workflow charts! I'm currently under the impression that VDub is a codec/filetype converter, but it needs AviSynth in order to feed it movies that it can't normally read by itself. E.G.: (and this may be wrong, since I'm a noob)


http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s100/kye222/logic.gif

[MetalheadGautham]

i want to see full length guides of each of the prescribed softwares with download links...

[TiggyWink]

Hi,

Being an Apple Mac user, I've found it really frustrating and challenging at times to work out the whole downloading from (for example) RS.com, learning what best to use to unRAR (I've chosen Mac Par Deluxe), finding VLC, using Switch to convert files.

I still have great problems with ffmpegX (have posted recently in the Newbies section on this but so far no solution). I just cannot successfully merge avi and srt files.

So.... guess what I'm asking for is a simple, step by step introduction for Apple Mac users. It's so time-consuming searching bit by bit with Google to solve each problem as it occurs!:devil:

[timestoby]

well since askn on this forum and others ive never gotten a solid answer to wot type of hardware a gpu's is best for playn back 720p and 1080p movies witout stutter and being able to do emails or some other stuff at the same time.

like wots the least type of gpu can i use for a laptop,same for desktop.
core duo or core 2 duo,which is better

a list of gpu's for both laptop and desktop would be great.

like right now my desktop has 1gb ram p4 3.oghz and an old nvidia fx5200 128mb card,and its old.i can run 720p fine,but cant run mkv.x.264 1080p files,but can run 1080p wmv-hd fine.
surely newbs would want to know this type of info.maybe they still stuck in the sd era.

[jult]

Converting videos from
YouTube Googlevideo LiveLeak Dailymotion FLV flash video
to be editable usable in VirtualDub, and all this as lossless as possible.

There are literally hundreds of so-called guides on this, but none of them is considering the aspect of not wanting to lose audio- and video-quality. Also, most of the guides involve HUGE software-packages for just one task, or scripts. I have yet to see a decent guide for this. Would be great to see one here.

[foxyshadis]

Avidemux can directly edit them. Instant bonus!

You can use ffmpeg to mux to avi and edit in virtualdub, totally lossless, but you must have a recent ffdshow installed and flv decoding enabled for it. There's also no GUI for it, command-line or batch files only. Fortunately it's dirt simple:
ffmpeg -i {input}.flv {output}.avi
In newer builds it'll detect the frame rate and everything for you. (Which surprised me just now, it used to always do 1000 fps.)

Or you can use pretty much any ffmpeg or mencoder frontend to convert it to pretty much any other format in existence, see the GUI forum for plenty of those.

[lellum]

I am using the very latest StaxRip (1.0.0.1) and it has downloaded it's needed versions of everything but nero aac encoder (it wanted feb 2007 - august '07 was dl'ed instead).

I am new to x264/aac encoding into the mkv and mp4 containers and am playing the files using VLC 0.8.6c. Ripper is DVDdecrypter 3.5.4.0 on XP Pro.

Audio sync is a nightmare and is off by a constant interval. Should I search for the older version the AAC encoder, or is there something wrong with using the programs I am using?

edit to add:

I have located a source for the required back level nero encoder; it can be downloaded from

http://www.brothersoft.com/mp3_audio/rippers_encoders/nero_digital_audio_download_59677.html

The required version is 1.0.7.0 and the releases date is Feb 12, 2007. I am doing an encode from scratch on a movie that has displayed the sync prob and will update this post when I have checked it out.

edit to update:

Many problems seem so obvious after you find them. The problem was that I did not change the default DVDDecrypter processing mode from 'File' to 'IFO' and was at the mercy of circumstance. I was trying to get my process up and running on four machines and thought that individual environments were involved.

Thank you.

[_yo_wasup_]

Seriously, cover the result of this other topic of EVO files to WMV HD conversion after it is figured out. What I don't like about this forum in particular that should change is that people should post updates in the first post in an easy to understand manner dated with credits. Especially these 15 page topics you know no one is going to read every 15 pages because their attention span is 10 seconds before they post the same question asked 128 times already.

[nightryder21]

How to create a single .vob file from a DVD containing just the movie.

[DMF]

Kind of DVD-RB specific, but may apply somewhat to a FAQ here: There is *no* discussion in DVD-RB FAQ (unless I've managed to miss it) of the various modes. I know it's a complex subject, but surely each merits a couple of sentences and a pointer to some on-line resource (or, here, thread). E.g.:

"XYZ Mode - Mode that {uses the XYZ program or whatever}. It's particularly good at blah blah, but downside is blah blah.. See [linkie] for more information."

[ettin]

I would like an detailed explanation of what happens when a variable (or combination of variables) within a filter is set to either extreme. Every single tutorial or FAQ out there just explains in vague terms what it does, like "function Q of MY filter makes THIS do THAT, you can set it from 0 to 99". And im always left asking, well, what the hell happens if i set it to 99? No wait, let me spend the next hour finding out. Oh, whats that, you have 5 more settings to change, and the combination of any of them could produce a drastically different result than any of them by themselves? Well, let see, 6 settings , so thats 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 15 hours for combinations of two! I wonder what 3 or more of these settings do, i think retirement is coming up soon, maybe i can finally find out!

Its not really a FAQ in and of itself, its more of a way of creating FAQ's that actually create a greater sense of understanding instead of just blindly leading people towards a specific goal.

[juGGaKNot]

a "how to" faq

hot to get DXVA working on ATI HD cards :)

[Ramir Gonzales]

A method on how we could play two encodes 'on top of eachother' or "side-by-side" would be great !:)

[juGGaKNot]

A method on how we could play two encodes 'on top of eachother' or "side-by-side" would be great !:)

well

make a new project in vegas ( you didn't say the resolution ) 1920x1080

take the first material at 960x540 and add a border up 960 pixels

take the second 960x540 material and add a border down 960 pixels

put the footage on top of each other and you will have a 1920x1080 split screen material

weird i know :)

if your footage is 1920x1080 than project 3840x2160 and add border 1920 each :D

a "how to" faq

hot to get DXVA working on ATI HD cards :)

got the DXVA working, no need for the faq

[Ramir Gonzales]

Yes JuGGAknot, but I was actually look for some Avisynth script.:)

[J_Darnley]

Read the docs. StackHorizontal and StackVertical are what you should look at and Interleave might also be of interest.

[omibrain]

OK, so I just found this forum which seems to be a plethora of audio/video info. But, it all is "greek" to me. Has anyone written a dictionary of terms?

[Guest]

A dictionary wouldn't help you much. You need to do some serious research and learning. I'm sorry to say there is no shortcut. But the journey can be quite enjoyable.

Anyway, Google is a giant dictionary and you should be able to find out what you need with it. If not, post a question in the Newbies forum.

[linyx]

OK, so I just found this forum which seems to be a plethora of audio/video info. But, it all is "greek" to me. Has anyone written a dictionary of terms?

Actually there is a glossary of terms here (http://www.doom9.org/glossary.htm), but this is FAR from everything.
Happy learning.:)

[omibrain]

well, thanks all. I do think the glossary will help. so, I begin my journey with the first step.:)

[Karkas]

I started delving into this stuff a few months ago and still feel overwhelmed by the number of apps out there. I would love to see a list something like this...

Ripping programs:
Standard DVDs only:
Program A - Discription, price, rating etc.
Program B - Discription, price, rating etc.
HD DVD, BR, and standard DVDs:
Program C - Discription, price, rating etc.
BR only:
Program D - Discription, price, rating etc.

Encoding programs
Program E - Discription(codecs & containers), price, rating etc.
Program F - Discription(codecs & containers), price, rating etc.

Playback programs:
Standard DVD only
Program G - Discription, price, rating etc
HD DVD/BR playback
Program H - Discription, price, rating etc
File playback
Program I - supported codecs/container, price, rating etc

Yadda Yadda Yadda

If there was something like this that allows us noobs to make sence of the tower or babel of codecs & programs most of us could be brought up to speed very quickly.

[kalia]

Converting videos from
YouTube Googlevideo LiveLeak Dailymotion FLV flash video
to be editable usable in VirtualDub, and all this as lossless as possible.

There are literally hundreds of so-called guides on this, but none of them is considering the aspect of not wanting to lose audio- and video-quality. Also, most of the guides involve HUGE software-packages for just one task, or scripts. I have yet to see a decent guide for this. Would be great to see one here.


i've had quite a bit of success converting with the open source software mediacoder. pretty intuitive to work out and operate. simply set source, output file and destination, tweak output settings depending on file format, and go. http://www.photopile.info/img/c/8.gif

kalia.

[frank lampard]

Hi there!

I would like to make this thread a place where everybody can post his/hers ideas or suggestion of what should be included in the upcoming Newbies FAQ (that, by the way, is missing and should be done long time ago - I admit - my fault).
There is already a number of people working on it, but we are all only humans. There are things that might be just straightforward for some of us, but for others will need some explanation. There are things that we may just overlook. There is a lot of reasons...
And you guys are the ones I would like to ask for help.
If you think that something is missing in other FAQs, that something has to be explained in more understandable way - now you've got a place to post your thoughts, remarks, etc.
If you have some questions, that you think that should be included in the FAQ and already know good answers - post it here!
We will look for answers and we will combine it all into one FAQ.
Any help from your side is much anticipated and welcome.

So....

LET'S BEGIN!!!!

aleksander



Hi guys,I am newbie here.My name is frank.
Glad to meet you all,guys..