ProCoder hangs on title pics

[Happygolucky]

Using DVD2SVCD latest version and Canopus Procoder 1.01.35. If I have, on the CD Image tab, selected Title Picture, Change CD picture, etc., when Procoder is started and given the task of encoding the pics, Procoder shows it will take 12 hours to perform the encoding. HUH???? It takes 12 hours for one pic? If I uncheck the pics on the CD Image tab, Procoder encodes the entire 2 hour movie in about 4 hours. Is there a known problem using Procoder to encode still pics? And yes, I searched the FAQs and did not find anything on this.

[DDogg]

All I can tell you is I did a full [ProCorder] encode last night using title pics and change cd pics which went fine with no problems. I was using Beta 7 available from the sticky up top. http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51096

[Randal Oliveira]

Everythjing was fine few days ago, but now I'm getting a error when I try to encode still pictures (Title, Change or End):
This window size is not accepted by selected MPEG-2 level.

I can read in Tmpgenc window that the problem is in line 8 of my *.avs file:

Import("C:\Arquivos de programas\DVD2SVCD\Movie\ResampleAudio.avs")
LoadPlugin("C:\ARQUIV~1\DVD2SVCD\AVISYN~1\AVISYN~1.DLL")
Blackness(2)
AssumeFPS(29.970)
ConvertToYUY2
BicubicResize(480,576)
AvisynthBMP_Loader("C:\Arquivos de programas\DVD2SVCD\Movie","TitlePicture.bmp")
BicubicResize(400,480)
AddBorders(152,0,152,0)
BicubicResize(480,480)
ResampleAudio(44100)

Anyone could help me?

[DDogg]

Hopefully you still have all the files. Try adding ConvertToRGB24 at the end of the script and see if TMPG will take it.

[Happygolucky]

Originally posted by DDogg
All I can tell you is I did a full [ProCorder] encode last night using title pics and change cd pics which went fine with no problems. I was using Beta 7 available from the sticky up top. http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51096

Just as an aside, have you ever compared the output quality of Procoder to other encoders, like CCE and TMPGEnc? Speed is irrelevant to me, I will select the highest quality mode for any of the encoders without regard to speed. What I'd like to know is, when you select that highest quality, is there any noticeable difference between CCE, Procoder, and TMPGEnc?

[DDogg]

That is one of those open ended questions that can cause a "thread from hell" to start. Let's not do that folks :p

As has been said many times before, the consensus seems to be CCE multi-pass (3 or 4 pass)is still preferred by most people for encodings of DVD progressive source movies. Do note that the so called CCE speed advantage is pretty much nullified by multi-pass.

ProCorder is clearly preferred, certainly by me at least, whenever encoding a interlaced source like DV via AVI2SVCD using either CBR mastering mode or 2 pass VBR mastering mode if the video bitrate will be less than "full". CBR highest quality mode is also very good if the allocated bitrate is up around the max like 2500. Procorder seems to equal CCE on progressive encodes as well, again, IMO and to MY eyes (heheh, which ain't so good anymore, BTW).

The TMPG CQ mode is quite good, but sometimes DVD2SVCD mis-judges the size and for that reason alone I do not use it as it is certainly not clearly superior in any way to my eyes over the two above, especially with that size aggravation.

Of course all of this is massively subjective so the best answer, really the ONLY answer, is use your own eyes to judge the quality yourself using your video delivery vehicle. My 10 year old 32 inch TV would show something entirely different from a state of the art projection system with a 100 inch screen. What works for me might well be considered unacceptable by someone with that type of system.

All that being said, If I HAD to pick just one encoder to own I would pick ProCorder as it does an excellent job with any source I throw at it and seems the most all around versatile.

/edit: Oh, I wanted to add that one of the best areas to check encoder quality might well be lower bitrates like less than 1600-1700. Instintively I would always reach for CCE 4 pass multipass vbr with a few filters although many people feel this is where TMPG really comes into its own.

Now, although I have not done any adequte testing to fully verify, I am not quite sure if ProCorder 2-pass Mastering quality might not do this a little better. Just a gut feeling I have. It may be an area you want to check out if you do use lower bitrates. I think I will if I get the time.

All the stuff above is said in a clearly warned "IMHO" type of style. Just because I have been around a long time does not mean I clearly have this stuff figured out. In fact, the longer I mess with it the more I wonder if anybody really knows more than a small percentage of the correct answers :)

[Happygolucky]

Oh, I definitely didn't want to start any sort of "encoder war" by my question, but now I do see how such a thing could happen from the way I worded it. I really appreciate your input a lot. I mainly use DVD2SVCD for all my conversions right now, since I haven't purchased a DVD burner yet. I have licenced versions of Procoder and TMPGEnc Plus. I've used TMPG primarily, previously using 2 pass VBR but now using CQ more since it seems to produce a better visual quality (I set DVD2SVCD for CQ offset of 85 and file prediction of 0.980 with motion search at highest quality, DC Component of 10 bits). When I've played with Procoder I was getting hangs when it attempted to convert still pics (for title page, etc.) but I've recently obtained a new beta of DVD2SVCD which I was told may solve that but I haven't tried it out. I just encoded a new flick with TMPG so I think I'll do it again except choosing Procoder and then compare the two.

[DDogg]

I just encoded a new flick with TMPG so I think I'll do it again except choosing Procoder and then compare the two.
I would certainly be interested in your feedback if you do those tests.

[Happygolucky]

Originally posted by DDogg
I would certainly be interested in your feedback if you do those tests.

The Procoder experience didn't come off very well, unfortunately. Perhaps I'm just not well-versed in setting up Procoder correctly. I used the latest version of DVD2SVCD 1.1.3 build 3 BETA 7. I was given Procoder 1.01.35. For some reason, DVD2SVCD doesn't seem to pass the file names to Procoder correctly. I started the conversion and left, came back a couple hours later to check on the progress, and Procoder was just sitting there with a file-name conflict dialog which required me to choose a new file name. It seems it wanted to name the title pic, change cd pic, as well as the encoded movie to the exact same thing: "untitled mpeg". I chose the option to let Procoder automatically change the name and ended up with "untitled mpeg", "untitled (one) mpeg" , and "untitled (two) mpeg", but then DVD2SVCD bombed out because it couldn't find the files it expected. I thought perhaps the latest beta was somehow the problem so I reverted back to the released version of DVD2SVCD but it did the same thing. After spending the better part of two hours trying to figure out the problem (reinstalled DVD2SVCD completely, reinstalled Procoder, tried newer 1.05 version of VFAPI, etc.) I never could get the file name issue resolved between Procoder and DVD2SVCD.

So, I just manually ran Procoder on the test AVI file using the highest quality settings. It took a bit over 12 hours to encode (TMPGEnc took only 5 hours). The result was about 15% larger than that produced by TMPGEnc using the DVD2SVCD CQ settings. Visually, I compared the two files using PowerDVD XP on my computer and could not see any differences. I burned the two files to SVCD and popped them into my Pioneer 353 DVD player and viewed them on my Philips 65" television. The TMPGEnc encode was, to my eyes, slightly better. The Procoder version seemed to have less defined edges around objects like people's faces when they were in motion. It was like little "heat waves" eminating from the objects. You had to really look close to notice them, most people would probably not pay any attention to it. But, considering the hassle I went through with Procoder (TMPGEnc gave me no grief whatsoever, it just worked beautifully) and the result of TMPGEnc being ever-so-slightly better quality output with a slightly smaller file even, I have to give the nod to TMPGEnc Plus 2.512.52.161.

I used DVD2SVCD settings of CQ offset 85, file prediction 0.980, DC Precision of 10 bits and padding enabled. Also, I used Motion Search of Highest Quality. On Procoder I used Mastering quality with 2 pass VBR, 10 bit DC Precision.

[DDogg]

Just to check, did you make sure the path for the frameserver was entered in the Procorder tab? I use link2 for that and do not have any problems with doing an encode with ProCorder. Also you might try Procorder 1 pass CBR with mastering settings.

[Happygolucky]

Originally posted by DDogg
Just to check, did you make sure the path for the frameserver was entered in the Procorder tab? I use link2 for that and do not have any problems with doing an encode with ProCorder.

Yes, I checked that, everything was as it should be, as far as I could tell. I had used Procoder before with none of these problems, but I recently had to do a complete reinstall of my computer system (had a hard drive go bad) so everything is "new". When I have more time perhaps I'll play around with it and see if I can get it working again. It could be that Procoder doesn't like my add-ons I recently installed on DVD2SVCD, like AutoFitCD and D2SCCD. I disabled them in the menus but perhaps just having them installed altered something that Procoder doesn't like or affects the frameserver. I don't have access to link2, just use the VFAPI.

[joshyg2]

hi all,

when i am doing long (say 1.5 hour) Pure-Interlaced encodes, i get good results when using Canopus ProCoder.

but I too have the same problem with still images, so I have to stop the encode, use crash recovery and change the encoder to CCE, wait until the images are encoded, stop the process, copy the encoded images into another folder, then run crash recovery again, choosing ProCoder again, then cancel the enoding of the still images, and while ProCoder is encoding the video, i would copy the encoded images back into the folder.

a real hastle, im using DVD2SVCD 1.1.3 Build 2

if anyone who's why this happens, or how to solve it, please tell . .

[DDogg]

First get beta 7 from the avi2svcd sticky at the top of this forum. Then in the frameserver tab check edit script and when the edit dialog comes up add a converttoyuy2() at the end of the script. Let me know if that helps (please). I had to do that on a new machine recently. The forthcoming new release will alow you to deal with this in a new and better way.

[Happygolucky]

I think the ConvertToYUY2 worked for me. I had forgotten about this thread, but Procoder has now been working for me for a while. But I noticed that the convert statement was now in the script, so perhaps that was the problem. I'm getting very good results with it. BTW, I'm using Procoder 1.01.35 frontend but with the 1.5.22 engine. Don't ask how I managed that, but it works flawlessly, is very fast even on Mastering quality.