Auto Gordian Knot: current version 2.55

[len0x]

This tool is designed mainly for people who know very little (or nothing) about video conversion and want to create videos for their standalones or PC in a few clicks of a mouse.

Download website: http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Downloads

Tutorial is included with the application as well as available online here: http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Tutorial

Special thanks goes to:

- manono for great ideas and starting a wonderful tutorial for AutoGK
- Swede, ampex69, cooltool, bob0r, Gabnoj, HannibalX and others for web hosting
- doom9 for great support of video community at www.doom9.org
- authors of the tools I'm using within this application
- and the rest of Doom9's forums for testing and suggestions

VERSION HISTORY
2.55 stable

- XviD bundled was still 1.3.0 somehow, which is updated to 1.2.1
- ColorMatrix filter updated

2.53 beta

- fixed compatibility with non-english characters in the input path (excluding support of subs in this case)
- XviD now uses VAQ if source is not a cartoon (XviD setting in hidden options control's that) or have burnt-in subs.
- fixed bug with not all subtitles being processed if IFO file does not have them all in order (i.e. some are edited out)
- fixed bug with first subtitle track not being default one after rearranging order of subs
- included MPC that was missing from 2.50/52 installer
- fixed support of PCM audio tracks in MPG files

2.52 beta

- fixed file split bug (introduced in 2.50a)
- XviD updated to the release version of 1.2.1 plus VAQ patch (VAQ is not used by AutoGK yet though)
- Avisynth updated to the version 2.5.8

2.50 alpha

- built with a new compiler
- changed detection of VBR MP3 for muxing purposes
- DGMpgDec updated to version 1.5.3
- ColorMatrix, Decomb and FDecimate filters updated to the latest versions
- lame updated to the version 3.98.2
- XviD updated to version 1.3.0 12/12/08 with new x64 compatible installer


2.48 beta

- XviD build downgraded to CVS 08/12/06 as in 2.40
- DGMpgDec updated to version 1.5.0 beta 12

2.47 beta

- fixed external subs problem
- add command line option to start AutoGK in multi-instance mode: "-multi"
- DGMpgDec updated to version 1.5.0 beta 4
- XviD downgraded to version 1.2.0 CVS 20/12/06 to prevent undersize with ESS option enabled

2.46 beta

- DGMpgDec updated to version 1.5.0 beta 2 to prevent popups during encode
- included MPC 6.4.9.0 that does preview now
- compiled with new compiler/libraries
- added option to go to sleep (stand by) mode after encode
- colormatrix filter is updated to version 2.2

2.45

- XviD build updated to CVS 25/07/07
- DGMpgDec updated to version 1.4.9
- avisynth updated to version 2.5.7
- filters updated to latest versions
- colormatrix uses multiple threads on multiple CPUs
- added hidden option to hide DGIndex

<see pre 2.45 change log in application itself >

[SiXXGuNNZ]

woot! gk for dummies! it just gets better, I myself will still use gk, but I know alot of newbs who will love this app, good work len

[len0x]

Btw, those ones who think they do decent rips with XviD can try it and tell me if they satisfied with results. The goal of application was to achieve as good as results as with manual encoding, i.e. quality should not be compromised.

P.S. reading doom9's post in the news - just wanted to say that the tool is based on GK ideas and my experience while developing it, but written from scratch (so it's not GPLed like it should be if it was really based on the sources of GK).

[twist3d]

I get always virtualdub error:
Script error: syntax error
(G:\\tmp\test_comptest.avs, line 14, column 56)

LoadPlugin("G:\gk\GKITFA~1.ALP\filters\mpeg2dec3dg.dll")
LoadPlugin("G:\gk\GKITFA~1.ALP\filters\autocrop.dll")
LoadPlugin("G:\gk\GKITFA~1.ALP\filters\undot.dll")

movie = mpeg2source("G:\\tmp\test.d2v")
cropclip = autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples=10,aspect=0,threshold=40)
c_width = width(cropclip)
c_height = round(height(cropclip) / 1,45868945868946)
input_par = float(c_width)/float(c_height)
out_width = 640
out_height = round(float(out_width) / input_par)
hmod = out_height - (floor(out_height / 16 ) * 16)
out_height = (hmod > 8) ? (out_height + (16 - hmod)) : (out_height - hmod)
new_aspect = (float(out_width) / float(out_height)) / 1,45868945868946
autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples=10,aspect=new_aspect,threshold=40)
Undot()
LanczosResize(out_width,out_height)
SelectRangeEvery(280,14)

[MediaMage]

the failure is here:
(line 14, column 56)
its the ","
instead it´s probably "." ?


new_aspect = (float(out_width) / float(out_height)) /1,09401709401709

also i noticed when selecting another audio track than the first, the log tells me:

[01.11.2003 13:41:16] Indexing input for preview.
[01.11.2003 13:41:25] Started encoding.
[01.11.2003 13:41:25] Demuxing and indexing.
[01.11.2003 13:41:26] Audio is not found.
[01.11.2003 13:41:26] Found 1014 frames
*************************************

this should be minor problems, but the program looks REALLY nice to me!

[len0x]

@twist3d
what's you system's decimal separator ?
Comma I assume ? Does the problem go away if you change it to dot in the system properties ?

@MediaMage

thanks for pointing that out. at the last moment i changed the way audio picked up (more generic way), but didn't test it with other tracks. will have look at it.

[epere4]

Originally posted by len0x Please welcome new kid on the block: GordianKnotItFast4U Welcome :D

Thanks, Lenox. Great tool!!


Originally posted by len0x reading doom9's post in the news - just wanted to say that the tool is based on GK ideas and my experience while developing it, but written from scratch (so it's not GPLed like it should be if it was really based on the sources of GK). I have make that clear in the Spanish news :cool:

[MediaMage]

@lenOx:

he´s probably from germany, as i am , therefore i got the same problem.

BUT:

the problem DOES not exist anymore if you change the decimal separator (just learned some new english words ;) from "," to "." in the system properties (for the germans: its under "Ländereinstellungen / Dezimaltrennzeichen")

maybe you should override the decimal separator.

compressibility test is not running because of this:

[01.11.2003 16:41:41] Started encoding.
[01.11.2003 16:41:41] Demuxing and indexing.
[01.11.2003 16:41:43] Encoding audio.
[01.11.2003 16:41:58] Found 1014 frames
[01.11.2003 16:41:58] Audio size: 468224
[01.11.2003 16:41:58] Overhead: 40576
[01.11.2003 16:41:58] Video Size: 366492800
[01.11.2003 16:41:58] Running compressability test.
*************************************
EXCEPTION: Cannot open file "C:\tmp\frames.log". Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden
*************************************
[01.11.2003 16:44:09] Finished encoding.


Exception translated: (THE SYSTEM CANNOT FIND THE SPECIFIED FILE)

then following VirtualDub Error appers:
mpeg2dec3dg.dll is not an avisynth 1.0 plugin

AVS Script Line, that creates the error is:
LoadPlugin("C:\GKITFA~1.ALP\filters\mpeg2dec3dg.dll"

replacing vdub mod with the latest version from gknot, and replacing mpeg2dec3.dll wasn´t helping.

also noted: i got avisynth 2.52 installed, i don´t know why avisynth 1.0 is used?
now reinstalling avisynth 2.52....

EDIT 15 or so ;) : WORKING!!!
comp test is running... more feedback to come

[MediaMage]

here is what came out when encoding a freshly ripped (full dvd, file mode) of deep space nine season 5 dvd 1:

[01.11.2003 16:56:26] Started encoding.
[01.11.2003 16:56:26] Demuxing and indexing.
[01.11.2003 16:56:26] Indexing subtitles.
[01.11.2003 16:56:34] Found 1014 frames
[01.11.2003 16:56:34] Audio size: 767232
[01.11.2003 16:56:34] Overhead: 12032
[01.11.2003 16:56:34] Video Size: 1467227136
[01.11.2003 16:56:34] Running compressability test.
[01.11.2003 16:56:52] Compressability percentage is: 5215.31
[01.11.2003 16:56:52] Switching b-frames off.
[01.11.2003 16:56:52] New width is : 704
[01.11.2003 16:56:52] Predicted comptest value is: 3755.03
[01.11.2003 16:56:52] Running first pass.
[01.11.2003 16:58:10] Running second pass.
[01.11.2003 16:59:18] Muxing Audio.
[01.11.2003 16:59:19] Finished encoding.


it has ripped a rather small track.. but it´s an alpha.
now testing it on a ripped program chain.. more feedback to come

let me know if you need more alpha testing, got plenty cpu power to spare, and i am able to track down errors (in the level i am able to understand the plugins and so).
from now on i´ll archive the temp dir and other logs as well

[MediaMage]

this far this good, episode is encoding.

i notice the very slow encoding speed, 14 fps
may the reason be the enormous calculations you do in the avisynth script?
usually i got around 40-50 fps with nearly the same parameters, using gknot, lanczos, and cropped image.

[PatchWorKs]

Keep in touch with FairUse (http://fairuse.sf.net/) author, togheter you can improve your applications... (and, why not, mantain 2 different language versions)

[len0x]

@MediaMage

About that comma problem - I certainly will fix that in the next version. I never tried it on a system with comma as decimal separator before obviously.

Regarding sample tests - if you have a sample with just 1014 frames (how did you rip it btw?) and aiming for 2CDs - then numbers will be huge :)

About speed - are you used to get 50fps with XviD and vhq1 and b-frames ? The only other option I'm using is custom matrixes. On my pc I'm getting only 12-14fps both in GK and GKIF4U (1.5Ghz Athlon)

P.S. can you tell me more about those plugin&avisynth problems you had - was it something wrong on your system or it's my fault ? :)

[MediaMage]

1) sample with 1000 frames:
i used the star trek ds9 dvd, full iso mode ripped to hdd
therefore your tool selected the 1000 frame ifo file, which seems to be the first on the dvd, without my interferrence (BUT your tool was supposed to choose the file with the highest playtime??, therefore it SHOULD have chosen the episode with the longest playtime (about 45 minutes)

2) XVID --> i got 50 frames per secodn with divx5, therefore forget about that .. i got 25-27 fps, which is about the same i got before in gknot.

3) I reinstalled Avisynth 2.52, then it worked fine, don´t know why, because gknot and dvd2svcd just worked fine with 2.5 plugins



so here the log of the finished encode of a 45 Minutes episode, 100% load for the tool, without other tools running in the background:
25 frames per second first pass (81816 frames / 3300 seconds)
27 frames per second 2nd pass
(roughly estimated)


[01.11.2003 17:06:46] Indexing input for preview.
[01.11.2003 17:07:39] Indexing subtitles for preview.
[01.11.2003 17:09:12] Started encoding.
[01.11.2003 17:09:12] Demuxing and indexing.
[01.11.2003 17:10:01] Encoding audio.
[01.11.2003 17:13:09] Indexing subtitles.
[01.11.2003 17:13:49] Found 81816 frames
[01.11.2003 17:13:49] Audio size: 37763792
[01.11.2003 17:13:49] Overhead: 3272704
[01.11.2003 17:13:49] Video Size: 325965104
[01.11.2003 17:13:49] Running compressability test.
[01.11.2003 17:17:33] Compressability percentage is: 63.31
[01.11.2003 17:17:33] New width is : 576
[01.11.2003 17:17:33] Predicted comptest value is: 77.96
[01.11.2003 17:17:33] Running first pass.
[01.11.2003 18:12:27] Running second pass.
[01.11.2003 19:03:25] Muxing Audio.
[01.11.2003 19:03:53] Finished encoding.


file came out 349 mb,
encoding with subtitles was enabled,
quality of the picture is not that great; i give it a try without subtitles, the subs are perfectly sharp.
i assume the source material is too noisy for perfect quality
deinterlacing and resizing worked perfect, though.
i´ll also will give it a try with a not so noisy source

let me know if you want the other log files etc.

[GizmoDerMokwai]

Hey, I tested you nice piece of code, too. I'll also think, it's somewhat slow, normally I got around 30fps with using LanczosResize and XviD Koepi build. Maybe you shouldt use a different avs script after the comp test. I'll test some scripts, so i'll can tell you, which filter makes the script beeing encoded that slow.
Like the others I just can say, keep on developing! I like the program, cause normally I user Robot4Rip and GKnot, so you Program is a good combine.

[GizmoDerMokwai]

dunno what's wrong with your vDub useage...
i encoded the GKIF4U AVS Script manuelly with vdubmod with default XviD Settings and got min. the dopple fps....

[len0x]

@MediaMage

About first ripping step: ISO/File mode is not ideal for GKIF4U. I have to check situation with multiple IFOs, but I think I'm just picking up the first one anyway (because in IFO mode DVDDecrypter produces just one ifo file and I select the longest chain from there). May be I'm wrong and it's a bug. In any case I recommend using IFO mode and only rip what you gonna encode. It will help solving problems with audio (the one you mentioned ealier). In fact I checked and audio is being picked up right, but info you see in the combobox is probably incorrect (there is no second audio for the chain which is later processed by DVD2AVI). Was stream info txt file created when you ripped? (or maybe you didn't rip it in IFO mode)

Moreover - if you have multiple episodes in one vobset and you ripped them all in ISO or File mode, the GKIF4U cannot do anything right since it always works on the stripped VOBs already (with just one chain there). Hope this is clear now for everybody who uses GKIG4U.

@GizmoDerMokwai

Default XviD settings don't use VHQ if I'm not mistaken. But I'm using VHQ1 which makes encoding at least twice as slow. And AVS script doesn't matter in this case at all as you found out already.

[GizmoDerMokwai]

so maybe it wouldt be nice, to make it possible for the users, to change the elementary codec settings in one of the next builds...

[manono]

Hi-

I've done a couple of movies now using gkItFast4U. Did them both for 1 CD. The speeds seem about the same as before. Perhaps those finding it to be slower are used to using different codecs, or have been using XviD with different settings. If, for example, you haven't been using VHQ, since gkItFast4U does use VHQ, then you'll get a pretty big slowdown. And if you're not used to using LanczosResize, then that slows you down a little bit.

The first movie had 82% Film. It detected that, put on IVTC, ran the compression test and encoded. I preset the Horizontal Res to 640, so it kept that and came out with a 74% compress test result. It made the subs, did the audio, cropped the black bars perfectly, encoded the movie and muxed with no problem, and it looks great. Perfect 700 MB size.

The second movie it handled differently. I had done both movies before, so I knew what I was looking for. This time I changed the final file size to 701 MB, from the 700 MB of the first movie. It kept the AC3 track. It looks like anything over 700 MB gets AC3 (I just confirmed that in the Usage.txt). Many people might raise the size slightly, still intending to make 1 CD (perhaps even overburning). One suggestion is to make MP3 audio up to about 705 MB. Either that or let us choose the Audio in the Advanced Settings box. Some people might prefer MP3 Audio, even for a 2 CD rip. This time I let it choose the Horizontal Resolution (Auto Width). This one had 0% Film in DVD2AVI, but I knew from experience that it IVTC'd well. It kept it at 29.97fps, kept the AC3 audio, did the subs, chose a softer matrix, cropped properly, kept LanczosResize interestingly, and chose a resolution based on a 74% compress test result. The resolution wound up as 480x256. I don't know any way around deciding to IVTC or just Deinterlace based just on the DVD2AVI results. You have to have a look at it usually. I don't know if you want to add an IVTC box in the Advanced settings or not. Heck, just deciding to Deinterlace or not follow the ITU Standard is going to confuse a lot of beginners. In fact, I'd suggest not giving anyone that particular choice. Make the ITU Standard the default and don't give anyone the chance to change it. But it came out to exactly 701 MB, and except for looking a bit soft, turned out fine.

A lot of these issues that will crop up are judgement calls. And you've made some reasonable choices in order to keep it as simple as possible. And it's real simple. A person that has never encoded anything in his life will have no problem at all with this. This is as close to a click-and-forget program as I've ever seen. And that includes Fair Use.

Lets see-questions.
1. Is there any point in running a compress test if the user has already chosen a Horizontal Resolution? Perhaps to show why his movie didn't turn out as well as expected after it's finished? If someone comes around later and says his movie looks like crap, you can say, "Post the log.", and then tell the guy, "Hey, you got a 30% compress test result with 640 Horizontal Res for 1 CD. What did you expect?"

2. What Deinterlacer are you using, and at what settings? Maybe I'll do that second movie again with the deinterlacer turned on and find out. :)

3. Which Matrices are you using? When it said "Using Softer Matrix", did it go from HVS_Best to HVS_Good, by chance?

4. What does the "Normal" in "4:3 Normal" mean? It's in Video Info, below the Input Directory. It was a widescreen letterboxed 4:3 DAR movie.

5. It looks like you choose the Horizontal Resolution based on around 75% in the compress test results. I'd suggest that if you're in danger of going below, say 512*xxx, that you switch to a 60 or 65% result, and perhaps also switch to Bicubic resizing. That may be tricky to implement, so I'd understand if you don't much like the idea. And I realize that you can choose a minimum Hor. Res. in the Advanced Settings.

6. Maybe add a line in the log with the actual final percentage based on the actual first pass size. When you're running a compress test at 640*xxx, and then extrapolating to get the percentage for a different resolution, that, on top of the compress test's margin of error, may give up to, what, 10% or so difference?

I guess that's it for now. My suggestions are minor, and even if you change nothing, this thing's great. Now when people complain that GKnot's too hard to use, I can say, "Use gkItFast4U." I'm impressed. Good work, len0x.

[ammer]

nice app. very simplified.

[len0x]

Originally posted by GizmoDerMokwai
so maybe it wouldt be nice, to make it possible for the users, to change the elementary codec settings in one of the next builds...

That kind of things I'm trying to avoid at all cost. But as I said ealier in my first post I might introduce some settings via a config file (but not gui).

[len0x]

About audio choice: I realize that customization is really important in this case. That is why I will definitely implement AC3/MP3 selector (I'm thinking what is the best place to put it: advanced settings or popup menu on the right click somewhere on the main window...). increasing auto settings to 705-710Mb for AC3 choice sounds good to me as well.

About resize: I'm keeping Lanczos always now, since it doesn't influence comp test value that much. I get much more difference by switching to softer matrix (from HVS_best to HVS_better). If you aiming for over 70% of comp test (as it does now) then Lanczos seems to be pretty good choice. Only if you fix the width manually then it might be a good idea to switch to another type of resize...

About IVTC: yes, I might add this as an advanced option "Force IVTC", so that even 100% NTSC movies can be IVTC-ed. ITU option, btw, was originally supposed to be "Keep perfect 4:3 aspect ratio", so that only affects 4:3 movies and i'm planing to rename that option. Deinterlacing option is there only because I have no way atm to detect that automatically, but I pretty much would like to do so. If anyone has ideas how to do that I'm open to discussions.

Regarding questions:

1) That's one of the reasons. Another - I'm still able to switch matrixes and f-frames (if for some reason the movie is maxed out). And originally I was supposed to change resize methods as well. So I still have some means of increasing comp test values if if width is fixed.

2) FieldDeinterlace(blend=false). This might not me choice for everyone, but I'm planning to have this as an option in the config file.

3) As I said ealier HVS-best for 2CD, HVS_better for 1 CD. Although I want somehow to be able to use HVS_best even for 1CD rips (or those half CD rips of TV shows), so this is gonna go into config file as well

4) It displays info from IFO files: either 4:3 Normal or 16:9 Anamorphic. It has nothing to do with output AR.

5) The limit is 70%. It's a good idea to lower this limit for lower resolutions. To implement this properly we need to take into account output aspect ratio, coz 1.33 ratio will look much worse that 2.35 with the same width.

6) if it was only for resizing - i'd expect no more than 2% difference. but if codec parameters were changed, i.e. matrix, bframes etc - then my prediction is very very rough estimation. for matrix change the error can be as much as 10% easily. at the moment i'm not counting first pass size at all, but can do that easily, so that we can see how precise my estimations are.

thanks for great feedback. i hope i can tune this tool into very best piece of encoding software :cool:

[killingspree]

@lenox: can't access the download atm... my first try to dl it got to 70% and then simply stopped...

[len0x]

Originally posted by killingspree
@lenox: can't access the download atm... my first try to dl it got to 70% and then simply stopped...

hm... keep trying. server might be on quite heavy load (and sometimes I think it's getting new dinamic ip, in which case dowanload might stop). We got more than 4Gb of traffic in less than two days already there :) I might be in need of more mirrors...

[Venom_IL]

Sure hope this'd make ppl stop using crap programs like easydivx and co.

this looks great, can't wait for a final build (a bit scared of alpha's myself :) )

Why is this not a sticky ?

btw - rogue demon hunter.. I like. Last angel ep was hilarious don't you think ? :D

[killingspree]

Originally posted by killingspree
@lenox: can't access the download atm... my first try to dl it got to 70% and then simply stopped...

hmmm... strange, seems that this has been a Mozilla/Firebird problem! works with IE 6.0 ... mpff

steVe

[Riley]

You should also checkout the program TaZit
http://www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/~drolle/TaZit_Soc_v0.42.rar
(right click....save target as)

(Discussion on TaZit)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=53043&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

It uses a very nice compressibility test algorithm for completely automated encoding, you may want to check it out.

It is also very easy to use and automates the entire process of ripping, encoding, and even burning to CD. It supports batch encoding and ripping.

It would be great if you could encorporate some of these features into your GUI.

[killingspree]

hmmm, wenn hitting preview, i get the following error displayed in WMP:

[quote]
Script Error, Syntax Error:
(H: ... *.avs, line 14, colume 56)
[quote]

here's the avs:

LoadPlugin("D:\DivX\gkif4u\filters\mpeg2dec3dg.dll")
LoadPlugin("D:\DivX\gkif4u\filters\autocrop.dll")
LoadPlugin("D:\DivX\gkif4u\filters\undot.dll")

movie = mpeg2source("H:\Summersplash 2003\VIDEO_TS\gkif4u\tmp\week3xvidgkif4u_preview.d2v")
cropclip = autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples=5,aspect=0,threshold=40)
c_width = width(cropclip)
c_height = round(height(cropclip) / 1,09401709401709)
input_par = float(c_width)/float(c_height)
out_width = 640
out_height = round(float(out_width) / input_par)
hmod = out_height - (floor(out_height / 16 ) * 16)
out_height = (hmod > 8) ? (out_height + (16 - hmod)) : (out_height - hmod)
new_aspect = (float(out_width) / float(out_height)) / 1,09401709401709
autocrop(movie,mode=0,wmultof=4,hmultof=4,samples=5,aspect=new_aspect,threshold=40)
Undot()
LanczosResize(out_width,out_height)


i made line 14 fat so you can find it more easily:

to the video:
PAL interlaced 4:3 720x576
the audio is a simple mp2 audiotrack
no subs, no multiple audio tracks

i've done the same video manually a week or so ago where everything worked fine :)

oh and btw: i enabled 'deinterlace' in the advanced options dialog!
custom size of 400 MB since the thing is only 34 minutes long and my other encode is at the same size so then i can easily compare qualities :)

when i try to encode, i get the following error:


[02.11.2003 18:55:38] Indexing input for preview.
[02.11.2003 19:10:50] Started encoding.
[02.11.2003 19:10:50] Demuxing and indexing.
[02.11.2003 19:11:36] Audio is not found.
[02.11.2003 19:11:36] Found 65564 frames
*************************************
EXCEPTION: Audio is not found. Encoding aborted.
*************************************
[02.11.2003 19:11:36] Finished encoding.


so i assume the problem is the mp2 audio?

steVe

[len0x]

about comma problem - it was discussed before, you system separator is comma instead of dot - read some posts above. i'll fix that in the next version, but for now you can change that in the system properties.

about audio - what is the name of the audio track demuxed by dvd2avi ?
i think i assume that it's ac3, but this is not your case it seems.

[len0x]

Originally posted by Venom_IL
Sure hope this'd make ppl stop using crap programs like easydivx and co.


never even used that one, but i hope dr. divx will gone after that as well ;)

Originally posted by Venom_IL

btw - rogue demon hunter.. I like. Last angel ep was hilarious don't you think ? :D

yep it really was. especially phrase 'and, eve, stay here and we'll have more sex - i'm on it' lol :D

[len0x]

Originally posted by Riley

It is also very easy to use and automates the entire process of ripping, encoding, and even burning to CD. It supports batch encoding and ripping.

It would be great if you could encorporate some of these features into your GUI.

well, don't think i haven't checked it out before... but very few things i found to be useful there. comptest in maximum 6 passes - this is such overkill. i think one should be able to say ' i'm taking a decision for the user bacause i know that's it's a good decision.' in my experience i find such things like using anything less than sharp bicubic is a degradation in quality no matter what. so imho a very complicated algorithm of choosing resizer is waste of time and efforts.

but may be i'm missing something and there are more nice features - so which particular ones you think should be in gkif4u ?

about ripping and burning - my app will never do any ripping related things. i have high hopes and large plans for this tool, which requires it to be totally legal which means no ripping step is allowed. burning - this is debatable step as well.

*edit* i'm much more fascinated by efforts of bilu to build automatic universal decomber. and i'm looking for the ideas on that as well on making detection of interlacing fully automatic.

[yotsuya-san]

Hi Len0x, I'm playing with GKIF4U using a small (about 150 Megs) vob. First attempt to make an avi has beensuccessful, I've used a predefined size of 1/4 cd (175 Megs) and my final avi is a 704x384 movie at a bitrate of 1992 kbps (the final dimension is about 50 megs).
Using a costom size, I am really surprised that the horizontal resolution after CT is always 640, apart from the size, even if it is 5 megs (it's only a bitrale of 79 kbps!).

This is the log:

[02/11/2003 22.35.26] Started encoding.
[02/11/2003 22.35.26] Demuxing and indexing.
[02/11/2003 22.35.35] Encoding audio.
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Found 5964 frames
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Audio size: 2731280
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Overhead: 238592
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Video Size: 14855920
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Running compressability test.
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] Compressability percentage is: 70.43
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] New width is : 640
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] Predicted comptest value is: 70.43
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] Running first pass.

It seems to be exactly the same at every custom size I choose, for example 17, 10 or 5 megs.

I'm sorry I can't try GKIF4U with a real movie, but I hope soon I will do it!

Bye, Yotsuya.

[killingspree]

Originally posted by len0x
about comma problem - it was discussed before, you system separator is comma instead of dot - read some posts above. i'll fix that in the next version, but for now you can change that in the system properties.

stupid me, i've read it anyway :( thanks :stupid:


about audio - what is the name of the audio track demuxed by dvd2avi ?
i think i assume that it's ac3, but this is not your case it seems.
the name is: NAMEXVIDGKI4U MPA T01 DELAY 00 MS.mpa

so as i said it Is mp2. if you do support mp2 or not is of course your decision, but i think that it would at least require a popup to show people that the DVD contains an audio format it is not supporting!

apart from that, nice app for newbies and lacy people :) definitly worth mentioning somewhere in the noobs once it is closer to a final version! maybe a sticky like 'Easiest way to do DVD to XVID!" ;)

steVe
PS: don't even mention DR.Divx, that's below your league :D

edit: well preview works now, but when trying to encode it still tells me "audio not found!" :/

[len0x]

Originally posted by yotsuya-san
This is the log:
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Video Size: 14855920
[02/11/2003 22.36.42] Running compressability test.
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] Compressability percentage is: 70.43
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] New width is : 640
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] Predicted comptest value is: 70.43
[02/11/2003 22.38.05] Running first pass.


You say you select different custom sizes. Does video size in the logs change? (It might be some wierd GUI bug, when correct size is not picked up from the editbox). So, if you could experiment with this a bit more I'd really appreciate that.

[len0x]

Originally posted by killingspree
the name is: NAMEXVIDGKI4U MPA T01 DELAY 00 MS.mpa

so as i said it Is mp2. if you do support mp2 or not is of course your decision, but i think that it would at least require a popup to show people that the DVD contains an audio format it is not supporting!


See, that's why I need testers :) I just forgot that I can deal with anything else but AC3 on DVDs. Of course I'll support both WAVs and MPAs as sound tracks (in fact it's just one line of code has to be changed). Thanks for pointing this out.

Originally posted by killingspree

edit: well preview works now, but when trying to encode it still tells me "audio not found!" :/

no worries - version 0.2 is coming in a day or so :)

[MediaMage]

Originally posted by len0x

about ripping and burning - my app will never do any ripping related things. i have high hopes and large plans for this tool, which requires it to be totally legal which means no ripping step is allowed. burning - this is debatable step as well.


so you don´t plan to build in an option like: select ifo title with highest playtime?
this would help me (and others) save time ;)
i always rip full dvd image to hdd, dvddecrypter has an option in finding automatically the biggest vob file (movie..) and ripping it with 2 clicks, so i always need the extra step to rip the movie from the whole dvd to a seperate folder for processing it with gkif4u...

i encoded 2 movies last night, using ac3 german soundtrack without subtitles, each one 2cd, quality looked actually BETTER then the 5.05 rips i had done before(with highest quality settings i knew this far)

yes, xvid needs 3x more time, but quality is my only concern ;)

[r6d2]

Hi, len0x, congrats on a GK for dummies tool (I loved that).

I'm quite new to DivX/XviD (done hundreds of SVCDs though), and I've been playing in the last few days with GK and Dr. DivX. I downloaded your tool last night. Nice approach. I was just trying to convince DVD2SVCD of incorporating MPEG-4 encoders into his great tool, with little luck.

I did my first run today. I got this message:

[03-11-2003 9:23:10] Started encoding.
[03-11-2003 9:23:10] Demuxing and indexing.
[03-11-2003 9:27:04] Expecting NTSC sources.
*************************************
EXCEPTION: '100.00' is not a valid floating point value
*************************************
[03-11-2003 9:27:04] Finished encoding.

Just in case you wonder, yes, the VOBs are NTSC.

[len0x]

Aha, I think it's the same problem as others had with comma separator. In the end of d2v file there is a FILM percentage which in your case was 100.00, but you system locale settings are using comma as decimal separator, so default converter from string to float doesn't work. I'll fix that and make sure there are no more places where decimal conversion fails.

[len0x]

Originally posted by MediaMage
so you don´t plan to build in an option like: select ifo title with highest playtime?
this would help me (and others) save time ;)
i always rip full dvd image to hdd, dvddecrypter has an option in finding automatically the biggest vob file (movie..) and ripping it with 2 clicks, so i always need the extra step to rip the movie from the whole dvd to a seperate folder for processing it with gkif4u...


It's a tricky business - I can select title with highest playback from IFO, but I still need a mean of doing that second step, i.e. actually ripping that chain out of whole vobset. And this is DVD rippers business (and those tools contain DeCSS code), which is a no go at the moment... Although if someone can point me to the ripper which doesn't contain DeCSS code and will not work on DVDs, but only on decrypted material already, then I can have a look at it...

Originally posted by MediaMage

i encoded 2 movies last night, using ac3 german soundtrack without subtitles, each one 2cd, quality looked actually BETTER then the 5.05 rips i had done before(with highest quality settings i knew this far)
yes, xvid needs 3x more time, but quality is my only concern ;)

Glad to hear that :) I will put DivX support in the tool as well later on (it's probably gonna be based on 5.1.1).

[killingspree]

Originally posted by len0x

no worries - version 0.2 is coming in a day or so :)

looking forward to doing some more testing... :D

[wertert]

Any chance of being able to select No Audio ? Only until ogg vorbis support comes along. or is that in version 0.2 ?

Great app BTW

wert

[len0x]

Originally posted by wertert
Any chance of being able to select No Audio ? Only until ogg vorbis support comes along. or is that in version 0.2 ?


Well, I don't see a reason why user would like to have no audio. if you like OGG and hence OGM then just wait for full support. Having an application which just produces something unfinished so that you finish it manually is beyond the scope of the GKIF4U. In fact it's GK in it's current form that can do that :)

[wertert]

It was just an idea to use this tool to produce a ogm file. I could take my ogg soundtrack file size, + external subtitle file size. Take those sizes away from 700Mb and use the 'custom size' option in GKIF4U. Mux the whole lot together into a ogm for a nice 1 CD rip. I currently use GK but this just looks a whole lot easier.

I see your point about GKIF4U not producing unfinished movies so i'll be waiting........Any ideas about which version will introduce ogm/ogg ?

wert

[r6d2]

Originally posted by len0x
[B]I'll fix that and make sure there are no more places where decimal conversion fails.
Thaks, @len0x.

Perhaps it is beyond the current project objectives, but as quality is your main concern, you might want to support 1:1 encodes (keeping the original PAR).

This is very useful for anamorphic movies since it keeps absolutely all detail from the source, ideal for true archive quality backups.

Then, when you support matroska, you may introduce the correct width in the AVI properties and the player, via fddshow, does the final resizing.

I have done some tests (DivX-encoded LOTR with Quant=3, output size turned out to be 1.5-GB) and the quality is superb.

[Add:] By doing 1:1 encode you save the resizer step, you just crop the mattes.

[len0x]

Just put an update on the web. Look in the first post for download link and history.

About new resizing algorythm: as manono suggested after I reach 608 width for widescreen movies or 512 for 4:3 movies I use sharp bicubic resize instead of lanczos and comp test limit is getting down to 60% instead of 70%.

[Aqa]

Great work as usual, I will closely follow the development of yet another excellent program, but I am concerned about one thing though, and that is that this one will take up all your time leaving you with no time for the further development of Gknot....

[wertert]

Originally posted by r6d2

I have done some tests (DivX-encoded LOTR with Quant=3, output size turned out to be 1.5-GB) and the quality is superb.



wait a sec - you did a divx encode ? I've only managed to get xvid selected - am I being thick ?

version 0.2 is running ok.....

wert

[r6d2]

Originally posted by wertert
I've only managed to get xvid selected - am I being thick ?
You have to press the button real hard. Use a hammer on it. It costs a mouse per movie, but it's really worth it.

Just kidding. That was with Dr.DivX. :D:D:D. Sorry for the confusion.

[r6d2]

Just testing it with Indiana Jones I. Looks great!

Comments so far:[list=a]
I noticed that doing a Start after Preview redoes the DVD2AVI. Is this really needed?
ITU is not checked by default. Did you change you mind on the subject? ;)
Why the name "transcoding" in the window title?
[/list=a]

[len0x]

Originally posted by Aqa
Great work as usual, I will closely follow the development of yet another excellent program, but I am concerned about one thing though, and that is that this one will take up all your time leaving you with no time for the further development of Gknot....

I understand your concern (you're not only one who wonders about it). I can guarantee that 0.29 version of GK will be eventually done. After that we'll see - I have a dream of having a pro version of GKIF4U which will have most of necessary functionality of current GK...

[len0x]

I found annoying bug which could prevent proper resizing below width of 608... fixed in 0.21 which is up already