Avisynth 2.5.4 + VirtualDUB + TMPEGenc = Read Error ?

[aklendathu]

I've been using Avisynth to frameserve TMPEGenc for re-encoding some of my DVD movies (DVD2AVIdg project files). Since I want to add subtitles which were not present in the original source material, I also use VirtualDUB because of the textsub.vdf plug-in. The chain is thus

AVISynth (d2v) ---> VDUB (vdr) ---> TMPEGenc.

I'm using the latest versions of all three (AVISynth 2.5.4, VDUB 1.5.10 and the latest build of TMPEGenc 2.5)

Now, in what appears to be a random event, my VDUB frameserver will crash, causing an error in TMPEGenc. This usually happens in the second pass, but not always.

I've read some threads in this forum as well as in the AVISynth FAQ which may be related to this problem, but I am unsure of whether it is so. There's the YV12 vs. YUY2 issue, also the CPU overclocking issue (but my CPU is NOT overclocked) and I am wondering if someone can help me sort out this problem.

I've used AVISynth 2.5.3 + VDUB 1.5.10 + TMPEGEnc 2.5 (not the latest) on another (slower) PC to do exactly the same thing w/o any problem.

There's a perhaps significant difference between the two systems - the faster machine has the latest 3ivX and Xvid (not the very latest one, though) codecs installed whereas the slower machine only has DivX 5.1.1 installed. XviD or DivX appear as decompressors in the VDUB file properties. I was intrigued by this until I read the sticky thread about YV2 and YUY2.

[Dreassica]

Why not use vsfilter.dll for loading ur subtitle file thru avs?

[aklendathu]

Where can I find it ?
My subtitles are text files, not pictures.

[Dreassica]

go here (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84359) for the vsfilter package (contains several versions amongts which the avs filter)

U can load SSA/ASS and srt files into avs with it.

[aklendathu]

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded the zip file but it only contains the dll files which I assume will work as AVISynth plug-ins. Is there any docs around ? Does it work in the same way as vobsub/textsub for VDUB ?

[Dreassica]

just load teh dll using loadplugin() or put in into plugins dir of avisynth install for autoloading.
usage:
textsub("x:\path\yousurbs.ssa") (or .srt depending on ur file)

[aklendathu]

@Dreassica:

Thanks for your tips. I can now add subtitles directly in AVISynth using vsfilter. Docs are rare but I managed to figure out how to place them the way I wanted.

@Sh0dan:

If you ever read this post, I am now more convinced that there's something wrong with 2.5.4. The same script:

----------------------------------------------------------
# FILM input
AVISource("H:\xvid-movie.avi",audio=false)

Crop(0,4,640,360)

LanczosResize(704,480)
AddBorders(8,0,8,0)
#ConvertToYUY2

ChangeFPS(50)
##LanczosResize(720,576)
## Convert to PAL interlaced output by taking even lines from one
## frame and odd lines from another. Normally (4,0,3) works for DVDs
## (top field first) while (4,1,2) works for DV (bottom field first).
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4,0,3)
LanczosResize(352,288)
Weave()
#AssumeFPS(25,sync_audio=true)
AssumeFPS(25)
ConvertToRGB24()
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Crashes TMPEGenc with a "Read Error" message (2 out of 2 tries) with 2.5.4 but works OK with 2.5.3.

I hope 2.5.5 will fix these problems as there are many new interesting features I'd like to try out...

[aklendathu]

As an update to my previous post, I am now convinced that I'm having some sort of codec compatibility problem. Using AVISynth 2.5.3 and TMPEGEnc I get occasional AVISynth exception errors/TMPEGenc stream read error with XVID-encoded AVI files, whether I use the latest RC XVID or the latest 3ivX. However, if I remove them all and use instead DivX 5.1.1 everything seems to work fine. The only thing is that the M2V files seem to have different lenghts, possibly due to slight differences in the compressibility of the video streams according to the codec used.

So, for the moment, things seem to be back to normal...

[aklendathu]

Nope... DivX 5.1.1 also gives problems. I tried to frameserve the latest problematic AVI with VDUB and it gives a DivX-related error (while trying to decompress frame xxxx)

Still looking for a solution...