XviD

[intermezzo]

Nice. Very nice.

I keep getting this error where it doesn't output any video data though... Well, unless I discard the first pass. If I use full quality 1st pass, it fails. If I don't use either, it doesn't output anything. :o I've tried it on Sailor Moon, Chrno Crusade, .hack//SIGN and The Matrix.

[sysKin]

Well of course, if you discard first pass you don't get any data, because data is discarded.... could you explain what you mean??

OK I read it again and believe me, what you said doesn't make any sense at all

[celtic_druid]

Nice descriptive title to.

[crusty]

Intermezzo, please read the sticky about filing bug reports...we can't help you if you don't supply any details.

Cheers,
Crusty

[intermezzo]

Lol sorry, I posted that at like 3AM. :o Anyway...

1. XviD 1.0.3 (RC3) by Koepi
2. I just decode all mine with the decoder XviD comes with, they play fine.
3. It happens with every encode.
4. I use VideoLAN to play my stuff. My computer is a 600MHz Celeron with 256MB RAM. I don't know my graphics card but I'm on Windows XP.
5. Steps...
-Open VirtualDubMod
-Add in filters (DVD: deinterlace blend, sharpen, resize, logo, [noisy: Smart Smoother, 2D Cleaner]) (TV: resize, [crappy: Smart Smoother, 2D Cleaner, Warp Sharp (sometimes)])
-Set up XviD 1st pass and 2nd pass.
-1st pass completes successfully!
-2nd pass comes out but doesn't have any video. Confused? The 2nd pass video is completely black aka nothing.

Settings... [X] = on - [_] = off
VHQ 4
Motion Search Estimation 6
[X] Use chroma motion
[X] Turbo ;)
Frame drop ratio: 0
Maximum I-frame interval: 250

I-frames: 1-8
P-frames: 1-8
B-frames: 1-18

[X] Automatically detect optimizations
FourCC used: XVID

1st pass -
[_] Discard 1st pass
[_] Full quality 1st pass

2nd pass -
Default settings under "more..."
Target bitrate: 800KB/s (Anime) 1000KB/s (Movies)

Hope this is what you need. Thanks. :)

[communist]

Originally posted by intermezzo

-Open VirtualDubMod

Which version? Note that versions above 1.5.4.1 are bug-ridden. Try Vdub or Vdubmod 1.5.4.1 and see if that helps.

[_rEuTeL_]

Originally posted by intermezzo
I-frames: 1-8
P-frames: 1-8
B-frames: 1-18
set it to 2-31, all of them
1st pass -
[_] Discard 1st pass
enable it
2nd pass -
Default settings under "more..."
Target bitrate: 800KB/s (Anime) 1000KB/s (Movies)
try using a target filesize instead

[crusty]

curious...

"1st pass -
[_] Discard 1st pass
[_] Full quality 1st pass"

I thought, maybe it's a bug with this setting. But when i tried it my files turn out fine, no matter if i set 2nd pass to a bitrate or a filesize.
-2nd pass comes out but doesn't have any video. Confused? The 2nd pass video is completely black aka nothing.
Is this when playing in Videolan, when opening the file in VirtualDub, or both?
-Try a different player, like Media Player Classic or Zoomplayer
-Try using a tool like Gspot, DivFix or DRFAnalyzer to gain more info about the resulting file.
-could you post your complete avs script (just copy&paste)
-could you try with a very simple avs script
-try to play that avs script
-does, when encoding, the speed of the encoding process seem allright? i.e., if you use a avs script with lots of filters you should see a slowdown, and even more of a slowdown when encoding difficult scenes.
-Does the status window show progress as normal?
-do you encode the second pass over the first, or do you save the 2nd pass to another file?

[intermezzo]

Sorry for not posting in awhile...

Anyway, firstly, I don't like encoding to specific filesizes.
I got past the bug, it was something in my settings, not sure what, but I reset them and then changed them again and it worked.
A few more things...
-I don't use AviSynth, too slow
-It encodes on average about 2-3fps
-I was told to use those amount of IPB frames by my friend after he... umm... "analyzed" a clip from the source I sent him
-I use VDubMod 1.5.10.1

Well... anyway, thanks, I've gotten past it, but... I need help with a quantizer matrix now. hvs-best-picture either shows artifacts or it's just me... do you know any better ones?

[Koepi]

Avisynth is slow? *rotfl*

Ok, let me give you some small explanations:

You use virtualdub filters for filtering. This means at least that your original video gets converted to RGB colour space. Then those filters get applied to the data - which is _more data_ than in yuv colour space, so it takes a longer time. Then in the codec the image data gets converted back to yv12.

Summarize: 2 colour space conversions, slower filters that have to work on (artificially) more data without any quality gain, in the contrary, the quality is worse than working on the "original source".

If you'd use avisynth:
your data is already in yv12 colour space. So the data get passed to the filters in this form - and they work in the yv12 colour space, which is quite fast as it's significantly less data than in RGB mode. The filtered data get read by vdubmod, if you use fast recompress it gets passed directly to the video codec.

Summarize:
directly work on the original data, faster filters due to the "small" colour space, nothing biased by conversions, and the data is passed to the codec in the best possible quality.

Maybe you get the idea.

Koepi

[intermezzo]

Well I don't know how to use AviSynth at that. :(

Anyway I need a decent quantizer matrix, after retesting hvs-best-picture, I have found it has artifacts.

[Koepi]

Try hvs better matrix if you like the look of hvs best.

[intermezzo]

Is it better than "best"? I now like to just use 1st pass cos it makes it small as possible without killing any quality, but that matrix makes it too big. Is hvs better better than best?

[crusty]

You should give some more details....

You say hvs-best is artifacty ( :) )
What resolution are you encoding to (the resulting resolution).
If you don't resize it's not uncommon to get artifacts.
Basically, I can't see much wrong with your filter chain, other than that it's a virtualdub filter chain.
You should downsize the resolution.
The bitrate you are targetting for doesn't mean anything to us without mentioning the desired resolution. 800 Kbps could be just fine at 640x480 (307200 pixels) but could be too little at 720x576(414720 pixels).
And as Koepi said avisynth is both faster AND better quality.

Basically, unless you've got a very specific type of movie content that a particular custom matrix could give better results, using a custom matrix is unlikely to help much. But as you said you're working on anime, I have no exp on those types of films.

[intermezzo]

I use 576x432...

[gotaserena]

You have also to consider the source. 1Mbit/s is enough for 640xHHH DVD sources, but it doesn't even come close for captures, even from digital sources. I find that after some heavy filtering (in avisynth ;) ), I can get away with 1500kbit/s at 512x384 for analog captures. DRFAnalyzer complains a lot about the resulting file (frames with very low quality! Target resolution at 240x180! Buy more DVD-Rs you lame-o! :D ) but it plays OK and I can record 70-80min of shows in a single CD.

[intermezzo]

CBR? Eww.

Do what I do. A full quality 1st pass. Instead of adding the 2 jobs to the joblist, just run your 1st pass. It makes it as small as possible without killing quality. If you decide to do your 2nd pass, and it's smaller, you know you're killing quality.