MPEG4 Modifier v1.3.4 Released (Updated 2005-Dec-14)

[loosenut]

Cool.
Only thing I'd like to see added is a way to unpack multiple files in one go.

[ReinerSchweinlin]

There is a frontend für universal-gui and also a gui-version of this. use the search, i don´t have the links right here for I am not at home right now, sorry.

[DrNein]

Thanks for the java version (not keen on .net).

I have a 1.82:1 (640x352) video which should be 2.35:1 to display correctly. However, when the DAR is changed to 2.35:1, the playback stretches horizontally to match the height rather than shrinking the vertical and thus loses quality by blowing up the image.

To correct, the player must be zoomed in to 0.77 x 0.77. Of course this makes the modification useless since the display could have been corrected in the first place by zooming to 1.00 x 0.77 but the object is to avoid having to do so.

Video is DivX4, decoder is libavcodec via fddshow and players MPC and VLC. I tried another incorrect AR video with the same result. I tried MPC with the DivX decoder and it did not use the DAR. Where am I going wrong?

[idbirch2]

This app is exactly what I was looking for but it says it doesn't support OpenDML files. Googling this tells me this is AVIs that are over 2GB in size. I have a huge AVI file, about 8GB, and it contains both an AC3 and DTS soundtrack. I don't have any DTS kit so want to strip the DTS out. Does anybody know what program I could use to do this?

Thanks.

edit: I found the answer, it was VirtualDub Mod, this allowed me to disable the DTS track and then save as a new AVI.

[DrNein]

I find it hard to believe this is how DAR is supposed to work and/or that no one else has noticed?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Video is DivX4, decoder is libavcodec via fddshow and players MPC and VLC. I tried another incorrect AR video with the same result. I tried MPC with the DivX decoder and it did not use the DAR. Where am I going wrong?As far as I'm aware... it's not possible to add/change "aspect ratio signalling" to DivX 4 MPEG-4 streams!

EDIT: I did some tests yesterday and it would seem it is possible to add/change "aspect ratio signalling" to DivX 4 MPEG-4 streams!

That said, I'm not sure whether DivX's own DSdec supports AR signalling detection, in the same way FFdshow and XviD's DSdecs do!


Cheers

[InsulinJunkie]

I have a 1.82:1 (640x352) video which should be 2.35:1 to display correctly. However, when the DAR is changed to 2.35:1, the playback stretches horizontally to match the height rather than shrinking the vertical and thus loses quality by blowing up the image.

That would seem to me to be the expected behavior.

If you set the video to have a 2.35:1 or 16:9 ratio, you're indicating that the file is horizontally squished and needs to be 'stretched out'...

[DrNein]

DivX 4 & 5 both behave the same when the DAR is set.

A 640x352 video with the DAR set to 2.35 is then displayed as if it is 828x352 but of course the resolution isn't there. It seems to me it should be displayed as if it is 640x272 to maintain the quality (or even enhance as original was anamorphic)? I certainly know the horizontal resolution is not 828, but rather 640 as the file properties show so only the vertical can be wrong.

[InsulinJunkie]

A 640x352 video with the DAR set to 2.35 is then displayed as if it is 828x352 but of course the resolution isn't there.

To use the example of a DVD:

A 2.35:1 anamorphic NTSC 720x480 DVD actually would be encoded with approx. 360 lines of vertical resolution (the rest would be black bars to fit the 1.78 widescreen TV, with the 16x9 flag set).

On playback on a 16x9 TV, it then gets stretched out horizontally to fill the screen if the 16x9 flag is set. That's the type of usage the AR flags are intended for, generally. You squish the picture to max out the available resolution on the DVD, and you need a way to get it back to its normal AR.

(By comparison, that same 2.35:1 movie, but letterboxed and NOT anamorphic, would be encoded for DVD with approx. 272 lines of vertical resolution, with the rest needed for black bars - since a non-anamorphic movie would have the 4x3 flag set and need to be 'scrunched' rather than 'stretched')

[karellen]

Hi,

i ported this excellent program to java. ....

Nice work!

I can confirm it works on Intel Macs.
I can finally get rid of my old Powerbook now - no more wating for a Universal version of mono that will run the command line version.

[eXistenZ_69]

@Moitah

Hi Moitah,

is MPEG4Modifier compatible with .NET v2.0? Your site only mentions v1.1 and I would hate to see that installing the new .NET version on my pc makes your program become unusable or behave abnormally...

Greetz,

eXistenZ_69

[SeeMoreDigital]

I have just .NET version 2 installed... works fine here ;)

[Moitah]

@eXistenZ_69: Both v1.1 and v2.0 of the .NET Framework can be installed at the same time. This is how it is on my computer and it works fine. If you were to only have v2.0 installed, it should still work, but some people have told me that it doesn't (it worked for me when I tried it on another computer in my house).

[Moitah]

Good news. I have OpenDML support working in MPEG4 Modifier. This involved completely rewriting the AVI handling code. It's also able to read incomplete AVIs and even rebuild the index including keyframe flags. I'm not quite ready to release it yet, but soon. It will require the .NET Framework 2.0 (instead of 1.1 like the current version).

[ReinerSchweinlin]

good news, indeed!!

[SeeMoreDigital]

That's amazingly good news ;)

Not wanting to sound ungrateful... but at sometime in the future will there any possibility of including MP4 container support too?


Cheers

[Moitah]

at sometime in the future will there any possibility of including MP4 container support too?
Probably not.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Probably not.I hope you understand.... I had to ask though ;)

[cjaar]

Sometime back i saw a post explaining with pictures like how to set the correct AR using mpegmodifier, explaning with the help of gspot and a video cap also... now am not finding it here...

can any1 find that post ?

Nevermid: got it
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=107039&highlight=Aspect+ratio+conversion+16%3A9+to+4%3A3

thanks
cjaar

[Moitah]

1.4.0 released, see my site or the first post of this thread. Needs .NET Framework 2.0 instead of 1.1 like the older versions, if you don't have it get it here: x86 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5) or x64 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b44a0000-acf8-4fa1-affb-40e78d788b00).

EDIT: The feature to add packed bitstream hasn't been tested much, use it with care. The checkbox is enabled even if the video doesn't have B-VOPs, I think I'll release another version sometime to fix that.

[olnima]

A big big thank You Moitah !!!

I modified the new Version a bit (and it's really only a little bit):
After successfull saving a file the user is asked to delete the source-file. (I don't want to keep the original one after modifying).
The initial directory to open files is the one given in the icon as the working dir. (or the path where MPEG4Modifier is, when starting it by doubleclick on the .exe), the initial directory to save files is the same dir then the source-file-path.

If it's OK for You (Moitah) and somebody wants to have it, post here.

Thanks again
Olnima

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi Moitah,

It's only a small request but is there any chance of creating an "icon" for MPEG4 Modifier?

[Moitah]

Looks like there's a bug when packing files that contain N-VOPs, don't pack files with N-VOPs until I get it fixed.

[Moitah]

1.4.1 released.

[bond]

moitah, i have heard that latest divx doesnt use fake n-vops anymore with packed bitstream. is this true? and if yes, do you use fake n-vops?

[Moitah]

moitah, i have heard that latest divx doesnt use fake n-vops anymore with packed bitstream. is this true?
I don't think so. I just tested by making an encode with DivX 6.2.5 and there were fake N-VOPs in it.

[squid_80]

Any thoughts on the topic of removing real n-vops (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=815975#post815975), now that you've got nice avi rewriting code?

[Moitah]

I'll look into it.

[Sectie.B]

Moitah

:thanks: for this new version!

Any chance you will also update the command line version?

[nix0]

thanks, I just need to hope the modified version appear updated now. I often want to do a whole directory at a time, which the mod version ads. Yes I realise that the CL version can do this but it adds the risk that files are deleted if anything is wrong (has happened) where as the mod version saves as a new file (with _U appended to know which is which)

[god2003]

nix0 Mpeg4Toolkit is updated with Moitah's Mpeg4 Modifier 1.41. You can use it to process directories and more.

Downloads and more info at:
http://dark-g.sourceforge.net/

P.D. The program is described here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=113637

[nix0]

thanks god2003, thats excellent - just what I wanted. :thanks:

[thuongshoo]

Unfortunately,I testd this program with 4 file AVI but DAR till remains . I don't know why reason is

[SeeMoreDigital]

Unfortunately,I testd this program with 4 file AVI but DAR till remains . I don't know why reason isWe'll need more information than this!

Are you playing your MPEG-4 files in a software or hardware player. If so which one(s)?

What's the resolution of your MPEG-4 files?

Do your MPEG-4 files contain any black mattes/bars?

....will do for starters!

[Sumsebiene]

Sorry if i am totally wrong in this thread but i am totally noob in such questions :X. I was just looking for a tool for changing the aspect ratio of a video file (no illegal it was recorded from a tv card by me) which is 544x576 (really ugly) to a nice 16:9 which it would be normally. So i didn't use virtual dub for this because it wouldn't be possible without recompressing the video file which would also mean a loss in quality and the video quality is even now bad enough. So I searched the whole web and finally found this thread combined with this tool. (again sorry if i am wrong and the tool has nothing to do with this). I have net.framework 2.0 and the latest version of this program but i tried every option pixel aspect ratio - display aspect ratio different options enabled/disabled but nothing will change the aspect ratio. What am i doing wrong ?
The video file is xvid encoded.
If this tool won't be able to help me it would be really great if you could tell me a way how i could resize my video without any quality loss (=reencoding).
Thx for reading
yours
Joshua
by the way: i dont think it is a good method avoiding spambots to don't allow posting before 5 days - why don't you use a random key whick you have to type in while you register ? I really wanted to post this but had to wait 5 days :(

[foxyshadis]

The 5 days are there to keep out human spammers, folks who don't read rules, and so on, there are lots and lots of posts (http://www.google.com/search?q=%225+days%22+site%3Aforum.doom9.org) about it.

Anyway, it sounds like it's the playback chain that doesn't support AR in your case. What player are you using, and what directshow filters (splitter and decoder, plus renderer) does it involve?

[Sumsebiene]

I use Media Player Classic with ffdshow, do you think that's the source of the fault ? Should i try another player like vlc or something ? Sorry i don't know anything about splitter, decoder, or renderer where do i find this information ?
If i got you right - this tool adds a line or manipulates some commands which changes the aspect ratio. But this line isn't asked by all media players - and my media player doesn't do this. If I am wrong please tell me :X
Is there any alternative if it also doesn't work with another media player ?

[Sumsebiene]

I use Media Player Classic with ffdshow, do you think that's the source of the fault ? Should i try another player like vlc or something ? Sorry i don't know anything about splitter, decoder, or renderer where do i find this information ?
If i got you right - this tool adds a line or manipulates some commands which changes the aspect ratio. But this line isn't asked by all media players - and my media player doesn't do this. If I am wrong please tell me :X
Is there any alternative if it also doesn't work with another media player ?
yeah great anybody out there able to help me ?

[rse]

Hi!

I open the AVI (2.05GB, XviD and AC3), do nothing and save it. The new file isn´t playable with MS Mediaplayer at all. VLC 0.8.4a only shows every second Keyframe. Same with VLC 0.8.5. Video Information is as follows:

Packed bitstream: Yes
QPel: No
GMC: No
Interlaced: No
Aspect ratio: 16:9 NTSC pixel shape
Quant type: H.263

I-VOPs: 1666 (0,75%)
P-VOPs: 81708 (36,81%)
B-VOPs: 138600 (62,44%)
S-VOPs: 0 (0,00%)
N-VOPs: 0 (0,00%)

Max consecutive B-VOPs: 2
1 consec: 25,11%
2 consec: 74,89%

If I change the Aspect Ratio (what I initially wanted to do) it works fine with the shown Keyframes. Unpacking Bitstream doesn´t change behavior. What am I doing wrong/is there a Bug?

[Moitah]

Yeah there are some bugs, I can reproduce it.

[Moitah]

The problem was that it set the keyframe flag wrong for OpenDML index entries. The keyframe flag is a single bit inside the chunk size field, a stupid mistake in the code made it set several bits instead which messed up the chunk size field for non-keyframes.

I found another bug too, I guess you didn't see it because the second RIFF chunk in your AVI is pretty small, but it tried to fully read RIFF extension chunks into memory which usually will cause an out of memory exception.

Fixed version coming soon...

[ReinerSchweinlin]

Thanx for keeping up the work on this excellent tool!

[rse]

I found another bug too, I guess you didn't see it because the second RIFF chunk in your AVI is pretty small...
I was patient enough to watch the first 3 shown keyframes, but I didn´t test it to the end. :rolleyes: (I suppose the second RIFF chunk to contain the part of the Video > 2GB?) It didn´t work anyways.

Fixed version coming soon...

Thanks a lot!

[Moitah]

1.4.2 released.

[Sumsebiene]

Ok i now answered my question which i had earlier in this thread by myself. Your tool really works ! Great job ! But it just worked with vlc-player for me. Media Player classic and windows media player same goes for winamp don't show the video file in 16:9. So i just changed to vlc player :O
Is this the same for you too ? Or with which media players should it work ?

[Moitah]

@Sumsebiene: It depends which DirectShow decoder you're using. It will work with XviD 1.1.0, and ffdshow if you have the "Use overlay mixer" and "Allow output format changes during playback" options checked ("Output" section in ffdshow config).

[Sumsebiene]

ah big thx to you :)

[Bear]

I tried to add packed bitstream for some files, but I got this error message:

cannot pack a file with drop frames

How can I fix it?

[altufaltu]

Hi,

I get following error with UnpackCL v1.2.1:

Loading: 73.7%Error: This is not a valid MPEG-4 video (startcode not found at beginning of frame).

The error got shifted to 74.3% when I made another .avi through VirtualDub (direct stream copy).

Please help me get rid of this error.

Thank you.

[ReinerSchweinlin]

Maybe your AVI-File needs re-indexing? Just a guess, but try loading it in VD with "extended options" in the "open video file" dialog. then chose re-index. Afterwards save it again usind "direct stream copy". Might help.