TMPG Xpress with SAMI subtitles or TMPGEnc Plus with XVID

[GreenRomeo]

Hi all,

I have a movie in WMV format with subtitles in SAMI (smi) format. Now I need to convert it into XVID format with permanent subtitles.

First, I tried to use TMPGEnc 2.5 Plus to convert my video, but there is no XVID in the Video Compression section (there're only a few such as Microsoft Video 1, DIVX ;-) MPEG-4 Low Motion v.v...).

Then I tried to use TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress. This program support Xvid Codec well but I can not enable DirectVodSub to display my subtitle in SAMI format. It seems only suport Subrip (srt) (TMPGEnc 2.5 support SAMI well). I can't convert my subtitles -> srt because it isn't compatible with WMV video format.

So, please help me to either "enable" XVID codec in TMPGEnc 2.5 or "enable" SAMI subtitles in TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress.

Thanks in advance.

[castellanos]

Hi: Well, you should see all your codecs (XviD, DivX etc... if they are properly installed) with TMPGEnc 2.5. I have the same version and all the codecs are there.
Did you try: File/Output to file/AVI file/Settings? or did you see if you have all the video codecs installed in your windows (XP?).
Anyway, if that does not work, you can convert your SAMI subtitles into srt, with Subtitle Workshop and then, use your TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress to do the job. If you make a frameserving with Avisynth, it should work even if the subtitles are srt. I think...
Greetings! ;)

[GreenRomeo]

Hi castellanos, thank you for your reply. But I have downloaded Koepi's Xvid codec 1.0.1 and installed it. Almost video applications on my PC, including VirtualDub and TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress, can "see" the Xvid codec. So I don't think it is not installed properly.

I still wonder why TMPGEnc 2.5 (and even the Plus version) can not recognize this codec. As you see in the pictures below, my TMPGEnc 2.5 accepts only a few codecs, not including Xvid, DivX 5.2, Microsoft MPEG4 V1,2,3, etc...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/mnp_vn/codec1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/mnp_vn/codec2.jpg

I tried convert my SAMI subtitles to SRT as your advice, but in TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress subtitles only work with AVI file. It seems we can not associate a WMV/ASF file with a SRT subtiles file.

Would you give me another solution for my problem. Thank you very much.

[castellanos]

Well, I have TMPGEnc 2.5 plus and all the codecs DivX 5.2 and XviD 1.0.1 are there, and it is possible to use them.
Anyway, you should make your TMPGEnc Xpress able to read Avisynth files (.avs) that is possible, the only thing, I don't remember how I did... well, that was with TMPGEnc 2.5, may be the Xpress one can open already Avisynth files? :confused:
Ah! I remembered: You should get the file ReadAVS.zip and follow the instructions, it works with TMPGEnc 2.5 plus, I don't know with Xpress. Here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47194) it is a link for that.
If you have the AutoGK pack is easier, because all the things you need for Avisynth frameserving are there, anyway you should get AviSynth 2.5 (I think is the last version), and for subtitles, you will need VSfilter.dll (and VobSub of course).
Is everithing is fine, you could create with your windows editor an AVS file and open it with your TMPGEnc Xpress.
Of course, you will need more information to do that, if you don't know how to make an AviSynth frameserving, try to look a little bit more in the forum about it, if that still does not work, tell me and I will try to help you as far as I can.
Greetings! :)

[GreenRomeo]

Hi Castellanos,

Thank your for your very nice aid to me!

You advised me to use Avisynth to solve my problem. But it not seems too clear for a newbie such as me :confused:. Do you mean that I should use Avisynth to frameserve my WMV video clips into VirtualDub (or TMPGEnc Xpress itself) and then add my subtitles in SRT (or SSA) format into the pseudo-avi clips ? (Please remember that (1)I must use TMPGEnc Xpress to process my WMV clips, (2) WMV clips almost doesn't work with SAMI-subtitles and (3) TMPGEnc Xpress doesn't accept subtitles in SAMI format).

Please explain more detail the essence of the procedures which AVS script involved before I take many times to rush into tons of Avisynth' documents to write a appropriate script for my problem. :)

Thanks and regards.

[castellanos]

Ok, here we go:
I repeat, if you have AutoGK is better, the tools are there.
Anyway, prepare your TMPGEnc Xpress to read avs files. Use the link I've sent you to get the Readavs.zip and follow the instructions.
Now, you are going to need:
VobSub
AviSynth
VSfilter
and TMPGEnc

Get the VSfilter here (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84359)
I suposed that you have installed VobSub and AviSynth, then put the VSfilter.dll in a folder (Example: C:\VSFilter\vsfilter.dll)
Now, create an avs file with your windows editor and write this:

LoadPlugin("C:\VSFilter\vsfilter.dll")

mpeg2source("C:\WMV_file_name.wmv")
textsub("C:\subtitle_file_name.srt")

Then, select Save as... and put the name of your avs file (Remember: the editor saves txt files as default, you should delete the txt extension and put avs, then save it whearever you want, better in the same folder than your movie). Remember that you should convert your SAMI subs into srt to do this.
Then open the avs file with your TMPGEnc Xpress and do the encoding...
I hope it works. I have some doubts about the audio: Your WMV is together with audio, right? May be it is better to demux it.
You can try as I told you and see what happen.
Greetings! ;)

[GreenRomeo]

Hi castellanos,

I've downloaded all required tools and installed them properly. And then I implemented the procedure step by step exactly as your guide. At last, I open the AVS file in TMPGEnc Xpress. It was loaded with the error as below and the file obviously can not be processed.

Script error: there is no function name "mpeg2source"
(C:\Video\Encode.avs, line 2)

I also have another question: My video source is WMV, not MPEG. Even there is a funtion called "mpeg2source", how can it process my WMV file ?

If we can not directly process the WMV file + SAMI subtitles by TMPGEnc Xpress in only 1 step, how do you think about another solution as below:

Uncompress my WMV file and then framserve it into VirtualDub. VirtualDub will then process the uncompressfile to AVI(DIVX, XVID), add black bar and add permanet subtitles into the black bar area.

If it is the best way to re-encode my WMV to AVI with permanent subtitles with the quality loss smallest; and of course, if it is possible, please show me the way to implement it.

Regards,

[GreenRomeo]

Well I think that my problem can be solved less complicated by using VirtualDub + Avisynth (Hopefully, it can handle SAMI subtitle and I can encode my ASF file into XVID with permanent subtitles by VirtualDub in one step :)). As far as I know, Avisynth help us to open video files in ASF/WMV format in VirtualDub with the script:

DirectShowSource("C:\Video\A_Fistful_Of_Dollars.asf",fps=30)

But when I open the avs file in VirtualDub, there is an error message at the bootom bar of VD:

Avisynth read error: Avisynth: caught an access violation at 0x02416690, attempting to read from 0x00000010

What does it mean and how can I "force" Avisynth read the file (which is read well in Windows Media Player)in VirtualDub ?

Regards,

[castellanos]

Edit
Hi. Are you sure you don't need to load a plug in to read the asf files? As you did for the subtitles? Of course, if you can do that with Virtual Dub it is much better... but I am sorry I can not help with more ideas with your AviSynth frameserving, I've never convert asf files into avi.
Another quick solution for your problem: Use BS Player to play your ASF/WMV file, then convert your SAMI subs into srt and put it in the same folder than your asf file, with the same name, (Example: My file.asf & My file.srt)
then open the asf file with BS Player, it will automatically launch the subtitles.
Sorry I could not help with the other problem.
Greetings! :)

[GreenRomeo]

Hi castellanos,

Thank you for your advice about Avisynth's usage. I now consider it very helpful for my problem. In the last post I used a bad file, I then tried to use another good ASF file and Avisynth make it readable by VirtualDub. (I used the script as your guide with a small change: replace "mpeg2source" by "DirectShowSource" so that Avisynth can handle my ASF file). Now VirtualDub can play my ASF file and even subtitles in SAMI format. It mean I can process my ASF file in VirtualDub such as add black bar, add permanent subtitles and recompress it into MPEG4 format.

I still have another question. In your opinion, should I use filter of AVisynth or VirtualDub in process video (when they are the same function filter). What should give us the better quality ?

Regards,

[castellanos]

Hi, I am very glad that something I told you helped... usually it doesn't! :p
Getting to your point: I think both, AviSynth or VirtualDub are great tools... you are going to get, more or less, the same results with both applications. May be you can follow the example of AutoGK, it uses AviSynth filters and the results are great... Well, I confess, In this case and every time I make a DVD back up into an AVI with my own permanent subtitles, I have a special heart for Dr. DivX... This tool gave me exelents results, but of course, it is not free as AutoGK :D
Greetings! :)

[GreenRomeo]

Hi castellanos

As you already said, I think both, AviSynth or VirtualDub are great tools
...so I think the built-in filter of VirtualDub is simple and suitable for me :) (I actually used only 2 filter: Resize to add the black bar and textsub to add permanent subtitles).

Oh ... I still have a small problem with VirtualDub. Maybe it is more appropriate in VirtualDub forum, but I think you could help me again :) Here it is:

When I encode my Video in VirtualDub with keeping the original audio source (I selected Audio -> Direct Stream Copy), there's no problem with the ouput. The video is play synchronic with the audio. However, when I choose option encode my audio (Full processing, Original audio source (Uncompressed audio stereo 48Khz)-> LAME MP3 192kbps), the output Avi file lose the Video/Audio sync. The audio is played ealier than video 2 or 3 second. How can I make it correct without trying and error in the Audio skew correction option ?

Thanks and regards,

[castellanos]

Hi, So everything is going right... I'm happy :D
Be sure, (I don't know wich audio file is in your video...) if your audio file is 48 Khz, your mp3 should be also 48 Khz... I don't remember VirtualDub how it works with audio conversion, but some programs, use 44.1 Khz by default, then if your original file is 48 Khz, your audio is going to be out of synch.
I hope that help.
Greetings!

[GreenRomeo]

Hi castellanos,

How nice you are to be happy when your help is helpful for me. :)

Back to my problem: Original audio source is uncompressed, 48Khz. My LAME compress setting is also 48Khz, 192Kbps CBR. I heard that there are some sync problem when process VBR Audio in VirtualDub, but here I used CBR mode. Perhaps Avisynth is the cause (as VirtualDub process my ASF file via Avisynth) ?

Regards,

[castellanos]

Hi. Well if the Khzs are not the problem, I'll recomend that you use BeSweet for audio encoding, it is a very good tool, free, and you should not have synch problems... I hope.
As well as I know, you can encode audio files with BeSweet, using AviSynth as frameserver... If that doesn't work, use BeSweetGUI, to encode the audio file.
Greetings! ;)

[GreenRomeo]

Do you mean that I need to extract audio stream from video and process it in BeSweet separately before rejoin it with the video stream compressed in VirtualDub ? In this case, in your opinion, what program should I use to extract audio and after that, rejoin it with video (prefer smallest quality loss and then processing speed)?

Regards, :)

[castellanos]

To demux the file, will be the best but... Hmm....:confused: Wich program to demux asf/wmv? I have no idea... Did you try with VirtualDub?
Greetings!

[GreenRomeo]

Well, finally I find out the solution for my problem. Once again, I highly appreciate all your helps in this thread, Castellanos :)

Regards,