VFW codecs

[SeeMoreDigital]

Does anybody here knows if there's a list (which is kept upto date) detailing all the different types of VFW codecs?

Obviously there are quite a few companies creating Mpeg4 VFW codecs. But what about Mpeg1, Mpeg2 etc?


Cheers

[Neo Neko]

AFAIK there are no MPEG1 or 2 VFW video codecs other than ffvfw. There was a Qsound MPEG1 layer 2 ACM codec I had seen a while ago.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by Neo Neko
AFAIK there are no MPEG1 or 2 VFW video codecs other than ffvfw. There was a Qsound MPEG1 layer 2 ACM codec I had seen a while ago. How sad :(

Is it possible to install ffvfw separately from FFdshow?


Cheers

[Ark]

It WAS possible (afaik), back when ffvfw and ffdshow were two separated applications, but now i think it's not possible :(

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by Ark
It WAS possible (afaik), back when ffvfw and ffdshow were two separated applications, but now i think it's not possible :( Oh bugger!

[stephanV]

:)

What about b-frames in AVI/VFW are a terrible hack and all that stuff? ;)

It seems that ffdshow indeed doesnt support MPEG1/MPEG2 in AVI anymore. There still is the YMPEG plugin though (not free anymore BTW). It is configurable via VFW but outputs to a MPG file. It also does MPEG1 layer I and II audio IIRC.

[Mug Funky]

ffdshow can handle mpeg in avi - it'll encode it and decode it just fine (just tested it then with the latest build off celtic_druid's site)

but yeah, codecs are now too complex for VfW. it's time we saw a virtualdub-like encoding app for directshow, i guess (though it's easy enough to request one... i wish i could program one).

[edit]

hmm.. looks like ffdshow in vfw can't do mpeg-in-avi, but ffdshow in dshow can. interesting.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by stephanV
It seems that ffdshow indeed doesnt support MPEG1/MPEG2 in AVI anymore. There still is the YMPEG plugin though (not free anymore BTW). It is configurable via VFW but outputs to a MPG file. It also does MPEG1 layer I and II audio IIRC. That would be perfect for me... I could never really see the point of putting Mpeg1/2 in AVI anyway!

Anymore?


Cheers

[Neo Neko]

Originally posted by stephanV
:)

What about b-frames in AVI/VFW are a terrible hack and all that stuff? ;)

Well MPEG1/2 are different from MPEG4. They have static GOP sets. So seeking and such in AVI with them would be quite a bit easier. But yes in using B frames etc it would have the same dificulties with VFW as other B frame codecs would. Which probably explains why if as others have said that the VFW output no longer supports actually writing the MPEG stream to AVI. It used to in older versions I remember. But it never played back right and it was just not that usefull. If I ever use MPEG1/2 it is for compatability reasons. Which MPEG1/2 in AVI immediatly mess up. :p

Originally posted by stephanV
It seems that ffdshow indeed doesnt support MPEG1/MPEG2 in AVI anymore.

I am pretty sure FFDSHOW still does. I just think it was blocked/removed from FFVFW for obvious reasons. What would be really neat since FFDSHOW/VFW allow outputting to files other than AVI at the same time. Is to have a version or all versions for that matter be able to output to any format that FFMPEG supports outside of the VFW structure like it can currently do with MPEG and OGM formats. And have it work together with the audio filter portion of it to have a single file with both audio and video. Since that output is external to VFW and does not rely on 1 frame in 1 frame out you would not need alot of the hacks. And you could then encode to any number of formats from inside aplications like Virtualdub. That would be sweet!


Originally posted by stephanV
There still is the YMPEG plugin though (not free anymore BTW). It is configurable via VFW but outputs to a MPG file. It also does MPEG1 layer I and II audio IIRC.

Interesting. Did it support B frames?

[stephanV]

Homepage (http://www.ympeg.com/)

It is a form of cripple-ware where you can try the MPEG2 enccoder for 2:45 hrs of encoding time. After that period you can only encode MPEG1 with it, including audio (similar to TMPGEnc I guess). There is a timed pop-up (last 10 sec or so) about this when opening the configuration screen.

It does support B-frames and also lets you edit the GOP-structure, QMs and can output as MPEG1 stream, VCD, etc. It supports AR flags as well.

The last non-crippled version was 0.6.x IIRC, but then the MPEG-LA got involved.

Quality wise i have no idea, last time i tried it (v0.6) it wasnt too good. It also supports KVCD, so maybe you can find some more info on their forum. I'll try out their MPEG1 encoder soon though.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by Neo Neko
...Well MPEG1/2 are different from MPEG4. They have static GOP sets. So seeking and such in AVI with them would be quite a bit easier. As yet, I've not been able to make YMPEG work.

However, with regard to "Static GOP" I found the following settings: -

http://img110.exs.cx/img110/8883/ympeg24a6nm.gif

The "GOP set" settings don't seem to be all that static :confused:

Sadly though, there's no 2pass encoding option :eek:


Cheers

[unmei]

IIRC ympeg did work for me, but i did no serious testing on it. It was more like, "oh cool an mpeg-in-avi-codec, let's try it". But as i have no interest in mpeg encoding, it's well possible i only did a few-frames clip and i don't even know anymore whether i even used mpeg-2 or -1 only. It's too long time ago :)

[stephanV]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
As yet, I've not been able to make YMPEG work.
Try to turn off "verify settings" in the "general"-tab

If you are encoding with audio, also select the right audio compression format in the audio menu of VDub.


The "GOP set" settings don't seem to be all that static :confused:

They are still static, every GOP will look exactly the same throughout the file.


Sadly though, there's no 2pass encoding option :eek:

I never said it was perfect :p

[jcsston]

When I last tried YMPEG it didn't return data back through the VFW interface but actually wrote to an .mpg file defined in the configuration dialog.

Edit: It seems the newer version works differently...

[stephanV]

Originally posted by jcsston
When I last tried YMPEG it didn't return data back through the VFW interface but actually wrote to an .mpg file defined in the configuration dialog.


it still does that.