tada, a new FAQ

[Cyberia]

I posted a new FAQ today. I'd like to ask people to look it over for errors/suggestions/improvements.

I have marked 3 or 4 places (in red) where I need someone to clarify somethings.

Thanks, post replies here.

[Nic]

Stream_Type = The Type of Stream ;)
Stream_Type = 0 -> Elementry MPEG-2 Stream (i.e. a M2V/MPV File)
Stream_Type = 1 -> Program Stream (i.e. a VOB/MPG File)
Stream_Type = 2 -> Transport Stream File

DGIndex can only decode AC3, it doesn't really decode PCM but it does output it nicely so I guess you can leave that included.

I think you have the demux list right, I can't tell whether DGIndex can decode AAC...(I don't have a TS/PS with AAC in to try, but I see no mention of it in the code)

Hope that helps :)

-Nic

[Wilbert]

Q07: Which YUV-RGB option should I use?
A: Use PC Scale if you are going to mainly watch the final video on a PC, and TV Scale if you mainly are going to watch it on a TV. PC scale uses the full 0-255 values for Y (luminance), where TV scale uses the reduced - but TV suited 16-235.
That's only applicable if you frameserve to Vfapi or TMPGEnc (because they convert to RGB).

Q03: What versions of DGMPGDec (DVD2AVI) exist and which version should I use?
A: There currently are at least 12 versions of DGMPGDec (DVD2AVI):
10) DVD2AVI_Nic 0.2 Alpha: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87185
11) dgdecode_mod_c: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80061
12) dvd2avi_aac by timecop: http://pbx.mine.nu/dvd2avi/

10 and 11 can be used with latest dgdecode.dll. Dunno about 12 (but in any case it can be used with mpeg2dec3.dll).

[Leak]

Originally posted by Wilbert
10) DVD2AVI_Nic 0.2 Alpha: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87185
11) dgdecode_mod_c: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80061
12) dvd2avi_aac by timecop: http://pbx.mine.nu/dvd2avi/

10 and 11 can be used with latest dgdecode.dll.

Yeah, well - 11 *is* an updated dgdecode.dll (and just that DLL), so it figures it's used with dgdecode.dll... :D

[Wilbert]

Did I write that? Small mistake :D

[Cyberia]

Originally posted by Nic
Stream_Type = The Type of Stream ;)
Stream_Type = 0 -> Elementry MPEG-2 Stream (i.e. a M2V/MPV File)
Stream_Type = 1 -> Program Stream (i.e. a VOB/MPG File)
Stream_Type = 2 -> Transport Stream File

DGIndex can only decode AC3, it doesn't really decode PCM but it does output it nicely so I guess you can leave that included.

I think you have the demux list right, I can't tell whether DGIndex can decode AAC...(I don't have a TS/PS with AAC in to try, but I see no mention of it in the code)Thanks Nic. The stream list was exactly what I was looking for.

Regarding PCM, I know it doesn't 'decode' PCM, but you can't get it to extract PCM unless you use the 'decode' option. The 'demux' option should work but doesn't. This is the only reason why Decode has not been removed yet...


Originally posted by Wilbert
That's only applicable if you frameserve to Vfapi or TMPGEnc (because they convert to RGB).So what should it say? Does it matter at all if you intend to watch on a PC or TV? How about this?
Q07: Which YUV-RGB option should I use?
A: PC scale uses the full 0-255 values for Y (luminance), where TV scale uses the reduced - but TV suited 16-235. Use PC Scale if you are going to frameserve to Vfapi or TMPGEnc since they convert to RGB.

[Cyberia]

Originally posted by Wilbert
10) DVD2AVI_Nic 0.2 Alpha: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87185
11) dgdecode_mod_c: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80061
12) dvd2avi_aac by timecop: http://pbx.mine.nu/dvd2avi/

10 and 11 can be used with latest dgdecode.dll. Dunno about 12 (but in any case it can be used with mpeg2dec3.dll).

I'll add these, but I am sorta hoping Tritical won't mind if we incorporate his fix into the main DGDecode. His fixes are very useful, and I think everyone will appreciate this.

Also, Nic made a code change here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85209) that we want to roll into the main also.

[Wilbert]

So what should it say? Does it matter at all if you intend to watch on a PC or TV? How about this?
Good that we talk about it for the millionth time, because I messed up again :)

I think that in theory the following should happen
PC-range: YUV [16,235] -> RGB [0,255]
TV-range: YUV [16,235] -> RGB [16,235]

of course this happens when a conversion to RGB takes place by vfapi or tmpgenc.

I installed vfapi again to test it, but the strange this is I can't see any difference. I did the following:


BlankClip(color=$000000, pixel_type="RGB24", width=720, height=576)
ConvertToYV12

saved to Y16.avs and converted to Y16.m2v with QuEnc. I opened this Y16.m2v in DGIndex and saved to:

Y16_PC.d2v - where PC-scale is checked
Y16_TV.d2v - where TV-scale is checked

I opened both of them in vfapi (v1.05) and created fake avis:

Y16_PC_d2v_vfapi.avi - should have R=0,G=0,B=0
Y16_TV_d2v_vfapi.avi - should have R=16,G=16,B=16

When I opened both in AviSynth (latest alpha) and checked the RGB values, I got the following

Y16_PC_d2v_vfapi.avi - R=0,G=0,B=0
Y16_TV_d2v_vfapi.avi - R=0,G=0,B=0

So, no difference :confused:

----------

Ok, let's see what TMPGEnc is doing. Remember that TMPGEnc converts it back to YV12 using RGB [0,255] -> YUV [16,235] IF "Output YUV data as Basic YCbCr not CCIR601" is unchecked (as is the case by default ).

I opened both d2v files (Y16_PC.d2v and Y16_TV.d2v) in TMPGEnc and encoded them to mpeg2:

Y16_TMPGEnc_PC.m2v - should have Y=16,U=128,V=128
Y16_TMPGEnc_TV.m2v - should have Y=30,U=128,V=128

Created two new d2v files from them in DGIndex:

Y16_TMPGEnc_PC.d2v
Y16_TMPGEnc_TV.d2v

I opened them in AviSynth and checked the YUV values with ColorYUV(analyze=true):

Y16_TMPGEnc_PC.d2v - Y=16,U=128,V=128
Y16_TMPGEnc_TV.d2v - Y=16,U=128,V=128

No difference again :confused:

----------

If you check this the conversions RGB [16,235] -> YUV [16,235] takes places. Trevlac tested this a while ago.

----------

What next? Check dvd2avi 1.76? Vfapi v1.04 (don't think that matters).

Did I do the wrong tests?

[tritical]

I'll add these, but I am sorta hoping Tritical won't mind if we incorporate his fix into the main DGDecode. His fixes are very useful, and I think everyone will appreciate this. I wouldn't mind at all. Most of the changes did not require more then changing a few lines of the original 1.0.12 code, but I was calling it dgdecode_mod cause I didn't want anyone to mistake it for an official version by the main developer.

[Cyberia]

I fixed the Stream_Type parameter, but there is another question about the Field Operation in the same section. It was there before, but I had forgotten to mark it red. It's red now.

[Cyberia]

OK the FAQ has gone 'live'. The comments have been removed and the RTF and PDF versions are available.

There are still two minor questions though:

Q30: There is a question about how "Swap Fields" was indicated in the d2v file. (Maybe I shouldn't even mention it since it's not a current feature)

and

Can Wilbert or someone like him clarify the YUV-RGB issue he describes above. He tried to explain it for the 10000th time and just confused us both.

EDIT: FYI- The second part of the FAQ (Post #2) is exactly 16,000 characters, which is the largest allowable size accepted here at D9. So... at worst I am tied for the largest post at D9! At best I hold it outright. There's something to be proud of. ;)

[hakko504]

Originally posted by Cyberia
EDIT: FYI- The second part of the FAQ (Post #2) is exactly 16,000 characters, which is the largest allowable size accepted here at D9. So... at worst I am tied for the largest post at D9! At best I hold it outright. There's something to be proud of. ;) I just checked in here today and found your new version of the FAQ: It seems you've done a great job of updating everything and making references to the newer versions of DVD2AVI. And also thank you for the credit at the end ;)

[Cyberia]

Originally posted by hakko504
And also thank you for the credit at the end ;) It was well deserved. Thanks again for the good work!