MeGUI - x264/XviD/lavc/Snow encoder with MP4/MKV/AVI output & audio

[Chainmax]

"Pyramid" seems to be grayed out in the latest version of MeGUI bundled with Sharktooth's 367 version. I can't seem to enable it even though I've set my b-frames to 3.

Has there been a change in the last few builds?

I think I had the same problem and got around it by using the arrows to increase the number of bframes rather than directly writing it on the box.


Does anyone know when a new version that can properly do automated 3-pass with turbo will be released?

[Sharktooth]

i'll fix the b.frames and trellis thing first. then i'll check the turbo issue.
bear with me... megui code is too much chaotic for me...

[Chainmax]

Oh, it was not my intention to appear pushy or demanding. I apologize if it came out like that :o.

[Sharktooth]

Oh well, no problems, mine was only an informative post:)

[Sharktooth]

new MeGUI and MeGUI-x264 binaries in the MeGUI dev thread.

[Chainmax]

What fixes are included in this new version?


[edit]Why does the full x264 package has rev367D and the lite package still has rev367A?

[Sharktooth]

the tri-state things... (the glue code).
well the options should be now grayed/ungrayed out in the correct way.
i also included the berrinam patch for the "one click encoder".

[bob0r]

x264 revision 368 now has --b-rdo option (--b-rdo RD based mode decision for B-frames. Requires subme 6.). (SVN)

Please update megui(x264) source and ill compile a new megui-x264 for x264 SVN users :)

[Sharktooth]

i'll update it tonight.

[Sharktooth]

the patch is up on the megui dev thread.

[foxyshadis]

With recent versions I'm getting an unhandled exception when clicking on the job config option in x264 version, after loading an avs file. I haven't had a chance to test full version yet. Setting the profile level to anything other than unrestricted works fine.

stack dump is:

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: '0' is not a valid value for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'Minimum' and 'Maximum'.
at System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown.set_Value(Decimal value)
at MeGUI.x264ConfigurationDialog.set_CodecSettings(x264Settings value)
at MeGUI.x264ConfigurationDialog.EnforceLevel(x264Settings inputSettings)
at MeGUI.x264ConfigurationDialog.showCommandLine()
at MeGUI.x264ConfigurationDialog.avcLevel_SelectedIndexChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.set_SelectedIndex(Int32 value)
at MeGUI.x264ConfigurationDialog.set_CodecSettings(x264Settings value)
at MeGUI.MeGUI.videoConfigButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

I can't verify that.. it must be settings related so you need to share a lot more info. Plus, this is a topic for the user thread ;)

Sorry about the wrong thread earlier. Anyway, I deleted my settings file and all profiles, and it still occurs. I have whatever the latest release of .Net 1.1 is, on XP SP2. It also occurs on a Server 2003 SP1 machine also with .Net 1.1.

[Sharktooth]

try the version included with x264 rev375A.

[charleski]

@foxyshadis: That bug is due to an error in the first release of the levels code. get one of the latest builds, as it was fixed a few days ago.

[Edit] BTW, if anyone wants to test the level-enforcement code I wrote, please pickup Sharktooth's latest build from the end of the MeGUI development thread. It especially needs to be tested on video with odd framesizes and framerates, if you have any such stuff lying around.

I'm currently working on a set of UI additions, trying to maintain the established workflow of the program while adding things that make it a bit more intuitive for n00bs like me who are upgrading from GordianKnot. I'm already adding things to the avisynth creator so that it can directly load additional filetypes, though avi is going to be a fair amount of work because of the kludge that 'avi' is. If you can think of other improvements (that are real improvements and not along the lines of wanting VfW support :) - I'll put in code to let the avisynth creator read VDub frameserver files ), then post here and be as specific as you can.
BTW, all my additions are going to be targeted at the full version of MeGUI only.

[Razorholt]

Quick (stupid?) question: I'm trying to convert to .AVI using MeGUI (with mencoder). Selecting AVC doesn't do any good but with ASP it does work. Why?


Thanks,
- Dan

[Doom9]

because the x264 version of MeGUI only supports x264.exe and that doesn't support AVI?
Or did you post in the same thread (and forgot a bunch of details.. I don't really have a clue what you're doing).

[Razorholt]

oooooh ok! Thanks Doom9!

What I'm trying to do? Oh man, I dunno. The aim is to encode a mov to ogm. I'm very limited in size and I want maz quality. So I tried:

AVS -> MKV (with MeGUI + AVC) then MKV -> OGM (with VirtualDudMod) => failed. Bunch of errors with VDM.

Now, I know I can succeed with the ASP codec but I doubt whether I could end up with the same quality/compression as with AVC. Am I wrong? MKV was impressive though.

- Dan

[Doom9]

VirtualDubMod can't handle AVC in MKV.. so your problems start right there
OGM imho has outlived its usefulness.. use either MKV or MP4 for AVC.

[Razorholt]

But I need a streaming container and OGM was perfect...

[klicker4546]

Hello,

I'm using the latest version of MeGUI and I'm trying to convert a vob-file to xvid. When I opened my avs-script everything looked fine in the preview. As soon I start the conversion-job it's says "processing" but mencoder doesn't seem to react. I tried it with several versions of mencoder. In the end nothing happens. :confused:

When I copy the commandline to a batch file and execute it, mencoder starts working. Can someone help me?

[charleski]

@klicker4546: We need a log.

But I need a streaming containermp4 is a streaming container :)

[klicker4546]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. I ran another encoding session and here's the log:

Next job job1-1 is a video job. encoder commandline:
"D:\MeGUI\mencoder.exe" "D:\MeGUI\test.avs" -ovc xvid -o NUL: -passlogfile "D:\MeGUI\2pass.stats" -xvidencopts pass=1:bitrate=700:max_key_interval=300:vhq=4:chroma_me:trellis:interlacing:keyframe_boost=100:kfthreshold=1:kfreduction=20
successfully set up video encoder and callbacks for job job1-1
Job aborted, deleting output file...Deletion failed.

Is this line corrrect? "D:\MeGUI\mencoder.exe" I was wondering if it needs those quotation marks or not...


Here's the avs-script I used:

LoadPlugin("C:\Programme\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll")
MPEG2Source("D:\MeGUI\test.d2v")
ConvertToYV12()

Output container was avi. Correct me if it's not supported for xvid. (Although it worked for me with releases of MeGUI.)

Does that help??? :)

@klicker4546: We need a log.

[charleski]

-o NUL:
Are you sure you have an output file set in the GUI?

[klicker4546]

Yes, absolutely!

See attachements!

Are you sure you have an output file set in the GUI?

[charleski]

Well there haven't been any changes to the xvid side of meGUI recently, but it's possible that this is an unintended side-effect of some of the modifications to commandline generation. Exactly which version of meGUI are you using?

I've never used mencoder, but I assume you see the same abort if you just paste "D:\MeGUI\mencoder.exe" "D:\MeGUI\test.avs" -ovc xvid -o NUL: -passlogfile "D:\MeGUI\2pass.stats" -xvidencopts pass=1:bitrate=700:max_key_interval=300:vhq=4:chroma_me:trellis:interlacing:keyframe_boost=100:kfthreshold=1:kfreduction=20into a command window?

[klicker4546]

Well there haven't been any changes to the xvid side of meGUI recently, but it's possible that this is an unintended side-effect of some of the modifications to commandline generation. Exactly which version of meGUI are you using?

I've never used mencoder, but I assume you see the same abort if you just paste "D:\MeGUI\mencoder.exe" "D:\MeGUI\test.avs" -ovc xvid -o NUL: -passlogfile "D:\MeGUI\2pass.stats" -xvidencopts pass=1:bitrate=700:max_key_interval=300:vhq=4:chroma_me:trellis:interlacing:keyframe_boost=100:kfthreshold=1:kfreduction=20into a command window?

I've just created a batch file:

logfile.bat

"D:\MeGUI\mencoder.exe" "D:\MeGUI\test.avs" -ovc xvid -o NUL: -passlogfile "D:\MeGUI\2pass.stats" -xvidencopts pass=1:bitrate=700:max_key_interval=300:vhq=4:chroma_me:trellis:interlacing:keyframe_boost=100:kfthreshold=1:kfreduction=20


and it worked. That's what the problem is. When I create a batch-file it's always working (using the command line created by MeGUI). I guess there's something messed up with passing the command line to the mencoder. I'm currently using MeGUI 0.2.3.1023. But I also tried it with 1021 and 1022. I can't find any older version below 1021 to give it a try with those.

Again I'll add two pictures.

[Razorholt]

Charleski, I tried many containers with our streaming software and, so far, only MPG(files have been encoded with MainConcept), WMVand OGM were usable. I don't seem to be able to stream any other formats and that includes MP4. FYI, we're using WMP.

Is there any specific settings I'm missing here?


Thanks,
- Dan

[Shinjite]

Pardon me for asking, I was wondering is it the latest MEGUI version posted in the first page?

[Doom9]

Pardon me for asking, I was wondering is it the latest MEGUI version posted in the first page?It wasn't.. now it links to the proper place.

[charleski]

@klicker4546: Can you try this version (http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~cajking/MeGUI/MeGUI.NETv1.1.Bins_0.2.3.1018.rar) and see if it works? The commandline is fine, but you might be having an issue with the process call-backs.

[klicker4546]

Ok, I'll give it a try and let you know if it works.

@klicker4546: Can you try this version (http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~cajking/MeGUI/MeGUI.NETv1.1.Bins_0.2.3.1018.rar) and see if it works? The commandline is fine, but you might be having an issue with the process call-backs.

[klicker4546]

It's still the same story. Nothing is going to happen after I hit the start button. Just an encoding status window pops up, but there's no activity at all. The calling event for loading the avs-script produced an error message. Is it the problem you referred to in your posting? And I need to set the output file manually. :confused:

Here's the commandline produced by mencoder:

Next job job1 is a video job. encoder commandline:
"C:\Programme\Videobearbeitung\MPlayer\mencoder.exe" "C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\akw\Eigene Dateien\test.avs" -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=700:max_key_interval=300:vhq=1:chroma_me:trellis:lumi_mask:interlacing:rc_reaction_delay_factor=16:rc_averaging_period=100 -o "C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\akw\Eigene Dateien\test.avi" -of avi -ffourcc XVID
successfully set up video encoder and callbacks for job job1

I also attach a screenshot of the status window.

This is really weird... but thanks anyway!!!

Ok, I'll give it a try and let you know if it works.

[Doom9]

The calling event for loading the avs-script produced an error message. What is "calling event" ? If there's an error loading the AviSynth script, it's no wonder it doesn't work.. MeGUI is very picky about its input and needs to be able to load it via VfW or nothing will ever be encoded.

[klicker4546]

I know it's very picky! But the avs-script works fine with version 0.2.3.1023. The preview works fine. And the MPC also plays the avs-script. So I don't think there's an issue with the avs. If you wanna have a look at the script, I'll post it.

What is "calling event" ? If there's an error loading the AviSynth script, it's no wonder it doesn't work.. MeGUI is very picky about its input and needs to be able to load it via VfW or nothing will ever be encoded.

[charleski]

Ok, we need to dissect the problem a bit more.
When you start the queue, press ctrl-alt-del and go to the Processes tab of the Task Manager. Is mencoder listed there, and if so, is it doing any work (look at the CPU%)?
Are you able to run other encoders, like x264, with meGUI?

[klicker4546]

Ok, here we go! Mencoder ist listed there, it starts to work for 1 or 2 seconds before it seems to get stuck. CPU-Usage 0-2%. That's odd. And I tried several versions of mencoder. Generic builds and also k7-because I've got an Athlon XP CPU. When I hit abort in the job-list or in the status window, the windows does not close. I need to close the whole application (MeGUI) or just click the status window that it disappears.

I tried it with x264 and it worked fine for me.

Alternatively I gave it a try with a directshowsource command in my avs-script to see whether that's gonna work or not.

DirectShowSource("C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\...\Eigene Dateien\04VB.wmv",audio=false,video=true)
ConvertToYV12()

Is it an issue that I've got Avisynth version 2.56 installed instead of 2.55?


Ok, we need to dissect the problem a bit more.
When you start the queue, press ctrl-alt-del and go to the Processes tab of the Task Manager. Is mencoder listed there, and if so, is it doing any work (look at the CPU%)?
Are you able to run other encoders, like x264, with meGUI?

[charleski]

The avisynth version won't matter as long as it's over 2.55.
The commandline is formed correctly and the mencoder thread is being started, but I suspect it's hanging when mencoder tries to report back to meGUI, though this works fine on my machines (and this is the first time someone has reported such a problem).
Try running it with the progress window closed (an option in settings).
If this doesn't work, we need to add some more debugging code to see what's failing.

[klicker4546]

I'm actually trying it with MeWIG and mencoder works fine. ;)

Ok, I'll give it a try the way you suggested it.

I've got .net framework 1.1 and 2.0 installed. It possible that interferes?

The avisynth version won't matter as long as it's over 2.55.
The commandline is formed correctly and the mencoder thread is being started, but I suspect it's hanging when mencoder tries to report back to meGUI, though this works fine on my machines (and this is the first time someone has reported such a problem).
Try running it with the progress window closed (an option in settings).
If this doesn't work, we need to add some more debugging code to see what's failing.

[klicker4546]

Ok, I did as you told. I deselected the progress window in settings. And it is still the same. :-)

MeWIG is properly working. Damn, it's so strange!!!

[Shinjite]

Mine the problem started when I use MeGUI 0.2.3.1b (haven't update yet) and I couple it up with the latest mencoder with Xvid 1.2 dev and the 1st pass is not even working. When I switch back to mencoder with Xvid 1.1.0Beta 2, it works....

[klicker4546]

Hi, so you think the newer xvid version causes your problems then? Hmmm, I i have xvid 1.1.0-cvs from 9/12/2005 installed. And got mencoder not working under MeGUI.
:rolleyes:

Mine the problem started when I use MeGUI 0.2.3.1b (haven't update yet) and I couple it up with the latest mencoder with Xvid 1.2 dev and the 1st pass is not even working. When I switch back to mencoder with Xvid 1.1.0Beta 2, it works....

[Doom9]

I've got .net framework 1.1 and 2.0 installed. It possible that interferes? No, .NET binaries will pick the runtime they've been compiled on if it's available.. I have both runtimes installed as well. I guess the important question would be, can you handle a debugger? I have a feeling such an issue would be caught within a minute if you can debug. I could tell you where to set the breakpoints and which methods to step through.

Also, you quoted me above but forgot your reply ;)

Can you have a look at the stats file? How many frames does mencoder encode? And could you capture all stdout and stderr output when running mencoder from the commandline and attach here so we can see what MeGUI sees as feedback from mencoder. Since you report it starts up properly but then does nothing, this isn't so much a problem of events propagating back to the GUI rather than reading stdout and process that data I suspect. Event routing has a try/catch in it so if there were a problem updating the progress window, you'd notice an error message in the logs.

[weaver4]

I'm sorry but I have been looking for 30minutes on where to download the latest Executable MeGui. I found the source code but where is the executable? Can someone point me to it? Thanks,

[Doom9]

'm sorry but I have been looking for 30minutes on where to download the latest Executable MeGui. 30 Minutes? Why do I not believe that? Binaries have always been available from the first post of this thread. So, if you go to that post and use your browser's search (if you don't know that.. you need to take a crash course in computer use), and you type in download and see where it gets you. The second hit is
You can also download Sharktooth's builds And there's a link there.. and it goes to a page that has 4 file downloads.. so you have a 25% chance of hitting the right one without looking at the filename.. and a 100% chance if you look at the filename.. (anything with src in it looks suspiciously like source code).

Sorry, I can't resist.. nobody spends 30 minutes and doesn't find if a search on "megui download" yields the result in the first thread. If you said two minutes, maybe but even that's pushing it.. search engines were created so that you can search, and check out at least the 10 first links.. and if you didn't find anything after that, okay, it happens.

[klicker4546]

First of all thanks for your reply. Ok, now to your question, if I can handle a debugger. I have a little experience with programming VB .Net. Just a tiny little bit though, because I've just started to learn :rolleyes:. But I think I should be able to debug it with your (detailed) instructions. Where to set the breakpoints and which methods to step through. So let's give it a try.


No, .NET binaries will pick the runtime they've been compiled on if it's available.. I have both runtimes installed as well. I guess the important question would be, can you handle a debugger? I have a feeling such an issue would be caught within a minute if you can debug. I could tell you where to set the breakpoints and which methods to step through.

I wasn't aware of that. Can you forgive? :)

Also, you quoted me above but forgot your reply ;)

Ok, I gonna have a look at the stats file for you, in order to see how many frames are encoded and also at the stdout and stderr when I am running mencoder from the commandline. It could take some time though. Pls send send me the debugging info I need.

Can you have a look at the stats file? How many frames does mencoder encode? And could you capture all stdout and stderr output when running mencoder from the commandline and attach here so we can see what MeGUI sees as feedback from mencoder. Since you report it starts up properly but then does nothing, this isn't so much a problem of events propagating back to the GUI rather than reading stdout and process that data I suspect. Event routing has a try/catch in it so if there were a problem updating the progress window, you'd notice an error message in the logs.

[Doom9]

I wasn't aware of that. Can you forgive?I wasn't either initially, even though I should've known after taking that MS exam.

As far as debugging goes, you'll want to look at the method mencoderEncoding() in VideoEncoder.cs and set a breakpoint at the line line = sr.ReadLine(); // reads a line from stdoutthen go step by step from there. The while loop basically is a stdout reader loop, it reads everything from mencoder's stdout. So, if you start encoding, the first question is, do you even get to the breakpoint. If not, we'll have to start looking earlier than that. If you get to the point, start iterating (F5 in visual studio) and watch the contents of the variable line. As soon as it starts with "Pos:", start going step by step and watch what happens inside "if (line.StartsWith("Pos:")) // status update". If you get that far, pay special attention to the first time "counter" equals 10, as I suspect that's the last bit of code you're going to hit. Most likely, you get an exception thrown somewhere that will make the encoder thread exit or block, but I'm just guessing.

I think if you do that, we'll get real close to the problem rather quickly.

[weaver4]

30 Minutes? Why do I not believe that? Binaries have always been available from the first post of this thread. So, if you go to that post and use your browser's search (if you don't know that.. you need to take a crash course in computer use), and you type in download and see where it gets you. The second hit is
And there's a link there.. and it goes to a page that has 4 file downloads.. so you have a 25% chance of hitting the right one without looking at the filename.. and a 100% chance if you look at the filename.. (anything with src in it looks suspiciously like source code).

Sorry, I can't resist.. nobody spends 30 minutes and doesn't find if a search on "megui download" yields the result in the first thread. If you said two minutes, maybe but even that's pushing it.. search engines were created so that you can search, and check out at least the 10 first links.. and if you didn't find anything after that, okay, it happens.


Ok, I am not a newbe. Every link I found using a search tool pointed me back to this thread including Video Help, DivX Digest and such. I am not looking for the source just the executable.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2005-09,GGGL:en&q=megui


The first post has links to:
--.Net Framework
--Avisynth
--x264
--besweet (very nice)
--mp4box
--mkvtoolnix
--DCMPGDec

and links for just the MeGui x264 and Snow edition. I wanted to try MeGui with XVID so I did not think these were the right files.

When I go to Sharktooth site. It has two files with a .7z extension on them (wouldn't know what to do with those) and the other two files are: MeGui-Src*.rar which look like source files to me.

Regardless; with your exceptional guidance I was able to download the source code and get it to compile.

[Doom9]

well, if you get to Sharktooth's site, you're already there. 7z is just another compression format, that Winrar can handle (or 7zip can handle as well. there's a bunch of tools that can handle it.. but I suspect most people who handle rar use Winrar for it since it's the native tool.. since version 3.x Winrar can handle 7zip archives (open, but not create)).
So this is the latest compiled version: http://files.x264.nl/Sharktooth/force.php?file=./megui/megui_0.2.3.1023b.7z .. as I said, it's the only one without src in the filename. Though I admit, it would make much more sense to put the source in a separate directory so you'd only have one file in the main directory. I'm going to suggest that to Sharktooth.

I'm afraid as long as I'm taking a break from development, I can't make things as easy as they used to be since I'm no longer distributing anything myself. That may change again in the future but I'm booked till the end of the year.

[Sharktooth]

Binaries are now here: http://files.x264.nl/Sharktooth/?dir=./megui/Binaries
Sources here: http://files.x264.nl/Sharktooth/?dir=./megui/Sources

[Doom9]

thanks, I've updated the links.

[Chris Benoit]

Ok here's my question.I want to use MEGui to encode videos for psp.I have got the profiles and i see the PD-PSP one.I want to ask:Will i have better results if i enable rd0 2 instead of rdo?

Also what will i gain if i enable B-frame pyramid,i8x8 and lossless quantitizer.

And lastly will i get better results if i load a custom matrix?What are custom matrices anyway?