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

[sillKotscha]

Required tools:

[...]

For XviD, lavc, Snow and x264 encoding (alternative to x264 CLI)
latest version of mencoder (http://www.aziendeassociate.it/cd.asp?dir=/mplayer) (it's part of the mplayer package, pick the version that best matches your CPU

[...]


does anyone of you ever used one of these Mencoder (http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php) compiles? For example there is a special precompiled Mencoder binary - XviD 1.1.0 - x264 svn...

I'm going to test it but not tonight :)

[klicker4546]

Hello everybody,

Somewhere in the forum I had recently seen a thread with detailed information regarding how to build mplayer/mencoder for win32 with cygwin or mingw. Does anybody know where I can find that specific thread?

[nexus]

I think I found a bug in megui. I stupidly postet in the x264-thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=792764#post792764).

[cc979]

been thinking about getting back into programming(i did program assembly language mostly 6502 and 68000 long time ago) - i can follow c# code to a degree - but can anybody recommend any c# books (free ebooks or whatever) - and i will try some debugging and that if i can

[Infirmus]

Just wanted to say thanks to the developers of meGUI (esp Doom9) and also the developers of the tools it uses (x264, avisynth, etc).

I used it for the first time a few days ago and I was impressed.

[stholt]

I am trying to use MeGUI, but I can't seem to get it to work. I have all the tools setup and pointed to properly, I start the program up and set it up to encode 3 pass x264, but it's not working. Here's a copy/paste of the logfile:

Starting job job3-1 at 3:12:14 PM
Job is a video job. encoder commandline:
--pass 1 --bitrate 700 --stats "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\bogO1.stats" --subme 1 --analyse none --me dia --threads 2 --thread-input --progress --output NUL "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\BigO_1.avs"
successfully started encoding
Processing ended at 3:12:15 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log for job job3-1

unknown option ( )

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
job job3-1 has been processed. This job is linked to the next job: job3-2
Starting job job3-2 at 3:12:15 PM
Job is a video job. encoder commandline:
--pass 3 --bitrate 700 --stats "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\bogO1.stats" --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --threads 2 --thread-input --progress --output "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\BigO_1.mp4" "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\BigO_1.avs"
successfully started encoding
Processing ended at 3:12:15 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log for job job3-2

unknown option ( )

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
job job3-2 has been processed. This job is linked to the next job: job3-3
Starting job job3-3 at 3:12:15 PM
Job is a video job. encoder commandline:
--pass 3 --bitrate 700 --stats "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\bogO1.stats" --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --threads 2 --thread-input --progress --output "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\BigO_1.mp4" "C:\2004_BIG_O_V_1_8_SCN\VIDEO_TS\BigO_1.avs"
successfully started encoding
Processing ended at 3:12:16 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log for job job3-3

unknown option ( )

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone know what's going on?

[Doom9]

well.. you really should use the more up-to-date threads.. digging up old stuff is bad etiquette and just clutters up the forum.
My guess is your x264 build doesn't support the --thread-input option

[chipzoller]

Doom9,

Which thread should we use?

[modsoul]

i have a question. megui i can't encode using 2 passes when using a quantizer but real anime allows this. is this possible is megui ?
if so please tell me how to do it.
thank you

[berrinam]

There's not much point in doing a 2pass quantizer encode since there's no bitrate target that needs to be met with a quantizer encode, so x264 will get it right the first time. Anyway, if you are very picky about it, then you can do a first pass with a constant quantizer, get the bitrate of the file from the log, and then do a 2pass encode with that new bitrate, but seriously, why?

[modsoul]

There's not much point in doing a 2pass quantizer encode since there's no bitrate target that needs to be met with a quantizer encode, so x264 will get it right the first time. Anyway, if you are very picky about it, then you can do a first pass with a constant quantizer, get the bitrate of the file from the log, and then do a 2pass encode with that new bitrate, but seriously, why?
oh sorry. then i thought 2 pass would increase the quality a bit. i encoded a video at a 32 quantizer and the file size can out reall good. but the issue was the video was 640x480 and when i watched it full screen i saw a lot of blockyness. i thought 2 pass would make that better.

will it?

[berrinam]

oh sorry. then i thought 2 pass would increase the quality a bit. i encoded a video at a 32 quantizer and the file size can out reall good. but the issue was the video was 640x480 and when i watched it full screen i saw a lot of blockyness. i thought 2 pass would make that better.

will it?
Yes and no. Doing a second pass after a constant quantizer encode will pretty much not add anything, because it won't have a a proper first pass. However, a 2pass encode to the same filesize will look better, because 2pass is simply a better algorithm. You should never really use constant quant, because constant quality mode is better.

Nevertheless, 32 quantizer is always going to be bad. You should experiment with values between 18 and 26.

[modsoul]

Yes and no. Doing a second pass after a constant quantizer encode will pretty much not add anything, because it won't have a a proper first pass. However, a 2pass encode to the same filesize will look better, because 2pass is simply a better algorithm. You should never really use constant quant, because constant quality mode is better.

Nevertheless, 32 quantizer is always going to be bad. You should experiment with values between 18 and 26.

i tried 25. but that came out even worse. and when i checked the bitrate (while playing under media player classic) it was 30-40 Kbps.

is that right i thought lower quantizer was better. ?

[stax76]

IIRC at crf 20 filesize can get as big as XviD at q3, IMHO a big waste. I'm always using crf 22 which gets 30-40% smaller than 20.

[foxyshadis]

i tried 25. but that came out even worse. and when i checked the bitrate (while playing under media player classic) it was 30-40 Kbps.

is that right i thought lower quantizer was better. ?
I think you forgot to switch it back to constant quantizer/quality mode. It sure sounds like bitrate mode was engaged.

[M.H.A.Q.S.]

OK, I waited exactly five days to post... :P. I wanted the MeGUI x264 compile and source code only. All previous links in other threads appear to be dead and I could not find anything. I did take look at x264 GUI but its in VB.NET and does not really serve the purpose.

Can I have a link to MeGUI x264 build part only with source code. I really want to work on it.

[Sharktooth]

MeGUI-x264 was dropped.
please refer to the sticky thread (on top of this board) for MeGUI (full version) bins and sources.
very latest binaries of megui can be found on http://x264.nl in the GUI section.

[M.H.A.Q.S.]

hmm, I suspected that. But is there a way I can get an older source and build?

[Sharktooth]

i really dont know. i do not mantain older sources but you can ask the other megui devs if they still have archived the latest megui-x264.

[dimzon]

hmm, I suspected that. But is there a way I can get an older source and build?

via CVS

btw. Why do not use MeGUI full?

[M.H.A.Q.S.]

[dimzon]
The reason is, I am only interested in the development of a GUI for the x264. I am trying to give an example to some students who are currently studying h.264 and some programming stuff about it. The full MeGUI program is way huge for them to cope with right now. I was looking at x264gui too, but its in VB.NET. I can go through the pain of giving them that example with VB.NET but why not use something that is already done.

[Sharktooth]
Should I PM doom9?

[dimzon]

[dimzon]
The reason is, I am only interested in the development of a GUI for the x264.
You can concentrate at x264 part only and do not touch anything other. MeGUI is good-enought structured...

[M.H.A.Q.S.]

yeah, I just came to think of that too. :).

[Sharktooth]

as dimzon said if you have some knowledge of CVS you can get the old sources from there.
otherwise you can ask in the megui dev thread.

[M.H.A.Q.S.]

I have already done the CVS thing. I will ask this in the dev thread though.

[Doom9]

megui x264 was never more than conditional compilation of the whole megui.. so it's not something you can take as a start point.. it is megui just with a lot of conditional flags. And since there's CVS, you can extract whichever revision fits your needs.. the changelog will tell you when conditional compilation was removed so you'll want the latest sources before that date.. but as I said.. it's really of no use because it is megui with in fact more code than is really necessary to cover all the features.

[M.H.A.Q.S.]

right, thanks for the information Doom9. I understand the fact now.

[Dark Eiri]

I'm new to MeGUI, and I love it, but all my videos are converted to 23.976 fps (this includes HD 60fps files) and it's VERY annoying since the video loses a lot of "flow" motion. Can someone tell me how to fix this issue?

I use x264 encoding, with Sharktooth HQ-Insane profile.

[Adub]

if you are using DGindex, make sure that you are not using force film mode when decoding.

[Dark Eiri]

if you are using DGindex, make sure that you are not using force film mode when decoding.

I use the AviSynth Script Maker inside MeGUI, and it uses DGIndex automatically.

[jellysandwich]

I use the AviSynth Script Maker inside MeGUI, and it uses DGIndex automatically.

You can turn off the "auto force film" setting.

js

[Dark Eiri]

You can turn off the "auto force film" setting.

js

Thanks! It's working fine now ^^
:thanks:

[berrinam]

Auto Force Film should only apply on film content anyway, which is supposed to be at 24 fps. If your source was indeed film, then you shouldn't have lost any motion fluidity, and if it wasn't, then there's a bug. Can you run your source 60fps through MeGUI's source detection in the AviSynth script creator and tell me what it says?

[junglemike]

Hello. I have some small problem w/ Megui, that i can't figure how to solve yet. The problem is that outupt x.264 mp4 files have wrong apsect ratio. I use HQ-Slow preset, and i pressed "config" and veryfied that in Aspect ratio there is 1:1. Despite that , when i try to encode anything - there is --sar 3:4 option in the log. I tried to reinstall anything - doesnt' help.
What do i do?
The most strangest thing is that on another computer i have exactly same build 0.2.3.2116 and it works fine,.

[berrinam]

Update to the latest version of MeGUI, which handles AR better. It's 0.2.3.2165 and you can get it from http://x264.nl

[junglemike]

Thanks berrinam, it solved the problem of aspect ratio. I downloaded latest version and then run update to everything it proposed.
HOWEVER, i compared command line params in Megui in this new build (0.2.3.2165) and older bulid that is on another computer (which was working fine)and comand options looks completely different, I don't understand what's going on. I also tried to compare HQ-Slow profiles, and in new Megui there are lessopions, for example, "Reference frames" completely gone. Why?
Old command line:
--pass 2 --bitrate 106 --stats "H:\sample2--default.stats" --ref 3 --bframes 3 --b-pyramid --weightb --filter -2,-1 --subme 6 --trellis 1 --analyse all --8x8dct --direct auto --me umh --progress --no-psnr --output "H:\200_slow.mp4" "H:\sample2--default.avs"
New command line:
--pass 2 --bitrate 322 --stats "D:\Source\sample2--default.stats" --ref 5 --mixed-refs --bframes 16 --b-pyramid --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --subme 6 --trellis 1 --analyse all --8x8dct --me umh --progress --no-psnr --output "D:\Source\sample2--default.mp4" "D:\Source\sample2--default.avs"
Can you please explain?
I've read in the DeadSheeps "x264 options explained" and he says that Reference Frames is important option, Why is it gone?

[Doom9]

Actually, looking at the latest profile, I think you switched the commandlines because your first commandline matches what I get from the latest profile. And that commandline is just what's in the profile. The filter settings are definitely there, and the profile contains no bidirectional me, no rdo for b-frames and no mixed references.

So clearly you're looking at two profiles with the same name but different settings.

[nurbs]

--pass 2 --bitrate 322 --stats "D:\Source\sample2--default.stats" --ref 5 --mixed-refs --bframes 16 --b-pyramid --b-rdo --bime --weightb --direct auto --subme 6 --trellis 1 --analyse all --8x8dct --me umh --progress --no-psnr --output "D:\Source\sample2--default.mp4" "D:\Source\sample2--default.avs"


Reference frames are still there as you can see. You can change the number in the Advanced-tab -> Quant Options -> Number of Reference Frames

[junglemike]

You are right, It was my local problem. I cleared the queues, did encode with hq_slow profile on both machines again, and they are same.
Sorry and thanks for help. Megui is great program!

[junglemike]

OK guys, another questo, if I may.
First, i discovered that i can actually add jobs while Megui is working - this is wonderful feature, something i can't do in virtualdub. BUT, after a computer crash the queue is empty. Absolutely notheing survives, Is there any way i can make it save a queue somehow so it will survive pc crash (power failure)?
TIA.

[berrinam]

OK guys, another questo, if I may.
First, i discovered that i can actually add jobs while Megui is working - this is wonderful feature, something i can't do in virtualdub. BUT, after a computer crash the queue is empty. Absolutely notheing survives, Is there any way i can make it save a queue somehow so it will survive pc crash (power failure)?
TIA.Many people have asked for this, so I'll do it soon. I don't imagine it could be too hard.

[junglemike]

Thanks. Will be waiting.
Keep up the good work.

[Doom9]

Many people have asked for thisMe has serious doubts that people with problems like that are up to video encoding. You don't just accidentally trip and unplug over a wire.. it takes a certain amount of disorganization to put your wires in a place where you can trip over them. And if you connect your powersaw to a standard 220V plug and trip the surge protector.. you should need a basic course on electronics.

If you have faulty wiring, have an electrician rewire your house (bad wiring is dangeours anyway). If you live in California or other places where the power companies can't keep up with demand, get a UPS with a big battery.

And if your computer crashes... fix any hardware problem you might be having, then properly install your OS.. PCs are supposed to run crash free these days. My home computer crashes approximately 1 time a year if the hardware is properly working.

[check]

Sometimes I get the "windows needs to reboot after installing updates" message and since you can't get rid of it, I end up eventually accidentally clicking the wrong button. There are zillions of other problems that could go wrong.

How making meGUI save the queue to a backup location at the beginning of every encode? Normally on shutdown it would delete this location automatically, but they would remain if the program crashed. Then if it starts up and detects jobs stored in this backup location, it will ask the user if they want to restore them (very important not to unilaterally do it imo)

[Alizar]

Is there any way to toggle the xvid encoder in MEGui? It seems to default to xvid_encraw, and thus far the only thing I can get it to do is crash intermittently while trying to encode xvid content.

I seem to recall much better luck with mencoder.

[berrinam]

Is there any way to toggle the xvid encoder in MEGui? It seems to default to xvid_encraw, and thus far the only thing I can get it to do is crash intermittently while trying to encode xvid content.

I seem to recall much better luck with mencoder.
It only supports xvid_encraw. It works fine for me, so can you post the specific bugs please?

[Alizar]

It only supports xvid_encraw. It works fine for me, so can you post the specific bugs please?


Essentially, when I try to encode an .avs (only plugin called is textsub), it may or may not work. I then experience intermittent hangs, which will lock MEGui and the encode, also resulting in my jobs and any changes not being saved.

If I could get it to produce any logs, I'd post them, but the crash nukes all of those.

The MEGui in question is 0.2.3.2166 and xvid_encraw 1.2.0

[futurex]

i have a question, is it possible to do 2 pass encoding with nero aac in meGUI? i thought ABR was 2 pass, but i noticed the time it took to encode was about the same for a CBR encode. also a lot shorter than the time taken to encode the same file, 2 pass, with SNG

[Doom9]

[quote]is it possible to do 2 pass encoding with nero aac in meGUI [quote]No. iirc any frameserving solution is currently restricted to one pass encoding

[futurex]

i see, thanks :)