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

[TheLimp]

Im having an issue with an encode that fails at the muxing step.

Once it starts that steps, it just hangs and shows as error in the que list. Checking the log, here is the error message:

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

Starting job job4 at 3:54:25 PM

Starting preprocessing of job...

Preprocessing finished!

Job not started. Reason: starting encoder failed with error 'The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail'


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

let me know if any other info is needed. thanks.


I posted that I had the same problem among others but I have found a temp fix for this problem.. After the update MeGUI updates the MP4Box file to version 0.4.5 When I downloaded the 0.4.4 version everything worked fine. I have no idea why this is but I am sure someone else in the know can explain.

Hope this helps.

[Sharktooth]

I already have .NET ver 3.5 installed....and I'm still getting the error message :(
uninstall it and reinstall.

@all: yes, the mp4box in the update is b0rked. ill fix ASAP.

EDIT: done. please update.

[APOLAUF]

I am having difficulty with the "One Click Encoder" in meGUI when I enable Automatic Deinterlace. I know that this issue is supposedly fixed, but apparently that's not the case. When I open up a VOB, set a track, and then use my custom Zune H.264 profiles for AAC audio and x.264 simple-profile encoding, meGUI crashes after running dgindex right after this log entry:

MeGUI Version: 0.2.6.1044
OS used: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Professional Service Pack 2
Framework used: 2.0 SP1
------------------------------------------------------

Looking for job processor for job...

Processor found!



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


Starting job job1 at 6:50:37 PM

Starting preprocessing of job...

Preprocessing finished!

successfully started encoding

Processing ended at 6:52:00 PM

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

Log for job job1

Job commandline: "C:\Program Files (x86)\megui\tools\dgindex\dgindex.exe" -SD=< -AIF=<C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\rips\sp8-2\sp8-2-e-0.vob< -OF=<C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\rips\sp8-2\Sp8-2-E-0< -exit -minimize -OM=1 -TN=1

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

Starting postprocessing of job...

Anyone know how to fix this? I'd really prefer not to encode everything to AVI to get around this - I would uncheck deinterlacing, but the stream definitely needs deinterlacing. One thing of note: The input VOB is one I've created as follows:

1. Extract VOBs from DVD, then concatenate them to one file, say sp8-1.vob.
2. Use VOBTool to analyze this file, and extract the episode segments into their own-sized VOBs. Note that these differ from the original VOBs.
3. Use 1-click encoder to load the segments and encode. They work great in AutoGK, but meGUI just can't handle it for whatever reason.

Is there a fix, or should I be extracting VOB data/structure differently for it to work?

[trooper11]

Well I ran an update on MeGui just a little while ago and then redid the encode, but its still failing at the muxing step.

The difference this time is that its not just hanging at the step, its throwing up a windows message stating that mp4box had failed, but amazingly enough, the process actually finished and the mp4 playsback fine.

So it seems to be fixed outside of mp4box crashing at the end of the job

[~bT~]

Just updated MeGUI with the Jarod's patched x264 build 763.
Can somebody provide a link for more info on this build pls? TIA.

[Kurtnoise]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1114233#post1114233

[~bT~]

^ but i don't see info on Jarod's build. anyway, do you know what levels aq-strength & aq-sensitivity are set to?

[carlo_0000]

hi

i m olso have trouble sins i update megui 3.0

i restore to 2.6.1043 (exe only) but no change

i'm now unable to load .d2v files

olso they doen't play in mpc (canot render file)

i reinstalled AviSynth 2.5.7
and Helix YV12 codec
Framework used 2.0 (3.0 olso installed)

ok i resolve the probleme , i deleted the megui directory, and copy all from an other computer V 2.6.1045
no it works, i restor the megui 3.0 (exe only)

[Sharktooth]

^ but i don't see info on Jarod's build. anyway, do you know what levels aq-strength & aq-sensitivity are set to?
VAQ options are automatically set to strenght 0.5 and sensitivity 13 as in every other builds using VAQ patch.

[~bT~]

^ :thanks: so to override it i just add my own?

eg:

--aq-strength 0.7 --aq-sensitivity 5

[rebkell]

uninstall it and reinstall.

@all: yes, the mp4box in the update is b0rked. ill fix ASAP.

EDIT: done. please update.

Why is it necessary to uninstall and reinstall .NET 3.5? I just upgraded to SP1 on Vista Premium and now I'm getting the prompt to update my .NET stuff also. This is on the 0.3.0.x megui version.

[Sharktooth]

coz SP1 is borked.
Please uninstall .net 3.5 and reinstall it.

[rebkell]

coz SP1 is borked.
Please uninstall .net 3.5 and reinstall it.

Ok, dumb question of the day, how do you uninstall it?
Never mind: I didn't see it in the uninstall program list, I overlooked it the first time. Sorry

[rebkell]

Ok, dumb question of the day, how do you uninstall it?
Never mind: I didn't see it in the uninstall program list, I overlooked it the first time. Sorry

I just uninstalled the .net 3.5 Framework, and then followed the link that megui gave me, downloaded the 3.5 and then installed it, this only took about two minutes, I was thinking that the 3.5 .NET install took nearly an hour the last time. I had to go to work, and couldn't explore it anymore, but the install is a rather lengthy process isn't it?

[rebkell]

I just uninstalled the .net 3.5 Framework, and then followed the link that megui gave me, downloaded the 3.5 and then installed it, this only took about two minutes, I was thinking that the 3.5 .NET install took nearly an hour the last time. I had to go to work, and couldn't explore it anymore, but the install is a rather lengthy process isn't it?

Megui still prompts me to update my .NET after uninstalling and reinstalling it.

[Sharktooth]

that's weird. i think the installation went wrong.
however Vista SP1 is quite annoying since it causes many of those problems unless you streamline it into the installation DVD.

[rebkell]

that's weird. i think the installation went wrong.
however Vista SP1 is quite annoying since it causes many of those problems unless you streamline it into the installation DVD.

Other than the nag screen when I start up megui, will it really hurt if I don't get megui happy as far as the .net is concerned? I normally keep megui open on the PC anyway, so it's not a big deal, anyway.

[Sharktooth]

2.0SP1 is required to work correctly on Vista...

[carlo_0000]

:confused:

i got a new probleme now

sins i updated the megui

my computer crash when i play my last mkv's what i maked yesturday but not olways (with the old mkv there no probleme)

megui is update to 3.0, x264 olso update , and megui profiles

i m use coreavc codec
when i open 1 mkv (x264 + aac) i do a fast forward in the video

mpc hang, all the computer stop (exepted the mouse, i can still move it) (when i have alt-dvb open olso, i still have the sound)
after 1 minute, i get a bleu screen :confused:

but it don't crash everytime, i can correctly play the video when id don't crash

i m under xp pro , but have a dual boot, and it olso crash under vista

i notice thant it don't crash with powerdvd codec but it had some difficult to play it (hdtv video)

[Sharktooth]

at this point i believe your system is unstable.
run some torture and stability tests (prime95, memtest86, etc...) overnight and check everything is ok.

[APOLAUF]

Still having meGUI crash (completely) when I use 1-click encoder with Automatic Deinterlace checked on South Park episode VOBs. Any fix? See earlier post for log (which doesn't contain any useful information). OS is XP x64 SP2.

[ggab]

OggEnc v2.84 (libvorbis aoTuVb5) (2007-08-17) (http://www.rarewares.org/ogg-oggenc.php) is out... why did megui do not update it to latest version?

C:\megui\tools\oggenc2>oggenc2.exe
OggEnc v2.83 (libvorbis aoTuVb4.51)
(c) 2000-2005 Michael Smith <msmith@xiph.org>
& portions by John Edwards <john.edwards33@ntlworld.com>

ERROR: No input files specified. Use -h for help.


PS: what about the new Oggenc2.85 using libVorbis v1.2.0 2008-03-16 ? does anybody use it?

EDIT:
Difference between libvorbis and aoTuVb? - Hydrogenaudio Forums (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=60473)
imre_herceg's wrote:
Since libvorbis 1.2.0 did not contain any quality improvements - see changelog at http://svn.xiph.org/trunk/vorbis/CHANGES - its release did not change the situation regarding which encoder is better (or best). Therefore aoTuV beta 5 is still to be regarded as best (producing the best quality) encoder.

[Knuffi]

After installing Vista SP1:
MeGUI complains about updating .NET, but the log shows:
Framework used : 2.0 SP1

I had updated before and it worked without complaining (before SP1).

[tomos]

Megui still prompts me to update my .NET after uninstalling and reinstalling it.

same here.

installing .net 3.5 worked fine on 2 PCs but after SP1 megui doesnt seem to stop wanting to nag me.

[arrirc]

For me this worked:


Installed .NET 3.5 turning off the virus scanner and Firewall.
Cleaned the PC of Temp files using a free program named CleanUp in Standard Cleaning mode.
Restarted the PC
Ran a full update of MeGUI


and the problem was over....

Hope this helps...

[rebkell]

For me this worked:


Installed .NET 3.5 turning off the virus scanner and Firewall.
Cleaned the PC of Temp files using a free program named CleanUp in Standard Cleaning mode.
Restarted the PC
Ran a full update of MeGUI


and the problem was over....

Hope this helps...

Not sure, I know what a full update of MeGUI entails? Could you clarify that for me?

[arrirc]

Hello rebkell

Not sure, I know what a full update of MeGUI entails? Could you clarify that for me?

Just run Options> Update...:)

[APOLAUF]

meGUI crashes with 1-click encoder with Automatic Deinterlacing selected, seriously, nobody is having this problem? XP x64. Really frustrating as I'm having to use AutoGK for everything first.

I have latest, updated versions of all meGUI applications. The crash eventlog reads as follows:

"Faulting application megui.exe, version 0.2.6.1045, faulting module kernel32.dll, version 5.2.3790.4062, fault address 0x00022366."

[Pirks]

Two questions about MeGUI on Vista

1) How can I force MeGUI to run without UAC security prompt? Why does MeGUI require admin rights to run? Can anyone explain please?

2) Is there a way to force MeGUI to run on .Net 3.5 instead of .Net 2.0 SP1? It's using .Net 2.0 SP1 on my Vista x64 SP1 and it always complains that I have to update my .Net to 3.5. I updated it by uninstalling and reinstalling as it's been recommended here, and it does not help. Reinstalling and updating MeGUI itself doesn't help as well. How can I force MeGUI to run on .Net 3.5 so that it stops complaining about .Net 3.5 upgrade on Vista?

[Kurtnoise]

1) I think that it has been already answered. Use search...

2) Currently, MeGUI is compiled/build with the dotNet 2.0 components and it works fine with it. No need to change that for the moment...

For Vista users, the 2.0 SP1 is highly recommended (note that the installation of the FrameWork 3.5 upgrades also the 2.0). That's why we have the warning during the launch if it's not detected. In addition, Vista SP1 (not the FrameWork) release package has introduced a changing in the Framework versioning. That's why MeGUI complains but this has been fixed few days ago. So, just wait an update...

[Pirks]

1) I think that it has been already answered. Use search...I found this answer:

"right-click the MeGUI shortcut, go to compatibility, and check "Run this program as administrator." Vista will now ask you "cancel or allow" every time you start up MeGUI, but...it will now have the proper admin privileges it needs to run correctly"

So it seems MeGUI still needs admin privileges anyway, judging by this snswer.

But my question was WHY it needs admin privileges, it's only a media encoder! It is not supposed to run under admin, it's not a kernel security modding application or something, right?

[Sharktooth]

why why why why... ask M$ why...
vista sux and some operations require admin privileges... like writing a file in a user specified location...

[Pirks]

ask MS why.
some operations require admin privileges. like writing a file in a user specified location.Handbrake is a DVD->H.264 encoder as well, and it never asks for any admin privileges. You start it in Vista, it's up immediately and encoding in no time, without any UAC security prompts.

And believe it or not, Sharktooth - Handbrake also writes files in user specified location, without any security prompts!

To me it looks like MeGUI author got used to XP with its admin accounts everywhere and it's very hard for him (the author) to switch into a new Unix/Vista mentality where user accounts are not equal to admin accounts.

I'm going to cut the MeGUI author some slack, it takes time to adapt and such. We'll get the fix for the user account/UAC stuff eventually.

Your "MS sucks" attitude, Sharktooth, will only give you a couple of understanding smiles from technically literate people who understand what UAC is about, that's all. Try other media encoders like Handbrake, learn from it. Educate yourself, man :) Just a friendly advice.

[Doom9]

Isn't handbrake self-contained?
MeGUI has a lot of dependencies, some of which go deep into Windows (e.g. Avisynth.. to get certain AviSynth info you have to access the registry, and that requires certain privileges). Likewise..net access -> privileges, download (to the installation folder) -> privileges, and so it goes on. I'm sure if you have handbrake try to write into c:\program files or c:\windows, you'll meet UAC as well..

Oh, and looking at the guide
As of version 0.9.2 you should no longer need to give HandBrake admin rights, however if you run into problems you should add admin rights for the application.and the release date of version 0.9.2... hmm.

And a lot of serious IT guys despise Vista.. just ask yourself why it has such a hard time in the enterprise market. Don't forget that the largest part of Vista installations comes from people not having any choice in the matter as it comes pre-installed. From a resource and compatibility angle, Vista really gets its ass kicked by XP.

And you are really skirting the edge to insults with your last paragraph - I don't think that's an appropriate tone for constructive criticism.. it turns the whole thing into destructive criticism and belittling which is very inappropriate. You get something for free, and for that price you don't buy the right to bitch.

[Pirks]

Isn't handbrake self-contained? MeGUI has a lot of dependencies, some of which go deep into Windows (e.g. Avisynth.. to get certain AviSynth info you have to access the registry, and that requires certain privileges). Likewise..net access -> privileges, download (to the installation folder) -> privileges, and so it goes on. I'm sure if you have handbrake try to write into c:\program files or c:\windows, you'll meet UAC as well.Is it possible to detect that the user is going to install on Vista and then offer him/her to install in a user's home directory as for example uTorrent does these days? Sounds logical, doesn't it?

If you do this, then - surprise! - you will never ever need admin rights to update MeGUI again! Well, it's true at least for the purpose of writing updated executable/binary/library files when you do MeGUI update over the net. Dunno about Avisynth, it's a good point. Maybe it's actually Avisynth developers to blame, not you.

Yeah, Handbrake is self-contained, but my problem was that I couldn't understand why MeGUI needs admin rights and there was nothing in the docs, nothing in the installer's messages. I'd put a warning there if I were you. The warning should say that MeGUI is a special kind of encoder that is tightly integrated with Avisynth and because Avisynth is done in a certain not very Vista compatible way - MeGUI has to run under admin. Also, it makes sense to research an issue of running MeGUI under Vista as admin without security prompts, have a look at this: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=635 <- do you think you can add this feature to MeGUI someday?

and the release date of version 0.9.2Yeah, Handbrake with UAC fix was released more than a month ago. So what? I told I'm going to cut you some clack. I'm not expecting you to work faster than Handbrake development team or something. I'm more interested in your attitude. Are you going to make MeGUI more user friendly on Vista or not? I'm going to bet you will be forced to even if you don't like the idea that Vista is now forcing people to stop being admins all the time and switch into normal Unix-like limited user accounts. I understand why people complain and whine all the time, it's hard to stop being admin, I must admit I went through that myself. It's also hard to grow from a child into adult and become responsive and stuff. So what? Are we going to stay in childhood forever? I understand your trouble with moving to Vista, guys, but it doesn't hurt to research the subject a little more before mindlessly posting "MS sucks". At least you should prove your point and explain why forcing users to be non-admins is a bad idea, why admin-always practices of XP are better? Without solid arguments I just call this attitude childish crap, pardon me for rudeness. I've seen so many "XXX sucks" posts without even a sign of a sensible arguments that sometimes I start getting doubts about humanity's intellectual level in general.

ask yourself why it has such a hard time in the enterprise marketWhy don't you ask yourself first why XP and Win2k and all Windows versions before that had such a hard time in the enterprise market as well, during their first couple of years after release?

From a resource and compatibility angle, Vista really gets its ass kicked by XP.You should have stayed with MS-DOS then. What are you doing here developing for Windows? MS-DOS kicked Windows ass from a resource and compatibility angle as well. Ask yourself this: why did you move from MS-DOS to Windows, and then why did you move to every next version of Windows after that? The previous versions of Windows were always more compatible and less resource hungry than newer versions, so you should have stayed there, somewhere in the last century. But you are here, on XP. I don't get it.

You get something for free, and for that price you don't buy the right to bitch.I haven't even started to bitch, precisely for the reason that MeGUI is opensource application. I'm just giving suggestions, you are free to ignore them and criticize me back, I don't mind. Tell me that I have to educate myself as well, and I'll gladly take your links or whatever you provided me with and read it, and get myself educated. What's so bad in that attitude? I never said something similar to what Sharktooth likes to say, something like "MeGUI sux sux sux, blah blah". You probably have to blame Sharktooth more than me, his points were made totally without argumentation, and some are even border on stupidity, such as "Vista requires admin rights to allow user to write in user's selected location" - what the duck is that?? I can't even criticize this kind of nonsense. He better start to express himself more precisely, 'cause this "XXX sux sux sux" stuff is only adding unnecessary noise here.

[Doom9]

Is it possible to detect that the user is going to install on Vista and then offer him/her to install in a user's home directory as for example uTorrent does these days?Hmm.. seems they integrated the installer while I'm on hiatus.. I never distributed the app other than a zip file - I still prefer it that way.. installers are more for the unskilled users - and the place I have megui, it would still work in Vista (the registry is a potential problem though). But here's an idea.. the installer has nothing to do with coding at all.. you don't need to be able to write a single line of C#.. so how about you look into updating the installer script with an OS detection and divert the default installation path to a directory under the user's home directory?

If I were active again, I wouldn't bother with the installer - I don't care about the stuff around the core software - I never liked creating installers - you spend a lot of time doing something that you could essentially do with an xcopy and it just takes away time you could spend doing something that actually challenges you. It's the same with GUIs for many programmers - writing core logic is a lot more fun - and being a volunteer project, you really cannot blame people for working on the parts they like to work on and ignoring the party they don't find suitably challenging.

You should have stayed with MS-DOS then.Why? The only OS upgrades I made that required significant hardware upgrades were W95 and W2k.. both significantly improved things. XP was an incremental upgrade that didn't really slow me down over W2K.. but Vista is in the same category like ME.. it adds bloat without really making things better? I'm willing to give more of my hardware (naturally both my boxes would have zero problems running Vista.. RAM could be 4GB but with a 8600gt and a 8800gt respectively, and a 2.66GHz dual / quad core) if it gives me something in return.. I just don't see the return of Vista over XP.

XP had limited user accounts - why do I need UAC? The only two things I find useful in Vista are the integrated .NET framework, and the ability to load drivers during installation from non floppy drives. The rest, I can do without, and so can many others. All those that refuse Vista don't do so because they hate MS, many weigh their options and decided that XP did the job just fine - it's stable, its resource hunger isn't too bad, there's drivers for pretty much any hardware.. it just works.

When I went from 3.1 to 95, the system was more stable - same for 98, same for 2000. XP was about the same as 2000 but had one major advantage: being targeted not only at businesses, it meant better hardware support - hence worthy of upgrading. Vista isn't more stable than XP, I don't get more hardware support - why should I upgrade? DirectX 10? Come on.. More DRM? A slower system? More eye candy (never could do anything with that.. and Vista's explorer is so different I could as well switch to Linux (I might have if multimedia was up to what we have on Windows.. and if there was a suitable replacement for OE when dealing with multiple accounts on the same server.. and if there was a replacement for DreamWeaver).
Sharktooth might put things more directly and without so much arguments, but basically, it boils down to the same - he doesn't see the point in upgrading, and neither do I (and neither does anybody of my friends and colleagues who knows something about computers). By any definition, I'm a high tech junkie and early adopter.. so if I do not upgrade, something must be very wrong (I even have a Vista Business DVD next to my XP Pro CD.. got it pretty much by the time Vista came out but I just never found the reason why I should swap out the OS.. the next reinstall is going to be a slipstreamed XP SP3).

I'm not against upgrading - not at all. If Vista were what it initially promised, built on a completely new and managed API, I'd be all over it and I'd bit the resource hog bullet (did you see Singularity? I find that idea awsome and hope we'll go into that direction one day), but I need reasonable value for an upgrade and with Vista, I just don't see it.

[Pirks]

installers are more for the unskilled usersAh, so MeGUI is not designed for unskilled users, it's targeted more at the tech professionals, seasoned encoders/video editors and similar highly experienced video encoding experts. This changes picture quite a bit. If we take this target market of MeGUI into account then yes, I agree, there is not a lot of reason to bother with Vista.

If I were active againWho's developing MeGUI right now instead of you?

it adds bloat without really making things betterHow about forcing users out of the admin chair and putting them into the much more appropriate limited user's seat? You don't consider this an improvement?


I just don't see the return of Vista over XPObviously you don't understand advantages of 64-bit computing where Vista x64 is definitely the way to go, not the XP x64 for sure. You never experienced application crashes because of the stupid 2GB virtual address space limit in XP. Fair enough, you're not in the target group of the Vista users yet. You enjoy always being admin, you hate working under limited user account and you have never heard of applications or games crashing because of 2GB limit (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Supreme Comamnder, MATLAB and Crysis are the examples that immediately come to mind). Good for you.

XP had limited user accounts - why do I need UAC?
Because XP doesn't care if you are always admin, any user can became admin there and XP just doesn't care, in fact it encourages users to be admins. You need UAC as a tool that punishes people for staying admin all the time. Of course you don't like it because you love being admin, that's totally understandable. But you will be kicked out of the admin chair eventually, no kicking and yelling at stupid Vista is going to help, because it's not about Vista, it's about industry-wide trend in providing more secure work place by default (out of the box as they say)

Vista isn't more stable than XPDid you notice that video driver crashes that killed XP now cause only a slight pause in Vista, followed by a message that video driver has crashed and was restarted by kernel? Did you notice that audio stack was moved from kernel into the user space? Are you pretending to be blind because you didn't know this or because you didn't WANT to know?

I don't get more hardware supportThen how come many modern notebooks (from Sony for example) have no XP drivers, only Vista ones?

Vista's explorer is so different I could as well switch to LinuxSwitching from one different explorer to another ALSO DIFFERENT explorer just for the sake of switching?

if I do not upgrade, something must be very wrongI put it another way - if you MeGUI developers let the Handbrake guys to pass you and come out with Vista compatible encoder faster than you - then indeed something is very wrong.

If Vista were what it initially promised, built on a completely new and managed APIThen you would be yelling and swearing at MS MUCH MUCH MORE THAN YOU DO NOW, for selling us such a painful unbelievably slow "advanced" crap that's 100% .Net pureness but also the 100% .Net slowness

did you see Singularity? I find that idea awsome and hope we'll go into that direction one dayHuh, I can imagine how Sharktooth is going to swear THEN, if he starts going off even after slight modifications over his beloved "100% perfect forever and ever" Windows XP.

You guys should not even think about ever touching new OS releases from MS, since they are going to depart from your beloved XP more and more, and Singularity would be a total curse and blasphemy for you guys, you'd hate it much more than anything else in the world probably.

[APOLAUF]

Ah, nothing like a good flamewar. All this notwithstanding, I, as a user of XP x64 and Vista alike, think that everyone here has valid points. However, I do have a legitimate question about meGUI's crash in XP x64 during the 1-click encode process. I find meGUI to be a wonderful program, the first encoder to actually use 100% of all my system resources, and not make me spend hours writing scripts or creating poor copies.

However, I'm bummed that I cannot directly convert VOB files, as it faults in kernel32.dll whenever I select automatic deinterlacing. Is there anyone that can help with this problem? I'd love to skip all the intermediate steps that I'm having to do to get around it.

[Sharktooth]

@pirks: we're not competing against anyone.
we just do what we can. if you want you can contribute, if you cant, then you have to either accept what we can do or just not use our software.
however, just in case you missed it, some other Vista fixes were added in the latest stable release... but still admin rights are required by MeGUI and some other softwares used by MeGUI, so... im sorry that "limitation" cant be avoided. Just run it as Admin and disable the useless UAC. If the Vista (and in general all windows versions) user security model is buggy and user enemy, we cant fix it for them (M$)...

[Pirks]

Sharktooth, I'm not really sure that Windows UAC is user enemy. I would have believed that if I saw ABSOLUTELY EVERY video encoder asking for admin rights. For now only MeGUI is the one who wants to be admin, other video encoders I use do not want it. Guess what? From my point of view, as a user, it's MeGUI or whatever is inside it is user enemy, not UAC.

It's just a simple logic, isn't it? If one piece of software encodes video under limited user account, and the other requires admin rights - who's to blame? The answer is obvious.

I'm not saying here that you or Doom9 or anyone on MeGUI dev list is to blame, maybe it's the other modules you depend on are to blame, Avisynth maybe or something else. What is important here is that from the point of view of the user MeGUI looks like a single software package, and something somewhere inside of this package is screwed up and requires admin rights for something it should not.

It would be a good idea to mention the culprit in your documentation somewhere. Just write what is the piece of software that forces you to ask admin privileges. Avisynth is one piece that Doom9 mentioned already, maybe there are other modules implemented like that.

It's actually important thing to reveal such an info in your documentation. It gives your users insight into the problem. So the next time somebody gets annoyed by admin privilege requests from MeGUI - he or she can get right at the root of the problem and understand it. So they won't come here askng why the heck it wants admin rights just to encode one small video clip. You'll save your own time in future by mentioning this stuff somewhere in a help screen or in README or something

[Sharktooth]

why? there is NO problem in running a software with admin rights... every windows user did it until Vista... plus megui is opensource and based on many other open source softwares (that means you can check what they're doing by reading the sources).
so i cant understand what you're concerned about... you're even using a "closed" source OS that does so much "dirty" things you cant even imagine...

[stax76]

Only problem I see is AviSynth defaults the plugin dir to the programs dir so other apps can't install plugins without admin privilegs. As workaround for the AviSynth issue I'll add code to the installer moving the plugin dir to a better place or if AviSynth isn't installed already setting the location in the registry though I don't know if the AviSynth installer would overwrite that.

[Pirks]

Sharktooth, there is a problem in ideology. If you want secure personal computer - you have to agree to stop being root or admin all the time. It's a security thing, it's a generic idea that came from Unix world and is now adopted by Windows developers as one of the primary methods to battle malware/trojans and crap like that. This idea has NOTHING to do with Vista, so you have to stop bashing Vista because you're targeting the wrong spot here. If you don't like Vista UAC - you have to look at the source of the problem and ask all the industry security experts, who always recommend running under limited user, not under admin.

So if you wanna bash Vista - please bash all the security researchers who according to your logic are stupid enough to force users to stay under limiyed accounts as much as possible. It is their fault, not Microsoft's.

I don't give a damn about whether the source is open or not. The only thing that matters is whether the product was developed properly or not. Opensource project that requires admin rights for simple things like video encoding is much more dangerous than closed source project that works well under limited user account. Why so? Because if somebody finds a vulnerability/exploit in your open source project, then THE WHOLE SYSTEM is compromised, because the flawed code runs under admin privileges and can do anything. But if the closed source project had a vulnerability, then the potential threat is much smaller, because it runs in a sandbox of a limited user account and only can do so much of a damage. Got it?

stax, are you talking about requiring admin privileges only for INSTALLING MeGUI, or is about runninig it after installation? Asking for admin rights when installing application and when it is necessary because user for example specifically wants it to be installed in a system controlled directory like Program Files - this is one thing which is acceptable. Asking admin rights just to RUN the application every time is a very bad thing unless it's forced by some poorly designed code you rely on (such as Avisynth), but even in this case it's very important to let the user know that you designed secure software that can easily run in a sandbox, but you have such and such dependenies, and if user wants to talk with the authors of the poorly designed software which you depend on - here's the link for you.

So you are following the right path here, thanks. It would be a great asset for MeGUI if it was specifically informing users when necessary about some hard to overcome dependencies and sending those users to the proper forum where they could discuss with Avisynth (or whatever else) developers all their issues and such

[Pirks]

Sharktooth, did you just send me a private message signed by "the moderation team"?

bond, did you do this? Most likely it was you, since you're the moderator here

I can't reply to you both because your private message boxes are over the quota, so I sent reply to Doom9 if you are interested. Thanks.

P.S. I don't like talking to anonymous posters, but those accusations were worth replying to ;)

[Sharktooth]

Unix user security model is COMPLETELY different from Vista.
In a certain sense M$ took the concept of unix user security model, reworked it making it worse and implemented something completely useless and annoying for the user.
UAC is not a security feature but a user limitation. It doesnt prevent software to run with elevated privileges. It does only prevent the user to make a software run with admin privileges. That difference is the culprit of the UAC "uselessness".
UAC doesnt protect the system nor your data from malicious softwares, it protects the system from the user but gives the user the key to bypass the protection. Quite useless, dont you think?
Hope i helped you understand...
Oh, i didnt send you any PM. My PM is always full by purpouse.

[Pirks]

UAC doesn't prevent software to run with elevated privileges. It does only prevent the user to make a software run with admin privileges.There's no difference. If you prevent user from running software with admin privileges - you automatically prevent software from running with admin privileges. These are identical things, because software can't run by itself, it's always the user who runs it.
UAC doesnt protect the system nor your data from malicious softwares, it protects the system from the user but gives the user the key to bypass the protection.Consider this situation: at my workplace on my office PC I work under Vista's limited user account, and I don't know the admin password. I run some software which requires admin privileges, and Vista asks me for a password. But Vista NEVER gives me this password. I have to call admin and talk to him. Hence your statement "Vista gives the user the key" above is a lie, and you don't know how Vista UAC works.
Quite useless, dont you think?I think you should learn about how UAC works. Spend some time working under Vista limited user account on a machine which is administered by someone else, so that you don't know the admin password, then come back and try again to sell me the story about how Vista tells you all the admin passwords. That should be funny.
Hope I helped you understandHope that I gave you some incentive to go and learn more about what is UAC and how it works.
I didn't send you any PMThis must have been bond then.
My PM is always full by purpose.bond's is full either. Looks like I will have to reply to bond's accusations here in the forum, since he purposefully doesn't allow to use PM to contact him.

[Pirks]

So, bond, do you seriously think that every single MeGUI user has to have debug rights just to run MeGUI and encode some video clip?

P.S. this is what I tried to PM you but you don't accept PMs

[Doom9]

don't bother . pirks is no longer with us.

[Atak_Snajpera]

I have a question. Why does updater save all files on C: instead of %TEMP% and then do not remove them after update procedure.

[Ajax_Undone]

Yeah I have been wondering this as well?