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

[azsd]

Progress window have no "High" priority item.

[Backwoods]

I tried this twice with the latest build and when I encode an Xvid from this script:

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\yea\DGDecode.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\yea\Decomb521.dll")
Mpeg2Source("00.d2v")
Telecide(order=1,guide=1)
Decimate(cycle=5)
CropBottom(8)
Lanczos4Resize(960,540)

The resulting file is corrupt. The video is roughly 1hr 30min and when I do a quick test (like one minute to three minutes) the video is fine. The resulting file is roughly 7gigs and does not play. Opening that file in VirtualDub results in 20min being recovered then nothing.

Xvid options: Q3, everything else not touched.
File Type: AVI

[Doom9]

@haubrija: you got this crash because you had an avc profile with rdo activated, and I changed the subq and me assignment code when I fixed the turbo bug. I used to increase subq by one directly in the GUI, now I'm doing it in the commandline generator.

@Backwoods: that almost sounds as if avi isn't up to that, or mencoder.

Progress window have no "High" priority item.Indeed, I forgot about that. It'll be in the next release.

[HookedOnTV]

@Backwoods: that almost sounds as if avi isn't up to that, or mencoder.

I'm thinking it is mencoder as I am not getting any good HD encodes out of MeGUI(XviD) where the resulting file size is larger than 4GB.

[MeteorRain]

d9: could you add a button to hide meGUI & status window into systray? XD

[Doom9]

that is kinda problematic. I have an app that does that when you press the X button.. with the effect that the X button becomes useless to close the application as you cannot catch button clicks outside if the client area (client area = anything below the title bar and inside the external frame border)

[stax76]

that is kinda problematic. I have an app that does that when you press the X button.. with the effect that the X button becomes useless to close the application as you cannot catch button clicks outside if the client area (client area = anything below the title bar and inside the external frame border)


Spy++ tells you the involved messages which you can trap either overwriting the controls WndProc (note that Form derives from Control) or before the message get posted to the control by setting a message filter (Application.AddMessageFilter).

[Doom9]

@stax: But is there a difference in between pressing X, minimize and maximize? I've already asked in the microsoft newsgroup and the answers I got pointed to only one catchable event, and that's simply not good enough.

[stax76]

never had to use it but yes, there should be a difference:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/winui/windowsuserinterface/userinput/mouseinput/mouseinputreference/mouseinputmessages/wm_nchittest.asp

which group did you ask? Most active appear to be:

comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32

do you know how to use Spy++? It's qite simple.

[Doom9]

I asked in a .NET group obviously ;) the thing is though, look at those events.. NC... is interesting here. You can catch non client area left, right middle and X button click (I figure that's a combination), and the position. So you'd need to figure out the coordinates of the X button (and then enter the people who use no standard DPI to give me a further headache). If somebody wants to submit a patch they're welcome, but this is just nothing that interests me.

[stax76]

I played a little bit around and found that you can do something like this:


Protected Overrides Sub WndProc(ByRef m As Message)
If m.Msg = WM_SYSCOMMAND AndAlso m.WParam = CType(SC_CLOSE, IntPtr) Then
Exit Sub
End If

MyBase.WndProc(m)
End Sub


There is a handy application called ApiViewer 2004 that knows all the Win32 declarations and even generates the code in various languages.

[Doom9]

but what does that? Basically the problem is not so much catching the X and minimizing instead of closing, but knowing when to close (Alt-F4 or File - Exit).. they all fire OnClose where you cannot differentate between the X button and the other means to close.

[stax76]

Maybe I can help you if you want to find a solution for this issue but I would need to know what exactly you want to achieve. I must admit I'm not too familiar with MeGUI, I made only some test encodes.

[Doom9]

This isn't tied to MeGUI. Basically an app that when pressing the X button minimizes to the system tray, and when pressing alt-f4 or file-exit it exits.

[stax76]

Alt + F4 could be handled explicit:


Protected Overrides Sub WndProc(ByRef m As Message)
If m.Msg = WM.SYSCOMMAND AndAlso m.WParam = CType(SC.CLOSE, IntPtr) Then
MoveToTray()
Exit Sub
End If

MyBase.WndProc(m)
End Sub

Private Sub MainForm_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As KeyEventArgs) Handles MyBase.KeyDown
If e.KeyData = (Keys.Alt Or Keys.F4) Then
Close()
End If
End Sub

[boombastic]

I've got a standalone divx player which can only playback AVI encoded with the xvid DXN HT PAL profile, if i use unrestricted it stops about every two minutes because of bitrate spikes i presume :angry:
I've got some questions:

1)is there a way with MeGui to assure that i can playback the file ?

2)What is "HC AC coefficients" option ?

3)I'd like to get a target size: if i use Automated 2 pass where can i set the desired size?

[Doom9]

is there a way with MeGui to assure that i can playback the file ?Don't use QPel, don't use GMC, and use maximum 1 B-frame. I'm not sure on the packed bitstream, that (but other things as well) depend on which player you have. Unfortunately you cannot limit bitrate buffers in mencoder, and thus MeGUI so if the buffers cause problems for you, then I'm afraid you have to stick to the VfW or use the lavc codec where you can control max bitrate and buffer size.

if i use Automated 2 pass where can i set the desired size?You need to use the auto-mode. You don't even have to set the encoding mode with that, just configure the rest of the options.

[boombastic]

I'm afraid you have to stick to the VfW or use the lavc codec where you can control max bitrate and buffer size.
.

What are vfw and lavc codec?If my player plays divx/xvid can also play avi made with them?Where can i find them?In ffdshow package?

[Doom9]

lavc is shorthand for libavcodec mpeg-4 asp codec.. it's used when you select ASP from the codec dropdown.
VfW is Video for Window (searching would've helped).. you use it if you encode XviD in VirtualDub or any app based on that (Gordian Knot, AutoGK, DVX), and other VfW based apps like avs2avi.

[haubrija]

Doom9,

I was setting up an encode last night and think I found a bug. I had the Show Commandline switch enabled. I set up the x264 encode for 3 Reference Frames but failed to see and resulting change in the commandline. If I'm not mistaken there was no switch for ref frames added and definately nothing changed when I would switch the number of ref frames in the dialog box (i.e. I saw no changes when switching from 3 to 4 refs). I hope I'm not showing my ignorance here of not understanding how one setting impacts another. Other than the default settings, here's how I have my encode set up:

2 Pyramid B Frames
RDO
Weighted Prediction
All Macroblock Options.

Let me know if you need any more info.

[Doom9]

let me guess.. you had encoding mode set to automated 2-pass or 3-pass and turbo checked? Or a multi-pass single pass mode with turbo enabled? In the former case, you pretty much get to see the first pass settings (only pass is left at 2), in the latter case you'll see the actual first pass settings with turbo enabled. Turbo overrides a bunch of options, as number of reference frames, subq, me method and which macroblock options are enabled (none with turbo). However, perhaps you've noted that once you queue, your automated 2/3 pass turns into 2 / 3 separate jobs. If you click on one, press load, then go back to the codec configuration, you'll see what you really get. Basically in autuomated 2/3 pass you configure the second pass.. if you activate turbo, turbo overrides the second pass commandline so it is not shown.. but your settings are all still kept for the second pass.. so when the two passes are separated, they will be as you want them.

[haubrija]

Ah... I was afraid it was something like that. Thanks for taking the time to explain. I did have Automated 3 pass with turbo checked.

[dejected_is_me]

I was encoding AD police last night with this:

# PLUGINS
LoadPlugin("C:\GORDIA~1\DGMPGDec\DGDecode.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\GORDIA~1\AviSynthPlugins\decomb.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\GORDIA~1\AviSynthPlugins\VSFilter.dll")
# SOURCE
mpeg2source("C:\DVD Encodes\Raws\AD Police 1-3\d2v\ad 1.d2v", idct=7)
# IVTC
Telecide(order=1,guide=1).Decimate(cycle=5, quality=3)
# CROPPING
crop(2,0,704,480)
# RESIZING
LanczosResize(704,480)
# DENOISING: choose one combination (or none)
TextSub("C:\DVD Encodes\Raws\AD Police 1-3\subs\logo\ad 1 logo.ssa")



and the resulting video came out all garbled. There are alternating lines in the video and the actual video can be seen blinking in the backround. The sizes came out wrong too. Im incodeing with XVID into an avi. here are my settings.

(PS i can put this script into Virtualdub mod and it encodes OK)

<VideoProfile xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<Name>2 Pass Xvid</Name>
<Settings xsi:type="xvidSettings">
<EncodingMode>4</EncodingMode>
<BitrateQuantizer>1153</BitrateQuantizer>
<KeyframeInterval>300</KeyframeInterval>
<NbBframes>1</NbBframes>
<MinQuantizer>2</MinQuantizer>
<MaxQuantizer>31</MaxQuantizer>
<SARX>0</SARX>
<SARY>0</SARY>
<Turbo>false</Turbo>
<V4MV>false</V4MV>
<QPel>false</QPel>
<Trellis>true</Trellis>
<CreditsQuantizer>20</CreditsQuantizer>
<FourCCs>
<string>XVID</string>
<string>DIVX</string>
<string>DX50</string>
<string>MP4V</string>
</FourCCs>
<Logfile>2pass.log</Logfile>
<CustomEncoderOptions />
<FourCC>0</FourCC>
<Zones />
<MotionSearchPrecision>6</MotionSearchPrecision>
<VHQMode>4</VHQMode>
<QuantType>0</QuantType>
<PAR>0</PAR>
<MinPQuant>2</MinPQuant>
<MaxPQuant>31</MaxPQuant>
<MinBQuant>2</MinBQuant>
<MaxBQuant>31</MaxBQuant>
<BQuantRatio>150</BQuantRatio>
<BQuantOffset>100</BQuantOffset>
<KeyFrameBoost>100</KeyFrameBoost>
<KeyframeThreshold>1</KeyframeThreshold>
<KeyframeReduction>20</KeyframeReduction>
<OverflowControlStrength>5</OverflowControlStrength>
<MaxOverflowImprovement>5</MaxOverflowImprovement>
<MaxOverflowDegradation>5</MaxOverflowDegradation>
<HighBitrateDegradation>0</HighBitrateDegradation>
<LowBitrateImprovement>20</LowBitrateImprovement>
<ReactionDelayFactor>16</ReactionDelayFactor>
<AveragingPeriod>100</AveragingPeriod>
<FrameDropRatio>0</FrameDropRatio>
<RateControlBuffer>0</RateControlBuffer>
<PackedBitstream>true</PackedBitstream>
<GMC>false</GMC>
<CartoonMode>true</CartoonMode>
<ChromaMotion>true</ChromaMotion>
<ClosedGOP>true</ClosedGOP>
<VHQForBframes>true</VHQForBframes>
<ChromaOptimizer>false</ChromaOptimizer>
<HQAC>true</HQAC>
<AdaptiveQuant>false</AdaptiveQuant>
<Greyscale>false</Greyscale>
<Interlaced>false</Interlaced>
<BframeThreshold>0</BframeThreshold>
<PARs>
<string>vga11</string>
<string>pal43</string>
<string>pal169</string>
<string>ntsc43</string>
<string>ntsc169</string>
</PARs>
<IntraMatrix />
<InterMatrix />
</Settings>
</VideoProfile>

any ideas...

[dejected_is_me]

ok i figured it out....

the aspect ratio intrestingly enough was what was doing it. I could of swore it was the tecline. On a side note is there increments to croping that i dont know about for megui (or in general). I had the values set to quotents of 2 with a aspect ratio of 704x480. The preview window would open for megui and it would look ok but after encode the error would ensue. I changed it to 640x480 and it worked. Another thing i dont get is why the script with 704x480 (the one that didn't work in megui) loaded and encoded ok in virtual dub mod? anywho...thanks for the great program.

[Doom9]

this certainly hasn't anything to do with your problem, but you're cropping, and then resizing to the same resolution.. get rid of the resizing, it doesn't do anything but potentially degrade quality and slow encoding down (I'm putting this in conditional tense because I don't know if the filter is intelligent and doesn't do anything if input and output resolution is the same).
I only support 16x resolutions because anything else is trouble.. certain codecs take care of that with tricks, and some don't work at all.. so to be on the safe side always go for 16x.

[LigH]

For example, x264.exe simply closes if width and height are not multiples of 16 (the size of a macroblock).

[theronmoore]

I'm definitely not the most versed reader of these forums, so I may be doing something incredibly simple wrong. But I seem to be running into a probelm when the Auto-Encode queue gets to muxing. It doesn't seem to be doing anything even after leaving it for a number of hours. Any suggestions?

[Doom9]

Any suggestions?Yes.. read the problem reporting guidelines and provide info.....

[Doom9]

a new build is up. Just a couple small things here and there, but those wishing to specify a bitrate rather than size in the autoencode window can rejoice.

[haubrija]

Doom9,

Just a small suggestion. Maybe on the abort button present during encoding, when its pressed have a seperate dialog that asks you if you're sure you want to do this. I was closing some other open windows last night while an encode that was half way done (and had been running for a day already) got accidentaly closed as well. I cursed at myself for an hour :). If its a pain, don't worry about it, but it might help with some grief people may experience.

[Yama4050242]

for the latest 0218
i choose exhaustive, use the show commandline, it is "--me esa --progress", but when encoding, it gives "--me --progress" and return a error
if i choose multi hex, use the show commandline, it is "--me umh --progress", when encoding, it gives "--me esa --progress"

other settings

"x264.exe" --pass 2 --bitrate 4096 --stats "2pass.log" --keyint 300 --ref 3 --bframes 3 --no-b-adapt --b-pyramid --subme 6 --weightb --analyse all --8x8dct --qpstep 1 --me umh --progress --no-psnr --output "I:\temp.264" "I:\temp.avs"

[MeteorRain]

for 0218:
do you forget to change the version number on the window title? :o

[leowai]

Ya. It's same here. Title shows 0.2.1.7 rather than 0.2.1.8.
for the latest 0218
i choose exhaustive, use the show commandline, it is "--me esa --progress", but when encoding, it gives "--me --progress" and return a error
if i choose multi hex, use the show commandline, it is "--me umh --progress", when encoding, it gives "--me esa --progress"

other settings

"x264.exe" --pass 2 --bitrate 4096 --stats "2pass.log" --keyint 300 --ref 3 --bframes 3 --no-b-adapt --b-pyramid --subme 6 --weightb --analyse all --8x8dct --qpstep 1 --me umh --progress --no-psnr --output "I:\temp.264" "I:\temp.avs"
Well, just have a quick test (queqe the job and exam on the job*.xml) on both single pass (CQ & ABR) and auto 2pass. All works fine for me.

[dejected_is_me]

Doom 9

thanks for the reply. the 16x resize is the answer i was looking for, incedently i was using 32x. with LanczosResize.

On a side note: i got the damn thing too encode but the sizes where way off. Previous version had been spot on. Im not sure if it has something to do with the source( AD police DVD: interlaced top field first) but i set it too 230 minus 10 megs for the audio, and it came out as the following, tried three times: 193mb, 177mb, and 181mb. Same settings as previous post and this time at a resoultion of 640x480 with Xvid into a avi.

????

just tried to mux a MKV with the built in muxer. using the "its alright baby" version and i get the following error:

Log for job job1

mkvmerge v1.5.0 ('It's alright, baby') built on Jul 1 2005 10:34:56

Error: 'jap' is neither a valid ISO639-2 nor a valid ISO639-1 code. See 'mkvmerge --list-languages' for a list of all languages and their respective ISO639-2 codes.

and then with no languages selected:

Log for job job1

mkvmerge v1.5.0 ('It's alright, baby') built on Jul 1 2005 10:34:56

Error: 'C:\DVD' is neither a valid ISO639-2 nor a valid ISO639-1 code. See 'mkvmerge --list-languages' for a list of all languages and their respective ISO639-2 codes.

the 'c:\dvd' is the location of the source chosen in the video input section.

[Doom9]

I really don't understand how people manage to kill their jobs without thinking. The abort button is kilometers away from the minimize button so you really have to want to kill it or just click at random and be really lucky. I've managed to close one or two programs that I didn't want to myself over the years, but explicitly pressing the abort button.. I don't recall that.

The version number is probably the smallest concern for any developer.. ;) You can always use a resource hacker. Seems I recompiled the minimized versions but forgot to recompile the full version when I finally changed the version number. I can almost promise that this is going to keep on happening in the future no matter how hard I try because version numbers in the title have zero significance to me.

@Yama4050242: I cannot reproduce that. I think you have some old jobs / profiles left. And as a side note, exhaustive is a rather insane setting;) You don't gain anything measurable but you lose out big in encoding time.

On a side note: i got the damn thing too encode but the sizes where way off.I spent a lot of time writing a nice bitrate calculator.. load your source, load your audio tracks and compare the bitrate the calculator shows with the bitrate that was used for the encoding jobs (if you didn't keep them, you'll always find the results of the bitrate calculation and the encoding commandlines in a logfile in your log folder). The fact that you got three different sizes (using the same settings I hope) is also a strong indicator that I am not to be blamed (the bitrate calculation should've yielded the exact same results with the same settings and source) The logfile is also needed for your mkvmerge problem (I am very interested in the commandline)

[Yama4050242]

i'v deleted all the jobs, logs, profiles folder, but it consists there, i tried 0216, works fine.i am using DGIndex 1.40 final, but all the dgdecode.dll i have change to the 1.40final, on settings in megui, i dont have mkvmerge, is that the problem?

btw, thx for ur hint, i just play around the parameters on some music video, no more than 5minutes

[Doom9]

you don't need mkvmerge... you don't need dgindex either untill you want to create such a project, and you don't need dgdecode.dll unless you want to create an avisynth script from a dgindex project.

about the me thing: are you sure you're telling me everything I need to know? Here's how I tried to reproduce it: create job, exit megui, open the xml file and look at the commandline - that's no encoding at all. When do you see these faulty commandlines?

[MeteorRain]

Doom9:
maybe you can make the progress bar thinner? :p

it's so fat i think ;)

so big blocks when it works ;)

[Yama4050242]

<Commandline>"G:\SoftWarez\Encoding\WorkShop\MeGUI\X264CLI\x264.exe" --pass 1 --bitrate 700 --stats "2pass.log" --ref 3 --bframes 3 --no-b-adapt --b-pyramid --subme 7 --weightb --analyse all --8x8dct --qpstep 1 --me --progress --no-psnr --output NUL "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.avs"</Commandline>

this is for the exhaustive

[Doom9]

<METype>5</METype>I suspected that. You still didn't tell where you got this job from. Is that a job after encoding or before encoding, in auto-mode, one click mode or regular mode? I guess it's after encoding in auto-mode, and if you look at jobs prior to encoding, all is ok. Is this correct?

[Yama4050242]

i do the thing you told me to do, the commandline is from the job1-1.xml before encoding, yeah, i use automatic 2 pass,

[leowai]

<Commandline>"G:\SoftWarez\Encoding\WorkShop\MeGUI\X264CLI\x264.exe" --pass 1 --bitrate 700 --stats "2pass.log" --ref 3 --bframes 3 --no-b-adapt --b-pyramid --subme 7 --weightb --analyse all --8x8dct --qpstep 1 --me --progress --no-psnr --output NUL "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.avs"</Commandline>

this is for the exhaustive
What if you extract the MeGUI program files into a new folder? Is the bug remains (will the program still produce such a output command line)?

[Yama4050242]

What if you extract the MeGUI program files into a new folder? Is the bug remains (can you reproduce this output command line)?
yeah, i did extract the MeGUI to a new folder, the problem did not solve

[Doom9]

@Yama4050242: I think you do not understand that MeGUI has three modes. Regular mode is using just the main window.. you press the Queue button and jobs are added to the queue. That is regular mode. In all other modes, you have another window on screen at the point where the jobs get added to the queue. There are two modes: auto-mode. You enter auto-mode if you press the button entitled AutoEncode. And then there's the one click mode which you can enter only via the tools menu.

Now, I presume you're using automode. If you search this thread you'll find a lengthy explanation by myself on the subject of updating bitrates. Can you tell me if the job you posted has had its bitrate updated or not? I fear that with every bitrate update, the me (and subq for that matter) might get increased.

[Yama4050242]

then i just use regular mode, i just add the video and choose the profile and press queue

i just choose any bitrate and test, it is the same, and i havent update it

[Doom9]

this is weird as this is what I'm doing and I cannot reproduce it. The only difference is that I don't use any profile (I don't have any)

[Yama4050242]

currently, i also dont have any profile, and just do the setting, the problem is still there? is it conflict with other software i install? is that possible?

[Doom9]

is it conflict with other software i install? is that possible?very doubtful. Can you try this: delete settings, jobs, profiles, start again, load video, press config, change me method (and nothing else!!!), press Ok, press Queue, close MeGUI and then open the job xml file and look at your commandline. On my machines it matches what has been configured.

[Yama4050242]

<Commandline>"G:\SoftWarez\Encoding\WorkShop\MeGUI\X264CLI\x264.exe" --bitrate 700 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --qpstep 1 --me esa --progress --no-psnr --output "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.mp4" "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.avs"</Commandline>

it is ok for your setting, but automated 2pass's 1st pass got problem

for your setting and just change ABR to automated 2pass it gives
<Commandline>"G:\SoftWarez\Encoding\WorkShop\MeGUI\X264CLI\x264.exe" --pass 1 --bitrate 700 --stats "2pass.log" --subme 6 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --qpstep 1 --me --progress --no-psnr --output NUL "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.avs"</Commandline>

[leowai]

<Commandline>"G:\SoftWarez\Encoding\WorkShop\MeGUI\X264CLI\x264.exe" --bitrate 700 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --qpstep 1 --me esa --progress --no-psnr --output "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.mp4" "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.avs"</Commandline>

it is ok for your setting, but automated 2pass's 1st pass got problem

for your setting and just change ABR to automated 2pass it gives
<Commandline>"G:\SoftWarez\Encoding\WorkShop\MeGUI\X264CLI\x264.exe" --pass 1 --bitrate 700 --stats "2pass.log" --subme 6 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --qpstep 1 --me --progress --no-psnr --output NUL "I:\Sports\TestField\HDTV\temp.avs"</Commandline>
OK. I managed to reproduce your problem now!

Clean MeGUI program (no profile).

Test procedure:
a. Open up MeGUI (of course :) )
b. Load avis input file
c. Click Codec "config" button

Then follow the steps when "x264 Codec Configuration" dialog shown.
1. Advance tab-> Select ME Algo (see below)
2. Main tab-> Change ABR to Automated 2passes (Turbo not selected)
3. OK and queqe.

Results for different ME Algo
1. Diamond
first pass: --progress
2nd pass: --me dia --progress

2. No change (ME Algo=Hexagon)
first pass: --me umh --progress
2nd pass: --progress

3. Multi Hex
first pass: --me esa --progress
2nd pass: --me umh --progress

4. Exhaustive
first pass: --me --progress
2nd pass: --me esa --progress

A quick test on automated 3 passes, Exhaustive (Turbo not selected)
--me --progress
--me --progress
--me esa --progress

Clear enough, if Turbo is not selected, there will be errors in output command lines.

Probably Turbo should be forced when automated multi-passes is used?.

[edit: typo]