A Ghost from the Past :3

[Soulhunter]

Greetings!

Since I was gone for like 12 years...
What did happen in the A/V-world since 2013?

Did I miss anything good?
Are some of the old users still around?

Do people still use the stuff we scripted/coded back then?

[Blue_MiSfit]

Wow, welcome home

A fair bit has happened, yes. Probably the biggest deal is AV1, but the AviSynth world has stayed very alive and vibrant as well.

x264 is quietly powering most video on the Internet (no surprise) and x265 has continued to get some nice improvements.

4K and HDR are a big deal for high end content, but lots of people still make simple 720p encodes that are "good enough".

Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Disney (among others) have invested a lot into their encoding technologies.

[Soulhunter]

Hey MiSfit! Good to see some of the "ancients" are still around!

I witnessed the early stage of x264 before I left...

When I joined the community in the early 2000s we were in the transition from analog to digital.
Digital camcorders, DVDs, Digital-Broadcasting, and and online video-streaming became a thing.
There were a lot new things to learn, and a lot of work to do... Interesting times!

Then, at the point where it was just about squeezing another 5% out of a video-codec,
slightly optimizing some de-noising algorithm, or working with higher resolutions,
things seemed less thrilling to me...

In combination with some private struggle, I went into a extended slumber.
After a spiritual journey, and getting married,
I decided to revisit old interest.

Played a bit with AI image upscaling recently.
Looks promising (as long as the source is good quality).
But the good ones are way too slow to be useful for video, at least for private use.

HDR is high-bitdepth, right? I know that from my Canon...
Banding was a big problem in the past (remember GradFun?).
Higher bit-depth should be able to solve that problem (please tell me it did!?).

Humm... What else...
Is there a newer alternative to VirtualDub2 by now?
Is there a GUI for AviSynth (sliders/dials for filters and real-time preview)?

[VoodooFX]

Originally Posted by Soulhunter

Is there a newer alternative to VirtualDub2 by now?

MeGUI: https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=185399

Originally Posted by Soulhunter

Is there a GUI for AviSynth (sliders/dials for filters and real-time preview)?

AvsPmod GPo: https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=175823

[Soulhunter]

Thanks VoodooFX!

[JarrettH]

Wow, I remember you! You won't remember me likely; I can't even recall what my posts were about. Likely those occasional intense spells of interest on various encoding topics

[Selur]

I think, VapourSynth as alternative to AviSynth should be mentioned. (both supported in Hybrid, but focus is on Vapoursynth)

[Soulhunter]

@JarrettH

I wish I could say I remember our conversations,
but my memory faded over the years ^^;

There are only a few names I still remember...

Didée, mf, Fizick, Mug Funky, MP4 Guy, Foxyshadis
...
Manao, Lord Mulder, Scharfis Brain, Sagittaire, Milan
...
Humm...

But I see you posted a lot in the ffdshow (tryouts) threads?
As I was quite invested in bugging Milan with feature requests, we probably crossed ways there.

Anyway, good to meet you again!

PS. I contributed my story to the "The history of doom9 forum" thread where you shared your story


@Selur

Thanks for the hint! I was about to download AviSynth+ to revisit some old scripts and filters...
But upon quick inspection VapourSynth might be a better way to get back into the world of frame-serving...
It seems VapourSynth is compatible with old AviSynth plugins via "LoadPluginAVS" correct? But will old scripted filters work as well?

Also, great to see you are still around!

[FranceBB]

Originally Posted by Soulhunter

a few names I still remember...

WarpEnterprises too was from that era.
Unfortunately I joined the party "late" in June 2006 when I started fansubbing and I lurked without actually posting for a very long time, until 2013, when I joined Crunchyroll.

Originally Posted by Soulhunter

I was about to download AviSynth+ to revisit some old scripts and filters...
But upon quick inspection VapourSynth might be a better way to get back into the world of frame-serving...
It seems VapourSynth is compatible with old AviSynth plugins via "LoadPluginAVS" correct? But will old scripted filters work as well?

Although VapourSynth can load AVS plugins, its syntax is based on python and is completely different from the Avisynth one. To be fair, one could take a 20+ years old script, run it in Avisynth 3.7.5 and it would work like a charm. Nothing would stop you from using the old syntax you're familiar with and, with time, familiarize with the new things. For instance, in the past we only had the "?" but now we have actual "if" and "else if" conditionals, we have "try" "catch" for error handling, we have "for" loops with "break" and "continue" etc. Anything added in the new syntax is an addition to the old one, so anything you could do in, let's say, 2003, you could still do now.

[Soulhunter]

Originally Posted by FranceBB

WarpEnterprises too was from that era.

Right! He made ImageSequence. I used that very often!

Slowly some more names pop up from the abyss...

Koepi (XviD dev / Bender avatar)
neuron2 (mod / white cat avatar)
madshi (MadVR)
sh0dan
MarcFD
Wilbert
Leak

Originally Posted by FranceBB

Unfortunately I joined the party "late" in June 2006 when I started fansubbing and I lurked without actually posting for a very long time, until 2013, when I joined Crunchyroll.

Oh! The Funimation era? Cool!
What was your job there? And, are you still working there? (If you don't mind telling...)

Btw, thinking about Crunchyroll, I now also remember user Cruncher!
He had a cartoon dragon (lizard?) as avatar or something...

Originally Posted by FranceBB

Although VapourSynth can load AVS plugins, its syntax is based on python and is completely different from the Avisynth one. To be fair, one could take a 20+ years old script, run it in Avisynth 3.7.5 and it would work like a charm. Nothing would stop you from using the old syntax you're familiar with and, with time, familiarize with the new things. For instance, in the past we only had the "?" but now we have actual "if" and "else if" conditionals, we have "try" "catch" for error handling, we have "for" loops with "break" and "continue" etc. Anything added in the new syntax is an addition to the old one, so anything you could do in, let's say, 2003, you could still do now.

I see...
Gonna tackle the VaS documentation tomorrow and then decide which way to go.
VaS seems to offer new possibilities, but on the other hand I always valued AvS for being very basic.

EDIT: Just noticed the link to AAA.avs in your signature. Hah! Thanks for keeping it alive and extending the color-space support!

[FranceBB]

Originally Posted by Soulhunter

What was your job there? And, are you still working there?

I started as a translator (no, not from Japanese, from English as the scripts are shared across territories, so the English team does the heavy lifting and then the other teams translate from English to every other language, just like what happens in a fansub), but I occasionally did a bit of timing as well given before moving to the actual encoding department. I then moved to Viewster to work exclusively as an encoder which then led to me joining Sky and discover the broadcasting world. It was funny 'cause I went from deinterlacing / IVTC to make everything progressive to doing the exact opposite as TVs had to broadcast interlaced stuff.

Originally Posted by Soulhunter

Just noticed the link to AAA.avs in your signature. Hah! Thanks for keeping it alive and extending the color-space support!

Thank you and all the other legends from this amazing community for making it in the first place!

[Selur]

It seems VapourSynth is compatible with old AviSynth plugins via "LoadPluginAVS" correct? But will old scripted filters work as well?

Yes, LoadPluginAVS allows using old AviSynth Plugins (bit depth must match so for 64bit VapourSynthit have to be 64bit AviSynth filters).
No, scripts will not work. Just thought VapourSynth should be used, since more and more people nowadays use Python. (+ machine learning stuff is more available for VapourSynth)

Cu Selur

[benwaggoner]

Originally Posted by Blue_MiSfit

Wow, welcome home

A fair bit has happened, yes. Probably the biggest deal is AV1, but the AviSynth world has stayed very alive and vibrant as well.

I'd say HEVC has been a much bigger deal 2013-2025. AV1 use is growing, but HEVC is what brought us UHD and HDR, which were the big experience upgrades. It's pretty likely that we'll see AV2 as the first codec to get more premium eyeball hours than HEVC, not AV1.

I am really looking forward to FGS being the wave of the present, not just a year away for years and years!

[Soulhunter]

Originally Posted by benwaggoner

I am really looking forward to FGS being the wave of the present, not just a year away for years and years!

Didn't even know what FGS is before looking it up...

> Film Grain Synthesis
> Independent encoding of film grain

Noise/Grain was always a special challenge...
Separately encoding these random-high-frequencies sounds promising.

TMYK

[FranceBB]

Originally Posted by benwaggoner

HEVC is what brought us UHD and HDR, which were the big experience upgrades.

Yep. And it killed interlaced broadcast as we finally moved to progressive 50p / 60p and it also killed 8bit as the standard finally moved to 10bit planar everywhere. Those were pretty substantial (and very much welcomed) changes.

Originally Posted by benwaggoner

I am really looking forward to FGS being the wave of the present, not just a year away for years and years!

I've seen plenty of demos but I'm still very skeptical. I don't know.