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

[Doom9]

MeGUI is the most comprehensive GUI based ISO MPEG-4 solution.

Input: AviSynth scripts (AVS), AVI, D2V, VOB/TS/MPG/PVA
Output: MP4, MKV, AVI

Video Codecs: x264, XviD, Libavcodec MPEG-4, Snow
Audio Codecs: AAC (Nero, Faac), MP3

Download the latest build

Required tools:
Microsoft .NET Runtime 2.0

Avisynth 2.55 for video frameserving. Beta versions are NOT!!! supported

A YV12 VfW codec. If you have a recent XviD version installed, that will suffice. If you don't get any preview when opening an AviSynth script, install the Helix YV12 codec

For x264 encoding:
x264 CLI alternatively you can use mencoder

For XviD, lavc, Snow and x264 encoding (alternative to x264 CLI)
latest version of mencoder (it's part of the mplayer package, pick the version that best matches your CPU

For audio encoding
besweet 1.5b31

For MP4 muxing
latest version of mp4box (version 0.4.0 or later)

For MKV muxing
latest version of mkvtoolnix You need the full installer!

To create DGIndex projects:
DGMPGDec 1.41 or higher

To create AviSynth scripts: copy dgdecode.dll (see DGIndex download) to your AviSynth plugins directory (c:\program files\avisynth\plugins or wherever you have installed it to). For IVTC and deinterlacing, you'll also have to copy Decomb to your AviSynth plugin directory.


If you are only interested in the x264 part of MeGUI, check out MeGUI x264 edition. If you are only interested in the snow part of MeGUI, check out MeGUI Snow edition


There are 4 threads dedicated to MeGUI
This one is for general discussion
Feature request thread to make feature requests
Bug report thread to make bug reports
Developer threadFor those who wish to participate in the project

In addition, to get a headstart at configuring x264, check out Sharktooth's MeGUI x264 profiles

[LigH]

BeSweet 1.5b30 is out; not really the perfect place here, but at least loosely related.

[North2Polaris]

Looks like 0.193a is in the zip file, not 0.194

[Doom9]

Looks like 0.193a is in the zip file, not 0.194

Urhg.. try again now.

[North2Polaris]

Urhg.. thanks!

[Doom9]

bump.. new version is out.

[kurt]

NIce, Doom9 - that was really fast

but is it a bug that there is no more mp4 output but only raw&avi in x264 encoding? or have i missed s.th. ?

[Doom9]

but is it a bug that there is no more mp4 output but only raw&avi in x264 encoding? or have i missed s.th. ?

The latter. Have you actually tried encoding? I am currently encoding using a stock 0.1.9.5 right from the zip I posted.
I suppose you set the x264 to mencoder and are only looking at the input tab, not actually encoding. mencoder cannot (well, it can but it's mp4 output is almost unusable, ask bond for details) write mp4 output so I make it write raw, then mux that into an mp4 after encoding. I used to allow .mp4 output names directly in x264 mode and then rewriting the video filename for mencoder, but I think it's better that people realize right away that mencoder will write raw. If you look at the queue when you create mp4 output, you''ll see exactly what is done being done. You'll see 1/2 video jobs, the last one with raw output, and a mux job.

and btw, megui now fully defaults to using x264.exe (settings, it's the default codec and the default output is mp4). So you must've already changed something. Since most people seem to prefer x264.exe over mencoder you can now get started and only use the better updated x264.exe.. it already has some features that mencoder still cannot offer (like video SAR).

[kurt]

Sorry, my fault - i was a ltitle bit irritated by the output path *.264 when clicking on File Type: MP4
i just noticed that by myself that mp4 output follows as a muxing process after the avc encoding and i would have edited my post above but my old machine took to much time for encoding

[Doom9]

I might go back on how it was previously done and have a tooltip on the filetype selection that tells you that if your encoder is mencoder, you'll get an additional mux job.

[kurt]

ok, i think it's clear for me now...
i made some tests without mencoder and latest x264cli but its really slow on my machine; 160frames need 2,5 minutes (in two pass, Subpixel Ref. 5, and all other "high profile" options on, 3bframes, target bitrat 1500...) while x264 Vfw only need ~50sec with exact the same options (but avi output)... any ideas why it's so much slower?
[I'll do some more tests with longer clips....]

in settings of MeGUI i can't save the default priority to NORMAL, it has to be changed while the encoding process...and autostart queue seems to be always activated...

[Doom9]

in settings of MeGUI i can't save the default priority to NORMAL, it has to be changed while the encoding process...and autostart queue seems to be always activated...

Hmm.. they are saved properly but both not taken into account. I'll fix that in the next release.

I have no idea about your encoding speed.. but I'm quite sure the commandline encoder is on par speed-wise, and MeGUI's overhead is minimal.

[Doom9]

any ideas why it's so much slower?

Actually, one of the bugs you reported could just explain that. Unless you change priority manually, megui will yield priority to other apps you have running.. I suppose your VirtualDub is running at normal priority. And if you're using the PC while encoding.. low priority will always be slower.. by how much depends on how much cpu time your "other tasks" require.

[kurt]

i changed it immediately at the beginning of 1st pass (and then on 2nd pass too) of the encoding to NORMAL ... VDM is set on idle process priority ... i did both encodings under the same circumstances (there were no other "big" tasks)... I'll check the speed again when you release the next build

[Doom9]

Well, if you close MeGUI, you'll find all the jobs as xml files in the jobs subdirectory. Open the job in question using notepad, and in it you'll find a line like this:

<Commandline>"mencoder.exe" "D:\DVDs\DVDVolume\VIDEO_TS\re-trailer.avs" -ovc x264 -x264encopts bitrate=700:subq=4:i4x4 -o "D:\DVDs\DVDVolume\VIDEO_TS\test.264" -of rawvideo </Commandline>

Copy everything in between <Commandline> and </Commandline>, then open a dos prompt and go to your MeGUI directory, paste that commandline, put "start /low " before it (so it'll look like this:

start /low "mencoder.exe" "D:\DVDs\DVDVolume\VIDEO_TS\re-trailer.avs" -ovc x264 -x264encopts bitrate=700:subq=4:i4x4 -o "D:\DVDs\DVDVolume\VIDEO_TS\test.264" -of rawvideo

) and see what you get. I'm sure speed will be roughly the same.

[kurt]

Originally Posted by Doom9

) and see what you get. I'm sure speed will be roughly the same.

you are right, speed is similar and very low ...

[Doom9]

you are right, speed is similar and very low ...

thus we have taken MeGUI out of the equation This asks for a continuance in another thread. Basically I'd triple check of my parameters are really okay as I've never heard or noticed that the commandline versions would be significantly slower than the VfW at the same settings, but since the VfW does not permit all the options the commandline encoders do, it's easy to get non matching parameters.

[Rash]

Doom9, I think I need some help. I'm trying to open my AVS script on MeGUI but it returns the folowing error:

The file D:\Home\Rash\Development\Movie\p-logo\logo.avs cannot be opened. Please make sure it's a valid AviSynth script and that AviSynth is properly installed. You can check the validity of your script and AviSynth installation by opening the file in your favourite media player. Error message for your reference: AVIStreamGetFrameOpen failed

So I checked my script on MPC and Nero ShowTime and they open it correctly. I have AviSynth 2.5.5 installed.

Thank you very much!

My very simple script (it is a test video I have)

LoadPlugin("D:\Home\Rash\Programs\MeGUI\DGIndex\DGDecode.dll")
mpeg2source("D:\Home\Rash\Development\Movie\p-logo\logo-new.d2v")

[Doom9]

Could you cut of a snippet of your test video, make sure the problem still ocurrs with that snippet, then upload it someplace where I can get it to have a look?

[Rash]

OK, I will try to do it. My video is a 13MB .vob.

I did some more tests. I tested the folowing avs script

LoadPlugin("")

Which AviSynth, obviously, return as a video error message. [here] MeGUI returns me the exact same error above.

I have also tried opening other videos I have using the DirectShowSource(). That is OK on MeGUI. Then I tried opening other .vob files I had (through d2v) and couldn't open none of them, but they all work on the media players alright. So I guess this is not a specific problem with my test vob, is it? But if you still want a snippet I'll do it.

I guess there is something in my computer working against it. I have WinDVD 7, Nero ShowTime (I have no choice, it comes with NeroRecode) and ffdshow installed. Maybe there is an incompatibility somewhere. MeGUI doesn't add anything to the registry, does it? If it does maybe I could delete it and try again. I tried deleting the settings.xml but it didn't work. Oh, and one more thing, I can't create a d2v file from an ifo either. If you want, I can send you the error log. But somehow I think the problems are related.