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Old 20th March 2016, 05:11   #2921  |  Link
SuLyMaN
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Great. Thanks so much manolito. I'll give it a try if I can figure out those stuffs. I tried once and failed.
One question. I've always used HC ENC VBR 2 passes. Can you/anyone comment on
FFMPEG 1pass CBR
FFMPEG 1pass CBR (use high quality setting)
and
HC ENC 1 pass VBR

I get it that CBR = constant bit rate and VBR = variable bitrate. I assume FFMPEG 1 pass CBR is the fastest and least quality while HC ENC 1 pass VBR is a tradeoff of quality and speed?
What about FFMPEG 1pass CBR (use high quality setting)?

edit: Managed to install it and get it working I suppose and testing a DVD encode now. My questions above still remain :P

Last edited by SuLyMaN; 20th March 2016 at 07:25.
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Old 20th March 2016, 13:26   #2922  |  Link
manolito
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Hi SuLyMaN,

as always this is mostly a compromise between speed and quality. As a rule of thumb you can say that the higher the encoding bitrate the less you will notice differences in quality between the different encoding modes.

This already is the philosophy of AVStoDVD. If you have activated "Smart Selection" for the encoding modes (this is the default), FFMpeg CBR will be used for high bitrates above 6500 kbps, HCenc 1-pass VBR for medium bitrates between 4500 kbps and 6500 kbps, and HCEnc 2-pass VBR for lower bitrates below 4500 kbps. Generally these thresholds do make sense, but they can probably be optimized depending on the source characteristics.

And of course there are folks who put quality above anything else, and they will use 2-pass VBR all the time regardless of the bitrate.

For the difference between FFMpeg and HCenc the answer is not so easy. A lot depends on the command line parameters for FFMpeg, and they can get quite complicated. Using only FFMpegs default parameters the output quality will mostly be inferior compared to HCenc.

My plugin uses Fishman0919s extreme high quality parameters by default for bitrates below 3500 kbps (the threshold can be edited), and according to Fishman using these parameters gives FFMpeg an edge over HCenc - at least at lower bitrates.

The latest version of my plugin has added some versatility in using different FFMpeg encoding modes. Now it is possible to force 2-pass VBR regardless of the bitrate, and the 2-pass mode can now be combined with parameters for normal quality, regular HQ and extreme HQ. And you also can combine it with any Custom Quant Matrix you like (with the exception of the Extreme HQ Mode where the MPEG Adapted Matrix is forced).

I know that this versatility is only important for power users, most users will be happy with the default automatic mode. Still it is nice to have this versatility, and it can be quite useful for users who cannot get HCenc working (there were reports that HCenc can crash under Win10).


Cheers
manolito

Last edited by manolito; 20th March 2016 at 13:55.
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Old 20th March 2016, 14:09   #2923  |  Link
SuLyMaN
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Thanks manolito. I am currently encoding a DVD with the FFMPEG 1pass CBR (use high quality setting) having installed your plugins. The encoded started at the time of my post and is still in progress at the time of this post. So, I will rate it at at least 3x - 4x more slow that HCENC with 2 pass on my PC (core 2 duo e6600 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM) as at least 9 hours have passed since I started the encode and it is stuck at 38%?. It could also be stuck as there are 2 cmd windows open for audio encoding and there does not seem to be progress besides my CPU being pegged at 100%. Most of my DVDs are under 3500 kbps. I assume this will then yield the best quality setting. I was more interested in having a 'best' setting and a 'fastest' setting.
Reading your post above, I would have to say either HC enc or FFMPEG 1pass CBR (use high quality setting) for best quality and for fastest setting, I will have to test the HCenc 1pass VBR with the FFMPEG 1pass CBR.
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Old 20th March 2016, 16:28   #2924  |  Link
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First of all having two cmd windows for audio encoding is not normal at all. Whatever the reason, it has nothing to do with the ffmpeg-vbr plugin. This plugin does not touch audio at all.

And second I am not so sure if you really selected 1-pass CBR. If you checked the FFMpeg HQ option under preferences and your bitrate is below 3500 kbps, then you will get the Extreme HQ 2-pass mode with the ff_vbr plugin installed. You will only get a 1-pass CBR encode if your bitrate is above 6500 kbps (the AVStoDVD default threshold for switching between CBR and 1-pass VBR). You can edit this threshold in the Registry.

My plugin does not let you force CBR for bitrates lower than this threshold. The reason is that the quality would be awful. If you really need FFMpeg CBR at low bitrates you will have to uninstall my plugin.

For using FFMPEG with my plugin the fastest setting would be to force 1-pass VBR without specifying the HQ option under preferences.
The best quality setting would be to force 2-pass VBR using a value of 3.

Quote:
I will have to test the HCenc 1pass VBR with the FFMPEG 1pass CBR.
This does not make any sense. As I already said there is no way to use FFMPEG CBR for bitrates below 6500 kbps. And comparing CBR to 1-pass VBR is like comparing apples to oranges.


Cheers
manolito

Last edited by manolito; 20th March 2016 at 16:33.
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Old 31st March 2016, 16:54   #2925  |  Link
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New 2.8.4 Alpha release is available to download.

Cumulative change log:

- Some bugs fixed
- Added 'Execute AVStoDVD with Elevated Privileges' option in 'Preferences'/'Misc'
- Added 'All'/'None' selection buttons to all ListBox forms
- Added 'Tools'/'Subtitles Tools'/'Check/Fix SRT Subs' option
- Added 'Tools'/'Subtitles Tools'/'Re-Sync SRT Subs' option
- Improved parsing routine for SubRip subtitles
- Removed 2nd authoring attempt if 1st fails (used new BatchMux 1.4 -bmlog flag)
- Removed '-trellis 2' from FFmpeg HQ cli flags
- Revised dual layer DVD output label from 'DVD-9 (9.4 GB)' to 'DVD-9 (8.5 GB)'
- Validated compatibility with Windows 10
- ColorMatrix plugin updated to release 2.5
- FFMpegSource plugin updated to release 2.22
- BatchMux updated to release 1.4.1 beta (30-01-2016)
- HCenc updated to release 0.28 (21-12-2015)
- AVSMeter updated to release 2.1.3
- LAV Filters updated to release 0.67
- MediaInfo updated to release 0.7.77



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Old 1st April 2016, 00:50   #2926  |  Link
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Thanks a lot...

Ran my usual tests with it, no problems at all.
The updated German language file (3 new lines for the subs tools) is here:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/sq6r06


Cheers
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Old 1st April 2016, 08:25   #2927  |  Link
Przemek_Sperling
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Thx for the update, but I read " LAV Filters updated to release 0.67". Shouldn't it be " LAV Filters updated to release 0.68"?
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Old 2nd April 2016, 13:40   #2928  |  Link
MrC
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Thanks manolito for the quick test report and for the tranlation.

@Przemek, not yet updated to LAV 0.68. If you did, you may check if there are compatibility issues with latest A2D and report back here. Thanks!



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Old 2nd April 2016, 17:57   #2929  |  Link
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I have been using LAV 0.68 from the day it came out. No problems whatsoever. (But I only use it with DSS2 Mod, I have ditched DirectShowSource completely.)

Cheers
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Old 12th April 2016, 23:34   #2930  |  Link
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Found a regression in the latest 2.8.4 Alpha...

When trying to import more than 1 source files at once I get the following error:
http://i.imgur.com/2zl4hL7.png

(It is a Windows message, therefore it is German. Should be something like "Types Mismatch")

The 2.83 versions including the hotfix do not have this problem. The previous 2.8.4 Alpha 151229 also works. It also has nothing to do with MediaInfo, I tried several older versions.


Cheers
manolito

Last edited by manolito; 14th April 2016 at 23:25.
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Old 15th April 2016, 16:47   #2931  |  Link
MrC
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Thanks manolito for the report. Will fix asap.

Bye
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Old 17th April 2016, 03:07   #2932  |  Link
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And the next bug report...

This one has been around for a while, 2.83 stable already has it.

Visual cropping fails if the source is MPEG2 elementary streams or if the source is a muxed MPEG2 file and indexing with DGIndex is selected (the recommended way).

In these cases visual cropping fails because the source duration cannot be detected. In the source window the correct duration is displayed, though. So it cannot be a MediaInfo issue. And it also has nothing to do with AVSMeter versions.

So far the only workaround is to manually mux MPEG elementary streams before feeding them to AVStoDVD, and when A2D recommends to index the MPEG2 file using DGIndex to decline this request.


Cheers
manolito


//EDIT//
This problem not only occurs with MPEG2 elementary streams, all elementary stream formats seem to be affected.

Just tried to add raw AVC and AAC streams (extensions .264 and .aac). For both video and audio A2D could not detect the duration, I had to enter the correct duration manually. But even after manually entering the duration the visual cropping routine still failed with the message: Could not detect duration.

Last edited by manolito; 17th April 2016 at 17:10.
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Old 18th April 2016, 15:30   #2933  |  Link
MrC
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Hi manolito,

thanks again for the fresh report

Here below a quick fix for both the multiple source input and the visual crop error. I have tested just a d2v project without audio. I did not have the possibility to test the AVC/AAC raw streams w/o duration.

https://sites.google.com/site/avstod...18_exe_only.7z



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Old 18th April 2016, 17:34   #2934  |  Link
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Thanks a lot for the quick fix...

Tested all the scenarios which failed before, everything now works as expected.

The reason why I find issues a little faster than before is that I now phased out good old DVD2SVCD on my ThinkPad and use A2D almost exclusively for my DVD creations (mostly captured movies from TV). To be able to reuse all my tricky little AVS scripts I had made for DVD2SVCD over the years I moved all these scripts to templates which I can import into the A2D AviSynth tab.

The only thing which I could not automate so far is to change the source properties to Progressive. All captured MPEG2 PAL streams are flagged as Interlaced even if the content is purely Progressive. Maybe I will write a Macro to change the scan type with one click...


Thanks again,
Cheers
manolito

Last edited by manolito; 18th April 2016 at 17:38.
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Old 19th April 2016, 13:22   #2935  |  Link
Lebowsky
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hi,

dunno if I should solve this by manually editing the generated avisynth script (not sure what the avs function would be anyway) or if there is another way.

For an independent screening in a theater, I have a source with hardcoded subtitles, and I need to overlay subtitles in another language on top of it. The timestamps should be identical, according to the movie producer who gave me both files. Unfortunately he doesn't have a clean HQ source without already overlayed subs.

Is there a way to overlay the new subtitles and have some kind of black background around it? Like a square, or full-width black stripe, that would show up only when the subtitles are shown?

thanks!
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Old 19th April 2016, 16:14   #2936  |  Link
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One possibility is to produce a project with the new subtitles, possibly presented as forced subs, then using DvdSubEdit to change the opacity (contrast) of all used colors (E2, E1, PA, BG), including the background, to 15, e.g. 100% solid color, for a given subpicture individually or for all subpictures as a whole... However, I am not sure that this "trick" will solve the issue for all subpictures: maybe there are some ones where the underlying hardcoded subs are still partially visible, for the parts outside the canvas of the new subs... It's just an idea... Maybe better solutions exist... :-(

Last edited by Sir Didymus; 19th April 2016 at 16:20.
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Old 19th April 2016, 18:32   #2937  |  Link
manolito
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This could also be a nice usage of my old "ActiveArea" AVS script...

You could specify the x and y coordinates of the hardcoded subs and make this area black before adding the new subs. You would do it like this:

Paste the following into a new text file with the name "ActiveArea.avs"
Code:
# Define the coordinates of the desired active area
# X1 is left, Y1 is top, X2 is right, Y2 is bottom

X1 =
Y1 =
X2 =
Y2 =


# Make the values MOD4

X1 = X1 - (X1 % 4)
Y1 = Y1 - (y1 % 4)
X2 = (X2 + 3) / 4 * 4
Y2 = (Y2 + 3) / 4 * 4


Active = crop(X1,Y1,X2-X1,Y2-Y1)
Above = Y1 > 0 ? crop(0,0,width(),Y1) : NOP
Below = Y2 < height() ? crop(0,Y2,width(),height()-Y2) : NOP
Left = X1 > 0 ? crop(0,Y1,X1,Y2-Y1) : NOP
Right = X2 < width() ? crop(X2,Y1,width()-X2,Y2-Y1) : NOP
Last = Active

BlankClip(Active)
# My_Filter_2(...parameters...)
# My_Filter_3(...parameters...)

IsClip(Left) ? StackHorizontal(Left, Last) : NOP
IsClip(Right) ? StackHorizontal(Last, Right) : NOP
IsClip(Above) ? StackVertical(Above, Last) : NOP
IsClip(Below) ? StackVertical(Last, Below) : NOP

return Last
Find the coordinates of the hard coded subs and enter them into this script.


Now import the script into AVStoDVD (View/Edit Title Settings -> AviSynth). Uncheck "Auto AviSynth Script" and insert the following lines right after the "Video = Video.ConvertToYV12()" line:
Quote:
# Must be inserted into the AVS script after the "ConvertToYV12()" command

Last = Video
Import("FULL PATH\ActiveArea.avs")
Video = Last
Don't forget to specify the full path for the "ActiveArea" script.

After importing this script the whole hard subs area should be pitch black so you can overlay your new subs.


Good luck
manolito
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Old 19th April 2016, 18:47   #2938  |  Link
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manolito - this looks awesome. Unfortunately I don't have time to test it tonight, but will do tomorrow, so I'll report back in 36-48h. Two questions already though, so that I can start directly tomorrow

First, it seems the ActiveArea is constantly displayed correct? Or is there a way to have it only when subs are as well? (from the SRT timestamps or something maybe... not sure what is feasible in a not too complicated way...)

Second, script should look like this, correct? I can use hardcode my own subs as well, no need to have them as a subtitle track?

Quote:
(...)
Video = Video.ConvertToYV12()
Last = Video
Import("FULL PATH\ActiveArea.avs")
Video = Last
Video = Video.Lanczos4Resize(720,576)
Video = Video.TextSub("C:\Project\subs.srt")

AudioDub(Video, Audio)
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Old 19th April 2016, 20:33   #2939  |  Link
manolito
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Yes, the script is correct. To only invoke it when subs are present will take some effort, though. I think you would have to create trim statements to stitch together the ranges with and without subs. And I have no idea how you could create the trim commands from your SRT timestamps (I am totally ignorant about subs...). ConditionalFilter could be another option. This is stuff for the experts like Gavino...


Cheers
manolito

Last edited by manolito; 19th April 2016 at 23:42.
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Old 21st April 2016, 17:29   #2940  |  Link
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AVStoDVD 2.8.4 Final is available to download.

Just minor fixes from latest Alpha.



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