AVI files: AviSynth and TMPGEnc not supported?
 

Hi folks,

I decided to try AviSynth too.
But so far I had no success opening the DivX avi's I want to convert with TMPGEnc.

Perhaps one of you more experienced guys could post a sticky thread with an explanation of all the neccessary steps involved ?

I could open my .avs file with windows media player, but couldn't open it in TMPGEnc (tried both DirectShow and the other one (OpenDML)).
"... not supported ..."

Maybe I used the wrong opening handler in AviSynth?

Try turning off the DirectShow filter in TMPGEnc.

thanks Daagar,
that was one of my first attempts to solve the problem - but it didn't help.

I don't have much time at the moment, so I have to confess I gave up pretty fast.

Anyways it would be nice to have the usage of AviSynth explained with a few words.
(Like which handler to chose for DivX etc.)

in a few days I'll give it another try, and see what the problem was/is.

Well, I succeded in opening an .avs script with TMPGEnc.

I had to switch to VFW file handler...

The resulting movie quality is horrible!
I did the exact conversion using TMPGEnc's resize before, and the results where quite satisfying.

Any hints on this?

btw here is my script:

AviSource("D:\Eigene Dateien\Clips\wow.avi")
BilinearResize(320,224,0,0,640,288)
#TemporalSmoother(2,2)
AddBorders(16,32,16,32)

Yep, I can see the problem. You're trying to convert a 640x288 avi.
That will work, so so, if you use a 352x288 template. If you use a 352x480 or the 704x480, you're up scaling the resolution. The result will not be very good. Plus the source is a DivX, which already is a multi-generation compressed format, and that doesn't help either.

-kwag

hey Massa 8)
thanks for your answer.

It's a computer-animation trailer and was released by Blizzard, if you know these guys (games like Diablo etc.).
Their trailers rock and the quality of the DivX is quite good as it is no reencode of a DVD, but rather compressed for internet distribution.
(11mb for 1:30 min)

What shocked me was the difference between the visual quality of the two encodes.
The one I did using TMPGEnc's custom size settings were quite good though not as sharp as the original (due to 352x288 res).
After I heard so many people praising AviSynth I decided to try it's resize feature. The resulting movie looked like 256 colors or something, "color steps" everywhere.

How do I find out the color scale of my source movie by the way?

greetz,
b00n

"Right click" on the file and select "Properties" should give you the bit depth.

-kwag

funny you should say that :wink:

I don't get any info about video-files by right clicking.
I know that there should be an information sheet, but on .mpg there is none and on .avi it says "detailed information not available" (roughly translated from German).

Don't know why that is...

You can have a look at the difference yourself at

boon.kicks-ass.org

the file I got using AviSynth is a pain in the eyes.


Edit:

I added a sample clip encoded at 704x480 just so you could get an idea about what "Blizzard trailer" means :D

I don't play any of their games actually, but their trailers pretty much kick as$.

Hmm, ok. This part of the Warcraft III trailer is pretty boring, but you can get an idea about the quality anyways.

greetings,
b00n

PS: I am going to sleep (6:38 am, DANG!). Quite possibly my provider has cut the connection if you have problems reaching my site...

Good morning b00n :lol:
At the time of this writing this, you must be dreaming with angels ( or devils :twisted: ) as it's now 8:30AM where you are and 3:30 AM here.
Here's your answer to the DivX of the Warcraft sample. Which indeed looks damn good!.
I downloaded the WarCraft DivX trailer and encoded it. The problem you had is that the DivX is a True Color file, and probably that's why you got the colors the way you did. Here's my .avs script file:

LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\MPEG2DEC.dll")
AviSource("c:\download\WoW-ECTS-2001-CinematicTrailer.avi")
ConvertToYUY2()
BicubicResize(704,288,0,0.6,0,0,640,288)
#TemporalSmoother(2,2)
AddBorders(0,96,0,96)

Note that I'm using ConvertToYUY2() and also Bicubic resize instead of Bilinear. This is done because we're up-scaling the image from 640x288 to 704x480. If we were downscaling, we would use Bilinear.
I saved the audio from Vdub as a WAV, and encoded it with headac3he as 128Kbps mp2 audio. Then processed the .avs directly with TMPEG and muxed the audio/video stream with BBmpeg.
Here's the result:
http://ns1.shidima.com/kwag/wow.mpg
And the original DivX file, for anyone who wants to see what it looks like, is here:
http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/WoW/movi...ticTrailer.avi
The original DivX is 11,500KB and the KVCD 704x480 Plus file is 14,739 :lol:
Please let me know if this result is what you were looking for :wink:

Enjoy!,
kwag

Yep.
Did you take a look at the movie when leaving away the ConvertToYUY2() function?
Gruesome.

Allright, I will give it a shot right now.

b00n

PS: had to be up again at 10:00 AM, outch

Edit:

Didn't work. Same bad result.
I strongly guess it's the VFW file handler because it looks nice in WMP.
I can't open the .avs script with any other handler, don't know why that is...

What do you think of encoding letterboxed by the way?

My TV set cuts off quite much at the borders, so I can go as low as 320 pixel horizontal resolution (on 352x res.) before I get black borders on my TV. That saves quite a lot of bitrate.

Hi b00n:

I tried once encoding at 320 instead of 352, but on my TV it showed borders on the side.
Never did it again!

-kwag

that's what I meant: I got borders at 320 too (small ones tho).

Try 336 for 352x or 672 for 704x and take a look at the resulting filesize!

Ive had good results converting good quality divx (4.11- 5.02 codecs) to vcd mpeg inc kvcd format(s) but only by separating the audio and video streams.

Using virtualdub open the divX avi file - if you try to play it - youll get an error message - dont worry about it.

from menu - File, Save Wav, then use the divX AVI file as the video source in tmpgenc and the saved WAV file as the audio source. Havent tried this with low bitrate less than 910 divx (jus cant visualize a requirement for this) Works great every time for me so far.

All this is on XP/98 /2000 platforms

Kwag,
About the ConvertToYUY2, do you need a codec for that?

No, that's part of AviSynth.

-kwag

Why use virtualdub? TMPGenc handles DivX fine for me so far. Very pleased with the results as long as the original DivX file is high quality. If it is a low quality low resolution file it will not convert well.

TMPGenc is great. If I could only understand what changed from 2.56 to 2.57 (I read the site but dont understand :cry: ) I would actually buy it.