@ vmes,

Yes my friend, my goal.. is to create in interface similar to TMPG :mrgreen:
But, right now, it looks like Mr McGoo (spelling) :wink:

-vhelp

Agree with most of your post VM.
But where did you come up with that beautifull codec.conf file of yours?
I've browsed the whole internet looking for it as we may find more needed files next to it but I really can't find it...
Like that font file that vhelp mentioned.
I also agree with him where "the lesser the trash on screen the better".
Thanks and C ya

@Vmesquita
Probably you're right, but I've read (I somewhere in doom9) that lates ffvfw build is very alpha/beta/gama/delta/night-build and was not optimised for speed, also few bugs included for free ;)

@vhlep
Create subfolder \mencoder\mplayer\font and create in it empty file font.desc. But this still produces two lines in cmd window, reporting succes of find, and zera data ;)

:!: Update guys...

I did some more "what if's" and now the line looks like thus:


Next, we have the following INI script that I'm working on:

Filename: men.ini

Now, when you run the BAT script inside a DOS window, this is what you'll
get if all goes well (substitute your .AVI source file)

The above works, and no more error message as previously demonstrated.

Here is the new DOS screen (similar to prev one)

Do I have everything correctly layout for an MPEG-2 encode ??
I ask because this script snip was based on an intial MPEG-1 and I only just
copied it and thanced it to mpeg2video - that's it :roll:

We're definately making some headway here :mrgreen:
But, I'm really getting bushed :( and there's no help from any else here :(
So, I'll do what I can for you all :roll: because its for everyone's best interest :)

-vhelp

Update !! !! !!

Guys, I MIGHT have it :mrgreen:

stay tuned :!:

FWIW.. the last hurdle w/ the (-ovc) error. It's looking for the encoder :roll:

-vhelp

Hang in there buddy. I can only try your way tomorrow.
You see I've been messing with the vrc_minrate&vrc_maxrate and the vqmin&vqmax to see if we can have a "average" quality mode between 3 and 5 or something.
We have to be able to constrain the bitrate a bit otherwise we'll end up with a super encoder, super GUI, super encoded video, but that is out of DVD specs and is not playable at all.
Anyway you haven't told me if you tested the ReactOS command.com.
I tried it today at work and I liked it so much that I'll start using it on the company's laptop that is running W98SE since it's a Celeron 300 with only 64Mb :lol:
Really neat features in ReactOS :D
And that way everybody could just use a loooong batch file without any problems.
Cheers

Hi VHelp,

A couple of suggestions, change vrc_minrate to at least 300, keyint to 18 and maybe vmax_b_frames to 2.

@ rds,

I scrapped ReactOS because I thought it was a TSR. TSR's require a user
intervention, and you can't close those down from a shell - not w/out having
a "leak".

Is this a TSR app ??
You can tell, because when you exit your DOS window, an TSR screen will
pop, asking you to press Ctrl+C to finally leave it.

If not, I'll give it a try :!: What is required to install this.. where and how ?
-vhelp

Hi vhelp,
Also download and try this ReactOS that is a substitute for the command.com that is brought on Win98/ME.
ReactOS shell
Here is the site hosting the file with some explanation ReactOS site
Hope it helps 8)
C ya

Note:sorry for double posting :wink:
And it's not a TSR. You can exit it with a simple "exit" command or by closing it's window. Give it a shot. I'm pretty sure it won't let u down.
Edit: just copy the exe file to your folder of choice (best where mencoder exe is located and rename it to Cmd.exe.
Double click it "Et voilá":nice windows 2000 like shell :wink:
Cheers

@ rds,

ut-oooo. looks like reactOS does not accept initial params. Looks like it
won't work :( :( :(

My delphi app can call it up, but when I pass it a simple param string (below)
only a dos window pops up.

** Note, I renamed the .exe to "command.com"
** Note 2, the od1.filename is my .BAT file.

I'm totally stumped !! :roll:
-vhelp

Hey,
Where are Karl, Inc., Phil, Razor, Krassi these days?
These guys can really twist encoder options.
I sure would like to have them around so we could try something.
It seams that ffvfw problem got everybody on the downside...
But that's just temporary guys.
If we can't do it with ffvfw or mencoder, heck we'll find something even better, faster and predictable.
We were born to put 3 seasons of the simpsons on one zip drive like SansGrip said :wink:
Come on guys, cheer up.
C ya

@ rds,

I revised my post above yours.
-vhelp

8O 8O 8O
Man I really don't know what that means...
You could be right.
Anyway the docs say we have to rename it to Cmd.exe specifically.
Else we better discard it :cry:
C ya

ok, will do. CMD.EXE it is :)
-vhelp

Aaaannnndddd, does it work now??? :D

So far, when I call CMD.EXE and my param string, the only thing that
happens, is that a DOS window pops upon and a screen full of CMD's nonsense :confused:

I'm still working on trying to get CMD to accept parameter string ie,

CMD h:\mencoder\mencoder.exe

Just doesn't want to happen. Perhaps CMD does not have param capabilities ??

-vhelp

Ok, here is (hopefully) the last place that I'm having trouble with. Because
I'm not familiar w/ mencoder's params and MPEG1 or MPEG2 intricicies, I
am flying blindly w/ errors. So, please guide me a little, with the proper
MEPG-2 settings :(

It looks like my mpeg2video is in error somewheres. Perhaps its a mixture
of mpeg1 and mpeg2. I don't know. But, I'm asking for an MPEG-2 specific
set of param strings.

Any help would be much appreciated,
-vhelp

the parameters seems to be ok, but if you have not changed the commandline (or ini) you mentioned some posts ago, this could be the reason:

the syntax of something like this would be better:

additionally, i would suggest the following settings:

@ Amenophis,

Yes, at first, that is what I did too :lol:

But, then I realize, for configuration files, they (the '-') has to be amitted
from the lines. Also, there seems to be a ass-backwards about its format
or syntax. Things don't add up the same, as when you write your command
line params. That's why I've had nothing but trouble w/ this configuration
file (aka, my men.ini file syntax) But, just believe me, the '-' has to be
amitted, and the file (for the most part) has to be line-delemited. I think
it's more stricker, but doesn't make any sense :confused:

@ rds,

Sorry chap, CMD.EXE is a bomb. I figured out how to execute it w/ a param
string. Unfortunately, it crashes out w/ Exception Errors :confused:

Still, becauase I'm under W98, I truley believe that mencoder does not work
w/ W98 (and probably W98SE/ME too) If it works at all, its only minor or the
simple things, that it can do. But, throw a long and cryptic param string at
it, as in our futile attempts, and it wines like a tight-ass baby :!:

@ rds, I think CMD is ok for minor scripts, but that's about it.

Also to note, until a proper configuration file can be standardized,
or known for its proper syntax, we are looking at a dead horse (us W98/SE/ME)
goe'ers :(

I might play around w/ it for a little while longer, but that's about it. Also,
because of this, looks like my GUI will freeze for the time being :?

I'm really pretty pooped now :confused:
-vhelp

Gee, sorry that. I'll give it a try today with my laptop running W98 and see if at least I can throw a big command line. Should I experience the same probls we should abandon it.
That's understandable big guy. I just would feel very sad if you had to leave us because of this W98 issue. You are a good programmer and a nice GUI could appear but that can only happen if at least you can use the encoder on your system...
I still remember using your nice GUI for bbmpeg. I still use it once in a while. It's really nice.
I'll keep you updated on my tests tonight.
Cheers and thanks

Hello friends:
I begun making tests with ffvfw, and stopped by now, waiting the advice of people with more knowledge, to avoid the too high/too low bitrate prob.
I also follow all your mencoder threads. And even if it looks like that just 4-5 people is working and posting on this, I'm sure that lots of us are following your progress and waiting your improvements. You can see it looking at the number of views of mencoder threads.
I have to recognize that although downloaded all the softw I didn't try it yet. But I want you to know that some of us are waiting for your improvements, and if I just don't test and share results is because I'm not prepaired to give clues or improvements, just can follow your steps.
A doubt: if mencoder and ffvfw share (more or less) the same encoder engine, we can use settings from one to another, isn't it?.
And I also think (just from a theoretical point of view, no knowledge here) that with a encoding based in min and max bitrate we'll solve the bitrate issue, but.. how do we solve then the "oscillating" Q behaviour?.
Well friends, keep on your good job

Well to me it "seems" that FFvfw and Mencoder use these determined min and max only at 2pass mode in a effective way ... but till now I did no tests on 2pass.

In TmpgEnc you can choose CQ AND min and max which does affect the quantisation algorythm.
In FFvW and Mencoder if you choose Quantizer mode, it will use a constant "Q Curve" which is by the way the sense of Q Encoding, but as we see many people can't duplicate a constant/Linear Q curve. And its not figured out if that issue bases on a diff. System (I got Win2000 running) or a codes-in-the-system issue. I have no Idea.

What I found out is that Mencoder for Windows is much faster (on my machine) than FFvfw and till now I did not testet all the parameters which are shown i the other "comparison" thread started by "Bilu" .. Don't know if that was the name of that experimenting member there , ... anyhow .. its interesting. ;-)

I only can say that ffvfw neither respect max bitrate value in second pas of two-pass mode :( In constant bitrate, the bitrate value was seting VBV bufer value. I'm curious what parameter is set through max bitrate in two pass mode ;)
I think I've readed somevere around that max bitrate value in mencoder is not respected, like in ffvfw. (It was you rds_correia :?:)

PS: I'm wondering with this for a while. Is yours nick RDS_CORREIA means something ?? Pure curiosity :)

@all
Ok guys,
Let's put everything plain and simple for anybody that comes around can understand.
Please bear with me because this might seam retorical speech for many but in fact is my only way
of explaining all the facts.
When we started testing with ffvfw I had my WinXP all screwed up! I had codecs installed that were
pointing to inexistant .drv .vxd .dll or whatever.
My XP was taking more than 5 minutes getting to WinXP GUI.
I mean it was all screwed up.
I have reinstalled everything I had and it's fine again. It takes 2,5 min to get to the GUI for instance.
All codecs installed and see on system properties are now configurable.
At least those that have configurable properties.
As I said at that time, not so long ago, and since Inc was using both encoded movie and bitrate viewer
screenshots for comparison I decided to give bitviewer a try too as I had never seen it working. I could
only read that many people used it for reference and many thought it was a bit subjective. But as
a means to proove I could produce the same results as Inc I downloaded it and I could only be surprised
when I saw that both "Q" and bitrate curves were doing the crazy stuff and not near linear at all.
Because of my lazyness I only reinstalled XP a few days ago (maybe a week ago?) and, what do
you know? Every single test encode I had made now looks as flat as Algarve's seaside :D .
I could take two ways for interpreting this issue: Either my XP was so screwed up that some
applications didn't work as they should, which in fact is true since many crashed such as bitviewer,
or that my bitrate viewer uses dshow filters or installed video codecs to analyse my encodings.
But yesterday while I was posting with vhelp on our ffxxx/mencoder topics I was also talking
on the phone with a friend that is starting KVCDeing. The guy is ok with CQM/Tmpg but
since I've been telling him about the ffxxx/mencoder testing he decided to try it also.
That's when he called me yesterday telling me that his bitrate viewer was looking as bad as mine
when I had XP problems.
Damn, I thought, I have understand why this happens, so I stick with him on the phone for more
than 2 hours...
He's runing XP, he has bitviewer same version than mine and everything.
But suddenly I found out HIS problem was completely different from mine!
I only understood this when the guy told me that though both Q and bit curves were crazy, his
gop size was sharp 15 (IBBPBBPBBP...)...
"What? I never saw that on my bitviewer. Where the hell is that option?"
And suddenly again everything made perfect sense. "Hey you didn't install any crack or
something, did you?"
"Yeah!"...
Guess what, I told him to uninstall bitviewer, clean it's supposedly empty directory and reinstall
it WITHOUT cracking it.
"Et voilá". Suddenly (again? I really like this word) all his encodes showed as flat in "Q" as Algarve's
seaside, too.
So, bottom line: Don't get me wrong but either the full version of bitviewer is crazy
enough to produce this sh!t or maybe, (look how I emphasize) maybe, some of you guys have
the cracked version of it installed for some worthless sh!t idea.
Am I right or am I wrong?
Try uninstalling it. After that MAKE SURE you delete the folder where it was installed! Reinstall it.
Now try ffvfw's or mencoder's m2v and see how the green line is so beautifully flat.
Man, am I a genious or what?

@Hydeus,
Yep,
rds_correia is my whole name initials: Rui Daniel Saraiva Correia :D
But you can call me Rui or just rds.
No, vbv buffer is not taking care of the bitrate.
Use vrc_minrate=300:vrc_maxrate=6000:vbitrate=4000.
Remove any vqmin, vqmax, vqscale.
Try it. Average bitrate of encoded video ~4000?
Then it's vbitrate that rules. :)
Cheers

You know Rui ;) when you posted setings for mencoder, I realized why my ffvfw had have no respect for maxbitrate na file size. My quantizers values were all to 3, so no wonder that I was geting this behaviour. Now I can say that 2-pass mode can produce proper file size (very precise), and limits max bitrate (more or les precise) by rising quantizer. Of course this produces blox striking my eyes :stickeye:

This was only intermision of ffvfw, but while they use the same engine, I think (and see) that they can produce similar quality, and also settings are bond together.

Edit: Can someone post exact max bitrate values (VCD, SVCD, DVD) from MPEG specification :?:

There was Edit2, but I've deleted, while I've found answer :lol:

Evening gents :mrgreen:

I was hit w/ a little "Julvenation" (sorry for spelling)

Good news, I think. But, I'll need your help :!:
I tried first, w/ plain old DOS box.., then I tried same cmd-line param w/
my GUI, and both worked w/ same results :mrgreen: but I need your help.

I need a working MPEG-2 mencoder script (not .BAT) that you would normally
feed to mencoder (via command-line) !!

Oh, right away please :lol:
-vhelp

Once again, I don't think I fully understand you ;) What is difference betwen cmd-line script and BAT file?
If none i sugest simple
... as always in one line.
It pops wit PTS errors (still don't know what are they), but it works and produces mpeg file.

Note for future: I'm from europe (also RDS, Incredible, and few others), so by now it's almost 1am, and don't be angry on us when we didn't answer yours questions ;)

Hi rds, Hydeus, and others :)

Basically, all I need is a tipicle mencoder script that you would feed to it,
in dos cmd-line mode. Like the one you posted on the first page of:
* Mencoder for Windows

That one is not working :!: I need one that truely works for the following:

Some notes...

* AVI source ( ie, my .avi source is huffy, and I named it "5.avi" )
* Output sourcename (ie, mine is 5_encode.avi)
* Audio: that's a good question. Doesn't mencoder NOT do audio ??
...if so, then why does it ask for it, via an Audio not found error (-oac) ??

But, the script you posted above, (Hydeus) will do for now :mrgreen:
Thanks for the help/support guys,

For now, I'm in testing/debuggin mode :hammer: ( and a little :banghead: mode too)
-vhelp

:lol: We are in Mencoder for Windows thread :lol:

I think that we don't need mencoder audio encoding, cause BeSweet is a lot better choose.

8O8O
You mean output filename 5_encode.mpg :?:

PS: Read the note in my previous post, while my bed, my pillow, and my coverlet are looking at me with very sleepy eyes ;)

Hey vhelp,
Anything u need buddy. You name it!
Now Hydeus this one is working because it has the vbv set to vrc_buf_size=1835.
Remember DVD vbv buff should be 224. So 224*1024*8/1000=1835,008 :)
Also note that this one final average bitrate is ~3000 :mnkypile:
Cheers

Yes VBV is very needed ;)
I was posting only simple non-effective script.

Ok. For today I hade enough.
Good night :beard:

@ rds, Hydeus, and others..

Thanks. Yes, I ment *.MPG file. Actually, I was really meaning *.m2v because
I'm after creating MPEG-2 source source :mrgreen:
And, the more script samples, the better my chances w/ bebuggin things
out w/out having to post more dumb question. Thanks again guys.

Yes, if you're tired, that fine. Go ta bed then.
-vhelp

UPDATE !!

BiNGo !!

It's working. (using CMD.EXE) but I haven't tried it with the Matrix. That's
going to be my next "scary" endeavor :grrr:

Still needs some work. But, I have some questions. Maybe I'm doing things
correctly. But, I gotta be sure :mrgreen:

Shortly, I will be skinning some control in my GUI for those "common" commands
(or params) use mostly. I'm in :roll: thinking mode :roll: hmm...

Lots more testing to do w/ mencoder (under Windows 98 anyways) but so
far, things are finally looking up. 72 hours plus, working/debuggin this tight-ass
baby tadeath !!


Some notes/questions ...

* After I create my 5.m2v MPEG-2 file, vdubMOD, PowerDVD will not open it.
* WinDVD will, but will hickup like crazy.
* dvd2ave opens it like a charm :lol: and plays it very smoothly.

Please let me know, if there is proper way of MUXing this to "normal" MPEG-2
source files.
However, it could be that I'm not using the proper param(s) to create a "normal"
MPEG-2 source file. You help will be needed in this area, please.

Thanks for all the support guys,
-vhelp

which application did u use for demuxing the m2v stream? mplayer has problems with demuxing files >2GB, i prefer bbdmux for doing this. unfortunately mencoder can only output mpg files (even if you may call them *.m2v)

Hi Amenophis ... ( I like name, sounds Greek :mrgreen: )

Anyways..

Yeah, but the .m2v file is read as an MPEG-2 (according to dvd2avi) Also,
DVD Patcher reads it in w/ no problems. Unfortunately, this time around,
(unlike ffVFW encoded *.m2v files) even though I perform a "patch" on this,
it still means nothing to PowerDVD/WinDVD. PDVD will not open, while WDVD will
but wiith some :confused: 'zee'ness

I'm wondering :roll: is mencoder creating an mpeg wrapper (avi wrapper) ???

-vhelp

#2 - UPDATE !!

Guys, another BINGO :mrgreen:

Last param script for mencoder, that rds posted, works :!: :!:
After tweaking around, I finally got it to work. W98 user cannot work the
script inside a dos box, nor can they use it inside a W98 command.com
dos box either, due to W98 dos limitations/restrictions.

However, CMD.EXE (that rds posted, from reactOS [now defunkted]) is he
only dos simulator that seems to work w/ mencoder and it's LOOONGGG
and STRAAAAAAAN param scripts.
.
.
However, there seems to be a bug somewheres, because CMD.EXE is crashing
out (at the end of the encode) although, the final encoded .m2v file is in tacked !! :lol:

Maybe there is another DOS simulator ??

Well, so far, ..making progress :mrgreen:
Good night.
-vhelp

Hi vhelp,
Great news buddy.
It seams you finally found your way.
I no time you will be going :banghead: trying to understand how to restrain bitrate instead
of fiddling around with the command prompt that is not in a mood to receive all your arguments.
Along with it we will have your mencoder GUI to play around :)
Anyway let me tell you a couple of things that I've understood in the last couple of days.
An good looking encoded movie means nothing if it can't be played on a standalone (popular wisdom :) ).
So we need to be sure we allways set vbv buffer and GOP size whenever we try a different approach.
That's why I really don't like ffvfw too much these days.
So in mencoder you have to set "vrc_buf_size=..." and "keyint=...".
Where "vrc_buf_size" should be set to 328 for VCD, 918 for SVCD or 1835 for KDVD.
And "keyint" should be set to 24 for KVCD and 15(PAL)/18(NTSC) for KDVD.
Though I'm not 100% sure if PAL KVCD should be set to 24 or 25...maybe one of you guys can correct me if I'm wrong.
Also always disable sound ( -nosound) in mencoder. If we're going to keep using HeadAC3he
and Besweet then there's just no point in letting it encode the sound too.
Hope I helped.
PS-Try searching for rxvt port or bash port to replace reactos.
Cheers

For DVD GOP is 15/18 and AFAIK the same values are for (S)VCD (by the book). GOP 24 is already modified by Kwag, cause standalones eats this type of modification (only fo (S)VCD). I do compresion (under ffvfw) with GOP set to 100 :!:, but encoder never goes to this value, because it places I-frame at every sceen change, so in real it becomes ~50, and this type of films are played without any problems (I doo test on very new machine, don't know how this will works with old machines).
But for MPEG2 DVD, GOP must be 15/18, while sandalone will not work with other settings :!:

Hey vHelp, I think that you have concurent in mencoder GUI development, in doom9 forum.
There is thread CCE vs FFVFW (where I'm also intrested), and Amnon82 (creator of COCOC: process to backup DVD with ffvfw) have also idea to create mencoder GUI under Delphi :) This is just a very fresh idea (this morning), and I'm wonder what concept he will propose. You're intested :?:

Nothing intresting. This GUI looks almost exactly like qulmencoder (I'm wonder why ... :roll: ... maybe it has something to do with this "Avalon" sing under about button ;) ) If nothing new is produced, why to produce it at all ;) ?

And what is your progress vHelp ?