TMPGEnc Deep Freeze halfway thru encoding

[Enri]

Hi,

Still having the same problem with this program freezing usually about halfway thru encoding.

I'm trying to encode at CBR 8000kbps from uncompressed AVI (camcorder capture). Is it down to hardware? I find that sometimes it will encode successfully, other times not.

I have a P4 1.5Ghz, WinXP Home, 384mb RAM and a Geforce 2 Ultra 64Mb vid card.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

regards
Enri

[cooljoe666]

Could be anything........

Windows XP compatibilty bug, shoudn't be the hardware if it's worked before....encoding w/ such a big file can be a problem sometimes depending on pc performance due to other processes running or if the PC has already been on for awhile when encoding starts. It's expected for the performance of Windows and other programs to take a nose dive after clicking your mouse a few thousand times. I would restart your pc right before encoding......if this does not help you sure your TmpGenc settings are correct?? By encoding a 8000 kbps CBR file, that's a big file...I am not sure about the GIG limit on Windows XP if any. I know if you hit a limitation, BAM...stopped.

If this info isn't helpful....then.......goto H3LL..........

just kidding.

[Enri]

Ha! Thanks for that. I'll try lowering quality and see if that helps.

regards
enri

[bugster]

Could your CPU be overheating? When encoding the CPU is running at 100% for a long period, something that otherwise you wouldn't normally see. Try encoding with the cover off and a desk fan pointing at the case.

[Enri]

Really? Surely it's designed to cope though?

thanks,
Enri

[bugster]

Really? Surely it's designed to cope though?

thanks,
Enri

It should be, but its surprising just how many systems are prone to this kind of problem. I can't say for definate overheating is the problem, though the symptoms you describe are typical. Try my suggestion, if only to eliminate one possible problem.

[MYoung]

I'm having the same problem. I'm encoding about 30 minutes of 720x480 uncompressed RGB24 video (yes, that's a CRAPLOAD of disk space). I'm using AviSynth to combine all the video files together. I'm running Windows 98, a PIII 450MHz, 256MB SDRAM, a couple of 40GB 7200 RPM IDE HDDs, lastest version of TMPGENC, I believe the latest version of AviSynth. It's frusterating because it dies like 6 or 7 hours into the encoding job! I'm going on lowest quality too! I think I might try running with different video card drivers. If that doesn't work I might try resinstalling Windows 98. If that doesn't work then I might Windows ME. Bummer if I have to go to that length because my cap card only works with Win98.

TMPGENC is very nice. So nice that I paid $50 for the plus version. But it just seems terribly unstable when encoding huge videos. Huge, ha! 30 minutes?!

[bugster]

TMPGENC is very nice. So nice that I paid $50 for the plus version. But it just seems terribly unstable when encoding huge videos. Huge, ha! 30 minutes?!

Nothing unstable about Tmpgenc on any system I have ever run it on. 12 - 18 hour encodes with no problems (longer on older systems a year or two ago!).

Make sure your output file is not hitting the Fat32 4Gb limit. TmpGenc shouldn't just hang when this happens, but you never know.

[MYoung]

bugster,

No instabilities encoding what? MPEG1? MPEG2? On what operating systems? What file sizes? Do you use AviSynth to concatenate source video streams? If so, what version? If MPEG2, what type? 2-pass VBR? CBR? All the above?

I changed my video drivers to standard VGA and it still hangs (that time, 6 hours into the job). I've scanned the whole 48,000 frame stream in VDub and all the frames check out fine. I've tried reinstalling AviSynth. I think now I'm going to dust off an old HD, do a fresh install of Windows 95 and give that a roll. Then 98 again. Then ME. Then I might get an 80GB HD and copy the whole 37GB stream into a segmented AVI, then bypass AviSynth when I encode to the MPEG2 by using TMpgEnc's segmented file feature. It is odd -- I have noticed AviSynth return errors when I scan around the stream long enough in VDub. I don't know what that's all about either. I'm pissed, but unfortunately I don't know what part to be pissed at!

[bugster]

bugster,

No instabilities encoding what? MPEG1? MPEG2? On what operating systems? What file sizes? Do you use AviSynth to concatenate source video streams? If so, what version? If MPEG2, what type? 2-pass VBR? CBR? All the above?

All of the above. Only use avisynth within DVD2SVCD, but other than that, all of the above.

Oh yes, OS WINXP plus NTFS at the mo, though previously win98 SE.

Won't say I never had problems, but no instabalities with TmpGenc.


When it hangs, does the whole PC lockup, or is it just TmpGenc?

If the former, then again overheating of the CPU becomes a possibility.

[MYoung]

Well, I took out a 3GB HDD w/freshly installed Win98 FE from a laptop of mine and plopped it in my workstation. Loaded TMpgEnc & AviSynth. Loaded the AVI script. It wouldn't load. Then I realized that I needed to have the DirectShow VFAPI plugin disabled to be able to read AVS scripts. I think before I wasn't disabling that (though I dunno how it would have read them to begin with). And the result? This time it quit at 97%, though oddly enough it didn't freeze! It gave me an error...

"Stream reading error"

That's funny! Like I said, I checked the frames with VDub before and they are all readable and error free. I'm baffled, though it's somewhat of a consolation that is didn't freeze this time. Any ideas now? If not I guess it's on to sinking $80 for a new HDD and dubbing my 37GB source into a segmented AVI and bypassing AVISynth for encoding. Bummer.

[jarin]

You gotta use some trouble shooting skills to fix this....

download mother board monitor and see if your sytem is too hot, if not then....

if the CPU is going over 70C then you may have a problem, sometimes the heat gel between the CPU and heat sink is the cheap crap and is pretty much useless, may need to take off the heat sink and apply some arctic silver or whatever. You said you are using windows 98, are you going over the 4gig limit?

maybe bad memory?

break it down to steps and eliminate things till your down to the problem.

it is HIGHLY doubtful TMPGEnc is the cause.

- Jarin

[MYoung]

Jarin, to get it to stop freezing I must have been applying troubleshooting skills!!!

Like I said, it's NOT freezing anymore. Disabling the DirectShow VFAPI plugin seems to have resolved the freezing. Now I'm getting "Stream reading error."

I guess I'll try bypassing AviSynth as that could be the problem.

[MYoung]

Hmm, so I...

Bought a 120GB HD and copied all my video sources to it.
Put in a HD that had a clean install of Windows 98 FE.
Tried encoding the video in TmpgEnc -- I got an error when it was 100% done. The MPEG2 produced has frames of black that flicker in it at times. Though it seems to be complete. Strange.

Then I...

Reinstalled Win98 FE on my main HD.
Tried several times to write my 37GB video as a segmented AVI via AviSynth script in VDub -- It froze a couple of times. Another time it encoded black frames in the stream!

Now I installed Windows ME and I'm trying again. I hope it works! I see that AviSynth has some bugs. Maybe it just doesn't like my script. Or maybe a semi-stale install of Win98 and AviSynth were/are the problems.