AVStoDVD Support Thread

[manolito]

Thanks guys for the feedback, much appreciated...


Cheers
manolito

[Seeker47]

Hi _MrC_,

Now, with v. 2.8.2, I am getting a warning line prior to running a project, to the effect that I should not have both ffdshow & LAV filters active, lest there be a risk of instability. I'm confused here: thought your addition of the LAV filters was still pending for the next version of AVS -- not already here ? (I did not install LAV separately, on my own.) In the meantime, I'm falling back to an earlier portable version of AVS, until I know how to proceed. What do I need to remove or deactivate, how, and from where ?

[_MrC_]

Hi Seeker

LAV Filters has replaced ffdshow+Haali since AVStoDVD release 2.8.0

My reccomendation is to uninstall ffdshow and Haali Media Splitter and use only LAV Filters. It is actively supported and frequently updated. And, of course, to use AVStoDVD release 2.8.2 or the latest 2.8.3 Alpha, which is already quite stable.



Bye

[manolito]

Some additions to MrC's reply...

If you are under Win7 or above Windows will not use any third party DirectShow filters unless you force it to do so. By default the Microsoft filters are locked as the preferred filters by a registry setting, and to change this setting you need elevated rights. The solution is to change the preferred DirectShow filters either using AVStoDVD's built-in tool (under Codecs) or use the DS Filter Tweaker tool.

The M$ filters are mostly crap, using them virtually guarantees that you will get A/V sync problems. For the next stable version of AVStoDVD MrC plans to add a reminder at the first start of the software so users will not forget to change their preferred DirectShow filters.


Compared to this the question if you want to use LAVFilters or ffdshow / Haali is almost secondary. AVStoDVD supports both, and for most common Audio and Video formats both work just fine. LAV is more up to date and supports more formats, so it is the preferred choice (ffdshow has not been updated for 2 years except for some bug fixes).

In my experience both ffdshow and LAVFilters do coexist nicely, it is just a little unpredictable which one will get used. The safest way is probably to install ffdshow / Haali first so LAV will get a higher merit (this is what jdobbs recommends for BD-Rebuilder). The Haali splitter behaves a little nasty sometimes by pushing itself into the foreground and bypassing other splitters.

If you want to play it safe, please follow MrC's advice and only install one of the filter packages. Having said this, I had really good experiences using ffdshow only for audio and LAV for video and as the splitter. The reason to use this configuration is that the ffdshow audio source filter is far more powerful than the LAV audio filter. This does not really matter for AVStoDVD which encodes the audio instead of playing it. But if you use a DirectShow based audio player, the ffdshow audio effects filters can be quite useful.



Cheers
manolito

[theewizard]

Spline resizing
i have always used lacross for sizing , up OR down
but i wonder if i would sacrifice quality for speed, if i used spline64 for down resizing hi-def video to DVD ?

[manolito]

If you are adventurous, there is a very detailed thread about different resizers over at Doom9:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=842403#post842403

After a lot of experimentation I settled on Spline36Resize for all my resizing needs. But you should do a little testing yourself...


Cheers
manolito

[theewizard]

I guess I'll go read that thread,
Of course spline 36 it's not a choice in AvsToDvd
Some years back I used to use gui4dvdauthor..or Something named similar and an avisynth scripting program and virtualdub before feeding it to the authoring program
But ever since AvsToDvd, I've gotten lazy, and reduced my steps involved

[doctorm]

To prevent artifacts and preserve detail, it's usually considered that Spline36 is best for upscaling and bilinear for downsizing.

[theewizard]

That Doom9 thread, was about a clear as comparing mud to clay
Guess I will stick with lacrosse unless I see ringing, then I will try spline

Thanks

[manolito]

Of course spline 36 it's not a choice in AvsToDvd

You can add any resizer which is part of your AviSynth version into AVStoDVD.




And BTW it's LanczosResize (and not lacrosse). For some info about the AviSynth resizers have a look here:
http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Resize

Blackman, Gauss and Sinc are also good candidates for a resizer comparison. And at the end of the day the best resizer for you is the one which looks best to you.


Cheers
manolito

[theewizard]

thanks
IF i decide to try spline36 i will download and install in avisynth

the only time i "resize down" is when sizing an mp4/mkv for portable viewing or when i have an OTA HD recording i wish to convert to DVD

most of my conversions require resizing UP , in avstodvd

[friendly_jacek]

hi,
i'm new to this product and installed the newest alpha 2.8.3. i'm trying to burn a trial DVD, but the program crashed or locked up 3 times. i'm trying the 4th time now. now, every time i import VHS capture 720x576 PAL AVI files i get the "5:4 aspect ratio is wrong" prompt and i allow to be changed to 4:3. the other authoring software i used had no problem with the aspect ratio. is there something wrong with the program or the files?

edit: the problems get worse when i go to edit menu and put frame number to use as icon. the PC freezes with CPU at 100% and windows task shows 4 instances of ffmpeg pegging the CPU. After several minutes there is error 13 (mismatch). the problem arises especially when one puts a beginning frame number lower than default and the ending frame is grayed out, but higher.

[theewizard]

Did you go to preferences, and change it to PAL and save it
Do this before importing the saved video
Also use media info, to get the specifics of the file, and post that text here
Somebody here might spot something troublesome in the that file

[_MrC_]

Hi friendly_jacek and welcome there,

let's face the first problem, program crashes during encoding. Do you still have the log file of the crashed projects? Could you upload those .log files here?

A short portion of the source PAL AVI could be useful too. You can use VirtualDub or Avidemux (direct copy mode) to trim 20-30 seconds.



Bye

[friendly_jacek]

Hi friendly_jacek and welcome there,

let's face the first problem, program crashes during encoding. Do you still have the log file of the crashed projects? Could you upload those .log files here?

A short portion of the source PAL AVI could be useful too. You can use VirtualDub or Avidemux (direct copy mode) to trim 20-30 seconds.



Bye

Thanks Mr C!

the crash/unresponsive GUI was not during encoding, but rather menu edit and especially when i wanted to change icon frame. i'll look for any log files when i get home tonight. i checked the AVI files in GSpot and they are indeed 5:4 due to being captured at 720x567. Now, i vaguely remember that when i authored a DVD in NeroVisionExpress it added black bars at the sides.

BTW, i managed to make an iso image last night, but imgburn made a coaster from it. i'll try Nero for burning tonight, as i had a good luck with that for a long time.

[DB83]

BTW (just in case you do not know), you will find the log file for your project in the root directory of the drive where you stored the ISO.

BTW2. If I had to choose between imgburn and anything else to burn, I would chose imgburn every time. That coaster is more likely due to bad media than a bad program. Did you verify the burn ?

With the greatest respect to _MrC_ , why are you trialling with a beta version of a program ? If you are learning to use something you really should use a solid version.

[_MrC_]

@friendly_jacek

I agree that you should use the latest stable release (2.8.2), even if the crashes you are getting from the DVD Menu Editor GUI are uncommon.

As preliminary troubleshooting, take a look at Help/FAQ/Video/Q3.1. Than, if you still have issues, take some screenshots and report back here.



Bye

[friendly_jacek]

update: i burned the DVD from image again and it worked this time. the key was to set the burn speed as AWS (max) in imgburn rather than a fix number. i did find a log file but it was generated after encoding, so no logs when the menu edit froze on me. 99% people using the software using auto frame selection for icons won't notice any problems, so it a minor thing. My video capture PC is slow too, so it could be a factor.

the DVD looks great and plays well. the only thing i need to change for the next production is the color of highlighted chapter. bright pink is not my thing.

Mr C, thanks for this great software and the support!

[theewizard]

Hum
I have been unable to change the color of anything, text, titles, highlights
No matter which version I use

[_MrC_]

Hum
I have been unable to change the color of anything, text, titles, highlights
No matter which version I use

Please elaborate better, maybe with screenshots to show the issue.



Bye

[Seeker47]

Hi _MrC_,

Are there any prospects for improvements in the subtitle controls ? I am still sometimes getting very over-sized purple subs -- sometimes I think from an ordinary subs source file, although this is far more likely with an .Mkv source, where those details may already be set ? On an earlier occasion, you gave me some suggested procedures for dealing with this, but I think it involved tools outside of AVS, and it rather quickly went over my head. Hate to mention that "other program", but I notice that it gives very extensive and simplified control over most aspects of the subs appearance -- right down to a choice among many fonts, type sizes, & etc., with a Preview -- even for converting an .Mkv file. Any chance you could have something like that ?

I will see if I can attach some comparative post-conversion frames with subs, in a follow-up.

[Seeker47]

Example snapshots (from the same source)

The top pic is from AVS 2.8.2., the bottom pic is with CX2D-5.
(I'd still rather go with the AVS encoding, which I consider superior.)

[_MrC_]

@Seeker47

as you know the current workaround is explained here: Help/FAQ/Subtitles/Q5.6 and simply involves PgcEdit to open and edit the output DVD.

To implement the change of IDX/SUB formatting within AVStoDVD, I would need a free subtitles editor software that support IDX/SUB editing and can be launched thru command line. Unfortunately I have not found any yet. But, of course, I am open to suggestions.



Bye

[Seeker47]

So, none of the 54 subtitle apps in the Tools section here qualifies, including Subtitle Workshop ?
I wonder what that other program is using for this function ? Something proprietary, or that is not free ?

In the meantime, I'll take another look at the faq.

[_MrC_]

So, none of the 54 subtitle apps in the Tools section here qualifies, including Subtitle Workshop ?
I wonder what that other program is using for this function ? Something proprietary, or that is not free ?

In the meantime, I'll take another look at the faq.

As I said, I had no luck in finding it. Subtitle Workshop, AFAIK, cannot load IDX/SUB subtitles and the command line interface is very limited.
But you (or other users) are welcome to help to complete this task. Any support is very appreciated and recognized in AVStoDVD Help/Thanks section.



Bye

[doctorm]

(nevermind)

[theewizard]

Hum
I have been unable to change the color of anything, text, titles, highlights
No matter which version I use

Please elaborate better, maybe with screenshots to show the issue.



Bye

i seldom use sub titles/closed captioning

but i would love to be able to change the Color of titles when changing the background image
unless a dark scene is used the white titles hard to read or disappear completely
in this example the background does not belong with the chosen video, it is simply to illustrate the problem

[manolito]

Click into this white rectangle to change the color:





Cheers
manolito

[theewizard]

Thanks
Somewhere ..some how... I missed seeing the instruction for that

[manolito]

No problem...

Another thing I noticed with your screen shot:
You should manually extract the "Icons.zip" files in your "Skin" folder because obviously your computer cannot handle the resource files. Have a look at the FAQ Q2.6.


Cheers
manolito