virtualdub streaming to mainconcept

[tommcd64]

I am trying frame serve to mainconcept encoder using virtualdub. Everything seems okay except the output is nothing but a green screen. I know that usually indicates a missing codec. When I open the avi with GSpot it identifies the file as Divx50 and says there are 3 available codecs installed. Any ideas on what to do to correct the situation?

[greengate69]

If you have an XviD codec installed, uninstall it, reboot and see if the problem goes away. If it does (and you still need XviD), get the most recent one from the Tools section and you should be OK. Even if your source file is not XviD, your current XviD codec is probably the problem.

[DJRumpy]

I wouldn't do anything that drastic. They can coexist without issue. I'd look at the FourCC code (look in GSpot to find it). This is the codec that will be used for playback. I would get the latest version of DivX though, as the latest ones don't seem to be compatible with some of the earlier v5 versions.

GSpot should have reported only one codec as the codec used. Where did you see three?

[tommcd64]

In the 4CC section it says:
4CC: DX50/divx Name: DivX 5.0
Stat: 3 compatible codecs installed

When I click on the Stat these are the listed codecs:
ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder
DivX Decoder Filter
DivX Decoder Filter

I am going to remove the ffdshow filter. I thought it was gone already but it must have not installed. I had installed it and then later a trial version of DivX then I purchased DivX and installed the latests version (5.05). Could it be the ffdshow codec?

[DJRumpy]

Strange. The Status should have reported "Codec IS Installed". I would consider just reinstalling the DivX 5.05 first. For some reason, it's trying to use a non-divx codec (compatible) to play it back. I've had similar weirdness happen before, where some of my installed DivX codecs didn't register even though they were installed.

[BJ_M]

you can also try and disable the vfw (avi) import filter in main concept .

this cleared up a few issues i saw

[SaSi]

Are you able to just open the DivX AVI file from Mainconcept and encode it succesfully? I think that if this is possible, then the codec should not be the reason for the green screen.

I've had the same problems with CCE in the past and it could not open DivX files at all. It either complained about what the file had or encoded a black silent movie.

To find out if it's a codec issue or not, I suggest that you take a small segment of the movie (say 1 minute), save it with VirtualDUB unompressed, and then re-open this 1 minute clip with VirtualDUB and frameserve this to Mainconcept. If this fails also then, I think, it goes to show it's not codec related.

I've found that I had installed too many codecs and all the problems were solved by a fresh re-installation with careful selection of codecs.

On the other hand, I've read in some threads in some forums that DirectX 9 and Mainconcept don't go well together. Have you installed that? My understanding is that there is no real benefit from DX9 compared to 8.1 unless you have one of those exotic nVidia VGA cards and one of those games that actually use DX9 acceleration features. Otherwise, I think DX8.1 is much safer.

Just some thoughts...

[tommcd64]

Mainconcept will encode the file without frame serving and the screen isn't green. The reason I wanted to use frame serving is that I need to use the resize filter because the file looks a little funky in mainconcept since one of its downfalls is the lack of maintaining aspect ratio when encoding. I have DX9 installed but haven't had any problems with it to date. I uninstalled the ffdshow codec and reinstalled the divx codec. I will let you know how it goes. I am in the middle of processing something else at the moment.

[tommcd64]

I got the problem partially worked out. I installed a fresh copy of Windows XP on a separate partition so I have a dual boot. On the fresh copy I only installed my video edit/conversion software and only the minimum software with codecs. I installed divx 5.05 and powerdvd 4.0 deluxe and xvid. I was able to avisynth to mainconcept after I disabled the directshow import filter. That file went fine. It was a divx 5.0 encoded file. I tried to avisynth another file that is divx 3 encoded and I got the green screen again. Do I need to install a divx 3 codec from a codec package?

[DJRumpy]

I would just download the individual codecs. You should avoid codec packages, as they often install codecs you don't need (and are probably responsible for the mess your currently in ). You should get DivX 3.11 (look for the Low Motion codec on Google), Divx 4, and Divx 5. You should also snag the XviD codec. These will cover the bulk of Xvid/DivX files you encounter.

[feenix]

try adding the "ConvertToYV12" parameter to you AviSource line in Avisynth.

This was the only way I could get Mainconcept to work with Avisynth

[tommcd64]

I installed the div3 and div4 codecs and that did the trick. Thanks for the help.