x.264 (AVC) encoded avis showing NO preview pic!! (Thumbnail)

[blueprint]

Hi,

I've just made a bunch of x.264 encoded avis from a DVD (with VDubMod), usually i use xvid 1.13, but i wanted to see what all this h.264 fuss is about.

The picture does seem to appear clearer at a similar filesize, so I guess it IS better (even if encode takes a bit longer).

Much higher quality at a lower bitrate, but then the filesize is bigger than the equiv bitrate on xvid, e.g.

x.264@ 2000kbps is same filesize as xvid@ 4000kbps, and x264 looks clearer.

HOWEVER, some have a preview pic in explorer, while most are still showing no preview pic after hours.

They also take a while to load up, and i need to see which video is which from the thumbnail... which seems to not be generating.

Is it my ffdshow decoder? Some generate thumbnail setting? Or just x.264 is very cpu intensive? Surely all explorer needs is to scan the 1st frame and put it up as the thumbnail.

I read somewhere i might need a different decoder for x.264? What is this called and is it ok to install as well as FFDSHOW?

Someone pls suggest a solution!!!

I also have a no right click property on avi problem atm *shrugs*

Blue
x

[blueprint]

Also any ideas on Bitrate variance / Quantization compression values? [changed it to 0 // 30 just now]

I thought u had to choose between quantizer or bitrate for compression but x.264 seems to allow u to change both.

Btw encoding 720x576 to 1024x576 with a P4 3.06 // 2gig ram // G4-7600.

x.264 encoded avis still not generating a thumbnail... i even rebooted and still no THUMB!!!

Maybe its a Windows problem? I have XP SP1 and h264 is kinda new.

[blueprint]

C'mon any ideas folks?

I'm pulling my hair out over this - gone back to xvid for the time being...

[poisondeathray]

turn on thumbnail preview (warning this has been known to cause crashes in many systems)
start => run => type "regsvr32 shmedia.dll" (without quotes)

turn off
start => run => type "regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll" (without quotes)


"x.264@ 2000kbps is same filesize as xvid@ 4000kbps, and x264 looks clearer. "

-This is impossible. The filesize should be the same (or very close) at equivalent video bitrate, you probably didn't configure the audio properly when using virtualdubmod, or have configured something wrong

[Ansuer]

@Blueprint

First, x264 (H.264) is a wonderful thing, and you are going down the correct route. However, keep in mind that x264 requires lot of power to encode and decode. I used to be able to encode 4 hours worth of XviD video a night, now it takes 12 hours just to get 45 minutes worth on the same machine. Tune the settings for maximum quality at the expense of encoding time.

I also used to be able to watch XviD videos on my single 2.4ghz with no problem. Now I had to replace my media center with a dual core 2.1ghz with fat graphics card. All for x264.

The gain is that the videos are about %80 size of the best I could get with XviD and, yes, they look at lot better. Main thing with x264, I highly recommend you use ffdshow to decode and disable all the options that might stop deblocking, you pretty much have to deblock x264 after the fact. I also force all my video into RGB32, plus I force ffdshow to play everything in RBG32. Otherwise the compression looks scrapy and bad.

Again, that all takes a lot of power, especially for 1080p content. If it all works out you'll end up with a lot smaller files and better looking playback.

[blueprint]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!

The thumbnail preview is on already - i get previews on all my xvid avis u see.

I think i've discovered the reason why. When i load up the x.264 vid in VDub, and hit goto next key frame, the frame doesnt change until i proceed to the next frame after that.

Its like the first frame of the video is blank or doesnt exist, but if i scroll past and then back its there.

I'm not sure who sort of encoding error this is... but i need to fix it.

Those bitrates of 4k and 2k i mention, thats just what i plug into VDub, it doesnt seem to use it all if its not needed.

Secondly, yes Ans, it DOES take a while longer than xvid to encode (i'd say 3 times as long), but i've noticed no lag during playback with WMP (havent tried 1080p yet).

[blueprint]

I've gone back to xvid, x.264 was taking wayyy to long, and no preview thumbnail is just too annoying.

Shame... the quality was noticeably sharper! I'll still use it when i resize clips to 320x240 for youtube tho.