re-encoding in VirtualDub?

[whatever911]

Hi. I'm new to VirtualDub and so i want to learn how to encode, but apparently encoding one episode takes me about 13 hours and so i want to ask.....

1. Is it possible to stop a job and resume at a latter time? If so, how?

2. When you do a two pass - 2nd pass, do you just encode it with no filters or do you have to use the same filters that you used for two pass - 1st pass? (ex: TextSub, Sharpen..etc..)

[jagabo]

Hi. I'm new to VirtualDub and so i want to learn how to encode, but apparently encoding one episode takes me about 13 hours and so i want to ask.....

1. Is it possible to stop a job and resume at a latter time? If so, how?

Not really. If you need to use the computer for something else you can set VirtualDub to idle priority so it doesn't interfere with whatever else you're doing. If your input and output files are on local hard drives you can put the computer into hibernation. Upon waking VirtualDub will pick up right where it left off. It won't even know the computer was shut down.

2. When you do a two pass - 2nd pass, do you just encode it with no filters or do you have to use the same filters that you used for two pass - 1st pass? (ex: TextSub, Sharpen..etc..)

You should do the filtering on both passes. Otherwise the information the encoder gets from the first pass may not be valid during the second pass. If your filtering is extremely slow you can get faster results by encoding to a lossless format like Lagarith first, then using that as your source for a two pass encode.

[whatever911]

Not really. If you need to use the computer for something else you can set VirtualDub to idle priority so it doesn't interfere with whatever else you're doing. If your input and output files are on local hard drives you can put the computer into hibernation. Upon waking VirtualDub will pick up right where it left off. It won't even know the computer was shut down.

So in other words, if i shut down the computer, then there's no way to 'resume' the job in VirtualDub, right? Then why do they even have a "Stop" button and an "Abort" button in the first place??

You should do the filtering on both passes. Otherwise the information the encoder gets from the first pass may not be valid during the second pass. If your filtering is extremely slow you can get faster results by encoding to a lossless format like Lagarith first, then using that as your source for a two pass encode.

Could you suggest a good configure or setting for that codec? What is the output format when you save as? I use NeatVideo filter to encode anime so it takes like 14 hours just to run the first pass and if there's a better way to encode anime that you know of, please also guide me. Thanks.

[jagabo]

I don't know what the Stop button in VirtualDub's job control dialog is supposed to do. It doesn't seem to do anything when I press it.

Settings for lagarith: The Null Frames option won't make much difference with real video (if a frame is exactly the same as the one before it Lagarith will use a flag saying "repeat the last frame" rather than compressing the frame again). Don't use the Always Suggest RGB For Output unless you have an editor that can't handle YUV sources. If you're making MPEG4 videos you'll get a little more speed in your later 2-pass encoding if you use the YV12 Mode option. Enable Multithreading if you have a multicore CPU.

[whatever911]

Can you recommend some good filters you know of that are used to encode anime? Thanks.

[manono]

Can you recommend some good filters you know of that are used to encode anime? Thanks

Good anime encoders don't use VDub filters, but use AviSynth filters. And, of course, the filtering done is chosen to fit the source. You don't just blindly filter everything that comes your way, all the same way. Good sources need nothing. Poor sources need much more than VDub can supply. If episodes or music videos, at the least they often need a good IVTC, something VDub can't do. And that's just for starters.

The AMV site has quite a bit of good information:

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/

And once you know a little something:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=138305&highlight=AnimeIVTC

[whatever911]

I see. Thanks for the tips and help. I'll try to learn how to use AviSynth instead of VirtualDub.