VirtualDub and YouTube videos

[Notsononymous]

Hi there,

I want to open a YouTube file I downloaded via keepvid as .mp4 in VirtualDub. When I try to do so it tells me the file type isn't recognised (or words to that effect). I've tried a method I found on YouTube using ffdshow, Avisynth and K-Lite. When I try opening the file in AVIcodec (to find the codec I need) I get the following error message:

Opening error Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported.

In Gspot I get this:

Does anybody know how I can download YouTube videos that can be opened in VirtualDub? I tried downloading as all the possible file types from keepvid and keep-tube and have got similar problems - either AVIcodec/Gspot doesn't open them or doesn't know what codec it's using.


Cheers, Notso.

[poisondeathray]

Well I'm not going to watch the whole youtube video... But it sounds like you have system installed codec issues. You might have to use preferred codec tweaker or codec tweak tool to organize your system codecs and splitters

Alternatives methods:

You can use the ffinputdriver for vdub to open various file types directly
http://code.google.com/p/ffinputdriver/

Or you can use ffms2 in the avisynth script
http://code.google.com/p/ffmpegsource/

e.g
FFMpegSource2("video.mp4", atrack=-1)

Since both these mostly don't depend on system installed codecs and splitters, so should work for everybody despite different configurations (not completely true as ffms2 relies on haali splitter for some file types)

[Notsononymous]

Great thanks, I will try this tomorrow.

[theewizard]

i keep it simple

for you tube video's i need to change

i use SUPER

normally that is only so i can adjust the audio

FLV and MP4 both play on the wifes android tablet, so i only need to adjust volume and rewrap

if i convert flv it is too mp4, normally i don't need to convert mp4 into anything, unless i am collecting segments for a DVD compilation

SUPER uses its OWN codecs so there are usually NO issues

[Notsononymous]

i keep it simple

for you tube video's i need to change

i use SUPER

normally that is only so i can adjust the audio

FLV and MP4 both play on the wifes android tablet, so i only need to adjust volume and rewrap

if i convert flv it is too mp4, normally i don't need to convert mp4 into anything, unless i am collecting segments for a DVD compilation

SUPER uses its OWN codecs so there are usually NO issues

What is the quality loss like?

[manono]

For opening in VDub I first extract the audio using AoA Audio Extractor. And then open the video using FFVideoSource:

Loadplugin("D:\AviSynth Stuff\Dlls\ffms2.dll")
FFVideoSource("Film hi film (High).flv")

You can open the audio at the same time in VDub, but I prefer to extract it and work on it a bit in Audacity before muxing it in when reencoding the video.

What is the quality loss like?

If you're opening it using an AviSynth script you plan on reencoding it anyway, right? If done right it might actually look better, given the general quality of YouTube downloaded videos.

[TSJNachos]

One thing to keep in mind with VirtualDub, even if you have all the DirectShow codecs you might possibly need, you still might not be able to open certain files. Vdubl] is meant to work with AVI files, and doesn't natively support most other containers. Further complicating things is the fact that it uses VFW codecs, not DirectShow.

However, it also supports AVISynth, as well as third-party plugins. For this reason, I will have to agree with PoisonDeathRay's solutions. Either should work. Or, there are other programs out there (such as SUPER) that might be better suited to your needs.

As for SUPER (or most other programs), the quality loss depends entirely on what settings you use. You could convert the file to avi using lossless codecs, and there would be no loss at all. Or, you could use lossey codecs with high bitrates, and the quality loss would be as minimal as possible.

[theewizard]

yes ..
i have no issues with quality, i use a bitrate setting equal too or higher than the original file, and usually i can see no loss in quality

the file might be larger or smaller depending on the particular codec in use for the transcoding

i seldom worry about size, as i am trying to maintain quality NOT decrease file size

if i think the quality has degraded, i will to it again with higher settings