Problem with XmediaRecode

[Videogamer555]

I'm just going to quote part of my comment on the XmediaRecode download page. Maybe someone will have a solution to it.

Overall score = 3. This "overall" takes a hit, because of a category that isn't in the ratings. That category would be reliability (freeness from bugs). And let me tell you right now this software is ANYTHING but reliable (if a reliability category existed, I'd give it a "1"). FLV files saved from Youtube are like PULLING TEETH to just get it to convert without spontaneously crashing during the conversion. Even worse, is that it's conversion bugs are completely illogical. Converting FLV (h264 video in FLV container) to AVI (any codec) directly causes it to crash, but if I first convert the FLV file to MPEG2 (MPEG2 video stream in MPG container), and then convert the MPEG2 to AVI (any codec), it works perfectly. It seems that the internal state is not consistent, depending on what decoding was done prior to the reencoding.

I'm not sure how the program works internally, but the most sensable solution would be to have it convert any video input into a series of raw RGB24 images in memory, and then encode the raw image data into whatever the destination format is. That way it won't matter what the original encoding was, because when rencoding it will be working with raw images as if it was creating the output video from scratch (from a series of BMP images).

Unfortunately in an effort to optimize memory use (so you wouldn't need 4gb of ram for every minute of video), the author of this software has sacrificed reliability.

[AlanHK]

XMR is based on ffmpeg, not written from scratch.
Some versions are reliable, others wildly unstable.
I'm just sticking with 2.2.6.5.

Unfortunately, the author has no forum of his own and I have found no way to communicate with him or make bug reports. He's never openly posted here. So complaining or making suggestions is futile.

[Videogamer555]

XMR is based on ffmpeg, not written from scratch.
Some versions are reliable, others wildly unstable.
I'm just sticking with 2.2.6.5.

Unfortunately, the author has no forum of his own and I have found no way to communicate with him or make bug reports. He's never openly posted here. So complaining or making suggestions is futile.

So it's just a GUI front end for FFMPEG? Also are the bugs, bugs in the latest version of FFMPEG? Or are they bugs in XmediaRecode? Also I've noticed most people seemed to like version 3.0.8.1 and indeed it has less bugs than the newest version? But does 2.2.6.5 work the most stably of all the versions? One of the most annyoing things about the old versions is that they ALWAYS tell you when a new version is available (I assume it autochecks over the internet), and there is no way to turn this off.

[AlanHK]

So it's just a GUI front end for FFMPEG?

He uses the dll, not the command line version. Look at the program directory.

Also are the bugs, bugs in the latest version of FFMPEG? Or are they bugs in XmediaRecode?

Who knows? I mentioned it as that probably determines the data flow that you complained about.

Also I've noticed most people seemed to like version 3.0.8.1 and indeed it has less bugs than the newest version? But does 2.2.6.5 work the most stably of all the versions? One of the most annyoing things about the old versions is that they ALWAYS tell you when a new version is available (I assume it autochecks over the internet), and there is no way to turn this off.

I had problems with later versions so I reverted to one that worked for me. I got tired of experimenting and having to uninstall and reinstall
Don't know if any later ones work better or at all.
This does what I need -- mostly convert videos for my daughter's phone.

And you can turn off updates: Options/Preferences/Check for update automatically

[Hoser Rob]

Front ends for other open source programs are not only routine in the freeware world, many people would be surprised / dismayed to realize how many programs they paid for are also just gui front ends for free programs.

[Videogamer555]

Just out of curiosity, is this also a FFMPEG front end, or a separate conversion program in its own right? http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter/

[Steve(MS)]

Who knows? these cheap chinese converters are all over the net now, I wouldn't be surprised if most of them are owned by a few.
They do seem to prefer to use ffmpeg converter in their offerings.
Best to use freeware ffmpeg with front ends or x264 with its many front ends.

[cal_tony]

I have been using XMR for the past 3 years. For me, I have always found it to do some things very well and other things not and not always the same things, to be problematic from version to version. I don't use it that much but when I do update to a new version I always use the portable version and try it with something that I know was a problem with an earlier version. Usually it doesn't work any better so I just delete the folder. Right now I have 3 previous portable versions on my hard disk.

Tony

[ozok]

Just out of curiosity, is this also a FFMPEG front end, or a separate conversion program in its own right? http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter/

IIRC it does not use ffmpeg.exe, but it uses libav* libraries which are a part of ffmpeg project. I use "Process Explorer" to see if a converter (or any other program) uses some other backend to do the job.

See TEncoder using ffmpeg: https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/wBpIh.jpg

[Videogamer555]

Hmm. I wonder if I can then create my own front end for ffmpeg.dll using VB6. The only problem I might encounter is based on just what type of DLL file it is. If it is a STDCALL DLL then it will work in VB6 with a few Declare statements to make its functions available to VB6. If it is a CDECL DLL file then it won't work with VB6 directly, and you'll need to either use some super advanced VB6 programing techniques to make it work (as some people have done) or you'll need an STDCALL DLL wrapper that contains the CDECL DLL file, so that the new DLL file can be called from VB6. But to make such a wrapper you'll need to know quite an advanced amount of knowledge on how to use C or C++ (knowledge I don't have, and would require me to seek out another person to compile it for me).