Avisynth script to MPEG2 - What to do?

[ENunn]

I've been wanting to convert my tape transfers to a DVD compliant MPEG2 file, but I'm having trouble figuring out what to do. I usually edit my transfers with Avisynth and then transcode to H264 through ffmpeg, but I do want a DVD copy, and maybe a high quality 4:2:2 MPEG2 copy as well. A while back I used HCEnc, but I can't seem to get it to work now. It's not detecting huffyuv for some reason. I also tried AVStoDVD, but I guess it doesn't work with Avisynth scripts. Both are trying to use AVS 2.6, which I installed, but I'd rather have something that works with my current AVS+ installation. I could use ffmpeg, but I want my encodes to look halfway decent, so I'm not really sure about what settings to use. I do want them to fit on either a 4.7gb or an 8.5GB DVD (I have both). What should I do?

[Skiller]

HCenc needs an AVS script as source, not Huffyuv AVI.

The script could be as simple as AVISource("Huffyuv.avi").

[ENunn]

HCenc needs an AVS script as source, not Huffyuv AVI.

The script could be as simple as AVISource("Huffyuv.avi").

That's what I'm doing, but it just throws up this

AVISource: Couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc HFYU

Even though I already have huffyuv installed.

[jagabo]

And of course ffmpeg has an MPEG 2 encoder and MPG Program Stream and VOB muxers.

[ENunn]

And of course ffmpeg has an MPEG 2 encoder and MPG Program Stream and VOB muxers.

I don't mind using ffmpeg, I just don't know what settings to use to get a good quality encode that can fit on a DVD.

[poisondeathray]

HCenc needs an AVS script as source, not Huffyuv AVI.

The script could be as simple as AVISource("Huffyuv.avi").

That's what I'm doing, but it just throws up this

AVISource: Couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc HFYU

Even though I already have huffyuv installed.

If you're using x64 avisynth, you need x64 huffyuv codec installed

[ENunn]

If you're using x64 avisynth, you need x64 huffyuv codec installed

It's installed but it's still not working. Same error. Same script loads up fine in AVSPmod and I can encode with ffmpeg.

I think this has to do with my Avisynth install. ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶t̶e̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶v̶i̶s̶y̶n̶t̶h̶.̶d̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶A̶v̶i̶s̶y̶n̶t̶h̶+̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶2̶.̶6̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶t̶e̶c̶t̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶u̶f̶f̶y̶u̶v̶ ̶e̶r̶r̶o̶r̶.̶ I had to install the latest 32-bit AVS+. It's still throwing up the same error with Huffyuv and I don't know what to do. If only this app was updated to work with 64 bit Avisynth...

[poisondeathray]

I think HCEnc might be x86 only , so it calls/initializes x86 avisynth. Maybe that's why avs2dvd is x86 too ?

eg. if you use avspmod x86, or vdub x86, the x86 avisynth.dll will get initialized and used, not x64 avisynth

[ENunn]

I think HCEnc might be x86 only , so it calls/initializes x86 avisynth. Maybe that's why avs2dvd is x86 too ?

eg. if you use avspmod x86, or vdub x86, the x86 avisynth.dll will get initialized and used, not x64 avisynth

Yeah, I had a feeling. Trying to figure out what to do here, I need some alternatives that work for me. I heard ffmpeg's MPEG2 encoder is lousy but I don't know. If anyone has any good quality settings, feel free to share.

[poisondeathray]

You can check this thread for ffmpeg MPEG2/DVD encoding settings. In some of the later posts, there are updated versions (ffmpeg syntax changed over the years)

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=174620

I can vouch that ffmpeg's mpeg2/dvd encoding was lousy years ago, but not sure about the current state

[ENunn]

You can check this thread for ffmpeg MPEG2/DVD encoding settings. In some of the later posts, there are updated versions (ffmpeg syntax changed over the years)

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=174620

I can vouch that ffmpeg's mpeg2/dvd encoding was lousy years ago, but not sure about the current state

Thanks. I tried the script on post 24. It took some time to set up but thankfully it works. But the output isn't being flagged as interlaced for some reason and I'm not sure why.

[poisondeathray]

You can check this thread for ffmpeg MPEG2/DVD encoding settings. In some of the later posts, there are updated versions (ffmpeg syntax changed over the years)

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=174620

I can vouch that ffmpeg's mpeg2/dvd encoding was lousy years ago, but not sure about the current state

Thanks. I tried the script on post 24. It took some time to set up but thankfully it works. But the output isn't being flagged as interlaced for some reason and I'm not sure why.

The syntax changes every so often in ffmpeg land

for TFF (-top 1 isn't needed, but it used to be used)

 -vf setfield=tff -flags +ilme+ildct -top 1

for BFF (-top 0 isn't needed, but it used to be used)

 -vf setfield=bff -flags +ilme+ildct -top 0

[Skiller]

If you want quality, HCenc is recommended. Ffmpeg's MPEG2 encoding is not up to par.

Actually, if we're talking about analog tapes of shaky camcorder footage, ProCoder 1.5 is the best MPEG2 encoder for that, but good luck finding it.

[ENunn]

Yeah, ffmpeg's encoder isn't bad but I do wish it was better. If only I could get HCenc working with my huffyuv files...

If anyone has any ideas on how to fix it please share. I'd love to get this working. I already have my huffyuv.dll in System32 and SYSWOW64 and it's still not getting detected by 32-bit Avisynth.

[poisondeathray]

You can use alternate source filter, such as FFVideoSource, or LWLibavVideoSource for huffyuv . There are 2nd choices, because they require indexing. I would try to fix your huffyuv install first. It must be x86 install of huffyuv if hcenc is using x86 avisynth

[ENunn]

You can use alternate source filter, such as FFVideoSource, or LWLibavVideoSource for huffyuv . There are 2nd choices, because they require indexing. I would try to fix your huffyuv install first. It must be x86 install of huffyuv if hcenc is using x86 avisynth

Yeah, I'm trying to fix it but I've broke it completely. Avisynth isn't loading it at all, and huffyuv is gone in Virtualdub. I don't know how to fix it. I tried to reinstall but it keeps failing.

[Attachment 72410 - Click to enlarge]

EDIT: Fixed. I ended up using an installer off Github. And thankfully it fixed HCEnc.