Easy ASF conversion - I finally did it!

[James_T_Kirk]

First of all Microsoft should be horsewhipped for even making this crappy format and second of all whoever uses this format should be horsewhipped even more!

Thats said I am happy to announce that I converted an ASF to MPEG without demuxing and all that techno crap!

ASF's are crappy and they mess up your encodes and crash TMPGEnc, so what i did was.

1 - Using ASFtools - converted ASF to AVI

2 - Using Vdub - save .Wav of the AVI

3 - Using TMPGEnc I encoded using the AVI video and the .WAV audio.

Thats it and thats all i did and it worked great. I had to seperate the audio with Vdub because the ASF, even though it was an AVI now it still messed up the audio in TMPGEnc. But Vdub seemed to save the .Wav file just fine.

Just follow those three steps and you have a EASY way of converting ASF files. CHEERS!

Dear James T,
I will let you know how your instructions go as far as encoding
an ASF file. I tried to encode an avi file last night but when I got up this
morning it said it still had 50+ hours to go and it had only encoded 15
minutes of a 90 minute movie. I crapped it out and tried to load it in
Virtual Dub 1.4 but I received the ASF error message. The file has an
AVI extention. I guess it is an ASF in disquise as an AVI.
I am going to try your method of encoding tonight and I will post
another reply if this worked or not. I usually do not have any problems
so I hope this goes ok.

Thanks.

[kitty]

Encoding a 90 minute movie with a K6-2 is like making a car with a piece of sheet steel & only a ball pein hammer. It can be done but uh don't expect it this millenium.

Encoding a 90 minute movie with a K6-2 is like making a car with a piece of sheet steel & only a ball pein hammer. It can be done but uh don't expect it this millenium.

I've encoded several movies from avi to mpg (vcd) in just about 8 hours.
No problems and I even used the PC during this time, but only for
short periods. I mostly encode at night so there is no other use.
Lately, though, I have been having some troubles with my PC encoding.
It starts out ok but then it craps out. I have noticed this more when the
outside temp is up (80+) and the dewpoint is up as well. Since we
do not have central air the only thing I can think of it that the fan cannot
keep up with the heat output of the CPU, another reason to do it at night.
I have tried Waterfall but I don't really know if it is working correctly. I
will be DL'ing SpeedFan from CNET to see if that works. If you have any
other ideas for CPU cooling that do not cost alot please let me know.
Thanks.

By "Crapping Out" I mean BSOD or "This program has performed an..."
(You know the rest). Upon re-boot it will either give me a Windows
Protection Error or boot right to Safe Mode. The last time this happend
I ran the System File Checker and then ScanDisk. This seemed to fix
the problem. I even upgraded the HD from 6.4 gig to 40 gig and it was
running fine, although when I upgraded the HD I noticed something I am
not sure about. The slave drive I removed was quite hot. I mean, I almost
could not touch it. I do not believe this was good (probably an understatement).
I let the whole PC cool down for about an hour then installed the new HD.
I have been leaving it on all the time but since these intermittent problems
have started I have been turning it off after a few hours, especially during
the high temps.
If anyone has any ideas about these types of problems just let me know.

Thanks again.

I have had no luck converting an ASF to AVI with your instructions.
I have tried everything I can think of. I even converted the ASF to
WMV and then tried TMPGEnc. It gets thru the first 5 minutes of the movie
ok then it slooooows down. I checked it a couple hours after I started and
it said I had 43 hours left. I have since stopped trying to convert it
but I will attempt it again at some point in the near future.
Thanks for your pointers.

[James_T_Kirk]

Your using ASFtools to convert the ASF to AVI and it wont convert? If so try repairing the asf first with the ASFtools - then it should convert to AVI with no problems - after that it is impoprtant to save the audio as a WAV using Vdub - then convert to mpeg using the AVI video and the WAV audio.

Your using ASFtools to convert the ASF to AVI and it wont convert? If so try repairing the asf first with the ASFtools - then it should convert to AVI with no problems - after that it is impoprtant to save the audio as a WAV using Vdub - then convert to mpeg using the AVI video and the WAV audio.

1) I tried to convert the asf to mpg with TMPGEnc - Way too long and
it froze my PC.
2) Came here to get help. Saw your post and DL'd all the software.
3) Tried to convert the asf with VirtualDub 1.3 - Codec problem.
4) Converted the asf to WMV format - OK.
5) Tried to convert the wmv file in TMPGEnc - Codec problem.
6) Deleted the wmv file, started from scratch.
7) Used ASFTools to encode the asf to avi - No go.
8) Used ASFTools to "Fix" asf file. Ok
9) Tried to encode the now fixed asf with TMPGEnc:
The first 5 minutes of encoding went very well. After that the encoding
time started creeping up, 20 hours, 25, 35, etc...

It was at this point I said enough is enough. I canned the whole project
for now. I have 13 avi's to convert to mpg, then cut and merge parts
of mpgs to the converted avi's. This is going so smooth compared to
the asf file. I figure by the time I am done with the mpg's I will come back
here and see if someone has a different way of doing it. I guess you could
say I am a little "Gun Shy" of installing different codecs on my PC. My
wife now uses it for a business and I do not want to get her mad if I
crap the thing out. I will keep you posted when I try this again.

Thanks again for your info.

Your using ASFtools to convert the ASF to AVI and it wont convert? If so try repairing the asf first with the ASFtools - then it should convert to AVI with no problems - after that it is impoprtant to save the audio as a WAV using Vdub - then convert to mpeg using the AVI video and the WAV audio.

Sorry. I forgot one thing: I did get ASFTools to convert the avi but
I could not play it. All I could do is hear the audio. (Da*m, I knew I forgot
something)

If this problem is relativly minor and can be fixed easily, then please
let me know. Could it be just a missing codec?

Thanks again.

[James_T_Kirk]

well what I was saying was - fix the asf file - then convert to AVI. after that play the avi - if the picture is all good then save the wav in Vdub -

Heres another to try also - if all you cant get a picture when converting to AVI - just use the audio - what i mean is save the wave from the AVI you made and then try converting the ASF video and the WAV audio into mpeg in tmpgenc.

If you have questions go ahead and email me, i struggled with the ASF thing for awhile before i figured it out and im happy to help you my email is theburnward@charter.net the email button up top should work also. good luck -

As for codecs go - Dont install ANGELPOTION it wont mess up your computer but it will mess up your encodes - it adds a purplish hue to them that is hard as hell to get rid of. Ive never had a problem with any other codecs as they are just DLL's (direct linking librarys) that allow programs to access different things. there not executable files or anything.

I try and make it to VCDhelp as much as I can but I check my email more so just email me

"Heres another to try also - if all you cant get a picture when converting to AVI - just use the audio - what i mean is save the wave from the AVI you made and then try converting the ASF video and the WAV audio into mpeg in tmpgenc".

I'll give this a try. It may be a few days before I acutally get to it - I am
putting in a new kitchen floor. I usually do this stuff after I get home from
work - approx. 1:45am EST. If I get to bed by 3am I am ok but some of
this encoding takes a while.

BTW: I have discovered a small problem with my PC. Whenever the
outside temp/dewpoint start getting high (80+ temp 65+dewpoint) my
PC starts to get overheated. I thought it was due to my new HDD but
since the temp has dropped it has been running fine. I guess a case
fan would be a good idea. I've been pricing them and I will probably
get one in a couple weeks. Until then I just have to put up with waiting
till I get home.

Thanks again and I WILL post on this if I get anywhere with it.

BTW: Do you or anyone else know what consumes the most time while
trying to encode an asf in TMPGEnc? Is it the video or audio or the
combination of both?

Thanks, Mega.

P.S. I also have been considering using Nero to convert it. I got it when I
bought my CD-RW. Any thoughts on this?

[James_T_Kirk]

Looks like im the only one who is reading this stuff so -

Nero sucks for converting - it doesn't do ASF any better and it crashes like a sumbitch. and you cant change any settings.

From what I can tell its a combonation of both video and auddio that messeshe asf encode up - there are countless super high technical howtos on converting asf and all of those involve seperating the video from the audio.

i just wanted an easy no bullshit way of doing it and I found one that works for me.

Thanks for the input. I will keep you posted. If I discover an easier
way to convert asf other than the way you have I'll post that also.
Like I said before though, it may be a few days to a week before I
get another chance to work on it.

Thanks.

One last item: I found this program:

http://www.logipole.com/konvertor_us.htm

Is there any truth about the conversion portion?
It does look "buggy" as the author says but would it be
worth a try?

Thanks.

[litmus]

I also had a problem with ASFtools using this method. I converted a file to an AVI, but when I try to open it in VirtualDUB (to extract the .WAV) I get an error, "Couldn't locate decompressor for format 'MP43' microsoft high speed mpeg 4 V3". And the AVI itself won't play in either media player or open in TMPEG-Enc. Very frustrating. Anybody know a solution for this?

[Big_Jit]

Hey Everybody!...

Virtualdub v1.3 will open asf and wmv files as long as you have the codec's installed...

so will TMPGEnc v2.0...

Hey Everybody!...

Virtualdub v1.3 will open asf and wmv files as long as you have the codec's installed...

so will TMPGEnc v2.0...

Do you know which codecs you need for ASF support?

[lee mu bai]

Avisynth is probably the best way to do this. You can also try GraphEdit. Both methods require a bit of reading before you plunge in, though.

http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/synth-vdub.htm

[Big_Jit]

The asf and wmv codecs should already come with wmplayer. But you can download the windows media player codecs form here

[litmus]

Jilt,
The thing is, is that I can play the ASF file just fine in media player, but when I open that file in virtualdub (to strip the .wav), I get that error regarding the sound codec (see message above). My thinking is that I do have the codecs, since I am able to play the file.

[Big_Jit]

litmus

install the nimo codec pack and everything should work fine...

[jl3838]

I have been experimenting with converting asf to vcd for quite some time and found that there is no short cut to it. Using asftools often ends up with an unplayable or unrecognizable avi file that cannot be used by TMPGEnc. I use the following method to convert:
1. convert asf to wmv using Windows Media Tools with a custom setting to mpg1
2. convert wmv to avi using asftools
3. convert avi to vcd using TMPGEnc
Note: Some asf may have no audio after wmv conversion. I use dbPowerAmp to extract the audio to wav and mux in TMPGEnc.

Try it. There is a little sacrifice on the quality and time which is about 2 - 4 times of the length of the video to complete the conversion but it works. I put this out here hoping someone can find a better way to convert those asf files.

[kitty]

I have found this guide to help also on some of the nasty Microsoft encodes: http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/asf_wmv2avi_mpg.html

[Big_Jit]

For absolutely no quality loss use Graphedit and follow this simple guide but beware that the output is uncompressed so the file size will be HUGE!

[jl3838]

My experience with GraphEdit is that it locks up frequently even during the setup stage. That is why I gave up on it. Any idea why it locks up so often? I believe I have most codecs installed.

[Big_Jit]

Make sure that you have the latest version of directX installed and that you have all of the windows security updates installed using windows update...

P.S. I've never had Graphedit Lock up once

Make sure that you have the latest version of directX installed and that you have all of the windows security updates installed using windows update...

P.S. I've never had Graphedit Lock up once

Just an update to my encoding experience:
I have tried GraphEdit. I like it but it does not like the asf I am working with. It will work on the file for a few minutes then give me an error after approx. 4gig (new file size). I will post the error later today. I am trying to convert a 197meg file. I have also tried Windows Media Encoder but THAT now is messing up. It may be due to the heat but it will only encode about 1/4 of the file then lock up. Plus the wmv file created does not play very well with Media Player 6.4 (I prefer this one. I have 7+ installed also). I am going to try these methods when I get home from work today:

http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/asf_wmv2avi_mpg.html

http://www.angelfire.com/film/baz00ie/

If these do not work I will post again begging for help.

FYI: the only reason I am trying to convert this asf to another format is
there are 3 spots in the asf that I want to clear up. 2 are stuck frames
and the other is a "Rainbow" effect (Kinda like the person switched TV
channels for a second). The audio/video stay in sync I just want to make
the file better than it is, and make it a VCD or course.

Thanks for any input.

[Big_Jit]

Try Virtualdub v1.3 or TMPGEnc v2.02 if those methods don't work for you. I have had Graphedit recently lock up when loading the "File Writer" filter and the reason for that was that I had to press Cancel upon loading the filter and then when i got my graph organized then I could give the filemane. But that's the only problem I've had.

There is another Graphedit tutorial that lets you add a compression filter in the graph so you don't have to go uncompressed. Somebody else posted the link in another forum topic but I don't know who that person was or I'd give them credit for finding the site, but the page can be found here. Good luck to ya!...

Ok, here goes. I hope I have everything straight:
First I had an AVI that was really an ASF.
I tried just about all the links and guides to convert it to AVI but no luck,
until now. These are the steps I did and it worked

1)Put the file through Windows Media Encoder following these directions:

http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/asf_wmv2avi_mpg.html

The only step I did not do was to rename the file .asf. I kept it .wmv.

2)Put the wmv file through Graphedit following this guide:

http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=98704&highlight=

The only difference I had on this one was the Windows Media Video Decoder box was missing. I saw another guide almost exactly like this one
http://cvrr.ucsd.edu/~tbhall/asst/WMVtoAVI.html
but the decoder box was missing so I followed this one.
So, my Graphedit screen looked just like the one on the above link
without the Windows Media Encoder box.

3)I followed the rest of kenetik's guide and the file was converted to an avi.

4)Loaded up the new avi in Virtual Dub 1.3 and did some editing.

I am stopped at this point. I tried to compress it using the Divx 5 codec
and it worked, but since it was going to take 3 hours I stopped it. I will
start it up again tonight but I do not forsee any problems. After I compress
it I will use TMPGenc to make a VCD using Kwag's template for 1 CD.

Thanks.