AVISynth Script Help

[Bel]

I posted this elsewhere at the end of another one of my threads, but seeing as it is really a new topic (and wasn't garnering any responses) I thought I would try fresh...

I still can't get AVIsynth working... It's probably me... I think I at least got it installed because now CCE no longer says that "frame rate of 1 not supported." Now it says: "Frame Size 750x56 not supported, Supported Frame Size is 720x576" The file I am trying to encode is a 480x480 svcd stream, confirmed in bitrate viewer, which I am trying to convert to dvd at half d1 resolution.

Here is the script that I am using:
LoadPlugin("C:\windows\system\avisynth.dll")
mpeg2Source("d:\working\andromeda 2x15.m2v")
BilinearResize(352,480)
ResampleAudio(44100)

I've never changed resolution in this fashion either, I was pretty much a TMPGenc junky. Is that the right filter for what I'm trying to do? Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Also, just to support my idea that I think I have it installed correctly, my test.avs with just Version in it, loads into CCE ready to convert. Converted it to an .m2v and got the little copyright message. Now if I can only figure out these @!%*#@& scripts.

[disturbed1]

You need to get mpeg2dec.dll.

Loadplugin("yourdrive:\the_folder_its_in\mpeg2dec. dll")
mpeg2source("your_d2v_file.d2v")
BilinearResize(352,480)
ResampleAudio(44100)



You still need to make a d2v project file with DVD2AVI. Use 1.76, not any of the updated ones.

You should play you avs file through media player, if there's errors it will tell you what they are.

[Bel]

Thanks man, looks like it worked perfectly. Doing my first conversion now. Was getting pissed for a while after cause it still wasn't working, then I realized I misspelled mpeg2dec.dll. Hehehe. The media player tip was huge in helping me figure out what the hell was wrong. Thanks again.

[Bel]

Well, it encoded succesfully... My problem now is with the resize. It resized it and made it smaller but my aspect ratio went haywire. Pretty much cut the horizontal resolution in half as would be expected. I'm sure there is a way (or at least I think there is) to resize without changing the aspect ratio, but I don't know what it is. Any solutions? Thanks.

[adam]

The aspect ratio flag should still be set to either 4:3 or 16:9 but it won't be displayed in that aspect ratio unless you are playing it on something which recognizes that flag.

In short if your testing your SVCDs in windows media player they are going to look squished. If you play it on a software dvd player or a hardware dvd player it will resize it to its proper aspect ratio and it will look correct. This is how svcds are supposed to work The exact same thing happens with dvds and even vcds its just not nearly as noticable since their native resolutions are closer to their aspect ratio.

[Bel]

Thanks for the reply Adam. Regarding the aspect ratio, I played the file in Powerdvd with the keep aspect ratio box checked which has worked for all of my TMPG encodes so I think if proper would work for this one as well. I also tried authoring the file with Spruce to a dvd title set and changed the resolution with ifoedit but still no go. Regarding the half horizontal check box in CCE, would that need to be checked since I am going to half-d1 resolution? I think I may have blundered regarding the aspect ratio settings so I am reencoding now, but not holding out hope. Any other ideas? Thanks.

[adam]

No don't use the half d1 setting. That will cut your input resolution in half, regardless of what you are feeding it.

If you didn't specifically change the aspect ratio in the video settings in cce than your aspect ratio flag is still set to 4:3. I do not use PowerDVD, perhaps it doesnt recognize the flag in file mode ( I assume thats how you played it.) It might require that you actually burn it and play it in disk mode, I know some software players are like this. If you are unwilling to potentially waste a cdr then create a SVCD disk image in vcdimager and use Daemon tools to mount the image. Essentially you will be able to access the image as if it were burnt to a cd currently in your cdrom.

There's no better way to test a svcd than on a standalone dvd player, I recommend you try this if possible. My guess is that the aspect ratio will be fine.

[Bel]

Thanks for the response. Regarding Powerdvd recognizing the display aspect flag in file mode, I believe it does because when I use CCE when I do not need to change the resolution if I forget to change the aspect ratio, power dvd will show it messed up, and if I have the correct ratio it gets displayed correctly. As I said, the ultimate goal is to burn to dvd+r so I will try your suggestion and burn one to an RW and see if it displays correctly.

My current script is:
LoadPlugin("mpeg2dec.dll")
mpeg2Source("d:\working\filename.d2v")
BilinearResize(352,480)
ResampleAudio(44100)

In the filter help options for AVISynth, it says:

BilinearResize(clip, int target_width, int target_height)
BilinearResize(clip, int target_width, int target_height, float "src_left", float "src_top", float "src_width", float "src_height")

# Load a video file and resize it to 240x180 (from whatever it was before)
AVISource("video.avi").BilinearResize(240,180)
# Load a 720x480 (CCIR601) video and resize it to 352x240 (VCD),
# preserving the correct aspect ratio
AVISource("dv.avi").BilinearResize(352,240,8,0,704 ,480)

Do I need to add some extra numbers to keep the aspect ratio correct? I'm assuming no, since noone has said so. I tried the numbers in the sample (due to the fact that the target resolution was the same) but all I got was a green screen throughout. Oh well, back to trying... If anyone has an epiphane, I'd love to hear it.

[Bel]

Well, I finally got it working...

WOOHOO!!!!!

Here's what I was doing (I think, because I closed CCE before confirming my final settings). I was checking the dvd compliant box (thinking that was a good idea as my conversion was intended to be burned on dvd), however I think that made cce force the resolution at 720x480 even though I was framserving it at 352x480. This caused the final product to be half as wide as it should be. I figured this out when I looked at the properties of the video in powerdvd and it showed a 720x480 resolution. I think the runs where I was checking half dvd resolution, I was even getting half of that.

Once I unchecked the dvd compliant box, everything worked peachy. At least I'm almost certain it did, doing my test burn now, but everything looks great in PowerDVD. I thought that the dvd compliant box would help create a dvd compliant GOP structure, but I guess it did other things.

Thanks Adam and Disturbed1 for all your help.

I love this place