Critique my AME CS6 settings: DV-avi ---> H.264 ---> WD TV Media Player

[LouGee]

(My first post after lurking here for a long time) I have a bunch of DV-avi files that were converted from tape using Adobe Premiere Elements years ago. These are the usual 13Gb files stored on 2Tb Seagate Backup Plus USB drives (one here and a backup at another house). For years I've been playing them on my laptop into our living-room LED-TV via HDMI, but it's time to get a WD TV Media Player box, which to the best of my research is about the most user-friendly device for watching home video files (so wife & kids can use it).

Unfortunately, it doesn't play DV-avi files. No problem, I'll buy another Backup Plus and make copies of them in H.264 using AME CS6. The original DV-avi files (as well as the original tapes) will continue to be in safe keeping. Here's my settings if anyone would like to critique them...

(Queue panel)
File > Add Source (file loads into Queue window)
Format drop arrow > change to H.264 ----> Preset auto-changes to NTSC DV
Click on "NTSC DV" in preset to bring up Export Settings window

Export Settings (panel)
Format: H.264
Preset: NTSC DV
Export Video: checked (obviously)
Export Audio: checked

Basic Video Settings (section)
Video Tab
Width: 720
Height: 480
Frame Rate: 29.97
Field Order: Progressive <----- or should this be interlaced??
Aspect: D1/DV NTSC (0.9091)
TV Standard: NTSC
Profile: High
Level: 3.2 <------ default gives 3.1, but I've bumped it to 3.2 to get a higher Target/Max bitrate
Render at Maximum Depth <---- unchecked/unneeded because DV-avi is not 32 bit color
Bitrate Settings
Bitrate Encoding: VBR, 2 pass
Target Bitrate: <---- crank all the way up to 25 (default gives 3)
Maximum Bitrate: <---- also crank all the way up to 25 (default gives 6)
Advanced Settings
Set Key Frame Distance <----- unchecked by default - should I use this?

Use Maximum Render Quality <---- unchecked because I'm not changing the frame size
Frame Blending <---- unchecked because I'm not changing the frame rate




I've boldend the two things I'm most concerned about...

1. Should I go with progressive or interlaced?
2. Bumping the Level to 3.2 allows me to crank the Target/Max bitrates up to 25.
Why? The original DV source shows about 28,000kbps data/total bitrate.... bumping the Target/Max to 25 gives me a video file with about 25,000kbps data/total bitrate which is closer to the original.. but is this necessary for H.264? (I want the best quality, and drive space is not an issue)

Also, am I correct in not checking the Key Frame/Max Render Quality/Frame Blending?? Thanks in advance.

[newpball]

25Mb/s for SD video with H.264 is pretty darn high, while the return on improved quality will be minimum.

Thing I would worry about is if that player can actually handle this bitrate, the engineering quality of those firmware players is often less than spotless.

With respect to deinterlacing the specs say it supports 720x480p30, that's progressive, that implies you need to deinterlace and throw away every other resulting frame, a solution less than optimum.

Are you sure you got exactly 720x480 from DV tape?

If you want quality I advice a HTPC not some of those crappy media players with limited and often buggy playing abilities. Not only do you have full flexibility and be future proof with a HTPC you can play your originals with the best possible quality!

[LouGee]

25Mb/s for SD video with H.264 is pretty darn high, while the return on improved quality will be minimum.

Thing I would worry about is if that player can actually handle this bitrate, the engineering quality of those firmware players is often less than spotless.


Thanks, did you get that from this?
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/AAG/ENG/4178-706348.pdf

It says: H.264 BP@L3 up to 720x480p30
Does this mean I should use Level 3.0 and not 3.1 or 3.2? Does it make much difference?
In AME L3.0 lets you take the Target/Max bitrate settings up to 12.5Mbs ... then 3.1 lets you go up to 17.5Mb/s ... and 3.2 lets you go up to 25Mb/s

I did try encoding at L3.0 with the default Target/Max bitrate settings of 3Mb/s & 6Mb/s respectively, and to be honest, the picture quality is hard to tell from the 25Mb/s version.

Are you sure you got exactly 720x480 from DV tape?

That's what it says not only in AME, but also in Windows > Properties > Details. Perhaps Premiere Elements forced it that way years ago?

[smrpix]

Folks are overthinking this.

Crank up the bitrate to 6/9 instead of 3/6 and output a brief high-motion section as both progressive and interlaced. Play those two clips on your WDTV and see which looks better. Use the settings that look better to re-encode the entire video.

(btw, 720x480 is absolutely correct for DV tape. WDTV is an excellent media player.)

[newpball]

WDTV is an excellent media player.)

Do you use it?

[newpball]

WDTV is an excellent media player.)

Do you use it?

It states in micro text: "no support for global motion compensation" which is probably a euphemism for not supporting any deinterlacing or telecine cadences.

[_Al_]

I have three of them, different generations.
If he's got WDTV box any generation, but first one, model from 2009, or so, it is ok, it is really good player, pulling data from NAS, Blu-Ray original streams, so bitrate is not a question.
Also there are some dumb-down WDTV versions out there, cheape versions, hopefully he has not those.

Using Adobe Premiere you have to guess bitrate, because Premire does not use Constant Quality encoding. Any x264 encoder uses that type of encoding. You choose quality number (quantizer), for DV avi perhaps CRF 17 is good enough quality. And encoder uses so much bitrate to keep that quality. And it is 1pass. Time saver also. CRF 17 would give about 6-7Mbit/s for 59.940p video and a bit more for interlace encoding. But that is a guess , I do not know your video.

So to encode to 29.970p is wrong. To encode to 29.97i is OK. And encoding to 59.94p is ok providing you use excellent QTGMC deinterlacer. So in Premiere you have only choice to encode interlace, anamorphic 720x480 H.264, 29.97i. To think about some other frame rate or resizing would not be optimal doing in Premiere. Then you have a choice 1pass or 2pass. 1pass is a waste of bitrate and 2pass is first a lottery, guessing right bitrate, second 2pass is a waste of time also. But doable, sure, time could be no issue perhaps.

level 3.1 or 3.2 are just labels, WDTV player would not care for sure, level 3.2 you can choose for 59.94p frame rate or higher bitrates, so it is by specs, but it is just a label anyway , check it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels

if using x264 encoder you do not have to care about that level setting because x264 chooses value by specs, like in that link I provided, if bitrate is high enough (by setting buffers to 20000 for example) it would set level 3.2, if frame rate is 29.97i and buffers less than 15000 it perhaps chooses level 3.1 etc.

[smrpix]

WDTV is an excellent media player.)

Do you use it?

Yes.

[Brad]

It states in micro text: "no support for global motion compensation" which is probably a euphemism for not supporting any deinterlacing or telecine cadences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_motion_compensation

[LouGee]

Premire does not use Constant Quality encoding. Any x264 encoder uses that type of encoding

Would I be better off using Handbrake for converting Dv-avi to MP4? (h264)

So to encode to 29.970p is wrong. To encode to 29.97i is OK.

So if I'm trying to keep 29.97, would I be better off keeping these interlaced, and not changing them to progressive when I encode to h264?
(am I better off always keeping interlaced as interlaced?)



... a few posts above, someone mentioned an HTPC... I've also looked into buying a small laptop/notebook with HDMI and just using Windows Media Center (with a USB remote) instead of WD TV Media Player... maybe that might be the best way after all?

[_Al_]

first about that HTPC, newpball is here on a mission to tell people always to go out there and buy latest HTPC, TV and such, sort of latest thing into every household, for every grandma and grandpa as well,.., just ignore it,.. you already have a device that is more than enough for you

Handbrake does not use QTGMC so you better encode interlace in there, you have to choose anamorphic video, 720x480, 4:3, interlaced, not sure how it exactly goes in there now, there is lots of threads how to set it on videohelp or youtube ...

Anyway, 59.94p is not a bad solution if you use QTGMC, there is no need to be afraid of that double frame rate, even phones handle that with ease, remember it is standard resolution, not HD, plus side is you do not worry about quality of deinterlacing during playback on any device, cheap device etc., but downside is that set it up to encode using QTGMC is not straight forward and it takes time. QTGMC takes much more time to process during encoding.

[newpball]

... a few posts above, someone mentioned an HTPC... I've also looked into buying a small laptop/notebook with HDMI and just using Windows Media Center (with a USB remote) instead of WD TV Media Player... maybe that might be the best way after all?

HDPC is always the better solution than those media player boxes.

I would avoid a laptop, if you want to go mini use a NUC:

http://hometheatrelife.com/intel-nuc-htpc-build/

[smrpix]

HDPC is always the better solution than those media player boxes.

If you're going to troll and spam, at least learn to spell.

[newpball]

HDPC is always the better solution than those media player boxes.

If you're going to troll and spam, at least learn to spell.

This is getting ridiculous, the OP asks about HTPCs and now I am spamming?

A HTPC is obviously much more flexible than those pre fab media players.

[Cornucopia]

And obviously much more expensive, and very likely unnecessary (for this task).

Scott

[LouGee]

I'm sure QTGMC is probably a great tool, but going down the path of learning Avisynth is just a bit too much for the time I don't have. The NUC seems like a good unit, but the WMC interface is well.....

[_Al_]

I'm sure QTGMC is probably a great tool, but going down the path of learning Avisynth is just a bit too much for the time I don't have.

I had automatize that, download DV avi helper.zip, unzip it, no Avisynth knowledge needed, you just need to install this Avisynth 2.5.8 , then Cedocida DV codec. Then any names for your video names and their paths must not have any special characters (limit it to only numbers, alphabet signs and _ - or spaces), then just drop one DV avi or more DV avi's onto "make progressive mp4.BAT". It will make mp4 or more mp4's using QTGMC. You do not have to know how QTGMC or Avisynth works , it will create Avisynth scripts automatically in the process. Processing takes much longer, about 3x longer than "make interlace mp4.BAT". That "make interlace mp4.BAT" works exactly the same way, as you'd make that anamorphic interlace mp4 in Handbrake. Using this both methods for one short DV avi (batch for "make progressive mp4.BAT" and "make interlace mp4.BAT"), you can compare result on the big screen or tablet, because same settings are used, those interlace mp4's oddly enough might result in slightly larger volume.

The NUC seems like a good unit, but the WMC interface is well.....

Kodi can be used, it is like PC, so everything is possible. But that could be its downside as well. You have to make it work, take care of it etc., the trend is for general public to plug it and use it. No need to hurry. You have good player, those things are getting smaller and more simple and more powerful and more simple to use in the future, like a PC in HDMI stick form, one possible direction or some other, just a box like that NUC ...

[LouGee]

AI, thanks for posting that. I finally got around to trying it today. I DL'd and installed both Avisynth 2.5.8 and Cedocida (using cedicida_dv_only.inf) as well as your DV avi helper. The only change I made in settings.BAT was changing the delete temp folder to "no".

For my first test, I dropped my 1 min test dv-avi file onto "make interlace MP4.bat" and it worked. Then I dropped the same file onto "make progressive MP4.bat" and the first 2 errors I got were:

avs [error]: LoadPlugin: unable to load "C:\blah\dvhelper\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\RemoveGrainSSE2.dll"
(C:\blah\dvhelper\temp\progressive\testvid1\testvi d1.avs, line 3)
x264 [error]: could not open input file `C:\blah\dvhelper\temp\progressive\testvid1\testvi d1.avs'

Any suggestions?

(also -- I'm using Win7 64bit -- I rechecked my install of Cedocida, and while the registry edits seem to have gone through, there's no cedocida.dll in the Program Files directories.. should there be?)

[_Al_]

Cedocida is ok because it worked getting interlaced mp4

there should be no other version of that plugin (RemoveGrainSSE2.dll) in Avisynth plugin folder, which is your case because you just installed Avisynth, so there is nothing there, just to be sure

locate: ... tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\32-bit System dlls folder and put those two dlls that are in there into Windows\SysWoW64 folder

[LouGee]

locate: ... tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\32-bit System dlls folder and put those two dlls that are in there into Windows\SysWoW64 folder

OK, did that... copied fftw3.dll and libfftw3 to SysWow64

I'm still getting the same error

When you say Avisynth plugin folder, do you mean: /dvhelper/tools/QTGMC32bitplugins (RemovegrainSSE2.dll is in there) or /ProgramFiles(x86)/Avisynth2.5/plugins (it's not there - there's only 3 dlls in there)

I also tried to reinstall the Avisynth_258.exe and got
"This program might not have installed correctly
If this program didn't install correctly, try reinstalling using settings that are compatible with this version of Windows"
So I hit the "Try again" button and it went through without that message popping up.

Tried again, but still getting the same error. Are there supposed to be more dll's under /ProgramFiles(x86)/Avisynth2.5/plugins ???

From what I'm reading all over, this QTGMC seems like a great de-interlacer and I definitely want to get it to work.

[LouGee]

deleted - double post

[_Al_]

Are there supposed to be more dll's under /ProgramFiles(x86)/Avisynth2.5/plugins

That is the Avisynth plugin folder and it is perhaps empty, because you just installed avisynth.

I wrote that so those dll's are loaded automatically but from folder that is located in that "DV avi helper" tools folder.
Avisynth works this way: it automatically loads dll's that are in Avisynth plugin folder. If you want to use dll (plugin, filter) in the script and that filter, dll is not there and it is not internal Avisynth filter, it would not work. It has to be loaded manually in the script. So I manually load generated Avisynth script with all dll's that QTGMC nedds so it works. It loads this:

Import("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\QTGMC-3.32.avsi")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\mvtools2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\RemoveGrainSSE2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\RepairSSE2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\mt_masktools-25.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\nnedi3.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\dfttest.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\EEDI2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\FFT3DFilter.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\nnedi.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\nnedi2.dll") 
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\SSE2Tools.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\VerticalCleanerSSE2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\AddGrainC.dll")
Load_Stdcall_plugin("C:\path\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\\yadif.dll")

It works here, on my PC even with real Avisynth folder empty. You are not first one that has a problem with a plugin error, not sure how to fix it.

[LouGee]

Thanks, I've been able to successfully run 3 files through "make progressive MP4.bat" and I even successfully tried 1 through "just mv2 and ac3.bat" (which brought up gui window full of options with a preview while it ran) so those are working OK.

Here's some files I have after the basic installs I did yesterday & the day before:

ProgramFiles/Avisynth2.5/plugins has 3 files: "colors_rgb.avsi" & "DirectShowSource.dll" & "TCPDeliver.dll"

Windows/SysWow64 has: "cedocida.dll" & "fftw3.dll" & "libffw3f-3.dll" (these last 2 were copied here according to instructions)

Does that look right?

Otherwise I'm still getting;
avs [error]: LoadPlugin: unable to load "C:\blah\dvhelper\tools\QTGMC 32-bit Plugins\Avisynth 32-bit Plugins\RemoveGrainSSE2.dll"

Could the "RemoveGrainSSE2.dll" be corrupt? (according to Control Panel my processor supports SSE2) I even tried copying over just that file again from the Zip file, but still getting the same error.

[LouGee]

Ok I tried this just now -- I found under: "dvhelper/tools/QTMGC 32-bit plugins/Avisynth 32-bit plugins/where_to_put_these.txt" And I followed the instructions in that (copied the plugin files) ..... and then dragged a dv-avi file onto "make progressive MP4.bat" like before, and got a popup window:

"The program cant start because MSVCR71.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."

I hit OK and it re-popped a few times during execution, but ultimately I got the same "RemoveGrainSSE2" errors as before.

So I tried a dv-avi file with "make interlacedMP4.bat" and I got the same MSVCR71.dll popup, and it repopped during execution, but ultimately it worked, just as before.

When I searched the web on MSVCR71.dll, many webpages suggest that it's supposed to be under SysWOW64 and to use sfc /scannow if it's not, but that did nothing for me. So I searched my own computer and found it under: "C:\Program Files\adobe\adobe premiere pro cs6\scriptalign\msvcr71.dll" So I tried copying it to SysWOW64... and it worked. But to be sure, I moved the plugins that I just put in ProgramFiles/Avisynth2.5/plugins to a temp directory to see if it would work calling the plugins under the dvhelper directory.. and it did.

TLDR: make sure you have MSVCR71.dll in SysWOW64

Otherwise, the progressive MP4 file looks good. The data rate and total bitrate are in the 7K-something range. But why is this new progressive vid 720x540 while the original (made w Premiere Elements years ago) interlaced vid is 720x480?

[_Al_]

ProgramFiles/Avisynth2.5/plugins has 3 files: "colors_rgb.avsi" & "DirectShowSource.dll" & "TCPDeliver.dll"

those files have nothing to do with QTGMC, so they would not intervene in any way, they could be there or not.

otherwise, wow, you made it work despite all those dll dreaded errors , I do not know what is MSVCR71.dll for, I have it in SYSWOW64 folder, not knowing when it got there

the "DVavi helper" always calls dll's , or you can say creates avisynth scripts loading those dll's for QTGMC from its plugin folder, so they actually should not be in Avisynths plugin folder to prevent conflicts, I am not sure what you ended up with, if you kept all those dll's after copying them into Avisynth plugin folders , if you kept them in there

DVavi is anamorphic video, not square pixel, note that 720/480 is not 4/3 as you see on screen, there is always aspect ratio stored in video that tells player to stretch it into proper 4/3 ratio on screen, so when you encoded with "make interlace mp4" I made sure that it is encoded with SAR 8:9, that means video is 720x480 but it is streched during playback. 720/480x8/9=4/3. Why to keep it anamprphic?, because video is interlace, it is not recommended to resize interlace video, so better keep it anamorphic, it is even expected to have that resolution, 720x480, like with DVD


With QTGMC getting progressive video, suddenly you have opportunity to resize to square pixel 720/540=4/3. To resize progressive frame is ok. It is optimal to keep vertical resolution, so perhaps would be better to resize to 640x480, not 720x540. You can try it yourself. You can find file:

....\DV avi helper\tools\subroutines\encode_progressive_mp4.BAT

and find this line in there:

if %ar%==4:3 if %h%==480 if %w%==720 (set a=720& set b=540& set DV_found=yes)

and change that to:

if %ar%==4:3 if %h%==480 if %w%==720 (set a=640& set b=480& set DV_found=yes)

and perhaps change resizing method
from:

echo LanczosResize(%a%,%b%)                                                >> "%temp_adr%.avs"

to

echo Spline36Resize(%a%,%b%)                                                >> "%temp_adr%.avs"

I know, it is all written in not user friendly style, but it was years ago, I just learned basics with batch script, today I'd do it differently.

[LouGee]

Well, this has become an interesting thread. I started out trying to convert dv->h264 using AME, and it turns out QTMGC is going to be what I end up using.



I do not know what is MSVCR71.dll for, I have it in SYSWOW64 folder, not knowing when it got there

It turns out that msvcr71.dll is a MS Visual C runtime which is needed for RemoveGrainSSE2

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/RemoveGrain_v0.9/RemoveGrain

This is probbaly why RemoveGrainSSE2 wouldn't load... but it didn't alert that when running from the dvhelper directory, but it made that popup when run from the Avisynth directory. By dumb luck mscvr71.dll is also used by PP CS6 so it happened to be on my drive.


I am not sure what you ended up with, if you kept all those dll's after copying them into Avisynth plugin folders , if you kept them in there

Like I said above, I moved the files out of the Avisynth plugin folder (to a temp dir where they still are) and retried it with the original setup of the dvhelper plugin dir, which I'll keep it that way.

DVavi is anamorphic video, not square pixel... (snip) ...To resize progressive frame is ok.

Thank you for that explanation, it makes sense!

It is optimal to keep vertical resolution, so perhaps would be better to resize to 640x480

Funny, I was already digging into encode_progressive.bat looking for the resolution settings Why might (in theory) keeping the vertical resolution the same be better?

And might there be any benefit to upscaling it to 1440x1080p ? The reason I'm asking is that all my new camcorder videos for the past two years are AVCHD/mts 1920 x 1080/60p and I was wondering if there might be any benefit to having my old dv-avi files of a similar size in H264? (1080p vertical, though obviously not the same horizontal)

And is Spline36Resize better for downscaling, and LanczosResize better fior upscaling?

Otherwise, I tried a couple different configs with that script, and I even tried similar settings on AME (59.94, square pixels, etc) and QTMGC is giving obviously better results.

[_Al_]

Upscale makes no sense at all for just playback scenario. Devices upscale it. You save bitrate storing it.

Upscale it with a reason to load it into some NLE (videoeditor) to mix footage with 60p High Definition footage - makes not much sense because you have that 60p as well, using QTGMC. NLE just upscales it and they do it quite alright. Problem would be, if that SD was interlaced, then NLE would screw it up upscaling. NLE cannot upscale interlace footage, they usually mess it up.

Well, you can do upscale really good if using some sophisticated method like "nnedi3_rpow2" upscale in Avisynth or other. That nnedi3_rpow2 you can just try easily as well, changing in encode_progressive_mp4.BAT:
this line:

if %ar%==4:3 if %h%==480 if %w%==720 (set a=720& set b=540& set DV_found=yes)

and change resolution to 960x720 to:

if %ar%==4:3 if %h%==480 if %w%==720 (set a=960& set b=720& set DV_found=yes)

and change resizing method from:

echo LanczosResize(%a%,%b%)                                                >> "%temp_adr%.avs"

to nnedi3_rpow2

echo nnedi3_rpow2(2, cshift="Spline36Resize", fwidth=%a%, fheight=%b%) >> "%temp_adr%.avs"

yes LanczosResize schould be bettter for upscaling , Spline for downscaling, it is not that sharp (and therefore less sharpening artifacts), but in that nnedi3_rpow2 filter notice, even if it is upscaling there is Spline actually, because that is used for downscaling. Frame is upscaled two times and then downscaled to particular resolution. Perhaps there could be Lanczos as well, never really tested what the difference would be choosing one or the other.

But for NLE you'd need to encode to some lossless not H.264 or at least encode lossless H.264,
changing this line:

SET x264_variables= --crf=%crf% --ref=6 --tune=film --vbv-bufsize 25000 --vbv-maxrate 23000

to this line:

SET x264_variables= --qp 0 --keyint 1

but that is a wild thing ...

About that 720x540 vs. 640x480 , you test it yourself, Myself I leave 720x540, but I have good DV sources, I do not want to hive up horizontal resolution, hoping that there realy is something close to that number , but perhaps it is the same or even better to go with 640x480 with not so good video or perhaps it is better anyway, try it.

[LouGee]

Again, thanks AI. After much trial and thought, I've decided that converting the dv-avi's to square pixel progressive makes the most sense at 720x540 (unless if anyone else can jump in and suggest why 640x480 or anything else would be better)

The dv-avi file I've been using is exactly 60 sec (1 min) long, and has typically taken about 15min to convert... does this mean a 60min (1hr) dv-avi file would take about 15hrs to convert? (I haven't done one yet)

[_Al_]

QTGMC is not using all threads, and it is slow on top of that, about 3x slower comparing to encoding it just interlace, that is downside using QTGMC,

it can be optimized using Avisynth MT and slightly different script, and it could differ from user by user, more here, find Multi-Threaded Usage for QTGMC in there, I did not bother to go trough all of this, these archives could be encoded during nights or when PC is not in use ... or because CPU is not 100%, you can do some other stuff on that PC during encoding ...

[Cornucopia]

Again, thanks AI. After much trial and thought, I've decided that converting the dv-avi's to square pixel progressive makes the most sense at 720x540 (unless if anyone else can jump in and suggest why 640x480 or anything else would be better)

The dv-avi file I've been using is exactly 60 sec (1 min) long, and has typically taken about 15min to convert... does this mean a 60min (1hr) dv-avi file would take about 15hrs to convert? (I haven't done one yet)

I've already talked at length about why I consider it a priority to keep the vertical dimension as is (discrete vs. continuous sampling).

Do what you want.

Scott