How to capture screen with RGB?

[poisondeathray]

Hmm... Sory for my English. I mean if I encode by using x264vfw to avi container then I re-wrap to mp4, I will have all features same direct output to mp4?

If you re-wrap you will have the identical video stream to what x264vfw gave you. Re-wrapping just means re-packaging. You put a video in a "box" then put the exact same video in a new box. The video is unchanged.

However, there are differences between the x264vfw version and the x264 CLI version. The differences are listed in the thread above

If you insist on using the vfw version, you may as well take advantage of it's mp4 output, to save a step later in remuxing

[VHDBBTX]

Thank you but not clear yet, sorry for bother you.

"If you re-wrap you will have the identical video stream to what x264vfw gave you" OK. I understand it.

For example, mediainfo tell me about my avi : cabac=1 / ref=3
So what does this mean, it's mean these feature will use when play? Or if I play avi these feature will not use or I must wrap to mp4 to be use.

[poisondeathray]

Yes, cabac, and multiple reference frames will be supported in AVI container for playback by most software.

The problem with AVI container is with b-frames, and b-frames used as references

But h.264 in AVI container can still problematic with some hardware decoders

[VHDBBTX]

Hmm... I get it.
Why I use vfw because capture program which I use can detect few codecs, I don't know a way to use x264CLI with this program and this program save to avi only. So I need to use vfw.

Thank you so much.

[VHDBBTX]

For example, I capture video on my screen which play by windows media player and frame rate is 30 FPS, I capture with 32 FPS for encode time(because I if capwith 30 it drop to 28 FPS) then I change frame rate to 30 by use avisynth(changefps(30)), so how avisynth delete that 2 frames, it's loss quality?, where frame which it select to delete, I afraid it delete on important frames.

[poisondeathray]

no, changefps() will alter the framerate without duplicating or deleting frames.

you would need to use a dupe detection filter , they still have margins of error (either take away some good frames, or leave bad ones in)

it would be better to cap at the exact rate. If your computer isn't fast enough and you get dropped frames, use lower quality settings, or less cpu intensive codec (e.g. huffyuv) , then encode to x264 at a later stage using better settings. If this is still for youtube, just download it for the many reasons stated earlier

[Gavino]

no, changefps() will alter the framerate without duplicating or deleting frames.

No, it's AssumeFPS that does that (altering the running time as a result).
ChangeFPS drops or duplicates frames to arrive at the new rate.
When changing from 32fps to 30fps, it will drop every 16th frame.

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/FPS

[jagabo]

For the OP: note that ChangeFPS() will blindly drop every 16th frame. It won't preferentially drop duplicate frames. A filter like TDecimate() will preferentially drop duplicate frames and give smoother results.

Screen capture is one of the poorest ways to capture video. Use a better method if you can.

[poisondeathray]

whhoops, thx for correction gavino , I mixed up the assumefps with changefps

[VHDBBTX]

Thank you so much. If video frame rate is 15 then I capture at 30fps and I use 16 reframe, it can be help?

[poisondeathray]

If video frame rate is 15 then I capture at 30fps and I use 16 reframe, it can be help?

do you mean reference frames?

It will depend on the content. Live action rarely will go above 4-5 . Anime often will utilize >10. Sequences with similar content can use longer strings

You have to look at the encode logs to see how many it actually uses. (ie. you might type in 16, but it might only use 3-4 at max during part of the sequence). It becomes exponentially slower as you use more reference frames, the same with max number of b-frames (i.e. you have to examine the logs)

[jagabo]

If you capture a 15 fps video at 30 fps you can simply throw out every other frame with SelectEven() or SelectOdd(). Or you can use ChangeFPS(15).

[VHDBBTX]

Yes. And this is a test result.

in:2364 out:2364 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:61656 mv:924 misc:220 imb:0 pmb:80 smb:19 d:- ref:226 58 6 0 30 ;
in:2365 out:2365 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:93182 mv:1533 misc:197 imb:1 pmb:89 smb:9 d:- ref:157 53 133 13 0 ;
in:2366 out:2366 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2367 out:2367 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2368 out:2368 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:50644 mv:464 misc:228 imb:0 pmb:69 smb:30 d:- ref:266 10 0 0 0 ;
in:2369 out:2369 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2370 out:2370 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:41763 mv:721 misc:228 imb:0 pmb:69 smb:30 d:- ref:155 24 15 78 4 ;
in:2371 out:2371 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2372 out:2372 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2373 out:2373 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:45930 mv:436 misc:242 imb:0 pmb:65 smb:34 d:- ref:244 8 4 0 4 ;
in:2374 out:2374 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2375 out:2375 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:36063 mv:587 misc:230 imb:0 pmb:66 smb:33 d:- ref:128 24 16 84 12 ;
in:2376 out:2376 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2377 out:2377 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:45070 mv:475 misc:247 imb:0 pmb:61 smb:38 d:- ref:211 6 0 26 1 ;
in:2378 out:2378 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2379 out:2379 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:34531 mv:510 misc:239 imb:0 pmb:58 smb:41 d:- ref:141 21 0 66 4 ;
in:2380 out:2380 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;
in:2381 out:2381 type:P dur:2 cpbdur:2 q:0.00 tex:0 mv:0 misc:184 imb:0 pmb:0 smb:99 d:- ref:0 0 0 0 0 ;

[poisondeathray]

That's not a log file. For the vfw version , you need to use the command line box to stipulate a log file

This will explain what they mean
http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Stats_Output

x264 [info]: ref P L0 46.2% 18.9% 13.6% 7.7% 6.9% 6.6%

In this example, 46.2% used 1, 18.9% used 2, etc.... Similiarly for consec b-frames , but it starts with "0"

x264 [info]: consecutive B-frames: 3.5% 10.8% 20.6% 28.2% 16.8% 4.5% 15.6%

3.5% used 0 b-frames, 10.8% used 2 consec b-frames, etc.....


If you use the extra options box, it will still retain the settings from the GUI,and just add additional parameters. If you use the command line box, it will use ONLY the box settings (i.e. override the GUI with your command line settings).

In this example, I used .mp4 output for directory E , while saving the dummy avi to the desktop. The stats file was also saved to directory E. If you open the file with wordpad (instead of notepad), it will keep the formatting

[VHDBBTX]

VFW have checkbox for info but it seem to be a bug when window of info popup when encoding.

I cap with x264 lossless, reframe is neccessary?

[poisondeathray]

Did you see my screenshot above? I edited my post

Are you using a modern build? r15xx or newer?

I'm not sure about x264 lossless and reference frames. I think it has a not all I-frame mode (ie.. long gop), so it might be a usable setting. I don't use x264 lossless (there are better lossless compressions, both faster and better compression) , but to answer your question, you can ask at doom9.org or doom10.org in the AVC subforum, where the developers can be found

http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=77
http://doom10.org/index.php?board=5.0

[VHDBBTX]

x264 [info]: profile High 4:4:4 Predictive, level 1.1
x264 [info]: frame I:4 Avg QP: 0.00 size: 14924
x264 [info]: frame P:709 Avg QP: 0.00 size: 3183
x264 [info]: mb I I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
x264 [info]: mb P I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% P16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% skip: 0.0%
x264 [info]: 8x8 transform intra:-1.$%
x264 [info]: coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: -1.$% -1.$% -1.$% inter: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
x264 [info]: Weighted P-Frames: Y:1.3%
x264 [info]: kb/s:779.74

Thanks so much Mister "poisondeathray", you help me so much. Thank you.

[VHDBBTX]

And this when I cap 1 minute.

x264 [info]: profile High 4:4:4 Predictive, level 1.1
x264 [info]: frame I:7 Avg QP: 0.00 size: 17981
x264 [info]: frame P:1805 Avg QP: 0.00 size: 4213
x264 [info]: mb I I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
x264 [info]: mb P I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% P16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% skip: 0.0%
x264 [info]: 8x8 transform intra:-1.$%
x264 [info]: coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: -1.$% -1.$% -1.$% inter: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
x264 [info]: Weighted P-Frames: Y:1.3%
x264 [info]: kb/s:1023.80

[VHDBBTX]

Faster? Which one? I try huffyuv, lag, framerate drop to 29fps when cap at 30fps.
In this case. I try to cap video on MSNMessenger. So tire. Live capture like screen capture is very difficult. Maybe writting a program for it like stream capture easier. - -"

[poisondeathray]

what are your computer specs? huffyuv is pretty fast , but ut video codec is significantly faster, the fastest lossless codec. Lagarith is very very slow.

What dimensions are you capping? eg.. 640x480 @ 30fps ?

(by fastest, I mean lower chance of dropped frames, lower latency, faster decode speed, faster encode speed, faster encode from speed). You need a multicore computer, and to set up the thread number in the setup.

What application are you using to cap? have you tied something like camstudio (free) or camtasia studio ($)?

[VHDBBTX]

Test cap 200x200 with Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz 2GB ATI4850 512MB.
Yes, camstudio 2.5.

Faster? - I mean which codec?

You knew I weak in Eng. ^^

[poisondeathray]

still talking about lossless? ut video codec , in yv12 mode. Since you have a dual core, set the threads =2 in the options

make sure other processes aren't being run simultaneously (close all uncessary processes in taskmanager) , because 200x200 @ 30fps should not have any frame drops with huffyuv even on a single core . Something else must be eating up CPU cycles (make sure you aren't doing other stuff, or have a virus)

[VHDBBTX]

Yes, talking about lossless why you think I mean other. Maybe I very weak in Eng, sorry for that. ^^
I have not try ut video codec yet. x264 loss with 1 reframe have 30.03fps at same processes.

[VHDBBTX]

Thank you for this link "http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Stats_Output" but it's seem to be useless, I was read this link and I don't understand, It's just a title for each, it's very basic. so I came to here for find people like you to tell me and how I can find the detail or definition of each settins on x264.

[jagabo]

On your CPU, compressing 200x200 RGB frames, HuffYUV should be able to compress 500 to 1000 frames per second in RGB mode. In fact, the reduced I/O from compressing your data before saving it will usually result in better frame rates than saving uncompressed RGB. HuffYUV speed is not your problem.

[poisondeathray]

Thank you for this link "http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Stats_Output" but it's seem to be useless, I was read this link and I don't understand, It's just a title for each, it's very basic. so I came to here for find people like you to tell me and how I can find the detail or definition of each settins on x264.

That's for the log file

This is for settings
http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

Also for the x264 CLI version, if you type --fullhelp, it will give exhaustive options, descriptions of the presets etc...

[VHDBBTX]

Hmm... I mean this "http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings" too is just a title for each setting. I will try --fullhelp.

Thank you.

[poisondeathray]

--fullhelp doesn't give much more level of explanation detail than that link , it's more a list of available options and a short description

you can download a guide by "Lord Mulder" which goes into a little more detail. It was intended for the avidemux version of x264, but the concepts still apply
http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/pub/x264/

[VHDBBTX]

On your CPU, compressing 200x200 RGB frames, HuffYUV should be able to compress 500 to 1000 frames per second in RGB mode. In fact, the reduced I/O from compressing your data before saving it will usually result in better frame rates than saving uncompressed RGB. HuffYUV speed is not your problem.

My PC is fine, OK and then what I don't understand.

[VHDBBTX]

---[NoImage] x264 [info]: ref P L0: 80.6% 9.7% 5.1% 2.1% 1.2% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0%

---[NoImage] x264 [info]: ref P L0: 81.5% 9.9% 5.2% 2.2% 1.2% 0.1%

ref:8 and ref:4 - All 40000 frames.

How many ref should I use? I guese 4 or less, Right?

Why 8ref have 10 values and 4ref have 6 values?