PIO Mode After Encoding & Other Stuff

[jagabo]

jagabo: I am still in the process of getting things configured to my liking on the i5. I have an old LYNXS router I set up and I am sharing my internet between the two computers and I set up that I can share my edited video folder from the P4 with the i5. I must of made a mistake or two along the way because my files transfer at only 11mbs and my USB 2.0 can transfer a file at 50mbs, and even taking into account transfering the video to the USB hard drive in the first place it is faster than my network. I have the network with cables as I just don't think wireless is safe.

11 MegaBytes per second is about right for 100TX ethernet. Are you sure about your "50mbs" USB number? I've never seen USB 2.0 get over30 MegaBytes per second.

I downloaded a trial version of Tmpgenc Works 5 and so far I am not impressed with it. I brought up speedfan during the encoding from mpeg2 to .divx process on Tmpgenc Xpress 4.0 and the load is divided between the four cores, but the majority of the work in put on the 4th core, and very little on the other cores. The CPU load didn't seem to get any higher than around 58 percent.

Divx and Xvid can't make full use of four cores either. I went back and checked TMPGEnc Plus on my quad core Intel Q6600 computer. It scales from 2 to 4 cores better than I remembered. A short DV video encoded to MPEG 2 in about 81 seconds with 1 core, 37 seconds with 2 cores, and 25 seconds with 4 cores.

Another thing to keep in mind is any filtering you may be doing. Many programs still perform the filtering as a single thread. That becomes the bottleneck rather than the encoding.

I was up town on Thursday and a salesman demostrated a couple of monitors and a tv with PC Input because maybe down the line I can get a really nice video display device for the i5. I would like to have the option of using the device for other things, but maybe tv's with pc input just are not as good as a computer monitor.

TVs can make great computer monitors. You have to be sure the TV supports 1:1 pixel mapping of the input signal to the display. I have a 46" Samsung LCD HDTV with 1:1 pixel mapping (Samsung calls it "Just Scan") running at 1920x1080 via HDMI. It's just like having a giant computer monitor. Many HDTVs have a VGA input and give you 1:1 pixel mapping with that. You just have to do a little research before you buy. Without 1:1 pixel mapping you have problems with overscan (eg, Windows' Start bar may not be visible because of simulated overscan) and text won't be sharp.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: I downloaded Freemake Video Converter and experiment with the .mkv format at shrinking a file. I brought up Speedfan on the screen and noticed that all four cores were heavily used during the process. I am impressed with Freemake Video Converter, though I did have to learn a little something to prevent a black box from being around the video. Don't go for the auto size, go to custom and chose the same size your imput file was in this case the video was 720x480, auto will pick that, but it will also add black bars on the side and if it is already letterboxed, you end up with a black box around your video. So you get the option when you select custom of a little tab on the screen that lets you access where the black box is added and you can select the last option in that line called auto and then you end up with the video looking correct once it is encoding and playing it back fullscreen in the VLC Media Player. What I need to know is this:

My original mpeg2 is for example is 19:38 in length, with the 720x480 at 8000kbs cbr, and audio is mp2, 256 kbs, 48hz; and it the best I can achieve with the Hauppauge 150 card and it does look good on the modest screens I watch it on. I have found know advantage to ramping the capture card settings up to 1200kbs, because according to what I have noticed, it doesn't improve the qaulity beyond what the 800kbs cbr looks like. The file is 1.14gb

Well anyway when I shrink to .divx the 720x480 remains the same, the bit rate is 1500, it gets changed to progressive video, I selected the better quality option in Tmpgenc Xpress 4, the audio is mp3 and 128kbs at 4800hz and the resulting video is probably 90 percent as good as what the original mpeg2 is. The file is 230mb which is pretty close to a fifth the size of the original mpeg2 file.

So what settings do I go for to get a video in the .mkv h.264 format that is similar in quality to the original. I haven't installed AviDemux yet, and I really like that program, but I went to the website and there have been improvements with the latest version, but it gives a warning saying "one commit is missing" and I thought that might cause some problems on my computer. AviDemux is one of my favorite tools and I did save an older version that I can use that se

What I need to know is what parameters do I select to get a good looking .mkv file that saves hard drive space. The jittery video syndrome didn't seem to be evident in the experimental .mkv file that the Freemake Video Converter made. That is a big reason I encode to .divx video because the .xvid files would be very hard on the eyes and the home theater profile in Tmpgenc Xpress 4.0 resulted with video that was smooth and didn't hurt the eyes.

I appreciate the information about the network speed and also the information about the TVs with PC Input. Unless I screw this computer up somehow, I think the money was well spent on buying this new computer. Thanks for all your advice.

[jagabo]

MKV is just a container. You could just put your Divx video in an MKV container but the file would be pretty much the same size as the AVI. You'll get better compression (or higher quality at the same size) with h.264 encoding (most open source encoders us x264), also know as MPEG 4 part 10 or AVC.

I don't now what you mean when you say your Xvid files were jittery compared to your Divx files. They are pretty much the same codec. Can you provide some short samples? I suspect you're real problem is no handling interlaced video correctly. It should be deinterlaced or inverse telecined before encoding with Divx or Xvid. Or you can encode them interlaced -- but many players won't play interlaced Divx/Xvid properly. The same is true for h.264.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: I fooled around with the settings for making .mkv h.264 files in the Freemake Video Converter and I think I arrived at the right settings. It took my original mpeg2 file I described above and it reduced it to about 84mb and it looked quite good on the computer screen, not a sign of jitter. I have a batch encode going in FVC at the moment and my friend has a 26 monitor, I will take the files to his place and see how they look on his monitor. This is terrific as this will save me more hard drive space. My old Phillips Divx Player probably won't play the files, but a laptop or desktop computer will. This computer just barrels right through this encoding stuff.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: I was wrong about the usb speed it fluctuates between 31 and 33 mbs. Thanks for all your help and I tested out some .mkv files on my mom's laptop that was hooked through a vga cable to her tv and for the most part they looked pretty good, with the exception of the occasional huge macroblock. There may be the odd flaw in the original mpeg2 file that gets magnified when one encodes and I have more to learn when it comes to encoding to the .mkv h.264 format.

[Tom Saurus]

Here is the link to the TV I am thinking of getting someday if I can scratch up the funds:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/dynex-dynex-32-led-hdtv-dx-32e150a11-dx-32e150a...8c964b8827en02

I thought that the LED screen would be a step up from a LCD screen. I will do some more research and follow the advice given to me earlier in this thread.

[jagabo]

I thought that the LED screen would be a step up from a LCD screen.

LED TVs use LCD panels. They just use LEDs as back or edge lights rather than CFL. So they can be a little thinner.

I would shoot for a native 1920x1080 display. That's more likely to support a pixel-for-pixel display mode and gives a bigger desktop.