Can't frameserve directly from AviSynth to TMPGEnc!

[LisaB]

For certain source files of mine, I am unable to frameserve directly to TMPGEnc. If I do so, even though the video shows up fine in the TMPGEnc preview, the encoding process will almost always end in a "stream writing" or "stream reading" error (usually "stream writing").

However, if I take the exact same AVS file, open it in VirtualDub, and then frameserve from VirtualDub, it works!

I'm sure that using VirtualDub as a middleman between AviSynth and TMPGEnc is causing a speed hit, and I don't understand why it is necessary.

I first thought that my "stream writing" errors were linked to the 2-pass VBR option in TMPGEnc, but actually they seemed to be linked to a combination of source file and AviSynth. In other words, I see these errors only when using AviSynth to frameserve, and only for certain source files.

[F-ING HOSTILE]

What versions of all three programs are you currently using?

[adam]

Try adding this line to the end of your AVS script.

ConvertToRGB24()

TMPGenc only supports RGB input. For a YUV source you must convert to RGB first, unless you are frameserving through VFAPI, in which case it does the conversion to RGB.

[LisaB]

I'm using TMPGEnc 2.512.52.161, AviSynth 2.52, VirtualDub 1.5.3 (build 16250/release-P4)

When I try to frameserve directly to TMPGEnc, I have to put ConvertToRGB24() at the end of my AviSynth script, otherwise I just get a black screen in the TMPGEnc preview. So, yes, I have been doing the conversion and still getting "stream" errors when I try to encode with TMPGEnc. I shouldn't have to use Convert, though. I installed HuffyUV so I could use that as the YUY2 decoder...(check out http://www.avisynth.org/index.php?page=Convert)

They say you can get better speed and quality by using HuffyUV instead of ConvertToRGB24()....but I still get no video in TMPGEnc unless I use Convert.

[LisaB]

Just as an update, I have found that by increasing the priority of the directshow filter in TMPGEnc, I no longer get the stream writing errors.

I should also add that the stream writing errors were only "mostly" reproducible and not "completely" reproducible...every once in a while, I wouldn't get the error on a very short clip.

One reason I didn't want to have to frameserve from VirtualDub is that you can only set up one frameserved file at a time, and thus can only have one vdr in the TMPGEnc batch encode list.

Although raising the priority of the directshow filter looks like a solution, I thought the directshow filter was not very good and should be avoided. Will using the directshow filter affect the quality of my encodes?