Newbie needs help with NSV to AVI using VP50 codec!

[capt_rock]

Greetings everyone! My first post! First off, want to express humble gratitude for all the info, advice, and software available. Been having loads of fun lately and learning a lot! Never knew video was such a vast and diverse arena.

Anyway, am stuck with a NullSoft (NSV) file. This file plays fine in WinAmp but, I want to recode to something I can dump to VCD or DVD. Previous (older) posts suggest splitting to audio and video files using NSVD. This I have done. Then use AVI-Mux to recombine. This seems to also work fine. But, resulting file won't play in MediaPlayer.

Video Inspector lists codec as VP50 (which I think was never released). So, hoping VP60 might be backward compatible, I installed it and tried changing the AVI file 4-c's. Still nothing.

Now I'm in way over my head. Looking for suggestions. Thanks!

[celtic_druid]

Non of the VPx codecs as far as I know are backwards compatible. VP7 can't decode VP6 either.

Pretty sure that there was a VfW version of VP5.
http://geocities.com/mplayerdll/vp5vfw.zip
Since the package is for mplayer, I assume it doesn't include an inf or anything, so you would have to install manually. You should be able to find the full install around though.

[capt_rock]

Thanks for the link celtic_druid. I had actually found this file yesterday somewhere else. But, as a newbie, I have no idea how to use it. I did find some instructions on creating an INF that would install it but, there is no indication that the codec is recognized (I'm running WinXP SP2). I also searched for a full install but so far, have come up empty.

As I said, I'm perhaps in a bit over my head. And my wife is beginning to feel like a computer widow.

[gastorgrab]

Here, see what this does;

Copy the contents below, and paste into notepad. Rename from 'New Text Document.txt' to 'vp5vfw.inf'. Place into the same directory as the "vp5vfw.dll".

To install the codec, 'Right-Click' on the *.inf file and select 'Install'.

; On2_VP5 Nstall......maybe?

[Version]
Signature = "$CHICAGO$"
Class = MEDIA

[SourceDisksNames]
1="Vp5vfw",, 0001

[SourceDisksFiles]
vp5vfw.dll=1
vp5vfw.inf=1

[Installable.Drivers]
VP50 = 1:vp5vfw.dll, "VIDC.VP50" , "On2 VP5 VFW Video Codec" , , ,

[DefaultInstall]
CopyFiles=WAGVID.Copy,WAGVID.Copy.Dec,WAGVID.Copy. Inf
Updateinis = WAGVID.Updateini
AddReg = WAGVID.AddReg,WAGVID.AddReg.9x,WAGVID.DoReg
MediaType = SOFTWARE

[DefaultInstall.NT]
CopyFiles=WAGVID.Copy,WAGVID.Copy.Dec,WAGVID.Copy. Inf
AddReg = WAGVID.AddReg,WAGVID.AddReg.NT,WAGVID.DoReg
MediaType = SOFTWARE

[DefaultUninstall]
AddReg = WAGVID.UnReg
DelReg = WAGVID.DelReg
DelFiles = WAGVID.Copy,WAGVID.Copy.Inf
UpdateInis = WAGVID.DelIni

[WAGVID.Copy]
vp5vfw.dll

[WAGVID.Copy.Dec]

[WAGVID.Copy.Inf]
vp5vfw.inf

[WAGVID.UpdateIni]
system.ini, drivers32,,"VIDC.VP50=vp5vfw.dll"

[WAGVID.DelIni]
system.ini, drivers32,"VIDC.VP50=vp5vfw.dll",

[WAGVID.AddReg]

[WAGVID.AddReg.9x]
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\"Windows NT"\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc,vp5vfw.dll,,%VP5 0%
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\"Windows NT"\CurrentVersion\Drivers32,vidc.VP50,,vp5vfw.d ll
HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResourc es\icm\vidc.VP50,Description,,%VP50%
HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResourc es\icm\vidc.VP50,Driver,,vp5vfw.dll
HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResourc es\icm\vidc.VP50,FriendlyName,,%VP50%

HKLM,%UnInstallPath%,DisplayName,,%UninstallDispNa me%
HKLM,%UnInstallPath%,UninstallString,,"%10%\rundll .exe setupx.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultUninstall 132 %17%\%InfFile%"

[WAGVID.AddReg.NT]
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc,vp5vfw.dll,,%VP50%
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers32,vidc.VP50,,vp5vfw.dll
HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResourc es\icm\vidc.VP50,Description,,%VP50%
HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResourc es\icm\vidc.VP50,Driver,,vp5vfw.dll

HKLM,%UnInstallPath%,DisplayName,,%UninstallDispNa me%
HKLM,%UnInstallPath%,UninstallString,,"%11%\rundll 32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultUninstall 132 %17%\%InfFile%"

[WAGVID.DoReg]

[WAGVID.DelReg]
HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResourc es\icm\vidc.VP50
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc,vp5vfw.dll,,""
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers32,vidc.VP50,,""

HKLM,%UnInstallPath%

[WAGVID.UnReg]

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir = 11 ; LDID_SYS
WAGVID.Copy = 11
WAGVID.Copy.Inf = 17

[Strings]
VP50="On2 VP5 Video Codec"
InfFile="vp5vfw.inf"
UninstallDispName="On2 VP5 VFW Video Codec (Remove Only!)"
UnInstallPath="Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentV ersion\Uninstall\On2_VP5"
MediaClassName="Media Devices"
Mfgname="WAGTech (Wild-Ass-Guess Technologies)"

*I havn't tried this.

--edit--

Yup, it works.
.

[capt_rock]

Many thanks gastorgrab, I'll try it someday soon.

In the meantime, I'm happy to report success (!) with my original goal of converting an NSV file (VP50) to something I could burn onto DVD.

And now...drum roll please...here is my NSV to MPG conversion guide!

Preface: I use WinXP (SP2). Your actual mileage may vary. Furthermore, this process isn't new - I didn't invent it - but, these specific steps are the ONLY way I could get results. Comments and suggested improvements are welcome.

Opinion: Always donate for freeware - even a small amount. In some way, always pay for what you use, read, listen to, or watch. Internet sharing is a priviledge - don't bite the hand that feeds.

1. Install mPlayer/mEncoder (free) and include the Windows Essential codec pack (from project website). It includes lots of codec support for things rarely supported elsewhere.

2. mPlayer should be able to play the video but, there will be no sound.

3. Install WinAmp (free). This should be able to play the video with sound (no surprise there) but of course, you can't do anything except watch it on you computer screen.

4. However, within WinAmp:Options:Preferences and under Plug-ins:Output there should be a selection called NullSoft Disk Writer. Select it and click Configure. Specify a target drive/directory and Output File Type. Choose Force WAV File. Click OK and click Close in the Preferences window.

5. The next time you File:Play, WinAmp will dump the audio portion to a file. This setting will persist until you reconfigure the output plug-in.

6. Install the NSV Demuxer from Kurosu: http://www.scvi.net/download/download.php?nsv_demux.zip and use it as follows: nsvd -n input.nsv -a video.avi -w audio.ext to demux the NSV file into separate video and audio files. Toss the audio file - it will not be needed.

7. Install AVI-Mux GUI by Alexander Noé. See the TOOLS section.

8. Use AVI-Mux to recombine the video file from step 6 and the audio file from step 4 into a new AVI file. I kept all options at default values.

9. Now mPlayer should be able to play the AVI file with sound. Therefore, you can now use mEncoder to transcode it to MPG.

10. mEncoder is a command line codec with lots of available options. My personal goal was to take a low resolution and low bitrate NSV file and create an MPEG-2 file (with as much quality as possible) that Nero would burn onto DVD without further transcoding it (since I couldn't control Nero's encoding). For NTSC (USA) and 4:3 aspect (not widescreen TV), I used the following:

mEncoder -oad lavc -oac lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd
-srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000
-vf scale=720:480,hqdn3d,harddup,softskip
-lavcopts acodec=ac3:abitrate=192:aspect=4/3:keyint=18:
vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=98 00:
vbitrate=4800 -ofps 30000/1001 -o output.mpg input.avi

These are somewhat "standard and recommended" settings (see project web site help files). The "denoise" filter (hqdn3d) is optional but doesn't seem to slow things down too much. The aspect=4/3 seems to be the thing that Nero needs to skip its internal transcoding (and go directly to burn). There may be other ways of doing this. And, letting Nero transcode it anyway may be harmless but, it certainly takes more time.

You can increase the bit rate (up to 9800) and add things like
dc=10:trell:qns=3:mbd=2:
cmp=2:precmp=2:mbcmp=2:subcmp=2:
predia=-10:dia=-10 to attempt to improve quality (and really slow things down). My results didn't seem to be worth the added compute time but, if you're not concerned with MPG filesize and you've got time to spare, I figure it can't hurt. But, I really don't know.

Keep on rockin!

[celtic_druid]

The nsv files I have tried worked fine with audio in mplayer.

Even without audio, you should be able to save a step by using the nsv and the wav with mencoder. Good to see that my compile of NSVDemux is still floating around though.