Self contained Avisynth script ??

[GMaq]

Hi,
I've been playing around with ssj2_goha's 3GP iPod Converter hack which is a nice drag and drop frontend for ffmpeg with some extra bells and whistles. It is a self contained launch-from-a-folder application with no installer. In it's "cores" folder is an Avisynth script like this:

# 3GP_Converter AVS-Mode skelton
DirectShowSource("<%InputFile%>")
return last

In the program options you can set it to load via Avisynth or not, Does anyone know if a script like this requires a host computer install of Avisynth to run?? I have experimented with adding some really basic Tweak, Crop, and Color correction lines to the script but it doesn't seem to do anything, even with the program set to load via Avisynth. To clarify, it will accept the scripts if I drag and drop them because in this case I have an Avisynth install on the host machine. Is there a way to make a self executing Avisynth script? The reason I'd like to know is because I'm putting together a little "Video Toolkit" of portable apps to put on my iPod (as a USB Drive) and I would like to use apps that don't require installers or extra dependent software for operations. I really like MeGUI as well but it is way too dependent on outside apps. A best case scenario would be to get this 3GP Hack to run on Linux under Wine as well, but hey, baby steps, baby steps.

I am also aware that Directshowsource is not the best course of action however the latest .dll is much improved and I use this encoder for quick n' dirty conversions only. For restoration quality I use other apps. So far if 3GP likes the input it does quite nicely, I changed the presets to account for interlaced and progressive material in ffmpeg because otherwise it just de-interlaced everything.

If you want to look at 3GP's guts here's they are:
http://www.geocities.com/j.kint/

Any guidance from the Avisynth pros would be greatly appreciated. I know the sky is the limit for scripts but I just want minimal pre-processing tweaks. Thanks!!

[guns1inger]

An avisynth script on a machine without avisynth installed is just a text file with the extension .avs

avisynth is a frameserver that is invoked when a file with the extension .avs is loaded by an appropriate application. avisynth then intervenes, processes the script, and passes uncompressed video and/or audio to the calling application.

If avisynth is not installed on the host machine then the calling program simply tries to load a text file, and seeing that it is not video, will fail to execute.

In short, no, you cannot create a self-contained avisynth script.

[GMaq]

guns1inger,
Thanks for your reply, it confirms what I thought. I guess I should have said "self executing" instead of self contained. Either way it's a no go I realize. If the program will load without the script which I assume it will since the options give a choice. Then any idea of how it does this? It has to use Directshow either way doesn't it? So far it likes .mpg (1or2) files, DivX .avi files and is unpredictable with .VOB's and will not handle MJPEG even with a Codec present. (this may only be true on my current system) I'd just like some control over getting the source to ffmpeg reliably.

[guns1inger]

It depends on how you write the script as to which codecs it uses, but that is true of most video programs. You are beholden to what formats the encoder can read natively (if any), and what codecs are installed on the hold machine.

The closest to a self contained method might be to look at streaming from the portable version of VLC. VLC can read many formats without the need for extra codecs, and the portable version is completely self-contained. VLC can also stream, however I'm not sure if it can be used to frameserve this way.

[GMaq]

guns1inger,
I have played around with the Capture/Streaming of VLC, but it's dodgy at best, and no 2-pass option (of course). Thanks for your help though, It's not like installing Avisynth on a host machine from a USB drive would be so difficult either, This portable apps craze will probably fall short for doing serious multimedia anyway, but it's fun to see what you can get away with!

[guns1inger]

Some of it works very well - the portable version of Audacity, for instance.

Have you tried installing SUPER or MediaBuilder to a USB stick ?

[GMaq]

Hmmm....
SUPER on a USB, that's an interesting idea. The latest version seems to behave pretty well, It can wreak havoc with some other applications, On my machine it caused MPEG Streamclip to give me a BSOD partway through an encode, when I uninstalled SUPER it was fine again. Maybe an install in a separate device would be the ticket?? I'm definitely gonna look into it, Have you done this guns1inger??

[Soopafresh]

There's a thread on portable avisynth at Doom9. Not as simple as one might think.

[GMaq]

Hi,
Tried an install of SUPER on my iPod (as USB Drive) and took it to my wife's computer (no SUPER Install) and it worked at least as far as converting some Audio files (no Video to try on that PC). Will have to test further. I don't know how much has been written to the registry of the host install machine, hopefully won't cause problems, the SUPER Menu does show up in the Programs Menu even though I unchecked that during the install, so we'll see.