Converting x264 to xvid for dvp642 standalone player

[ch4757]

I have some x264 avi files that I am trying to convert to xvid for my Philips DVP642 dvd player. I am using virtualdub to do this. When I use the xvid codec for the compression (Fast Recompress), the video plays fine on the dvp642. When I try using ffdshow codec under the compression option, the xvid avi file it creates doesn't play on the dvp642. The video jumps ahead at 3-5 sec intervals and only the top half of the screen shows (but it plays fine on the pc). I would like to use ffdshow codec as it is multi threaded and takes half the amount of time. Can somebody help with the configuration of the ffdshow codec in virtualdub so that I can play the video on a DVP642.


Thanks

[jagabo]

Different Packed Bitstream setting maybe? There are multithreaded builds of xvid around. Look for 1.2.something.

[Ai Haibara]

Use GSpot or MediaInfo, and make sure the AVI doesn't have packed bitstream, GMC, QPEL, or a resolution over at least 720x###. For audio, the audio stream MUST be MP3. I don't remember off the top of my head whether or not there are any bitrate restrictions on the MP3 streams, but it's probably a good idea to keep it within the standard bitrates of 128 to 320. Variable-bitrate audio may or may not be a problem with the 642, so it might also be a good idea to make sure the audio is CBR.

The way I convert h264 AVIs is to use AutoGK, with ffdshow installed to decode the h264. My AutoGK setup also uses VirtualDubMod with one of the latest Xvid builds to produce the end AVI, but I always run it through GSpot just to be sure - the 642 can be picky, of course.

(edited: added audio stream notes above)

[celtic_druid]

So you are using libavcodec in ffdshow? Because if you are using Xvid in ffdshow, then it is encoding via xvidcore.dll. same as Xvid VfW does.

[ch4757]

The original audio is 128kb/s CBR AC3. When I do the conversion in VirtualDub with xvid codec for the video compression and with direct stream copy for the audio, the avi works on the dvp642, so I think I should be ok on the audio portion. The original x264 and the converted xvid avis shows no gmc or qpel under gspot.

The original video is 800x450. When I compress with xvid codec in VirtualDub, it keeps it at 800x450, again it still plays on the dvp642. I have also tried to compress with ffdshow in VirtualDub to xvid and resize the video to 640x360, it still doesn't play on the dvp642. The audio and video keeps skipping ahead till it finally stops. (No packed bitstream, no gmc and no qpel)

Celtic Druid: I don't really understand your question, but I have the ffdshow decoder setting set to use libavcodec for h264 and have it disabled for xvid. I have xvid 1.1.2 installed. I don't think that is a multithreaded build. When I select fffdshow to do the compression in VirtualDub and select 2 threads, both processors are clearly working. When I select xvid codec to do the compression in VirtualDub, it is clearly working only 1 processor.

I have found a beta xvid 1.2 build that is multi-threaded, but I haven't tested it yet.

[pinetop]

I'd like to do the same thing. I thought AVIrecomp would convert H264 to xvid. But have had no luck trying to do such.

[celtic_druid]

[ch4757]

Thanks for the pic. Tried it, but I am still getting the same skipping problem.

[celtic_druid]

Tried it what? I was just wondering if you were using Xvid or libavcodec's MPEG-4 encoder. Because Xvid is Xvid and the only reason it would be faster in ffdshow is because these days they bundle xvidcore with it and it would be a 1.2 CVS build. Won't be any faster than a 1.2 CVS build of Xvid itself though.

[ch4757]

I have been using libavcodec and have been having trouble getting it to play on the dvp642. I tried switching to xvid like the pic you posted, but i was getting similar results. This morning I tried libravcodec again, but this time I left number of threads as 1 and got it to play on the dvp642. Thanks everybody for all the help.

[ch4757]

To Summarize:

I needed to convert x264 avi to xvid for standalone dvp642 player. I already had xvid build 1.12 installed on my computer and I installed ffdshow for the x264 avi file. I used virtualdub to do the conversion.

First Attempt:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> ffdshow, Encoder -> Mpeg-4(libavcodec), FourCC -> xvid,
Mode -> One Pass - Constant Bitrate, Number of Threads -> 2
Conversion time ~33mins
Plays on PC but not on dvp642

Next Attempt:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> xvid (1.12)
Conversion time ~68 mins
Plays on PC and dvp642

Next Attempt:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> ffdshow, Encoder -> Mpeg-4(libavcodec), FourCC -> xvid,
Mode -> One Pass - Constant Bitrate, Number of Threads -> 2, Resize -> 640x360
Conversion time ~33mins
Plays on PC but not on dvp642

Next Attempt:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> ffdshow, Encoder -> (xvid), FourCC -> xvid,
Mode -> One Pass - Constant Bitrate, Number of Threads -> 2
Conversion time ~35 mins
Plays on PC but not on dvp642

Next Attempt:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> ffdshow, Encoder -> Mpeg-4(libavcodec), FourCC -> xvid,
Mode -> One Pass - Constant Bitrate, Number of Threads -> 1
Conversion time ~35 mins
Plays on PC and dvp642

Additional Note:
After I got it to work on the dvp642, I noticed that the video was cropped. The original video is 800x450, so I resized it to 640x360.

Thanks again to everybody that replied and helped.

[jagabo]

The number of threads used to compress shouldn't make any difference. There must be some kind of bug. I wonder if there is a multiplexing problem. If you have the time try remultiplexing one of your files that doesn't play properly. In VirtualDub, open a file, put both audio and video in Direct Stream Copy mode, then Save as AVI. See if that plays any better.

I don't remember what the DVP-642 does with files wider than 640 pixels. But you will find the edges of the frame get cut off by your TV no matter what frame size you use. All TVs do this. It's called overscan.

[ch4757]

jagabo: I actually did try what you were suggesting earlier on, when the I couldn't get it to play on the dvp642. I ran the converted file through virtualdub again with direct stream copy for both the video and audio, but it still didn't play. Same skipping issue.

At 800x450 on the dvp642, I was losing significant amount of the picture on the side. There is a watermark on the video (upper right corner) and half of the watermark was cropped off. Once I resized to 640x360, I could see the whole watermark.

[jagabo]

At 800x450 on the dvp642, I was losing significant amount of the picture on the side. There is a watermark on the video (upper right corner) and half of the watermark was cropped off. Once I resized to 640x360, I could see the whole watermark.

That sounds like more than the usual overscan cropping then. The 642 may be cropping the 800 pixel wide vidieo down to 720 or 640 pixels before displaying it.

Could you upload some small samples of your files that play and don't play? I'd like to take a look at them.

[ch4757]

jagabo: I will pm you the link to the files. One plays on the dvp 642 and the other doesn't.

I kept both files their original 800x450.

Plays:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> ffdshow, Encoder -> Mpeg-4(libavcodec),
FourCC -> xvid, Mode -> One Pass - Constant Bitrate, Number of Threads -> 1

Doesn't Plays:
VirtualDub Settings:
Audio: Direct Stream Copy
Video: Fast Recompress, Compression -> ffdshow, Encoder -> Mpeg-4(libavcodec),
FourCC -> xvid, Mode -> One Pass - Constant Bitrate, Number of Threads -> 2

Thanks for the help.

[jagabo]

Got the files. A quick look doesn't show anything obvious. I'll look a little deeper later today.

One thing though: I wouldn't trust the DVP-642 to play anything over 720 pixels wide. Especially if the width times the height is more than 720 times 480 (which 800x450 is). Later models, like the DVP-5960, refuse to play anything over 720 pixels wide, regardless of the height. Do you have the same problem with 640x368 or other similar, smaller sizes?

[ch4757]

The dvp640 will play 800x450, but it crops the side significantly. It does play 720x405 and 640x360 fine.

[jagabo]

The dvp640 will play 800x450...

Your own tests indicate it doesn't play all videos of that size. And you may find problems with 800x452, 800x448 or some other minor variation. Maybe you'll find some 800x450 encodes with VirtualDub and Xvid dont' work. That's what I mean about not trusting it. And what will you do in a year or two when the player dies? Will your next player play those files? I stick with 720x480 and below with all my encodes.

I couldn't find any significant differences between the two files you uploaded. I examined them with GSpot, MediaInfo, VirtualDub, KMPlayer, and a few othe programs.

VideoInfo:


MPEG4Modifier:


The one that doesn't play properly did have a very slightly higher bitrate (~0.3 percent) and sligtly higher peaks in bitrate but I find it hard to believe that is the problem (and you could easily test this by encoding a little lower). The one that plays has a few more keyframes but that shouldn't matter. The one that plays has an all green frame at the start, whereas the other has a frame from another video (an ad maybe?) probably b-frame decoder lag from the source h.264. That shouldn't make any difference but you might try cutting out the first GOP and Direct Stream Copy the rest to see if there's any differnece.

[ch4757]

Yes, from my own test the dvp642 doesn't play all videos of that size (800x450), but I believe it is due to how I am encoding the files (number of threads) rather than the size. Anyway, as I have stated in my earlier post, I have full intentions of resizing to 640x360. (It displays better, no major cropping)

I do appreciate all the help. It would be nice to be able to run virtualdub with 2 threads and have the video play on the dvp642. (5~7 minutes faster for my 60 minute videos).

[jagabo]

I have full intentions of resizing to 640x360.

You could try ~704x400 too.

It would be nice to be able to run virtualdub with 2 threads and have the video play on the dvp642.

Use Xvid 1.2.127 and you can enable two threads: