AVANTI - FFmpeg/Avisynth GUI (support thread).

[oncletom]

I noticed in the paths at your first post that the path to FFmpeg lost its file extension...

Input #0, not reported and process canceled by FFmpeg with the message:
C:/Users/My_Name/Desktop/Avanti GUI (Dossier)/avtemp/HAMLET: No such file or directory

I then forced some things and found a bug that shows up depending on the file name (if contains spaces). I could fix it in a DLL function that extracts file extensions. Can you replace this DLL in your Avanti install directory and report your findings?

Here is what now happens :

Input #0, not reported and process canceled by FFmpeg with the message:

[avs @ 00000000019C98A0] AVIFileOpen failed with error -2147221164C:/Users/Maxime_Brun/Desktop/Avanti GUI (Dossier)/avtemp/HAMLET VDEF.avs: Operation not permitted

Avanti is GUI for FFmpeg. It isn't able to do more than FFmpeg allows.

OK. I didn't know much about FFmpeg. Do you think I'll find more efficient video capacities with programs such as Tmpgenc or Procoder ? Is there a freeware which has similar capabilities ? If you think I'm a little bit painfull, don't hesitate to throw me out !

[Chris K]

Here is what now happens :

Input #0, not reported and process canceled by FFmpeg with the message:

[avs @ 00000000019C98A0] AVIFileOpen failed with error -2147221164
C:/Users/Maxime_Brun/Desktop/Avanti GUI (Dossier)/avtemp/HAMLET VDEF.avs: Operation not permitted

That's interesting! Looks like the bug is fixed since FFmpeg now shows and accepts the full file path. But [avs @ 00000000019C98A0] is weird. The address looks extremely long to me. Can you give me the FFmpeg version and from which provider you downloaded it?

EDIT: I think your Avisynth version is to old. Avanti expects 2.5.7 or higher (although... it should have reported that at launch).

Do you think I'll find more efficient video capacities with programs such as Tmpgenc or Procoder ? Is there a freeware which has similar capabilities ?

Perhaps MeGUI which doesn't use FFmpeg. Did you looked at the "Tools" section already? https://www.videohelp.com/tools

[oncletom]

That's interesting! Looks like the bug is fixed since FFmpeg now shows and accepts the full file path. But [avs @ 00000000019C98A0] is weird. The address looks extremely long to me. Can you give me the FFmpeg version and from which provider you downloaded it?

EDIT: I think your Avisynth version is to old. Avanti expects 2.5.7 or higher (although... it should have reported that at launch).

Well I have 2.5.8 installed. The version of FFmpeg is this latest one, 64 bit one (followed your link yesterday) : http://hawkeye.arrozcru.org/

Perhaps MeGUI which doesn't use FFmpeg. Did you looked at the "Tools" section already? https://www.videohelp.com/tools

Yeah, there's so much programs ! I'm trying right now Super, which seems to render an exact copy color. I'm satisfied, even if a mpg render just crashes my OS... But I presume it's because I got a codec pack and there is some conflcits (but WMP can't play it without an error message). Anyway.

[Chris K]

Well I have 2.5.8 installed. The version of FFmpeg is this latest one, 64 bit one (followed your link yesterday) : http://hawkeye.arrozcru.org/

Unfortunately I'm not able to try 64bit FFmpeg versions. I mainly use the builds of Bizzeh, Paehl and Tiesi for testing (32bit versions).

[oncletom]

Isn't this filter a solution for Avanti YUV/RGB conversion : http://avisynth.org.ru/docs/english/externalfilters/colormatrix.htm#description

[Chris K]

Isn't this filter a solution for Avanti YUV/RGB conversion : http://avisynth.org.ru/docs/english/externalfilters/colormatrix.htm#description

It possibly is! Should you be able to get Avisynth working, it's not to diffcult to set the Avisynth USER mode and write a small script at the Avisynth editor that uses this command.

EDIT:

I have the strong impression that Avisynth support is broken in the 64bit hawkeye build. Or that there is a conflict with the 32bit Avisynth version (unless you already use 64bit Avisynth) http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=152800.

Also note that none of the other FFmpeg providers offer 64bit versions. I believe it's considered rather experimental.

[NighthawkGuy]

Unfortunately I'm not able to try 64bit FFmpeg versions. I mainly use the builds of Bizzeh, Paehl and Tiesi for testing (32bit versions).

For reference I tested the latest of one of the 64bit ffmpeg static versions (Hawkeye's) in Windows 7 x64, but it ran much slower than the latest of the recommended 32bit versions with a encoding test from a mpeg2 source to an xvid+mp3 output, ffmpeg not using avisynth in that case.

I am getting great results an speeds with the 32-bit sherpya build git-N-28849-ga82cfad
or the Bizzeh build ffmpeg-git-N-29582-g707e861-x86-static-20110504.7z

[oncletom]

I have the strong impression that Avisynth support is broken in the 64bit hawkeye build. Or that there is a conflict with the 32bit Avisynth version (unless you already use 64bit Avisynth) http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=152800.

Also note that none of the other FFmpeg providers offer 64bit versions. I believe it's considered rather experimental.

Yes, probably. I did not use Avisynth 64, but know I do. Here's the result :

I have to run Avanti twice before it runs for good (at the first time, it appears in the task manager list, but i can't see it anywhere - after the second load, I just got one session in the task manager, not two)
I have to check at every start the FFmpeg directory, otherwise Avanti does not load it (even if I copy the ffmpeg.exe file into the ffmpeg folder of Avanti). Once it's done, valid FFmpeg/Avisynth combo is found.
At every start, frame size, FourCC and colorspace options are blank and Avanti loads default values while loading a template.
Avisynth seems to work, but can't decode dnxhd or animation (but works with divx and h264). It encodes h264 or dnxhd. I think I'm mistaken here, maybe I need some more librairies, huh ?

OK, it looks like a diagnosis of an experimental setup, no ?!

[Chris K]

I have to run Avanti twice before it runs for good (at the first time, it appears in the task manager list, but i can't see it anywhere - after the second load, I just got one session in the task manager, not two)
I have to check at every start the FFmpeg directory, otherwise Avanti does not load it (even if I copy the ffmpeg.exe file into the ffmpeg folder of Avanti). Once it's done, valid FFmpeg/Avisynth combo is found.
At every start, frame size, FourCC and colorspace options are blank and Avanti loads default values while loading a template.

This combination sounds like a complete mess with Avanti. I wouldn't spend too much time on it.

Avisynth seems to work, but can't decode dnxhd or animation (but works with divx and h264). It encodes h264 or dnxhd. I think I'm mistaken here, maybe I need some more librairies, huh ?

I'm afraid that this combination has never been tested by the FFmpeg developers. FFmpeg development is a Linux thing and since Avisynth isn't (or wasn't?) available for Linux they aren't very interested in it.

OK, it looks like a diagnosis of an experimental setup, no ?!

Many people here at VideoHelp state that 64bit apps (in general) do not give much gain in performance. Much more important to concentrate on multi-threading.

Why not try a full 32bit setup?

[oncletom]

Why not try a full 32bit setup?

That's exactly what I was about to do !
Just to be sure : I just need to uninstall Avisynth and delete previous version of FFmpeg to go back to a clear setup ?
(I already cleaned up the registry with a fallback reg file to undo the 64bits changes on Avisynth)
So now, I hope I won't have the Avisynth issue I had with my "experimental" setup, but just in case, do I need to apply the fix you did ?
I'll try the "expand luminance" and colormatrix plug and report the results, just to make a full circle (don't know if that way's correct...) of my case.

[Chris K]

Yes, you need to use the fixed DLL. Actually anyone who has file path problems with version 0.5.5 or 0.5.6 can use it.

[NighthawkGuy]

Many people here at VideoHelp state that 64bit apps (in general) do not give much gain in performance. Much more important to concentrate on multi-threading.

Why not try a full 32bit setup?

Thats what I found in my own testing. The x64 ffmpeg actually ran much slower than the recommended x32 versions in Windows 7 x64!

[oncletom]

OK, now everything works great, using Avanti 0.5.7, last Avisynth version and the Bizzeh build ffmpeg-git-N-29582-g707e861-x86-static-20110504. I no more have a colorspace issue (I think I watched the file with the 16-235 option in MPC... actually it was a mess in every player and encoder I installed on my Computer !), but by curiosity, how do I tape the syntax of the color matrix plug ?

[Chris K]

how do I tape the syntax of the color matrix plug ?

First ensure that the "ColorMatrix.dll" is in the plugins folder of your Avisynth install directory. Then copy the following lines to the Avisynth editor.

DirectShowSource("@source1_path")
ConvertToYUY2()
ColorMatrix(mode="Rec.601->Rec.709")

Then right-click on the editor window and set the "Avisynth USER mode". You now can use preview and the script is inserted at conversion.

At the help menu (question mark on the top right), you can call up the Avisynth docs if you have installed them. The first time a messagebox appears that guides you to set your preferred language.

[NighthawkGuy]

I tried the latest version of Avanti 0.5.8 today under Windows 7 SP1 64bit and dialog boxes wouldn't open at all for me, including the load template dialog and even the "about" box.

The last two earlier versions 0.5.7 and 0.5.6 however work OK. Might be another Windows 7 64bit only issue?
I'm using the previous 0.5.7 version successfully for now with 32-bit ffmpeg sherpya build git-N-28849-ga82cfad plus 32bit Avisynth 2.5.8 and the dialog boxes work OK and tests worked with MPG2 DVD video format conversion.

[NighthawkGuy]

I noticed the Bizzeh ffmpeg builds are not available now.
This message was posted a few days ago at his website: http://www.bizzeh.com/cat/ffmpeg-2
FFmpeg Win32 Builds down indefinitely

I am sorry to say that my hosting provider did not like me using the dedicated host i paid for, so that i could run build processes on the server, running build processes on the server.
They killed my entire build environment, and all the builds.
Until i am able to find a new host that is willing to let me create these builds, the ffmpeg builds will remain down.
Anyone looking to get ffmpeg builds for windows for now should look at http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/
Sorry, and thank you to everyone who used my builds.

By bizzeh ⋅ 01 Jun, 2011

[Chris K]

I tried the latest version of Avanti 0.5.8 today under Windows 7 SP1 64bit and dialog boxes wouldn't open at all for me, including the load template dialog and even the "about" box.

I did a side by side compare of the 0.5.7 and 0.5.8 source code but there are no changes that could cause this error.

http://avanti.arrozcru.org/upgrade.htm

Many dialogs and popups are running as modules that are loaded at the time you call them up. These are all in the "avsystem" folder in your install directory and have the *.gc file extension. It looks like Avanti doesn't see this folder, at least not for these *.gc modules because when it launched normally it has already read other data from that folder.

You could try experimenting a bit with the install path. Spaces, dots in directory names and the depth of the install path have occasionally caused this kind of problems. Also keep in mind that it should run as a 32bit application, so I guess preferably in the "System Files (x86)" folder for Win7 x64.

About the Bizzeh builds ...

I used to use them as reference together with the Sherpya and Paehl builds. The zeranoe builds will cause an error for users still running W2K and possibly some XP users that didn't update the MSVC runtimes to "vcredist_x86_2010" (available at Microsoft). Unfortunately this update doesn't work for W2K.

[NighthawkGuy]

You could try experimenting a bit with the install path. Spaces, dots in directory names and the depth of the install path have occasionally caused this kind of problems. Also keep in mind that it should run as a 32bit application, so I guess preferably in the "System Files (x86)" folder for Win7 x64.

I did some more experimentation today with the install path and it was strange with Win 7 x64.
With previous Avanti versions I have used the same install path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Video\Avanti"
With v058 in this install path I get the symptom of none of the dialog boxes popping up at all.
With v057 and v056 they work fine in that same path.

I just found that if I rename the path to something slighty different for v058 like Avanta, Avanti1 or Avanti-058, then it works OK with the dialog boxes. Strange this only appears to happen with v058 for me.
I just repeated the same test with v057 and it works OK with any of the pathnames including Avanti.

So the workaround for v058 appears to be use a pathname that doesn't end in "Avanti" so I'm using: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Video\Avanti-058" now.


Separately I noticed that with any of the versions that the file open dialog that opens from the button next to the Source1,Source2,Destination entries doesn't allow navigation properly in Win7x64 from the top level where all drives are listed. I can however manually enter a path like for a single drive like E:\ and then navigate via clicking on directories listed up and down within that drive.
I normally just use drag and drop into the entry from a windows explorer directory anyway, so didn't notice this issue until today.

I've also noted on the recent versions that in my conversions with audio output set for ac3 2-channel format, this warning message is listed in the Avanti ffmpeg messages/warnings section. So it appears avanti should request 'flt' rather than 's16' for ac3 2-channel stereo output with the more recent ffmpeg builds?
Incompatible sample format 's16' for codec 'ac3',
... auto-selecting format 'flt'

[Chris K]

So the workaround for v058 appears to be use a pathname that doesn't end in "Avanti" so I'm using: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Video\Avanti-058" now.

I also found these install path problems in XP but can't reproduce it. The path for those modules I mentioned is set at a early stage when the gui is loaded. I now moved it to the section that opens the gui, hoping this will be more stable.

Separately I noticed that with any of the versions that the file open dialog that opens from the button next to the Source1,Source2,Destination entries doesn't allow navigation properly in Win7x64 from the top level where all drives are listed.

Can you give some more details. Do you not get the root of the selected drive?

I've also noted on the recent versions that in my conversions with audio output set for ac3 2-channel format, this warning message is listed in the Avanti ffmpeg messages/warnings section. So it appears avanti should request 'flt' rather than 's16' for ac3 2-channel stereo output with the more recent ffmpeg builds?
Incompatible sample format 's16' for codec 'ac3',
... auto-selecting format 'flt'

Yes, this is a bit confusing (also for me)! Recent FFmpeg versions offer two ac3 codecs (fixed and float). Fixed was the old one and was named ac3. Now the float uses the name ac3. The old one now is named ac3_fixed. I'll take a closer look at it and probably add both the fixed and float ac3 to the audio codecs list. As far as I can see; if the source is s16 you should use the ac3_fixed codec and the message wouldn't show up. There seems to also be float versions for mp2 and mp3 audio.

EDIT:

Things go awefully fast with FFmpeg. I now used the "git-N-30172-g3c20c0e-Sherpya" build and the ac3 message you mentioned doesn't show up but instead the s16 source I used is automatically converted to s16 again. The previous build (same as you used) converted it to float.

[NighthawkGuy]

Separately I noticed that with any of the versions that the file open dialog that opens from the button next to the Source1,Source2,Destination entries doesn't allow navigation properly in Win7x64 from the top level where all drives are listed.

Can you give some more details. Do you not get the root of the selected drive?

Viewing the top level view that shows all the drives, if I try to select a drive from there it does nothing.
I have to manually enter a path like E:\ in the path entry to get to a drive and see the root directories of that drive. From there I can then click normally and navigate down or up thru those directories on that drive. If I want to navigate directories on a different drive, again I would have to manually enter a path to that drive.

So its only at the very top computer level display (shows all the drives on the system) that is having the problem. Also if I try to select a different drive from the drop down selection box labeled "Look in:" - instead of going to that selected drive and displaying the root directories of that drive, it goes to the top computer level again showing all the drives on the computer. From there it won't select one of the drives if I try clicking on them. Only manually entering a path gets me to a specific drive's directories.

[Chris K]

Viewing the top level view that shows all the drives, if I try to select a drive from there it does nothing.

The top level with all drives should never show up at the area where you normally select the folders of a single drive. They should only appear on the dropdown list. I never had any feedback about this from Vista or Win7 users so I have no idea if this is a common problem. I will anyway take a look and try to find out what causes it.

Thanks for your efforts!

[NighthawkGuy]

The top level with all drives should never show up at the area where you normally select the folders of a single drive. They should only appear on the dropdown list.

Yeah thats whats wierd - the list of drives appears when I tried to select a particular drive from the dropdown list. Then I can't select anything from that point on, have to enter a path manually at that point.

Here is what it looks like:

[Chris K]

Thanks for the screenshot! It surely lightens the cause of the problem a lot (at least partly).

In W2K and XP the drive letters like (C:), (D:) etc. are at the end of the drive name while at your screenshot they are at the start. I can probably fix this by checking for it but ...

I wonder if Win7 x64 still has the option to run in XP compatibility mode and if you have set this. AFAIK you have to right-click on the executable to set it.

It might be that the drive letter position also changes back to XP style.

Another thing that I noticed is that the dialog is missing the [X] button at the top right of the window.

[NighthawkGuy]

In W2K and XP the drive letters like C:, D: etc. are at the end of the drive name while at your screenshot they are at the start. I can probably fix this by checking for it but ...

I wonder if Win7 x64 still has the option to run in XP compatibility mode and if you have set this. AFAIK you have to right-click on the executable to set it.

It might be that the drive letter position also changes back to XP style.

Another thing that I noticed is that the dialog is missing the [X] button at the top right of the window.

Actually whether the drive letters appear before or after the drive name is configurable in Windows 7 (also in Windows XP) via a registry entry.
Info here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3265-drive-letters-show-before-after-name-computer.html

I just tried it set for driver letters in explorer appearing after the drive name and indeed Avanti's drive selection drop-down box now works correctly in that mode. It would be good if it worked in either case, but its not a biggie.

Though that [x] button is not displaying in Windows 7 at the top right of the window it still will close if I click in that area.

I didn't have a compatibility set for the shortcut to Avanti in Windows 7 x64.
But for fun I just tried enabling compatability for it set for Windows XP and found that then Avanti again wouldn't open any dialog boxes! So compatabiity mode should NOT be set for it in Windows 7, which is how I had it anyway normally.

[Chris K]

Actually whether the drive letters appear before or after the drive name is configurable in Windows 7 (also in Windows XP) via a registry entry.
Info here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3265-drive-letters-show-before-after-name-computer.html

I didn't know about that! My XP install seems to default to after the drive name.

I just tried it set for driver letters in explorer appearing after the drive name and indeed Avanti's drive selection drop-down box now works correctly in that mode. It would be good if it worked in either case, but its not a biggie.

I've already made a change that should work in both cases.

Though that [x] button is not displaying in Windows 7 at the top right of the window it still will close if I click in that area.

Yeah! Someone at the Gui4Cli forum told me it has to do with the Aero option. It's a custom button, not the original one that shows up at other windows.

I didn't have a compatibility set for the shortcut to Avanti in Windows 7 x64.
But for fun I just tried enabling compatability for it set for Windows XP and found that then Avanti again wouldn't open any dialog boxes! So compatabiity mode should NOT be set for it in Windows 7, which is how I had it anyway normally.

I also changed a few things related to loading modules of which I hope they fix that problem. I'll send you a PM about it.

[NighthawkGuy]

I just tried the test version on Win7x64 and it worked perfectly, even installing it in my original install path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Video\Avanti" - dialog boxes all open normally.
I also tested it with and without set for "XP compatability mode" and the dialog boxes all open normally now there as well.
Also the directory navigation in the open file dialog box also works with drive letter set before or after the drive name.
The (x) close button on that dialog box that doesn't show up with Win7 isn't really needed anyway since the "Cancel" button seems to do the same thing.

Thanks very much.
So all is fixed in that new version of what I reported, except for the one ffmpeg warning message for the stereo ac3 audio conversion.

By the way, I'm running on a very fast system with an AMD Phenom II x6 @3.6Ghz - perhaps it might have been loading the modules too soon because of that speed? Your module loading changes probably delayed it enough to resolve it in all cases now.

[Chris K]

Thanks for testing! Please keep on using it for a while, there may show up other things.

So all is fixed in that new version of what I reported, except for the one ffmpeg warning message for the stereo ac3 audio conversion.

As I wrote, the FFmpeg developers changed that already in the latest Sherpya build by automatically selecting the preferred codec for the given source. As far as I know, there aint now use in converting a s16 source to float. It will only make a larger audio file but no better sound quality. I may be wrong however.

When I look at the FFmpeg codecs list of recent FFmpeg builds, almost every audio format has a float version. If you select the audio codec field and press enter, you get a dialog to "register" any of the codecs that are not on the list by default.

[Chris K]

By the way, I'm running on a very fast system with an AMD Phenom II x6 @3.6Ghz - perhaps it might have been loading the modules too soon because of that speed? Your module loading changes probably delayed it enough to resolve it in all cases now.

Probably interesting to check out the following ...

At the "User Preferences" you can set the FFmpeg threads count. The default is AUTO which means Avanti checks out the hardware and insert the -threads X command accordingly at the start of the command line. The second option is to set it to zero which means that FFmpeg will do that (some older FFmpeg builds crashed on that). The third option is to set the threads count manually like to 6 in your case.

Formerly certain encoders supported this but recently multi-threading can also be used to speed up decoding. Currently there isn't much info on how to combine this. All I know is that for decoding, the -threads command has to be placed explicitly before the -i input command (this is already done in Avanti).

At the Windows taskmanager you should be able to see how your CPU is used with FFmpeg.

I have a Phenom II x4 but my development environment is still on a old Athlon box. I still didn't found the time to make room and set up the Phenom box permanently (after I moved to another house).

[NighthawkGuy]

As I wrote, the FFmpeg developers changed that already in the latest Sherpya build by automatically selecting the preferred codec for the given source.

I was using the earlier Sherpya build FFmpeg-git-N-28849-ga82cfad, but today I tested with the latest Sherpya build: FFmpeg-git-N-30172-g3c20c0e
That build worked fine with the Avanti test version converting to mpg2 and ac3, and it also works with the separate libfaac for aac audio. Indeed the warning message about ac3 s16 was gone in this later version.

The newer ffmpeg build was faster for me too, ~10% faster than the earlier build.
I noted I get about 80% load on all six cores for mpg2+ac3 conversion, which was pretty good. I've only got near 100% on all six cores using x264.exe for h264 video encoding for reference.
I ran with the avanti user preferences threads set to auto and again set at 6 and got the same result/speed as expected.
Perhaps the faster speed I observed might be due to multi-thread decoding support in the later version compared to the previous one?

I also tried the latest Zeranoe FFmpeg build FFmpeg git-e844abc 32-bit Static - it worked at about the same speed as the latest Sherpya build, but was larger in size and didn't support the aac lib. So I am back to the latest Sherpya now.

It might be nice on the Avanti website to have a direct link to the Sherpya ffmpeg build site since the Ramiro Polla's autobuilds linked there are no more.

[Chris K]

Perhaps the faster speed I observed might be due to multi-thread decoding support in the later version compared to the previous one?

Probably optimizations. I believe it was already in the earlier build you used. Those guys at FFmpeg work very hard

It might be nice on the Avanti website to have a direct link to the Sherpya ffmpeg build site since the Ramiro Polla's autobuilds linked there are no more.

I swapped it to give more attention to the providers of recent builds. I don't want to link directly to a specific provider. They all do a good job but those who add libfaac support are probably the most popular.