AVANTI - FFmpeg/Avisynth GUI (support thread).

[Chris K]

I am looking for a GUI for FFMPEG in order to convert any video to images sequence .TIF files

You can easily set this up at the "User VIDEO options" command line...

1. Disable destination audio settings.
2. Enter -f image2 -vcodec tiff at the user command line.
3. Set up destination path as e.g. C:/temp/image%03d.tif.user
4. Set everything at the "Destination Video settings" to "Source".

The tiff's are then written to the temp folder. You are free to choose another name for temp and image but it must follow the %03d.tif.user . If you expect more than 999 images, make it %04d.tif.user

Use a recent FFmpeg version to ensure it supports conversion to tiff.

[erichollis]

Hi.

I'm want to use Avanti as a frontend for ffmpeg. How do I specify vfwcap (Video for Windows capture) as the input in avanti?

Here is the command line that I'm trying to port to AVANTI:

ffmpeg.exe -r 1 -t 1 -rtbufsize 100000000 -f vfwcap -s hd720 -i 0 -vframes 1 -vf crop=943:686:180:3,hflip test%d.tif

If it's helpful...here's what I'm trying to accomplish:

I currently use ffmpeg to assemble still images into movies. I have developed a 16mm film scanner, based on a projector, that gathers frames, similar to this project, which was the inspiration to my machine. (http://hackaday.com/2011/01/15/converting-8mm-film-to-digital/) I am using a webcam (Microsoft LifeCam) in front of the projector lens. As each frame advances, the projector "clicks" an embedded mouse, taking a high res jpg image, utilizing the (gag) Microsoft lifecam software that the camera came with. I then use irfanview to crop/flip/renumber the images, and ffmpeg to assemble them into the movie. The trouble is...the Microsoft Lifecam Software has a memory leak, and after about 5000 frames (about 2 hours), the software chokes. So, I'm rethinking the workflow. Can FFMPEG be used to grab frames from a webcam with a mouse click? (FFMPEG can indeed grab the frames. I'm hoping to use AVANTI to accomplish the mouse clik part.)

Thanks for reading this, and for any help you may be able to provide.

Eric

[Chris K]

(FFMPEG can indeed grab the frames. I'm hoping to use AVANTI to accomplish the mouse clik part.)

Hi erichollis,

I don't see any way for Avanti to act on or deliver a mouse click as trigger for your hardware setup. But even using FFmpeg from the command line would give the problem that you have to re-launch it over and over again for each grab. For the option test%d.tif to work, FFmpeg has to stay open else it would keep on (over)writing test0.tif files.

Perhaps find a alternative capture software for the "Microsoft Livecam" that allows to take snapshots and doesn't have the 5000 frames restriction.

Chris

[erichollis]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for getting back with me on this. I came to the same conclusion late yesterday about the test%d.tif parameter. So, I'm writing a vbscript that will fire off the ffmpeg code when a mouse is clicked, and handle the file renaming. FFMPEG has proven itself to me to be the very best tool to do what I'm trying to do. I looked at many other webcam and image programs (Avacam, yawcam, etc.) all of them were deficient in one way or the other (for my particular job, admittedly a very small niche)

Back to my original question: Even though avanti won't do this particular job, I'm very interested in continuing to use it. However, I've been unable to figure out how to configure it to use vfwcap. I read the manual, and changed the "File Formats" P setting to "1", but I still can't quite figure it out...any advice?

Thanks again for the nice program and the support.

Eric

[Chris K]

Back to my original question: Even though avanti won't do this particular job, I'm very interested in continuing to use it. However, I've been unable to figure out how to configure it to use vfwcap. I read the manual, and changed the "File Formats" P setting to "1", but I still can't quite figure it out...any advice?

There was a question about it a few months ago. I give an example there using a so called -new command line.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/282223-AVANTI-FFmpeg-Avisynth-GUI-%28support-thread...=1#post2084500

If you read on a bit from there you'll also find something about DirectShow capture which seems to work for some people (as reported at the Zeranoe forum).

Chris

[erichollis]

Dear Chris,

I followed this example you referred me to:

There was a question about it a few months ago. I give an example there using a so called -new command line.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/2...=1#post2084500

In the "User VIDEO options >" field, I entered "-new -r 29.97 -f vfwcap -i list

The result was:
10:24:16 - Checking file paths and basic settings ...
10:24:16 - No "Source 1" path found.



So, I'm curious as to what to put in the Source 1 field?

Thanks again...

Eric

[Chris K]

In the "User VIDEO options >" field, I entered "-new -r 29.97 -f vfwcap -i list

The result was:
10:24:16 - Checking file paths and basic settings ...
10:24:16 - No "Source 1" path found.

Yeah, sorry! I should have explained a bit more about this setup.

Actually, because the capture device is the source, there should be no need to have a source clip at "Source 1" but that conflicts with the Avanti protocol of collecting source propeties before starting a process. To avoid this you can load a arbitrary video clip at "Source 1". Avanti will still use the duration of that clip for progress display so you can't count on that when you capture with -f vfwcap. You simply have to start the capture and press "Cancel" when you want to stop the capture process.

There are no (not yet) special adaptions in Avanti for capturing because -f vfwcap is rather outdated and -f dshow is still in a early stage of development.

Chris

[thezanny]

Can I use Avanti for make a BRRip from an .mkv file?
Like, extract streams, convert audio to AC3 and encode video in x264 @ some bitrate and then mux those 2 together stuff?

[Chris K]

Can I use Avanti for make a BRRip from an .mkv file?
Like, extract streams, convert audio to AC3 and encode video in x264 @ some bitrate and then mux those 2 together stuff?

Avanti is a GUI for FFmpeg which has no options to rip a BR disk. All it can do is encode to the by FFmpeg supported audio/video formats and muxing audio, video and subtitle streams into the supported containers.

I do not recommend Avanti if you're not familiar with these individual steps. I'm sure there are suitable apps available at the VideoHelp tools sections that can do the job. Just take a look!

[Wim Nagtegaal]

Hello,
Installed Avanti version 0.6.1 and the vsfilter.dll (march 2005 !?). Conversion of files works perfectly but when I enable subtitle and conert it the output picture is upside down with the correct subtitles. How can I correct this?
Thanks.

[Chris K]

Hi Wim,

but when I enable subtitle and conert it the output picture is upside down with the correct subtitles. How can I correct this?
Thanks.

Upside down happens to me when RGB (bgra) colorspace is involved, i.e. when my source is MJPEG and I enable rgb color correction. This is something in FFmpeg and I can fix this by setting "Colorspc" on the video settings to YV12.

But if this was the cause in your case, the subtitles whould be also upside down so I have currently no idea why this happens. Avanti doesn't use any flip or rotate commands in its Avisynth scripts.

EDIT: my vsfilter.dll is from 2008. Perhaps that makes the difference?

http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli2/files/DirectShow%20Filters/DirectVobSub%202.39/

Chris

[Wim Nagtegaal]

Sorry, but with the new version it also gives problems. But the 'upside down' is not the only problem, also when subtitles are enbaled the playback speed is not correct anymore and some parts are repeated, really strange! When I try other values of the colorspace the upside down can be solved but the speed and repeat issues keep the same. The input format is AVCHD 1080i and the output format is x264 in a mp4 container scaled to 1024x576 (widescreen PAL). With subtitles conversion off conversion is ok.

[Chris K]

With subtitles conversion off conversion is ok.

Whith all Avanti/Avisynth options like subtitle burn, Avisynth does the decoding through "DirectShowSource()". This means that your source is decoded by a DirectShow codec somewhere on your system. FFmpeg uses its own decoder which seems to have no problem with your source.

What container is your AVCHD source in?

Avisynth offers other source commands like e.g. "AVISource()" and there are more third-party source plugins available. You could copy the Avanti subtitle script to the Avisynth editor (it has an option for this), and then replace the "DirectShowSource()" command for something more suitable.

It might also help to demux the source first and let Avisynth only do the video (demuxed video at source 1 and audio at source 2 and then only route source 1 to Avisynth.

[Wim Nagtegaal]

The container is 'mts'. The camcorder is a Canon HF100. We use CoreAVC and that works, only some programs that build the graph do not recognize CoreAVC. I've asked them to check if the 'signature' of this mts file is recognized by CoreAVC. When graph does not use CoreAVC and then decoding also gives problems.

[Chris K]

You could make a small Avisynth script like...

DirectShowSource("your_source.mts")
converttoYV12()

Save it as something like "test.avs" and throw it on GraphEdit to see what Avisynth is actually using.

EDIT:

If FFmpeg is able to decode it properly, FFdshow might also be able?

[NighthawkGuy]

I noticed that the default avtools.ini file has this entry for the dgpulldown tool, but the file name plugins appear to be wrong compared to those used for mediainfo that work.

default setting:
DGPulldown (24-30) "@destin1" -o "@destin1.pull.m2v"

i find this setting works instead:
DGPulldown (24-30) "@destination" -o "@destination.pd.m2v"

[Chris K]

I noticed that the default avtools.ini file has this entry for the dgpulldown tool, but the file name plugins appear to be wrong compared to those used for mediainfo that work.

default setting:
DGPulldown (24-30) "@destin1" -o "@destin1.pull.m2v"

i find this setting works instead:
DGPulldown (24-30) "@destination" -o "@destination.pd.m2v"

DGPuldown expects a m2v elementary stream as source.

When you re-encode or demux a mpg or vob, Avanti shows *.m2v_mp2 or *.m2v_ac3 as destination file extension. This means it created two separate streams.
The "@destin1" label (plugin as you called it) represents the *.m2v destination stream and the "@destin2" label represents the *.mp2 or *.ac3 destination stream.

So "@destin1" is the elementary video stream which has to be directed to DGPulldown. For MediaInfo the "@destination" label is used which represents a single destination, muxed into a container. When you call up MediaInfo with a *.m2v_mp2 destination, Avanti shows the info of the m2v stream. If you disable video, it shows the info of the mp2 stream.

I know these label stuff can be a bit confusing .

EDIT:

I checked it out and it seems that when ES is selected at the container list, Avanti puts the first part of the extension in the "@destination" label so they should work both (which they do for me).

[Steve(MS)]

HI,
Avanti looks to be a very good tool and I like the speed of ffmpeg.
But perhaps I am trying to make this encoder do something that its not very good at.
What I am trying to accomplish is to convert m2ts to a dvd compliant file with respectable bitrate.
I downloaded the latest ffmpeg from videohelp...I couldn't access the page for recommended ffmpeg builds.

I am able to play the conversions on my computer that I have run through Avanti but my dvd authoring software progs want to re-encode.
After much investigation, it appears the m2ts are progressive so they come out progressive, which is ok.
But there appears to be a GOP problem with the encodes....
So my question is, do I have the correct ffmpeg build to do the job or am I asking too much of ffmpeg to complete a
better compliant dvd file?
I have ntsc hd m2ts and trying to encode to standard definition (better compliant) mpg or vob(ntsc).

[Chris K]

I am able to play the conversions on my computer that I have run through Avanti but my dvd authoring software progs want to re-encode.
After much investigation, it appears the m2ts are progressive so they come out progressive, which is ok.
But there appears to be a GOP problem with the encodes....
So my question is, do I have the correct ffmpeg build to do the job or am I asking too much of ffmpeg to complete a better compliant dvd file?
I have ntsc hd m2ts and trying to encode to standard definition (better compliant) mpg or vob(ntsc).

What framerate are the m2ts clips?

I'm not doing this daily because I'm in a PAL country but what I know is that for NTSC DVD you need to encode to progressive 23.976 fps (m2v elementary) and then add 3:2 pulldown. You can do that separately with the Avanti 2:3 (3:2) pulldown tool or set up the user tools for DGPulldown. It then can be done automatically as a post process.

EDIT:

But there appears to be a GOP problem with the encodes....

Might be you refer here to a "open gops" message? Open gops do not conflict with the DVD specs but authoring programs like DVDLab give a warning that chapter points could be less accurate. FFmpeg defaults to enabled scene-change detection but doesn't allow to set the closed gops flag together with scene-change detection. All my DVD's play fine with open gops.

[Steve(MS)]

Yes, they are 23.976.
I will try the ES encoding approach and run through DGpulldown and see how it turns out.
The reason I haven't tried that way is to avoid any audio sync problems.
Are there any precautions that I need to be aware of when dealing with ES?
I will also re-read the Avanti help section about elementary streams.

[Chris K]

Yes, they are 23.976.
I will try the ES encoding approach and run through DGpulldown and see how it turns out.
The reason I haven't tried that way is to avoid any audio sync problems.
Are there any precautions that I need to be aware of when dealing with ES?
I will also re-read the Avanti help section about elementary streams.

The easiest would be if your authoring program accepts elementary streams like DVDLab (it even prefers it).

You could even try to just demux (copy) the audio stream if it's ac3 or mp2. When you have to remux it back to mpg or vob try the "Rewrite PTS" option. I don't have much experience with ac3 5.1. Commercial DVD's here in europe always have ac3 but broadcast is mainly mp2 stereo which rarely give audio sync problems.

[Steve(MS)]

Chris, you are right.
I found out my dvd players would play the file even before I ran it through dgpulldown.
I was able to use mpeg video wizard to compile a dvd structure though it gave an alert stating the
file was "non standard".

Applying pulldown however made the file more compliant and allowed other authoring progs do a pass through without alteration.

Now for a couple of questions...
First, what exactly does the VBV buffer size do, how to know what to put there?
Since I am dealing with mpeg dvd output, I put in 2048, which I saw from an example from manual.

Then I notice every time I press start process, it always throws in 1 dup(right at the start), which I suppose doesn't really
matter since that is all it does no matter how long the encode process.
Then in the notes box it also says something about "rc buffer underflow".
This shows up also at the very first of the process and doesn't occur anymore.
These notes only appear once and at the very beginning of the process of the encode
and don't seem to have any effect on the video.
I was wondering if this "underflow" note have to do with VBV buffer size entry.....

This is a very good program, I am sure it took a lot of work to complete.
Thanks for providing it and your help here...

[Chris K]

Now for a couple of questions...
First, what exactly does the VBV buffer size do, how to know what to put there?
Since I am dealing with mpeg dvd output, I put in 2048, which I saw from an example from manual.

VBV is the best explained here (better than I can) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_buffering_verifier

You can load the "MPEG-2 / 1-pass HQ 23.976 ES DVD" template at the NTSC tab which is set to VBV 1835k which should be ok for DVD compliance.

Then I notice every time I press start process, it always throws in 1 dup(right at the start), which I suppose doesn't really matter since that is all it does no matter how long the encode process.

This probably depends on your source clip. I also have it occasionally with certain clips.

Then in the notes box it also says something about "rc buffer underflow".
This shows up also at the very first of the process and doesn't occur anymore.
These notes only appear once and at the very beginning of the process of the encode
and don't seem to have any effect on the video.
I was wondering if this "underflow" note have to do with VBV buffer size entry.....

Yes, it has to do with the VBV setting but it is one of those messages that shows up in more recent FFmpeg versions. I tried the last SVN build (SVN-r26400) and it isn't there. It's probably a false alarm after a change in the mpeg2 encoder. I've seen these kind of messages disappear again after a while in the past. I think it can be ignored!?

[atalldave]

Hi Chris,

I have just spent too many hours (days) trying to find a version of FFmpeg which is compatible with Avanti before finally stumbling upon this site. I have tried all the links referenced in the Avanti help file but they take me to "git" files or other builds with numbering nowhere near the "ffmpeg version N-33301-g503e5e9" number you indicate as the last known good build. Your last post (#593) has a link to the "FFmpeg" site with its "git" files. I've tried several of these along with the results from various searches for referenced versions such as "FFMpeg rev9133" and FFMpeg SVN-r26400 as well as word searches such as various incarnations of the exact error message which appear when I try to start Avanti. All of the many extracted downloads (at least 8 - 10), with the "ffmpeg.exe" copied into the Avanti ffmpeg folder, have resulted in error messages basically stating that the version was not compatible. Simply stated, none of the links in the program's help file or at your web site along with any reference to "wording" which could lead me to a compatible build has been successful. I couldn't find anything resembling a generic or "unadulterated" build.

The installation of Avisynth in my OS went without incident.

Your program really looks good and should do what I need. I very much appreciate your hard work in creating it. Would you please post a link to a site which has a build you have currently tried and then also list the exact wording of the name of that file to insure that even I don't get lost?

Many thanks,
Dave

[Chris K]

Hi Dave,

All the latest builds from the links should work or at least give no "unsupported" messages. Did you get other messages with certain builds like e.g. "shared" or "semi-shared" build?

Must be something very uncommon going on. I keep a lot of older versions for testing and the FFMpeg SVN-r26400 you refer to does fine here with the latest Avanti version. I would however use a more recent build like Sherpya build 32754 with the separate libfaac.dll (must be also copied to the Avanti/ffmpeg folder).

I see you're on XP so the location where you run Avanti from should also not be a problem. Only thing I can suggest is to try running FFmpeg from another than the Avanti/ffmpeg folder. Right-click on the "Start Process" button and select "Use other FFmpeg version..." from the menu. You then can point to another location for ffmpeg.

Chris

EDIT:

Here's a link to a earlier post which has links to the latest sherpya build and to the website for the dll ...

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/282223-AVANTI-FFmpeg-Avisynth-GUI-%28support-thread...=1#post2089562

[Chris K]

Just a note to everyone who wonders what Avanti needs from a downloaded FFmpeg zip package.

You only need to copy ffmpeg.exe to the Avanti/ffmpeg folder. It doesn't need ffprobe.exe, ffplay.exe or avconv.exe. This refers to static builds. If you downloaded a shared build, also copy all the included dll's to the Avanti/ffmpeg folder.

Additionally you can copy the ffpresets that are in the zip's "presets" or "share" folder to the Avanti/ffmpeg/ffpresets folder.

Chris

[NighthawkGuy]

a more recent build like Sherpya build 32754 with the separate libfaac.dll (must be also copied to the Avanti/ffmpeg folder).

For reference, today I installed that version Sherpya build 32754 ffmpeg.exe along with the separate libfaac.dll with the latest Avanti 062 and it all worked fine under Windows 7x64.
I installed Avanti in this directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Video\Avanti062
Here is a link to download the separate libfaac.dll: http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer/misc/libfaac-1.28.7z

I tested a simple conversion to NTSC 720x480 DVD compatable MPG2 with AC3 audio 23.976fps followed by dgpulldown to 29.97fps and it worked fine.
I also tested a simple audio conversion to AAC and that also worked fine.

Loading one of my existing user templates for DVD output I notice with the new avanti version now shows "AC3-Fixed" under the audio codec and it works fine.

[Chris K]

Hi NighthawkGuy,

Thanks for posting this! There could be still an exceptional circumstance where Avanti looses track at initialization? Another thing that Dave could try is to delete the "AVANTI.ini" file so it resets to the defaults.

Loading one of my existing user templates for DVD output I notice with the new avanti version now shows "AC3-Fixed" under the audio codec and it works fine.

Yeah, recently the FFmpeg developers added a new floating point ac3 encoder. Formerly the plain ac3 codec name referred to s16 (fixed) but now to float. To convert to the old standard, you now have to use the ac3_fixed codec name. Because I don't know if this change is compatible with e.g. stand-alone players, I decided to let existing templates still refer to the s16 codec. The audio codec dropdown list now have both available and when you save new templates, you can decide which one to use.

EDIT:

I found a note at my old FFmpeg builds and the change actually wasn't that recent. It started in FFmpeg version SVN-r26292 at January 10, 2011.

[Steve(MS)]

NighthawkGuy, I notice you mention your "user templates" for DVD output.
I am interested in modding some myself, if you will, share with us yours.

[atalldave]

Hello Chris and NighthawkGuy,

I am very impressed with the prompt and helpful responses. Many thanks!

In response to the wording in the error messages, there was nothing referencing "shared" or "semi-shared".

I just finished going to the links and downloading the recommended program build and libfaac.dll. I copied both the libfaac.dll and ffmpeg.exe to the Avanti/ffmpeg folder - nothing else. I also deleted the "AVANTI.ini" file. I am attempting to use Avanti ver. 0.6.2.

It might also be helpful to describe the folder structure where the software is stored. They are stored on the "E" HDD partition several folders deep in one called "Video Tools". The folder holding all the associated software is called "Avanti - FFmpeg-Avisynth GUI. Inside this folder are separate folders for "Avanti ver 0.6.2i", "FFmpeg", "Avisynth", and "libfaac.dll". As previously stated, "Avisynth" was installed and the "FFmpeg" and "libfaac.dll" copied to the folder in Avanti. The following is the error message I copied and pasted from the program when I tried to start it - as before:

1:16:24 - Initializing FFmpeg engine ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1:16:29 - Unable to initialize this FFmpeg version (unsupported build).

... Some versions included with other GUI's may not work with Avanti.
Please use a 'generic' Win32 build (see links in chm help).

To make certain I got the correct file, here is the file name from the site:
git-N-32754-g936d4d4 2011-09-21
I'm hoping to use the program to "remux" VOB files from a Sony DVD recorder I used to record live lectures. I need to edit them and have discovered a great program called Lightworks http://www.lightworksbeta.com/. It is a little "picky" as to the format of the files as listed under "Features" at "I/O Support". The goal is to change the VOB container to one that is supported by Lightworks so that the original files are not degraded. Because I recorded the original, there is no copy protection. The following is a copy of the MediaInfo report from one of the VOB's:

General
Complete name : G:\aaaVideo Temp\VTS_01_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1 024 MiB
Duration : 29mn 20s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 4 878 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Duration : 29mn 20s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 495 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.434
Stream size : 950 MiB (93%)

Audio
ID : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 29mn 20s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 53.7 MiB (5%)

Text
ID : 224 (0xE0)-DVD-2
Format : EIA-608
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Muxing mode, more info : Muxed in Video #1
Bit rate mode : Constant
Stream size : 0.00 Byte (0%)

Hope your program can do this (remux) so as to minimize video degradation. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Best regards and thanks,
Dave