AVANTI - FFmpeg/Avisynth GUI (support thread).

[usikpa]

Chris,

Is there any way I could use AVANTI to run Avisynth deinterlacing filter with ffmpeg (instead of yadif)?

[Chris K]

Chris,

Is there any way I could use AVANTI to run Avisynth deinterlacing filter with ffmpeg (instead of yadif)?

You cannot use Avisynth filters directly with FFmpeg but if you have Avisynth installed, you can set the "Avisynth USER mode" (right-click on the "Start Process" button for a menu). Then at the Avisynth script editor enter a small script like this ...

DirectShowSource("@source1_path")
YourDeinterlaceFilter(...)

You also need to have a decoder installed for your source format. If your source is an AVI, you can use AviSource("@source1_path").
You can load your source at "Source 1" as is and Avanti will insert the script automatically.

[usikpa]

You cannot use Avisynth filters directly with FFmpeg but if you have Avisynth installed, you can set the "Avisynth USER mode" (right-click on the "Start Process" button for a menu). Then at the Avisynth script editor enter a small script like this ...

Thanks, Chris, for answering. It does appear a bit more complicated than I thought, but I will look into that.

Actually, my objective is to fine-decomb just a few frames in the source file which I have in mpeg-ts (the original source) and AVC in mp4 (the ffmpeg output upon conversion) file formats. Yadif did not help, maybe because of the color image of the both files being in YUV color space. So I am looking for another solution to decomb the YUV color scheme.

Thank you

[Searz]

Hi, I'm wondering about why the "H264 HQ 2-pass in MP4" preset doesn't work. It worked flawlessly before, but around the time I switched from Windows XP to 7 it stopped working.

"FFmpeg messages/warnings:

[avi @ 02121860] non-interleaved AVI

Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #0.1 : stereo

[NULL @ 01ffd3e0] [Eval @ 0028b34c] Undefined constant or missing '(' in 'chroma'
[NULL @ 01ffd3e0] Unable to parse option value "+chroma"
[NULL @ 01ffd3e0] Error setting option cmp to value +chroma.

Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0
... - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height"

[Chris K]

Hi, I'm wondering about why the "H264 HQ 2-pass in MP4" preset doesn't work. It worked flawlessly before, but around the time I switched from Windows XP to 7 it stopped working.

Hi Searz,

You probably also switched over to a newer FFmpeg version on Windows 7!? There's a little change in what FFmpeg expects on the command line which can be easily fixed. One of the commands on the command line reads...

-cmp +chroma

You only need to remove the + sign to make it work again. Note that some other h264 presets also need that fix.

[Searz]

You probably also switched over to a newer FFmpeg version on Windows 7!? There's a little change in what FFmpeg expects on the command line which can be easily fixed. One of the commands on the command line reads...

-cmp +chroma

You only need to remove the + sign to make it work again. Note that some other h264 presets also need that fix.

I didn't switch build, it stopped working on the same build I used in WinXP.

How would I go about changing that setting?

All I have in the command line is:
-@pass1 -vpre libx264-fast-pass1 -@pass2 -vpre libx264-hq-pass2

[Chris K]

How would I go about changing that setting?

All I have in the command line is:
-@pass1 -vpre libx264-fast-pass1 -@pass2 -vpre libx264-hq-pass2

Aah...! I overlooked that Avanti preset which uses FFmpeg presets. You can replace the presets at the "ffmpeg/ffpresets" folder at where you installed Avanti with the ones from the attached zip.

[Searz]

How would I go about changing that setting?

All I have in the command line is:
-@pass1 -vpre libx264-fast-pass1 -@pass2 -vpre libx264-hq-pass2

Aah...! I overlooked that Avanti preset which uses FFmpeg presets. You can replace the presets at the "ffmpeg/ffpresets" folder at where you installed Avanti with the ones from the attached zip.

Oh, that was rather simple. I could just have edited that myself with notepad, you didn't have to fix the files for me :3
Thanks a lot!

That preset is by far the best quality/size I've ever seen. It's almost like double the quality at the same size compared to other methods I've tried with the same codecs. I love it

[pxstein]

Two questions concerning Avanti:

1.) On the Avanti main page it is said that I need Win32 builds of ffmpeg.
I have a 64bit Win7. Can I use 64bit ffmpeg builds as well? Or are 32builds required for Avanti?

2.) Assume I have already downloaded and stored ffmpeg software in another directory outside of Avanti (because I use them
for other video software).
Do I really have to copy (=duplicate) these ffmpeg files to Avanti subfolder?
or is there an option (where exactly?) inside Avanti to tell Avanti not to search for ffmpeg inside its subfolder but to
use the existing ffmpeg in folder e.g. D:\videotools\ffmpeg\ instead?

If this is not possible: Could this option be included in the next release? I hate duplicates

Thank you
Peter

[Chris K]

Hi Peter,

Two questions concerning Avanti:

1.) On the Avanti main page it is said that I need Win32 builds of ffmpeg.
I have a 64bit Win7. Can I use 64bit ffmpeg builds as well? Or are 32builds required for Avanti?

You can try it but if you read back a bit in this thread you'll find a post of a 64-bit user who suggest to use a full 32-bit tool chain i.e. 32-bit FFmpeg and 32-bit Avisynth. There's also mentioned that this in practice even works faster!?

here are some notes about Avanti on Windows 7. http://avanti.arrozcru.org/windows7.htm

2.) Assume I have already downloaded and stored ffmpeg software in another directory outside of Avanti (because I use them
for other video software).
Do I really have to copy (=duplicate) these ffmpeg files to Avanti subfolder?
or is there an option (where exactly?) inside Avanti to tell Avanti not to search for ffmpeg inside its subfolder but to
use the existing ffmpeg in folder e.g. D:\videotools\ffmpeg\ instead?

If you right-click on the "Start Process" button, you'll get a menu with the option "Change path to FFmpeg executable". You can set that to any location but it must be a static build. If the build you use expects a dll (e.g. libfaac) you still need to copy that dll to the "ffmpeg" folder at where you installed Avanti. Shared builds can only run from the Avanti "ffmpeg" folder.

Chris

[pxstein]

Some questions about Avanti:

1.) Can I re-encode video DVDs with Avanti? In other words: Can Avanti read and detect a DVD file structure with VIDEO_TS folder,....?
If yes: Which of the files do I have to select as source: VIDEO_TS.IFO or VIDEO_TS.VOB or VTS_01_0.IFO?

2.) Is there an auto-crop function which detects automatically black area bars of a video and crops them?

3.) Where can I set CPU priority to "Below normal"?

4.) Is there an option to increase volume level by lets say 180% (=necessary when re-encoding AC3 to LameMP3 audio tracks)?

Thank you
Peter

[Chris K]

Avanti is a GUI for FFmpeg. Its goal is to make it easier to manage complex command lines by offering some tools and automation. Mainly of interest to those who are (or like to get) familiar with FFmpeg usage. It doesn't use any other tools in the background except Avisynth for its pre-processing options.

1.) FFmpeg doesn't offer to read DVD structures.

2.) FFmpeg doesn't offer auto-crop. (It has a cropdetect filter to find the values).

3.) You can set that at the "User Preferences" at "Set FFmpeg process priority".

4.) For Avanti enter -afin "volume=1.8" at the "User AUDIO options" command line.

You can click on the "User VIDEO options" label at the left to toggle between video and audio command lines. You can chain FFmpeg filters like e.g;

-afin "volume=1.8,atempo=1.0427"

This increases volume to 180% and squeezes a 23.976 audio to 25 fps.

Chris

[mkvbob]

Is it not possible to mux into asf/wmv containers? I cant see asf in the list.

[Chris K]

Is it not possible to mux into asf/wmv containers? I cant see asf in the list.

Yes you probably can! FFmpeg accepts both file extensions and mux it. I can't check out if it's really playable.

Not all existing containers are in the list but you can easily add them. Just type asf in the "Container" field and then press enter. It will be added to the list and saved for later use. Same goes for wmv (or anything else).

EDIT: Yes it plays. FFdshow can't but SMPlayer does.

[mkvbob]

Is it not possible to mux into asf/wmv containers? I cant see asf in the list.

Yes you probably can! FFmpeg accepts both file extensions and mux it. I can't check out if it's really playable.

Not all existing containers are in the list but you can easily add them. Just type asf in the "Container" field and then press enter. It will be added to the list and saved for later use. Same goes for wmv (or anything else).

EDIT: Yes it plays. FFdshow can't but SMPlayer does.

Ok I can now use asf.

Is it possible to adjust audio delay through the container without re-encoding the streams though? When I use the tools button to delay the audio track, the end result ended up 30% bigger than the original, suggesting that something had been re-encoded.

[Chris K]

Is it possible to adjust audio delay through the container without re-encoding the streams though? When I use the tools button to delay the audio track, the end result ended up 30% bigger than the original, suggesting that something had been re-encoded.

Yes, audio is re-encoded with Avisynth and if you had audio still set to "Copy", you muxed-in the raw PCM audio that Avisynth delivers. That's why the result is 30% bigger.

With the audio delay tool you have to re-encode and need to choose a destination codec (not copy). I don't know a decent way to delay audio with FFmpeg.

[mkvbob]

Allright, how about adjusting aspect ratio? Is it possible to set the PAR in the container, or does the video have to be re-encoded?

[Chris K]

Allright, how about adjusting aspect ratio? Is it possible to set the PAR in the container, or does the video have to be re-encoded?

Yes! Has to be re-encoded. It wouldn't help to only change the PAR in header.

[PowerFalcon]

This software seems clunky, I use it, I wish there was another alternative that worked as good as this program.

[GoldenMeanie]

Hey Chris,

First off, I wanted to say I LOVE Avanti! I've been using it now for the last five years and almost can't do anything without it now. However there's one thing I still need the CLI for and that's to build a video file from multiple images. Is there a way to do this in Avanti? I've tried selecting multiple files but it seems to only want to load the first one.

Here's the command I use on the CLI - c:\avanti\ffmpeg\ffmpeg -i c:\tlframes\t_frm%04d.jpg -vcodec dvvideo -vb 30314000 -pix_fmt yuv411p -r 29.97 -an -s 720x480 -aspect 16:9 c:\video\video.avi
This creates a silent DV file I can load into my old version of Pinnacle Studio for editing.

As you can see t_frm%04d.jpg takes each frame that's named t_frm####.jpg incrementally and adds it to the video stream. I'm hesitant to try this in the user options but as per the help file, I could if I just preceded the command with -NEW. But something tells me Avanti may choke on the incremental load of each frame since it has control over file input/output.

I will try this method to see if it will work, but if it doesn't, please advise. Would like to set up a template for this function as I have a lot of ideas in my head for animations and additional time lapse.

Thank you!

[Chris K]

Is there a way to do this in Avanti? I've tried selecting multiple files but it seems to only want to load the first one.

Hi,

Sorry for the delay!

It's a built-in option. You can load the first image at the "Source 1" field while holding down the <Ctrl> key. You then get something like this on the command line...

F:/image sequence2/%04d.jpg

Above is for numbered only files like ... 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, 0003.jpg ... but It can also be named files like...

F:/image_sequence2/frame_%04d.jpg

You can do your basic destination settings and command line additions as usual. There are some more details in the help file at the index ffmpeg section under "Image sequence sources".

A few additions to take into account... Since a jpg image has no frame rate, FFmpeg defaults to 25 fps. If you need a destination with another frame rate you have to add a input frame rate to the command line before the -i "input_path" command like ... ffmpeg -r 29.97 -i "input_path". Avanti does this automatically taken from the setting at the frame rate dropdown list.

Even the latest FFmpeg versions seem to follow that according to the input graph ...

[graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 02746ce0] TB:0.033367 FRAME_RATE:29.970000 SAMPLE_RATE:nan

If you don't add that, FFmpeg is going to insert duplicate frames to convert from 25 fps to 29.97 fps.

Chris

[GoldenMeanie]

I must not be doing something right because I do not get anything when I hold CTRL down while selecting the first image file. Does this only work with .JPG files? I'm loading .BMP files.

[Chris K]

I tried it with the latest version 0.7.2 and it works fine. Also with bmp files. It is already in from version 0.5.4 up.

You have to KEEP the <Ctrl> key down when you open the file. It also works when you drop the file on the "Source 1" field with <Ctrl> down.

Please post the filename of the file you've tried.

[GoldenMeanie]

Ok THAT Worked! Thank you! You've just simplified my life, AGAIN.

Now, one more question: Can I do the reverse? Take a video file and save each frame as a .BMP file?

[Chris K]

Now, one more question: Can I do the reverse? Take a video file and save each frame as a .BMP file?

Yes that can be done! It's not something built-in but a setup on the command line. I did it in the past but can't remember how. I'll post back as soon as I know.

[Chris K]

Got it!

On the user command line put -f image2

At the destination field enter your destination filepath/name+format or only path+format like...

F:/image_sequences/frame%04d.bmp.user or just

F:/image_sequences/%04d.bmp.user

The extra .user extension is a Avanti switch to lock the file extension so it's not updated automatically.
You can leave it off if you add bmp to the "Container" dropdown list and select it from there.

Just type bmp in the container field and then press enter to add it to the list.

EDIT:

Forgotten to give a codec on the command line so it now becomes...

-c:v bmp -f image2

Without this the bitmaps were stored as raw data.

Also set the codec field to "Copy Video".

[GoldenMeanie]

Hehehe, thank you!

[Kblev]

Hi all,
Noob,, Can you merge vob files when you are converting through Avanti? I cannot figure it out. Looks like I would have to convert one at a time.
Thanks

[Chris K]

Can you merge vob files when you are converting through Avanti? I cannot figure it out. Looks like I would have to convert one at a time.

No...sorry! Avanti is not prepared for that.

Recent FFmpeg versions have a "concat " filter but instead of some simple examples, they start off with this...

http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg-filters.html#concat

[Kblev]

Thanks for the quick reply.
At least that means I didn't miss anything. I know you can by FFmpeg, but I'm no script writer.
Thanks again