Another question about best program

[Kurgan71]

Hi

I have two issues

1. I have several XVID files (the audio is usually VBR MP3 or sometimes CBR MP3) that I want to be able to play in iTunes/Quicktime. The best way I have found so far is to use SUPER to re-encode into a MP4 container with codec h264 (Quicktime also supports MOV but h264 has given me best result so far). The video quality is still however quite poor with big artifacts in sceneries in similar colors, like sea, sky or dark rooms. My guess is that it's because that I re-encode a the heavily compressed file. I understand that XVID also is a codec that uses a MP4 container. I therefore have tested to use the stream copy option in SUPER. I get an error and the output is not playable in Quicktime but the the strange thing is that they are playable in VLC?!? My first question is there another program that allows me to do a stream copy from XVID to h264?

2. I have a few MP4-files where the audio is out of synch with a constant number of milliseconds. Is there also program that let me re-synch the audio without reprocessing the h264 video and also preferably the audio?

Many thanks

[redwudz]

SUPER is not usually a good choice if you are looking for best quality. I would try other programs. I use FairUse Wizard for H.264 conversions, but with any conversion like this you may need to increase the bitrate to keep the existing quality. For freeware, you could try MeGUI or other encoders here: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-encoders-h264-vc1

VLC is a great program and will play just about any video file, even damaged ones. Quicktime is more sensitive if the file is out of specification for it.

For sync problems, VirtualDub is one tool you can try. You can apply a audio offset, negative or positive to correct the sync error. Then save it out in direct stream copy with no re-encoding. There are guides for it at the bottom of the VD tool page. Did the sync problems occur after the SUPER conversion? MP3 VBR audio is one common cause. Other causes can be missing frames or missing audio.

And welcome to our forums.

[Kurgan71]

Thanks for your suggestion on alternatives to SUPER. I will give FairUse Wizard a try later today.

Yes the out of sync appears after the conversion to H264 in SUPER. The source file is fine. Regarding virtualdub or virtualdubmod (what is the difference really?) I understood prior to my posing that people use them to shift audio but my files is H264 in MP4. I can only get virtualdub to understand AVI-containers and since that file is working I really don't see how that program can help me? Can you please elaborate?

The forum looks amazing and bursting with activity so I will for sure enjoy it here, thanks

[redwudz]

VD Mod is an older version of VD that can open MPEG files, OGM files and a few others. The newest VD can also open MPEG files with the addition of a plug-in. I still use VDM as I like it's interface for audio better. I've never had much luck opening H.264 with VD, but it can encode to that format using a VFW H.264 codec.

Another popular freeware program is MeGUI for H.264 conversions

If MP3 VBR audio is still causing sync problems, you can convert it to WAV audio with VD Mod, mux that back with the video, then do your conversions. This often solves sync problems.

A guide for that: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=280779

But FUW and some others should be able to handle VBR audio. SUPER may not.

Otherwise, you would probably have to demux the audio from your H.264 and add a audio offset, then mux it back with the video. You could do that with YAMB. Best to avoid all that if possible. I don't work much with H.264 files except to encode them. The format is not really made for editing.

[poisondeathray]

1) Yes your quality will be worse because you are re-encoding using a lossy codec. You can try to minimize loss by using a higher bitrate = larger filesize. You cannot stream copy XviD to x264. They are 2 different codecs.

2) Quicktime doesn't support many of the x264 quality features which results in suboptimal results. I don't know why anyone would choose Quicktime. It only supports AVC Main profile (not higher), max 2b-frames (although I have gotten 3 to play). It does not support 8x8dct , intra prediction, b-pyramids (i.e. stuff in the high profile)

An easy way is to use the Quicktime profile in MeGUI, or the Apple TV profile in Ripbot264. If you are new to this stuff, Ripbot264 is much easier to use.

3) For shifting the audio in .mp4 containers, use avidemux. It handles vbr audio fine, and supports many codecs and containers.

Just checkmark the shift audio box, enter the delay in ms (e.g. -1000ms for 1sec delay), press enter. Leave the video & audio set to copy, and container set to .mp4. Once you figured out the exact delay, press save with extension (eg. "myfile.mp4") this will direct stream copy without re-encoding. You can preview and adjust the audio on the fly, e.g. change it to -500ms, press play, see if that works and re-adjust it before you save it.

Cheers

[hech54]

For shifting the audio in .mp4 containers, use avidemux. It handles vbr audio fine, and supports many codecs and containers.

Ditto.

[Kurgan71]

thanks guys, I understand that part of the quality problem is due to quicktime since the file is a little bit better in VLC. There are a few reasons I use itunes as my media player but the main reason is that my family are luddites and refuse to learn anything else. Even iTunes is a struggle

If I must use itunes/QT and quality is my main driver; is MPEG-4 less lessy than h264? is one of the containers m4v, mp4 or mov to prefer? As I said I now use mp4.

[Kurgan71]

Ok, forget my last question. Not so important.

I downloaded avidemux and got and excellent first impression. I took my file and choose video = "Copy" and a delay on the sound of 500ms. The end result looks great in VLC and the audio is perfectly synched BUT when I play the file in QT the video is completely black. Any ideas?

[poisondeathray]

The output from avidemux is not compatible with QT - even when using direct stream copy. I'm not sure why, I think it might have to do with the metadata or container specifics; like you said, it plays fine in every other player.

You can take the synced up .mp4 video - and since the streams were already compliant with QT - use yamb (GUI for mp4box) to place them in different .mp4 container. Now it's playable with QT.

This is tested and working, but you have to extract to raw streams first (I used MeGUI's mp4 muxer, but it's based on the same mp4box). Again - I suspect it has to do with avidemux's container

I think you may have misunderstoond what I said about QT player earlier - I said it doesn't support many x264 features - which means if your video plays back in it, that it is QT compatible and lower quality (or not optimized) to begin with! My purpose in saying this is that the next time you encode a video, you can use those features to improve video quality, as long as you use a decent video player. It's like having a V8 Ferrari F430, but using only 4 cylinders and driving below the speed limit

Cheers

[Kurgan71]

I have been trying to get FairUse to work for converting the XVID to h264 as my question was but is it really possible? The findings I have tells me that I have to have an ISO-file to use FairUse. And not just any ISO-file (e.g. magicISO created)

BTW I got the the resync to work now with avidemux and then MeGUI to repair the container. Thanks for the help on that.