Going nuts trying to convert a video

[ehunter]

Having the hardest time converting M2TS to MPEG2 DVD

The first 10 seconds of video has a tree in shadow that is pixilated no matter what settings I use to do the conversion. I have bumped up the bitrate to 9000, changed the GOP to 4 with 1 b-frame, tried quantizations of 1.0 or 2.0 Nothing seems to work.

I am using XviD4PSP5 (I have tried sp6 with out success which by the way looks like processing options have been taken away from the user. When I try a set of settings I only convert the first minute of video. Then when the settings are right I will convert the whole video.

I am looking for your guidelines on what settings to use and which are a waste of time so avoid.

If I could find a free M2TS cutter I would make available a short clip and you could try your luck.

[jagabo]

DgIndex (MPEG 2 video) and DgAvcIndex (AVC video) can demux a small portion.

[aedipuss]

maybe

[ricoman]

After several weeks and at least 6-8 different softwares, I found AVStoDVD to be the best for me. Set output to DVD Folder Structure to produce a very good quality video that has standard dvd ifo/vob files that plays on standalone dvd players.
AVStoDVD is free.

[ehunter]

maybe

Way to go AEDIPUSS !!!

I have been looking for a cute little utility like that for along time.

I have tried SUPER and now XviD4PSP5 and cant get the pixelation to go away in the shadow of the tree.
If somebody knows how to do this with either of these programs please post your settings.

I would rather not have people post the software they use that is NOT FREE. I would rather give up than start rolling dice with my wallet.

OK here is the link to the sample: http://www.mediafire.com/?rwmwzznznjy

have at it people...

[jagabo]

That's a tough shot because of the high contrast and detail, the fade-in from black, and the motion of the camera. Here's what HcEnc did with the clip at 6000 kbps average, 9000 kbps max:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UX3N2P77

Does it look better or worse than your Xvid4Psp encodings?

[aedipuss]

the makesample utility is courtesy of chrissyboy, the author of vob2mpeg and other tools.

[jagabo]

I got a chance to convert with Xvid4Psp's 9200 kbps CBR Ultra template and saw that it was much blockier than my HcEnc encode. Guess you'll have to switch encoders.

[creamyhorror]

AVStoDVD uses HcEnc, maybe that would suit the OP's workflow? Nothing wrong with HcEnc (+ GUI), of course.

[ehunter]

What I think is really interesting is, if I convert to AVI instead I get what I consider to be a perfect reproduction.

but conversion to MPEG2 struggles like heck.

[ehunter]

That's a tough shot because of the high contrast and detail, the fade-in from black, and the motion of the camera. Here's what HcEnc did with the clip at 6000 kbps average, 9000 kbps max:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UX3N2P77

Does it look better or worse than your Xvid4Psp encodings?

It definitely looks better. I also notice a loss in contrast in the conversion which might be why the details in the shadows are not as sharp as the original clip. I will have a look at your HCEnc to see what kind of controls are there.

Another thing I don’t understand is why the more demanding BlueRay original, 1920x1080/3500kbps bit rate, when cut down to a smaller screen size format 720x480 needs a much higher bit rate and even then struggles with the final reproduction. I mean, there are less dots on the screen to keep up with converting to 720/480 but we are needing 2-3x the BlueRay bit rate. Obviously something fundamental I am missing in my understanding.

[jagabo]

I didn't get any change in contrast when I converted. Both look the same. Be careful how you compare. Two media players playing the same video side by side may look different. One will be using the graphics card's video overlay feature, the other will not (only one program at a time can use video overlay). Depending on your video overlay proc amp settings the videos can look very different.

HcEnc sample:



Xvid4Psp sample:

[poisondeathray]

Another thing I don’t understand is why the more demanding BlueRay original, 1920x1080/3500kbps bit rate, when cut down to a smaller screen size format 720x480 needs a much higher bit rate and even then struggles with the final reproduction. I mean, there are less dots on the screen to keep up with converting to 720/480 but we are needing 2-3x the BlueRay bit rate. Obviously something fundamental I am missing in my understanding.

Your sample wasn't a "blu-ray original" ; the original would be much higher quality

But your point illustrates differences in potential encoding efficiency between h.264 and MPEG2 ; h.264 has much more efficiency with a decent encoder than MPEG2

[ehunter]

I didn't get any change in contrast when I converted. Both look the same. Be careful how you compare. Two media players playing the same video side by side may look different. One will be using the graphics card's video overlay feature, the other will not (only one program at a time can use video overlay). Depending on your video overlay proc amp settings the videos can look very different.

Your right. The tilt angle of my screen is causing this. I played the vids in serial using VLC.

But your point illustrates differences in potential encoding efficiency between h.264 and MPEG2 ; h.264 has much more efficiency with a decent encoder than MPEG2

But isn't the AVI format older than MPEG2? I can get an AVI encoding to come out perfect when the output file sizes are the same as the MPEG2. Is it because maybe AVI does not use loss-less compression and MPEG2 does?

[poisondeathray]

But isn't the AVI format older than MPEG2? I can get an AVI encoding to come out perfect when the output file sizes are the same as the MPEG2. Is it because maybe AVI does not use loss-less compression and MPEG2 does?

AVI is just a container. Think of it as a box that holds video & audio

It's the type of compression that is important. You can have lossy, or lossless. Examples of lossy compression would be xvid, or divx. An example of lossless compression would be lagarith . There are hundreds of different kinds of compression that might be compatible with AVI. So the term "AVI" doesn't convey very much specific information

You probably used xvid AVI in your example; xvid typically has better compression that MPEG2 , especially at lower bitrate ranges, which explains your observations

But remember, your source already had a lot of detail thrown away (it's not the original blu-ray), so it's easier to compress

Anyways, there are quite significant differences between encoder quality even when using the same format/compression. I think xvid4psp uses FFMPEG for it's MPEG2 encoder , which is worse than HCenc in almost all cases

[txporter]

Anyways, there are quite significant differences between encoder quality even when using the same format/compression. I think xvid4psp uses FFMPEG for it's MPEG2 encoder , which is worse than HCenc in almost all cases

Yes, it does and I agree, it is worse than HCenc. It also is inconsistent with target bitrates compared to HCenc.

[ehunter]

I have been having a look at HCenc and I like what I have been reading. I downloaded the zip file and read the HC Guide. I am missing something though.

What I have been able to puzzle together is in order to encode a M2TS file, I use a program called DGindex to create a D2V or AVS file.

I then use the D2V or AVS as input to HCgui_023.exe. The later then passes the encoding arguments to HCenc_023.exe.

Is this correct? If not, what was your process flow to convert the sample file if the HC utility does not accept the M2TS format?

[poisondeathray]

It depends on the codec. Your .m2ts is using h.264 (or AVC), so you need DGAVCIndex . DGIndex is only for MPEG2 sources. DGAVCIndex is only for progressive AVC sources (it has a bug with interlaced sources)

You index, and generate a .dga file (DGIndex for MPEG2 would have created a .d2v file). Then create and .avs file (in notepad, write the following, save it, change the .txt extension to .avs, change filenames/paths to match)

For NTSC DVD you need to resize to 720x480 as well. And I think your sample had wrong framerate, 24fps, not ~23.976

AVCSource(PATH\"video.dga")
LanczosResize(720,480)
AssumeFPS(24000,1001)

[jagabo]

DGAVCIndex is only for progressive AVC sources (it has a bug with interlaced sources)

Do you know what the problem is? I've used it with interlaced material in the past.

[poisondeathray]

DGAVCIndex is only for progressive AVC sources (it has a bug with interlaced sources)

Do you know what the problem is? I've used it with interlaced material in the past.

It causes blocky pixellation. There are some screenshots in one of soopafresh's thread on converting avchd to anything. It's documented in several threads on doom9. The reason is it's based on an old libavcodec library that neuron2 required for frame accuracy (apparently he can't upgrade until they fix it)

[aedipuss]

my guess would be you're not working with the original source but someone's blue-ray on dvd copy. there isn't enough quality video info left in the twice compressed mpeg-4. it's not worth working with. get the retail dvd.

[ricoman]

OK, one more time, I just processed 2012 from bluray using BDRebuilder to a DVD-9, can't tell the difference from the original, includes DTS 5.1 audio. I took that now 7.51gb Stream file and processed that with AVStoDVD using the output setting for DVD Folder Structure. It uses HCenc or Quenc (I like HCenc, it's a little faster) and burned with Imgburn. It produced a 4.3gb dvd complete with IFO/VOB files like a normal dvd and plays on all the standalones that I've tried. I believe it only comes with 2.1 sound but looks and sounds very good. Comparable to most regular dvds. All of the software except AnyDVDHD is free software, you need that to decrypt, but it sounds like it's already on your HD so you don't need it. It's a real simple process.

[ehunter]

I have downloaded the latest version of AVStoDVD and was able to process the sample like the rest of you. Then I try the full video and I am not able to get the encoding to complete.


I either get a BOSD at random times (~5-20min) or the utility freezes. When I look in my event viewer I come across a KERNAL POWER EVENT ID 41.

I am using i860 on ASUS P7P55D-E mobo with OCZ ddr3 memory on Win7-64b pro.

Are any of you using Win7-64b with AVStoDVD ?

[jagabo]

Overheating?

[ehunter]

I am not overclocking the CPU but My memory I do have set for 1600Mhz at 7-7-7-24 timing.

I think I will reset my mobo back to AUTO for the memory setup and see what happens. I know how to monitor the temps for the CPU but not the memory though.

[lacywest]

Interesting info here ... thank you

[hank315]

HCenc really puts a lot of pressure on the CPU and memory, if your system isn't 100% stable it will probably crash within 30 minutes.

[ehunter]

After changing my memory clocking back to Auto on my Mobo I am happy to say the encoding made it all the way through without crashing my computer. The above video is a 2hr 18min M2TS conversion to a 4.7gb DVD and the problematic area now looks great! I am impressed. Scrap Super and Scrap Xvid4psp. AVStoDVD beats them all.

In learning about AVStoDVD, it seems that the utility analyzes the video and decides what coding scheme it should use. That is, should it use 1 pass or 2 pass HCenc or Quenc all dependent on the characteristics of the video. The only thing the user needs to adjust is the average bitrate. If anyone has any tips along these lines I would like to hear them. Very possibly I am overlooking or oversimplifying this process in my own mind.

I am going to try another conversion to see how that goes. Then, go back and try to understand what I need to learn about advanced memory settings.


By the way, the CPU temps of the 4 cores spiked at a max of 66, 63, 62, 63 degrees for the conversion. The average temps were 52-60 degrees for 99% of the time. I dont know what to do to monitor my memory temps though.



Took 90 minutes to encode on a 2 pass cycle.

[ehunter]

I just confronted an issue with burning to disk.

It seems the video that was produced is too big for a DVD disk and I don’t know what do to resolve it.

My burn utility says 4482Mb are available. 4493Mb are required.

Shouldn't the encoder know the size produced was too big?


Suggestions?

[_MrC_]

Post the AVStoDVD log file. It will help.



Bye