Hybrid(Windows/Linux/Mac): Input -> x264/x265/Xvid/VP8/VP9

[Selur]

will look at it later.

[Selur]

@omelette:
- reproduced and files the 'audio only -> Preview crash'-problem
- can't reproduce the opus problem, probably because I don't know what you did before pressing Reset To Video Input' :
what I did:

• start Hybrid
• load test.wav
• set audio handling to 'custom'
• enable Reencode
• set audio format to opus
• set bitrate to 32
• added audio job to audio queue
  -> job was properly added with 32kBit/s as bit rate
• removed the entry from the audio queue
• changed audio to 'auto add (first)'
• checked the audio queue
  -> job was properly added with 32kBit/s as bit rate
• removed the entry from the audio queue
• pressed 'Reset to video input'
  -> job was properly added with 32kBit/s as bit rate

=> no clue how to reproduce the problem you describe, atm. it looks like a usage problem not a bug.

Cu Selur

[omelette]

Hi Selur. Strange that you see different results than I do, particularly since I see the same thing with both XP-Hybrid and Wine-Hybrid. If a picture is worth a 1000 words then maybe a little video should be even better! - attached, done with RecordMyDesktop and re-encoded with Hybrid (naturally) in the x265 format (at 0.4fps ). This shows what I see when running Hybrid on XP. Same thing happens on Wine. It also highlights a couple of other things not 'quite right' (imo) with Hybrid, namely the bitrate drop-down menu on the Audio tab, it is not being populated correctly when Opus is involved, and the 'Audio Queue' window re-populates itself after being cleared when the 'Audio Handling' method on the main window is changed.

Also for what it's worth - very little I would imagine! - I removed Hybrid from Wine and reinstalled it with Wine emulating System7. The folder-crash problem is still present and replacing the executable with the 'hybrid.exe' file you sent me doesn't fix it either.

[omelette]

Selur, one more little discovery. With 'Auto-save defaults' checked in Config->Profiles, when you exit Hybrid with 'Audio format' set to 'Opus', on restarting, the bit-rate menu-control is no longer of the drop-down variety (see pic). This only happens when 'Opus' is set as 'Audio format' when exiting. Funny how all my problems have to do with Opus.

[Gravitator]

Option does not work "SAO picture-based optimization"; it is not associated with the correct symbol / error on the command line? (in the picture parameter is not divided on the value of bitrate / no space)

[Selur]

@omelette: The dropDown-vairant is wrong! It Should be a spinbox. (like in the second screenshot; which it is always for me)
-> please create Debug output level 9 (loading the source, switching to audio handling custom and selecting opus)

@Gravitator: I see the '-lcu-op 0'-whitespace problem, the symbol choice seems fine.
-> will fix

[omelette]

@omelette: The dropDown-vairant is wrong! It Should be a spinbox. (like in the second screenshot; which it is always for me)
-> please create Debug output level 9 (loading the source, switching to audio handling custom and selecting opus)

Really? The drop-down's I see would seem the better choice - buy hey, you're the boss! Please find attached the debug file (which includes selecting bit-rate and adding to audio-queue).

[Selur]

dropdowns get only used, if the encoder only support some specific bitrate

[omelette]

dropdowns get only used, if the encoder only support some specific bitrate

Aha, I see, that makes sense. I presumed that Opus would only encode in the discrete steps I see in the drop-down menus, but after playing with 'opusenc' from the command-line, I see it will encode with any bit-rate - even with '--bitrate=1', although it won't play-back at this low bit-rate (2kb/s is the lowest that will play-back successfully with my 'test.wav' file).

[Selur]

@omelette: send you a link to a test version
@Graviator: no clue what OS you are running, so can't send you a link to a test version

[omelette]

Selur, I'm happy to report that everything seems to work perfectly! Thank you.

[omelette]

A little query regarding 'Convert output to PAR' on the 'Crop/Resize' tab. I have several videos that only display properly on VLC with the aspect-ratio changed to 2.21:1, so I want to re-encoded them. This ratio is not available on the 'Convert output to PAR' drop-down menu. So what pixel values should I use with custom? I tried 2:1 and ended up with a very squashed image, the opposite of the original problem.

[Selur]

Okay,...
"2.21:1" normally is not a PAR (pixel aspect ratio) but a DAR (display aspect ratio). read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_aspect_ratio
-> specifying 221:100 would be wrong since DAR != PAR

Assuming you reencode and you want to stick to valid MP4-aspect ratios, the output PAR should either be 'MP4 PAL 16:9 (16/11)' or 'NTSC 16:9 (40/33)'.
Since your input wasn't flagged properly you need to overwrite the 'Input PAR' with the proper PAR for your source.

Here's how to calculate the PAR: (read the wiki link)
PAR = DAR/SAR
(PAR = pixel aspect ratio, DAR = display aspect ratio, SAR = storage aspect ratio)
Assuming you want a DAR = 221/100 and let's say your video has a resolution of 720x480 you want a PAR of = 221/100 * 480/720 = 1.47333
=> PAR = 147/100 + 3/9 = (147*9+3*100) / 900 = 1623 / 900
If your input video has another resolution the PAR would have to be changed accordingly.

------
as a side note typical PARs are:

* PAR after ITU-R BT.601
* Format PAL NTSC
* 4:3 128/117 4320/4739
* 16:9 512/351 5760/4739
*
* PAR after MPEG-4
* Format PAL NTSC
* 4:3 12/11 10/11
* 16:9 16/11 40/33
*
* generic PAR
* Format PAL NTSC
* 4:3 16/15 8/9
* 16:9 64/45 32/27

[omelette]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to explain that - who would have thought it was that complicated!

I'm afraid I was a bit premature with my assessment of the file you sent me. Although both problems as they existed have been fixed, two other problems have taken their place!

1. Although Hybrid appears to re-encode the video audio as Opus, the final video in fact has no sound! I accidentally discovered why I think - you seem to have hard-coded the name 'test.wav' into Hybrid, 'cos if the output directory contains the file 'test.wav' this instead is merged into the final video!
2. Although Preview no longer crashes Hybrid, now when I try Previewing a video, a pop-up saying "Aborting, since playback is not audio only, but according to mplayer, there is no video present". This seems inconsistent, sometimes working but mostly not.

I've attached 2 Hybrid-debug files, both level 5.

[Selur]

regarding the audio:
According to the log a 4.19372 MB opus file was created and mkvmerge was called to multiplex it together with the video (test_19_43_55_7210_04.264 (22.5712 MB)) into an .mkv file:

the call

 "C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\mkvmerge.exe" --ui-language en -o "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OMELETTE-EF8C5A\Desktop\test.mkv" --global-tags "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OMELETTE-EF8C5A\Local Settings\Temp\test_19_43_55_7210__05.xml" -d 0 --default-track 0:yes --default-duration 0:12fps --aspect-ratio-factor 0:1/1 --fourcc 0:MP4V --no-chapters --compression -1:none --forced-track 0:yes --no-audio --no-subtitles "C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1.OME\LOCALS~1\Temp\test_19_43_55_7210_04.264" --track-name 0:"IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011" --default-track 0:yes --forced-track 0:no -a 0 --compression -1:none --no-video --no-subtitles --no-chapters "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OMELETTE-EF8C5A\Local Settings\Temp\iId_7_aid_0_19_43_55_7210_02.opus"

finished without a problem and created:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OMELETTE-EF8C5A\Desktop\test.mkv (26.8315 MB)
-> don't see a problem. Are you sure your problem isn't simply a playback problem and has nothing to do with Hybrid?

---
regarding the preview: need a debug output level 6 for that (level 5 doesn't contain infos about the preview)
The problem seems to be that MPlayer reports that there is no video in the input.
Need a debug output level 6 to know more.

[omelette]

What I'm seeing seems bizarre! What I've established so far:

1. Opus audio-only re-encodes and plays-back successfully with both Media Player Classic and VLC.
2. The problem ONLY occurs when Opus is involved - I can re-encode videos using acc, mp3, ogg audio without difficulties.
3. Although there is no audio on video-playback, a single Opus audio track is contained in the mkv (see pic).
4. I have listened to the temp Opus-file (found in Local Settings/temp before being deleted) immediately after it is created, it is correct and complete - but there is no audio when the mkv is replayed, just silence! - this strikes me as completely bizarre...
5. Stranger still, when re-encoding audio as Opus if an audio file is present in the output folder, (wav-file, Opus-file etc. doesn't seem to matter, the file-name doesn't matter either, just the extension ie. *.wav, nor where the output is being written to) this becomes the video-playback Opus-audio!!! For example, my sample video is 9:58sec in length. My 'test.wav' is just 0:16sec in length. When I re-encode the video, the mkv-audio is listed as 9:58sec (as in pic) BUT there is only 16sec of 'test.wav' audio heard, then silence.
6. Playing back the mkv produced, the current VLC complains "VLC does not support the audio or video format "undf". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this.", and continues with no audio. Wine-Hybrid and Wine-VLC also produces the same error.

Could 'mkvmerge' be somehow corrupting the Opus-audio while merging???

Please find attached a couple of debug-files. The first concerns the Preview problem (level 6). The second one is the output when re-encoding with no audio-file present in output directory (therefore no audio during mkv playback), the other had the opus-encoded file 'test.opus' in the output directory (which then became part of the mkv and plays-back successfully). Both are at the default level 4.

[Selur]

"Config->Output->Container Settings->General Settings->Keep intermedia" allows to keep the intermediate files.
Will look at the debug outputs a bit later

"6. Playing back the mkv produced, the current VLC complains "
have you tried the nightly builds?

[Selur]

just encoded three files, one with opus 64kbit/s one with 32bit/s and the last with 16kBit/s all of them played fine in mpc-hc (nightly)
-> can you upload a small sample of your source somewhere and send me a link?

[omelette]

"Config->Output->Container Settings->General Settings->Keep intermedia" allows to keep the intermediate files.
Will look at the debug outputs a bit later

"6. Playing back the mkv produced, the current VLC complains "
have you tried the nightly builds?

No, I haven't. I forgot to mention though, I tried loading the mkv file produced with AVS Video Converter - the audio-channel information fields are all blank. It has no problem recognising the Opus-format itself though. Neither has VLC, it's just the Opus-audio that's merged into the mkv file that is causing difficulties.

My source file is a little 3gp Youtube video available here. Please note that the problem is not consigned to this video - thinking Opus was fixed, I initially re-encoded an entire 2hr movie with Hybrid, only to end up with the 16sec of audio that my 'test.wav' file contained!

[omelette]

STOP THE PRESS!!!

Damn, I've just downloaded the nightly-build of Media Player Classic and the Opus-audio works perfectly. I'm mystified as to how the mkv was ending up with completely different audio though! Sorry for the wild-goose-chase.

PS - I worked it out - When the 'old' Media Player Classic can't work out what type of audio-track the mkv file contains, rather than use none, it searches the base-directory and uses whatever audio file it finds there as the audio-track. Rename the extension or remove the file and it no longer plays! Bloody annoying...

[Selur]

*gig* happy you found the problem and it's not a Hybrid bug

[kondi89]

Hi,

I have a problem with opening the video (mkv or webm container) encoded by VP9 in VirtualDub/VirtualDubMod (using .avs script)
I have tried to use DirectShowSource(), dss2() and FFVideoSource() but it does not work... Usually I receive "Out of memory" error

Do you know a function which served VP9?

[Selur]

@kondi89: FFVideoSource fails you can try: LWLibavVideoSource
also: This thread is ment for Hybrid related problems, please post other not Hybrid related problems inside another thread. Thanks

[manono]

Hi Selur,
Is it possible to do audio normalizing in your program? One nice feature of XviD4PSP is the ability to normalize to the percent wanted (I use 90%) and it runs a quick analyze routine and adds the results to the script used. The idea is to get the same volume audio for the videos uploaded to YouTube. Does Hybrid have a feature like that? Thanks.

[Selur]

Not in that way.
Since I'm not sure what the 90% has as reference point, normally you normalize to a specific dB level (below zero).

Atm. Hybrid mainly does:
a. gain variants (see: http://forum.selur.de/topic239-info-understanding-the-audio-gain-methods.html, the sox docmentation and the matching tool-tips)
and/or
b. DRC (dynamic range compression)

In general: If you find a sox option, which does what you want, I can add support for it.

So far, I didn't add an option to do normalization to a specific dB level since
a. personally I don't use normalization, but positive or negative gain (by X dB)
b. nobody asked for it

My guess is that Xvid4PSP uses some dB<>percentage scale which is unknown to me.
So if you can tell me:
a. how to do such a percentage normalization using sox
or
b. tell me which percent match which dB
adding such a feature would be easy.

Now that I think more about it, using a negative gain and '-n' should do the same as normalizing the audio to the given negative dB Level.

[manono]

I have no idea what sox is or how to use it, or if XviD4PSP uses it to set the volume levels. I had a hard drive crash on the computer that was using XviD4PSP and I'm replacing it with a new build. For some reason, on a different computer XviD4PSP doesn't work at all. So I can't show you pictures or the specific scripts it's using for this. Perhaps someone else that uses the program can. If I remember correctly, after running a short analysis it adds an AmplifydB setting to the AviSynth script, one that corresponds to the percentage normalization chosen.

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/AmplifydB

RipBot has the ability to normalize to 100 or 200%, which doesn't interest me, and I was interested in using your program if there's an audio volume adjustment feature. Thanks for the link but it doesn't mean anything to me, and I have no use for DRC. Positive or negative gain might do the job, if it can be used to set the same volume levels across a bunch of different videos being encoded at different times. I can make one with the volume I like and then use the same settings all the time. I'm mostly taking WAV files from VCR captures, working on them in Audacity, and then feeding Lagarith AVIs and the WAV files into the encoder to get MP4 output for upload to YouTube (and also for making DVDs).

Thank you for taking the time to make a detailed reply.

[Selur]

Hmm,.. running an analysis and runnng AmplifydB sounds like it first checks then average dB Level and then boosts/lowers the volume to by X%, but that wouldn't produce the same max volume level when run over multiple files.
No clue what ripbot does.
-> I would suggest to try sing gain with in example '-1' and '-n' on a few files and see if they end up with the same peak level.
Btw. if you are using audio only files normalize might be worth a try.
Also if your workflow already includes Audacity you could use Audacitys normalize option: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Amplify_and_Normalize (which probably is the best suited since it provides a visual wave front representation which is easier to understand than the theoretical descriptions)

[manono]

Thanks for the tip about 'Normalize'. I've never heard of it.

Yes, one would think amplifying to the same levels using Audacity would work. I usually do it for an entire movie and then later pull out the songs, which may have different amplitudes. Anyway, that Audacity link is very helpful in instructing how to do what I want in Audacity. Thanks, and I'll definitely be giving your program a try.

...and then boosts/lowers the volume to by X%, but that wouldn't produce the same max volume level when run over multiple files.

I understand, but I think I'm more interested in the average volume level anyway.

[omelette]

If I re-encode a video to the x265 format using Hybrid, then open the video produced with Hybrid, no video stream is detected, just the audio stream. If I try re-encoding a video using the Divx265 format, I am told that 12fps is not supported (with Wine a "CRASH" is reported). This is with the little Youtube video I linked to above. Just wondering if the two problems are connected.

[Selur]

Don't think the problems are connected.

DivX265 only supports a few frame rates:

       -fps, --framerate Frame rate Frame rate. Default=24 Hz (raw files) or derived from file (.avs/.avi)
         Valid frame rates:
           60 Hz
           60000/1001 Hz
           50 Hz
           30 Hz
           30000/1001 Hz
           25 Hz
           24 Hz
           24000/1001 Hz

source: DivX265.exe -h
12fps is not among them, which is why Hybrid doesn't support it.
-> complain to the folks at DivX Networks about it, nothing I can do.
Can't reproduce the crash here.

I also just encoded two clips using x264 (8bit and 10bit) and the output was properly detected by Hybrid.

Since you didn't provide enough details about the problems, I got no clue where your problem is routed.

Cu Selur

Ps.: will probably release a new version tomorrow, may be that version fixes your problems,..

Update: new version (2014.04.02.1) is release