Xvid encoder problems

[Nobility350]

Look at the two pictures:






I'm converting 1080p h.264 to 480p Xvid, using the program media coder x64, I'm put the video bitrate as 6000 kbps, but in transitions from the dark to the light part the image is checkered, with a lot of squares, what settings should do to solve this problem? Thank you!

[Hoser Rob]

There are reports of bit rate problems with this program. Check if it's what it's near what it's supposed to be with mediainfo.

Are you using target bit rate or file size mode (the same thing really) in one pass? You can get fast results that way but not good ones, and I don't think a high bit rate would help that much. Try one pass quality based if so, or 2 pass bit rate. I always use the former for xvid but it doesn't give you precise file sizes.

I haven't used media coder because the reviews did not look good. Since I don't think it's available under linux it's unlikely I will. But I almost always use avidemux for xvid conversion, and I've never had any problems since figuring it out somewhat.

Beware 'easy' video encoders. Handbrake and vidcoder (the same engine, different interface) are the only good ones I've seen that are fairly easy. But if you want to encode to xvid with handbrake you have to install an older version.

[jagabo]

Dark areas like that are always a problem with Xvid. At least be sure that the min quantizers are set to 1, and disable B frames. For PC playback be sure the deblocking filters are enabled.

[Nobility350]

There are reports of bit rate problems with this program....e to install an older version.

Dark areas like that are always a problem with Xvid. At least be sure that the min quantizers are set to 1, and disable B frames. For PC playback be sure the deblocking filters are enabled.

I'm use average bitrate in 6000 kbps, not matter how I increase bitrate, quality is same, already tried 2 -pass, without result.
In Avidemux can not put the quantizers in 1 but only 2, the result is already better than what I was posting, but the average coder without B-Frames with quantizers and first in quality greatly improved, but still is not perfect ... .

Thanks, and sorry my english weak, I from Brazil, and I have to practice my English more.

[El Heggunte]

Dark areas like that are always a problem with Xvid. At least be sure that the min quantizers are set to 1, and disable B frames. For PC playback be sure the deblocking filters are enabled.

OR... : encode through ffmpeg's MPEG-4 codec or DivX. Both have a more-sensitive scene-detection algorithm which works quite well with fades --- assuming the user cares more about quality and less about file sizes, of course.

[Nobility350]

OR... : encode through ffmpeg's MPEG-4 codec or DivX. Both have a more-sensitive scene-detection algorithm which works quite well with fades --- assuming the user cares more about quality and less about file sizes, of course.

tried using ffmpeg, but the image seems almost like the others ... What other parameters should I change and what program do you recommend? What about motion estimation?

[El Heggunte]

Try something between "-sc_threshold -30000" and "-sc_threshold -50000". Also, do not use B-frames, because their MPEG-4 encoder has (or used to have) some issues with B-frames and open-GOPs.

Just as a suggestion (because YMMV of course):

-mpeg_quant 1 -qmin 2 -qmax 3 -bf 0 -g 300

and "forget bitrates"

HTH.

[Cauptain]

Try Megui. Its have various config to xvid encodes



Claudio

[jagabo]

Post a sample of your source.

[Nobility350]

Try Megui. Its have various config to xvid encodes



Claudio

Here Megui not work when I'm saving the final file, it simply disappears and an x appears on the icon of the program

[Nobility350]

Post a sample of your source.

Sample


Media Coder x64
AviDemux


Of both encoded what looks better?

[poisondeathray]

"A sample of the source" means a sample of the original video, not the encoded output video

Another strategy is to use zones to force more bitrate in affected sections

[Nobility350]

"A sample of the source" means a sample of the original video, not the encoded output video

Another strategy is to use zones to force more bitrate in affected sections

Oh yes, I'll correct, as I said my English is not very good ....
How to use zones ?
thanks

[rickydavao]

I find that the blocking is usually caused by fine grain noise in the flat colour areas, especially dark areas. Depending on what you plan to play the final encoded (avi?) file on, there are a number of tweaks you can make to the XviD codec to help get rid of this blocking. The latest versions of XviD have something called VAQ (variable adaptive quantization) which really helps to distribute bits to dark areas over the length of the movie. If you are encoding for PC, or a set top media player, or even a set top DVD or Blu Ray player that supports certified XviD profiles (as opposed to DivX) there are further tweaks you can make such as using qpel (quarter pixel) or CQM's (custom quantization matrices) that can help to retain grain somewhat and get rid of the blockiness you're experiencing. Can you tell me what you final files will be playing on?

[Nobility350]

Can you tell me what you final files will be playing on?

Philips dvp 3880 HDMI

[rickydavao]

Oh, well, I was hoping that you had something that was XviD certified (newer Sony players are) as opposed to DivX, as it allows for a lot more tweaking. Make sure you are using at least version 1.30 of the XviD codec or better (latest is 1.32, which is best). Use "variance-masking" (VAQ) for the adaptive quantization, as this helps with flat colour areas or, optimally, turn adaptive quantization off (if you don't mind larger file sizes). Number of max consecutive B-VOPs (b-frames) can be as high as 2 - reducing it to 1 or even 0 will improve quality slightly if your'e really picky, but again will result in a larger file size. Finally, use an XviD profile that will allow you to change the quantization type from the default of H.263 to MPEG (such as Generic Standalone of XviD Home), and choose MPEG (this is a sharper matrix than H.263 and helps with avoiding those blocks as it encodes noise better) ... again, this will result in a slightly larger file size. On a 480p file, I wouldn't think that you'd have to go much higher than 3000 kbps to get a really good picture, but that's encoding in VBR using 2 passes. Hopefully this isn't too much all at once. There are some further tweaks you can make in the quality presets as well, but let me know how this goes for you so far. By the way, I use Staxrip for any XviD encoding I do.

[Nobility350]

Oh, well, I was hoping that you had something that was .... I do.

Ok, I'll make those adjustments, if you notice the encodes with I posted a few posts above, following tips I received here, the picture has improved Reasonably, given the images I was getting originally. I'm on my grandfather's farm,and here just have the 3g access, limiting my downloads when I return to my house I'll do the downloads and put the result. thanks

[jagabo]

Your source is over compressed and has some posterization to start with. At target quantizer 1, no b-frames, and MPEG matrix, posterization will still be visible. That's as good as Xvid will ever get.

[rickydavao]

True, that. The best that tweaking the codec will do is to not to make it any worse (and hopefully get rid of some of that macroblocking in his original encode).

[Nobility350]

The source with I'm using is medium quality 1080p, (4500 kbps and 4 reframes), I'll change for source with 1080p (10 mbps and 8 reframes) , Dark areas sounds perfect in this source, with that I will get a result without interference emanating from the source

[hello_hello]

Yeah I tried a few different debanding/deblocking methods, and while I found one or two which actually seemed to improve it without making a mess of the rest of the video, once Xvid was added to the equation it was all over. All that filtering only made a tiny difference.

By the way, unless you're using some bizzare Xvid settings which make the video really hard for it to compress I'd be thinking 6000kb/s is kind of excessive for 480p. When I ran a few test encodes I just used single pass encoding at maximum quality, 720x300, and fairly unadventurous Xvid settings, and the bitrate was around 1400kbps. I don't think I've ever encoded a 480p Xvid/Avi which got even close to 6000kb/s.

Maybe it's time to buy a cheap USB media player you can just connect a hard drive to and save yourself the trouble of converting?

And especially seeing as you're encoding with Xvid while converting HD to SD and I'm OCD enough about it to make failing to do so a capital offence when I'm ruler of the world.... I thought I'd ask.... are you converting the colors when re-encoding? If you're using an AVISynth based encoder GUI, adding this to the script will do it (include the path to wherever Colormatrix is on your PC to load it as usual if you don't have it in AVISynth's plugins folder):

ColorMatrix(mode="Rec.709->Rec.601", clamp=0)

I've no idea if or how you could get MediaCoder to do something similar.

If MeGUI is causing you problems when encoding with Xvid it'd probably pay to check the log files. That's likely to give you an idea where the problem is. How old is the version of MeGUI you're using? There's an option in MeGUI's settings to tell it not to delete intermediate files which will hopefully stop it from doing so if it gets to the "can't go on any longer" stage, and more recent versions will warn/ask you before deleting intermediate files if the job didn't complete successfully.... I think. If you don't use the development update server in MeGUI's options, try switching to it and getting MeGUI to check for updates.

[jagabo]

Yeah I tried a few different debanding/deblocking methods, and while I found one or two which actually seemed to improve it without making a mess of the rest of the video, once Xvid was added to the equation it was all over. All that filtering only made a tiny difference.

Yes, I found the same thing.

6000kb/s is kind of excessive for 480p.

I assumed he just resorted to that when he couldn't get rid of the posterization using lower bitrates.

Maybe it's time to buy a cheap USB media player you can just connect a hard drive to and save yourself the trouble of converting?

I agree. US$50 will get a player that can play 1080p24 MKV files.

[Nobility350]

Maybe it's time to buy a cheap USB media player you can just connect a hard drive to and save yourself the trouble of converting?

The situation is as follows... in my room I have a Samsung smart tv full hd 32, it supports 1080p mkv by usb, and almost always I see my movies in it, besides my notebook / PC are connected to it, sometimes, also has HDMI, plus a Coby Kyros tablet also supports 1080p and HDMI, now the big problem ...
In the living room I have a Sony XBR-800 (HDTV ready via component ) of 36 who weighs 96 kg, is a great and good tv, the problem is that it does not have HDMI, as I do not have HDTV, and in this living room I usually only see TV , is sufficient, the problem is even watch movies on it.

Joining several tips obtained here and Avidemux + latest version of the Xvid codec, got satisfactory results for what I was expecting, especially compared to what I was originally getting.

lol

[jagabo]

Joining several tips obtained here and Avidemux + latest version of the Xvid codec, got satisfactory results for what I was expecting, especially compared to what I was originally getting.

Maybe should summarize what you did. It will help the next person.

[Nobility350]

Joining several tips obtained here and Avidemux + latest version of the Xvid codec, got satisfactory results for what I was expecting, especially compared to what I was originally getting.

Maybe should summarize what you did. It will help the next person.

I'll post pictures of the settings below, although good, avidemux does not have many options, so I changed some parameters in xvid encoder, not sure whether or not they affect the end result ... any suggestion of change,please post

[hello_hello]

The situation is as follows... in my room I have a Samsung smart tv full hd 32, it supports 1080p mkv by usb, and almost always I see my movies in it, besides my notebook / PC are connected to it, sometimes, also has HDMI, plus a Coby Kyros tablet also supports 1080p and HDMI, now the big problem ...
In the living room I have a Sony XBR-800 (HDTV ready via component ) of 36 who weighs 96 kg, is a great and good tv, the problem is that it does not have HDMI, as I do not have HDTV, and in this living room I usually only see TV , is sufficient, the problem is even watch movies on it.

I can't say I'm an expert on media players as I haven't looked at many because I've no need for an external player myself, however I suspect finding a USB media player which at least has a composite output wouldn't be too hard.
http://www.diskdepot.co.uk/acatalog/sumvision-cyclone-micro-2-1080p-hd-media-player-fo...-cyc-mic2p.htm

[Nobility350]

I can't say I'm an expert on media players as I haven't looked at many because I've no need for an external player myself, however I suspect finding a USB media player which at least has a composite output wouldn't be too hard.
http://www.diskdepot.co.uk/acatalog/sumvision-cyclone-micro-2-1080p-hd-media-player-fo...-cyc-mic2p.htm

I knew the players with AV output, but as far as I know AV is not enough just to 480i? Because if I found one with component (3 cables for video + 2 audio) I surely buy because this outlet I know that at least 720 p according to the manual that comes to my XBR-800, because here in Brazil costs of such a device, if it was in dollars, something around $ 95.00, so spend a lot of money just to get 480i is tense ... lol... unless I import stores like dealextreme or tynedeal...

[El Heggunte]

.........

I knew the players with AV output, but as far as I know AV is not enough just to 480i? Because if I found one with component (3 cables for video + 2 audio) I surely buy because this outlet I know that at least 720 p according to the manual that comes to my XBR-800, because here in Brazil costs of such a device, if it was in dollars, something around $ 95.00, so spend a lot of money just to get 480i is tense ... lol... unless I import stores like dealextreme or tynedeal...

<en-US>
Save some money until you can buy a 60-inch TV. IMHO, anything that deserves to be called "Hi-Def video" cannot be "best-viewed / best-experienced" on displays smaller than 50''.
</en-US>

<pt-BR>
Espero que não seja necessário traduzir o que eu escrevi.
</pt-BR>

[Nobility350]

<en-US>
Save some money until you can buy a 60-inch TV. IMHO, anything that deserves to be called "Hi-Def video" cannot be "best-viewed / best-experienced" on displays smaller than 50''.
</en-US>

<pt-BR>
Espero que não seja necessário traduzir o que eu escrevi.
</pt-BR>

<en-US>
The surely, my dream is to have one of these, but unfortunately my money is short about 2 years (actually my father's money that sustains me ), but at about a 2 months ago I graduated from college computer engineering, hope that, in the near future, I have means of get these with my own money
</en-US>

<pt-BR>
Não foi necessário traduzir não, hauhauhauhau, para entender não tenho muita dificuldade, mas na hora de escrever em inglês ai complica tudo! hauhauhau.
</pt-BR>

[jagabo]

I knew the players with AV output, but as far as I know AV is not enough just to 480i? Because if I found one with component (3 cables for video + 2 audio) I surely buy because this outlet I know that at least 720 p

My Western Digitial WDTV Live (older model) has HD component out (maybe you can find a used one). The current model no longer supports it. A lot of other players have it though. For example:

http://www.amazon.com/Media-Center-Gigabit-Network-Reader/dp/B005M1QP7O/
http://www.amazon.com/1080P-HDMI-Multi-Media-Player/dp/B006LEYQK4

I'm not vouching for the quality of those players, just that they appear to have HD component out.