VirtualDub MPEG-2, MPEG-4 saving

[Virtualdub User]

Hello. I'm new on this forum. I have ask how to save video in VirtualDub in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4?

[hech54]

VirtualDub does not do MPEG2 as an output.
What exactly do you mean by "MPEG-4"?

[Virtualdub User]

virtualdub does not do mpeg2 as an output.
What exactly do you mean by "mpeg-4"?

mp4, 720 HD, 1080HD, 480p?

[Budman1]

As hech54 pointed out, Virtualdub usually only saves as an AVI file compressed in one of it's VFW encoder formats as:

It is possible, however to save as an MP4 file, if this is what you mean by Mpeg4. This is an excellent link to set Virtualdub up to save as MP4 .
http://frapsforum.com/threads/virtualdub-save-direct-to-mp4-fraps-to-youtube-with-exte...encoders.2446/

[Virtualdub User]

As hech54 pointed out, Virtualdub usually only saves as an AVI file compressed in one of it's VFW encoder formats as:

[Attachment 17119 - Click to enlarge]
It is possible, however to save as an MP4 file, if this is what you mean by Mpeg4. This is an excellent link to set Virtualdub up to save as MP4 .
http://frapsforum.com/threads/virtualdub-save-direct-to-mp4-fraps-to-youtube-with-exte...encoders.2446/

OK, but how to change to 16:9 video?

[hech54]

Is your source 16:9?

[Virtualdub User]

Is your source 16:9?

Yes.

[hech54]

If you have a BIG hard drive and the video is not LONG....you may consider saving it as an uncompressed AVI file until you figure out what you need.....or go into more detail as to what you are doing.
As already stated....blurting out MPEG-4 or MP4 means nothing. Saying over and over again means nothing. 16:9 means nothing. If the source is 16:9 then the output will be 16:9 unless you do something REALLY dumb in the software setting.

[mazinz]

if you must save in mpeg2 your easiest option would be to frameserve it into another program that encodes to mpeg2.

Many years back there was also a certain codec that you would install allowing avi programs such as virtualdub to actually save your file in mpeg2 format without frameserving. Once I can recall the name of this (it was payware) I will edit and post it here


Here we go. I know I was able to use it in virtualdub as well as stereomoviemaker. It sees this as a direct show type codec. The last time I had used this was almost 10 years ago but it worked fine

http://www.ympeg.com/

[poisondeathray]

if you must save in mpeg2 your easiest option would be to frameserve it into another program that encodes to mpeg2.

Many years back there was also sort of codec package that you would install allowing avi programs such as virtualdub to chose this codec and this would then save your file in mpeg2 format. Once I can recall the name of this (it was payware) I will edit and post it here

It was called ympeg

older ffdshow builds could encode MPEG2 in AVI, then that could be demuxed into elementary stream

But I agree best option would be to frameserve, or maybe use a lossless intermediate

[sambat]

You can now use external codecs in VirtualDub.

http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=18840&

Two thirds down this thread, a short how-to.
http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=716

[DarrellS]

Yes. Virtualdub is about all I use to edit videos anymore with the external encoder feature. It's not that same old Virtualdub that I first downloaded thirteen years ago although it still looks the same. As much as I've posted about the external encoder here the last three years, I can't believe that regular members are still telling everyone that Virtualdub is just an AVI editor.

Options > External Encoders. I highly recommend everyone learn how to use this feature.

A couple of threads on the Virtualdub forums explaining how to use it and to help each other with problems they run into.

[hech54]

I can't believe that regular members are still telling everyone that Virtualdub is just an AVI editor.

I edit MPEG2 video with VirtualDub all of the time....that is NOT what "regular members" are telling people.

[mazinz]

You can now use external codecs in VirtualDub.

http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=18840&

Two thirds down this thread, a short how-to.
http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=716

Yes. Virtualdub is about all I use to edit videos anymore with the external encoder feature. It's not that same old Virtualdub that I first downloaded thirteen years ago although it still looks the same. As much as I've posted about the external encoder here the last three years, I can't believe that regular members are still telling everyone that Virtualdub is just an AVI editor.

Options > External Encoders. I highly recommend everyone learn how to use this feature.

A couple of threads on the Virtualdub forums explaining how to use it and to help each other with problems they run into.

This is very useful information! I had no idea vdub had this feature (last version I have/use is 1.9.8 and that feature is not in mine)- time to update my edition--

[DarrellS]

I can't believe that regular members are still telling everyone that Virtualdub is just an AVI editor.

I edit MPEG2 video with VirtualDub all of the time....that is NOT what "regular members" are telling people.

No, they're telling them that they can only save their edited video files as AVI. You could always frameserve with Virtualdub but now you can encode to other formats in Virtualdub by using the external encoder feature with uses command line encoders that you have on your system. You have to direct the external encoder to those command line encoders and feed them the necessary command arguments to make it work. That's easy though by creating your encoder sets and profiles. The guide on the Virtualdub forum makes it very easy to set them up.


Here is a list of tested encoders and muxers...

Tested video encoders:

x264, ffmpeg, cuda

Tested audio encoders

LAME, neroaacenc, FAAC, Oggenc, TwoLAME, Aften, FLAC

Tested muxers

MP4Box, MKVToolnix, ffmpeg

You can do ac3 and mp3 passthrough with ffmpeg and two pass encoding is also possible.


Cuda based encoding is now possible with the cuda.exe command line encoder in Selur's Hybrid program. If you download the 7z version and unzip it, most of the needed command line encoders above are included in this package. You'll need to download the neroaacenc.exe file if you don't already have it.

[Cornucopia]

No, I think they/we are saying, "you can only output to AVI natively!" Lots of newbies need direct and straightforward solutions. Vdub is a great solution, but I would say that adding each level of features beyond its native set adds a level of complexity to its use. First would be the filters, then would be the input plugins, then would be the frameserving and output connections.
So if a newbie asked about a simple solution for say h264 in MKV, I would steer them clear of Vdub at that early stage.

Scott

[Budman1]

If anyone decides to read the external Encoder guides from the links provided here and are looking for a VDPROF to import into VirtualDub, I posted a composite of several that allow saving to MPEG2, FLV and MP4 with the following specifications:



You can find the link at Budmansite.com and follow the VirtualDub link and it is called All_formats.vdprof or download from
https://files.secureserver.net/0sFqOuh9VjD8u5 directly. You will still need MP4Box, NeroAAC, and X264 encoders for the MP4 formats as well as FFMpeg for the FLV and MPEG2 formats. This VDPROFS is setup for X264, Neroaac, FFmpeg and MP4Box all to be in the "C:\Standalone\VirtualDub1103\tools" folder You should only need to alter the program locations in each encoder/multiplexer if yours are somewhere else. I tested all of the enclosed scripts on my Windows 7 machine.

[DarrellS]

If anyone decides to read the external Encoder guides from the links provided here and are looking for a VDPROF to import into VirtualDub, I posted a composite of several that allow saving to MPEG2, FLV and MP4 with the following specifications:


[Attachment 17453 - Click to enlarge]

You can find the link at Budmansite.com and follow the VirtualDub link and it is called All_formats.vdprof or download from
https://files.secureserver.net/0sEU6ckIEBRuY3 directly. You will still need MP4Box, NeroAAC, and X264 encoders for the MP4 formats as well as FFMpeg for the FLV and MPEG2 formats. You should only need to alter the program locations in each encoder/multiplexer. I tested all and use them regularly on my Windows 7 machine.

Cool, the guys on the Virtualdub forum will probably be interested in the FLV profile since it's not listed there.

It's recommended to create a folder in C:\ called Tools to put all your encoders in. It makes it easy to find all the encoders and makes it easier to share your profiles with everyone else.

Selur's Hybrid program has all the encoders that you would ever need in the Hybrid folder. You can download the zip file and unzip it with 7zip and then copy the folder to C:\ and rename it Tools and have all the encoders and any dlls that the encoder might depend on in one folder. That way, you wouldn't need to track down all the CLI encoders and muxers on your own. I believe that you would still need to download the neroaacenc.exe file because of licensing issues if you decide to use that aac encoder.

There is also a CUDA H264 CLI encoder (cuda.exe) in the package if you want to try that. Here is a command that works...

--resolution %(width)x%(height) --input - --sar 1x1 --format IYUV --control_mode cbr --bitrate 2000 --bitrate_peak 10000 --fps %(fps) --profile high --level 41 --offload partial --measure FPS --showFrameStats 100 --deinterlace false --frame_typ frame --pframe_dist 1 --gop_max 250 --dynamicGOP true --pquant_min 18 --bquant_min 20 --iquant_min 16 --deblock true --cavlc false --nal_typ auto --sps_pps false --slices auto --output "%(tempvideofile)"

Problem is, cuda needs way more bitrate just to get almost as good of quality so the file size is humongous. The command above would be OK for a 600kb/s FLV but you can imagine how much larger the 264 file would be.

[Budman1]

Since I use FLV a lot, I experimented until I got it to work with FFMpeg and thought others might like it too. The quality seemed to suffer, however until I added the -qscale 1 to it. Now the bit rate and quality seems to be about the same as the source.

I also posted what I'm trying to write as a comprehensive VirtualDub install, making it work, errors people might run into, fixing the errors, conversion and using external encoders. I put a lot of information that is missing for all those who installed and then got error messages trying to load or use it as well as shortcuts and tips marked in Red.

It's a work in progress at the moment but I think it is quite usable so if anyone wishes to peruse it and make suggestions or corrections, it's on Budmansite.com under VirtualDub and marked with an "*" or the direct download link is https://files.secureserver.net/0smH4X5fcl7OS7 It's in PDF format now to reduce download size. The actual VDPROF is also missing from the end for the same reason but is also downloadable from the link https://files.secureserver.net/0sFqOuh9VjD8u5. (<--Updated Link to Updated File)

UPDATE: There was an error in the vdprof under the command line for the FFmpeg2 mp2 Encoder which had -vcodec mp2 instead of -acodec mp2. The vdprof still worked fine as a -vcodec but I corrected the error and retested as well as correcting the links in the 2 posts above.

[gonwk]

Hi Budman1,

Can you make your VirutalDub Solution "Portable"!?!?

Thanks!

[Budman1]

I'm not sure what you mean "portable"? If you mean to be downloaded and uses "as is", probably not since the External encoders -> X264, FFmpeg NeroAAC and Mp4Box most likely will not be installed in the same directory on all computers. I could install them under a generic such as C:\tools but everyone will not have that as a folder either.

The easiest way is to import the vdprof into VirtualDub and then got to Options -> External encoders -> Encoder tab and select each line and hit edit.
Click the 3 dots next to programs and search to your X264, FFmpeg, NeroAAC or Mp4Box and it will put that location in programs for you. That should be all that needs to be done.


Alternative Method:
The last ALLNew.vdprof I posted at Budmansite.com is set for all external encoders, x264, ffmpeg, NeroAAC and mp4Box to be in "C:\Standalone\VirtualDub1103\Tools" folder. Just create the Standalone, VirtualDub1103, Tools path and put VirtualDub in the "VirtualDub1103" folder and the encoders in "tools" folder. That is how the VDProf file is set by default.

[DarrellS]

I couldn't get the FLV encoder to work the last time and I couldn't get the new one to work. I've had a lot of problems in the past trying to encode with ffmpeg. Seems like every time they fix one thing, something else breaks. I only use ffmpeg to do audio pass through (mp3 and ac3. aac won't work). I was able to create an FLV using x264.exe and neroaac and the normal ffmpeg mux command posted on the Virtualdub website but I can't play the video in MPC-HC. All I get is audio. I can see frames if I seek but the video won't play. I may have had it working with an old build of ffmpeg but I don't know which one. I read somewhere than ffmpeg keeps dropping support for certain codecs. With you're commands I get an error that the encoder/muxer failed to start %1 is not a Win32 application. ?

[Budman1]

Darrells
Sounds like you have some problems with ffmpeg all right. The error that reported something is not a Win32 bit program means a 64 bit program is being called in a 32 bit environment. Your program is probably a 32 bit computer but SOMETHING is running as a 32 bit program calling a 64 bit encoder/program.

One of the main things, if you have a lot of problems, is make sure all the programs involved are ALL the same 32 bit OR 64 bit. 64 bit programs have given me a lot of problems in the past, especially ones that use codecs or filters because they seem to lack 64 bit versions so I usually use all 32 bit versions.

The FLV script included in the VDPROF I posted only supplies parameters to other, actual programs. In the case of the FLV encoder, FFMpeg.exe, NeroAAC.exe and X264.exe are being called from VirtualDub's External encoder feature. From the error you describe, It would appear that VirtualDub is 32 bit calling one of the others which are 64 bit.

I agree with the FFMpeg updates changing and usually keep 2 versions , the 04/26/2012, downloaded from http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/win32/static/ and the latest. That 04/26 version gives me a lot less trouble when the newer ones do not work since many scripts or filter lists found on the internet were created with older ffmpeg versions by the time I read them.

[DarrellS]

Thanks! I'll try the versions you mentioned. I've tried two or three newer versions and I get the same error. I may have gotten them from the Hybryd program but they should've been 32bit versions. I tried to run my ac3 passthrough a while ago and got the same error except in the error log it did say 64 so you are correct. I'll get rid off those versions.

I copied my main version that I have in C:\ to my Tools folder and my passthrough works so I'll try the FLV again. I don't usually do FLV but I'd like to know what works and what doesn't so I can post it on the Virtualdub forum.

I was trying to figure out how to get the wmv encoders working (not for myself but a couple of other people) but I don't think it can be done.

[raffriff42]

Budman1!! Thanks for sharing how you got ffmpeg working with V-dub, I'm lovin' it !!