Use Auto GK or DGIndex to Demux to MP3 or WAV

[hello_hello]

If you've been adding images to posts by uploading them as attachments, try using the Images button in the menu above the reply box to insert them into the post instead.

For some reason even images inserted in posts seem to sometimes show up as link attachments instead of images/thumbnails. I don't know if the forum supports showing bitmaps as images. Try editing your post and replacing the image with a jpg version to see if that works.

[loninappleton]

Ok. The progress is I managed to get Irfanview to make an image. I have done the PrtScr before but it's not done often and so always seems strange.

I'll try the images thing tomorrow.

[loninappleton]

another test.

saved the bmp (Windows BitMap) as jpg.

Using Image icon on the quick reply....


[Attachment 19170 - Click to enlarge]



This seems to have accomplished the goal after quite a bit of todo. Perhaps a guide is needed just to do this much. Will see if the captured image remains after posting reply.

IRFanview opens a window to allow changes in quality of the image and the file size is is 65kb using this procedure.

I will review what I have for the dvd shrink reauthor guide and see if anythiong more is needed.

IRFan view shows the image much larger than the image shown (actually it shows it too big) which is in this reply pretty much illegible.

But this is a big step forward to know which element of the videohelp site software to effectively include images. Also upload tinme was very brief even on my limited bandwidth.


What does the videohelp site need to change its dimensions.?

[loninappleton]

Nope. The image displayed for me before sending but has not been captured to screen by the
forum software. Admins take note.

[loninappleton]

I wanted to respond to earlier inquiries about using Virtual Dub Mod to create two AVIs from one whole as in a first and second act. I have accomplished that task and managed to do it after encoding my audio jobs which involve using The Levelator to enhance spoken word.

Above, Hello_hello made mention of doing this before encoding. What is the difference? I have not heard any perceived glitches where the cut was made.

Since I'm in Full Reply, I'll try that jpg image once more:

[loninappleton]

[Attachment 19189 - Click to enlarge]


I wanted to respond to earlier inquiries about using Virtual Dub Mod to create two AVIs from one whole as in a first and second act. I have accomplished that task and managed to do it after encoding my audio jobs which involve using The Levelator to enhance spoken word.

Above, Hello_hello made mention of doing this before encoding. What is the difference? I have not heard any perceived glitches where the cut was made.

Since I'm using Full Reply, I'll try that jpg image once more:

Nope, the "Insert Image" dialog box opened, I browsed to the image and nothing.

On my preview it shows an html command (first line) to attach but that didn't find anything either.

[hello_hello]

I'm not sure what's going on with inserting images in your posts. I've downloaded your image (the one which showed up as a link to an attachment) and I'll try to insert it here:

[hello_hello]

Well the above worked for me..... I'm not sure why it doesn't for you, but it may be a forum glitch..... I click on the image icon, a little window opens, I browse to the image, select it, then click on "upload files" at the bottom of the little window.

The thing about splitting files..... I can't remember the exact conversation. I may have been referring to using a conversion program to encode only the parts of the video you want to keep rather than encode the whole thing and then split the output file. If that's what we were talking about....

When you split the output file you need to split on keyframes which means you mightn't be able to split it exactly where you want to. If you encode the original video in sections instead..... ie encode frames 1 to 5000 as a single encode, then encode frames 5001 to 9000 as a second encode there's no keyframe issues, you can encode just the frames you want and split it exactly where you want to.
Likewise if you want to edit out a section of the video you could encode frames 0 to 4635 and frames 5579 to 9000 as a single encode. Once again there's no keyframe issues... you're just encoding the frames you want.

AutoGK can't do that. It was really only designed to encode properly prepared DVD video and output quality files for those with little encoding experience. MeGUI can (as can some other encoder GUIs). It also has a method for re-encoding/splitting the audio to match the way the video was encoded, so you'd re-encode both, MeGUI will then mux them together as a new AVI/MP4/MKV etc and you've got your edited/split video without having to edit/split it after it's encoded.

Of course if you get lucky and the output file can be split/edited exactly where you want to then that's fine... but it is pot luck, whereas the "encoding specific frames" method isn't.

[loninappleton]

That's a good hint.

Right now I realized I had not selected custom on the AutoGK for one part of a two part presentation.
The auto selection of 2 discs 1400mb ran instead. I am redoing that AVI as 800 mb custom in AutoGK. The analysis is going now. I hope no problem arises between Levelating the audio (new readers see above on The Levelator) and then having to put it in that smaller size. I'll be checking for audio quality on that one again.

If a split is desired in a multi-hour preparation from DVD Shrink, then you are saying that the desired split in the file should be loaded into Virtual Dub Mod _after_ encoding to AVI with AutoGK? I'm keeping in mind the other processes we've been discussing about leveling the audio and where that would take place. With one part, twoparts or more I'd have to write out a work flow sheet just to keep from making errors and so everything was labeled correctly.

[loninappleton]

Well the above worked for me..... I'm not sure why it doesn't for you, but it may be a forum glitch..... I click on the image icon, a little window opens, I browse to the image, select it, then click on "upload files" at the bottom of the little window.

(snip)

Yes that's what I did-- when clicking on the image Icon, I browsed to the image, selected that, it uploads to Videohelp but it displayed as -- havene't got it on the screen-- but it displayed as another link to open rather displaying the image. The image had a name like dvdshrinktest.jpg or some such. There seemed to be an atachment 'instruction' included as text on that one rather than doing the command of 'display.'

When you 'insert' is there a command for that and where is it? I think that might be the problem.

I'll do it again here as I remember it....

[hello_hello]

If a split is desired in a multi-hour preparation from DVD Shrink, then you are saying that the desired split in the file should be loaded into Virtual Dub Mod _after_ encoding to AVI with AutoGK? I'm keeping in mind the other processes we've been discussing about leveling the audio and where that would take place. With one part, twoparts or more I'd have to write out a work flow sheet just to keep from making errors and so everything was labeled correctly.

For DVDs I'd probably try to re-author the disc so it can be encoded without editing.... using DVDShrink's title editor thingy for setting the start and end frames. While DVD Shrink can edit/split titles though I'm pretty sure it can't join them, so depending on what you're doing you may have to join some encodes manually. "DVD extras" for example... if you want them as a single output file rather than lots of little files then it's probably easier to encode them individually as necessary (individual titles when re-authoring) and join all the output files together when it's done. I do that quite a bit when encoding to MKV.
Having said that.... MKVMergeGUI joins MKVs very well, but if memory serves me correctly, it can be a bit more hit and miss joining AVIs with VirtualDub if the audio uses a delay. Maybe I'm wrong..... but I recall trying to join output AVIs at one stage and the audio kept losing sync after the "join" and it took me ages to fix it.... but as I said I might be remembering incorrectly. If you have any audio sync problems joining output files with VirtualDub, try AVIMux GUI to see if it does things differently.

Of course you can join encodes using AVIsynth (you can create a script to encode each section of video and then create another script which opens the individual scripts and joins them together as a single encoding job) but if it works okay, it's generally easier just to encode them individually and join the output files together when they're done.

Edit: now I remember.... I'm pretty sure it was the AVI encodes of the Lord Of The Rings DVDs. Each movie is split between two discs and trying to join the two halves of the movie into a single AVI caused audio sync problems for reasons I've blocked out/forgotten. A year or so later I re-encoded the DVDs with x264 and didn't have the same problem joining the MKVs. At least I'm fairly sure I didn't......

When you upload pics there's a button to click on to upload them after you've selected the pics using the file browser, but I assume you're using it given the pics are uploading, they're just not displaying properly. When I upload pics they appear as thumbnails in the posting area (where you type posts) as soon as they've finished uploading. I wonder if it's a browser issue? Which browser and version of said browser are you using?

[loninappleton]

Again, much good advice and a lot to chew on which I will do. In truth my needs are not very rigorous but yes, audio should be in sync. But I don't have that many jobs to do.

I have seen writing scripts mentioned many times.

Does MeGui being a user interfaace allow for writing a process (like Auto GK does) to streamline the audio jobs we have discussed at length here? We're playing with at least 5 distinct programs: DVDShrink, AutoGK. The Levelator and also Goldwave for me as a way to make AGK's MP3 audio output into a WAV to go to The Levelator and then reverse the process back to work with Virtual Dub to remux the final AVI.

I will say that the task is worth it though. I even mentioned Videohelp's assistance in my notes on the jobs.

My usual browser is Firefox and this one is 16.02. I also use Opera to load some streaming content. Opera seems a lot better at running YouTubes and news broadcasts in audio. This screen shot buisness seems more and more like a pound worth of trouble for an ounce worth of result since things in a guide are described in text. I'd like to have it but it has turned into a nightmare. And I have not seen much here or elsewhere (where my jobs go) as to others being interested in what we are doing. It may be a waste of time since not much feedback on it. What I have written started as notes to myself which may be all that's needed. Then there's the fact that many seem to have moved on to MeGUI which I want to do as well.

[hello_hello]

In many ways AutoGK and MeGUI are very much alike, they use mostly the same tools for DVD encoding.... the main difference is AutoGK tries to be as auto as possible, and save you from yourself when it can (ie if you pick too small a file size when encoding) by making resolution, resizer, matrix adjustments etc. MeGUI has a lot less "auto" in that respect but you set up encodes just like any other encoder GUI and MeGUI creates the script for you etc. Because it's less "auto" though, it's easier to modify scripts manually using MeGUI, or change the decoding/encoding process etc.... once you know what you're doing.

Of course the main reason for the auto in AutoGK isn't really necessary when using the x264 encoder. At least when running single pass, quality based (CRF) encoding. Just pick a quality and go.... no need for compression tests and making adjustments according to the results etc.
Mind you if you run 2 pass x264 encoding. then the same theories apply as when running 2 pass Xvid encoding, but not too many encoder GUIs can even run a compression test these days (MeGUI can't). Most people use CRF encoding anyway, so it doesn't matter.

[loninappleton]

Then chaining programs in MeGUI is not possible to do the effects in audio I am attempting?

I realize most dvd jobs want all the punch they can have and on a screen as big as a wall. My goal is different and it requires attention to speech above all. That means going in the opposite direction for personal viewing with less volume twiddling.

The process in this thread works for that. And casual readers, if they read the whole thing here, will be able to achieve that goal.

I just haven't been able to adjust or get the desired effect in playback with a player like VLC. Compression settings do not do enough or I am not setting them right-- and even setting them is a track-- rquired shutdown of the program and reloading or some such where elsewhere in the same program there's an on screen button to set a function.

In SMPlayer, 'normalization of audio' is a selection which defaults in the player. But I am not much used to using it.

For these reasons I have taken the brute force approach and work on the original.

Playback for these jobs in my experience works best in Media Player Home Cinema. VLC is still the boss for things like subtitles and variety of file formats, alternative audio tracks and other options.

[hello_hello]

I'm not sure where in the process you're doing your own thing to the audio, but if you can do it while encoding with AutoGK you can definitely do it using MeGUI.
MeGUI will still use DGIndex for extracting the audio and indexing the vob files, so once that's done you can do whatever you want to with the audio. You don't have to convert it to another format with MeGUI, you can use any program. In the end I guess the process would be the same.... do what you do to the extracted audio, get MeGUI to convert the video, then mux them together yourself or tell MeGUI to do it. You could still use VirtualDubMod if the output is AVI or MKVMergeGUI etc. Or MeGUI has AVI/MKV/MP4/M2TS muxers under it's Tools menu which in turn use AVI-Mux GUI, MKVMerge, MP4Box and tsmuxer to do the actual muxing.

I can't remember if I mentioned it yet, but of you want to play video with MPC-HC and don't mind using ffdshow for the audio decoding, it'll load Winamp plugins. I've been using the RockSteady compressor plugin for a few years and couldn't imagine life without it. Well I did discover another one called LoudMax a few weeks ago but I haven't played with it much yet. Well there's nothing to play with, you just crank up the compression to where you want and it does the rest. RockSteady is fairly configurable and might take a little messing around with setting until you're happy.
RockSteady's minimum amplification time is 10ms so once you get the settings right it can compress the audio without it being noticeable at all... well if you compress too hard there's still the chance of the audio "pumping", for example when the volume of background noise noticeably changes in between people speaking..... that sort of thing.... but that's what happens when you compress audio. The "night" audio mode in my TV causes pumping sometimes, although I rarely use the TV speakers.

That's why I'm big on not messing with the audio when re-encoding it. Most TV's and audio decoders have some sort of "night mode' for compression audio, you can use a PC to compress it on playback, but when you compress it while encoding there's no adjusting settings later on unless you re-encode it. It's much better to mess with the audio on playback in my opinion, but each to their own, and I've not heard the audio you're working with.

[loninappleton]

I use Winamp for audio on some audio-only streaming newscasts but have never used it for video. MPC HT has a very plain black and white program window which I prefer. Colors and so on are all distracting especially when viewing marginal quality black and white films which I do regularly.

Setting up Dynamic Compression with its many terms I have never gotten straight. There are a few threads on setting up VLC compression mode which are still confusing. Awkward terms like 'knee' for instance I've seen but don't understand. 'Makeup Gain' is another one-- it can make everything go loud if you aren't careful with it and your volume control.

No need to explain in tutorial form but what settings do you use for Rock Steady and (maybe conversely) what would be the settings for maximum compression in it?

--

I've got the MeGUI tutorial/wiki printed and am going to begin reading through that again.

Lacking any images, I may just submit one short guide as text and see if that is satisfactory.

[hello_hello]

You'll see from the screenshot I also re-ordered some of ffdshow's filters because it seemed more logical when using the WinAmp plugin.
The volume filter is first and set at -6db in order to give RockSteady some "turning up" heardroom. Well I do disable the volume filter on occasion if the audio is quieter than usual, but generally I just leave it. The -6db thing was just my idea. It may be clever, it may be completely silly....
Mixer is the second filter because I use it to mix multichannel audio down to stereo and I've never bothered trying to work out if RockSteady can process multichannel audio.... so I give it stereo as that's all I want anyway.
The WinAmp filter is third followed by the equaliser filter, which naturally isn't compulsory.

The RockSteady Help file provides more information regarding which settings to fiddle with and what they do.
"Full amplification up to" and "Maximum amplification"..... well they control the amplification.