Using SetMTMode with QTGMC causes artifacts

[brassplyer]

I'm trying to deinterlace a DV video with qtgmc deinterlacer via avisynth via Virtualdub.

The processed video displays short audio and video glitches - a broken up staticy spot in the video and a short static "kssh". The same spots on the original video are fine. I've tried going to both MainConcept DV and HuffYuv, makes no difference and the glitches are in the same spots.

Any idea what could be causing this? I've used qtgmc before, don't recall having this problem. In fact just used it the other day on another video without issue.

If it helps, this is the script I'm using.

SetMTMode(3, 8)
AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi")
QTGMC ( Preset="medium")
SelectEven()

Thanks.

[manono]

Source sample? Yes, it's big, but a small piece - just a few seconds - will help.

This is an AVI of the film 'Z' starring Yves Montand? A film that's out on an outstanding DVD by Criterion? If so, why are you fooling around with a DV AVI of it? And since it's a movie, why does it need deinterlacing (as opposed to an IVTC)? This was capped from VHS? Again, why?

Any idea what could be causing this?

Your capture? Maybe cap it again.

[deadrats]

@manono

how exactly did you arrive at the conclusion that he working with a movie named "Z"? the "Z" in "AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi")" clearly refers to the drive letter of the hard drive where the source resides, not the movie name.

i was just wondering where you made the leap of logic and came up with the name of the film, the actor and the studio that released the dvd? LOL.

[manono]

@manono

how exactly did you arrive at the conclusion that he working with a movie named "Z"? the "Z" in "AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi")" clearly refers to the drive letter of the hard drive where the source resides, not the movie name.

i was just wondering where you made the leap of logic and came up with the name of the film, the actor and the studio that released the dvd? LOL.

Oh, yeah, you're right. How did I come to that conclusion? Carelessness. Thanks for pointing that out. So the 'Z' is the name of the drive, I guess. But the request for a sample still holds, as well as the suggestion to cap it again in case the glitch was caused by the capture somehow.

I don't see how QTGMC could be responsible for the problem, as implied by the thread title, especially since the audio has a problem at the same place.

[brassplyer]

Here's the same section from the original and deinterlaced vids. About 10 megs each. I just now noticed my typo in the thread title. Oh well.


http://files.videohelp.com/u/154740/original.avi

http://files.videohelp.com/u/154740/glitch_qtgmc_deinterlaced.avi

[jagabo]

I ran QTGMC on your original.avi and got no glitches. Though the source videos does appear to have some errors in the DV stream. Maybe try a different DV decoder?

You can edit your own posts' titles.

[brassplyer]

I ran QTGMC on your original.avi and got no glitches.

Hmm. To set up QTGMC I used the plugin package for multithreading from here. Wonder if there could be an issue with some component of it?

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/QTGMC

I'm going to try it on my segment and see if it displays the same behavior as when deinterlacing the whole video.

You can edit your own posts' titles.

Okay - I see it lets you do that in advanced mode. Thanks!

[brassplyer]

I ran QTGMC on your original.avi and got no glitches. Though the source videos does appear to have some errors in the DV stream. Maybe try a different DV decoder?

How did you determine there are errors?

I tried processing both the short segment I uploaded and the same video from the beginning to the same point - about 11 secs - and it doesn't do it, but does it consistently when processing the entire 3 min 41 sec file.

[jagabo]

I ran QTGMC on your original.avi and got no glitches. Though the source videos does appear to have some errors in the DV stream. Maybe try a different DV decoder?

How did you determine there are errors?

Just by looking at the video. You can see some minor glitches near the top left around frames 18-22 (26 to 44 after a simple bob).

[brassplyer]

How did you determine there are errors?

Just by looking at the video. You can see some minor glitches near the top left around frames 18-22 (26 to 44 after a simple bob).

Are you talking about those horizontal lines? Dunno. I would have assumed that's just burbles in the original video. This was originally shot on an analog 8mm cam, played back on a Digital 8 via Firewire. The Sony Dig8's play analog tapes as well.

[jagabo]

I would have assumed that's just burbles in the original video.

Could be. But I've seen similar from DV camcorder video.

I've seen multithreaded AviSynth screw up and/or crash on occasion. So it's always possible the problem is related to that. But DV AVI doesn't usually lead to many problems.

[brassplyer]

I would have assumed that's just burbles in the original video.

Could be. But I've seen similar from DV camcorder video.

Looking at the whole original file there are burbles like that throughout the video - I'm sure it's just imperfections in the original analog tape, doesn't seem to be any correlation to where the glitches occur.

I've seen multithreaded AviSynth screw up and/or crash on occasion. So it's always possible the problem is related to that. But DV AVI doesn't usually lead to many problems.

I've been experimenting with the SetMTMode parameters. So far I've seen changes in the frequency and location of the glitches but haven't eliminated them altogether yet. I'll try converting to Huffyuv first and see if that makes a difference.

[manono]

So far I've seen changes in the frequency and location of the glitches but haven't eliminated them altogether yet.

So it's nothing to do with the capture? I'd try something else then, rather than using a different codec - encoding without the audio (extract it separately):

SetMTMode(3, 8)
AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi",False)#'False' disables the audio
QTGMC ( Preset="medium")
SelectEven()

You could trim off a section so you don't have to wait for the entire video to encode.

[brassplyer]

So far I've seen changes in the frequency and location of the glitches but haven't eliminated them altogether yet.

So it's nothing to do with the capture? I'd try something else then, rather than using a different codec - encoding without the audio (extract it separately):

SetMTMode(3, 8)
AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi",False)#'False' disables the audio
QTGMC ( Preset="medium")
SelectEven()

You could trim off a section so you don't have to wait for the entire video to encode.

It appears to be related to the SetMTMode command. Without it there's no glitching. It's also a lot slower.

[manono]

It appears to be related to the SetMTMode command. Without it there's no glitching. It's also a lot slower.

Oh, OK. Then you might try this:

SetMTMode(5, 8)
AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi")
SetMTMode(2)
QTGMC ( Preset="medium")
SelectEven()

I have to say, though, that I use MT and QTGMC a lot, even with SetMTMode(2,14) at the top of the script, and have yet to see it cause scrambled picture. Crashes, yes, but no video anomalies. I have, sometimes, gotten scrambled picture all over the place, lasting a frame at a time, when I both have audio in the script and try and change the running time (length, with an AssumeFPS line in the script). It also affects the audio, making these real short high-pitched 'squeaks'. I don't do that anymore, but that's why I suggested leaving the audio out of the script.

[brassplyer]

It appears to be related to the SetMTMode command. Without it there's no glitching. It's also a lot slower.

Oh, OK. Then you might try this:

SetMTMode(5, 8)
AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi")
SetMTMode(2)
QTGMC ( Preset="medium")
SelectEven()

No, still does it.

What is this supposed to do?

[manono]

What is this supposed to do?

I suggested '5' for absolute safety, although the script suggested in the MT section in the first post of the QTGMC thread uses '3'. The idea is that opening the video is safer using a higher number, before using the 'SetMTMode(2)' for QTGMC itself:

SetMemoryMax(M) # Optional line. See below for value M
SetMTMode(3, X) # See below for value X, could try 5 instead of 3 for non-standard source-filter/avisynth combinations
YourSource("yourfile") # DGDecode_mpeg2source, FFVideoSource, AviSource, whatever your source requires
SetMTMode(2)
QTGMC( Preset="Slow", EdiThreads=Y ) # Choose preset based on overall speed/quality you want. See below for value Y
Distributor() # This line may or may not be necessary, try removing it and see if you get more speed

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156028

You might try some of the other suggestions too. For example, are you using a SEt MT version?

[brassplyer]

What is this supposed to do?

I suggested '5' for absolute safety, although the script suggested in the MT section in the first post of the QTGMC thread uses '3'. The idea is that opening the video is safer using a higher number, before using the 'SetMTMode(2)' for QTGMC itself:

SetMemoryMax(M) # Optional line. See below for value M
SetMTMode(3, X) # See below for value X, could try 5 instead of 3 for non-standard source-filter/avisynth combinations
YourSource("yourfile") # DGDecode_mpeg2source, FFVideoSource, AviSource, whatever your source requires
SetMTMode(2)
QTGMC( Preset="Slow", EdiThreads=Y ) # Choose preset based on overall speed/quality you want. See below for value Y
Distributor() # This line may or may not be necessary, try removing it and see if you get more speed

Tried this with various setting, makes an even bigger mess. Now the resulting video is choppy and glitchy.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156028

You might try some of the other suggestions too. For example, are you using a SEt MT version?

Yes, using an SEtMT version.

[manono]

Except for suggesting reverting back to an older version of AviSynth, I'm out of ideas. I have none of those problems (except for the scrambled frames periodically when including the audio and slowing the movie, as I mentioned before). But I'm also using older 2.60 versions on my computers, one from 2011, the other from 2012.

And the versions of the filters being used are from the QTGMC package, right?

[brassplyer]

And the versions of the filters being used are from the QTGMC package, right?

I'm using the plugin package for multithreading as per

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/QTGMC

As far as I can tell my plugins match the requirements and versions stated. I don't claim to have deeper understanding of what they all are/do but have checked what's in my plugin folder against this list:

Full Plugin List

This is a full list of all the plugins use by QTGMC. For convenience, you can get all of these in the Plugin Package at the top of this post. The source code for several of the plugins can be found in these links.

Core plugins

• MVTools2 (2.5.11.2 or above)
• MaskTools v2 (recommend 2.0a48 or above)
• NNEDI3 (recommend 0.9.4 or above for speed)
• RemoveGrain + Repair (extract only the SSE2 versions, some SSE3 versions have a bug and give no real benefit)
• SSE2Tools for YUY2 support (take only SSE2Tools.dll from this zip - do not take the SSE3 version nor the RemoveGrain or Repair dlls)

Additional plugins depending on settings

• [NNEDI2, NNEDI, EEDI3, EEDI2, TDeInt] - if selected directly or via a source-match preset
• Yadif - for Preset="Ultra Fast" or if selected directly (this plugin cannot be autoloaded, it must be loaded in the calling script)
• VerticalCleaner - for SVThin or lossless modes
• AddGrainC (or here) - for Preset="Placebo" or NoiseDeint="Generate" selected for noise processing
• FFT3DFilter - if selected for noise processing
• dfttest - if selected for noise processing

[brassplyer]

Except for suggesting reverting back to an older version of AviSynth, I'm out of ideas.

Okay, I tried it without the audio and it renders it without the glitch.

What does that suggest?

[jagabo]

It suggests there's a bug in AviSynth's audio handling. Or possibly in the DV decoder.

[manono]

Okay, I tried it without the audio and it renders it without the glitch.

What does that suggest?

It suggests to me that you didn't try it earlier when I first mentioned it:

I'd try something else then, rather than using a different codec - encoding without the audio (extract it separately):

SetMTMode(3, 8)
AviSource ("Z:\sourcefile.avi",False)#'False' disables the audio
QTGMC ( Preset="medium")
SelectEven()

You could trim off a section so you don't have to wait for the entire video to encode.

Just about the first thing I do after capturing a VHS tape is to extract the audio and keep it separate until authoring for DVD much later.

[brassplyer]

It suggests there's a bug in AviSynth's audio handling. Or possibly in the DV decoder.

Okay, I find it also works fine if I save the audio as a .wav and select audio from other source within VirtualDub.

It would be great if I didn't have to go through the drill of extracting a .wav file and recombining them every time.

Any suggestions?

[brassplyer]

Okay, I tried it without the audio and it renders it without the glitch.

What does that suggest?

It suggests to me that you didn't try it earlier when I first mentioned it

.hangs head



Yes, it kinda went in one aural orifice and out the other...

[manono]

It would be great if I didn't have to go through the drill of extracting a .wav file and recombining them every time.

Any suggestions?

It doesn't take long - a few minutes even for a full-length movie. Besides, don't you work on the audio in Audacity or something similar? I sure do, and sometimes a lot of work. Maybe your sources are better than mine.

I usually take the audio out when cutting out the advertisements right after capturing, if the movie has some ads. Do the trims in the script, save out the WAV audio, and then begin work on just the video. Add the audio back in when authoring for DVD. That's just the way I do it. It doesn't mean it's the only way or even the best way, but it works.

Besides, if you get random corruptions with the audio in, or the only way to avoid the corruptions is not to use MT, I don't see where you have much choice.

[brassplyer]

Besides, if you get random corruptions with the audio in, or the only way to avoid the corruptions is not to use MT, I don't see where you have much choice.

I was hoping you'd point me toward the magicwand() avisynth plugin.

[hello_hello]

Have you tired not using AVISource (ie use FFVideoSource instead)?
http://ffmpegsource.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/doc/ffms2-avisynth.html

If that's still a problem try remuxing the AVI as an MKV and opening the MKV using FFVideoSource instead.

[brassplyer]

Have you tired not using AVISource (ie use FFVideoSource instead)?
http://ffmpegsource.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/doc/ffms2-avisynth.html

If that's still a problem try remuxing the AVI as an MKV and opening the MKV using FFVideoSource instead.

I'd be happy to try this but looking at the page you referenced, it seems like it requires an involved learning curve.

At this page - http://code.google.com/p/ffmpegsource/

I downloaded the package called ffms-2.17-cplugin.7z - the first one on the list since I interpret it as being for avisynth.

Unzipped it and put ffms2.dll , ffmsindex.exe and FFMS2.avsi into the avisynth plugins folder.

However to open the file, it's apparently more involved than simply using FFmpegSource2 ("sourcefile.avi") in place of AviSource ("sourcefile.avi") The steps are not clear to me from the "User Manual" referenced above.

If you - or anyone else - would like to advise further I'd appreciate it.

[poisondeathray]

for ffms2, don't use the Cplugin version , use the vanilla version

FFMpegSource2("video.avi" , atrack=-1) if you want both audio & video

FFVideoSource("video.avi") if you want only video