VDub - VFAPI - CCE ..... Weird... Help !!!

[ebaldino]

Hi all.

After many attempts, I managed to get VDub 1.4d to frameserve correctly (works fserving to tmpgenc).
So I fed it to VFAPI 1.03b and fed the resulting file to Cinema Craft Encoder SP 2.5 (CCE).

CCE read the file and processed it.... but the VDub frameserver window stayed at 0 frames served and the resulting file from CCE was all black...

So I tried VDub -> VFAPI -> TMPGEnc. As soon as I tell tmpgenc what file I want to work with, it fetches the first frame all the way back from VDub, who serves it happily. But then I hit "encode" and all I get are blank frames, and VDub stopped serving them....

Now comes the strange part: I go into tmpgenc settings and try to specify a source frame range. As I move the cursor in the preview window, tmpgenc fetches all the frames I need all the way back from VDub. Weird! .. and it still will only encode blanks...

Please, somebody shed some light on this!
My objective is VDub -> VFAPI -> CCE
OS is w2k.

rgds to all
E.Baldino

p.s.: VDub -> VFAPI -> WindowsMediaPlayer also only shows blanks, but then I don't know if this was supposed to work...

[Cart Wheel]

How are you going from VirtualDub to VFAPI? Is there a VFAPI plug-in for VirtualDub that I'm not aware of?

One thing you should try is running "proxyoff.reg" in the aviproxy folder in your VirtualDub directory. A lot of people seem to leave proxy mode enabled, which can cause problems. Also, the latest version of VFAPI is 1.04, not 1.03.

-Cart
http://www.geocities.com/lukesvideo/index.html

[Peter]

You can frameserve directly from Vdub to TMPGenc
It also should work with VFapi.

If you have CCE 2.62 you can't frameserve from Vdub also not with VFapi. If you try it, CCE will only encode the first frame over and over again. You will see a very high conversion speed. If you want to use VDub, because of its filters you have to apply the filters and save the whole avi first and then encode with CCE, but you'll need a lot of disk space, if you want high quality.

[ebaldino]

Cart,

Thanks for the reply. At the rate these forums grow, it´s amazing anybody has time to read and reply to a post at all... and since I see your name around a lot, I wanted to make sure and thank you for all the help you give everybody...

I did try using the proxy. Nothing works when it is turned on. And I did try VFAPI 1.04 with exactly the same results, I just went back to 1.03 because I read somewhere (hearsay) that it might work better than 1.04.

How am I getting from VDub to VFAPI? Basically, frameserve from VDub to a "test.avi" vdr file and open that with the VFAPI Reader.

I *thought* I was following the instructions in your site, where you said "Remember, it's possible to open a video that's frameserved from VirtualDub or Avisynth as input for the VFAPI compatible program." I just presumed the VFAPI Reader would be its own compatible program...

For tmpgenc I followed the instructions exactly (saving the project file) and got the results I mentioned earlier.

Appreciate any help on this.

rgds
E.Baldino

[ebaldino]

Peter,

Thanks. I went back to CCE SP 2.5 because I read that it was compatible with VFAPI.

I hear what you´re saying about saving the AVI from VDub, but I *really* want to get the frameserving working. Two reasons:

1) Disk space and hassle;
2) I never managed to get any decent output from VDub when I save AVIs to disk. I always get REALLY jerky video. But please, let´s NOT get into this subject. I have explored the issue for quite a while, read all posts and sites I could find on the subject and I have not given up yet. When I finally give up, I´ll post a nwe topic in the proper forum.

If you could help with the frameserving, it´ll be great.

thanks again
E.Baldino

BTW, I´ll try to reproduce the conditions in my original post on an Windows ME machine, possibly tonight, and see if it is a problem with W2K...

[Sully]

Ever think about just using DVD2AVI then VFAPI Converter & AVISynth script?

DVD2AVI uses around 1-1.5GB (mostly for audio). VFAPI around 10MB & an .avs script 1kb.

[ebaldino]

Sully,

I´ve never used DVD2AVI, so I don´t know its capabilities, but I thought it was an mpeg decoder. If that´s the case, it won´t help, since I´m trying to go the other way, converting AVI to SVCD...

Which is why I want to go VDub -> VFAPI -> CCE

Cart Wheel, any further thoughts? Please.

rgds
E.Baldino

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ebaldino on 2001-07-04 04:24:28 ]</font>

[Sully]

Just the name of it says enough I think - DVD2AVI.

I think there's a guide here on VCDHelp. Haven't checked out the guides in ages, but I'm sure there's something there. If not try this thread: http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=47809&forum=3

To give you some info now - Load the .vob's with DVD2AVI, save as project file .d2v. Covert to fake .avi with VFAPI COnverter. Load VFAPI.avi or frameserve via AVISynth (depending on your encoder) & you're done.

[ebaldino]

Damn, it worked!

Under Windows ME, that is.
I downloaded VDub 14d (build 12667), VFAPI 1.03b, CCE SP 2.5 to a WME machine. I installed all three softwares, I rebooted, then I repeated the procedure to take an avi file through

Vdub frameserve -> VFAPI -> CCE

And it worked !!! Frameserving all the way through, producing a nice looking mpg file.

Damn! That means I have to figure out WHY it doesn´t work on MY machine under W2K...

Any takers?

[ebaldino]

Sully,

Just saw your reply now. Thanks for the tip.
However, I´m not working to take an mpg to an avi, but rather the other way around. I begin with VHS tapes, capture them to AVI and aim to produce SVCDs.

That means I have the AVI file to start out with, and I need to feed it through VDub for resizing and filtering and then later to CCE for mpg encoding.

But for reasons I´ve explained earlier, I want to do this via frameserving.

Pls see my previous post, I just got it to work under Windows ME and now need to figure out what´s wrong on my W2K system at home...

thanks again and rgds
E.Baldino

[Sully]

I got what you're trying to do. If it's already an .avi file why don't you frameserve directly just using an AVISynth script?

Since I haven't had the need to do it, I would imagine just using a script would be faster than opening up another program & frameserving through that.

Try a small clip. I'd be interested to know hte results in actual time.

[ebaldino]

Hi Sully,

OK, I've begun looking at Avisynth, and I'm reading the on-line instructions...

So far, though, it seams that Avisynth will stand between an application and an AVI file, and not between two applications. So I would have to do

AVIFile -> Avisynth -> CCE -> MPEGFile

.. and I could never do

AVIFIle -> VDub -> Avisinth -> CCE -> MPEGFIle

If this is true, then your suggestion is that I use Avisynth INSTEAD of VirtualDub....

Again, that is not what I want to do. I have good reasons for wanting to use VDub... for instance, the resize function is much faster in VDub than in avisynth....

....

so....

PLEASE, ANYBODY HELP !!!!

I want to run the avi file through VDub and frameserve it to CCE !!!!! It works under WinME, but not on my W2K machine. I've even tried the APCOMPAT.EXE option, and it didn't help.

rgds to all
E.Baldino

[ebaldino]

OK, OK, I spoke too soon.

It turns out AVISynth is truly a great piece of programming! And it does read vdr fils from VDub.

So I was able to do:
VDub (frameserve to vdr file) -> AVISynth -> VFAPI -> CCE

And it WORKED!

Naturally, I tried other combinations, such as taking VFAPI out of the loop, but the only combination that worked was the one above.

Also, although I imagine this solution will work perfectly under Windows 98/ME, I still have some (minor) problems under W2K.

It seems AVISynth has its own problems running under W2K... I tried versions 0.31, 1.3, and 1.31, and they all had problems playing some of my AVI files... Additionally, with the solution described above, I cannot do 3-pass VBR in CCE. Passes 2 and 3 abort because CCE thinks that the file "changed" between passes....

Oh well... I really wish these programs would run as nicely under W2K as they do under W98/ME...

But for now I'm a happy camper. With this solution I will be able to push forward on converting my VHS tapes to SVCD with acceptable quality.

Thanks to all.

rgds
E.Baldino

[Sully]

Good to hear you got it working.

Although I have Win2k installed I do my encoding & DVD stuff with Win98 (dual boot). I Haven't tried it with Win2k. I just use my configuration because I don't have much installed on Win98 & therefore have a cleaner & leaner (rescources) system to encode on.

[VidGuy]

I use AVISYnth all the time with CCE 2.5 in Windows 2K.

You don't even need to use VirtualDub - there's no reason to. Pick up the latest AVISynth that can do multipass (probably on Doom9's site - see links to the left).

Then just
AVISource("theAVIFile.avi&quot
BicubicResize(352,240)

or similar as your script. AVISynth can also invoke VirtualDub filters (see the info that comes with it).

Then just drag the avs file to the CCE window - voila - you're done.