All about Video on PC's
Topics:
(*) Video Capture section is outdated . Needs a serious update .
There is so much to tell about how to grab & encode video
that of course one page is never enough . BTW there are so many good tutorials
out there . My reason to write such a page is to give the simplest - fastest
solutions available as well as to write my personal experience upon this area. This is not an Avi - to - file but a complete
Tape - to - file article with solutions & suggestions not found elsewhere .
Notice:
Before you read please notice that :
1) I start making this article as a form of personal notes . In the current state does not contain many
program links and describes many tasks very briefly . So it is directed to users
that they are - or they must be - familiar with the applications described .
2) All resolutions & fps mentioned below applies for PAL systems . You
can easily make your assumptions if you use NTSC .
Glossary:
First of all please note some abbreviations:
VCD = Video CD
SVCD = Super VideoCD
VCD resolution = half-res = 352x288 @ 25fps (for PAL)
SCVD resolution = 480 x 576 @ 25fps
DVD resolution = full-res = 704x576 @ 25fps
DVD - to - ... mpeg1 / mpeg2 / wma / divx / or ... what ?
- What video format & what CD format to choose:
When I first started to encode video I desperately wanted to
make CD media compatible with a DVD player ( i.e. VCD / SVCD ) . For some
months I was oppressed trying to find the perfect way with the perfect encoder
... but my results were disappointing . Even when I was using the maximum bitrate a
DVD player can handle from (S)VCD's (2.600 Kbps) , this was not enough for action
scenes . Anyway I found that the best Mpeg1/2 encoders are TmpgEnc 1.2a & CinemaCraft . The first one is an excellent
piece of freeware and we can use it not necessarily for mpeg files (can also
produce .avi video) . The second is not free and is difficult to find
a full version so I stacked with TmpgEnc . Also keep in mind that if you use the maximum bitrate you proportionally limit the
length of max. video duration .
Testing various formats:
- VCD . This is a Mpeg1 file system . The standard bitrate is
about 1.150 Kbps but most players today can handle up to 2.600 Kbps .
Plus: Compatible with most DVD players .
Minus: 1) Half-res is never enough . 2) Many artifacts in action scenes even in 2.600
Kbps
- SVCD. This is a Mpeg2 file system . The proportion of video
size looks a bit strange (480x576) but a SVCD player corrects the aspect ratio .
Plus: Mpeg2 means VBR (variable bitrate) , Multi-language video . Also
compatible with some DVD players .
Minus: Still many artifacts in action scenes even in 2.600
Kbps .
- WME . This is Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder . MS succeeded
to produce a preety good video encoder . WME 8 is a command-line encoder , handling
multi-pass VBR , nice speed and perfect quality . WME 7.1 is a full GUI
application supporting the WM 8 format with video capture system , great encoding speed and many options .
Plus: 1) Free , 2) You know where to find it , 3) Speed & quality comes together !
.
Minus: 1) DVD incompatibility . 2) It is a stand alone application . It cannot
be used by any other program. 3) Can only run on PC's and they must be Fast . For a
descent 640x480 video res. sometimes a Celeron / 800 is not enough !!. 4) I
faced many times a/v async with no solution .
- DivX . This is a codec (= encoder integrated with Windows OS in
order to be used with many applications) . Prior versions (3.x) was a kind of
hack from a prior Microsoft's Windows
Media Encoder (v.4) . However the codec was further developed for better quality
& speed . Newer versions (4.0 and above) are written from scratch so
they are legitimate . DivX are only video encoder so when we encode a movie with DivX we have to encode the
audio part with an .mp3 codec .
Plus: 1) Free , 2) Speed & quality encoder , 3) can co-operate with many
video programs
Minus: 1) DVD incompatibility . 2) Can only run on PC's and they must be Fast . For
higher than 640x480 video res. sometimes a Celeron / 800 is not enough !! .
Conclusion: I strongly advise you to use DivX , otherwise you
may regret that you lost personal time ... or disk space !. I own a DVD player
capable of playing VCD , SVCD but I still choose DivX . If you finally insist of
SVCD take a look on my tips at Brief ways for (S)VCD .
VHS -to- DivX
- What hardware can I use:
1) Tv tuner card (like Pinnacle PCTV Rave , Dart TV etc) .
Plus: Add-on cheap card .
Minus: Most of these cards supports only half-res . They do not support any
hardware realtime video compression .
2) Graphics card with Video In and/or TV tuner ( like ATI
All-in-Wonder models , Asus 7xxx Deluxe )
Plus: All in one card . You pay less money comparing of buying two cards . Use
only 1 IRQ for 2 purposes . Most of them supports full-res .
Minus: Most of these cards do not support any hardware realtime video
compression .
3) Professional Video cards .
Plus: They are complete solutions with few headaches . Full-res / Realtime Mpeg
/ Auto split video file / Perfect colors etc
Minus: What else ... the price of course !. They are 5-30 times more expensive than the above
alternative !.
My personal choice belongs to second category . I own an ATI
All-in-Wonder 128 16MB . It' had a very low price at the time I bought it ,
giving me high quality video input . Includes a (software) realtime Mpeg compression but in my PC it works
efficiently only for half-res , so it's useless . However this card CAN
make Mpeg1 / full-res in real-time if you have an Athlon / 1.2GHZ or better .
Avoid ANY cheap realtime external mpeg device : There are
many external USB devices today that captures Mpeg in realtime costing about 2-3
times a TV card . All of them 1) do not produce a quality Mpeg output 2) they
cannot capture in full-res 3) Due to USB bandwidth limitation , they cannot capture in raw or other format (in
order to encode it later with another encoder) .
Step 1: Video Grabbing .
Unless you own a very expensive card , you cannot make a quality
, full-res , realtime , Mpeg 1/2 video capture . That means you need both a
quite fast PC and plenty of hard disk space . The difficulty here is - when we
talk for full-res capture - whatever fast PC you have is never enough for a
perfect grab (unless you have an Athlon 1.4G or something similar) .
Hardware Limitations:
- If you try not to use any realtime encoding , you will notice
that even in half-res mode (VCD) you will need 2GB for about 6-7 minutes of
video !! . Moreover trying to capture in full-res you will discover that you
need 2GB for 1.5-2 minutes of video .
- Video Grab is a CPU hungry task . Even an AMD/400 with a cheap
TV tuner card cannot always grab a half-res video (@ 25fps) without loss of
frames . So you can figure how difficult it is to grab in full-res using a video
encoder !.
- We did not finish the limitations yet ... Most programs have
2GB .avi file limitation . That means you cannot make a single capture file
bigger than 2GB . It's an .AVI standard limitation . Some newer video
applications adopted a later standard (OpenDML Avi) which limits to 4GB . Also
don't forget that Win9x have also a 4GB file limitation (WinNT & Win2K do
not) . Some advanced applications in order to bypass these limitations ,
cuts the capture files automatically in 2GB slices during capture .
My Tests:
My PC consists of: Celeron / 800 - 320MB RAM - 20GB HD - Ati All
in Wonder 128 16MB .
So the aim was to capture in full-res with the highest quality with the less
frames loss .
I tested extensively all the following products:
Adobe Premiere 5.1
Power VCR 2K
Video Capturix 2000
VidCap32
VirtualDub 1.4c
Ulead Video Studio 4.0
Ulead Media Studio 6.0
I also tested the above products with the following video codecs
:
Pegasus Pics Video codecs 2.1
Broktree Summer Pro
ATI VCR 1 & 2
Huffyuv 2.1
DivX 3.11
MS Mpeg-4 codec v. 2 & 3
Video Software: The Final Verdict .
From all of the above combinations the bests results on my
PC achieved using Ulead Media Studio 6.0 & Pegasus Pics codecs 2.1 .
I used "MJpeg Pics" codec setting the quality to 18/20 & standard .wav audio
codec (PCM) with CD quality (44.1K Stereo) . With this configuration I had 0-2%
frame loss but with absolute audio/video synchronization . The video compression
here about is about 12:1 . Most of times with this quality you can fit 18-20
minutes in a 2GB file . That's a plenty of time compared with other alternatives . If you want
more quality then using 19/20 you can fit about 12 minutes in 2 GB . If you can't
find UMS 6.0 then UVS 4.0 have similar results , is cheaper or can be found
inside many products .
I know that MJpeg is not the best encoder I could use . It's a
loosy encoder making picture looking more blur with more artifacts . However it
was the only one with a descent compression that worked with my CPU . Huffyuv
also worked OK and makes perfect picture but the compression was not high enough
so you still need to cut your video in many slices if you want to use UMS or UVS
.
As a matter of features VirtualDub 1.4 was the best of all
and it's free . It slices the capture file automatically , has many shortcuts
for most of tasks , and comes with many video editing tools . However when I
used it to capture I faced a lot of dropped frames . If you have a faster PC I
highly recommend to give VirtualDub a try .
Alternative Methods:
What to do if you have a much faster PC (sorted according to
CPU requirements):
- Capture with MJpeg with 19/20 or 20/20 quality .
- Capture using VirtualDub / multi-segment capture (to solve the 2GB problem) .
- Capture using VirtualDub & Huffyuv if you have a LOT of HD space .
- Use DivX for realtime video capture .
- Use DivX for video & mp3 for audio realtime capture .
- Use Windows Media Encoder 7 which is a free all-in-one solution ( grabber , codecs
, gui ) .
Don't forget in any test to check if you have the right res. ,
fps . Check after the dropped frames ratio & audio/video sync .
What to do if you have a slower PC (when you are loosing
frames):
- Lower the MJpeg codec quality (18/20 , 17/20) .
- Lower the resolution . Before going down to 352 x 288 , test some in-between
modes like 640 x 480 or even 352 x 576 . It may look strange but it will be fixed in the next stage
.
- Record audio using smaller settings . 44.1K / 16Bit / Mono helps a lot the
performance specially when using cheap on-board audio chipsets .
- Try also to make some combinations like half- res. & Virtualdub or
Huffyuv , etc .
- If you also own an ATI AiW capture using ATI's program in half-res &
realtime Mpeg 1 . Ati's mpeg engine is awful so capture in high-bitrate for more
quality (2-4.000 Kbps) , and then use Virtuadub as described .
P.S.: The Morgan Mjpeg Codec:
Although I tested in past Morgan Mjpeg Codec v.2.x , I didn't
mentioned & tested further on my review because it it was making about the
same quality with less fps achieved and also it was conflicting with my existing
Pegasus Mjpeg codec , so I had to uninstall it.
Today , one whole year after , the new
full promising Morgan v.3 came out .
Besides what Morgan announced about this new codec , and the
new configuration settings (SSE, SSE2 , 3Dnow etc) , I found that it behaves
about the same . In my PC I had about 3-4% frame loss ( full-res , 90 quality),
while Pic Mjpec codec had no trouble at all . Also Morgan continues to screw up
my Pic Mjpec installation . Even if the codec is disabled I could not use Pic
Mjpec. When I totally uninstalled Morgan, it also uninstalled my Pic Mjpeg codec
(the same bad behaviour with Morgan v.2) .
Concerning quality , Morgan codec v.3 is really good . Although it did not gain more performance , it
has much better quality on lower bitrates . In Pegasus there is a lot of
difference between 19/20 & 17/20 , but in Morgan you can freely play even
down to 65 with no fear .
Morgan has good quality but I recommend only if you
have a fast PC . It couldn't grab OK in my poor PC so I do not use today , but
it's on my mind .
Morgan v.3 Tips:
- Pegasus 19/20 quality is about the same size as Morgan's 90
quality , but you can make grabbing with less quality with no fear .
- As the manual says "Integer" is better & faster than "Fast
Integer" .
- Be sure you enabled both Compression & Decompression codec .
Capture Tips:
- If you capture from your graphics card (w Video in) then overclocking your
card may also improve capturing performance .
- Most of video tapes are recorded with mono audio so use a 44.1K / 16bit / Mono
set to record to improve performance .
- Before you capture using UVS / UMS disable first your Screen Saver &
unload also all your running background applications . If you still face
problems , disable all your energy saving functions ( Control Panel -> Power
Management) .
- If you capture using UVS / UMS and you want to terminate the capture , press a
key like Ctrl before Esc . Sometimes UVS conflicts with you energy saving
functions .
- If you capture using UVS / UMS the captured seconds displayed are not accurate
(does not calculate the time of the buffered frames) . It's better to count on
your VCR clock .
- Nandub cannot capture successfully . Prefer the original Virtualdub for such
tasks .
- If you use Virtualdub , you have to disable all screen saver & energy
saver settings during capture , otherwise the PC will crash .
Step 2: Video Encoding .
Notice: Most paragraphs below was written before
DivX v.4.x . At those days only few programs supported a 2-pass encoding (or
something like) . NunDub was a special clone of Virtualdub handling DivX 3.11
for such jobs . Just keep in mind that today most programs CAN actually save in
2-pass thanks to DivX 4 & 5 technology .
This is the final step where you convert your capture file(s) to
the final output . As I explained above in the first paragraph the video format
I choose is DivX . So if we want to make DivX files, the most appropriate program
to choose is Virtualdub .
- Load Virtualdub . Load the movie .
- Now you have to load some plugins . 1) Most of cards give interlaced capture
in full-res . You can observe it very easily . 2) DivX files are CPU hungry even
when viewing them . My Celeron/733 cannot see a full-res DivX file without
breaks . So you have to decide what resolution is appropriate for you . A
640x480 must be OK for most today PC's . Be careful & test when you give the
dimensions: It must be multiples of 8 (Vertical: 640 , 648 , 656 ... etc) .
- Go to Video -> Filters -> Ad -> "Deinterlace - rather
smart" . Be sure you check the "[x] Blend instead of interpolate"
option . If you don't have this plugin try to find it , in the meantime you can
use the standard "Deinterlace" plugin .
- Video -> Filters -> Ad -> Resize -> Bilinear (or better) ->
<enter the res. you chose> .
- Video -> Filters -> Ad -> "Hue/Saturation/Intensity"
(Optional) . Some tapes need some color fix . Use this plugin only if needed .
- Chose your codecs .
Video -> Compression -> DivX Mpeg-4 . ( If you have a slow & fast motion codecs prefer the slow motion one) . -> Configure -> Smoothness:
50-75 . Bitrate: It's up to you . Some utilities like the "Advanced
Bitrate Calculator" might help you a lot .
Audio -> "Full processing mode" . The default was "Direct
stream copy" which means the program does not make any audio encoding in
this mode .
Audio -> Mpeg Layer 3 -> your choice . Something like 112Kbps 44.1Khz
Stereo or 64Kbps
44.1Khz Mono is OK .
- Now watch the movie as its displayed and make any other
setting you may need . When you finish save this settings in order to load them
in another file: File -> "Save processing settings..." ->
<filename> .
- Make any video editing you can think of : Cut the scenes you
want to bypass , adjust audio signal if it's low etc . Notice that joining .avi
made with MJpeg codec is a difficult job and I will show it later .
- Start the encoding: File -> Save as Avi... ->
<filename> .
This is a basic tutorial . If you want more info reed Virtualdub
help file .
Notice: A new clone version of Virtualdub created recently with
the name Nandub . It has all the Virtualdub functions plus it supports a
multi-layer DivX encoding . That means that the program detect the parts with
less movie action and compress it better , so you gain less space or better
quality for the same space .
Nandub (v.1.0rc2) Tips:
- Nandub requires DivX 3.11 . If you get any "out of memory"
errors or face some crashes , it means you have to install the original 3.11a
version & nothing similar (without any
VKI patch) .
- Shift-F8 automates many steps in a 2-pass encoding .
- Ctrl-X is a (hidden) shortcut for SBC options . Ctrl-L for selecting a codec
(for a non-SBC encoding) .
- Prefer Divx codec & avoid Mpeg4v2 . Some players (specially MS products)
may not allow playing .avi with such codec inside .
- Ctrl-X -> Bitrate Curve -> [x] scene changes , Motion based curve
modulation -> 25% .
- Read readme.doc as well as any other tutorials before start working . Be sure
you will make the installation as the manual says (extract Nandub into
Virtualdub directory / Overwrite all existing files) .
- Nandub supports 2 audio streams . Check out that the 2nd is disables (if you
want so): Audio -> Secondary Stream -> No audio .
- If you saved a setting file using VirtualDub , you can open it from Nandub .
To do the reverse is harder because you must edit the .vcf file and remove some particular
lines .
General Tips:
- If your graphics card supports capture res. of 640 x
480 AND your video signal does not need any cropping AND you decided to end up with
a 640 x 480 DivX file , then you are lucky because you avoid many CPU hungry
actions . Capture directly at 640 x 480 , then using Virtualdub try not to load
de-interlace filter, might be OK without it .
- Mono audio recordings require Mono settings on the encoder . Also if you
recorder with Stereo set and you want to encode with Mono , you have to setup
ViartualDub to downmix the 2 stereo channels to 1 ( Audio -> Conversion ->
...) .
- There are some new great filters not included with Virtualdub . Search &
update them frequently .
Alternative Avi -to- DivX Encoders: 1) AviUtil . 2)
TmpgEnc . 3) Other commercial applications like Premiere etc . Haven't tested
any of them
The way to WM8: Use a WM8 Gui or the new Windows Media
Encoder 7.1 .
VirtualDub vs. AviUtil .
VirtualDub Pros:
- Video Capture capability with many tools & auto split
functions .
- Very stable , Twice Faster (can't say the same for Nandub !) .
- NanDub (a VirtualDub clone) also supports routines (SBC) for better
compression .
- Many noise reduction plugins .
- Can bypass video and / or audio compression .
- Project file is an Ascii editable file .
- Modified versions can open .asf & .mp3 files .
- Thanks to DivX 4.x Virtualdub can now make 2-pass video without using Nandub .
VirtualDub Cons:
- Video capture cannot save any template .
AviUtil Pros:
- Better batch processing tools .
- Dvd2avi & TmpgEnc Projects can be loaded directly .
- Projects can be used directly to VFAPI .
- Can join 2 .avis much more easier (but has async problem) .
- Althought it's obsolete today, includes a multi-layer DivX compressor .
AviUtil Cons:
- Cannot work with 32MB RAM .
- Cannot capture video .
- Cannot preview video .
- Too slow display for video editing functions .
- No English manual / help .
- Many plugins still in Japanese .
- VFAPI still buggy sometimes .
VirtualDub vs. NanDub .
First was chaos . Then FlaskMpeg appeared . Then Virtualdub
broke the monopoly . Then Nandub was for some years the popular VirtualDub clone
due to it's unique 2-pass engine .
Today , thanks to DivX v.4 or above , Virtualdub (as well as many other
video editors) can also make 2-pass DivX
without the help of NanDub . Virtualdub regained it's lost popularity since this
is the genuine product .
So where can NanDub help us ?.
- NanDub has many tools not yet added to VirtualDub . (mp3 / ac3 audio, jump to xxx MB
, bitrate calc etc) .
- When we talking about 2-pass encoding, DivX v.4 produces less anticipating
output that Nandub . In many cases DivX can have a 3-10% deviance on .avi
filesize as oppose to Nandub where it produce .avi with less than 0.5% deviance
. Although today most people prefer more Virtualdub than Nandub , many times due
to very bad anticipation , I had to re-encode the whole movie in order to get a
better filesize .
- DivX v.4 did not worked with all hardware ( v.5 is OK) .
- Virtualdub cannot load .mp3 files yet . So Nandub is the only tested tool that
can mux .avi & .mp3 .
VirtualdubMod = Virtualdub + Nandub ?
Besides the GNU (free source) license, everyone was waiting for
a Virtualdub evolution but it never came . VirtualdubMod is a separate
clone giving to people what they was waiting from Virtualdub .
So what VirtualdubMod have more ?
- Loads mp3 , Ogg Vorbis , AC3 audio .
- Can automatically create Avisynth scripts to load .d2v , vob e.t.c
- Cool Avisynth script editor .
- Nice 'resize' modifications .
- Better video capture engine .
- Many more (like OGM) .
Step 3: Resizing tips .
Generally it's easy to play DivX .avi files . Just click the
file and the Windows Media Player will start . The point is that even in a PIII/600
it's a hard job to play a 640 x 480 DivX . The playing performance depends
also from your graphics card , hard disk & your motherboard . A full-res DivX .avi cannot be
played well even on my Celeron / 830 . If you want to make an .avi playable to
most today PC's then you must resize it .
- When you define a new size
is that the new width & height must be multiple of 16 . So play a little bit
with the numbers in order to find the correct values . In order to avoid
headache the are some fine bitrate & proportion calculators out there !.
- 640 x 480 is a logical size , but sometimes it's still hard to be played on a
PIII/600 .
- Some video guru guys made a nice rule: The product of X * Y * fps * 0.20 must
be close to your bitrate (in bps) . I made a nice spreadsheet for this formula ,
take a look at MUDBC .
- If you finally decide to make half-res or smaller video then your life will become
easier since the capture file will be much smaller & easier to be made
without frame loss by most capture applications . If I want half-res or smaller my
ATI can give me realtime mpeg1 or 2 file . In such case use high bitrates during
capture (2.000 - 3.500 Kbps) because ATI's - as well as most of low cost
graphics cards - mpeg engine is not as good as my
mentioned non-reltime mpeg encoders .
Step 4: DivX Playing Tips .
- If you see breaks during playing , probably the .avi
file is OK but you need a faster PC or a faster graphics card . If you want to be sure if the file is
faulty or not , use Virtualdub to rescale the video you made to half-res (352x288) and save it to
a new file . If the new file is playing OK your original .avi is also OK .
- In most players you can setup DivX properties .
There is a "Quality" bar (0...4) . Put it in 0 if you have a weak CPU
. Increase it when you do not have CPU power problem .
- Try to use players that switch the display mode in fullscreen (like BsPlayer) . You will see a
lot of difference .
- Multi-bitrate DivX files (created from NunDub , AviUtil , FairUse , etc)
require more CPU resources than the standard Divx ones .
- Avoid TFM Audio Filter . Spoils Avisynth & slows PC performance when playing .avi
, actually it cannot be disabled & finally does not succeed to compress
audio !. If you want something similar RadLight has a such filter .
- Generally avoid DirectShow Filters . Like TFM there are many
similar filters processing audio and / or video in realtime as you playback the
video . I faced problems even with popular software like VobSub DirectShow
filter etc .
- Avoid RadLight 3.03 R5 & 5.1 . Install Radlight 3.3 R 5.2 or higher . Some
previous versions mentioned above illegally uninstall Ad-Aware . Better don't
install it at all . We don't know the future intensions of these programmers !.
- DivX improves playback performance in my ATI AiW 128 Pro when I tweak it's
configuration :
Start -> Programs -> DivX -> DivX Pro Codec -> Decoder Configuration
-> [x] Overlay Extended Mode .
Fast DivX Players:
1) As I report in my "Downgrade is Upgrade" page ,
Windows Media Player 7.0" is a performance disaster . I recommend to stay
with WMP 6.4 . However sometimes you've already have installed WMP 7 . Moreover
WMP 7 has many nice features and tools that you want to have it . In such case a
good alternative to have both versions is MediaPlayerClassic
. Simple interface with WMP 6.4 , as-fast-as 6.4 with much more tools .
2) Do you want a faster MS Media Player than 6.4 without downloading anything
? . Use the Win9x default
Media Player you already have !. Here it is c:\windows\mplayer.exe . Donwload it here
if you have a later Win version .
Plus: Compared with WMP 6.4 It's a lot smaller (70KB .zip !). Starts playing
instantly . Displays more fps in slower machines .
Minus: More buggy than WMP. If you see many .avi sometimes you have to reboot . Although
it plays mp3 stream inside DivX , cannot play .mp3 files . Generally it's an
abandoned player that plays very few formats . Very few
controls: No Fullscreen , No Shortcuts etc .
3) DivX Player 2.0: This is another fast player you
already have !. It's the player included with DivX 5.x
codec . In past I tried this player but I wasn't satisfied at all . Now the player
included in version 5.02 seems to be pretty fast and stable . Still
lacks of many tools (screen resolution , playrate, playlist ) , but I love it
because of it's unbeatable performance . If you frequently playing with the time
bar (forcing the player to seek a time position) , this is the player you will
love !. Notice: At this early version the player still cannot play
movies when I mux using NanDub . It plays OK only the movies that are audio
encoded internally by Nandub / Virtualdub . Also It's not yet very stable because it hangs my PC
in cases where other players do not .
4) BsPlayer:
This is my favourite one. Free, small & powerful - Highly recommended . Many power tools: Display mode
switch , aspect ratio switch , many key shortcuts , DivX presets , instant
start & instant rescale , playrate control , skins , load audio files , load subtitle files & many
more .
Minus: Does not work with all kinds of hardware . Cannot fully replace your WMP
because can handle few video formats .
BsPlayer 0.86 Troubleshooting & Tips:
- You can make some tweaks for gaining more speed . I observed that BsPlay plays better in my PC (Celleron/900 , ATI AiW 16MB)
when I switch to the following mode :
- Ctrl-P , [x] use overlay: Mode 1 .
- Previous BsPlayer versions (0.83) plays faster when: Right-Click -> Options -> "Use
alternate filter for DivX" (DivX options are not working in this set) .
- During Full Screen if you change the resolution then you change the whole
display mode . For example if you watch a 640 x 480 DivX , it's much better
& faster to view it on a 640 x 480 display mode rather on a 1200 x 1024 mode
. You can also set a default mode from preferences .
- If you installed DirectX 8 (or higher) then you must upgrade to v.0.85 or
greater otherwise you may not play at all . Try to find version 0.85.486 or higher .
- I found some problems when I set up preferences to automatically switch
display mode in full screen . Its better to leave it with "no
change" and switch it manually each time you play video .
- In case you find some other unexpected problems , you can download the debug
version for BsPlayer site . This version creates an extensive .log file that
help a lot .
- To use Dedynamic options you must find & put dedynamic.ax
file under the \filters dir .
- If you want to use something better than dedynamic , there are many cool
WinAmp DSP Limiters . Tomass Limiter is my favourite one but does not always
work with all .avi . I think it face problems with VBR 'mp3 movies . Ypu can use
"SqrSoft Compressor / Limiter 2.0" (dsp_cmpexp.dll) , "Compressor
& Wider" (dsp_compwide.dll) and finally the very good (but not free)
Octimax from Octiv .
- If you find problems enabling Dedynamic or DSP plugins (even
if the bsplay.log reports everything OK) , then check your Preferences ->
Audio -> Output device : It must be the "(Defualt)" ( NOT
"Default Direct Sound Device" or anything similar ) . Probably it's
another bug we have to get used with .
5) Global DivX: Nice player , works pretty fast in some PC's but not in mine ! .
Have serious problem with Windows Large Fonts , so take it into consideration .
Media Players Review:
I moved this topic to a separate page . See my Media
Players Review page .
mini DV -to- DivX
If you want to save your DV camera tapes to DivX then read the
following .
Although Ulead Video/Media Studio can save a video with DivX
codec , they cannot save the wave stream to mp3 . Also VirtualDub cannot load
directly a DV Video .avi file . So use the following steps :
1) Grab the Video with UVS / UMS in 1 only session (or output
your result to 1 file - same format - ) . Also save the audio in a separate .wav
file (don't forget to set "CD Quality") . Save the project &
exit .
2) Use TmpgEnc , load the temporary .avi made during capture , use de-interlace and optionally video range ,
color adjust or crop filters . Use the "Save as..." -> AVI to make
a DivX . Select a DivX codec for video & mp3 codec for audio .
FAQ:
Q: Why have to use Tmpg and not compress a DivX Avi directly from
UVS / UMS ?
A: Because 1) there is not any de-interlace filter there . 2) UVS/UMS cannot
compress .mp3 . 3) TmpgEnc has the most advanced video processing controls (
noise , color balancing etc) needed most of times in amateur videos .
Alternatives:
- By installing & using Avisynth you will be able to access
a DV format .avi from VirtualDub or AviUtil . So - instead of TmpgEnc -
you will be able to use their multi-layer DivX options or their video editing
functions . DON'T forget that before using the following programs you have to
save the audio of your project to a separate .wav file .
1) Avisynth script / AviUtil .
2) Avisynth script / VirtualDub (or NanDub) .
3) The way to WM8: Avisynth script / AviUtil / VFAPI / Wm8 Gui .
DVD -to- DivX
There are so many similar guides out there , that I'm sure you
're wondering why I made this article . The reason is that none of them satisfies
me in terms of simplicity & easy of use .
This paragraph used to be longest and the most complicated one .
But not anymore . FairUse
is the best , easiest , smallest , robust solution today that has no close
competitor . Forget the complexity and the long guides of GordianKnot . I knew
FairUse from 0.24 but it was not a complete solution and had many bugs . From
version 0.32 and later , FairUse became a great stand-alone solution . Version
0.34 is a piece of art . This is not a Front-end GUI like GirdianKnot but a real
small & robust all in one application . Includes Xvid & DivX codecs . So
you need really nothing more installed to begin a DVD conversion . The only disadvantage
I found is that FU must rip itself the DVD with it΄s own ripper . It cannot
read already saved .vob files .
FairUse rulez . Feel free to try it .
Normalizing & Optimising audio:
Most of times , DVD audio volume is very low . Moreover most
normalize utilities are not enough . What we need is something like a
Compressor / Limiter process we use to sound editing applications .
Limiter is in most cases appropriate since everybody do not have a 5x200 Watt
A/V amplifier in his home cinema (or cannot use at full power each time he watch
a movie), moreover we watch most DivX movies in the middle of the day in front
of a typical PC , so we cannot 'feel' the sound dynamics of Hollywood !.
1) BeSweet / BeSweet Gui . The popular way !.
BeSweet is a nice free Ac3-2-mp3 (and Vob-2-mp3) tool with many options .
Can make 1 pass Ac3-2-mp3 process with no
temporary intermediate files . Actually if you request "Normalise
100%" (--maximize) , the program
makes 1 pass more without writing anything at this pass in order to find the
maximum peak level . BesweetGUI combines all related
programs & libraries ( Azid , SSRC , WaveBooster, Lame , Ogg , tooLame etc) using a GUI environment . Besweet
is actually a 1-click timesaving utility making things simple .
I'm not fully satisfied with BeSweet audio normalizing functions . They are too
soft and most of times never reach 100% . WaveBooster as it appears inside
BeSweet has worse efficiency than the standalone product: clips too many times ,
does not have auto switch making things complicated .
BeSweet Tips:
- To BeSweetGui novice users: you don't need to have all the
.exe programs listed (azid.exe , lame.exe , ssrc.exe etc). Just set up all the
parameters , and then push the "BeSweet" button .
- BeSweet Gui cannot handle right all Wavebooster's switches . Prefer to normalize from Azid
tag , than from WaveBooster .
- Set up Lame NOT to downsample (--resample 48) if it uses bitrates 128Kbps or
more .
- Feel free to experiment with Ogg Vorbis . This will be the successor of mp3 .
It's GNU (open source) , it's a bit faster when encoding and the quality is
surprising . The only disadvantage is the compatibility issue ... it's not mp3
!.
2) HeadAc3he . The alternative way .
HeadAc3he is also a nice application trying to make all the above processes . It
is not a GUI It is a real application . It actually makes intermediate files . I
did not . extensively test it .
3) Dvd2Avi .
Recent versions of Dvd2Avi includes such functions . Although
they are not the best , its much more easier to work from there . Since I already use Dvd2Avi , I can set it up a little more to
get the best sound results:
Dvd2Avi:
- Audio -> Normalization .
- Audio -> Dolby Digital -> Dynamic Range Control -> Normal
- Audio Tack Number -> Track 1 (?)
Normalization makes a 2 pass process so needs much more time to
finish. I load the produced wav file into my favourite encoder : Gogo
. In most cases when I use Gogo it takes me
about 40 minutes to encode the whole movie to .mp3 but it saves me 3-5 hours
from Nandub . You can use WinGogo , making a VBR with quality 7-9 . Quality 9
makes 96-112 Kbps files . Quality 7 makes 128-160 Kbps files . WinGogo
automatically adjust to 44.1K in most cases . If the output .mp3 is encoded
lower than 44.1K then check the switch "Already same frequency..." and
re-encode it .
If I want bitrates below 96 Kbps , I have to change to Mono mode .
Although WinGogo has a nice GUI , I cannot use all the command set
available so I prefer to use the pure command line gogo.exe .
c:\Movie1\gogo -b 112 -a -m j -d 44.1 movie1.wav
This command line encode the wave file movie1.wav (produced from
Dvd2Avi) at 112 Kbps ABR mode (it's the newer VBR mode with more anticipating
result) , at Joint-Stereo mode , with a sampling rate of 44.1 KHZ . Notice that
-d switch does NOT yet work with Gogo 3.1x (only with 2.x versions ).
4) The CLI way (Command Line Interface).
Dvd2Avi audio optimisation is the simplest way that most users can do , but not
the best !. What I really prefer today is
totally different:
- a) Setup Dvd2Avi to produce .wav with no any special process (NO normalization ,
dynamic control , resampling ) .
- b) Use BoostCLI to
optimise the .wav
. BoostCLI is not only a normalize utility but also apply audio Limiter
functions. The later version (WaveBooster) includes a nice GUI .
- c) Finally
encode the .wav using a CLI mp3 encoder.
You can also
find a Dvd2Avi CLI version (Dvd2Svcd includes one) so you can make a batch file (.bat) for everything . This is the hard
way but every application here is small, fast & free !. Although it is a 3-pass
process , making a VBR mp3 this way is more than twice faster than encoding the same audio
with VirtualDub without any special process (and using simple mp3 CBR mode) !!.
Unfortunately
I am also not totally satisfied from the limiting process of BoostCLI . In some rare cases I face
continuous clippings and distortions . I 'm still playing
with settings to improve the results .
Check my test
batch files to take an idea ...
5) WinAmp #1 .
WinAmp is a cool way to manipulate your audio since 1) You deal with a familiar
GUI application 2) There are many DSP plugins to choose .
The process does not really normalize, it's only like 1-pass
Limiter , so it's wise to make normalization first from
Dvd2avi .
i) Install Winamp to a separate dir (if you already install it once) . Rename
the new icon something like "WinAmp - Normalize & Encode" .
ii) Install the limiter plugin of your choise . "AudioStocker Pro" &
"RockSteady" plugins are the older compressors / limiters but there
are many freeware alternatives today . "Tomass' Limiter" ,
"Compressor & Wider" , "SqrSoft Compressor / Limiter"
& "TomSteady Audio Filter" are some of the later limiters I
discovered recently .
iii) Install ".mp3
encoder plugin" , or "Boita's mp3 output plugin" . I prefer
the last one because it calls gogo.dll encoder . Notice: The current Boita
version (1.25) works only with the older gogo.dll versions (v.2.6) .
iv) Now load Winamp , Ctrl-P , Dsp-Effect , RockSteady , OK , Output , Boitas mp3
... , Configure ... , OK , OK .
v) Now the next time you drag 'n drop a .wav file to this Winamp you will get a
nice optimised .mp3 . A/V sync is OK (tested) .
6) WinAmp #2 .
Winamp comes with a primitive
.ac3 input plugin but there's another cool free .ac3 plugin for Winamp : Valex's AC3 decoder for Winamp
. Includes nice normalizing / limiting functions so you don't need any
other DSP plugin . So by this way you can take the .ac3 file from your DVD
ripper software and create your .mp3 files . Notice:
you have to move out any existing ac3 plugin (like in_ac3.dll) .
7) GraphEdit .
Using Graphedit can use DirectX plugins , so you can load some professional Compressor / Limiter software
. My favourite commercial Limiter is TC Ness.X . C Limiter is a freeware one . There
are many DirectX limiters out there. You also need LameACM application to use lame
and Valex ac3 decoder if you want an ac3-to-mp3 solution . This way is too complex to set it up for first time . Can't
say it's too practical since you have to edit the graph each time you change input
/ output files . It seems that works OK but haven't test it yet to load directly
.ac3 or resample .mp3 to 44.1 Khz . Haven't test this way extensively yet .
Steps for Wav-2-Mp3 :
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / File Source (Async)
...
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / Wave Parser .
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / TC NEss.X (optional Limiter) .
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / LAME Mpeg Layer III .
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / Dump ...
- Sequentially connect all of them and press "Play" button .
Steps for ac3-2-Mp3 :
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / File Source (Async)
...
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / AC3 Parser Filter .
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / AC3 Filter (Valex's AC3 Filter) .
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / LAME Mpeg Layer III .
- Graph / Insert Filter / Direct Show Filter / Dump ...
- Sequentially connect all of them and press "Play" button .
8) The Professional way .
Using a pro sound editing application for such tasks you obviously put away any doubt if your
result could be better ! . Besides tasks like compressing / limiting are a piece of
cake in such applications . The first software I remember I used for such tasks
was Cool Edit 1.5 - 7 years before - back from the days of Windows 3.1 (you can still use it
thought !) . Nowdays my favourite application is Steinberg Wavelab . Everything
below are exactly the same for both 3.x and 4.x versions of Wavelab
.
- I disable any special audio process from Dvd2Avi . After
making a project I load
the produced .wav to Wavelab .
- If I want to resample I go to Process -> Covert
Sample Rate .
- Then I go to Process -> Normalise .
- Finally I load to Master
section my favourite DirectX Limiter , I preview the result and finally I "Apply" .
- Some cool DX Limiters
I know are:
- TC
Ness X & TC Native Essentials DeX .
- db-audioware db-L & db-D .
- DeDynamic
(freeware) .
- C Limiter (freeware) .
- Waves L1-Ultramaxizer .
- HyperPrism-DX Limiter .
- Sonic Foundry Graphic Dynamics .
(sorted according to my preferences)
- Some multiband Limiters
I know are:
- db-audioware db-M .
- Waves Audiotrack , Waves C4 .
- Some VST Limiters
I know are:
- Spectral Design VST Dynamics .
- mda Dynamics , mda Limiter , mda Multiband (freeware) .
If you don't want to install anything you can use Wavelab's Dynamics
routines (Process -> Dynamics) .
- Although Wavelab can produce .mp3 , I use a CLI encoder
for .mp3 compression . I did not faced async problems so far working both ways .
8b) Speed Tip:
This is the faster way than any other alternative. You can save a lot of time if
you do the following:
- Select whole file (Ctrl-A) , then Level -> Normalize -> Get peak Level (
do not "Apply" yet !) . Remember the level (i.e. -4.4 dB) .
- Go to Master Section and load:
a) Resampler: Use Hi Quality / 44.1 K
b) Leveler: set up to maximize volume to 0 dB (i.e. +4.4 dB)
c) TC NEss.X (or whatever Limiter you prefer) .
- You can preview the result
- Press "Aply" , [x] Whole File , [x] Create New File , [x] Create
specific file ... (you can also make .mp3 file utilising WaveLab FastEnc mp3
engine but the results are not so good below 112 Kbps , and I better prefer at
this stage to have a .wav file rather .mp3) .
8c) Faster ?
The whole process can be further automated if you are familiar
with Batch Process . The sequence should be: Normalise / Resampler / [my Limiter] .
Now
everything is done fully automated .
8e) More Faster ? (!)
There is a tip for a real 1-pass process using "vstDynamics" plugin. However the volume may not be
adequately adjusted and you may face some clippings so I do not recoment this
way .
- Load the .wav file and then load the following plugins:
a) Resampler: Use Hi Quality / 44.1 K
b) vstDynamics: [ ] AutoGate / [x] Auto Level , -40dB / [ ] Compress / [x] SoftClip /
[x] Limit .
- You can preview the result
- Press "Aply" , [x] Whole File , [x] Create New File , [x] Create
specific file ...
How - to:
0) What I really prefer ? . Easy of use rulez ! . BeSweet
is a lifesaving totally free application producing very good results . Start the process and leave the PC alone
. However it cannot be compared with quality & quantity of compression made
by the Pro ways . Enable 'Boost' instead of 'Dynamic Compression' to take higher
levels of compression but you may face some clips (distortion) . My favourite
auto switch (/a) in BoostCLI does not seem to work OK here .
- I setup BeSweet to use 2-pass normalize and then to use
WaveBooster for better audio dynamics . This is my batch:
"c:\Graph\BeSweet\BeSweet.exe" -core( -input %1 -output %1.mp3
-logfile %1.log ) -azid( -s stereo -L -3db --maximize ) -ssrc( --rate 44100 ) -boost( /b2=5 ) -lame( --resample 44.1 --alt-preset 128 )
.
1) Rip the movie (produce .ifo & .vob files). Most rippers
today can also create .ac3 files if you want it .
2) When you work with Dvd2avi , make project without cutting
anything . Include Demux in order to make the .ac3 file or Decode to produce
.wav . If you choose to make .ac3 you have to notice the delay (marked on the
filename or in a .log file) and put it in Nandub , when you mux .avi & .mp3
.
3) Now first encode the sound (using the ways described) . The reason to do it
first is a) If you encode mp3 using ABR or VBR you never know the actual size .
b) You may not be satisfied by the fidelity and want to re-encode it with more
or less compression .
4) While encoding the audio , you can continue to work . Load the movie to
Virtualdub , make all settings needed , calculate the net movie length , make
the subtitles & save the settings , but DO NOT cut anything . Write
down the starting and ending frame of the movie you wish to cut later .
5) Now having the size of sound file , calculate the right bitrate for the video
file .
6) Make the final DivX setings & start making the divx video . Encode full length of movie without
cutting anything . This is done to avoid async problems with subtitles and later
when we mux .avi & .mp3 .
7) Now you have an .avi file with no sound & one mp3 file .
Use Nandub , load both of them , select the range (starting & ending frame), mux .avi & .mp3 and
optionally split CD's & write some title comments .
8) The result must be a bit smaller than the one you calculated . The reason is
that you calculated the full length audio , not the clipped one . Since DivX 5
anticipation is not the best it's better to result with some MB's less rather
than more !.
9) Actually when we talking about mp3 bitrates below 128 Kbps , converting the sampling rate to 44.1K DOES helps
mp3 fidelity and playing performance . However avoid any sound re-sampling with programs you don't know
if they work OK . In past there the need for such process was greater than today
because most cards were playing @ 44.1 Khz . Notice that Lame automatically may changes sampling
rate below 44.1K so put all the appropriate switches to fix it to 44.1 or 48K . WinGogo automatically adjust to 44.1K in most cases .
Once more I repeat that resampling occur in some
cases async problems so do it at your own risk .
10) Virtualdub cannot load mp3 (yet) . Nandub does !. Do not try to use some
wav-mp3 utilities or save directly as wav-mp3 in order to avoid the use of
Nandub . All of my similar tests failed .
11) Keep the .wav file until the end . You may decide to
re-encode the .mp3 file in order to utilize all your CD space . In cases you
finally decide to encode at 160Kbps , there's no need for external mp3 encoders . FHG
codec (directly utilized in Nandub , Virtualdub) is OK at such high bitrates .
It's about 7 times slower than Gogo (!) , but it's more practical because you
encode & mux in 1-pass inside VirtualDub .
12) The easiest way to download most of the above mentioned
utilities is to download some all-in-one applications like Gknot , Dvd2Svcd
e.t.c.
13) Yeah sure ... Dvd Decrypter 3.x is the fastest coolest way
today to rip a DVD . However in some cases ripped garbage video and in some
others did not ripped the subtitles . In these cases I use Dvd Decrypter 2.4 or
SmartRipper 2.x .
14) Always check if the movie ripped OK before returning the DVD !
.
Brief ways for VCD / SVCD .
Today there are many products that integrate SVCD creation .
Keep in mind that most of them have a bad mpeg encoder . So if you want to be
sure for your results stick to the most 2 familiar & well-known encoders .
DVD 2 (S)VCD:
1) FlaskMpeg / CinemaCraft Plugin
2) FlaskMpeg / AviSynth Plugin / TmpgEnc
3) Dvd2Avi / TmpgEnc (no Subtitles)
4) Dvd2Avi / Avisynth / TmpgEnc (+
VobSub)
5) Dvd2Avi / AviUtil / TmpgEnc (+ VobSub)
6) Dvd2Avi / VFAPI / VirtualDub / TmpgEnc (+ VobSub)
7) DVD2SVCD
My choise ? . No doubt , Dvd2Svcd simplifies MUCH this
job . You end up with .cue & .bin files ready for CD burning software .
However you must install separately a Mpeg2 encoder ( TmpgEnc / CinemaCraft /
Canopus Procoder ). Cinemacraft 2.50 SP gave me the best & fastest results .
VHS 2 (S)VCD:
UMS / UVS can directly produce a VCD but it's encoder quality is
awful .
1) UMS (save to .Avi) / TmpgEnc .
2) UMS (w Ulead VideoServer Plugin) / TmpgEnc .
mini DV 2 (S)VCD:
1) UMS (save to .Avi) / TmpgEnc .
2) UMS (save to .Avi) / Avisynth / CinemaCraft (v.2.50) / TmpgEnc .
3) UMS (w Ulead VideoServer Plugin) / TmpgEnc .
Tips:
- Try to find TmpgEnc Plus (instead of standard) . Compared with
prior standard versions, v.2.58 Plus or greater have a new 2-pass VBR
engine , more Wizard templates , encodes SVCD audio using 128 Kbps (instead of
224 giving more space to video), includes a nice bitrate calc on the wizard .
The results for 1200 Kbps 2-pass Mpeg2 VBR are really brilliant and turns over
all my attitudes about bad quality of Mpeg2 (compared with DivX) .
- XVCD means Mpeg2 CD . Not all players support XVCD so your
result may not be compatible with some players . So making a 720x576 XVCD means
you have no loss of your DVD resolution . I found no reason to leave from SVCD
since i) Greater resolution does not always means greater quality , ii) SVCD
takes less time to be produced . On my Celeron / 900 it takes me about 20
hours to make a 2-pass SVCD for 1 hour DVD movie (in "High quality
(slow)" ), so no thanks I'll stick to SVCD's !.
- You can burn (S)VCD's using Nero
. Incudes menu building , slideshow etc .
Adobe Premiere (AP) - vs - Ulead Media Studio (UMS)
Today although Adobe Premiere 6.x is the leading standard of
video editing , I prefer to use it's best alternative: Ulead Media Studio 6.x .
See my reasons:
UMS Advantages:
- is much cheaper . Already included in some DV cards .
- included DV support far before AP did . UMS was for many years the best
solution for DV owners .
- comes with a nice title generator but also directly supports Ulead Cool 3D
(opens .c3d files) ,
which is the coolest title generator ever made .
- Using UMS you make same things much faster .
- have more video grabbing tools , handles grabbing with better performance .
- AP incudes real-time preview only in his latest version 6.5 . UMS support this
for more than 3 years !.
UMS Disadvantages:
- Many 3rd party plugins do not support UMS . For example you cannot use Cinema
Craft with UMS .
- AP includes many useful audio filters (like limiter) . In UMS you have you
search for 3rd party solutions .
- Not all DirectX audio plugins are compatible with UMS . Moreover you may have to uninstall
some of them otherwise UMS does not start at all .
- It's very hard to capture a still image , if you finished with the video
capturing process .
Michael Hondrosmos
First: 09/04/2001
Last: 06/04/2003
