Standalone player wont play certain AVI's

I do less avi encoding these days, as my standalone DVD player will play DivX and Xvid. So I can just burn these on to disc and away we go!

However, there are certain avi's that my player just wont entertain and spit them out....??

Info from GSpot identifies these troublesom files as 'Xvid ISO MPeg4' they just wont play...??

I've tried using VDubmod to re-encode but that too throws up errors and I'm not sure of what settings to use.

How can I re-encode them so they're more compatible? Anyone else have this trouble?

Than***
 
Hi :)

What kind of errors does vdm give you?

Id suggest avinaptic for info instead of gspot, much cleaner display, gives more info and are constantly updated.

ISO Xvid mpeg4 just tells us that its an xvid file and that its compliant to the mpeg4 international standards.

Are these avis anime?
If they are, my first bet would be its qpel related, possibly gmc.
Gspot, mediainfo and avinaptic all give info on the advanced xvid features.
Not sure about older gspot versions though, but if they show qpel or gmc or both to be active then that may be it, strange that vdm should react to it though so there might be more to it.

Isnt there some specs to be found on the chip in your player as to advanced xvid features support(and if custom matrices are supported)? Would narrow the reason search some.

Cant really say that i have the same problems as i dont know whats wrong yet :) but i reencode anime avis and general avi audio streams quite often to get rid of qpel, gmc, stutters, freezing, audio sync etc. So in general yes your not the only one. But as new chipsets come out these problems should diminish some.
For reencoding avis i tend to use automkv and the avi2avi profile i gave you or megui with pretty much the same profile, if you recall its basicly a profile with most of the compression enhancing features turned off.

If its not qpel or gmc related id venture a guess that these avis may have been tagged with the "wrong" fourcc. Ie.divx(4) when it should be xvid(for the player to utilize/recognize some of xvids more advances features) or divx5(same reason).
To find out you can use avi fourcc changer, just make sure you backup the avi before changing the fourcc.

Lets check these things first and get back to settings later.

:)

oh and if none of this gives any result, cut out a small clip with vdm, up it somewhere and ill check it out.
 
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Hello again you :)

Well, I've been trying to get to the bottom of this and i think I've finally found the answer.

I had three offending films (not anime) that would not play. My standalone would say "file format not supported".
So I made a short clip from each using VDubmod and re-coded these with AutoMKV. I burned the 3 original short clips and the new encoded clips onto DVD-RW and played back for testing.....

It was strange that all 6 clips played OK, unusually the original 3...??

The reason for this, I believe was down to improper audio VBR with the original full length avi's. The Clips were resaved by rewriting the header to a CBR......DOH!!

So, it pays to check this with avinaptic before burning my avi's on to disc in future. Gspot will also tell me this info. However, a file which was resaved with CBR audio, still showed it as VBR, so not that reliable!

Did notice though by rewriting the headed in vdm, video and audio are out of sync. So will need to demux and re-code the audio anyway!

x x x Thank you x x x
 
Nice :)
Yes a full reencode would be called for, and usually some syncing when done.
I still cant for the life of me see why a few bytes saved would justify all the playback problems vbr entail.

While on the topic, have you tried ac3 128 instead of mp3 all together?, i find it to be more dynamic for movie audio than mp3, been my codec of choice for a while when reencoding is inevitable.

:)
 
:)

Usually for me, mp3 to AC3 would mean two processes... Mp3 to wav using GoldWav, then Wav to AC3 using Sonic Soft Encode. I only do this for DVD conversion if need be, otherwise DVD2SVCD will do the conversion.

I'm content with sticking 6 or so AVI's onto a disc, its simple, short and sweet.....a bit like me really :D.

Recently downloaded another H.264. This time high resolution (960x400).
So at the moment i'm toying with with an avi conversion with AutoMKV.
This time the audio is AC3, so I've not the same dilema as before.
Should the AVI be of the same size as the original H.264? I want to retain the HD quality!

Than x
 
Mp3 to wav with dbpoweramp, wav to ac3 with soundforge is my route.
or same as you dvd2svcd

;)

To retain quality id do no resizing only cropping if called for. As to final file size im not sure really(unless you ment size as in display size), suggest you try different target sizes/bitrate and see what you are content with, so far i havent had the need to delve into h264 much so its still a mental wasteland with me :)
I guess to achieve the highest quality possible though some custom matrix is necessary besides two pass and good settings, and perhaps use mpeg quantizer instead of h264 quantizer since you propably are going to use a rather high bitrate.
Heres an ok xvid options faq if you feel like a read.
http://www.gromkov.com/faq/conversion/xvid_options.html
Other than that i guess a search over at doom9s or videohelp forum could give some pointers :)
 
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Hi :)

Having no luck with the MKV/H.246 conversion to avi.
I've tried AutoMKV and also MediaCoder.

I guess it doesn't like the HD resolution or maybe the file size (3.83GB)..?
AutMKV just says that it's transcoding, but nothing is actually happening (time is not elapsing). Again, from past experience, I've tried renaming the very long file name but to no avail.
....Perhaps my settings weren't quite right? In AutoMKV, I set the 'Disc Settings' as 1 DVD-R with the avi profile set to avi2avi.xml.
As my previous post, I'd like to retain the HD aspect and anticipate a conversion file size around that of the original H.264.

Other methods/progs to convert, ie MediaCoder require a bitrate setting. This is where I'm a little lost and unsure what to enter here to retain quality
to match/or come close to the original.

:)
 
Sounds like its still normalizing audio, from what ive gathered in the automkv thread at doom9s theres quite a few people aborting encoding due to the long wait (with no valuable info displayed). Perhaps let it work for some time to see what happens? If you switch to the log tab are there any pointer as to whats going on?

To me your settings seem fine and the size shouldnt be a problem unless your filesystem is fat32 (but since your already toying with files close to 4 gigs that seems rather unlikely) or your running out of hdd space.
One thing though make sure you try using directshow source for both audio and video, think i gave you a screenshot of the directshow source settings?
But ill happily provide if needed.

To find out if the display size is xvid compliant you can use the manual crop and resize in the advanced settings.
Choose the original entrie in the width resolution dropdown menu in the basic settings, check the manual crop and resize checkbox in the advanced settings, notice the values are displayed in the specify width/height boxes then hit the check values button.
Or simply divide both width and height with 16
from the xvid faq
-Using non-mod16 resolutions: encoding clips to resolutions of which both width and height are not a multiple of 16 is considered a no-no and is not compliant. It is quite possible to do mod-4 resolutions with many builds (don't ask me how) but is not vey good for compressibility. The smallest MPEG-4 building block is not the 8x8 blocks but the 16x16 macroblocks, and using lower-than-mod16 resolutions will make the codec use macroblocks 'outside' the frame border....which is 'A Bad Thing'(tm).
However the 960x400 is ok afaict so thats more for future reference :) But on a side note, does your player support that high of a mpeg4 resolution.

To find out what bitrate you should use id go with a bitrate calculator
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
or perhaps one of these
http://www.digital-digest.com/softwa...tegory-22.html
Dont use one too often so i cant really point one specific out, the last one i used supports filesize up to 2.1 gigs so thats of no use.

:)
 
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Emma, I would doubt that your dvd player will support playing the 960x400 file. All divx/dvd players that I'm aware of only support max size of 720x576. Why not simply re-encode to DVD keeping the original AC3 audio, that will really be your best option or simply re-encode it to a 720x300 avi. VirtualDUBMod can do this using the Resize filter added. To do cropping will simply cut to much off in my opinion.

Also, any avi above 2gb is not within original AVI specs, so dont expect your dvd/avi player to play them even if you do re-encode down to a smaller size or crop them.

Best of luck with this one :)
 
errr...true about avi size, sorry about that Emma completely slipped my mind :)

Although it really shouldnt affect the encoding process.
 
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Hi thanx for your replies :)

Yes, I know the resolution isn't compliable for my standalone. I kinda drifted off the original thread, sorry!
It was established that VBR audio was the cause for my standalone not to play the unsupported format.

Re- HD video, I have a PC media center conected to my HD LCD TV and wanted to take advantage of the HD format. However, I cannot play back this format, so was hoping to convert to AVI.

Re- AutoMKV I'll try again with DSS enabled for both video and audio.
As for other settings, I load in the MKV file and the extracted AC3 file.
In basic settings I have original set for both audio and video.

I'll let you know how this works out.


Thanx for your valued time.

x x x
 
This is the AutoMKV log and as far as it gets....




13:50:28 0.90 - - - - - - - - - - - - - START JOBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13:50:28 Selected Input file: F:\MKV\Blade Runner -Director's Cut{H.264(960x400).mkv
13:50:28 Selected Output dir: F:\MKV\temp\
13:50:28 Selected Final Name: Blade Runner -Director's Cut{H.264(960x400)
13:50:28 Selected Container type: AVI
13:50:28 Selected Encoder: XviD
13:50:28 Selected Size: 1 DVD-R / 1
13:50:28 Selected Profile: avi2avi.xml
13:50:28 Selected Resizer: NONE / Original
13:50:28 Selected Filters: NONE
13:50:28 Selected Deinterlacer: AUTO
13:50:28 Selected Field Order: AUTO
13:50:28 NeroAACEnc.exe: not present
13:50:28 Enabled CRF/CQ AutoRes at 2.5 value
13:50:28 Track Language 1: F:\MKV\Blade Runner -Track3.ac3
13:50:28 Audio Codec 1: Copy Original
13:50:28 Audio Quality 1: 112
13:50:28 Audio Channel 1: Stereo
13:50:28 Enabled Use DirectShowSource for VIDEO
13:50:28 Enabled Use DirectShowSource for AUDIO
13:50:28 Advanced Audio Settings DUMP Track 1
13:50:28 Nero Option Profiles: AUTO --- Encoding Mode: Quality
13:50:28 CCT Option Profiles: AUTO --- Channel Options: AUTO
13:50:28 Lame Settings: ABR
13:50:28 Audio Normalization: 1
13:50:28 Frequency: AUTO --- Tempo: NONE --- Pitch: NONE --- Other Add:
13:50:28 Advanced Audio Settings DUMP Track 2
13:50:28 Nero Option Profiles: AUTO --- Encoding Mode: Quality
13:50:28 CCT Option Profiles: AUTO --- Channel Options: AUTO
13:50:28 Lame Settings: ABR
13:50:28 Audio Normalization: 1
13:50:28 Frequency: AUTO --- Tempo: NONE --- Pitch: NONE --- Other Add:
13:50:28
 
Sounds like a great setup you have there, no wonder youd want to keep the hd res :)

Edit:Seems theres muxed in subs? (if im on the right "track";)) perhaps demux the video stream and load that along with the demuxed ac3.
Muxed/container/incorporated subs is something i dont think automkv is smart enough to handle, i do believe it needs separate "clean" streams to encode proper. Gonna take me a while, but ill see what i can find out.
:)
 
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Okidoki, think i have something for you :cool:

The video stream is afaict H.264/AVC1/MPEG-4 Part 10 Main@L4.1 Profile (HDTV/Blu-ray/HD DVD compatible)
And my file has 2 audio tracks and some subs streams present (but not showing during playback, i can extract them though)
Atm automkv afaik with its internal/bundled filters/demuxers cant handle contained subs or avc1(high profiles) proper.
It shows fex, one audio stream though there are two.
If this is because the mkv container allows for custom stream info and thus feeds un precise info to automkv i dont know but seems plausible.
It did react much better to my remuxed mkv, i didnt let it finish but the output looked ok.
I also did get it to encode the H.264 stream only using ffmpegsource instead of directshowsource but it cant determine the fps or total playing time.

Automkv is unfortunately currently not very stable imo(and i havent bothered keeping track of good releases).
Fex. the auto deinterlacer check crashes too often, theres the preview/crop memory leak, hybrid interlacing is not well supported
and lately all my avi2avi encodes are horribly blocky and/or suffer from colour distortion and jitters(no matter the profile).
Keeping it updated is a hit and miss, and since most of its followers seem to be wmv, ipod or ps3 encoders, the main development focus is atm mainly on those parts and profiles.

So for now im using megui. Its getting close to a stable release and the latest build seems very good.
In fact i believe megui is superior in almost every way and the only reason ive used/recomended automkv is the easy setup and that it sometimes retains sync better that anything else i know of when doing certain "difficult" (dvd) sources, oh yes..and it does take movs and other strange animals which is definitely a pluss.

Heres my suggestion:

Get the latest matroska splitter http://x264.nl/(megui too) and (i used)coreavc v1.5 (or later).
I believe H.264/avc1 demuxing and decoding also are supported in cyberlinks h.264 codec package, and propably some others too.
I stopped searching when i found something that works.
Other than that i used MediaPlayerClassic Home Cinema Edition(turning off the internal matroska splitter)
http://tibrium.neuf.fr/ and ac3 filter

If you still cant play the original mkv on the media pc, heres the remuxing and encoding steps:

To demux the streams:
MKVextractGUI
To remux the ac3 and the H.264 streams in a "clean" mkv:
MKVMergeGUI
Make sure you enter the appropriate fps for the video stream.
If you use mediainfo the original mkv fps will propably be reported differently than what youd get if you play the H.264 stream and look at its properties.
For megui to do the best job possible id go with the stream info not the mkv info
(if we have the same source mkv will show 25.00 and the stream will show 27.03)
This way all the streams info needed for megui to encode proper are in place.

Set megui to autoupdate from the development servers (settings | extra config) and let it update.
While youre in settings choose 2 passes in the automated encoding box, make sure the overwrite stats file in 2pass mode is checked,
and uncheck the "open preview after avisynth script selection" so the encode wont be slowed down by the preview.
Set codec to xvid and format to avi, the save path can be changed later or it will automaticly be set to the same place you save the avs.
Dont bother with the audio for now you can mux it when megui is done.
Start the avisynth script creator(tools menu), load the file, set source to progressive(or do an analyze, i do believe your source is progressive though), make sure its not resizing(resizing is always activated by default) and save the avs.
Make sure the desired profile is chosen in the video profile dropdown menu.
Start the bitrate calc(tools menu), input what you want and close. Its important because the bitrate from the calc will be automaticly loaded in the video profile.
Enqueue and encode. You will propably get a worker thread q, let it make one for you and it should be good to go
Remux the encoded avi with the ac3 and your done.

I did a full encode with the above filters and steps, came out beautifully.

Megui also has some muxers/demuxers in the tools menu, but the one ive mentioned i know for sure works so id stick with them for now.
Nothing wrong with experimenting though.

Of course you can try the remuxed mkv in automkv instead of megui,
As alwyas with different systems and configurations your milage may vary in either directions :)

Ill pm you with some megui profiles, and some other info.

And... as always:) dont hesitate to ask if you want some assistance with megui or anything else!

:)
 
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My goodness, you have been a busy bee :)


This looks like a task for a quiet afternoon, cuppa at hand and children free!!
Will look forward to that time to gain better results as i'm aquiring more MKV high resolution video now.

Playback is successful using VLC Media player, in fact it's my chosen media player now and the quality on my wall mounted LCD is impressive!

Also discovered AVIMux_gui which will strip out unecessary foreign subs and audio track and will remux back to MKV.
A useful program to have for checking sync issues before encoding to DVD.

Anyways, will report back with my efforts and a big big thank you for your effort and time to put this together.

You're a star :)

Em x x x
 
Bzzzzzzzz :D

Not really busy, just hyper lol jk, encoding is what takes the most time :)

Vlc with all its supported decoding is great, but when directshow codecs come into play(in conversion) youll need a proper codec.

Avimux gui is excellent, its one of the muxers now bundeled with megui.
Im wondering about the h.264 stream info(fps etc) though.
But youll find out when you get there.

Looking foreward to it.

Thanks :)
 
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In case you were wondering I'm still here :) sorry for my delay in replying!

I've got as far as loading the file into the 'avisynth script creator', or rather the file wouldn't load in my case. The message being: Unable to render the file, you probably dont have the correct filters installed.

Not sure what i've missed here, MeGUI was updated. Also every option is greyed out on the filers tab!


Emx
 
:)

Did you install Haali splitter(matroska splitter), Coreavc and Ac3filter.
You could use graphedit to check whats missing(file menu|render media file)

Can you elaborate on the greyed out options filters? tab.

Are you aiming to convert the original mkv or a "clean" muxed one, i would honestly advice to remux a clean one without subs and the spanish audio.
I did try to strip streams with avimux_gui but the resulting mkv had the original stream info intact so either im doing it wrong or its not able to strip proper, id suggest follow the muxing steps in post #14, a bit more cumbersome but a sure bet :)
 
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:)
Coreavc and Ac3filter instaled.

Used MKVExtractGUI to strip h.264 and ac3 and remuxed clean MKV as you suggested with MKVMergeGUI.

Attempted to render file using graphedit and got error message:
Could not construct a graph for this fille. Have you installed all the necessary filters? The format is not supported.

File plays back fine with VLC Media player.

Will this time use Haali splitter and remux again. I'll report back.

Em x x x
 
???

Still not having much luck :(

Installed Haali Media splitter and used DSMux to extract video and audio, creating a new MKV file.

When loaded into AVISynth Script I received the error "Directshowsource cant determine the frame rate, use the FPS parameter"

Not sure what to do at this point?
 
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