meguIV: The Official Akiba-Online DVD Encoder (v1.0.1.1)

[Princess-nuzzle-me]

Doh, had the pizza and beer on order, but x264.exe crashed half way through the third stage. Now trying another shorter file, but not sure if this IMBD is worth it: its one of those too-white ones.

Some observations (running a core i7 on a 17.3 GB m2ts file)
* It refused to work on files dragged and dropped from the C drive (the output path was not set up automatically, and MeGUI said it could not write to this drive. Maybe this is a win7 setting that needs changing on my PC)
* Information on the lower line could be extended, e.g.
STAGE 1 of 3: Encoding to a temporary file (this took around 3.5 hours)
STAGE 2 of 3: Creating FFMS index (this stage took around 2.5 hours with very little CPU usage, maybe it could be speeded up by getting much more data in each file read)
STAGE 3 of 3: Creating output file (this was going to be around 11 hours, 5.6 GB output file, but crashed after 5 hours)

 

[Vitreous]

x264 crashing is strange - that's very robust software. I wonder if your rig is stable....
Also the second and third pass speeds you got were terrible. Normally the FFMS pass is only a few minutes and the third pass faster than the first. Something odd about that.
I do dislike the FFMS indexing. Nothing to do with me and far too slow, whether minutes or hours. I have been able to bypass that stage for the next version.

 

[isityours]

snakeboy mentioned that he had some problems getting meguIVit started and running which was solved by opening meguIV original once and then using the meguIVit folder. he couldnt explain why but it might be worth trying.
personally, i couldnt get either meguIV or meguIVit to run on an external drive and use it on one of my internal drives. you could take the drive out of its enclosure and try mounting it internally (assuming you have a custom computer).

 

[Vitreous]

snakeboy mentioned that he had some problems getting meguIVit started and running which was solved by opening meguIV original once and then using the meguIVit folder. he couldnt explain why but it might be worth trying.

That's been done in the beta4 update. In any case I don't think the problem is with starting MeguIVit.

personally, i couldnt get either meguIV or meguIVit to run on an external drive and use it on one of my internal drives. you could take the drive out of its enclosure and try mounting it internally (assuming you have a custom computer).

Strange, I get no such problem. I suspect the packaging system of MeguIV is causing the problems, it has some strange side-effects.

 

[Princess-nuzzle-me]

My MeguIVit beta 4 (one click option) conclusions:

*Great software, would pay money for it.
*Had 2 random crashes on big tasks, one in x264.exe and one in mencoder.exe, possibly a problem with my new PC/win7-64bit.
*No problems so far with shorter tasks, such as DVD chapters and blu-ray bonus movies.
*DVD chapter ripping goes at about half real-time on a core i7 (10 minute chapter takes 20 minutes)
*Big replay quality improvement on several DVD chapters after ripping, relative to VLC replay of original ISO with Yadif de-interlacing (but VLC interpolation algorithms are not the best, though I always use it due its slow motion capability)

I hope soon to return to watching the girls, not the interpolation errors.

 

[Vitreous]

Glad it's working for you. I can't take all the credit for MeguIVit, it is of course based on the MeGUI software, which I have (extensively) altered and added my QuickTGMC deinterlacer.

Apart from me, you're the first person (who has posted here) to have tried it for blu-rays. It does still need some tweaking in that area to suit machines of different power. Were those blu-ray bonus movies full 1080p 60fps?

As I said earlier, your x264 crash is suspicious - I've never seen or heard of x264 crashing when there's a lossless pre-pass. Does your rig have an OC? Is the PSU good? Good cooling? MeguIVit is a major stress for your system (harddrives + CPU).

 

[Princess-nuzzle-me]

Glad it's working for you. I can't take all the credit for MeguIVit, it is of course based on the MeGUI software, which I have (extensively) altered and added my QuickTGMC deinterlacer.

Apart from me, you're the first person (who has posted here) to have tried it for blu-rays. It does still need some tweaking in that area to suit machines of different power. Were those blu-ray bonus movies full 1080p 60fps?

As I said earlier, your x264 crash is suspicious - I've never seen or heard of x264 crashing when there's a lossless pre-pass. Does your rig have an OC? Is the PSU good? Good cooling? MeguIVit is a major stress for your system (harddrives + CPU).

The blu-ray bonus movie was indeed 1080p 60fps, size around 1.6 GB, which took around 1-2 hours. Rip quality as good as the original, and of course a much smaller size.

Recently had a one-click problem with a candydoll wmv, which started at 640x480 30fps (100 MB), but ended up at 640x360 60fps (50 MB), and nowhere near as good as some 60fps versions posted here before the rule change.

My machine is an HP laptop, maybe overheating as the fan goes full on during encoding, with all 8 cores at 90%, not what is was probably designed to do.

 

[Vitreous]

The Candydoll vid going to 360p is by design - it's auto cropping the black borders. You can switch off auto-crop in the "Advanced Config" tab.
However, it's better to leave it checked. What you really need to do is increase the quality when you know something is going to 360p. Lower resolution vids need much higher quality because you're going to zoom them so much. Because MeguIVit selects quality settings before the crop it selects 480p quality.

For black-bordered CandyDoll I suggest:
- After dragging in your to-be-cropped video, go to the "Encoder Config" tab
- Drop down the "Video Profile" list and select 360p 60fps Quality+1
- Now go to the "Custom Processing" tab
- Select Preset "Slower" near the top
- Set "Source Match" to 2
- Check "Boost"
- Increase Noise Processing "Remove / Retain" to 0.5 (not -0.5)
- Increase "Sharpness" to 0.3

You may, or may not, need to check "Switch Parity" on the "Advanced Config" tab. Do it if the result is strangely jumpy. Seems to differ by video.

All that will be slower to process, but CandyDoll vids are short. Vids without black borders may not need such lavish processing.

 

[hehazone]

Trying to rip a MKV (Made using MakeMKV) and have the following error:

-[Error] Unhandled error
--[Information] [2012/2/20 03:34:16] Exception message:
--[Information] [2012/2/20 03:34:16] Stacktrace
---[NoImage] MeGUI.OneClickWindow.goButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
---[NoImage] System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
--[Information] [2012/2/20 03:34:16] Inner exception: null

Any idea?

Thanks in advance

 

[Vitreous]

Are you asking about MeguIV or my MeguIVit modification?
Is it only this particular video that gives you problems? Have you ripped anything successfully with it?

 

[hehazone]

Are you asking about MeguIV or my MeguIVit modification?
Is it only this particular video that gives you problems? Have you ripped anything successfully with it?

Of cus I am using your MeguIVit modification Beta 4.
I tried a DVD ISO folder today and it works fine
Weird I will try another MKV file and get back to you later.

 

[hehazone]

Just tried another MKV file... Doesn't work Same error as above...
Maybe I should just stick with DVD Folder...

 

[Vitreous]

I've identified the problem. The audio information from MKVs is not being parsed correctly. The only workaround for now:
- Select your MKV in One-Click
- Change Audio Track 1 (and 2) to "None"
- Press "Go" to create a silent rip.
- Demux the audio from your original MKV (use MKVCleaver) and mux it in to your final rip (MKVMerge or MP4Box)

Although I could fix this problem quite easily, it's not possible at the moment because my source repository is currently unavailable and I only have the very latest in-progress code.

 

[hehazone]

I've identified the problem. The audio information from MKVs is not being parsed correctly. The only workaround for now:
- Select your MKV in One-Click
- Change Audio Track 1 (and 2) to "None"
- Press "Go" to create a silent rip.
- Demux the audio from your original MKV (use MKVCleaver) and mux it in to your final rip (MKVMerge or MP4Box)

Although I could fix this problem quite easily, it's not possible at the moment because my source repository is currently unavailable and I only have the very latest in-progress code.

Thanks for your details answer! But since I have no trouble for DVD Folder at all I guess I will just stick with it until there is some messy protection again...

Btw, can I know what profile you use to do your dvdrips? (You know, people like me have difficulties on choosing things... especially when they are all the best things...)

 

[isityours]

Thanks for your details answer! But since I have no trouble for DVD Folder at all I guess I will just stick with it until there is some messy protection again...

Btw, can I know what profile you use to do your dvdrips? (You know, people like me have difficulties on choosing things... especially when they are all the best things...)

im not sure if vit uses the same 'one-click' solution we do.....

i find the default settings good and choose to use Deinterlace: Slower, x.264: Quality+1/Quality+1 (Detail).

for real favourites i will use Quality+2/Quality+2 (Detail) for the second pass.

 

[Vitreous]

isityours is correct, I don't use One-Click settings because I am always testing something new...

However, my favorite settings are:
DVD
"Custom Processing" tab:
- Preset = Slower
- Source Match = 2
- Boost = Checked
- Sharpness = 0.2 or 0.3
- Noise Processing: Retain = +0.0 to +0.6 (higher for cleaner vids)
- Smoothing = 1 for clean vids, 2 for noisy or badly compressed vids
Plus I always tweak the levels, but in a way that isn't available in MeguIVit

x264: I use presets unavailable in MeguIVit, CRF of 19.2 to 19.5 and a hybrid of Quality+1 and Quality+3 other settings

Edit: You may need the files in the attached zip to enable the Noise Processing settings. Instructions inside.

Blu-ray
"Custom Processing" tab:
- Preset = Medium
- Source Match = 1
- Boost = Unchecked
- Sharpness = 0.2 to 0.4
- Noise Processing: Left at 0.0
- Smoothing = 1 or 2
And levels tweaking

I often do a second pass of 16-bit processing on blu-rays (ordered dither via a 16-bit smooth). Even though that makes things very much slower it helps greatly with the compression and guards against blocking. Not possible in MeguIVit sadly.

x264: Again I don't use a MeguIVit setting. I vary CRF depending on the title. However, I have recently moved to higher compression rates because the extra resolution, 60fps rate and high quality processing allows that without major visible effect. Roughly, for 720p: x264 preset "Slower" + CRF 22, for 1080p CRF 23.5. Run MediaInfo on my rips to see the exact settings.

___

Not in reply, here are couple of things I've been meaning to write for a while:

Note on [Detail] and [Smooth] x264 presets

I named [Detail] very badly. [Detail] really ensures that subtle detail is treated with the same attention as obvious detail. That suits IV material - with indoor scenes (plain walls) and plenty of close-ups of skin and clothing! So [Detail] might be better called [Indoor], it deals well with clean, typically indoor scenes.
The default setting (neither Detail nor Smooth) is better suited for more busy vids, typically those with outdoor scenes or a lot of motion.
[Smooth] does what it says and smooths subtle detail, focusing bitrate on key details. It's good for compressing indoor scenes without losing anything important.

___

On CRF

Quite a while ago I noted something had changed in x264 regarding CRF settings. We used to use different CRFs for 30fps and 60fps: the idea was that because 60fps has more frames, each frame can be of lower quality to get the same overall impression.
Well the x264 team agree and they changed to frame-rate aware CRF quite some time ago (last year). I didn't notice when I put together the MeguIVit presets. So properly the CRF for 30 and 60fps should be the same for equivalent quality.

Rollyco originally set upon 19.5 as the default HQ setting (at 30fps) and that setting has stood the test of time. However, the changes to x264 were based on a 25fps frame rate, so the new equivalent CRF is about 19.2. And because of the frame-rate aware x264, that's the CRF you should use for 60fps too.

A while ago I suggested to use Quality+1 because I was suspicious about some change, just hadn't noticed exactly what it was. Quality+1 is roughly the correct advice.

~

All that applies to 480p, but CRFs still need to change for different resolutions. Higher values for higher resolutions (e.g. my suggestions above).

In fact I'm beginning to realize that by using HQ processing and high CRFs with good settings, HD resolutions do not necessarily have to have a much greater file size. As long as you play to the strengths of x264 (temporal consistency, low noise), I can roughly get 1 hour of 720p 60fps in 1.0-1.2Gb, but it's at least 700-800Mb/hr for a similar 480p, often more. Surprisingly close given there are 2.66 * the pixels in 720p. That's because the higher resolution 720p hides minor encoding issues, and the low resolution 480p will be upscaled more so it needs to be more precise to look good... That's all a bit similar to the observation that 10-bit encodes are smaller than 8-bit encodes (we don't see 10-bit encodes much here - I've made a few but didn't post because many people would have playback problems)

 

[SamKook]

That's all a bit similar to the observation that 10-bit encodes are smaller than 8-bit encodes (we don't see 10-bit encodes much here - I've made a few but didn't post because many people would have playback problems)

About 10 bits encode, I've posted a few and people adapted to them surprisingly well.

I also made a tutorial(in my sig) to tell them how to update their playback solution since I expected a lot of questions about why it doesn't work, but there were only a few that asked and pointing the tutorial to them fixed their problem.

 

[Vitreous]

About 10 bits encode, I've posted a few and people adapted to them surprisingly well.

Thanks for that tutorial, would you mind if I link to it...?

I couldn't make up my mind how to use 10bit. The same CRF gives roughly the same filesize but with increased quality. Couldn't decide if I should increase the CRF to get the same quality at a smaller size or go for a slight quality increase and a slight filesize reduction... Choices, choices...

 

[SamKook]

Thanks for that tutorial, would you mind if I link to it...?

Not at all, the more people it help the better.

For me, I just can't bring myself to lower the quality. I probably should compromise somewhere though since the gain is so little at that point.

 

[hehazone]

isityours is correct, I don't use One-Click settings because I am always testing something new...

However, my favorite settings are:
DVD
"Custom Processing" tab:
- Preset = Slower
- Source Match = 2
- Boost = Checked
- Sharpness = 0.2 or 0.3
- Noise Processing: Retain = +0.0 to +0.6 (higher for cleaner vids)
- Smoothing = 1 for clean vids, 2 for noisy or badly compressed vids
Plus I always tweak the levels, but in a way that isn't available in MeguIVit

x264: I use presets unavailable in MeguIVit, CRF of 19.2 to 19.5 and a hybrid of Quality+1 and Quality+3 other settings

Blu-ray
"Custom Processing" tab:
- Preset = Medium
- Source Match = 1
- Boost = Unchecked
- Sharpness = 0.2 to 0.4
- Noise Processing: Left at 0.0
- Smoothing = 1 or 2
And levels tweaking

I often do a second pass of 16-bit processing on blu-rays (ordered dither via a 16-bit smooth). Even though that makes things very much slower it helps greatly with the compression and guards against blocking. Not possible in MeguIVit sadly.

x264: Again I don't use a MeguIVit setting. I vary CRF depending on the title. However, I have recently moved to higher compression rates because the extra resolution, 60fps rate and high quality processing allows that without major visible effect. Roughly, for 720p: x264 preset "Slower" + CRF 22, for 1080p CRF 23.5. Run MediaInfo on my rips to see the exact settings.

___

Not in reply, here are couple of things I've been meaning to write for a while:

Note on [Detail] and [Smooth] x264 presets

I named [Detail] very badly. [Detail] really ensures that subtle detail is treated with the same attention as obvious detail. That suits IV material - with indoor scenes (plain walls) and plenty of close-ups of skin and clothing! So [Detail] might be better called [Indoor], it deals well with clean, typically indoor scenes.
The default setting (neither Detail nor Smooth) is better suited for more busy vids, typically those with outdoor scenes or a lot of motion.
[Smooth] does what it says and smooths subtle detail, focusing bitrate on key details. It's good for compressing indoor scenes without losing anything important.

___

On CRF

Quite a while ago I noted something had changed in x264 regarding CRF settings. We used to use different CRFs for 30fps and 60fps: the idea was that because 60fps has more frames, each frame can be of lower quality to get the same overall impression.
Well the x264 team agree and they changed to frame-rate aware CRF quite some time ago (last year). I didn't notice when I put together the MeguIVit presets. So properly the CRF for 30 and 60fps should be the same for equivalent quality.

Rollyco originally set upon 19.5 as the default HQ setting (at 30fps) and that setting has stood the test of time. However, the changes to x264 were based on a 25fps frame rate, so the new equivalent CRF is about 19.2. And because of the frame-rate aware x264, that's the CRF you should use for 60fps too.

A while ago I suggested to use Quality+1 because I was suspicious about some change, just hadn't noticed exactly what it was. Quality+1 is roughly the correct advice.

~

All that applies to 480p, but CRFs still need to change for different resolutions. Higher values for higher resolutions (e.g. my suggestions above).

In fact I'm beginning to realize that by using HQ processing and high CRFs with good settings, HD resolutions do not necessarily have to have a much greater file size. As long as you play to the strengths of x264 (temporal consistency, low noise), I can roughly get 1 hour of 720p 60fps in 1.0-1.2Gb, but it's at least 700-800Mb/hr for a similar 480p, often more. Surprisingly close given there are 2.66 * the pixels in 720p. That's because the higher resolution 720p hides minor encoding issues, and the low resolution 480p will be upscaled more so it needs to be more precise to look good... That's all a bit similar to the observation that 10-bit encodes are smaller than 8-bit encodes (we don't see 10-bit encodes much here - I've made a few but didn't post because many people would have playback problems)

Thanks for the details reply... This is very helpful Maybe I should try that when I am free... But easiest way would be grabbing your RIPs