syncman, I've been playing around with encoding that same scene and I can't get a good encode of it either. I've pushed all of the quality sliders to the right. "Video Quality" on the video tab is 100 (+picture quality) and "Performance" on the other tab is pegged at +picture quality. Using VBR average/peak, even with a peak of 8000 Kbps, still does not produce a good result.

In the output WMV file, the problem starts with the video snow just before the ROV feed shows up. There are artifacts in the snow -- macroblocking maybe? -- it's hard to tell with snow, but it is not as clear as the original. Then, when the scene switches to the video feed from the ROV, it looks to me like it's missing an I-frame so I just see difference frames (like the cap you posted in #176). It takes about 4 secs for this to clear up, then the ROV feed comes back into sharp focus almost as if a new I-frame came along to fix the video stream.

I don't know whether the problem is with TMPGenc or with the WMV 9 Adv codec, but something is definitely wrong. My guess is that the motion detection in TMPGenc is the problem. It should detect the complexity of this scene and allocate more bandwidth, use more I-frames, and shorten the GOP length.

So, my hard drive crashed and now I am up and running again - this seems like a stupid question, but in the Format tab my only options are Windows Media Video V7, V8, and 9, but not 9 advanced profile. I have the latest WMP 11 and have no idea why tmpgenc isn't finding it.

Hi there,

I've been looking through your document and I have to admit it's incredibly thorough.

I went out a bought CoreAVC Pro and TMPGEnc Xpress but am having a similar problem to someone else in the thread.

Here's what I'm using:

Latest Haali Media Splitter
TMPGEnc 4.4.2.238
YAMB
CoreAVC Professional 1.6.5.0
XP Professional SP2

Here's the problem. I take my source, I split the video off, run it through YAMB and for whatever reason, I try to load it into TMPGEnc and it says it can't load the file. I look inthe preferences and under the Input/Output format list it lists MainConcept MPEG-4 AVC as UNAVAILABLE.

I am also getting the same weirdness in GSpot where it says the Codec Status is Undetermined.

Anyway, I am guessing some codecs have gotten screwed up, but short of reinstalling windows, I'm wondering if it's possible to completely wipe the computer of any codecs that aren't in a clean install.

I know I'm so close to getting encoding, I just can't cross this final hurdle.

Chris

As long as you have WMP11 installed, you should have the WMV9 AP. If not, I have a link to the Windows Media Encoder 9 toolset. Download and install it, as that will definitely provide WMV9AP.



I would remove all installed codecs through Add/Remove Programs Control Panel applet. Then, use K-lite Codec Tweak Tool to detect broken filters/codecs. Then, re-install your codecs. I'm also speculating if you have Quicktime installed. Not the Quicktime Alternative, but the Apple version. If not, try installing it, and see if you can load it into TMPGEnc.

Thank you for responding!

As always, you end up solving these problems by following previous instructions.

So here's what I did.

I used System Restore to go back to before I started trying all of this. I followed the instructions TO THE LETTER and everything worked.

System Restore is your friend.
Chris

If you're lazy like me, you don't like too much waiting and clicking.

I have made a script to automate the extraction of h264 and convering it to mov. It processes all MKV's in current directory and all subfolders. After executing the script you will have a .mov file for each .mkv file, nicely paired in the same directories. All you need to do is to double click the .bat file.

Please let me know if you are interested and I'll post the script here.

Cool, as long as its not just me thats had this problem. Ive basically tried changing every setting there is on this, 100 on everything with a 8000average and 15000peak gets an ok result. But then the filesize is almost 3x the original.

hey chris,

first and foremost, thanks for the outstanding guide! very professional and easy to follow.

i'm having a slight problem - my MKVs have AAC audio, and i can't seem to get it to recognise in TMPGEnc. any suggestions? i'm not sure as to what codec i should download to rectify this.

thanks again.

Thanks for your response as there are some us who are still new at this and now I understand the process in a more clearer way. I appreciate your help!



Whats your Tmpegenc xpress version? Have you installed windows media encoder 9? Check these 2 and write us back.

Glad to know you are able to get your system to work.




If you want to post it, go right on ahead. I'm about finished with an HTA (HTML Application) that will do the exact same thing.




I will test this encode tomorrow.



Well, I would suggest following the steps outlined in Appendix A to show you how I installed ffdshow. ffdshow should give you AAC support that you need.

HTA is new to me, but again, so was batch files. Looks like we did twice as much as we had to, but I had fun figuring it out anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing your solution.

I haven't actually used the output, my TMPGEnc is currently busy processing a large 1080p movie, so I'm not quite sure if the output is what we are looking for.

Installation:
To make this batch file work, you need to have MKVInfo.exe, MP4Box.exe and MKVInfo.exe in your windows path. You already have theese if you've installed MKVExtractGUI and YAMB. The quickest (and dirtiest) way to achieve this, is to copy them into your system folder (in XP that is C:/WINDOWS/System32/).

Usage:
Copy/Paste the script into a txt file and save it as "ExtractMKVVideoAndConvertToMOV.bat". Place it where you'd like on your hard drive and double-click it. It will process all MKV's in current directory and all sub-folders. Make sure that you have enough free space on your hdd before executing the script.

Known limitations:
It will not work on MKV's with more than 1 video track, in that case it will only process the last one.

Bear in mind that this is my first batch script ever, so I'm sure that it could be optimized. Please give feedback.

thanks for the reply chris. your guide has clearly made a lot of people's lives easier, so i think you deserve a massive pat on the back.

well i tried ffdshow, and still having mixed results.

i can play the MKV fine in WMP, VLC etc. but when i import to TMPGEnc, the sound is listed as '2ch', and when i preview the clip, a high pitched buzzing sound emits instead of the actual sound.

any thoughts?

I've seen this before. For starters, what did TMPGenc use to read the audio? Check the Clip Properties on the Clip Edit window (image 15 in the tutorial), in the Audio box, source format. The last line will tell you which reader is being used and it should say "DirectShow file reader" just like you see in the tutorial. Also, by default ffdshow-tryouts should have a system tray icon that says "FFA" where the "A" is a subscript. You should see these mixed in with the Haali Media Splitter icons.

Next, click on the "Cut-edit" tab to see the editing window (image 16). If you have the audio waveform display turned off, turn it back on as shown in image 17, circle 1. Look at the waveform display, while scrolling through the clip. It should look like a typical audio wave, but I suspect that you may see a flat line, interspersed with "blocks" of data. This is clipping, which is what I'm guessing is causing your buzzing sound.

Finally, click OK on the Clip Edit window to return to the Source window with the clip list (image 18). Find your clip and the last line will show the audio info. This may be where you saw "2 ch", but what we want to know is the sample format. The example in image 18 shows "32 bits (Float)". What does yours say?

I think your problem may be with settings in ffdshow audio config that mess up the sample format, resulting in all that clipping. Tell us what you see following the path above and we can figure out where to go next.

My glitch problems still persist. After testing every single setting and doing 2 clean installs there is only one thing which is not normal. For some reason, all my source clips appear as 23.975 fps on the source in tmpgenc xpress and I was watching closely on Chris tutorial it should be 23.976.Is this what causing all the problems? Why Tmgenc xpress detects all my sources at 23.975? Is there a solution for this or is completely normal and shouldnt affect at all?

thanks!

If TMPGEnc does detect the FPS as 23.975, then change it to 23.976. I have seen this happen only once before. When you using YAMB, you are setting the FPS to 23.976, correct?

@Utsi:

That script is pretty much perfect. I typically do not recommend putting non-system tools in the Windows directory, or sub-directories.

My HTA application doesn't do much in the way of detecting video tracks. It just simply assumes Video Track 1 is the only one you want. I haven't seen too many MKV's with multiple video tracks. Audio is another story, but we are not extracting audio in this tutorial.

Thanks, it took me quite a while to get it right. I agree about the Windows directory, I was just being lazy again

I inspected a couple of MKV's and to my surprise I found the first track wasn't always the video track. This part caused me a major headache until I finally figured out string processing after googling forever.

Anyway, I also made a script that recursively scans for *.rar files and extracts the content into the existing folder structure. This script also deletes the .rar files and .r01, r02 etc files after extraction. Pretty sweet when you've got lots of unextracted goodies on your hdd. PM me if you're interested, I won't post it here because it can mess up archives if not used right.

thanks for that - turns out i managed to change that setting by myself, when flicking through the ffdshow settings. and it indeed fixed the problem.

for future reference, for anyone using AAC audio:
1) make sure that in the ffdshow settings, 32bit has a tick next to it (under 'output').
2) set ffdshow to 5.1 to get the full 6 channel sound

also, chris, i think you should let people know that when you apply that registry patch for ffdshow, it mucks up all your previous ffdshow settings.

I would like to share what has been FOR ME the best way to re-encode MKV into WVC1. It combines aspects of impimpin206 and chrislynch's tutorial here at xbox-scene, uanime's tutorial and Jaswah's (special thanks) instructions over at HDBits. Keep in mind, I only re-encode the MKVs that won't stream via Transcode360. You should avoid doing it at all whenever possible.

- Install and configure TMPGEnc 4.0 Express, Haali Media Splitter, CoreAVC, AC3Filter, MediaInfo, MKVtoolnix, and FFDShow EXACTLY how chrislynch suggests.

- Install Avisynth to load the video into TMPGEnc. That annoying stutter is unavoidable when loading the MKV directly, and messing with the framerate doesn't work and I would personally avoid it.

Create the following avs script in notepad and save it as .avs:

Directshowsource("Filename.mkv", fps=23.976, audio=false)

Anyone using Vista64 like me or getting an error when loading the avs file needs to download and install the YUV codecs found here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Helix_YUV_Codecs.htm.

- Load the audio file DIRECTLY into TMPGEnc. Loading the audio directly is the only reliable way to do it... and it's hassle-free. This way there is no need to demux the AC3 or convert DTS to AC3.

- If you want subtitles, extract them using chrislynch's tutorial. I prefer to use MKVEWizard instead of MKVExtractGUI. TMPGEnc cannot handle .ass (ha ha) files, so use Subtitle Workshop to convert them to .srt. Open the .ass file and match the movie's framerate, then Save As a SubRip by doubleclicking it and import the new .srt into TMPGEnc.

- If you want the highest possible visual quality, you'll want to use the WMV9 PowerToy by Alex Zambelli. It configures the advanced properties of the WMV9 encoder through registry settings. It is the preferred way to encode over at HDBits. You can find more info and settings here: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123812. I use the avg pc settings suggested by sportcenter:

Lookahead = 16
Loopfilter = On
Motion Search Level = Auto w/ Integer Chroma
Motion Search Range = Auto
Motion Vector Cost = Dynamic
B-frames = 1

Don't even think about the INSANE settings. Stick with the settings above or the better preset. Adjust the Powertoy settings before you launch TMPGEnc.

- Using the settings above, I encode using 1 pass CBR and have gotten great results. I have also used 2 pass CBR and not really noticed any difference. 2 pass CBR will theoretically produce better quality, but will take longer. I only got dropped frames once using CBR on a really complex scene from episode 1 of Planet Earth, when thousands of birds were flying around. I'm not going to get into the CBR v VBR debate, so test them both, do some research and use whatever you want.

- On the Other tab is a +speed/+picture quality performance slider. Take advantage of this setting by moving the slider all the way to the left. If the imperceivable drop in picture quality is not worth the cutting the encode time, then put it back to where it was.

Thanks again to chrislynch for putting together the most detailed and noob friendly guide on the net. It was a great help that inspired me to research (doom9 forums), experiment and come up with a modified solution.

The same happens to me every time. BTW- my aspect ratio looks off once YAMB converts to MOV. Is this somthing I am doing wrong?


HUGE

I would figure this is a given. It is simply a reg dump from impimpin's system. I'll add a warning to the doc.




This definately will work. I was just trying to avoid using too many programs and ways not everyone would know how to use. I just get sick of the posts "How do I create this AVS file?"

I just may add the PowerToy by Alex Zambelli in an appendix for those that want to tweak the WMV9 encoder settings on their system.

You're welcome. I thought you might figure it out on your own. It's hard to give advice without insulting someone's intelligence.

When I had problems with ffdshow audio, I looked through the config settings and found on the "Output" tab that only 16 bit int was selected under "Supported output sample formats". I checked all the formats 16, 24, and 32 bit int and 32 bit float.

On the Mixer tab, I have the "Output speakers configuration" set to "Same as input". That way, the output file has the same number of channels as the input. 2 ch in, 2 ch out. 5.1 in 5.1 out. That makes sense to me. Even though I don't have 7.1 speakers now, if I were converting a 7.1 file I would want all of those channels available in the output file because someday I will have 7.1.

Thanks for sharing this with us, I will check it out. Why do you feel that it's the best way, is it because it is more convenient or does it produce better results?

The avs-files can easily be generated with a batch script.

Johnynuge: Great alternative. Just one question. Why not include the audio in the script by just leaving audio=false out Directshowsource("Filename.mkv", fps=23.976) and avisynth bringing the audio automatically to tmpgenc. Is this giving you problems?

*Edit* Nevermind finally got orbitfiles to work.

The way I do it is definitely not more convenient, however it should produce better results. Chrislynch's guide is great in that it is a noob friendly process and provides invaluable tips regarding proper setup. Unfortunately, it doesn't produce the best motion or picture quality. Uanime's guide is the preferred method amongst the hardcore and knowledgable hi-def videophiles over at HDBits. Though it may have produce the best results, the guide itself was very difficult (for a noob) to follow and lacking in details. For me, combining elements of the two was a perfect marriage and has produced satisfactory results. After poring over the threads (HDBits, Doom9 and other website forums) and extensive testing, I am still no expert. Yet, I have refined the process into a solution that works best for me. It may or may not work as well for you. I'm just trying to pass along the knowledge I've gained.

Anyone who has trouble with avs scripts can download this http://www.zshare.net/download/85118813327a13/. Don't forget to include the hard drive directory location of the MKV file, which will most likely be C:/ (for example: "C:/Movie Title.mkv").

First I wanna say a big thanks to Chrislynch and all the other people that have contributed to this thread. I just followed the tutorial an encoded a 00:01:39 video flawlessly. I tested it and streamed it to my 360 and it looks unbelievable. I was just wondering what you would recommend as far as the system requirements for doind this. The reason I ask is that doing the encoding of this very short clip only took about 9 min but my computer sounded like it was going to explode the whole time. My fan was going crazy and I think my HDD was too. I have a Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz with 1.5 GB of RAM. Is there a possibility of burning up my cpu doing this?

CORRECTION!!![u]

- Load the MKV file DIRECTLY into TMPGEnc. Loading the MKV directly is the only reliable way to do it... and it's hassle-free. This way there is no need to demux the AC3 or convert DTS to AC3.








When I loaded the audio by avs script, the center channel (dialog) would get shifted to the right speaker. However, loading the MKV file directly when selecting audio works fine. Go figure.

Is the link down for anyone else? or is it just my side?
I keep getting file not found on the download site.

My system specs are very similar to yours. Pentium 4 3.0 ghz with 2 gb of ram. I don´t believe your cpu may burn since Intel processors are built pretty strong...but your PSU may burn pretty soon.(mine did yesterday). My advice: Watch your core and cpu temps, well ventilated,etc.





Yep. I just tested and it actually moves to right channel instead of playing center...WEIRD.

Encoding is VERY stressful on your CPU. If you check the performance tab of the task manager, you'll see the CPU Usage fluctuate between 95%-100%. As long as you're running your CPU within specs and not overclocking, you probably don't have to worry about killing your CPU. Heat is the #1 killer of computer components which is a result of improper cooling, dust and poor ventilation. The powersupply is often the most overlooked component of a pc. Hopefully you don't have a cheap no-name POS powersupply. Your computer will get the job done, just a lot more slowly. For encoding, you'd probably want dual-core processor with at least 2gbs of ram and a good powersupply. The cheapest thing you can do is get a can of air duster and also tidy up the cables in your case.

guys, whats the latest version of AviSynth, is it 3.0? Where can I download it? Any reliable links, getting all kinds of versions when performing a google search, thanks!!

3.0 is still in development. Go with 2.5.7 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/avisynth2...mp;big_mirror=0

I have, and will still continue to recommend the Intel Q6600. The BEST CPU on the market today for the price. I would strongly suggest the 780i chipset over the 680i if you want to stick with nVidia.



I do not ever recommend using development versions (except ffdshow, which has been in perpetual development since 2006.) Use 2.5.7 and you should be fine.

Ok, I've tested it, and here's what happened:
-Downloaded and ran the PowerToy, and got an error message with a stacktrace, something about security. Ran the app again and all the fields were blank. Is that normal?
-Used the values you provided and pressed "Apply". No confiration message, is that usual?
-Made the avisynth script as you suggested and followed your instructions when I opened TMPGEnc Xpress.
-I blew up the file size in TMPGEnc to fit the size of the MKV, did not bother to do a MKVInfo check, so the fps ended up at about 11000.
-When I hit "Encode", 6 instances of Haali Media Splitter appeared in the lower right corner, is that normal? (I'm guessing that avisynth has 3 and TMPGEnc has 3).

Results:
-Making a 1 minute sample took about 15-20 minutes.
-Encoding the whole 1080p movie will most likely be done some time next week if there are no problems.

Guess I was a sucker believing that I could increase the quality without a significant time cost. I wonder if I'll be able to notice the difference. If not I'll probably revert the changes I made with the PowerToy.

Using avisynth seems like a nice shortcut instead of extracting the h264 and converting it to mp4, why did we scrap that in the first place?

haha definitely, thanks again for the help. everything is working perfectly fine now, first beautiful WMV has been produced!

now just one other question - in the TMPGEnc custom profile provided by chris, why is the audio encoded using 1 pass CBR (and not 2 pass or VBR as with the video)? i'm just curious as to what the reason is, just for interest's sake - the sound in my WMV seems to be glorious, so it's not a matter of poor quality.

- I've never gotten those errors with Powertoy. I would delete and download the app again. And no, there will be no confirmation message that the registry settings have been changed. You can confirm that when your encodes take much longer than before.

- Why wouldn't you bother to do a MediaInfo check? It takes all of 10 seconds and provides the exact technical info of the MKV. Because I load the video by an avs script (from which TEMPGEnc properly detects aspect ratio and fps) , I don't use any format templates. I use the exact video bitrate value (or nominal if it's there) and the exact (or nearest to) audio bitrate from MediaInfo.

- Yes, there will be like half a dozen instances of Haali in the tray. Strange yes, but totally normal.

- It's up to you whether you feel the improvement in video quality (that you might not even notice) is worth the significant increase in encoding time. If it isn't for you, all you have to click is clear all, apply and quit.

-I was using my firm PC and my company is just crrrazy about security, so I'm sure it was only some security application trying to block some reg settings. But the encodes take much longer now, so I guess we're good to go.

-Didn't do MediaInfo due to shortage of time, but checked it now and it says the total bit rate is 13Mbps so 11000 for the video should be ok.

-Glad to hear that it is normal with so many instances of Haali, thanks.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results. The sample both looked and sounded great. Thank you for your contribution.

I think I'll do some research on PS3 to find out how much hazzle it is to play the MKV's from there. Buying a new PC to reduce the encoding time is out of the question.

1. Probably a GPO security issue/conflict with your system.
2. The PowerToy will not provide feedback once you apply your custom settings.
3. Always use MediaInfo to see what the original FPS and framerate were. As I have said, try to stay as close to the original framerate as possible, but don't go over. There's no point.
4. Using an AVS script will produce a *ton* of Haali Media Splitter icons to show in your taskbar. This is normal.

Why did I ditch using Avisynth and AVS scripts? because for the n00b, they woudn't know how to create one, and some have had nothing but problems. Plus, I couldn't find a way to combine both the audio and video stream into one AVS script per MKV source. Extracting the audio is simply not a good idea when the source contains DTS. This is the method that Impimpin has posted here.



I found no noticeable difference between 1-pass or 2-pass CBR for audio. There is nothing preventing you from changing the audio encode to 2-pass CBR or VBR. It's up to you.

Never compared 1 pass to 2 pass CBR audio, but in the many hours and numerous threads I've researched, I don't remember anyone ever suggesting 2 pass CBR.

3. I know. I found info on the file on the net now, and luckily it says "11327 kbit/s", so I came very close just from matching the file size. How do you calculate the bitrate from the information you get from MediaInfo? It only provides the total bitrate.

I certainly consider myself a nOOb, and when I can open notepad and copy/paste a single line onto it and save the file as .avs, most people can. I do not think the few users who don't know how to use notepad justifies the hours added to the process. Johnnynuge suggested adding the MKV as the sound source just as you do, and it seems to work fine. I have followed your guide and I have not had any problems with avisynth (yet), so I think the problems I experienced earlier was related to ffdshow and/or codec packs.

thanks for that. also, why use WMA pro instead of WMA lossless - again, doesn't make much difference?

just being curious - now that i have got it all working, just looking through the details. but again, thanks chris, the guide has made things much easier.

Ave,

I'm getting a 1TB Hard Drive so I can store my WMV-HD movies (Encoded using Chris's fantastic guide) on it and playback using XBOX 360.

Can anyone suggest me a good hard drive/price to get?

Thanks!

IOMEGA external drives. Been using them for about 10 years now with no issues. You can get a 1TB for about $220.00.

3. Are you using the latest version of MediaInfo (0.7.5.9)? Text view will show you the MKV's total bit rate, as well as the video's bit rate (a possibly a nominal bit rate) and audio bit rate. For lower quality MKV encodes below 6mbps, uanime suggests doing a WVC-1 re-encode of 8mbps.

Using avs scripts is tricky business. That simple script I use barely scratches the surface of what avs scripts are truly capable of. I still don't fully understand it. I just know that it works. Out of consideration, chrislynch presented an work around for the noobs (albeit a time-consuming one). Either method ultimately gets your video source loaded into TMPGEnc, so choose whatever works best for you.

3. No, I've been using 0.7.5.7.. OK, I see there is another version out now 0.7.6.0, thanks!

Avs sure can be tricky, but we're not exactly talking about the advanced features here, are we :-) I'm working on a strictly need-to-know basis, not caring much about the why's just the how's. I'll find out if this method works for me when my first 1080p finishes tomorrow or the day after. If so, I'll probably stick to it.

What are your encoding times? Mine..30+ hours or so for 1080p.

I haven't used WMA 9.1 Loseless before. From what I hear, not much is going to support WMA 9.1 in the near future. I would rather use an audio codec that will be supported.



I have (2) Hitachi 1TB Deskstar 7k's in a RAID0 configuration. All I can say is if you want reliability, go with Seagate or Hitachi. Not Maxtor. Not WD. Certainly not Iomega (which use WD drives BTW.) I have been in the storage industry for many years now, and nothing on the market beats Hitachi or Seagate drives. Except where cost is a factor.




My 1080p encodes take anywhere from 11 to 18 hours, where the sources is either MKV or M2TS (Blu-ray.)

While most of my encodes work out perfectly, I still run into some that have audio/video synch issues. Anyone else having a problem with synch issues every one and a while?