September 2005 - MEncoder-users - lists.mplayerhq.hu

DVD compliant MPEG2 encoding
by Lauri Myllari 14 Sep '05

14 Sep '05

Hi! After seeing MEncoder do very well in MPEG2 encoder challenge at http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=98633 I decided to try it again. A year ago I had no success and decided to just use mpeg2enc. Having 2pass and faster encoding would be nice, though. Three problems and two solutions - any help on the third would be very much appreciated! 1) me_range The player I use for testing is a Pioneer DV-545 and it's apparently quite strict about standard compliance. After adding "me_range=127" to lavcopts the player stopped skipping/crashing on scenes with fast motion. I'm not sure what the correct value for me_range is. Mailing list archives suggest 128 and 256 (IIRC). To quote from the doom9.org thread: "For Main level, ISO 13818-2, table 7-8 and E-8: horizontal range: -1024 : 1023.5 (f_code = 8) vertical range: -128 : 127.5 (f_code = 5)" Should this be noted in the encoding-guide.txt section about DVD constraints? 2) telecine 3:2 pulldown was still causing stutter on NTSC playback. It seems -mpegopts flag "telecine" doesn't work 100%. MPlayer recognizes this pulldown and switches to 24000/1001fps, but the Pioneer was skipping all the time. I solved this by outputting 24000/1001fps raw m2v from MEncoder and adding 3:2 pulldown flags with DGPulldown (http://neuron2.net/dgpulldown/dgpulldown.html - works fine with wine and comes with source). I think some timecode manipulation might be needed in addition to setting rff/tff flags in mpeg muxer. 3) rate control This is a bit harder to describe. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I've had trouble with high peaks (sometimes over 15000k according to mplex, with vrc_buf_size=1835 and vrc_maxrate=9000) and low average bitrates. Lower bitrates (~2000-3000kbps) seem to be accurate without any B-frames. Adding max_bframes=2 leads to undersized encode. Setting a higher bitrate (~4000kbps or more) gives undersized encodes too. I'll try to find out more (using different sources and noting the settings) - unless someone knows already what's going on? Does anyone have settings (or ideas) for accurate average bitrate, strict max rate and high quality? --rez

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[Script] PSNR between two video files
by Matthias Wieser 12 Sep '05

12 Sep '05

Hi, I have created a script (called psnr-video.sh) to calculate the PSNR between two existing video files. The PSNR is calculated frame by frame. Additionally an overall PSNR is calculated. The output file can be used for plots of the frame by frame PSNR. "What's the purpose of this script, as there is already the mencoder option 'psnr'"? mencoder [...]:psnr only shows the psnr of the video codec. Video filters like scaling, denoise3d, pp=fd cannot be tested with this option. psnr-video.sh can be used to * compare different softwarescalers (should I use -sws 1 or -sws 2) * compare different resolutions (is it better to scale down to 640x360 or to 560x320) * compare different deinterlacers * compare different video codecs * compare video filters (is it better to use -vf hqdn3d or lavcopts:nr=400) * [...] Example: ./psnr-video.sh ./orig.avi ./test.avi 247 Creates a file psnr.dat with the following content: File;Y;Cb;Cr 00000001.ppm;34.23;39.54;40.06;35.426 00000002.ppm;33.03;38.71;39.26;34.271 00000003.ppm;33.45;38.91;39.28;34.655 00000004.ppm;32.72;38.69;38.85;33.972 [...] 00000247.ppm;35.55;40.84;42.15;36.785 PSNR:;35.9887 ------- Usage: psnr-video.sh <file1> <file2> [<frames>] [<options1>] [<options2>] <file1> and <file2> are the video files for which the PSNR should be calculated. [<frames>] is the number of frames to process, starting from frame 1. [<options1>] are additional MPlayer options for <file1> [<options2>] are additional MPlayer options for <file2> Be aware that psnr-video.sh needs a lot of temporal space inside /temp/. ------- Comments? If you find it usefull you may add it to [CVS]main/TOOLS/ Regards, Matthias

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h263 encoding problem
by jose＠tecnosfera.org 12 Sep '05

12 Sep '05

Hi to everyone... I'm trying to encode an avi video to a raw H263 stream. It's very important for me the maximun bitrate ( it's for a video-conference streaming ). When I select a 48Kbs bitrate the resulting H263 isn't complete, and if instead of manage the maximun bitrate i manage the vqmin ( vqmin > 2 ) the resulting video is also incomplete. These are my mencoder commands: using vqmin: >mencoder video.avi -sws 9 -vf scale=176:144 -ofps 10 -nosound -of rawvideo -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=h263:vqmin=4 -o example.263 using bitrate: >mencoder video.avi -sws 9 -vf scale=176:144 -ofps 10 -nosound -of rawvideo -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=h263:vbitrate=48 -o example.263 But when I only select an vqmin=2 the video looks perfect. I'm using the mencoder for windows CVS 050626. Any ideas ? Many thanks...

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The best quality OSS mpeg2 encoder?
by Joe Friedrichsen 12 Sep '05

12 Sep '05

I've started to make films recently using linux and I've been trying to find the best mpeg2 encoder for making DVD compliant video. After reading the news groups for a while, I realized this is one of those never-fully-answered, and always-asked questions. I decided to at least do some looking around beforehand to help alleviate the eye-rolling. First, to find the possible encoder candidates. A few months ago, I thought the main encoding utilities were mjpegtools, ffmpeg, transcode, and mencoder (please tell me if I missed any leading ones). But reading more deeply into the matter has raised a few questions for me. Please clarify things for me if you can. Transcode (http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?Building_Transcode) and more importantly the ffmpeg home page (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php) suggest that ffmpeg is built off of (and I suspect develops...?) libavcodec. libavcodec is also used by mplayer/mencoder. Given that ffmpeg has been said to have bitrate problems with mpeg-2 (by transcode: http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?FFmpeg_Vs._Mpeg2enc) does that hold true for mencoder? The mplayer docs (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/codecs.html#ffmpeg) say that mplayer uses ffmpeg's libavcodec (which version?). How intertwined are these tools? I found a basic comparison between ffmpeg and mpeg2enc here: http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?FFmpeg_Vs._Mpeg2enc (and a more brief description in the newsgroups: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.user/481) Both pages also suggest that transcode can use either ffmpeg/libavcodec or mpeg2enc when encoding. Yet, transcode lists neither as a dependency (from what I've seen)... Does it include its own libraries from these utilities? If so, which versions? So, if I'm reading this correctly, the truly 'base' utilities/libraries are ffmpeg and mpeg2enc, while transcode and mencoder are front-ends/re-branders/wrappers of sorts. Is this accurate? Second, evaluate the encoders. The first step here would be research - look for others' work to avoid rehashing known facts. I've done some googling and haven't found much quantitative information comparing the stream quality of streams encoded by mpeg2enc and libavcodec (the FFmpeg_Vs._Mpeg2enc page offers some good starting information, but I fear that it's a little old - last edited over a half ago). I found another site that compares many other encoders, but libavcodec and mpeg2enc aren't included: http://www.tecoltd.com/enctest/enctest.htm . Do you know any sites that have done any comparisons? What are your personal experiences with the two? If comparisons haven't been made, then I should do some. Which are good video types to test? What content do I want? I like tecoltd.com's choice of fast motion, edges, and details. What types of video will show how encoders differ? Joe

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Can't create movie from 1280x1024 jpegs
by Edwin Glaser 11 Sep '05

11 Sep '05

Hello, i tried to create a movie form 1280x1024 jpegs. Up to 900x800 pixel everythings works under a charm. But with larger images the movie is messed up. mplayer shows two tiles of the right side and xine crashes. I am using the debian-marillat package. MEncoder 1.0pre7-3.3.5 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel Pentium 4/Xeon/Celeron Foster (Family: 8, Stepping: 9) Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes MMX2 supported but disabled SSE2 supported but disabled CPUflags: Type: 8 MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 0 Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX SSE mencoder mf://*.jpg -mf w=1280:h=1024:fps=20:type=jpg -aspect 1.25:1 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:aspect=1.25 -ffourcc MP4S -oac copy -o klblau-mpeg4.avi mencoder -mf w=1280:h=1024:fps=20:type=jpg -aspect 1.25:1 -ovc copy -oac copy -o klblau-mjpeg.avi mf://*.jpg mencoder -aspect 1.25:1 -mf fps=20:type=jpg -ovc copy -oac copy -o klblau-mjpeg.avi mf://*.jpg mencoder mf://*.jpg -mf w=1280:h=1024:fps=20:type=jpg -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=600 -oac copy -o klblau-xvid.avi The result looks just the same. Any hints are appreciated. Thanks in advance, Edwin Glaser

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Mencoder and AVI headers
by Pasquale Federico Zema 09 Sep '05

09 Sep '05

Dear all, I'm trying to rip a DVD to an AVI file, following the examples from the documentation, with MPlayer-1.0pre7. I noticed that I can see the AVI file with MPlayer, but not with Xine. Xine reports: unkown video codec. Indeed, "file xxx.avi" reports an empty string for the video codec. Is it normal? Am I missing any option? Thanks and Regards Federico

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Re: [MEncoder-users] Encoding problems with Mpeg4 codec NOVIRUS
by jose＠tecnosfera.org 08 Sep '05

08 Sep '05

Ok, with the option -demuxer 27: >mencoder sentenced_-_ever_frost-javis-HDP.mpg -demuxer 27 -sws 9 -vf scale=176:144 -of rawvideo -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=38 -ofps 15 -o prueba.cmp MEncoder dev-CVS-050626-17:02-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel (Family: 6, Stepping: 8) Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0 Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal! To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection. File not found: 'frameno.avi' Failed to open frameno.avi success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x2cca3d4 MPEG4-ES file format detected. Video: Cannot read properties. Exiting... It's wrong too... :(

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Re: [MEncoder-users] Encoding problems with Mpeg4 codec NOVIRUS
by jose＠tecnosfera.org 08 Sep '05

08 Sep '05

I'm sorry about the wrong post.... never again. I'll post it well. The mplayer log: >> mplayer prueba.cmp MPlayer dev-CVS-050626-17:02-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel (Family: 6, Stepping: 8) Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0 Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal! To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection. c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf doesn't look like a font description, ignoring. Cannot load font: c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf Playing prueba.cmp. Exiting... (End of file) With -v: >> mplayer -v prueba.cmñ Playing prueba.cmp. WINSOCK2 init: 0 [file] File size is 1503618 bytes STREAM: [file] prueba.cmp STREAM: Description: File STREAM: Author: Albeu STREAM: Comment: based on the code from ??? (probably Arpi) Checking for YUV4MPEG2 ASF_check: not ASF guid! Checking for Nullsoft Streaming Video Checking for NuppelVideo Checking for REAL Checking for SMJPEG Searching demuxer type for filename prueba.cmp ext: .cmp Checking for MOV Checking for VIVO header block 1 size: 0 AVS: avs_check_file - attempting to open file prueba.cmp AVS: File is too big, aborting... Checking for PVA Checking for MPEG-TS... TRIED UP TO POSITION 68900, FOUND 0, packet_size= 71, SEEMS A TS? 0 Checking for LMLM4 Stream Format Invalid packet in LMLM4 stream: ch=0 size=16777209 LMLM4 Stream Format not found MPEG Stream reached EOF ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: video) MPEG packet stats: p100: 315 p101: 0 p1B6: 4038 p12x: 315 sli: 0 a: 0 b: 0 c: 0 idr: 0 sps: 0 pps: 0 PES: 0 MP3: 5093, synced: 0 demux_mpg_probe returned file_format 0 MPEG Stream reached EOF ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: video) MPEG packet stats: p100: 315 p101: 0 p1B6: 4038 p12x: 315 sli: 0 a: 0 b: 0 c: 0 idr: 0 sps: 0 pps: 0 PES: 0 MP3: 5093, synced: 0 demux_mpg_probe returned file_format 0 ==> Found video stream: 0 ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: video) LAVF_check: no clue about this gibberish! demux_aac_probe, failed to detect an AAC stream WINSOCK2 uninit Exiting... (End of file) The example prueba.cmp can be downloaded at http://circuncidador.tecnosfera.org/prueba.cmp Many thaks

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logs and example
by jose＠tecnosfera.org 08 Sep '05

08 Sep '05

The mplayer log: > mplayer prueba.cmp MPlayer dev-CVS-050626-17:02-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel (Family: 6, Stepping: 8) Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0 Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal! To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection. c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf doesn't look like a font description, ignoring. Cannot load font: c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf Playing prueba.cmp. Exiting... (End of file) With -v: > mplayer -v prueba.cmñ Playing prueba.cmp. WINSOCK2 init: 0 [file] File size is 1503618 bytes STREAM: [file] prueba.cmp STREAM: Description: File STREAM: Author: Albeu STREAM: Comment: based on the code from ??? (probably Arpi) Checking for YUV4MPEG2 ASF_check: not ASF guid! Checking for Nullsoft Streaming Video Checking for NuppelVideo Checking for REAL Checking for SMJPEG Searching demuxer type for filename prueba.cmp ext: .cmp Checking for MOV Checking for VIVO header block 1 size: 0 AVS: avs_check_file - attempting to open file prueba.cmp AVS: File is too big, aborting... Checking for PVA Checking for MPEG-TS... TRIED UP TO POSITION 68900, FOUND 0, packet_size= 71, SEEMS A TS? 0 Checking for LMLM4 Stream Format Invalid packet in LMLM4 stream: ch=0 size=16777209 LMLM4 Stream Format not found MPEG Stream reached EOF ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: video) MPEG packet stats: p100: 315 p101: 0 p1B6: 4038 p12x: 315 sli: 0 a: 0 b: 0 c: 0 idr: 0 sps: 0 pps: 0 PES: 0 MP3: 5093, synced: 0 demux_mpg_probe returned file_format 0 MPEG Stream reached EOF ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: video) MPEG packet stats: p100: 315 p101: 0 p1B6: 4038 p12x: 315 sli: 0 a: 0 b: 0 c: 0 idr: 0 sps: 0 pps: 0 PES: 0 MP3: 5093, synced: 0 demux_mpg_probe returned file_format 0 ==> Found video stream: 0 ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: video) LAVF_check: no clue about this gibberish! demux_aac_probe, failed to detect an AAC stream WINSOCK2 uninit Exiting... (End of file) The example prueba.cmp can be downloaded at http://circuncidador.tecnosfera.org/prueba.cmp Many thaks

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Encoding problems with Mpeg4 codec NOVIRUS
by jose＠tecnosfera.org 08 Sep '05

08 Sep '05

Hi everyone! I'm trying to encode an mpeg1 video to a raw mpeg4 stream with MEncoder dev-CVS-050626-17:02-3.4.2 for Windows. When I use some additional options like vqmin or vbitrate, mencoder doesn't show any errors but I can't play the resulting video. For example: > mencoder sentenced-ever_frost.mpg -sws 9 -vf scale=176:144 -of rawvideo -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 -ofps 15 -o example.cmp It's OK... I can play the video with normality. But when I try with: > mencoder sentenced-ever_frost-.mpg -sws 9 -vf scale=176:144 -of rawvideo -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vqmin=4 -ofps 15 -o example.cmp or > mencoder sentenced-ever_frost-.mpg -sws 9 -vf scale=176:144 -of rawvideo -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=38 -ofps 15 -o example.cmp It's WRONG... no errors, encodes apparently well, but when i try to play it mplayer skips the video and exits ( without any error messages too ). This problem also happens when i try to decrease the -ofps below 15 fps ( 10 fps for example ) It's important to me to include these options (vqmin and vbitrate) in the video encoding process... ¿ any ideas ? Thanks in advance and excuse me for my pitiful english.

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