View Full Version : HOW-TO play Nero AVC (H.264) in AVI
how to enable nero avc (h264) playback on xmbc
1)download mplayer v1.0pre7 source (http://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/releases/mplayer-1.0pre7.tar.bz2)
2)download the xbmc mplayer source (see howto recompile mplayer for xbox)
3)delete the libavcodec and libavformat directories
4)copy libavcodec and libavformat directories from the mplayer 1.0pre7 source
5)recompile mplayer (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=st;f=8;t=5935)
keep in mind the xbox isn't very powerful and as such has a hard time playing full resolution h264. but at lower resolution i have had no problem.
thanks for the information... i have never compiled the xbmc myself, but this is worth learning how to do it.
h264 is awesome.
does standard dvd 720x480 resolution look ok on the xbox?
thanks...
:bowdown:
it was the first time for me too. just compiling mplayer was pretty easy and doesn't require .net or the xbox sdk.
i've been trying out different options and right now i'm leaning towards the standard profile with cabac and deblocking turned off. with those two turned off i'm able to play 720x480 16x9 at 1000 kps with 6 channel sound without dropping any frames. it looks pretty good and about the same if not better than xvid at 1500kps, at least on my 53 inch rear projection tv. turning on cabac caused a few frames to drop. and turning on deblocking caused over half the frames to be dropped on some scenes.
i haven't tested very many movies yet so i don't know if simply turning off those two options will work for everything. but here's to hoping :)
sweet...
more good information.
i been turning off those features anyway because they increase the encoding time.
i've been converting the entire star trek dvd series to h264 at 1000 kps with 6 channel as well. *each episode shrinks from 1.8gb (mpeg2) down to less that 400mb. *i can hardly tell the difference in the two running on a computer side by side. *as a matter of fact i had the two running side by side and ask a friend to tell me which one was the original and which one has been re-encoded. *he picked the h264 version as the original... *:d
i can't wait to get home and try this out.
thanks again.
any downsides on this? bugs?
hi danoon!!.
did you try only with standard profile? or did you try with advance profiles or others?
and what abaut b frames? how b frames you config in your test videos?
now i'm compiling mplayer with your steps.!!
thanks for your advance!!
bye
well...i have a lot of errors compiling mplayer...
danoon, can you send it to any site for download your compiled mplayer.dll?
if you can send me it on my email: igmuesa@gmail.com
thanks!!
well...i have a lot of errors compiling mplayer...
i had the same problem until i installed mingw-4.1.0 and gcc-core-3.4.4.
btw, where can i find short h264 video samples to test the new dll? i've tried google but without success :(
<span style='color:red'>i'm sorry, but the next 24 hours (until 5 pm sunday) these files won't be available. lycos closed the server, because of abuse. feel free to host the files anywhere else.</span>
avc compatible mplayer.dll:
mplayer.dll (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/mplayer.dll)
samples that play fine:
envy sample (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/envy%20sample%20(avc).mp4) (standard avc (1400 kbit), full dvd resolution (720x560), he-aac (192 kbit), no cabac and no deblocking, 30 seconds, 5,9 mb)
final destination 2 sample (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/final%20destination%202%20sample%20(avc).mp4) (standard avc (1600 kbit), full dvd width (720x384) , he-aac (128 kbit), no cabac and no deblocking, 24 seconds, 5,1 mb)
final destination 2 sample 2 (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/final%20destination%202%20sample%202%20(avc).mp4) (standard avc (1600 kbit), full dvd width (720x384), he-aac (128 kbit), no cabac and no deblocking, 15 seconds, 3,2 mb)
with these settings it appears to be safe, to encode without frame drops. lower resolutions and/or video with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, make it (sometimes) possible to use cabac and/or deblocking as well.
sample that drops frames:
final destination 2 sample 3 (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/final%20destination%202%20sample%203%20(avc).mp4) (standard avc (1600 kbit), full dvd width (720x384), he-aac (128 kbit), cabac and deblocking activated, 15 seconds, 3,2 mb)
maybe somebody is able to make this sample work without dropping frames. if so, please share your xbmc settings. *:)
well...i have a lot of errors compiling mplayer...
i had the same problem until i installed mingw-4.1.0 and gcc-core-3.4.4.
btw, where can i find short h264 video samples to test the new dll? i've tried google but without success :(
hi a600.
i donwloaded some videos from emule, and others are doing for me because as danoon says, there are some options when you go to compress the video that can't handdle the xbox.
i get your same config for compile mplayer, and don't know why theese errors....
thanks ramobil!!!.
i can't donwload mplayer from your sitem, but i can download the videos!!
ok...with flash get, i can download mplayer.dll
going to test!!
thanks!!
thanks ramobil!!!.
i can't donwload mplayer from your sitem, but i can download the videos!!
i'm posting the file again. check again in about 15 minutes. :)
now works the download, but need we the codecs.conf? or another file for this version of mplayer?
thanks
now works the download, but need we the codecs.conf? or another file for this version of mplayer?
thanks
i only replaced the mplayer.dll. :)
ok thanks!!. and the last one..hehe:
what profile do you use for these videos? advance, normal...hdtv...
regards!!
ok thanks!!. and the last one..hehe:
what profile do you use for these videos? advance, normal...hdtv...
regards!!
standard avc.
please tell me whether the files work fine on your xbox.
ok thanks!!. at least 4 3 pm i can't use it because is on my girl's house!!.
i say you the results!!
bye!!
std avc, cabac and deblocking disabled. 2mbps:
http://img296.echo.cx/img296/9796/screenshot3416la.png (http://www.imageshack.us)
source is a 1:1 vobfile, and the screenshot is from something that occured more than once. this is not my idea of a "nextgen" codec...
edit: i tested it with nero showtime just to make sure, it's there too, so just a 100% crappy encoding
envy sample (standard avc (1400 kbit), full dvd resolution (720x560), he-aac (192 kbit), no cabac and no deblocking, 30 seconds, 5,9 mb)
lots of frames dropped but viewable.
final destination 2 sample (standard avc (1600 kbit), full dvd width (720x384) , he-aac (128 kbit), no cabac and no deblocking, 24 seconds, 5,1 mb)
perfect, no frames dropped.
final destination 2 sample 2 (standard avc (1600 kbit), full dvd width (720x384), he-aac (128 kbit), no cabac and no deblocking, 15 seconds, 3,2 mb)
perfect, no frames dropped.
final destination 2 sample 3[/url] (standard avc (1600 kbit), full dvd width (720x384), he-aac (128 kbit), cabac and deblocking activated, 15 seconds, 3,2 mb)
almost all frames dropped.
differences in results are probably caused by using different xbmc settings like:
- render method
- cache settings
- post processing
are there some sort of ideal xbmc-settings for avc?
avc compatible mplayer.dll:
mplayer.dll (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/mplayer.dll)
could you please build mplayer.dll from the last mplayer cvs ? a lot of things have changed from 1.0pre7
thank you for your build
for best results with nero's h264 on the xbox i have found that it does not matter which profile you select, but rather turning off all the "encoding tools" and "visual enhancments" options. *disable everything in both those sections. (expert mode)
also be sure and disable the resize option under the video settings.
enable the deinterlace feature if the original video is interlaced
i am able to watch video at 720x480 encoded with cinema avc, standard avc or maxium avc profile at speeds up to 2000 kbps with 0 fames lost.
higher than 2000 kpbs causes *problems for me.
thanks again danoon for sharing this... * *:)
avc compatible mplayer.dll:
mplayer.dll (http://members.lycos.nl/limobar/xbox/mplayer.dll)
could you please build mplayer.dll from the last mplayer cvs ? a lot of things have changed from 1.0pre7
thank you for your build
i tried to compile a newer mplayer.dll, but did not succeed. all sorts of errors and no new mplayer.dll.
i replaced the libavcodec folder with the one from the latest cvs build, but that doesn't work. i probably also need a newer libavformat folder, but i don't know how to get a newer one. the link on the mplayer site doesn't help me either.
maybe someone else can compile a newer mplayer.dll with avc compatibility?
ok, for some reason i am not having much success with compiling a working version of the mplayer.dll
i followed the instructions carefully and tried many variations on somewhat vague parts. i tried replacing the libavcodec and libavformat folders directly and did not have any problems until i tried to make the dll which complained about not having certain folders. i tried just copying the contents of the folders over the contents of the other folders and got the dll to compile but no matter which way i do it i get this loud screeching in the audio of every file.
any ideas?
for best results with nero's h264 on the xbox i have found that it does not matter which profile you select, but rather turning off all the "encoding tools" and "visual enhancments" options. *disable everything in both those sections. (expert mode)
also be sure and disable the resize option under the video settings.
enable the deinterlace feature if the original video is interlaced
i am able to watch video at 720x480 encoded with cinema avc, standard avc or maxium avc profile at speeds up to 2000 kbps with 0 fames lost.
higher than 2000 kpbs causes *problems for me.
thanks again danoon for sharing this... * *:)
also, could someone please tell me where these settings are, i am looking for them all over xbmc and files in mplayer. there is not much posted anywhere about this.
orbitus: those settings are in the nero recode product for making the h264. to see them you have to click the check box for expert mode.
i've experimented with h264 on the xbox some more. i even made a version of mplayer.dll back porting the newest h264 from ffmpeg that includes mmx optimization. but even that could not handle cabac or deblocking.
and just as an observation, without caba and deblocking turned on i can run 720x480 just fine. but occassionally it will still skip a frame if the average bitrate for the sceen goes above ~3mbps. i've been encoding most of my dvds at 1mbps but even then some scenes will spike the bitrate considerably. and i have not seen any setting in nero recode to set the max bitrate when encoding 2 pass vbr. but for now i find it acceptable for a movie to drop a couple of frame here and there while i'm waiting for the next piece of hardware (maybe xbox 360).
i've experimented with h264 on the xbox some more. *i even made a version of mplayer.dll back porting the newest h264 from ffmpeg that includes mmx optimization. *but even that could not handle cabac or deblocking.
please share this mplayer.dll with us. *:bowdown:
this mplayer was compiled from the xbmc cvs with libavcodec and libavformat from mplayer1.0pre7. in addition h264.c and supporting files, including the dsp mmx files came from ffmpeg cvs.
libavcodec and libavformat cannot simply be copied from the latest ffmepg cvs because of some structural changes in the avcodec.h.
mplayer.zip (http://www.geocities.com/danoon_xbmc/mplayer.zip)
can you post the dll onto the newsgroups? none off the dll links work.
thanx
this mplayer was compiled from the xbmc cvs with libavcodec and libavformat from mplayer1.0pre7. *in addition h264.c and supporting files, including the dsp mmx files came from ffmpeg cvs.
mplayer.zip (http://www.geocities.com/danoon_xbmc/mplayer.zip)
thank you danoon, i'll try it tonight
btw i downloaded the .zip with wget without problem
download doesn't seem to work for me. yahoo says "we're sorry, but this page is currently unavailable for viewing. "
anyone else having the same problem?
manicbomber
2005-06-29, 10:03
no, you are not the only one who can not get the provided links to work. i am hoping that the links either become active again, or a new one is provided soon :d
manicbomber
2005-06-29, 10:47
is the reason i am only getting sound, because the mp4 video is in a mkv container?
is the reason i am only getting sound, because the mp4 video is in a mkv container?
er, no they are in mp4 containers, hence the .mp4 extention! plus you are using the new mplayer.dll that's posted in this thread right? if not then of course you won't get video since thats the entire point of the thread.
btw i'm assuming your talking about the videos posted here, if not please make make your post clearer. if you are trying to play other mkv files which contain avc video then yes this could be the problem.
dyrewolfe
2005-06-29, 15:51
no, you are not the only one who can not get the provided links to work. i am hoping that the links either become active again, or a new one is provided soon :d
right clink on the the link and select "copy shortcut" under ie or "copy link location" under firefox.
paste the link to in the url bar on your browser and that should get it for you.
manicbomber
2005-06-29, 18:56
deltop - i thought it would be pretty much common sense that i was not referring to the files listed here, and the files would be some of my own, since i already said that they are in the matroska container, and thus have a .mkv extension, instead of a .mp4 extension, as the files listed in this thread obviously have. i don't think i can be more clear than to make such an overwhelmingly obvious statement to separate the two. i'm sorry if my post confused you.
i am only getting sound without video, and i didn't think the container would matter, because mplayer can still read matroska, it just needed to be able to read the video codec within?
right clink on the the link and select "copy shortcut" under ie or "copy link location" under firefox.
paste the link to in the url bar on your browser and that should get it for you.
now that's interesting... that worked! i guess geocities doesn't like referrers on their files, eh? should've just put the url on there instead of the link: http://www.geocities.com/danoon_xbmc/mplayer.zip
thanx for the heads up
given the vast number of replies on this board and others that basically consist of "why isn't this working" it's always best to give as much info as possible ;) never worry about giving too much info. be as clear and precise as possible. perhaps i was a bit short with you in which case i apologise, that wasn't my intention. it's just your post wasn't too clear, and not knowing how much knowledge a poster has makes it all the harder to answer properly.
but your problem is that the it's only ffmpeg which has been updated in these mplayer.dll's and not the specific code in mplayer itself which takes care of demuxing containers. at least as far as i can tell. i've ran into the same problem when trying an avc encode in an mkv container.
manicbomber
2005-06-29, 19:11
c:\program files\mkvtoolnix>mkvmerge -i cannonfodder.mkv
file 'cannonfodder.mkv': container: matroska
track id 1: video (v_mpeg4/iso/avc)
track id 2: audio (a_aac/mpeg4/lc/sbr)
track id 3: subtitles (s_text/utf8)
this is the file that i am trying to get, so ever unsuccessfully, to work in xbmc. i will use either gspot or mkvmerge from now on when i am talking about a video file, because as you mentioned, it does make good sense to let people know exactly what i am talking about and the information provided by either or should be sufficient.
and if anyone is reading this far, i also managed to get the files by the flashget method that was listed earlier in this thread.
fyi
i posted a nero-digital (avc) sample movie on usenet (alt.binaries.nerodigital). please let me know whether this sample movie works on your xbox. i use a pal xbox and i am able to play it without framedrops.
details from my nfo file:
movie name: the way of the gun
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202677/
movie length: 1:59.14
source: r1 retail dvd
codec: nero digital (avc/h.264)
average video bitrate: 1.47mbps
audio: 5.1-channel surround (he-aac 128kbit/sec)
video resolution: 720x400
file size: 1480 mb (1/3 of the size of a sl-dvdr)
subtitles: english (srt)
rate control: high quality encoding (2-pass)
(general settings)
decision quality: high quality (maximum)
maximum vector range: -128 to 127.75
maximum reference frames: 1
maximum gop size: 300
maximum b-frames: not applicable
(encoding tools)
cabac: no
bidirectional prediction: no
macroblock partitions: no
weighted prediction: no
deblocking: no
(visual enhancements)
source material: chroma optimization
psycho-visual enhancements: disabled
(usenet groups)
this movie will be crossposted to alt.binaries.movies and alt.binaries.nerodigital
extra info: this nero-digital (avc) movie was encoded with xbox users in mind, so i did not use any encoding tools. this movie can be played without framedrops with xbmc, using the enclosed mplayer.dll, which is avc/h.264 compatible. replace it with your existing mplayer.dll (xbmc/system/players/mplayer).
ConfusedFish
2005-07-08, 16:50
thanks for your efforts rabomil.
unfortunately after downloading your example i get a lot of dropped frames - which is a shame because it looks like a reasonable film.
i will play around some more over the weekend and try and get it to work and try for a recompile of the dll.
are there any other setting changes, other than replacing the dll that i should be aware of? i have tried to change things like post processing etc. but to no avail.
ben.
thanks for your efforts rabomil.
unfortunately after downloading your example i get a lot of dropped frames - which is a shame because it looks like a reasonable film.
i will play around some more over the weekend and try and get it to work and try for a recompile of the dll.
are there any other setting changes, other than replacing the dll that i should be aware of? i have tried to change things like post processing etc. but to no avail.
ben.
i'm sorry for my late response.
the cache settings are really important. these are the settings i use. but it is important to know that i'm only playing movies from dvd or harddisk. i adjusted my cache settings according to that.
video/audio/dvd cache - harddisk 2048 kb
video cache - dvdrom *6144 kb
audio cache - dvdrom 256 kb
dvd cache - dvdrom 4096 kb
all other parameters 0 kb
i hope this info helps you. please keep me posted.
StoneRoses
2005-07-16, 22:58
please upload mplayer.dll to yousendit and post link here.
http://www.yousendit.com
thanks
StoneRoses
2005-07-16, 23:16
i just downloaded the danoon's mplayer from the 2nd page. here is it.
http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3009fcia2m4g534613h0vemm9v
file was dated 26-jun-05 if anyone have newer version, please share.
he-aac audio volume is soft compared to ac-3. to get he-aac audio volume on par with ac-3 audio, i recommend to change the output in the settings to +10db. changing this setting will not change the ac-3 output volume. :)
jmarshall
2005-07-17, 12:57
what is your audio headroom set to? set it to 0db will help.
what is your audio headroom set to? *set it to 0db will help.
yes, 0db. he-aac audio (particularly multichannel) is very soft. on my computer it is also way softer than ac-3 audio. :)
gmackenz
2005-07-25, 12:35
i just downloaded the danoon's mplayer from the 2nd page. here is it.
http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3009fcia2m4g534613h0vemm9v
file was dated 26-jun-05 if anyone have newer version, please share.
it's gone from that link mate...
you can always convert the h264 file to an ecoding format a little easier for the xbmc to handle ;)
[i used ffmpegx on mac os x, i'm sure their are tools aplently in the windoze world...i wouldn't know as i don't play in it anymore)
let's just hope only a few of the "bleeding-edge" crazy groups decide to jump on the h264 bandwagon. i expect that h264 support in a newer mplayer won't be happening 'til next year at best.
hi all, i've done lots of reading on this great forum (and on doom9) and i have come to understand why there is no support for nero avc... but thanks to the fantastic explications i found in this forum from the xbmc tech guys, certainly dday, i could make my xbmc play nero avc. i've searched for a guide which describes this procedure completely but i couldn't find it, so i made a guide in pdf form you guys can use... i hope you can use it, i've tried to explain everything as easy as possible, and as schematic as possible.
i have uploaded the guide to geocities but i don't know how long it will be available for free...
you can find the document at
http://www.geocities.com/s4m3y/xbmc.nero.digital.avc.support-same.pdf
do not thank me, thank the great guys from xbmc !!!
i hope this guide makes it very clear for everybody who likes to watch nero avc on their xbmc... be sure to read the warning section in the guide!!! because even though xbmc plays nero avc, there is a 'but' ... :p enjoy...
totozero
2005-07-25, 21:49
k here,
1st of all, just wanna thank u 4 the little neatty guide. :thumbsup:
i've just followed it and compiled the whole stuff... k no prob at all.
but it seems i can't play any h.264 encoded files with xbmc. tv screen shows its black face each fuc**** time i try.
sighh... despair and sorrow... :no:
so i was wondering : do i have to add some codecs in xbmc mplayer codec part ? or do i have to change something into codec.conf ? or else do i have 2 throw my damn' box through that damn'window ?
pleeze answer me cus i'm gettin nervous ....
br from tot'
did you encode your movies with nero, or with something else (like x264 or sorenson, etc...) i only tried to play movies encoded with nero digital. but i noticed in full dvd resolution (720x575) that the xbox's cpu power is way to weak... i had to downsample to a width of 592 pixels instead of 720 to be able to play it without any probs...
totozero
2005-07-26, 09:46
did you encode your movies with nero, or with something else (like x264 or sorenson, etc...) i only tried to play movies encoded with nero digital. but i noticed in full dvd resolution (720x575) that the xbox's cpu power is way to weak... i had to downsample to a width of 592 pixels instead of 720 to be able to play it without any probs...
thx 4 ur quick answer !
nope => i've just tried avi fansub of "full metal panic tsr" and some samples grabbed from this page (http://vsofts.com/h264/videoclips.html).
no luck so far. :veryangry:
btw r u able to play some of those above mentionned samples ?
hope u'll find something to deal with my issue http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/forums/non-cgi/emoticons/cry.gif
br from tot'
i tried the examples you gave me, and ... nope, no go on my xbox either... so my guess is that maybe it is indeed h.264 quantisation but maybe the files use some other entropy coding than cabac or cavlc (if that's possible) anyways, nero digital works fine but those do not ... just don't know why
here's the results of some tests i did this morning with h.264 (encoded witn ffmpegx) on xbmc.
http://pub.abuserz.com/xbmc.h264/compare.html
none of my test videos skipped, but then, i was testing with 480x272 resolution videos.
all in all, i think even the lowest 459kbps is fine. you loose some details, like the dirt relief on the 1st test picture, but eh... who really see those when watching an action movie!
next, i'll encode a 24 dvd i got.
a 720x480 h.264 encoded file at 1517kbps (2-pass encode, no cabal, no deblocking) with ac3 audio (passthrough), 438mb for 42mins file, skips a lot in xbmc. i encoded episode 1 of season 1 of 24, and i see a lot of dropped frames on xbox.
*edit: 720x480 at 1000kbps, 310mb for 42 mins file, also drops a lot of frames.
640x432 at 1000kbps drops less frames (3-4 times less frames dropped). the file is the same size as the previous one, but i guess having a smaller resolution with the same bitrate is easier to decode in h.264...
trying to encode at 624x418 and 900kbps right now.
hello
seems that very recent xbmc builds (03/08/05) are able to play h264 fine. thanks to the use of a cvs version of mplayer (new ffmeg) :d
Shotgun Ted
2005-08-07, 22:23
well spotted!
johnh123
2005-08-14, 05:13
rabomil- those were some nice posts on usenet- please post more if you've got more-
rabomil- those were some nice posts on usenet- please post more if you've got more-
i certainly have more. is there something in particular you're looking for? right now, i'm encoding 'lemony snicket's: a series of unfortunate events.' (1480mb, 640x360, avg of 1.46 mbit video, lc-aac 448 kbit).
i'm using the following 'rules' for my encodes, to keep xbox compatible, without dropping frames:
- i encode movies with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio to the full dvd width of 720 pixels.
- i encode movies with a 16:9 aspect ratio to a width of 640 pixels (this is actually the maximum width of regular tv's). i do not use anamorphic resolutions, because that really hurts the performance of the xbox. besides that, there's no significant visual gain, compared to square pixel. *
- i use six file sizes: 740 mb (1/6 part of a dvdr), 1480 mb (2/6 part of a dvdr), 2048 mb (maximum iso file size), 2960 mb (4/6 part of a dvdr), 3700 mb (5/6 part of a dvdr) and 4440 mb (6/6 part of a dvdr). most movies i encode have a size of 1480 mb or 2048 mb.
- the average video bitrate stays between 1.3mbit and 2 mbit. the video bitrate appears not to be too important when it comes to compatibility with the xbox.
- the average audio bitrate is either 448 kbit lc-aac or 256 kbit he-aac. it depends on the videobitrate and the total file size whether i use lc- or he-aac.
- i use the standard avc profile, with the default settings, except for the encoding options. there i only use bidirectional prediction (b-frames, 3 b-frames in a row max). it is possible to use macroblock partitions and weighted prediction, but i prefer not to use them. cabac and deblocking are hardly usable, because this will almost certainly cause frame drops. other avc profiles gave some artifacts on my xbox (not on my pc) and do not offer options that prove to be really useful for the resolutions i use, quality wise.
compared to divx/xvid, h264/avc is a huge step forward. *:thumbsup:
Murmur2k
2005-08-24, 15:10
yeah rabini - excellent posts on usenet please keep uploading :)
black hawk down was cool.
i can confirm on x264 encodes that with cabac and deblocking im dropping frames. i will doing another quick transcode without those to look. build is feb 8 06.
caldor,
how did the transcode look?
i did a small clip to push it a bit further and see how it went:
pal 720x434 (2.35:1 encoded anamorphically in nero recode then flagged 16:9 with mkvmerge) at 2mbps
dts 5.1 (added with mkvmerge)
the resulting file played perfectly!
kaisersose
2006-03-02, 03:22
can anyone post what settings/program atm with good results that is working fine with recent builds of xbmc.
also how long does it take to convert for examle a 90 minute film to avc with a good pc?
Gamester17
2006-03-02, 16:44
can anyone post what settings/program atm with good results that is working fine with recent builds of xbmc.megui (http://megui.sourceforge.net) with sharktooth's custom x264/avc video profiles (using the profiles for xbox/xbmc obviously) (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=101813) ;)
hi to all,
i've encoded a movie with nero rencode2. the result (an .mp4 movie) was played fine with nero showtime (incl. subtitles) in my pc. i've tried then to launch the movie with the latest xbmc player. the result was fine (smooth and quite good picture), but there was no subtitles at all. is there a way to display the subtitles?
i think that the same problem occurs to windows media player also. the movie palys well but there are no subtitles.
thanks in advance.
nikolas
Gamester17
2006-03-10, 15:44
nero rencode uses embedded vobsubs (a.k.a. directvobsub), right? mplayer doesn't support directvobsub (embedded vobsub in avi/mp4) (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=st;f=4;t=13032), (so neither does xbmc as it uses a mplayer based core to play these files), mplayer/xbmc currently only support external vobsubs. if you like this in xbmc then you should submit it as a feature-request to mplayer, read this post (link) (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=st;f=4;t=1921) on how to do that. as a workaround you could demux the vobsub and try to use it externaly (ex. movie_name.mp4, movie_name.sub, movie_name.idx)
@kaisersose my process is to use dgmpegdec to frameserve my source dvd media into avisynth. i apply yv12 filters during the frameserve, such as tdeint for deinterlacing pal dvd material. i will preview in virtualdub in full video mode with the null transform filter to decide on what cropping settings i should be using. after cropping and resize for square pixels is setup in my avisynth script, i then use virtualdub on fast recompress to transcode using x264. after thats done i mux the audio back in with virtualdubmod or avimuxgui and i'll use belight if i need to fiddle with the audio a bit.
i dont like the automatic things like gordian knot or using profiles cos i find them too constricting (as well some tools change versions alot) but thats my opinion only.
be warned, i have a pretty dam quick desktop machine and h.264 is pretty slow - especially when using alot of references and exhaustive search.
i havent bothered with the cli based x264 commands.
[quote=johnh123,aug. 14 2005,03:13]
i'm using the following 'rules' for my encodes, to keep xbox compatible, without dropping frames:
- i encode movies with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio to the full dvd width of 720 pixels.
- i encode movies with a 16:9 aspect ratio to a width of 640 pixels (this is actually the maximum width of regular tv's). i do not use anamorphic resolutions, because that really hurts the performance of the xbox. besides that, there's no significant visual gain, compared to square pixel. *
- i use six file sizes: 740 mb (1/6 part of a dvdr), 1480 mb (2/6 part of a dvdr), 2048 mb (maximum iso file size), 2960 mb (4/6 part of a dvdr), 3700 mb (5/6 part of a dvdr) and 4440 mb (6/6 part of a dvdr). most movies i encode have a size of 1480 mb or 2048 mb.
- the average video bitrate stays between 1.3mbit and 2 mbit. the video bitrate appears not to be too important when it comes to compatibility with the xbox.
- the average audio bitrate is either 448 kbit lc-aac or 256 kbit he-aac. it depends on the videobitrate and the total file size whether i use lc- or he-aac.
- i use the standard avc profile, with the default settings, except for the encoding options. there i only use bidirectional prediction (b-frames, 3 b-frames in a row max). it is possible to use macroblock partitions and weighted prediction, but i prefer not to use them. cabac and deblocking are hardly usable, because this will almost certainly cause frame drops. other avc profiles gave some artifacts on my xbox (not on my pc) and do not offer options that prove to be really useful for the resolutions i use, quality wise.
compared to divx/xvid, h264/avc is a huge step forward. *:thumbsup:
ok ive been fiddling around with this. these rules dont work.
i have a correctly profiled (pd-xbox_hires) sharktooth profile transcode in an mp4 container using 640x272 resolution, correct for 2.35:1 dar. i set an average bitrate of 1706, well within the max on those rules specified.
streaming this over smb the movie plays for a bit in hardware overlays, but on a significant scene change it will then messup. i suspect this is occuing when it gets hit with a big keyframe on the 6279 kbps maximum bitrate.
some info on the audio track:
track # 1 info - trackid 1 - timescale 25 - duration 02:22:10.000
media info: language "und" - type "vide" - sub type "avc1" - 213250 samples
handler name: gpac iso video handler
mpeg-4 config
visual stream - objecttypeindication 0x21
avc/h264 video - visual size 640 x 272 - profile main @ level 5.1
decoding buffer size 75413 - average bitrate 1706 kbps - max bitrate 6279 kbps
no stream dependencies for decoding
streampriority 0
the only other stream is a vbr aac audo stream.
im just not sure the xbox has within itself to do this, but i'd be very happy if it could be worked around somehow.
bug #1454450 is up on the sourceforge tracker.
the synposis is this:
full anamorphic resolution dvd pal material wont playback with megui profiles and xbmc. the author of the profiles is unwilling to bring down the profile further for reasons of loosing too much in the codec.
there is a threshold around 704x400 that requires the user specifies hardware overlays from the default of high quality render methods to stop dropped frames with media that also has an aac audio stream.
After finding this thread and doing lots of digging I've ran across this solution for playing H.264 on my xbox.
Go follow this link:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=120167&postcount=1
Download the latest, then
As deblocking is very hard to handle and in most cases the reason for not having smooth playback, wouldn't it be a good idea to disable it by default, by adding "lavdopts=skiploopfilter=all" to mplayer.conf?
Doing this will disable deblocking, providing almost completely smooth playback (except in those instances where the bitrate goes through the roof)
Hope this helps someone else who's looking for a solution.