[plugin] DivX/XviD Compression using AutoGK

[Mr.X]

Title: DivX/XviD ShowSqueezer
Short Description: Automates compressing of shows to DivX or XviD via AutoGK
Long Description: Watches a specified folder for new shows and compresses them
Version: 0.3.2
Status: Alpha
Last updated: 8-25-2004
License: Free
Requirements: BTV 3.5+, AutoGK v1.60+
Installation Instructions: Comes with download
Release Notes:
[0.2.1: Updated to add percentage quality in addition to fixed filesize]
[0.2.2: Fixed error when no .mpg files in source dir]
[0.2.3: Fixed percentage quality error when percentage is in .ini file]
[0.3.1: Changed to hotkeys instead of mouse clicks, waited until file is finished copying before starting AutoGK]
[0.3.2: Made the script replace all commas in the filename with underscores]

[Note: The btvmp4sqz.ini file is missing some entries on purpose. Run the program once and it will prompt for those entries]

[wheemer]

How are you guys starting this recompression? I've tested setting showsqueeze to copy and then choosing showsqueeze in the FSUI, but it's still doing a wmv compression.

It seems counter productive to have to manually drop a file into the watched folder.

[Bilar Crais]

Mr. X:


I had a chance to try this out tonight, and I have to say it is brilliant. Rather than have BTV copy mpeg2's to the destination folder, it's just as easy for me to drop them in the folder before I go to bed.

Another thing: These GordianKnot transcodes are the best that I have ever seen. I have been messing around with Vidomi, VirtualDub, and Procoder for a month now, and none of them produce the fluidity of movement that 'knot does. It must be because it's interpreting my material as film. I just don't have the brains to do IVTC with VirtualDub, so this is an amazing tool. I'm in the middle of the twilight zone marathon; can't wait to start transcoding them all!

You seem to be a guru....is there any way to force greyscale for these old black & white episodes? I figure that should eliminate some of the rainbow shimmering I'm seeing in places. Even if there is no way to do greyscale, the improvement in camera pans and movement is well worth the price.

Nice work, X-man.

[minorgod]

Any chance of getting the source so I can modify the percentage calculations to create a 2-pass encode with a specific file size that is based on the source file's size? I saw this suggestion in another thread, but I don't know if it was properly explained or not so here's my stab at it:

My average hour of video is a little over 3GB. If you added the ability to calculate the output file size as a straight percentage of the input file size, it would allow me to set a 3GB input file to be compressed to roughly 700MB by setting the percentage to 23%. Calculating the target file size based on that percentage and then starting the 2-pass job with this specific file size would usually produce optimum quality 2-pass encodes with optimum file sizes. Regardless of the input file size, the output file would be appropriately sized. It would be a better method for me than doing a 1-pass quality-based percentage. The 1-pass encodes are faster, but they don't produce results that are as good. Anyway, if you give me a copy of your script source I can probably add this feature pretty easily as an additional encode option and leave the existing percentage-based option intact.

UPDATE: I have made the modifications I describe above and have attached the new script file to this post. I've added a parameter to the INI file called "FileSizePercent". If you set it to zero, it will work just like the old version of this script, but if you set it to something higher than zero, it will create a file that is a percentage of the original file size. Do not include the percent sign in this value. It defaults to 23. A setting of 25-27 should produce near perfect results with slightly larger files.

[btvbuddy]

Mr. X, with the Sony PSP release this March,word is that Auto Gordian Knot (AG Knot) can be used to generate PSP viewable video. Here is the link, any idea if PSP support would be a minor or major change in your work? Thanks
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980024404/

[ravensorb]

Has anyone tried this on AutoGK v1.60?

[geoffstewart]

Yes, I have used this plugin with AutoGK 1.60 and it works great....

[magic]

Thanks X. I used this script last night- very impressive!

[antishock]

Anyway we can get autogk to run in the background? So no windows whatsoever popup?

I could run it as a service, but I wonder if that will keep all the windows in the background. Opinions?

Also - autogk doesn't close once it finished encoding and doesn't delete the agk_tmp folder.

[gsboriqua]

I have some hour long shows recored back to back. SO I just leave it as a 2 hour recording. About 1 hr and 10 min or so into it the audio starts to go out of sync. Has anyone else had this problem? Whats your solution?

[minorgod]

I have some hour long shows recored back to back. SO I just leave it as a 2 hour recording. About 1 hr and 10 min or so into it the audio starts to go out of sync. Has anyone else had this problem? Whats your solution? Often sync problems on playback are due to a slow processor, or encoding your files at too high of a bitrate for your computer to deal with. Since the sync problems dont' start until the second hour, I'm inclined to believe it is one of those problems. You might want to try playing the files back on a faster machine and see what happens.

[lectro]

Is there an easy way to have this delete the originals after compressing them?

[minorgod]

Yes there is a way to automatically delete the files after compression. It involves using my super-ultra-mega-cool version of this script which I have about 90% finished, but haven't looked at in well over a month. I wanted to make sure it was fully tested before I unleashed it on my files (or anyone else's for that matter). I don't want my untested script to unexpectedly delete half my hard drive when I'm not looking. If you don't want to wait, you can always take the existing script and hack it using the latest version of Auto-it. Auto-it scripting laguage takes about an hour to learn well enough to start hacking other people's scripts. After a day of working with it, you can start to automate pretty much anything, but it helps if you already know how to program another language.

[nstocke]

At the risk of sounding less than fully informed. I would like to ask about the advantages of using DivX/XviD over the standard WMV compression. Is there time, size, or quality advantages? And if so to what degree?

Neal

[minorgod]

At the risk of sounding less than fully informed. I would like to ask about the advantages of using DivX/XviD over the standard WMV compression. Is there time, size, or quality advantages? And if so to what degree?

Neal
This is really the wrong thread for this discussion, if you want to discuss this in detail, please start a new thread.

Now, the quick answer is, WMV is a proprietary file format while Xvid is open source standards-compliant MPEG4 and DivX is closed source standards-compliant MPEG4. WMV on the other hand is not open-source or standards-compliant. DivX/Xvid can be played on many new standalone DVD players, while WMV has not yet attracted much interest from manufacturers, mostly due to Microsoft's licensing schemes. The WMV codec itself is quite good and many would argue that it is actually better than MPEG4 in terms of quality/filesize and compression times. The one obvious advantage I can think of for WMV is that it does a better job handling HDTV resolutions. While MPEG4 is theorietically capable of HDTV resolution, there are inherent design problems that make it less than ideal for HDTV and so there is a big arguement going on right now about whether WMV or MPEG4 will win the HDTV market. So far Microsoft seems to be winning that war with the HDTV people who decide what formats will be officially supported and encouraged by manufacturers. It's been a while since I read up on the HDTV issues though, so maybe the MPEG4 folks have solved their technical problems. Originally, MPEG4 was simply not designed to handle HTDV resolutions, so they've basically had to retrofit the codec to handle HDTV resolutions. Personally, I prefer MPEG4 because it's open-source and standards-compliant.

[louisw]

I know this is slightly off topic.
Can someone confirm that AutoGK cannot resize the files (Pixel dimension). I want to take my files from Beyond TV and while converting to xVid change the resolution to 320 x 240 or something like that so I can play them using mmPlayer on my treo 650.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this automatically.

[minorgod]

RTFM......advanced options dude.

[lectro]

Yes there is a way to automatically delete the files after compression. It involves using my super-ultra-mega-cool version of this script which I have about 90% finished ... I wanted to make sure it was fully tested before I unleashed it on my files (or anyone else's for that matter)...

You post it, I'll test it. I've never used AutoIT, but this seems like a good time to learn.

[louisw]

RTFM......advanced options dude.
Sorry.. Missed that option. (in the readme, its only one line and actually says something like leave as is.). I guess I need to change it to fix width.

[madas]

Did that script ever surface?

Thanks

Graham

[mrminator]

Greetings

How is that script-update coming along that will make it so that the files are automatically deleted after they are converted? I'd love to have that functionality.

[louisw]

bump - any update on the script

[Wolverine7]

I've got DivX Pro/Dr DivX... Anyone tried getting this type of script to kick in using that?

[not_Shorty]

autogk works, why bother

[satnav4]

At the risk of sounding less than fully informed. I would like to ask about the advantages of using DivX/XviD over the standard WMV compression. Is there time, size, or quality advantages? And if so to what degree?

Neal

I have a Media MVP that plays Divx, but not WMV. Without Divx compatibility, I just as well keep the file mpeg2.

S.

[minorgod]

bump - any update on the script

Yeah, I haven't done anything with it since I got it almost finished. You can always download the existing scripts in this thread and use AutoIT to decompile them. AutoIt can decompile any script generated by AutoIt. That's how I got the Mr. X source to begin with.

[wxboy]

I have been quite wary of DivX for sometime and I have to say I am quite impressed! I can compress 10-15 % with NO quality loss. Now I just have to get my Media MVP to work with DivX properly!

[optikhog]

I just tried my first AutoGK process tonite and WOW does it work well. I took a DVD down to 700MB with virtually no loss - nice. The best part? My MVP played it back without a hitch.

[Bilar Crais]

AutoGK is a most impressive tool. I'd doubt there are but a few individuals who could actually get better results using their own mix of filters and inverse telecine in VirtualDub. AutoGK has quite an effective denoising filter, and I often find my results to be superior to the source material. Sadly, I've found it all but impossible to get good a/v sync on my standalone Divx player. Granted, it's a cheapie.

[not_Shorty]

are you using the stand-alone player compatibility options in AutoGK? And divx or xvid? I don't use its divx support so I'm not sure how it handles it, but its xvid side of things has compatibility options to ensure proper playback on stand-alone players. I believe it changes a few different encoding/muxing parameters if you selected ESS support during installation. I believe when your target playback machine is a stand-alone player you should select both the ESS support and the bitrate spike control support to get the best compatibility.

[wxboy]

just thought I'd share that I was able to get DivX working on the MediaMVP. Just make sure you record in 640X480, or else you just get a black screen. I am also posting this in the MediaMVP BTV thread. Sorry for the double post.

[Crosseye]

Downloaded AutoGK version 1.95 and installed with the AutoIT Script supplied
and had it open AutoGK but nothing else happened. I also set advanced options in AutoGK to auto and setup folders for BTV3 to recognize all folders videos would be in and when I ran the Showsqueeze it gave me an error message "Please verify a default quality exists."

Does anyone have an idea of what I am doing wrong? Or does the plugin not work with version 1.95? I couldn't find a download on project site of any older versions.

A question for those who have it working. Does it save the guide info in the format? Always nice to be able to see what the program is about.

[AncientPC]

It works w AutoGK 1.95. Just record a 1 minute video and use it as a test. You'll have to clear through a bunch of dialogs that pop up the first time you run the programs.

It doesn't save the guide info in the format, which is the main reason I'm not using this (as BTV is my sole frontend for watching TV). :(

[Crosseye]

I'll mess with it some more but it doesn't seem to work well with BTV Showsqueeze... AutoGK definitely works but since it seems I have to drop the mpeg 2 into another folder manually to get autoGK to work and the Guide info doesn't translate.. seems better just to use TMPGenc
and save it to avi with appropriate codec... Faster and still manual and I get a much smaller file. Or just use the standard wmv to keep the guide info.

Worthy project and hopefully someone with the know how will keep working on this. :)

[jvanson]

Mr. X,
thanks for your tool but I've detected two major bugs: when you set MakeSubDir to 1 and the source mpg file name contains 1 or more spaces the resulting directory your program tries to create is the word until the first space _inclusive_ the space. Creating such directory name is prohibited by Windows (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/fileio/fs/naming_a_file.aspoGK ) wand strips the last space whereas your program remebers it, calls the AutoGK script with the space and AutoGK complains about an invalid directory (example: Charmed - 6.12 - Prince Charmed.mpg results in a directory "Charmed", AugoGT tries to store the file into the directory "Charmed \". The second bug is (due to the first one I disabled the auto subdirectory creation): the filename parser stops at the first dot in the name rather than at the last. In the former example your program generates a file named "Charmed - 6.avi" instead of "Charmed - 6.12 - Prince Charmed.avi". Besides, ist the source code available somwhere?
Thanks,

John

[tatoosh]

Frist I want to say hello and thx for that software.

But it doesn't really work. The programm watched my directory and it sees when there are new mpeg files in it. Then the scipt opens my AutoGK and nothing more happend (just the OPEN FILE DIALOGUE is opened). I can't move mouse or enter any key at that moment :(
Only STRG+ALT+DEL helped to close the task.

I used newest stable version 1.95 AutoGK. I tested it on 2 different PCs!
Can anyone help me, please ??

Best wishes, TaToosh !!

[jvanson]

TaToosh,
as mentioned above there's a bug when the filename contains spaces. The AutoGK tries to load a file from a not existing directory. For now, take the BTVMP4Sqz.ini file and set MakeSubDir to 0 and everything works "fine".
So long,

John

[hosspower]

TIA for any help.

I am trying to set up auto compressing the copy showsqueeze builds.
However whenever I run the BTVMP script, it makes the new target folder but nothing goes into it. AutoGK (v1.95) opens up on the screen. I assume I must have the wrong settings in autogk or in the ini file. I have tried setting makesubdir to 0 but still no luck.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Rob

[hosspower]

I uninstalled autogk and reinstalled, now it works great!

New question, is there a way to set it up to automatically delete agk_tmp and the log files after the conversion is done?

Thanks again for a great utility!

Rob

[pcjr]

Hi, I'm using AutoGK to transcode MPEG-2 files to Xvid or DivX. I notice that the transcoded audio and video becomes progressively more out of sync during playback. This is happening in both stable versions AutoGK 1.6 and 1.95. The sync problem of the DivX/Xvid files occurs in playback in both Windows and in Mac OS X (both QuickTime and VLC). The original MPEG-2 files (created by Snapstream Beyond TV) have no such sync problems. Anyone else experiencing this?

[Bilar Crais]

At one time I did. I found that as long as I edit commercials out with VideoReDo, sync holds steady throughout.

[optikhog]

I am experiencing this issue right now and am trying to find a solution. The weird thing is that it is not consistent - it happens on some videos but not on others.

[pcjr]

For some reason it's consistent for me, except I'm using the Hauppage WinTV PVR2 MPEG encoder, so maybe that's why. Can some people who don't have this problem report that they don't (check audio/video sync especially towards the end of the AVI file), and if so, what encoder are you using? Software or hardware MPEG?

[havock2]

I have a problem with the script. I would like to use my e:\ drive for both the mp2dir and the mp4dir. The script assumes the c:\ drive.

[not_Shorty]

edit the script

[leecole]

Hi, I'm using AutoGK to transcode MPEG-2 files to Xvid or DivX. I notice that the transcoded audio and video becomes progressively more out of sync during playback. This is happening in both stable versions AutoGK 1.6 and 1.95. The sync problem of the DivX/Xvid files occurs in playback in both Windows and in Mac OS X (both QuickTime and VLC). The original MPEG-2 files (created by Snapstream Beyond TV) have no such sync problems. Anyone else experiencing this?
I experieced a few instances of this when I was using AutoGK to encode to xVid, but I obtained the Divx 6 codec and went to AutoGK "Advanced Settings" and checked Divx (you only have to do this once, AutoGK uses that from now on). I haven't seen sync problems since then. I actually prefer xVid over Divx (Better picture, sharper images) but I think Divx 6 gives a bit faster encoding and as far as I can tell, no sync problems. I use a Hauppage 250 PVR, hardware encoding to DVD BEST MPEG2.
Lee Cole

[mbruno]

Greetings all I was wondering if someone can help me here with this problem. I am new to snap stream and the divx things seems to be working except for one little problem. Everytime the AutoGK script kicks off it wants to look for mpg file in my C:\My Videos\Squeeze folder and that is not where the files are. They are under e:\ and for the life of me I can find where to change this setting at. I have look under beyond media settings under show squeeze and have it set to E:\ but I am getting that is not it. I have even edited the BTVMP4sqz_minorgod_v2.ini to point to the e:\ for mp2 files. I have also look in autoGK but I can't really find any settings in there to change. Would anybody else know what I am missing here? Thanks I am sure it is something simple.

[pcjr]

I would just forget about AutoGK, now that DivX encoding is back in Beyond TV 4.

[Mr.X]

Why in God's name is anyone still using this kludge when there's things like AutoXviD and the built-in showsqueeze available???

[not_Shorty]

built-in divx showsqueeze:

1. Only single-pass encoding available.
2. Buggy. Quite often chops off the last 10-15 minutes of your recording, leaving you with a useless file and a missed show, unless you don't automatically delete the mpg. And not automatically deleting, as far as I'm concerned, is too much of an inconvenience. I don't have enough time to verify every recording is still intact and then manually delete the mpg or restart the showsqueeze job until hopefully it does the job right.

At least WMV still works properly. Dual-pass WMV7 is good enough for me until they actually fix DivX support and add dual-pass to it. Yeah, it takes twice as long as DivX, but it works every time at least.

[digev]

I am having an issue with this script, when I run it, it makes the target size of the output file 1mb. I'll open AutoGK and change it to what I want, but when I run the script it always goes back to 1mb. I even have the filesize parameter in the autogk script.ini file set to 350mb, but it stills goes to 1mb. How do I fix this?

Thanks

[Mr.X]

Post your .ini file here - lemme take a look

[digev]

AutoGK Script.ini

[AutoGK]
Path=C:\Program Files\AutoGK
EXE=AutoGK.EXE
FileSize=350MB
Priority=1

[digev]

Could it be possibly that I'm using AutoGK 2.27 vs. 1.60?

[Mr.X]

Change it to 350 without the MB at the end.

[digev]

OMG!!!! I'm such a dummy!!! I can't believe I didn't try that!!! THANK YOU so much!!!!!! :dude::dude::toast:

This script is so awesome dude, Very nice job!!! This has been exactly what have I been looking for!!!! GOOD WORK!!!

[Mr.X]

No sweat, although I'm not sure if the script is still mine or you got the improved one that was updated by JoeyJoeJoe and others...

[digev]

I think it's yours, I downloaded it from the beginning of this thread. So there are newer versions of this? Can you direct me to it?!

Also, does the newer version let me use windows task scheduler to run the script, or should your version work with it? I tried it last night, it made the folder, and autogk was running, but it didn't process the file.

[digev]

nevermind, found joeyjoejoe's script, but it should work with windows task scheduler right?

[digev]

Don't know if anybody is still looking at this thread or not, but I am having a new issue with the BTV script. I have the script set to run at 2:00am every morning. First of all, two instances of the script are open in system tray, I have two icons. Then AutoGK acts funny, it opens up, but if I have multiple shows that need to be compressed sometimes it'll do one, but not any of the others, or sometimes it won't compressed any at all. Same thing, if just one show set to compress, it may compress, it might not.

1. I've read somewhere where Windows Media Player 11 causes issues, is this true?
2. Does Power Options in the Control Panel have any effect, I had hard set to turn off after 1 hour.

I've tried various versions of AutoGK from 1.60 to the newest version, with same results. I've uninstalled and reinstalled several times.

[dmsuperman]

Maybe someone here could help. I have this script running great, after I record stuff at 1 it "ShowSqueezes" them into the watched folder by this program, it runs AutoGK and outputs the new videos into another Processed folder. I have that folder added to my video folders in BTV and I can view it just fine, and even have my own script going through to clean up after AutoGK (deleting the log and temp folders), but I would like to know how I could have it automatically go through any new videos in there and regenerate the smartchapters and copy the episode data from the old mpg file, if possible. How would I go about doing this?

[not_Shorty]

you should run the smartchapters job on the mpeg data first. The resultant .xml file just needs to have the same name prefix as the file you're trying to use it with.

ABCD-1234.avi
ABCD-1234.avi.chapters.xml