XMediaRecode converter

I have found an excellent tool to make MULTIPLE and WELL DONE conversion of video files. It’s XMediaRecode. It’s a FREEWARE program for Windows only (;o; sigh!!!).

I’m glad to have finally found a solution. After a lot of time spent in searching an Avidemux alternative. Mac version has stopped to v2.44 -from ages-, and it has some nasty bugs (ex.audio copy of x264 sources is buggy, result audio is always out of sync, and its batch mode is practically unusable).

With this program I can convert my video files in H.264/AAC quickly. Target files are excellent. Good as done with Avidemux for Mac, maybe better.

NOTE: if you want to use Avidemux anyway, you can fix the audio of created mp4 files using the free tool Subler. Import the converted video stream, import the original AAC audio stream and save both in a new file. Voila’, the generated MP4 have the audio synced. But what a waste of time…

XMediaRecode permits queues of many video files and a selection of a common target format for all videos.

• simple interface with options well distributed on the tabs
• advanced options
• options are memorized for the next restart
• can load/save modified profiles (many are present)
• very few bugs (only on the interface, not on the conversion process)
• convert a huge amount of video formats
• video conversions are done FULLY, no frame LOST during conversions as other buggy OSX tools (ex. iVideoConverter or Handbrake)
• batch operations can be configured QUICKLY
• built with a recent version of x264 library

But, as other windows software, it must be run inside a virtual machine so it doesn’t run at full speed 8(.
Patience. I’m satisfied anyway.

 

WDTV HD Media Player

Recently jdrama fansubbed releases came out always more often in HD format (1280×720 x264).

Since I think that nothing can be compared to watching a video sat in a confortable sofa instead of a chair in front of a computer monitor, I’m forced to take in consideration these new video formats. And their visibility in the above context.

My table device has an old chipsets and cannot display the files encoded with advanced codecs. I have decided to take a step forward on this matter.

I bought a Western Digital TV HD Media Player. It has been a good purchase.

It’s a harware media player that recognize the most recents video/audio formats. Connected to the television, it can be used to show pictures, videos or to listen to music.

It does not contain a storage device (HD or memory card) but support any type of external storage device connected to its USB ports.

It’s very useful for people that already have external USB HD or USB keys in their hands (almost all PC users).

It read perfectly the contents of my Kingston 4Gb USB key.

If the USB device is not write protected, it can store the video thumbnails, seek positions of movies or audio files (ex. you can restart watching a movie from  a previously interrupted position).

A VERY IMPORTANT thing about this product is that it IS UPDATED. Quite often, using user community responses.

Below a list of what I have PERSONALLY tested with firmware version v1.01:

- recognize AVI, MP4, MKV containers;

- 704×396, 1024×768, 1280×720 resolutions are displayed correctly, even intermediate ones;

- XVID, DIVX5/6, H.264 codecs are played correctly;

- MP3, AAC codecs are played correctly;

- Files are recognized by extension name, not by content so a wrong extension makes file unreadable;

- Search function is not available for AVI/MP4/MKV files (but it memorizes last played position);

- SRT and ASS are showed correctly, but without format tags;

- subtitles size can be changed from several fixed sizes;

- long subtitles don’t exit from visible video part but are splitted across lines;

- read files stored in any position (root or subdirs);

I will update this list when I notice new worth features.

Firmware version 1.02 is already out, I’m going to d/l and testit now!

Recently jdrama fansubbed releases came out always more often in HD format (1280×720 x264).

Since I think that nothing can be compared to watching a video sat in a comfortable sofa instead of a chair in front of a computer monitor, I’m forced to take in consideration these new video formats. And their visibility in the above context.

My table device has an old chipset and cannot display the files encoded with advanced codecs. I have decided to take a step forward on this matter.

I bought a Western Digital TV HD Media Player. It has been a good purchase.

It’s a hardware media player that recognize the most recent video/audio formats. Connected to the television, it can be used to show pictures, videos or to listen to music.

It does not contain a storage device (HD or memory card) but support any type of external storage device connected to its USB ports.

It’s very useful for people that already have external USB HD or USB keys in their hands (almost all PC users).

It reads perfectly the contents of my Kingston 4Gb USB key.

If the USB device is not write protected, it can store the video thumbnails, seek positions of movies or audio files (ex. you can restart watching a movie from  a previously interrupted position).

A VERY IMPORTANT thing about this product is that it IS UPDATED. Quite often, using user community responses.
I will update the following list with my discoveries.

PERSONALLY tested with firmware version v1.01:

• support AVI, MP4, MKV containers;
• recognize and play files with 704×396, 1024×768, 1280×720 resolutions (even the intermediates);
• recognize and play files with XVID, DIVX5/6, H.264 video codecs;
• recognize and play files with MP3, AAC audio codecs;
• show JPEG pictures;
• files are recognized by extension name, not by content so a wrong extension makes file unreadable;
• search function is not available for AVI/MP4/MKV files (but it memorizes last played position);
• x2, x4, x8, x16 fast forward speeds available;
• SRT and ASS are showed correctly, but without format tags;
• subtitles size can be changed from several fixed sizes;
• long subtitles don’t exit from visible video part but are divided across lines;
• read files stored in any position (root or subdirs).

06/06/2009: Firmware 1.02.07 installed.

• above functions are confirmed.
• plays correctly also 1440×1080i files.
• M4V videos are recognized and played properly but fast forward does not work with them. Also if the file is a MP4 renamed. FF works well with AVI/MP4 files.

 

Mac video conversion

I have video conversion issues with Mac software. Damn!!

I’m sorry to say that NOTHING beat VirtualDub … (;o;) … I continue to run it on a virtual machine.
(Author or someone with a wonderful hearth (and mind) … compile/create it under Mac!!) Onegaishimasu!!

Since I need to convert huge video files (1280×720 or H264) to a lower resolution (704×396) with Divx/Xvid codec, recognized properly by my Pioneer home DVD player, I have played a bit with the most common video converters. My home DVD player is recent, works very well, it detects even subtitles but new formats are not recognized. It’s a pity. The producer claimed an upgradable firmware but… well until now no updates are available.

FFMPEGX convert the file. The conversion must be made with mencode engine (ffmpeg engine corrupts always mp3 audio, also if you do a direct copy of it). I don’t know why. Conversion with fixed quantizer does not work,  it converts always with the specified bitrate, also if you set Qmin and Qmax at the same value (to have fixed quantizer, as documentation explain). It’s old and buggy. Crashes often. Even watched on computer the result files are damaged.
So I have abandoned it.

VISUALHUB makes great conversions with a good speed but if XVID codec is used, the result file is not compatible with my home DVD player (video trigger and jump always). And I do not use any Qpel or advanced options.
Played on computer they are OK. I must force the use of MPEG4 codec to produce a readable file for my home DVD player. With MPEG4 result file is smaller, compatible, but it has a little lower quality. However the difference is very small. At least it can be used.
Currently I convert with it only the 1280×720 version of Tokyo Shojo because they cannot be converted converted on Windows, the PC crashes always when start to read these types of files (on 4 different machines!). I think it’s a codec incompatibility. Strange, they are played correctly… With Visualhub instead the conversion goes well. A good point of Visualhub is that it can read nearly everything.

HANDBRAKE is completely buggy, crashes 8 times over 10. Its conversion engine is the fastest, it’s true, nearly 3 times faster that other programs but the converted files have the same unreadability of these produced with Visualhub, but this time with both XVID and MPEG4 codec. This is bad. As Visualhub files, they can be played well on the computer but not on my home DVD player. I have analyzed the log files, the converted videos and I have found a lot of dropped frames during conversion, videos trigger always. At this stage Handbrake with XVID/MPEG4 codec cannot be used to convert decently a video. Add that it can resize only at FIXED resolutions and you will trash it immediately. With this program is NOT possible to convert a 1280×720 file to 704×396. Bad.

AVIDEMUX is very promising. It have a lot of options that other converters does not do. It’s a sort of Virtualdub “clone” for Mac. But as Visualhub and other progs, it’s based on these ffmpeg/xvid conversion engines so the results are the same as Visualhub. Avidemux have all the options that other converters misses. It works very well but it’s a lot slower than VisualHub.
EDIT: Version 2.4.4 produces XVID compatible files for my home DVD player! Hurrah!!

MPEGSTREAMCLIP is a good jewel in the panorama of converters. It’s the only one that can convert files using DIVX codec (forget applications based on QuickTime!). As Visualhub have a lot of options (resize, adjust video, etc.). It misses (in my opinion) the direct pass-through of MP3 audio (copy without re-encode). It’s available for AC3. This force the user to convert the video without audio and mux the audio in the final file with Avidemux. It’s a pity. I abandoned it because files converted with DIVX codec are bigger than those created on Windows.

Currently XVID codec for OSX exists but it’s an old version, until today the v1.2.1 XP version is not available on Mac. But the old codec works. With the above limitations. I use the updated version on Virtualdub until new version will be available for Mac. Divx6 also exists on Mac. But, for unknown reasons, with same conversion parameters (quantizer, quality, optimizations) the result file produced on Mac is about 1,5 times bigger than the file produced with Divx6 for Windows (320Mb on Xp and 458Mb on Mac). It’s lame. After I have noticed this I have stopped the use of Divx for Mac.

From this point of view the Mac software is again a step behind the software for XP.

Create a virtual XP machine in Virtualbox, install Koepi XVID codec, MP3 acm codec, Virtualdub with AC3 and MPEG2 fcc-handler plugins and you can have a system ready to create compatible files for most of the home DVD players. All freeware.

Many thanks to the authors.

 

Testing H.264 – Programs to do it

To convert a video file in H.264 format there are a lot of windows programs, freeware and commercials.

Two VERY GOOD solutions are the freeware AutoMkv and StaxRip programs. I use both.

 

StaxRip can be downloaded here.  AutoMkv can be downloaded here. If links becomes invalid just do a Google search and you will find the packages.

Both programs offer a complete solution to convert the file in various output formats. Filters can be applied. AutoMkv is distributed with freeware addons that physically do the conversion process, StaxRip distributes the program itself and the addons can be downloaded automatically from Internet with a nice auto update feature.

StaxRip is more simple to use and have a wizard feature to guide the user during the conversion process. Users that want a few-clicks conversion should use this. AutoMkv lets users select each aspect of the conversion process, useful if you know what you are doing. With the default settings both produces very good results.

Both programs use x264 to convert in H.264 format so the output files have an excellent quality.

Be aware that H.264 file conversion uses a lot of CPU power, it’s slower than a divx conversion.

Two commercial products that also do this work are Pegasys TmpgXpress and Mainconcept Reference. Both are good programs, produce good conversions but I prefer the freeware x264. Anyway both offers trial versions if you wish to give them a try.

It’s advisable to avoid the lot of shareware programs that convert video files to iPod, PSP formats (all converter here, total video converter there, and so on). They are more simple to use but of very bad quality.