DivX Problem - No Video Output

[HDRed]

Guys, this is my first post here and regrettably it's a troubleshooter question.

I'm totally stumped on this one, so I hope the experts can give me an idea of what's going on.

I've been using GordianKnot 0.26b to encode .VOB files to .avi (DivX) format for quite some time now. However, two days ago I ran into a problem - no video output was being made when I would encode the files. I thought maybe it was a GK bug and fired up FlasKMPEG 0.7.8.39 - same problem; the audio was being calculated, but 0Kb/s of video, and a black progess indicator on the encoding equalizer window.

So I did a fresh format of my hard drives and re-installed WindowsXP Professional. Thought a clear slate would fix everything - well, needless to say it didn't work - same problem as before.

I've since done 4 reformats/re-installs of WindowsXP and nothing has fixed the problem. I've got SP1 installed, and I'm using the latest chipset drivers for my chipset (Intel i845G). It seems extremely odd to me that it would work fine for weeks and only now would stop working even after totally fresh installations of the OS. This leads me to believe that I installed everything on the first OS installation in a certain way, or maybe I used older chipset drivers - in any event, I can't think of what exactly is causing the problem.

I've tried using the default DirectX version 8.1 that comes with windowsXP, and I've updated to DirectX 9 - neither has made a difference. I've also tried using an older version of DivX, version 4. This exhibited the same problem - no video output. I'm starting to believe that something I've installed, whether it be my chipset drivers or Service Pack 1 (SP1) for WindowsXP is the culprit - there is a certain order you're supposed to install everything, and maybe I need to try out different orders of installing them or something.

Surely this problem has happened before and someone can help me. I will post my system spec's below and I greatly, enormously appreciate anyone's input on this - really, thanks.

1.6a Pentium4 Northwood @ 2.56Ghz
EPoX 4G4A+ i845 Motherboard
512mb CorsairXMS3000 DDR @ 400mhz Cas 2.5-5-2-3
160GB Storage - 2xWD800JB in RAID0 (16k stripe)
128mb TripleX Geforce4 Ti4200
Sound Blaster Audigy
Pioneer DVD-106s
Lite-On LTR-40125W
Antec TruePower 550w Power Supply
WindowsXP Professional SP1

[setarip]

Is this happening with only one specific .VOB, one specific DVD, or ALL DVDs?

Are you able to play the .VOB/.VOBs/DVD/DVDs, with VIDEO, with a software DVD player (such as WinDVD)?

[HDRed]

I can play the .VOB files with a software DVD player (i.e., WinDVD, PowerDVD XP, nVDVD 2.22 and Windows Media Player 8 will all play the .VOB files without a single problem), but as soon as I try to encode to DivX format, there is no video output!

It's happening with all my DVDs, I've tried over 12 titles.

It has to be something driver or software related, but I simply cannot pinpoint it! Please help.

[Enchanter]

A few suggestions:
1. Reinstall the video codecs.
2. Recreate the DVD2AVI project (D2V) files.
3. If you are processing the video along with the audio, try disabling the latter.

[khp]

Lets try to pinpoint the problem.

1. Check that your previous encodings playback perfectly (to make sure it's not a playback problem)
2. Do you get a picture when you scroll through a movie in DVD2AVI ?
3. Do you get a picture when you scroll through a movie in the preview window in GordianKnot ?
4. Try loading the avs file that GordianKnot created into virtualdub, and check if you get a picture when you scroll through the movie here.
5. After loading the avs file into virtualdub, do the following.
Select Video->'full processing mode'.
Select Video->compression, select divx5.02, click configure, set 'Variable bitrate mode' to 1-pass quality based encoding and Click OK, OK.
Select file->'save as AVI' and save the file under a new name.

Check if this plays OK, and check how large it turns out.

[HDRed]

khp, The preview works in DVD2AVI, I do get a picture when I scroll through. The preview works in Gordian Knot also, but the preview doesn't work in VirtualDub (either for the input or the output).

King, I have encoded the audio along with the video for months now without a problem from any programs, so surely that can't be it.

The file size is always extremely small after encoding (50kb - 30mb) for an entire movie, and I can never open the file with any players, even software DVD players afterwards.

I purchased the DivX Pro codec last night after doing another reformat/re-install of WindowsXP Pro in the order of installation that intel recommends for its motherboard chipsets and processors, so I'm going to try that out to see if it did the trick.

Ugh, this is frustrating...

[khp]

Try reinstalling avisynth2.07 (get it from www.doom9.net)
If that does not solve the problem, load the avs file into a text editor and delete everything after the line

mpeg2source("DVD2AVI project file")

And check if you get a picture from this in virtualdub.
If that does not work either, create a new avs file that only contains the line

version()

load it into virtualdub, and check that you get a 2.07 version message in the picture.

[HDRed]

khp,

I've come to the conclusion that 1-pass mode in FlaskMPEG 0.7.8.39 does work, however no matter what settings I change, 2-pass mode does not produce a video output.

GordianKnot, however, does indeed work. It seems as though I got better quality/filesize out of flask though. I do like GK's complete control over everything though.

Oh well, I guess in a perfect world all software would work perfectly, but we all know it doesn't.

[setarip]

You might want to send a bug report regarding your two-pass problem to the author(s) at:

http://flaskmpeg.net/

Of course, you should keep in mind that you're usinga beta release...

[khp]

Originally posted by HDRed
khp,

I've come to the conclusion that 1-pass mode in FlaskMPEG 0.7.8.39 does work, however no matter what settings I change, 2-pass mode does not produce a video output.

And you are doing both the first and second pass, in 2-pass encoding, right ?.

[HDRed]

khp,

When in FlaskMPEG 0.7.8.39 it gives you the option to configure the DivX 5.02 codec, I choose:

Main button: 2-pass, first pass
First Pass button: 2-pass, first pass
Second Pass button: 2-pass, first pass

I've also tried just selecting Single-Pass for each, but I don't get video output doing that either. Does that clear it up any?

[HDRed]

AHA!

I realized the problem - I wasn't setting 2-Pass : Second Pass on the 2nd pass button.

In flask it resets itself whenever you reclick the main codec button - darnit! Glad it's working though - thanks for all your help guys, I really do appreciate it.

Now if I could only figure out how to get more control over the cropping of Flask - it always leaves a little grey line at the top or some black space. Oh well, it works and I'm happy!

[UncasMS]

what about 2passes in Gk - do they work or not?

[HDRed]

Dual-Pass does work in GK, thanks for asking.

I've been wondering though, in GK it seems like I have to scale down the resolution of the output video quite a bit, sometimes even below 600 width for the compression percentage to even come above 55% - is this normal?

I mean, if I have to make it the size of a matchbox just to fit it on one cd, I think i'll pass.

I know GK is the "cool" program right now, but I really prefer Flask 0.78.39...it just gives me a much more consolidated interface to work with all in one program - and it's not so simplified that I can't really fine-tune what I want (like EasyDivX ).

Are DivX movies supposed to look ok fullscreened when they fit on one cd, or is it the norm to just let them play at normal size. I feel kinda bad that mine don't look so hot fullscreened but they look fine at normal size.

[khp]

Originally posted by HDRed

I've been wondering though, in GK it seems like I have to scale down the resolution of the output video quite a bit, sometimes even below 600 width for the compression percentage to even come above 55% - is this normal?

I would not worry too much about compressability numbers, especially not if you are not using divx5 with B-frames. Go for a resonable BitsPerPixel value. And check the result to see if you are happy with the quality.
But of course I always go for 2-cds if I can't get a good resolution on a 1-cd rip.

Originally posted by HDRed
Are DivX movies supposed to look ok fullscreened when they fit on one cd, or is it the norm to just let them play at normal size. I feel kinda bad that mine don't look so hot fullscreened but they look fine at normal size.

Go with whatever you like best, there is no fixed norm, dictating how things are supposed to be done.
You might be able to get better full screen quality by using the 'Bicubic Direct Show resize filter', but it uses requires a lot of CPU power. You can find it in the download section at www.doom9.org