Ever wonder how people on peer-to-peer networks squeeze a super high quality video movie into 700mb? They use a program called Gordian Knot.
Gordian Knot is an advanced integrated package tool for the entire process of DVD to DivX or XviD encoding. Supports AVI, OGM and MKV container formats. No longer updated,
It is very complicated as you can tell by reading this tutorial.
Fortunately someone named len0x created a GUI to make the whole process of compressing videos to DivX or Xvid in the simplest way ever. This program is called AutoGK.
Auto Gordian Knot simplifies the DVD to AVI/DivX/XviD conversion process for people new to Gordian Knot and overwhelmed by the vast options. It also supports other MPEG2 sources, such as HDTV, DVB captures and transport streams. New in version 2+: AVI, DV, DivX, XviD input.
Now the magic to make those clear small video files and of this program is to use the "2 pass encoding" setting and this can only be obtained by selecting the "specify your desired output file size" setting. If you encode using the "quality" then it only uses one pass and the video is larger and blocky in my opinion. I use 800meg for about an hour and a half movie and maybe a two hour movie max. This produces those wonderful super small video files that appear to have retained the high resolution of the original dvd recording at a considerable smaller file size (350meg an hour). My mce500 can create 5 gig files for a one and a half hour movie which is nuts. So this program is perfect to use on the files you want to archive. These programs only work with offline files so in other words it CAN'T record and compress your live video in real time as you are recording it.
Only offline files... Files you already finished recording. ok? k..
Now the problem using AutoGK and PVRX2 is.....
YOU CAN'T!
"len0x" has chosen to exclude any command line switches in AutoGK due to the fact that he wants people to use the program and not make it a baseline for others to exploit...
Without command line switches i'm afraid it becomes apparent that the only way to use AutoGK is to close PVRX2 and grab a mouse and manually enter each file you want to encode to encode it in 2 passes.
It turns out that one of our members here (leecole) has written a program that takes advantage of both Gordian Knot and AutoGK and can be run using a command line batch such as "PostProcessing.bat" and the settings are stored in the .ini file
Brilliant.
It turns out that leecole loves GBPVR and had actually made his program compatible with GBPVR and it's database.
This program is called "AutoXvid" and I have been playing with it for a bit and it is great!
Just read here what it can do!!
Code:
[SIZE=4] Author:[/SIZE] leecole@bigfoot.com
Short Description: Hands off Commercial removal and Xvid encoding
Long Description: Works with Beyond TV, MediaPC, and GBPVR. Supports tp, mpg,
and dvr-ms input. MediaPC (dvr-ms input) require commercial cut with VideoReDo, to remove the dvr.
* AutoUpdate of lastest version of AutoXvid modules.
* Supports French Windows XP
* Hands off AutoGK encoding to either xVid or Divx of all recordings done by Beyond TV or GBPVR, and all MediaPC recordings that are not copy protected. The encoding job is queued to AutoGK immediately when the MPEG2 recording is completed by Beyond TV, GBPVR, or MediaPC. No copying to another folder, no human intervention required.
* Controls hours of execution for AutoGK. To avoid cpu contention, you may set AutoGK hours of execution.
* Moves AutoGK work files and work directorys out of Beyond TV's folders
* Cleanup of AutoGK work directorys and work files
* Supports many different commercial cut packages.
MPG
VideoReDo Must be purchased
Comskip freeware
Comskip and VideoRedo VideoReDo must be purchased
ComSkip and ProjectX freeware
IGCutter freeware
dvr-ms
VideoReDo Must be purchased
tp
HDTV2Mpeg2 freeware
VideoReDo Must be purchased
Comskip and VideoRedo VideoReDo must be purchased
* If, in Beyond TV, you have MPEG2 DVD quality recordings done by a Hauppauge PVR 250 then all ecessary registry setting are done to give you subtitle support in Hauppauge drivers, WinTV32, and WinTV200 applications. In WinTv application Click Preferences and select Closed Captioning.
Note: changes to device drivers require a reboot before they take effect.
* Episode Data is retrieved from Beyond TV for the MPEG2 recording, then when AutoGK has finished encoding the AVI, the Episode data is imported back into Beyond TV for the AVI recording. Includes stars and Episode Description. For GBPVR,
GBPVR maintains MetaData in a SQL data base. For MediaPC, all MetaData is kept in Extended File Attributes. My Watch program will save these in a SeriesName.ini with a section named for the {Episode].
* If IGCutter package is installed, will support using BTV Smart Chapters to cut commercials then encode the _cut.mpg to AVI. see: http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23017
* Voice announcement of failures or success of job
* In Beyond TV, for versions of Beyond TV that support Closed Captions, turns on Closed Captions for the user.
* Create subdirectories for AVIs by Genre, Title, or Genre/Title.
* Delete source MPEG2 file on completion if you desire.
* If, in Beyond TV, you use SmartChapters for your MPEG2 recordings. AutoXvid will wait upon completion of SmartChapters, before deleteing any files, and export the SmartChapters to the AVI recording.
* You may "burn" subtitles into the AVI AutoGK.
* Easy to read, and understand AutoXvid.ini file. For times, use 24 hour clock, or 12 hour clock with pm or am, or keywords like Immediate, Noon, Midnight. For switch setting you may use 1 or 0, or Yes and No.
* In case of power failure while AutoGK is encoding, all unfinished jobs are automaticlly requed to AutoGK whenever you power the system back up.
* A run log may be maintained, if you desire.
When I use this program I can compress my huge 5 - 8 gig videos to a mere 750 megs automatically using PostProcess.bat
I can't believe there are only 4 posts about AutoXvid here so that is why I created this thread.
Anyone use it and what problems are you having? I hope with enough input we can learn how to use this properly.
Wrote:"note that AutoXvid can be installed to work with MediaPC, or with GBPVR.
For GBPVR all that is required, is in GBPVR folder, create a PostProcessing.bat with the following line in it.
"Drive:\Path_to_AutoXvid\AutoXvid.exe" %1"
"My personal favorite id GBPVR. It is free and is full of features that aren't in Beyond TV, or MediaPC. It can be daunting to configure though."
"My neighbor later switched to GB-PVR and I wrote a program for him that would import the cut and re-encoded avi into GB-PVR and read the ini and set that info into the GB-PVR DB3 database. If you ever decide to do something like that, then you may also want my import program."
I want your import program lee!
But don't know where to find it
Lee was last here in 2007
link to AutoXvid here
.
Someone post here your thoughts and troubles and resolutions about this program so we can try to learn more about it.
MovieWizManager - Added command line option -ignore. Will ignore files starting with prefixes specified. For Example -ignore:âLost;Heroes;Boston Legalâ
Config - Fix to target location combo box to remember last entry
Config - Fix to Locate New Content for DVDs, filters out already loaded entries.
Config - Fixed bug on Config startup where invalid file path in recordings would cause config program to abort.
Config - Fixed bug where infinite loop occured in situation where title had specific combination of [] and - characters in title.
Config - Added Categories to the list of fields you can display in Movie Info dialogs.
Config - Added ability to show Hide OR Delete OR no button on the movie info detail screen.
Config - Allow list of filename prefixes to ignore when searching for new files to load into MovieWiz. This way you can avoid displaying entries that you never want to load.
Plugin - Fix bug when playing DVD with external player, removed .DVD from directory name
Plugin - Fixed bug when running in client mode, was not translating UNC mappings correctly.
Plugin - Some logic changes to speed up initial load and category changes.
Plugin - Added Video Inset capability. Thumbnail will be replaced by video or Live TV (if one is playing).
Plugin - List now autowraps. If on 1st entry, up arrow will position to last entry. If on last entry, down arrow will position on 1st entry.
Plugin - Added KeyMapping for VideoList. You can now set what key will Play the movie. Entry is
<command name=âML_PLAYâ key=âPlayâ/>. If you change âPlayâ to âEnterâ, the Enter or Ok Button (remote) will play the movie directly rather than show movie details.
Plugin - When positioned on Movie Overview, pressing Enter will now display Movie Details.
Added ability to password protect categories. Ctrl-G (Green Remote button) will pull up password entry dialog.
Added concept of a âDefault Entryâ for series. A single show may be marked as default. If any lookup for show with the same title (ie series (not episode)) not found, the default entry details will be used to populate new entry (including thumbnail)
any hints or tricks for programming buttons that don't do anything (like the wintv quickkeys) Not looking for anything complicated, just want to know if I can make the unused buttons useful.
Is there a keymap for this remote using gbpvr? I have the one that comes with the remote, but like I said all the buttons at the top and bottem of the remote don't do anything with gbpvr.
For the last year and a half I've been running a purpose built standalone PVR (2.8ghz, 1 gig of ram, GB-PVR, PVR150, 200gb drive that I upgraded to 500gb today). It's a wonderful thing! I even added an MVP box to my other tv so the rest of the family can enjoy my pvr. The problem is the MVP box is (as is the standard complaint) too dark.
So with me being a nerd and working for a thin client company, I got my hands on a neat little "diskless workstation" that has a PCI slot and an IDE slot as well. It WAS a thin client, but I'm thinking it would make a killer mini-pvr for the other tv. It's a 1 gigahertz machine with 512mb of ram. I could easily add a 2.5 inch hard drive with an ide->44pin converter (There's room in the small case). The onboard video card is a "via cle266" which apparently supports TV-out, meaning I could buy a cheap vga->svideo converter cable and it should work. My only concern is whether or not a PVR150 would fit in the case. Does anyone know the dimensions of the PVR150 card? I've got about 6.5 inches from the back of the case (where the pci card screws down) to the front. If the PVR150 won't fit is there a card that will that is GBPVR supported?
Would this hardware be sufficient for a simple, light use (4 to 5 recordings and 4 to 5 viewings per week) PVR? Should I go with the "add a large hard drive and use it as a standalone PVR" method or would a smaller drive be ok and then use the "client" mode of GBPVR (to slave it to my more powerful pvr)
Any thoughts and advice is welcomed! This nerd needs a project!
after a OS reinstall and restoring my old gbprv, i could not for the life of me get GBPVRX2 to display any video. the audio came through fine, but never any video.
I try running the old GBPVR.exe and wallah, video.
should i attach any logs to help figure out why this is happening?
*edit*
now trying it after getting it to work on the old version, the new version works.
Very confusing...
Came back from easter at the inlaws and saw that my computer restarted for some reason. (stupid auto updates). But I found that for some reason now my guides aren't working, and its not showing my schedules direct data. I have a current subscription with Schedules Direct and just not sure how to correct this problem. Give the noobie some help. I posted a picture of the issue, and if you need a log let me know which one and where to find it in my directory. (I'm running 1.1.5)
Hope that it is OK to offer this on this site.
I have a new WinTV PVR 500 MCE tht I will not need since we recently signed up for satellte TV service. Will soon be looking for a digital tuner for GBPVR
In December, Hauppauge sent me a new tuner because I was having problems with one less than a year old. In the meantime, we decided to go to a satellite service, so it is no longer needed.
The box contains the dual turner card, a drivers disk, FM antennae, and a back panel composite for S Video, and video and two audio jacks.
I am asking $95 plus shipping
I also am selling a Hauppague MVP hardwire with remote....$60
I want to pull the names of all the <Placements> in my skin.xml file into a string array - could anyone point me in the right direction - or better still - post a snippet...
Is there anything that the updated Music Library 2 or Community Skin would do that would kill Live TV? I only ask because after updating them (even though ML2 isn't working for me) my Live TV is dead. It works fine with Vista MC and can record fine. It simply kicks me back to the main menu. Same thing happens with the default Blue skin. I did repair install with no joy and may just do a complete reinstall but wondered if my updating did any damage.
I have upgraded to 1.2.9
The process on Vista Home Premium was not smooth unfortunatly.
I was able to get things working (eventually) with the
sc delete "gb-pvr recording service"
line executed from the command line.
I have 3 tuners that i fully utilize. Seeing conflicts because of the pre and post padding, i searched and saw to apply the patch again that's in the 1.1.5 sticky. This patch is applied.
I have tried to setup new recordings, but the program freezes, with me having to 'End Task' to get it to close. I have tried quick records and normal records and this happens with both.
All else that i use in GB-PVR seems to be working normally.
I have attached all my logs (the sticky says to include them all...for future reference should i wait and see if there are only specific ones needed?)
Most recent, i tried to do a quick record, 'End Task'ed to close, rebooted, zipped the logs...
