ZProcess: FFmpeg or MEncoder not finishing

[zehd]

If you're interested, try this

http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=2...ostcount=9

[undret]

Hi.
On-the-fly means that the file is transcoded while it is being viewed. Yes.

The situation is not consistently clear to me.
In my system, the transcoder was killed even though it was > 15 minutes ahead of the viewing and with a mean bitrate higher than viewing. So there was plenty of margin of several tens of megabytes of video data until the file pointer used for reading would have passed the EOF. That is also how I understood the problem described earlier in this thread.
So the transcoding was not killed because the end-of-file was reached while viewing.

If this is clear (yes?) then the problem has to be that because of competing processes or whatever, made the transcoding bitrate *slower* than the viewing bitrate, even for a very brief period but not nearly so slow that EOF was reached in viewing. STILL the situation is enough for GBPVR to recognize this as a pathological situation => pops zprocess.
And again, even though the transcoding point was 15 min ahead.

If this is a correct understanding, then I see why the zprocess kill happens, but I do not understand why the requirements on maintaining such a high transcoding rate at all times is needed. A dip in transcode rate could be accepted, as long as the EOF is not reached in viewing (or perhaps that buffers cannot be filled).
What do you think?
Thanks for your replies.

[undret]

If you're interested, try this

http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=2...ostcount=9

Yes, sure.

[zehd]

Hi.
On-the-fly means that the file is transcoded while it is being viewed. Yes.

The situation is not consistently clear to me.
In my system, the transcoder was killed even though it was > 15 minutes ahead of the viewing and with a mean bitrate higher than viewing. So there was plenty of margin of several tens of megabytes of video data until the file pointer used for reading would have passed the EOF. That is also how I understood the problem described earlier in this thread.
So the transcoding was not killed because the end-of-file was reached while viewing.

If this is clear (yes?) then the problem has to be that because of competing processes or whatever, made the transcoding bitrate *slower* than the viewing bitrate, even for a very brief period but not nearly so slow that EOF was reached in viewing. STILL the situation is enough for GBPVR to recognize this as a pathological situation => pops zprocess.
And again, even though the transcoding point was 15 min ahead.

If this is a correct understanding, then I see why the zprocess kill happens, but I do not understand why the requirements on maintaining such a high transcoding rate at all times is needed. A dip in transcode rate could be accepted, as long as the EOF is not reached in viewing (or perhaps that buffers cannot be filled).
What do you think?
Thanks for your replies.

I think you are looking too deep into it. Bitrate isn't really a consideration. At least not with ZProcess or the Transcoder

The issue in the previous thread was most undoubtedly due to competing processes causing the transcoder to perform too slowly, and therefore EOF was reached. Typically posters do not post the last "It worked", or "Found the problem" post. That's why the issue seemed to be open and chronic...

I have no way of sorting through the process competition. Setting ZProcess to a higher priority IS NOT the method that is condoned, (and the feature will be removed from ZProcess2)

If the Transcoder is building a 15 min lead time, and GB-PVR still loses connection with the transcoded file, then you may be dealing with transmission issues: Router, Network Tweaks, 10Mb network instead of 100Mb, Wireless, etc, other network processes...

If it is that, Neither ZProcess, ZProcess2 nor I can help.

[undret]

You maybe right, but I suspect there is some unknown here. I am sure network is not to blame (only running over a wired 100mbit), but there may be parts of my system that are interfering.

I have also used XDVD a lot (where I put it under load to transcode both video and audio). There, I never lost connection even for hours of watching.

Anyhow, I would now just follow the statement of your .sig reformat the C drive re-install *only* what I need for PVR and take it from there.
I will just take a bit of the 1.0 GBPVR first to get the feel of it.

[zehd]

Also, for the problem of interrupted transcoding, it almost certainly depends on peculiarities of my system.

That would be something to look into all right...

Also, I was wondering if it could be possible to start an activity to make zprocess to work with dvds? I think this could be very nice if integrated into zprocess.

I can't remember if it was you or someone else who suggested it. I have been thinking about it. It may happen, but there's too much on my plate at the moment. I suspect xDVD is what might work for you, though I've never got it to work...

I have some ideas here I can share directly with you.
I would also like to set up a development environment. How does yours look like?

I'm not sure what you mean... Yeah it would be great to work on new ideas. Time is always the biggest consideration though.

As far as development environment, do you mean the computer I use to develop my apps, and test?

Well its a pretty basic 2 ghz machine. Nothing special. Using VB6 SP6.

Hi Zehd.
Now back again with a fresh install of GBPVR 1.0.16.
However, ZProcess2 does not seem to work for me at all.
I followed the install instructions, but all I get in the log is something like (for a file):
""G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg"
2007-08-26 20:21:41 : Sending to ZTranscode: "C:\Program\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\ZTools\ZTranscode.exe" Trans2MVP "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg" ZProcessProcessID1584
2007-08-26 20:21:41 : ZT: Trans2MVP "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg" ZProcessProcessID1584
2007-08-26 20:21:41 : ZT: GetFileInfo: G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi: 13: Type mismatch"

And also:
I chose to use mencoder, but it persists to use ffmpeg instead.
You know I had problems with hardcoded paths in ZProcess1 to "C:\Program Files"? I have my stuff at "Crogram"
The generated bat has the wrong path there as well to ffmpeg.
Do you have any idea?
I will be out of office for a few extra days so I cannot just yet try any ideas out.
Regards
Stefan

Currently, there is no pathing option in ZProcess2. It uses default paths, like 'Program Files' and the default MEncoder path. That's why it doesn't let you select MEncoder...

I am quite busy right now with the Schedule Direct migration. I won't be able to add path select dialog for a week or two...

[undret]

Currently, there is no pathing option in ZProcess2. It uses default paths, like 'Program Files' and the default MEncoder path. That's why it doesn't let you select MEncoder...

I am quite busy right now with the Schedule Direct migration. I won't be able to add path select dialog for a week or two...

Yes... ffmpeg also quits because some arguments become nonsense. The generated batch file look like below. I specify 720x576 PAL and aspect ratio 16x9.

"C:\Program\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" -vcodec mpeg2video -b 2400k -acodec mp3 -ab 192 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -s 0x0 -r 25 -aspect 4:3 -vstats "C:\TV\Recorded\MVP000DFE0B11961.mpg"

Can you post batch file examples for both mencoder and ffmpeg meanwhile? If I get those I can maybe get along with manual transcoding by hand-editing them to start with.
Undret

[zehd]

Yes... ffmpeg also quits because some arguments become nonsense. The generated batch file look like below. I specify 720x576 PAL and aspect ratio 16x9.

"C:\Program\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" -vcodec mpeg2video -b 2400k -acodec mp3 -ab 192 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -s 0x0 -r 25 -aspect 4:3 -vstats "C:\TV\Recorded\MVP000DFE0B11961.mpg"

Can you post batch file examples for both mencoder and ffmpeg meanwhile? If I get those I can maybe get along with manual transcoding by hand-editing them to start with.
Undret

The size is wrong. 0x0.... can you post the log. And BTW, I suspect you are trying to manually start a Transcode. ZProcess 2 won't let you manually transcode, even to test...

[zehd]

Sorry I should have said that even if you are using FFmpeg, (or forced too) ZProcess requires MEncoder because it gets mplayer to get the aspect ratio. And you won't be able to get that working until the pathing is fixed...

[undret]

Yes. Right there. I try again from the mvp to see what I get.
This is the log entry from starting via the MVP:
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : Trans2MVP "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg"
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : Sending to ZTranscode: "C:\Program\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\ZTools\ZTranscode.exe" MVP000DFE007CB9 "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg" ZProcessProcessID3876
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : ZT: MVP000DFE007CB9 "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg" ZProcessProcessID3876
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : ZT: GetFileInfo: G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi: 13: Type mismatch
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : ZT: GetFileInfo: G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi: 13: Type mismatch
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : ZT: GetFileInfo: G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi: 13: Type mismatch
2007-08-26 21:23:07 : ZT: GetFileInfo: G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi: 13: Type mismatch

and the batch file now contains a mencoder call:

"C:\Program Files\mplayer\mencoder.exe" -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -vf scale=0:0,expand=0:0:0:0,eq2=1.00:1.00:0.00:1.00:1.00:1.00:1.00:1.00,harddup -srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100,volume=0.0 -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=2400:vbitrate=2400:keyint=15:acodec=mp3:abitrate=192:aspect=16/9 -fps No Data Available -ofps 25 -o "C:\tv\Recordings\MVP000DFE007CB92.mpg" "G:\Media\Video\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo\You.Me.and.Dupree[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi" > "C:\Program\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\ZTools\transcode.log"

I think I can fix the batch file to execute from a command line. Then I can do trancoding manually.