ZProcess - Old Support Thread...

[zehd]

how do I remove the ZProcess entry from the "open with" menu? I accedently used it while not having Zprocess set up and it zeroed a movie......

If you did not replace the real ffmpeg with Zprocess, and only ran the reg file to addZProcess to Open with, you really just called the real ffmpeg on a movie. I suppose that's why the movie was 'zeroed' though I'm sure the real ffmpeg wouldn't damage an original file, without any other parameters... oh well!

I've updated the RemoveZprocess.reg file in the ZProcess.zip file on my wiki page, that will remove the Open with. As said before, if a reg key is not present in the first place, trying to delete a key that doesn't exist won't hurt anything...


Thanks for helping me out...

[pBS]

hehe...didn't even see this and my credit...lol nice work..
have you seen my showburner util on the wiki? [shameless plug! ]
[i need to get it added to the left menu after a few changes]
it's a bit more advanced than the first mencoder addon...now with dvd burning!
i made an installer that seems to keep people happy,no problems since then..
i just get the gbpvr dir from registry, rename the ffmpeg that should be on everyone's \third party\ffmpeg\ dir and insert mine..
and i allow the config.xml profiles to still be used..[with very slight modification]

i pulled a trick with auto-it scripts and have it spawn the "watcher" program that watches my fake ffmpeg.exe for cancellation from gbpvr, so it can then kill the spawned encoder no matter the name, by hitting 'stop' within gbpvr transcode menus.. after which it exits itself..total transparency..
it's really simple and you can de-compile my executable ffmpeg.exe with auto-it to see how i did it..
check out the newer version with installer, it's rought but does the job..
oh and mencoder can auto-adjust on the fly with one command for aspect..
[keeps aspect while shrinking the video to fit width to screen]
always centered and may be adjustable for 16:9 tvs too..
just thought i'd share a few ideas..

[zehd]

hehe...didn't even see this and my credit...lol nice work..
have you seen my showburner util on the wiki? [shameless plug! ]
[i need to get it added to the left menu after a few changes]
it's a bit more advanced than the first mencoder addon...now with dvd burning!
i made an installer that seems to keep people happy,no problems since then..
i just get the gbpvr dir from registry, rename the ffmpeg that should be on everyone's \third party\ffmpeg\ dir and insert mine..
and i allow the config.xml profiles to still be used..[with very slight modification]

i pulled a trick with auto-it scripts and have it spawn the "watcher" program that watches my fake ffmpeg.exe for cancellation from gbpvr, so it can then kill the spawned encoder no matter the name, by hitting 'stop' within gbpvr transcode menus.. after which it exits itself..total transparency..
it's really simple and you can de-compile my executable ffmpeg.exe with auto-it to see how i did it..
check out the newer version with installer, it's rought but does the job..
oh and mencoder can auto-adjust on the fly with one command for aspect..
[keeps aspect while shrinking the video to fit width to screen]
always centered and may be adjustable for 16:9 tvs too..
just thought i'd share a few ideas..

I promise that I only 'stole' the idea of renaming the ffmpeg to fake out gbpvr. I can't believe how we ended up with something so similar. You have that watcher program, I have hunter. It does the same thing! I guess great minds thnk alike...

ZProcess will now operate as proxy for transcoding in GB-PVR besides maintaining aspect ratio for MVP.

I'd say the best thing about ZProcess is the ability to graphically adjust the centering of a video, so that it will appear centred on the mvp...

I like your idea about adding vids to a dvd creator queue. Alot like my adding recordings to a regular convert to avi transcodeQ...

I should point out that our two programs would not be compatible with each other, in their current configuration, faking GBPVR by using the 'ffmpeg.exe' file name

[zehd]

oh and mencoder can auto-adjust on the fly with one command for aspect..
[keeps aspect while shrinking the video to fit width to screen]

Are you able to make this work with MVP transcoding?

[pBS]

yea,it works great... especially on dvd's...
it reads the incoming file's aspect, then scales the video down till the width fits on 720wide screen..
so always centered and always 720x480 end result...
[so scaling shouldn't be much quality loss..]
an example is on the forums here somewhere or i can dig it up for ya..

there is one problem however with crappy dvd's..
some dvd's put their own black bars IN the video...!!
there's no way to auto-compernsate for these unless you can 'detect' the blackness and cut it off,then scale it alll...
most i've seen are 2.35:1 and they only black bar it to make it 16:9 so they usually aren't that large a bar...they will still scale correctly, but you'll see the 'pseudo' black bars transition to the added ones...not a big distraction tho..

kinda like 2 black stripes next to eachother..thankfully the picture is centered and scaled fine..

no problem on the similarities..looks like we both saw an opening and jumped on it! lol [and yea i use the batch for que'd recodes as well as dvd burns]
i went for 'simple' [yea right, i think i used eery batchfile trick in the book..lol] and yours is excellent for the gui..nice job..

yes,they will be incompatible, but mostly follow the same functions so hopefully won't be a problem..actually i made mine kinda transparent so you could run *any* command as they're just passed thru the executable with parameters...no real processing done with my proggie..
will probably skew mine towards the dvd burning with a side of re-compression..
more power to ya!

[zehd]

hey zehd, can be this used or configured to use with MainConcpets MPEG2/AVI an etc. Encoder. Would be nice if I could configure access through MVP instead of running back up to my Video Production PC to launch the process. Make 352x288 PAL MPEG1 into 352x480 NTSC MPEG2. This process works and I can view and transcode media while it processing over the network.

Not sure what the question is in there!

If I guess, you're asking if it can transcode files mpg2avi, avi2mpg,... from within GBPVR...

First off, you should know that ZProcess is only a front end GUI for ffmpeg. It can have settings adjusted and remembered.

Once the settings have been adjusted, you can call it from the Transcode menu in the Video Library.

You will need to add an entry into the config.xml... for mpg to mpg...

Code:

<Conversion name="MPG to MPG" cmd="-y -i {SOURCE_FILE} {DEST_FILE}" targetExtension=".mpg" />

(all the other swithes like -acodec and -f are not required if you are using ZProcess to maintain your settings..)

Just edit your settings under the '2mpg' transcode profile and save them

The settings aren't portable (unless you save and restore the registry entires) so you will have to adjust those settings on your main PVR machine. Once configured though it will work through the Video Library, even in MVP

I do it all the time

http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...cess#toc16

[zehd]

Well how long that ffmepg take to convert PAL 300MB MPEG1 file into NTSC MPEG2. For me it's under 15 mins. I

I'll have to check into this some more, but how long does the ZProcess take?

ZProcess will take as long as FFmpeg takes. ZProcess does not transcode anything. It just takes an input file (and maybe an output file) a Transcode profile, and then spits out a commandline that drives the original FFmpeg.

It's a lot like a fancy batch file

It does, however allow you to transcode only 60 secs, at a time and you can watch how many real secs it takes to do those 60 secs of video. That way you can try many settings without running all over your house. Once you have the best quality vs speed, you can save those settings...

[vdb]

Zehd, I am sorry to report that this solution does not work for me, at least not with .AVI files. The Zprocess logfile states that it starts the process, but then the gbpvr-native logfile states that it can not find the d:\temp\MVPxxx.mpg file. So for some reason the transcoding does not start, it never creates an output file. And then the MVP reboots.

Log of Zprocess.log:
[SIZE="1"]7/16/2006 23:12:25 : **************************** :
7/16/2006 23:12:26 : Transcode starts : D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
7/16/2006 23:12:26 : Transcode: "C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg\fmpeg.exe" -y -i "D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi" -b 2000 -ab 128 -ac 2 -r 29.97 -s 384x220 -padtop 34 -padbottom 34 -f avi "D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg" : D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
7/16/2006 23:12:27 : Transcode finishes moving files : D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
7/16/2006 23:12:27 : Transcode finishes : D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
[/SIZE]
And the corresponding gbpvr-exe.log entry:
[SIZE="1"]7/16/2006 23:12:24.500 INFO [11] playFile()
7/16/2006 23:12:24.570 VERBOSE [11] About to play file: D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
7/16/2006 23:12:24.570 VERBOSE [11] Sending MVP Video Playback Request: D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
7/16/2006 23:12:24.570 VERBOSE [11] Playback started: D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] MVP playback requested: D:\data\ATTACH~1\Andr5x21.avi (shortname)
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] MVP playback requested: D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi (longname)
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] getValue cached value: /settings/RecordingsDirectory : D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] getValue cached value: /settings/MVPTranscodeUsingFFmpeg : true
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] getValue() loading new key/value into cache: /settings/MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLinePAL
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] getValue: /settings/MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLinePAL : -y -i "{SOURCE_FILE}" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 25 -s 352x288 -f svcd "{DEST_FILE}"
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] Starting FFmpeg transcode with: -y -i "D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 25 -s 352x288 -f svcd "D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg"
7/16/2006 23:12:24.680 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:24.680 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:24.870 VERBOSE [11] MVP not sending frame
7/16/2006 23:12:24.890 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:25.020 VERBOSE [11] Checking if resume prompt needs to be shown
7/16/2006 23:12:25.020 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:25.020 VERBOSE [11] Sending frame
7/16/2006 23:12:25.081 VERBOSE [11] Y/Y2 buffer: 3385 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:25.121 VERBOSE [11] U/V buffer: 1848 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:25.121 VERBOSE [11] incremental frame sent
7/16/2006 23:12:25.141 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:25.241 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (3)
7/16/2006 23:12:25.241 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:25.301 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:25.301 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:25.391 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:25.641 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:25.892 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:26.022 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:26.022 VERBOSE [11] Sending frame
7/16/2006 23:12:26.082 VERBOSE [11] Y/Y2 buffer: 3385 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:26.112 VERBOSE [11] U/V buffer: 1848 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:26.112 VERBOSE [11] incremental frame sent
7/16/2006 23:12:26.142 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:26.232 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (3)
7/16/2006 23:12:26.232 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:26.292 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:26.292 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:26.392 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:26.643 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:26.893 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:27.013 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:27.013 VERBOSE [11] Sending frame
7/16/2006 23:12:27.073 VERBOSE [11] Y/Y2 buffer: 3385 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:27.103 VERBOSE [11] U/V buffer: 1848 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:27.113 VERBOSE [11] incremental frame sent
7/16/2006 23:12:27.143 VERBOSE [10] Waiting for transcoding to begin
7/16/2006 23:12:27.254 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (3)
7/16/2006 23:12:27.254 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:27.314 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:27.314 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:27.394 VERBOSE [10] getValue cached value: /settings/MVPTranscodePrePlayDelay : 5500
7/16/2006 23:12:28.015 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:28.015 VERBOSE [11] Sending frame
7/16/2006 23:12:28.075 VERBOSE [11] Y/Y2 buffer: 3385 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:28.145 VERBOSE [11] U/V buffer: 1848 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:28.145 VERBOSE [11] incremental frame sent
7/16/2006 23:12:28.275 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (3)
7/16/2006 23:12:28.275 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:28.335 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:28.335 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:29.046 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:29.046 VERBOSE [11] Sending frame
7/16/2006 23:12:29.116 VERBOSE [11] Y/Y2 buffer: 3385 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:29.146 VERBOSE [11] U/V buffer: 1848 bytes
7/16/2006 23:12:29.146 VERBOSE [11] incremental frame sent
7/16/2006 23:12:29.267 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (3)
7/16/2006 23:12:29.267 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:29.327 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:29.327 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:30.048 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:30.048 VERBOSE [11] MVPHideOSD()
7/16/2006 23:12:30.138 VERBOSE [9] MVP data read: 1 (7)
7/16/2006 23:12:30.138 VERBOSE [9] MVP request processed
7/16/2006 23:12:31.049 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:32.000 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:32.902 VERBOSE [10] Opening media file: D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg
7/16/2006 23:12:32.932 ERROR [10] Media stream thread caught exception: Could not find file 'D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg'.
7/16/2006 23:12:33.002 VERBOSE [11] MVPGetCurrentFrameNumber 25444
7/16/2006 23:12:33.172 ERROR [10] at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share)
at GBPVR.xbb1566157f5f8b1f.xf9d81bb81f7c2ff0()
7/16/2006 23:12:33.172 VERBOSE [10] MVP Streaming Thread shutting down...
7/16/2006 23:12:33.172 VERBOSE [10] MVP Streaming Thread shutdown finished
[/SIZE]
Oddly though, it does work when I want to play a .WMV file. The aspect ratio is shot to hell, but the transcoding works and playing on the MVP works nicely, you can see the transcoding process work ahead of the playing time.

-------------------
[SIZE="1"]System: Celeron 2.4 GHz, 768 MB, 80 GB ATA-133, 100 Mbps, Windows XP, gbpvr 0.97.13, MVP H3, dongle.bin 3.2.24110b.[/SIZE]

[zehd]

Zehd, I am sorry to report that this solution does not work for me, at least not with .AVI files. The Zprocess logfile states that it starts the process, but then the gbpvr-native logfile states that it can not find the d:\temp\MVPxxx.mpg file. So for some reason the transcoding does not start, it never creates an output file. And then the MVP reboots.

Transcode: "C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg\fmpeg.exe" -y -i "D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi" -b 2000 -ab 128 -ac 2 -r 29.97 -s 384x220 -padtop 34 -padbottom 34 -f avi "D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg" :

/settings/MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLinePAL : -y -i "{SOURCE_FILE}" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 25 -s 352x288 -f svcd "{DEST_FILE}"
7/16/2006 23:12:24.620 VERBOSE [10] Starting FFmpeg transcode with: -y -i "D:\data\attachments\Andr5x21.avi" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 25 -s 352x288 -f svcd "D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg"

7/16/2006 23:12:32.902 VERBOSE [10] Opening media file: D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg
7/16/2006 23:12:32.932 ERROR [10] Media stream thread caught exception: Could not find file 'D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg'.

First off, for any lurkers, the two commandlines, do not have to jive. Just the input file and output file have to match, and the ouput filename has to start with "MVP"... This checks out

D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings\MVP000DFE0BB40C1.mpg file is asked for by GB-PVR and started by ZProcess / FFmpeg. So I think it must be not enough of the file is encoded before the MVP gives up and then dies...

You might want to increase the 'Transcode Pre-Delay' secs in the GB-PVR config from the default of 5500 (5.5 secs) to something like 10000 (10 secs) and see if it works.

Another thing to check is: after MVP dumps, can you check your D:\data\GBPVR_Recordings directory and see if there's a MVP file there...

Also, how do the test Transcoded MPG display on the MVP?. Do you get the right aspect? What Output Dimenesions do you use?

[zehd]

Oddly though, it does work when I want to play a .WMV file. The aspect ratio is shot to hell, but the transcoding works and playing on the MVP works nicely, you can see the transcoding process work ahead of the playing time.

Yes this is odd. I do have a couple of WMVs that I was testing with. I knew that a WMV that doesn't have a 4x3 aspect ratio would not show right as, I'm currently not checking the aspect of the WMV input file like I do with the AVI.

I will look for the code that can read the dimensions of an WMV...

In another thread Sub mentioned that you need the Hauppauge Software installed to play WMV, but that is only for GB-PVR native viewing. With the MediaMVP, it only shows MPEGs so if ZProcess/FFmpeg can transcode the file, it will show on the MVP...