Settings - Overall - Video Options - Target File Size bug

Bug report and feature request
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Krangath
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Settings - Overall - Video Options - Target File Size bug

Post by Krangath » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:49 am

By the way great program, keep up the good work.

System & Settings:
Intel dual core T7200, 3GB RAM, Windows XP SP2, Koepi's XviD Codec v1.1.3, Audio set to 'copy', video set to 'Two pass', XviD, AVI with no cropping.

What I’m trying to do:
I want to convert 1.1GB & 4.4GB 720p x264 AC3 5.1 MKV movies to 1.1GB & 4.4GB 720p AC3 5.1 XviD movies. I wish to keep them the same size as they’re multiples of blank DVD’s, ie 4.4GB. My reasoning for this is as most people would have noticed, x264 movies require quite a bit of processing power to decode smoothly. I have an xbox(1) that outputs to a projector natively at 720p. I have found, despite what most forums say, that the xbox(1) can play native 720p AC3 5.1 movies if they have been encoded as an Xvid, not DivX. My kids also have older PC’s that struggle with x264 movies, so the XviD format is perfect for them.

What I tried:
I am of the view that we have moved on from bitrate calculators quite sometime ago. Most programs now have inbuilt bitrate calculators, whereby you stipulate the desired output size and the rest is taken care of by the program. I did some investigation on the forums and stumbled across the almost undocumented feature ‘Files – Settings – Overall – Video Options – Target File Size (KB)’. This feature yielded good results except I found a couple of bugs. When setting this parameter for 1.1GB movies, I found that I needed to minus 75MB off the value before I applied the setting. So 1.1GB = 1126.4MB = 1153433.6KB, now minus 75MB = 76800KB off of 1153433.6KB = 1076633.6KB, I round this to 1076634KB. This now produces the output file size of 1.1GB every time.

When dealing with 4.4GB files I found that no matter what I set the ‘Target File Size’ to the output would always result in 3.8GB outputs. I set the ‘Target File Size’ to 0 and played with the bitrate with the same results. I cannot comment if this is isolated to XviD’s though.

Comments:
I would be happy to help with testing and when the bug is fixed I will produce a graphic walkthrough to help other achieve what I’m trying to achieve. Also if I can make a suggestion, put a ‘Target File Size’ field on the main screen somewhere, rather than having to dig deep to get at it.

Thanks in advance for any time you put into this.


Added 23rd Sept 08
Conclusion:

Source:
1st - 1.1GB 720p x264 AC3 5.1 MKV movie
2nd - 4.4GB 720p x264 AC3 5.1 MKV movie

MediaCoder Settings for both sources

Audio:
Auto Select = ticked
Enable Audio = ticked
Copy Audio = ticked

Video:
Mode = Two-Pass
Enable Video = ticked
Slider = 9000 Kbps
Format = XviD
Copy Video = clear
Container = AVI

Picture:
Resize = clear
Crop = Disabled
Frame Rate = clear
Aspect Ratio = clear

Target File Size:
1.1GB source
File – Settings – Overall – Video Options – Target File Size = 1076634
4.4GB source
File – Settings – Overall – Video Options – Target File Size = 4284598

Using the above settings with result in the following outputs:
1.1GB source will output a 1.06GB 720p XviD AC3 5.1 movie.
4.4GB source will output a 4.36GB 720p XviD AC3 5.1 movie.
Both outputs result, in my honest opinion, in the same quality video, but can be viewed on much lower spec’ed systems, including the xBox mentioned above.

Be aware that this bug maybe fixed at anytime.
Anyway happy converting.
Last edited by Krangath on Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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SirAuron
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Post by SirAuron » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:03 pm

Very good bug report (thank you)!
I am not sure what causes the 3.8gb limit. Does it happen with all possible video sources and encoders?

I hope Stanley can take a look at it and I second that moving the option ot the graphical interface would be good.
MediaCoder settings:

x264 (backend/source: mencoder, fps: 23,976, Fabio Sonatti's settings) + nero aac 64 in matroska

Krangath
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Post by Krangath » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:44 am

Thanks for your reply SirAuron, I’m a network engineer by trade and realise that the more info you can give the person(s) trying to diagnose and fix your problem, the quicker it is rectified.

Yes it seems to happen to all 4.4GB 720p x264 AC3 5.1 MKV movie sources. I haven’t tried outputting to another format though. I will output to DivX and report back asap.

Krangath
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Post by Krangath » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:36 pm

Ok just an update. I wanted to test one thing before I started playing with the DivX side of things. I was wondering if there might be a bug with the bitrate setting when the target file size is set, so I set the bitrate to a very high value of 9000. I then went in and set the target file size to 4582277KB (4.38GB). Please note I also complicated the issue here by updating to version v6.1.4190, hoping that Stanley may have had a bit of a look into my problem. Whether he did or whether it was setting the high birtate value, I seem to have gotten past the 3.8GB file limit but my output file size is now 4.65GB. Following the bug with the 1.1GB movies, I worked out the difference between 4.65 and 4.38 and minused this off of 4.38. I entered the result into target file size and got an output of 4.39GB.

I have now worked out the difference between 4.65 and 4.37 and minused it off of 4.38. After entering this value, 4284598KB, into the target file size field, I started the conversion. When the conversion is complete I will post the results.

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Post by ladycoder » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:39 am

Might not be able to use Divx anyway, if VFW Encoder is not working.

Krangath
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Post by Krangath » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:12 am

Very true Lady, but who would want to anyway :-p

Well with the new calculations the resulting XviD is 3.46GB, yeah! I’m going to retest the 1.1GB calculations with version 0.6.1.4190. If it still works I will post a conclusion on my findings and how to get around the bug for now.

Krangath
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Post by Krangath » Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:57 pm

I have updated my initial post to reflect my testing. See conclusion above.

Krangath
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Post by Krangath » Thu Sep 25, 2008 5:31 pm

Mixer consider it done :D

viewtopic.php?p=16768#16768

Let me know what you think.

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