Blog

Looking for some user-friendly top-down explanation of sensible uses of AviSynth.

See Web-Research further below.

I expect to update this post. (more…)

What tools are available for this?  What are their relative merits / costs (in all senses)?

• First I tried Boris RED but encountered issues.
• Next I investigated AviSynth, discovering two approaches:
  • MSU’s Frame-Rate Convertor (FRC)
  • MVTools2-based scripts; the latter was the more complex but for me it worked best.
• Next I looked at MotionPerfect, which I purchased years ago from Dynapel back in Standard Definition days.
  • Nowadays sold by Gooder Video
    • They sell version 4.3.1
    • I have version 4.3.0
    • I updated it to 4.3.1
      • That shows a different icon/logo to the Dynapel version of that same product.
      • It works the same as far as I can see.
• Another day(s):
  • Boris RED (4 & 5) via NLEs
    • Adobe
    • Avid
    • VegasAfter Effect
  • Kronos ??
  • Twixtor ??.
    • Some people claim this is the fastest motion-estimation-based method.
  • Avid ???
    • e.g. locate the (years-old) Avid velocity / warp envelope demo featuring a surfer ???

(more…)

http://boardreader.com/thread/Avisynth_in_Lightworks_bglX3e31.html

• Q: I’ve tried to import avs scripts into Lightworks (you got to check this free NLE out! Register and download…) by converting the script with makeAVIS but unsuccesfully. Are there any other frameserving ways you would suggest? Lightworks seems very picky on avi files.
• A: poisondeathray (9 months, 1 week ago): avfs - avisynth virtual file system http://www.turtlewar.org/avfs/ http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=133313
  • Also see my earlier post, covering AVFS: http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/389

Made a simple AviSynth script to get an existing real HDV video (in Cineform format) and apply TDeint (motion-compensated deinterlace filter) to it.  Opened it in AvsPmod and it displayed OK.  Exported the result of that processing from AvsPmod via [Tools > Save to AVI].  This called up avs2avi.exe.  That executable’s menu of codec formats was as below.  NOTE the Cineform codec (following that company’s takeover) now comes under the name GoPro - I missed it the first time I scanned!  The test worked fine - deinterlaced video successfully exported to Cineform and subsequently played in Windows Media Player.

•  Microsoft Video 1 (an ancient format - as explained at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Video_1)
• Intel IYUV Codec (a very old format http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?178685-What-is-Intel-IYUV)
• Intel IYUV Codec (again)
• Cinepak Codec by Radius
• proDAD Saver for Mercalli (not sure it’s a real codec, maybe a “virtual” one, associated with the proDAD video stabilization plugin for Sony Vegas)
• GoPro-Cineform Codec v7.3.2 (CINEFORM)
• ffdshow Video Codec (several choices, shown when you hit Config button)
• Intel Indeo Video 4.5 (From the “good old days”, I used it back then to compress PAL standard definition video from analog capture)
• Full Frames (Uncompressed)

Playing with AvsPmod, tried the [Tools > Save to MP4] option.  It prompted for a path to x264.exe.  Searched for one on my system - but there was none.  Searched in this blog but, although I’ve downloaded it before, I obviously didn’t blog it.  Web-search etc revealed http://x264.nl/ where for my context and purposes the 32-bit app of 8-bit depth worked fine (the other variants did not)

(more…)

• Not sure why, but suddenly avs2avi.exe works fine on my W7 system.
  • Didn’t knowingly alter anything.
  • The only change I’m aware of is I uninstalled AviSynth 2.5.8 and installed AViSynth 2.5.7.
• I’m using avs2avi as part of AvsPmod 2.2.0.
  • AvsPmod is itself in Compatibility Mode for WIndows XP-SP3 (otherwise it doesn’t work)
  • However I have not put avs2avi in compatibility mode.
• It (avs2avi) works fine, both from AvsPmod and as standalone.
  • Just ensure it has write permission to its destination of course (no that wasn’t the problem before).

As described in http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/389, I was unable to successfully open .avs files in VirtualDub (1.9.11).  I had AviSynth 2.5.8 installed under Windows 7.  I tried uninstalling and reinstalling AviSynth, but this time stepped back to AviSynth version 2.5.7.  It worked - VirtualDub (1.9.11) can now open .avs files and display their images.  Not sure if it was just the clean reinstall or the step-back to 2.5.7.

Context & Problem:

• I want a way to serve an AviSynth media stream into NLEs etc., e.g. Sony Vegas.  I have done this for years under Windows XP-SP3 (32-bit).
  • Partly just for the flexibility of having this option.
  • Partly (as explained at http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/388), as a workaround to another problem with old software under Windows 7.
• However an attempt at installation in Windows 7 failed - because (I now know) the installer is obsolete (and hence incompatible) with respect to Windows 7.
  • VFAPI requires to be installed, via .bat/.inf files, so that for example it appears in the Registry.
  • But the installer fails under Windows 7.  It is compatible with XP but not Windows 7 (or Vista).
  • It is possible to manually “hack-install” VFAPI into Windows 7, but that causes me anxiety…

Possible Solutions:

• Possibly the tricks reported at  http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=750967 (which in any case is a great article about motion-estimation-based slow-motion in AviSynth) might get VFAPI working on my W7 system.
• Or there may be a better way…AVSP
  • Instead, use AVFS - AviSynth Virtual File System: http://avf.sourceforge.net/
  • To simplify life, there is a single download (zip file) of a suite of apps & plugins associated with AViSynth at http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech3/amvapp.html.  This suite used to include VFAPI and now instead includes AVFS.

(more…)

The context (AviSynth>AvsP>avs2avi):

• The AviSynth greater community has developed a number of applications to simplify the development and use of AviSynth command-scripts.  One of these is AvsP, an AviSynth-script editor, has an option [Tools > Save using avs2avi].
• Under Windows XP, this prompts for a location then prompts (in a separate popup) for codec details, then AviSynth renders (via avs2avi) to the required output-file.
• There is a step-by-step tutorial at http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech3/amvapp-avisynth.html

A problem (works under XP but not W7):

• Under Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (which can also run 32-bit apps), avs2avi merely produces an error message: <<AVIFileOpen failed, unable to open “f:\tmp.avs” : The operation completed successfully.>>  The last bit (”successfully”) merely indicates that the application (avs2avi) does not make a very thorough successfulness-check!
• This issue was previously encountered & investigated back in March 2011: http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/247

Searching for a solution:

• Experiments, unsuccessful:
  • After much web-trawling, I discovered a new version of AvsP, called AvsP(mod).  But it made no difference - same problem.
  • Next I tried running avs2.exe on its own, both with and without Compatibility mode enabled.  As well as XP-SP3 (which caused a further problem), I tried even older modes (that didn’t).  But no joy, the same error message was obtained.
  • I downloaded the latest version of avs2avi and also I tried the one that comes bundled with AvsP(mod), in its Tools folder,but again, no difference.
• Asking for advice:
  • Finally I sent an email to avs2avi’s main author, Moitah
  • Also I posted a question to the Sony Vegas forum: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=775793

(more…)

The tutorial videos for FirstLight (linked in my previous post) made it look very simple.  And indeed it pretty-much is, but Sony Vegas introduces a “bijou problemette” (franglais) in teh form of its Video Preview cache, which lacks a corresponding “Clear Cache” button.  As a result, when I first tried using FirstLight with Vegas (10e), adjustments in FirstLight did not always show up in Vegas.  The possible solutions are:

• In Vegas, set “Dynamic RAM preview (max) MB” to zero.  Then on each FirstLight change, just wiggle Vegas’s timeline cursor (playhead) at least couple of frames either way (moving it by just one frame is not sufficient).
• Alternatively, if ”Dynamic RAM preview (max) MB” is not set to zero,  then on the Preview window, try flipping between settings, like from Good/Half (my usual setting) to Good/Full.  It’s no good doing an open/close of that window or indeed changing its scale - these seem to have no effect on the cache.