Which Transcoding Tools Produce The Best Picture Quality.

I just upgraded to Rebuilder .57 and am using CCE Basic 2.69. I've done 3 movies thus far using Remake Pro for re-authoring, and all have encoded through RB-CCE without a problem. I just thought I would "advertise" this in case anyone is reluctant to upgrade, and would rather leave "well enough" alone.

_X_X_X_X_X_[small].
.


You can observe a lot by watching.
(Yogi Berra 1925 - )[/small]

 

@Pop_Smith...

From your ini file:
[bold]CCEBasic=F:\Cinema Craft Encoder Basic\cct2.exe [/bold]

From my ini file:
[bold]CCEBasic=C:\Program Files\Custom Technology\Cinema Craft Encoder Basic\cct2.exe[/bold]

It almost appears that the CCE file was put into a folder without ever installing the software. The fact that you were getting a buffer overflow error negates this, however. When you do install CCE, the default installation path puts it into the Program Files on your primary drive. I would suggest using this default. I would also point out that brobear was getting the same error, and that by putting all the files and folders on his C drive, he was able to encode without the error.

Also, as a matter of directory organization, I would suggest you make a folder for RB 57 under Program Files, and then put the MPEG2Dec3dg.dll in it. Then make a Rebuilder shortcut, and drag it to your desktop.


_X_X_X_X_X_[small].
.


You can observe a lot by watching.
(Yogi Berra 1925 - )[/small]

 

I also notice you have two "Language=" statements... that means you've probably been manually editing the file (DVD-RB can't do that by itself). I'd suggest you delete the INI, start DVD-RB over, set the paths using the setup dialogue and try again. By the way, setting ECLPasses=4 doesn't have any effect on CCE Basic. It does 2 passes and 2 passes only.

You've also modified VBR_Bias and Quality_Prec -- you may want to reset those back to the default.

 

Starting over sounds good. I would also suggest printing out a copy of vurbal's guide and follow it step by step without any ad-libbing.

 

Pop

After the episode with brobear I’ve learned that anything can be a cause of a problem and the more irregularities you have the more likely it is that you’ll experience one. I think jdobbs is right; you need to start with a fresh setup and keep it pristine. You have CCE on your F:\drive and RB on your C:\drive but you’re taking it back to your movie on your F:\Drive and then there are your basic settings below. I’d put them all on the same drive and redo your setup just as Doc said, straight from Vurbals guide.. I know that jdobbs uses multiple drives but I think you should keep it simple.

Yours

VBR_bias=30
Quality_prec=28
eclPasses=4

Default

VBR_bias=25
Quality_prec=16
eclPasses=2

CCEBasic=F:\Cinema Craft Encoder Basic\cct2.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\XXXXX\Desktop\dvd-rbv056\MPEG2Dec3dg.dll
Working=F:\RETURN_OF_THE_KING WORKING DIR\

 

I truly think that whole drive thing was an exceptional fluke -- and would need a setup exactly like brobear's to happen again.

The buffer error you receive for 0003 and 0004 aren't even disc buffers, they are memory spaces into which video/audio is kept during rebuild.

 

jdobbs

I agree but it is worth a review. I think that it is possible for the hardware to be unable to keep pace with the transfer of files and ultimately cause a timeout that could result in a memory error. Although Semaphore timeouts for example generally refer to a slowing of internet tranfers, hardware transfer rates can also cause them.

http://members.optushome.com.au/utopiaaudio/Soundscape/semaphor.htm

http://forum.digital-digest.com/archive/topic/27539-1.html
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)[/small]

 

It appears that brobear was also getting a Runtime Error 6 - Overflow. There is a short discussion about this at the following link. This discussion is, however, about code and beyond my level of understanding.

http://www.applecore99.com/gen/gen059.asp


_X_X_X_X_X_[small].
.


You can observe a lot by watching.
(Yogi Berra 1925 - )[/small]

 

I think that it's safe to say that if a problem begins to seem umresolvable and all the known solutions to it have failed, then it's time to step back and ask one's self a simple question. What have I not tried?

Some info from the net>

I've made a little bit of progress... I booted from the 200GB that still has XP on it and I uninstalled Roxio GoBack. Then I booted from the 36GB SATA and now I can see the 200GB as a secondary drive with a drive letter assigned to it.

Unfortunately, I still can't open it. I get this error:
D:\ is not accessable.
The semaphore timeout period has expired.

've swapped the cables and connections in every way. I tried to update the ATA card's driver, but I think I have the latest. This really sucks.

Both 200GB drives are visible in MY COMPUTER and in DISK MANAGEMENT. Both have drive letters and are "healthy."

I still get this error when I try to access either:

THE DRIVE IS NOT ACCESSABLE.
SEMAPHORE TIMEOUT PERIOD EXPIRED.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)[/small]

 

Soph ... that has the definite flavor of something I read recently, but I just can't seem to remember where.

 

Doc it might be in one of my old posts, me and semaphores are old friends. Its a problem that often gets overlookedlike deframenting ones hard disk and it doesn't always give a message. Sometimes the application will report a failure before ones system does.

 

That's very interesting soph, I was just talking with brobear the other day about semaphore timeouts. I didn't realize their impact was so affecting.

 

I went and deleted everthing that was on the RB guide, i even deleted the folders, ran Disk Cleanup, rebooted then, i ran Disk Cleanup again. I reinstalled everything following Vurbal's guide step-by-step (except i added "CCETargetSectors=2260000" to the ini file as you can see below) and am going to run RB over night.

[Options]
OneClick=1
NoWarn=1
AudioDub=0
idct7Opt=1
RemoveDTS=1
LoadPlugin=1
CCETargetSectors=2260000
[Setup]
Languages=1111111111111111111111110111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
sLanguages=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
[Paths]
CCEBasic=C:\Program Files\Custom Technology\Cinema Craft Encoder Basic\cct2.exe
MPEG2DEC=C:\Program Files\dvd-rb057\MPEG2Dec3dg.dll
Source=G:\VIDEO_TS\
Working=C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CJ\DESKTOP\LOTR ROTK WORKING DIR\
[CCEOptions]
VBR_bias=25
Quality_prec=16
eclPasses=2

 

It looks like a clean setup to me.
Go for it.

 

Pop_Smith

Possibly the solution to my Buffer Overflow and Run'time Overflow problems was a fluke. But this is with late model equipment and drives. Other than the burner I added and an extra 250GB HDD to go along with an 80 GB HDD, my PC is pretty much what would be found in many stores. So I didn't use any bazaar equipment to induce the problem.

I noticed you left the source on another drive. If you continue to have problems, move the source folder onto the C drive along with the programs and the work folder. It's just a thought, but it can't hurt, put everything involved with the RB/CCE setup on the same drive and that includes the source folder and the work folder.

I know there are multiple causes for this type problem. But putting everything on one drive is a quick way of eliminating at least one of the odd problems. If it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything other than a few minutes time setting up the folders. Normally the RB/CCE setup works well using multiple drives. But as my problem showed, not in all cases. There is no apparent time loss. I ran a movie through in 2hr and 58 min and the compression level was near 50%. I hear that is about par for a mid level piece of equipment like mine.

Below is the final setup that worked for my system.
[Options]
OneClick=1
NoWarn=1
LoadPlugin=1
AudioDub=0
idct7Opt=1
CCE=2
[CCEOptions]
VBR_bias=25
Quality_prec=16
eclPasses=2
[Paths]
CCEBasic=C:\Program Files\Custom Technology2\Cinema Craft Encoder Basic_269\cct2.exe
MPEG2DEC=C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\MPEG2Dec3dg.dll
[Setup]
Languages=1111111111111111111111110111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
sLanguages=1111111111111111111111110111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

All the settings are straight from the guide with the exception of the location of the MPEG2Dec3dg.dll file. That file works well from the plugins folder in Avisynth, at least on my system. The guide calls for it to be in the RB folder. Guess it works either way, haven't tried it in the RB folder yet. Once I got the program functioning, I ran it while surfing the net and keeping from 3 to 5 windows working. Not a flaw and the Video_TS folder produced was 4.33 GB in size and the quality was excellent. I didn't even turn off programs I normally do while recording. I mention all this because I was trying to add a load on the system that isn't normally there to see if the program would fail. It didn't.

One thing I didn't mention was that once I initially got my program to run to completion, I was getting an over compressed Video_TS folder at 2.9 GB in size. I tried adding CCETargetSectors=2260000 in the setup under Options. The effect was to add .03 GB. So that didn't solve my file size problem at all. That was when I decided to go with a clean install and use 0.57 RB along with 2.69 CCE Basic. I had been using 2.67. I'd tried switching from 2.69 to 2.67 earlier to try and solve the 0003 problem with no effect. The clean install solved the over compression problem. I ran the test a second time just to make sure; using the same file, 4.33 GB again. It's safe to say my setup is now functioning properly and I can start tweaking the system.

Once again I'd like to thank Sophocles, jdobbs and the others who helped with the problem. Thanks to jdobbs for an excellent program, even if it took me a while to get it working. There shouldn't be any fear using the new version. If it works for me, it should work for just about everyone.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small][bold]'brobear'[/bold]



I was an earth-rim walker, a lurker at the threshold of the abyss. - Grendel -

[bold]Et tu, Brute![/bold][/small]

 

For those who were wondering about the absence of the CCE=2 in my setup; I noticed the reason why. CCE2 showed up after the system had successfully run through a movie. After a clean setup and until at least one completion, CCE=2 wasn't written into the file. CCE had to be selected for it to be used and go into phase III where my problem caused the program to abort. So the program had recognized the selection, it just hadn't entered into the file yet.

What Sophocles was saying about semaphore timeout is correct here. It is similar. A case in point is where the DVD Decrypter program was having problems with some external drives and there was a semaphore timeout error. That is a well documented problem. The problem stems from the interface not transferring the data fast enough to sychronize with the program on the PC. In my case, 0003 Buffer Overflow, the program wasn't synchronized with the data stream and there was enough time lag to cause the overflow warning to occurr. 1 GB RAM along with a P4 2.8 GHz CPU with an 800 MHz FSB; so in my case I wasn't looking at a lack of system resources or antiquated equipment.

jdobbs wrote,

I hate to say it, but there were thousands of this model PC put together with the same parts. Mine is a Dell 8300 I purchased in 2003 and there are a lot more of them out there. Also, other brands use the same components. The only variation from out of the box was the addition of an extra HDD and the burner. It appears the video/audio just wasn't getting into and out of the memory spaces at the right time and the same thing could happen on a lot of similar PCs. Then again, it may just be my particular WD HDD that I added and no one else will add one to a Dell 8300 and use the RB/CCE combo. Who knows?

_X_X_X_X_X_[small][bold]'brobear'[/bold]



I was an earth-rim walker, a lurker at the threshold of the abyss. - Grendel -

[bold]Et tu, Brute![/bold][/small]

 

Hmm! I can tell brobear's back, together with Vurbal the two of them can take up an entire page.

brobear

Good semaphore description, clearly defined.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)[/small]

 

Yeah, but think of all the good info they lay down into print.

I expect brobear is one happy camper right now. I know what it was like for me trying to get things working. It's a different 4 hours one spends when the outcome is not known compared to when the outcome is. And when this goes on for several days, it becomes all-consuming as one tries to out-think what the problem is. Anyway, I certainly had a high level of relief once things start working.

'Wonder how Pop Smith is coming along? Looked like a clean setup to me.

 

I was being fair I was afraid that if I got selective then one of you would feel slighted. We couldn't have that.

Hmm!

I wonder?