Database Develop

Nook Color preset for Handbrake

I created a preset in handbrake for the nook color. I've used it for several videos and they've all worked really well.
I'm not sure how to export the presets exactly. what I've done is copy my user_presets.xml file and rename it to nook_preset.txt (forums won't let me upload an xml file.)
It's the only preset in the file, so you should be able to add the preset node to your existing user_presets.xml or replace the file completely if you haven't defined any yourself.
Here's a step by step:
1) locate your presets file (this link handbrake presets will help you.)
2) rename it from user_presets.xml to user_presets.xml.bak
3) copy one of my attached files (use 0.9.5 for the latest version of handbrake) to the same directory
4) rename it to user_presets.xml
If you had any presets already, this will remove them. If you want them back, just copy them from user_presets.xml.bak into the new user_presets.xml.
UPDATE: The above instructions are not necessary. The newest version of Handbrake includes an import option under the presets menu. I've attached a zip file that contains the nook.plist file to import. This should work on all platforms.
UPDATE 1/9/2011: Added revised preset for Handbrake version 0.9.5
UPDATE 1/10/2011: Added step-by-step instructions.
UPDATE 2/9/2011: Added a plist file.
UPDATE 2/27/2011: New nook.zip - Added resolution and aspect ratio settings to the plist file

MattZTexasu said:
I created a preset in handbrake for the nook color. I've used it for several videos and they've all worked really well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you list some of the changes that you used. I'd like to compare. Thx.

I used the regular ipod setting, but I changed the resolution to 854x480. I turned off all video processing, and set the audio to 48 bit / 128kbps aac.
UPDATE: I forgot that I also changed the video bitrate. Upping it to 1100 instead of 700[? I don't remember.]

Wouldn't using the iPad preset and changing the 1024x768 to 1024x600 be better?

good idea to post them, i was just about to do the same, and the good news is that i have almost identical settings. im just using slightly higher quality audio (160kpbs) and leaving it on Stereo always, everything else looks exactly the same!

epakrat75 said:
Wouldn't using the iPad preset and changing the 1024x768 to 1024x600 be better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if that preset uses "high profile" or not. the NC only supports "baseline profile", and I know that's what the ipod setting uses.
The encodes from HD content look brilliant using this setting. I'm not sure how it could be better.

MattZTexasu said:
The encodes from HD content look brilliant using this setting. I'm not sure how it could be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there's no discernible difference with 480 vs 600 then forget I said anything.

Using 1024x600 would not be "better" in any way. If you want to use the hardware decoding from the NC's default app (Movies when invoked from Astro but I think a part of Gallery), the video must be H.264 Baseline, AAC audio, resolution less than 854x480.
Sent from my Nook Color using XDA App

epakrat75 said:
If there's no discernible difference with 480 vs 600 then forget I said anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't think about the resolution you specified because you could just make the iphone profile 1024x600.
If I had understood your intention, I would have made you aware that the max video accelerated rez on the NC is 854x480 in my initial reply. Instead, I just focused on your use of the ipad profile.
I don't have personal experience; but I think I read somewhere that H.264 @ 1024x600 is a slide show.

Tested with 720p Top Gun and looks perfect. Sound is a little low, but what I've read is that there is no way to adjust the audio gain in Handbrake. Thanks.

From the nook user guide
"Mpeg4 Simple Profile up to 854x480
H.264 Baseline profile up to 854x480"

I also use "DropFolders". It uses HandBrake, but adds a watch folder & destination folder. Any video you drop in the watch folder starts DropFolder & it converts it & places the converted file in the destination folder. Very convenient. Start DropFolder first & then move the file to the watched folder.
Cheers,
kev

Masterface7 said:
From the nook user guide
"Mpeg4 Simple Profile up to 854x480
H.264 Baseline profile up to 854x480"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so it dosnt support hardware decoding past 480 huh? Good to know. I was wondering why it kept failing at 600. Turns out it's just because I cant read instructions! Still, I was running at 400 and it looked alright. Glad to know I can indeed push it a bit further.

What's the average file size you guys are ending up with? I got a 32gb card begging for movies...

It is about 530MB per hour.
Sent from my super nook color

Do we expect this 480P limitation to be lifted once a proper 2.2 ROM comes out? Or is this just the limitations of the hardware?

teknikk7 said:
Do we expect this 480P limitation to be lifted once a proper 2.2 ROM comes out? Or is this just the limitations of the hardware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a hardware limitation.

mojonba said:
Tested with 720p Top Gun and looks perfect. Sound is a little low, but what I've read is that there is no way to adjust the audio gain in Handbrake. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are correct that you cannot adjust the gain. however, (you may be aware of this already,) you can set the DRC on the Audio tab to compress the audio, which will essentially raise the quieter sections to match the louder ones. this will not make the loudest parts any louder though.

SubStation Alpha subtitles
For anybody trying to convert MKVs with SSA subtitles (i.e. sources such as anime), I had a heckuva time trying to figure out how get hard subs written to the MP4 output. Apparently the official stable release of Handbrake doesn't support SSA subs but all you need to do is download the latest nightly build and you're off to the races.
Using the settings the OP mentioned worked wonders when I was trying to convert my Hajime no Ippo episodes.
DropFolders looks interesting as well, I'm just not sure I'm crazy about using Adobe Air. Just another silly app to update all the freakin' time.
Anyway, good work, and thanks!

infinityPlusOne said:
DropFolders looks interesting as well, I'm just not sure I'm crazy about using Adobe Air. Just another silly app to update all the freakin' time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm trying drop folders right now... it's a nice idea but it consumes almost the same CPU than handbrake itself.... i think it is better to run only handbrake and let it use full CPU (and finish in around half of the time)

Chisleu's "Things I Learned" Thread (GPS/Video convertion/etc/etc)

The first post is always updated to show the "how to do it quick" that I arrive at after my long series of "doing it painfully slow." All the other posts are simply notes I share while "doing it painfully slow."
I'm always trying to remember something I forgot, never something I remember.
I'm also new to the platform so I'm remembering things for the first time, which makes this a perfect time to document these learnings.
Sharing files over Wifi with Tablet:
http://www.redmondpie.com/access-ftp-sites-natively-in-windows-7/
I followed these simple directions to map the tablet's FTP sever as a network drive. What FTP server? I'm using "File Expert" which seems to work well. There are many other apps available as well.
Using an external bluetooth:
Download "Bluetooth GPS" from the market. This will allow you to import the gps data. You have to turn on GPS on the tablet and enable mock gps locations in the menus (instructions in application in market.)
Rooting my (just about any) Android Phone
SuperOneClick: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682
Wow that was easy! Rooted my android 2.1 mb200 (Cliq) in 30 seconds. You need the drivers for your phone which you can get from the phone manufacturer's site. I got something called "MotoHelper" from Motorola's site.
Using your phone as a Wifi Hotspot:
android-wifi-tether is the program of choice. If your phone doesn't have a kernel that supports IP tables it won't work. Most phones probably don't have firewall capabilities loaded into them by default! If you want to do that: they support many phones. Check um out.
If you don't want to change the kernel and your phone is rooted, you can use the "Barnacle Wifi Tether" from the market. It turns the device into a mobile hotspot you can access with your android tablet. Works great!
Using your phone as an External Bluetooth GPS device:
Don't think it requires rooting. There are a lot of apps (a lot.. omg) that claim to do it. I was able to find ONE that actually works, for 10 minutes at least. It's only $1.50CDN (if you can get that **** to work) or $1.99 directly to unlock. Works great! It's in the market called "Bluetooth GPS Output". You can buy the $1.99 unlock code from their website. I spent hours hunting something free. haha
Watching video on CM7 (pre-hardware acceleration)
*NOTE* Getting audio in-sync is near impossible. I've given up. I don't think there is a way of accomplishing this without DSP support.
Download "MoboPlayer" and install w/ your favorite app installer. I use "File Expert" because of it's FTP server capabilites making copying super easy and wireless for me.
MoboPlayer is superior to RockPlayer for gingerbread (cm7) for software decoding. It has a silly "skip" button you have to hit when you start up. Not sure how to get rid of that. Yet.
Above is now depreciated with hardware accelerated video working in cm7.
Download the latest version of "Handbrake". I have attached a zipfile with a preset in it that you can import by clicking preset->import. You should then see a preset called "Chisleu High Quality (imported)" on the right side of the screen.
Step 1: Open your file to be converted
Step 2: Select the Preset
Step 3: Change your resolution if it is larger than 854x480.
854x480 is the maximum so set the width to 854 and make sure the width is under 480 (should be) but if not change it so the width and height are under 854x480.
It will always default to the original resolution if it is smaller than 854x480. It should default to 854x480 max if the source is higher resolution. If it doesn't include the 854x480 max, when you select it to encode a video, change the resolution to 854 width and save the preset.
Pairing/Using Zoom 9010 Bluetooth Mini Keyboard w/ NCEncore
Hit the button on the bottom of the keyboard. Go to the bluetooth menu and select the device to pair. It will ask for a pin. Type in 1234 into the tablet. THEN type 1234 into the keyboard and hit enter on the keyboard. Enjoy keyboard!
More to come!

These are notes I made while making the "howto" which is in the first post. The final steps needed are above. If you are hacking your way through this stuff and looking for insights, the stuff below could be helpful. If you are looking for "how do I do this fast" then don't read this stuff, just refer to the first post!!!
Watching video on CM7 (pre-hardware acceleration)
Rockplayer seems to work very well. I'm hoping to figure out the "ideal" formatting for software decode.
It seems everyone has their favorite way to pull this off... I'm using the free program "Handbrake" to convert video files over.
Well, I have reasonable quality video playing well but the sound is being a problem. With my last conversion, the sound will just stop playing after a while and you have to move the video slider around a little to get it to start back up. not good.
848x480 video seems to be pushing it and the quality isn't that much better than 720, so I'm going to limit myself to 720x480max video.
Sample rate 48 audio was very quiet, turns out 41 is too! Use the DRC slider in the audio tab -> 4 to help compensate. I also turned the volume on the speaker up 10db w/ thee "DSP Manager" that comes with the distribution. Helps to boost the volume to less silent levels. Workable, but headphones of some sort are still required IMHO.
Nope. Still crappy. Worried I won't be able to play anything past cartoons!
Update: Rockplayer sucks!!! (for me, on this platform, etc, etc)
http://moboplayer.com/moboplayer_en.html
At another's direction, the v7 "Neon" version of Moboplayer is EPIC. Works much better. It plays my encoding of "BBC Planet Earth - Jungles 1080p". On a side note, if you haven't seen the Planet Earth series, get it. It is super fun to watch. very interesting.
I used these settings:
720x400 (720 max w/ automatic height)
48k / 128kbps AAC/faac audio.
51 minutes is 765mb. Pretty huge.
I mostly used the direcitons provided here:
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...using-handbrake-convert-video-nook-color.html
(3) On the Presets window, select High Profile.
(4) Click on the Source button, and load the video file you want to convert.
(5) Click the Browse, and select a destination and file name for the MP4 video file you will create.
(6) Go to the Picture tab. Set the Anamorphic menu to None. Enter 720 in the Width box, and check the Keep Aspect Ratio button. The Height should automatically adjust.
(7) Go to the Video Filters tab. Set Detelecine and Decomb to Off.
(8) Go to the Video tab. If you are using DVD source video, or standard resolution video, leave the Framerate option as Same as source. If your source is HD video (60fps), change the Framerate to 29.97.
(9) Go to the Audio tab. How many tracks appear? The goal is to end up with one track with an Audio Codec that shows up as AAC (faac) or MP3 (lame). If there are others, right click and remove them. On the remaining track, set Mixdown to Stereo, Samplerate to 48, and Bitrate to 128.
(10) Skip the Subtitles and Chapters tabs.
(11) Go to the Advanced tab. Set Maximum B-Frames to 0, and uncheck the CABAC Entropy Coding, 8x8 Transform, and Weighted P-Frames options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm currently converting "Back To The Future 720p":
720x400:
average bitrate 800kbps (2pass)
44.1/128 MP3(lame)
Remember to jack up the DRC (I've been using the max setting of 4) which will help compensate for the low speaker volume. I also configured the DSP EQ for up to 5db of boost (mid range) curving down to 1db at the extremities.
Damn I love this platform.
EDIT: Retried my 854x480 conversion (high bitrate, 1gig/51minutes) It plays just great with MoboPlayer Neon. I'm going to watch the low bitrate encode of Back To The Future 720p (720x400 ~800kbps video 766meg/1:56). It is transfering now but my firewall isn't N-capable so it's slow!
I'm mainly checking to see if that quality is decent (low bitrate and 2 pass encoding)
Then I'm going to do a "final settings" encode to test out max quality.
I'm also going to do a 1024x600 video just to see if it's possible to play. I think it's probably overkill. I think the playback will suffer. 854 seems to really eat CPU as it is. We will see.
EDIT: Downloaded a 1 minute 1080p test video to use to test resolutions/such with to speed things up a bit.
http://www.fileserve.com/file/SdtfFxh/hd_other_sony_hd_experiment.m2ts
EDIT: Droid does!!! DRC doesn't! Specifically, it doesn't boost volume very much. It is really just normalization. Not encoding using DRC anymore. If you want to watch videos... use headphones.
EDIT: Wow, much faster using a 1 minute file plus the math is easy to determine 1 hour file sizes. hehe.
EDIT: 1024 width doesn't play.
EDIT: Uhm, maybe it does. for some reason MoboPlayer is calling it HD and trying to play in hardware. I can play the 854 w/ software decode so I'm reencoding... stop deleting stuff even if it doesn't work the first time dude...
EDIT: so.... many... variables....
EDIT: door to door salespeople suck... no this isn't an ipad, and no I don't want your cleaning products.
EDIT: Got a quality configuration working!
My 1 minute test video ended up at 5,487KB which puts us at roughly 330MB per hour. Acceptable size for me. This is a 2-pass 600kbps video stream. The 500kbps had noticeably less quality. Higher quality encoding does improve quality, but seems to have video sync issues.
Encoding a lower resolution (but longer) file now w/ my settings to test.

Successful video!!!! I converted Zombieland.720p into the format above and she plays wonderfully in software mode with no sync issues!!! Fantastic!!!
If you are looking to convert video for travel or the like, this is the ticket!

Feed your source material into HandBrake, select the Universal preset, get rid of the AC3 soundtrack if it's included in the source (since all you really need is the 2 channel stereo track), add subs if required, encode, put it on the NOOK Color, you're done.
No need for two-pass encoding as HandBrake's newer CRF based encoding methodology (for the x264 encoder) saves time and gets pretty much equal results in half the time.
People really overcomplicate this encoding for the NOOK Color, way too much. It's not that hard. The Universal preset will adjust the resolution to fit (the NOOK Color has a maximum video pixel width of 854, period), and it uses a good baseline profile (what the NOOK Color is designed to play) without issues.
Everything is already in that preset, ready to go, and you're not really going to get much better quality with all the fiddling, all the command line options, etc.
Source > HandBrake > Universal preset > drop AC3 track, set bitrate as desired for audio > Encode > Put it on the device > Enjoy the movie.
Simple.

I love different opinions!
br0adband said:
No need for two-pass encoding as HandBrake's newer CRF based encoding methodology (for the x264 encoder) saves time and gets pretty much equal results in half the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 pass is vastly superior for file size. If you don't care about file size, ya you can use a larger file with great quality. But if you care about sizes (ie, using a CR of 40, which I did) it looks like crap. 2 pass encoding is vastly superior because it allows smaller size with dynamic bitrates and higher quality.
I'm not the "lazy" guy. I don't mind taking the time to figure out the way that is best for me. I am simply sharing that knowledge. A google search will reveal tons of different ways of doing this.
br0adband said:
Everything is already in that preset, ready to go, and you're not really going to get much better quality with all the fiddling, all the command line options, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That preset is also 720 width, not 854. I'm trying to maximize quality, minimize file size, and stay compatible with the hardware accelerator. Of course, once hardware accel comes out, one can up the kbps to 1000-1200 if you wish, although I do not feel it is needed.
My setup generates files ~ 320mb per hour. Comparable static bitrate quality would be much larger.
br0adband said:
Simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that Handbrake has the ability to import presets, it's super easy for people. Import the file (once) select the file, select the preset, change the resolution. done. super simple.
Of course this is only intended for CM7 users.

chisleu said:
Flash 10.2 (leaked)
[...]I would expect it will work much better on nookie froyo. so much so that I'm going to use my SD card to boot nookie and try!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did it work on Froyo, and if so, did you notice any improvement?

TJNooker said:
Did it work on Froyo, and if so, did you notice any improvement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It "worked" on nookie froyo and rooted 2.1 (bn 1.1) to begin with (flash 10.1) but I would expect that 10.2 would give a dramatic improvement. The increase on CM7 was dramatic. I don't have a working froyo build to test though. enjoying CM7 too much.

br0adband said:
the NOOK Color has a maximum video pixel width of 854, period
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually software viewers will play up to a 1024x600 file at full screen. Anything less is scaled (software) up to that.
The hardware encoder will up/down scale to 854x480.
Also I just used your instructions above which is RF:20 encoding. that's ~19mb per minute. Compared to ~5.5 w/ my settings. The quality is noticably higher, but it could be accomplished w/ 1000-1200kbps settings with 2 pass. (9-11MB/min)
Also video sync is still an issue for some reason. I'm not sure what the problem is anymore.

I'm on the new 3/15/11 test version including DSP video support. It works and it stays in sync but the framerate is garbage. It's roughly 5-15dps at any given time. Progress is sexy.
It looks like we really just need DSP support if we are going to play videos in sync.

chisleu said:
It "worked" on nookie froyo and rooted 2.1 (bn 1.1) to begin with (flash 10.1) but I would expect that 10.2 would give a dramatic improvement. The increase on CM7 was dramatic. I don't have a working froyo build to test though. enjoying CM7 too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get flash running on stock eclair?

ace7196 said:
How did you get flash running on stock eclair?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can not remember if I did or not. I believe there is a flash for 2.1 apk floating around if you look.

Chisleu,
why dint you try Vitalplaer neon. It has way better software encoding then rockplayer and moboplayer. Its the best I found so far fo xvid movies

zorvalth said:
Chisleu,
why dint you try Vitalplaer neon. It has way better software encoding then rockplayer and moboplayer. Its the best I found so far fo xvid movies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to stay in sync more, but it also lags more. It also has ads on the bottom of the screen. I did try it, but as soon as I saw the ad I realized it wasn't for me.
But yes, unless it is lieing and really using the hardware to play, this is much better. I'm going to encode my test file to 1024x600 and see how it does in software with Vitalplayer Neon.
no 1024 didn't fly in software. Looks terrible, and lags/gets out of sync.
IMO, the argument is moot at this point. Vitalplayer isn't free, and software can't play video better than the hardware can (854x480)
Now that hardware acceleration is working the CM7 test it won't be long before it's in CM7, and I personally have no need for software acceleration.
Then again, for lower quality stuff that I don't want to reencode, vitalplayer is much better at staying in sync. Impressively so in fact.
I may buy it. Thanks for the tip.

I uploaded some test videos encoded to Nook specs at various bitrates so you could see and maybe avoid reencoding repeatedly to find a bitrate that works for you.
Original file is a 1080p Music Video for "Good Girl, Bad Girl" by Miss A. This is a k-pop group I love and they encourage redistribution of their music videos, so no issues there.
600kbps video 20mb
http://www.mediafire.com/?d42dmvva9vbigm2
1200kbps video 36.5mb
http://www.mediafire.com/?2lyb5qicpynz13a
2000kbps video 58.4mb
http://www.mediafire.com/?d42dmvva9vbigm2
I can not tell a difference between 1200 and 2000.
There is definitely a difference between 600 and 1200, but is the difference worth 4.3mb per minute? A 90 minute video would be an additional 387MB larger.
Maybe it is for you, and maybe it isn't, and maybe you will just go with 800 or 1000kbps if you want to split the difference.
These are just intended for you to have a jumping off point so you don't have to go to the lengths I have!

chisleu said:
It seems to stay in sync more, but it also lags more. It also has ads on the bottom of the screen. I did try it, but as soon as I saw the ad I realized it wasn't for me.
But yes, unless it is lieing and really using the hardware to play, this is much better. I'm going to encode my test file to 1024x600 and see how it does in software with Vitalplayer Neon.
no 1024 didn't fly in software. Looks terrible, and lags/gets out of sync.
IMO, the argument is moot at this point. Vitalplayer isn't free, and software can't play video better than the hardware can (854x480)
Now that hardware acceleration is working the CM7 test it won't be long before it's in CM7, and I personally have no need for software acceleration.
Then again, for lower quality stuff that I don't want to reencode, vitalplayer is much better at staying in sync. Impressively so in fact.
I may buy it. Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what you are downloading but Vitalplayer Neon is definitely free....
Sent from my NookColor

zorvalth said:
I don't know what you are downloading but Vitalplayer Neon is definitely free....
Sent from my NookColor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I miss the "ad" word in that sentence. It was meant to say "ad free".
I can't stand seeing ads. I don't mind paying for software I want, but I hate ads.
I bought the Vital Player Pro but we were unable to get it working and I was issued a refund. It would start up and immediately shutdown. I think there may be a problem with paid apps because I also can not get TapaTalk pro to work on my tablet. It keeps saying it isn't paid for. Tapatalk has much slower customer support than VitalPlayer did.

So now that hardware acceleration is enabled, do you still do the same handbrake encoding process as before? Or was that just a workaround for the software? Or because hardware acceleration is now enabled, are we able to handle more/different codecs?

br0adband said:
No need for two-pass encoding as HandBrake's newer CRF based encoding methodology (for the x264 encoder) saves time and gets pretty much equal results in half the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize. This new 1 pass system is far superior to those of old. I bow to your wisdom. CF25 is about equal to 1200kbps video in both size and quality.

Thanks for posting up the sample vids. The first and third link are the same. Both go to Miss A Bad Girl Good Girl - Nook 2000.m4v

For me, the preset in the OP produces an image that is compressed horizontally. Anyone else seeing this? Using handbrake 0.9.5 and playing on the latest CM7 stock video player.

Degraded Video Playback After 1.2 Update

The developer of DVD Catalyst 4 is reporting a serious degradation in video playback with the 1.2 update. Anyone else experience this?
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com...-2-FAIL/m-p/981754/message-uid/981754#U981754
If this is the case, and the methods discussed for blocking OTA don't work, looks like I'll be joining the legions of CM7 users. Video playback on the NC is a huge draw for me.
Unfortunately looks like I'll need a crash course. Doing some cross country traveling on May 7 and want to have a fully functional, video playback capable NC on that date.

dsf3g said:
The developer of DVD Catalyst 4 is reporting a serious degradation in video playback with the 1.2 update. Anyone else experience this?
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com...-2-FAIL/m-p/981754/message-uid/981754#U981754
If this is the case, and the methods discussed for blocking OTA don't work, looks like I'll be joining the legions of CM7 users. Video playback on the NC is a huge draw for me.
Unfortunately looks like I'll need a crash course. Doing some cross country traveling on May 7 and want to have a fully functional, video playback capable NC on that date.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not really a quality issue, the smoothness of the video playback is affected.
After updating, the videos I already had on my NOOKcolor just looked like frames were being skipped or doubled. Its hard to describe, but they just look "off"
I tried a bunch of different conversion tools and a collection of different settings, and all resulted in similar playback issues, which basically points to an issue with the update rather than the conversion tool used.
I managed to play 3000Kbps h264 video on the NOOKcolor before the update, but now 800Kbps files have playback issues.
Testing youtube produces similar results. While I only played a few trailers from youtube, it appears quality is locked to 360, and even then I get audio sync issues.

I haven't tried the 1.2 update but I did integrate the hardware codecs from 1.2 into to CM7 and saw the same thing. For now I'm sticking with our existing codecs as they perform better.

dalingrin said:
I haven't tried the 1.2 update but I did integrate the hardware codecs from 1.2 into to CM7 and saw the same thing. For now I'm sticking with our existing codecs as they perform better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some people reported that rebooting seem to fix this?

Canadoc said:
some people reported that rebooting seem to fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The developer of DVD Catalyst 4 conversion software has posted sample video files that demonstrate the degraded video quality. So I don't think a simple reboot will fix things. If it were that simple, I think he'd have figured it out, since his paychek in part depends upon the Nook Color being a decent platform for watching movies.

Sorry : Wrong Thread.

Mine worked but the selection method is key
My MP4's worked flawlessly with the new update - I ripped them from my own DVD's using DVD Catalyst 4.0 and the setting for Nook Color. BUT, they didn't work using the gallery - I had to select them using the My Files folder in the library app (I have two full length videos on emmc and two on my 8 Gb SD Card (a Transcend Class 6) - either choice worked.

I was looking at the new build.prop just now, and it's specifying a heapsize of 64M.
That seems to be very high to me. If someone's got a rooted 1.2, it might be interesting to see what manipulating the heap does for video playback. I'm still holding off on updating mine.

Video problems with Mobo switched to vital neon fixed, but not using hardware decoder

Hi All,
So I have read all the threads I could find about video players on the Nook Color, and I am still having a little trouble. I don't know if its normal, so I am looking for some help/advice/guidance. This is going to be long, but it's because I am trying to be as thorough as I can.
My Goal:
To have a 7" tablet that browses the web, reads/writes email, lets me IM, reads ebooks, plays video files from my video collection, plays music from my collection, runs Pandora, Netflix, and Hulu, and is capable of swype (slideit).
What I have:
I have a brand new Nook Color that I bought just for turning into a tablet to play with (3 days ago). I started by rooting with nooter, and flashing CM 7.0.3 stable (2 days ago) to the emmc through CWM. I have since updated to CM7 Nightly #144 (today - more on that later)
My problems:
So I was happy with everything in CM 7.0.3 except for its video playing capabilities. I was using Moboplayer (I didn't download any codecs or anything, just straight moboplayer from Market). I know that the advice of the professionals on here is to use handbrake to convert whatever video you want to watch to an exact format that is ideal for the Nook, however, I, like many other people on here, have tons of movies (7 TB), and I have tons of places that I play them (every console, psp's, ds's, laptops and netbooks aplenty, etc.). So I don't want to convert them, and I have read several threads where people are playing un-converted videos without problems. So I picked a random episode and tried to play it. Here are the specs of that video.
Total file size: 349MB
Video -
Length: 42:26
Frame width: 624
Frame height: 352
Data Rate: 1003kbps
Total bitrate: 1152kbps
Frame rate: 23 frames/second
Audio -
Bit rate: 149kbps
Channels: 2(stereo)
Audio sample rate: 48 kHz
While in 7.0.3 with Moboplayer the video runs ok and the audio is sync'd up fine, but its not silky smooth. It looks like its running at about 18fps. I don't know how to find the exact framerate, but it is just a little less then when it plays on my computer, and it is just barely low enough to cause enough chop to be annoying. So the first thing I tried was downloading Dalingrin's 042411 OC kernel for eMMC. I thought if I overclocked my processor, it might solve the problem, and my research on this forum led me to believe that was the right OC file for my version of CM. I set both the min and the max to 1300 and still had the problem. In my research I also found that many people were talking about how Dalingrin had unlocked hardware decoding in some of the newer CM nightlies. Also, the OC kernel already exists in the newer nightlies. So I downloaded the newest nightly. I am now on #144. Once I got back up and running, I downloaded Moboplayer and tried again. Same problem. Even overclocked. I saw someone mentioned using the Neon codec pack for moboplayer. For some reason the Neon codec pack doesnt show up in my market (although a bunch of other Moboplayer codec packs do). So I went to Moboplayers website and downloaded the Neon codec pack zip file. I tried to install it with CWM in recovery mode, but it keeps failing. Having done some more research I downloaded a player called VitalPlayer Neon (there is a non Neon version but I paid for and installed the Neon version). When I play that same avi file in VitalPlayer is starts it and a little window pops up at the very beginning that says "Software codec play!!" The video (and several others like it) plays silky smooth. I couldn't ask for a better video playing experience. However, if I go into the settings for VitalPlayer (Settings -> Decode Mode) and tell it to use hardware codec, when I try to play the file its says, "Can't be played!!" Am I missing something?
Summary - So my questions are:
1) Is there a way to monitor FPS?
2) Don't I want my video player running with Hardware codec?
3) Why isn't my video player running with hardware codec?
/** Note relavant to thread *
<rant>
When I am done, I am going to write (yet another) guide for how to do this the easiest way for someone looking for a tablet/ereader experience like I was, that doesn't mind paying a couple dollars to get it right. The advice I have gotten on this site has been AWESOME, I just wish it was compiled a little better. It seems like people try so hard to get the free apps to do what they want, that they miss the $1.49 app that does it perfectly. And you have to dig to find the non-free apps that do what you want. Theres a few threads where people are jumping through hoops, spending hours and days, and screwing up the CM installs to get swype to work when for $4.99 SlideIt is up and working perfectly in seconds. Money well spent for me. Also, the $1.49 for ezPDF was priceless compared to the hours I spent trying other pdf readers that wouldn't even remember what page I was on when I stopped reading. ezPDF should be the defacto standard for PDF reading IMO. I can even resize what I am reading to a legible size and it will wordwrap (text reflow) for me so I don't have to move left and right on each line.
</rant>
Thanks,
Josh

Not every zip file you see in Android is intended for flashing! Yikes! That zip you downloaded is most likely just compressing/wrapping an apk. Look in the zip.
Be glad it didn't run
I looked there, and I just see an apk.. http://update2.moboplayer.com/apk/armv7_neon-release.apk
And it says that moboplayer SHOULD automatically install a codec, so not sure it'd help but it's worth a try?

a) Just install the codec apk like any other, and MoboPlayer will automatically pick it up.
b) You can't use hardware decoding unless the resolution is at or below 854x480, period. Since your content (presumably) is higher resolution than that, software decoding is your only option. The good news is that (when overclocked) the Nook is indeed capable of dealing with pretty high resolutions, the bad news is that battery life will suffer.
Rodney

khaytsus said:
Not every zip file you see in Android is intended for flashing! Yikes! That zip you downloaded is most likely just compressing/wrapping an apk. Look in the zip.
Be glad it didn't run
I looked there, and I just see an apk.. [link removed because I am not allowed to post links yet -Josh]
And it says that moboplayer SHOULD automatically install a codec, so not sure it'd help but it's worth a try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Khaytsus,
I am glad it didn't run. In retrospect I definately should have known better then to try to let CWM "flash" this instead of "installing" it (so tired). That website does list it as an apk, but when you download it, it downloads as a zip. Should I have renamed it to apk and tried it? MoboPlayer didn't download anything when I started it, at least not that I saw (may have done it in the background). Either way I uninstalled it because VitalPlayer is working. I just need to see if I can make it do hardware decoding.
Thanks for the help!
Josh

rhester72 said:
a) Just install the codec apk like any other, and MoboPlayer will automatically pick it up.
b) You can't use hardware decoding unless the resolution is at or below 854x480, period. Since your content (presumably) is higher resolution than that, software decoding is your only option. The good news is that (when overclocked) the Nook is indeed capable of dealing with pretty high resolutions, the bad news is that battery life will suffer.
Rodney
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Rodney,
In Re b): Since my video is Frame width: 624 Frame height: 352, doesn't that mean my resolution is 624x352 ... < 854x480? If not, how can I check to see what resolution my video is? I got those stats by right clicking the avi file properties -> details.
You're right VitalPlayer plays that video beautifully. Thanks for the tip about the batter. I will keep an eye on it.
Thanks,
Josh

gijosh28 said:
In Re b): Since my video is Frame width: 624 Frame height: 352, doesn't that mean my resolution is 624x352 ... < 854x480? If not, how can I check to see what resolution my video is? I got those stats by right clicking the avi file properties -> details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a bit more to it than that, actually. It must be in a MPEG-4 container using the H.264 codec with baseline profile level 3.0 or less. AVIs need not apply. =)
Rodney

Hey,
As an update to this thread, I used Chisleu's Handbrake profile from this thread, and converted the video with the specs above. The new video did play with hardware decoding in both the stock player, and VitalPlayer Neon. It did not look quite as good (just an iota of a difference) as leaving the file the way it was and letting the software decode it. However, when I ran the new file with software decoding it didn't look quite as good as it did with hardware decoding (again miniscule difference). Summary: The original file looked the best, but wouldn't play with hardware decoding. The Handbrake'd file looked just a tiny bit worse (hardly worth mentioning) with hardware decoding, and just a little worse still with software decoding. Below are the file specs from right-click -> properties -> details.
new Handbrake'd file = left / old as downloaded file = right
File Size: 186MB / 349MB
Length: 42:58 / 42:59
Video -
Frame Width: 624 / 624
Frame Height: 352 / 352
Data Rate: 475kbps / 988kbps
Total Bitrate: 603kbps / 1137kbps
Frame Rate: 23fps / 23fps
Audio -
Bit Rate: 128kbps / 149kbps
Channels: 2 stereo / 2 stereo
Audio Sample Rate: 44kHz / 48kHz
Also noteworthy: In refference to the battery suggestion, since I upgraded from CM 7.0.3 to CM 7 Nightly #144, my battery performance has been stellar.
Thanks,
Josh

gijosh28 said:
Hey,
As an update to this thread, I used Chisleu's Handbrake profile from this thread, and converted the video with the specs above. The new video did play with hardware decoding in both the stock player, and VitalPlayer Neon. It did not look quite as good (just an iota of a difference) as leaving the file the way it was and letting the software decode it. However, when I ran the new file with software decoding it didn't look quite as good as it did with hardware decoding (again miniscule difference). Summary: The original file looked the best, but wouldn't play with hardware decoding. The Handbrake'd file looked just a tiny bit worse (hardly worth mentioning) with hardware decoding, and just a little worse still with software decoding. Below are the file specs from right-click -> properties -> details.
new Handbrake'd file = left / old as downloaded file = right
File Size: 186MB / 349MB
Length: 42:58 / 42:59
Video -
Frame Width: 624 / 624
Frame Height: 352 / 352
Data Rate: 475kbps / 988kbps
Total Bitrate: 603kbps / 1137kbps
Frame Rate: 23fps / 23fps
Audio -
Bit Rate: 128kbps / 149kbps
Channels: 2 stereo / 2 stereo
Audio Sample Rate: 44kHz / 48kHz
Also noteworthy: In refference to the battery suggestion, since I upgraded from CM 7.0.3 to CM 7 Nightly #144, my battery performance has been stellar.
Thanks,
Josh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want the handbrake transcoded file to look as good as the original then you're going to need to match the video bitrates.
I generally transcode my videos with handbrake before I use them on my Nook. It doesn't take too long on my PC and the battery savings with hardware codecs is worth it to me.
Media playback is still a work in progress. The hardware codec "pickiness" isn't going to get much better but things like Flash and higher resolution and bitrates should improve in the not so distant future.
No miracles though =)

dalingrin said:
The hardware codec "pickiness" isn't going to get much better but things like Flash and higher resolution and bitrates should improve in the not so distant future.
No miracles though =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/drool
Me thinks previously mentioned optimizations are coming along...... cannot wait!

dalingrin said:
If you want the handbrake transcoded file to look as good as the original then you're going to need to match the video bitrates.
I generally transcode my videos with handbrake before I use them on my Nook. It doesn't take too long on my PC and the battery savings with hardware codecs is worth it to me.
Media playback is still a work in progress. The hardware codec "pickiness" isn't going to get much better but things like Flash and higher resolution and bitrates should improve in the not so distant future.
No miracles though =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it gets no better then it already is, I am extremely satisfied. I left yesterday with a full charge at about 3pm. I went back to my room, watched an episode of Numb3rs (thats the file I was using for my tests above) with software decoding, played about an hour of airport mania, and read some Isaac Asimov for an hour. It is now 2AM (11 hours later) and my battery is at 74%. I even have the Bubbles live wallpaper which is supposed to eat up my battery. This thing is almost perfect in that it does everything I want, does it well, and does it efficiently. Thanks for your hard work on it Dalingrin.
Now if I could just figure out my music problem from the other thread, I'd be golden.
Josh

Are you streaming or copying to the nook and playing? If streamimg, you can use vlc convert and stream to transcode on the fly, otherwise handbrake is the way to go.

Critique my setup for streaming Tivo recordings to Chromecast

I have been working for a few days on setting up a process to pull my Tivo recordings off my Tivo onto my PC, and then get them into a format where they can stream to my chromecast on another TV. In other words, a poor man's multi-room viewing. I am in over my head on several aspects, and while I have gotten it to work, I have had to make some sacrifices. I'd like to see if someone can "poke holes" in my setup and suggest a better way to get the job done.
First, here is the hardware...
Asus AC66U (currently, no qos enabled)
TivoHD (wired connection)
Fairly-new PC with capable processing power (wired connection)
Chromecast in the next room (gets full bars on wifi icon)
The setup...
1. I am using kmttg to automatically pull the recordings off the Tivo, decrypt them to an mpeg file, and then encode that mpeg file into an mp4 file that is compatible with chromecast. Kmttg has both ffmpeg and handbrake encoding capabilities.
2. I store the encoded mp4 files in a folder on my PC that is shared with everyone on my network.
3. I use Localcast on my android phone to locate the shared folder, then the file I want to view, then Localcast takes it from there.
ETA:
3. Plex Media Server on the PC
4. BubbleUPnP android app
The Plex Media Server and BubbleUPnP app solve the problem that Localcast caused by using the phone as the connection between the PC and Chromecast. Plex Media Server and BubbleUPnP allow me to connect the PC directly to Chromecast, lowering network traffic considerably and allowing me to cast a much higher quality video without the stuttering.
This setup works, however there are some problems I need to correct. I have issues with stuttering/buffering streams. I have tried to correct this by using encoding profiles that create a very small file size, which solves the buffering problem, but video quality suffers as a result. At present, I either have to decide between HD quality video that causes stutters ever few minutes, or a file that streams smoothly but has a video quality around SD quality. In seeking help on another forum for the best encoding profile, the suggestion was made that it wasn't the file size, but my wifi setup that could be the problem. Researching my wifi setup brought be to this post, which makes me wonder if localcast is my bottleneck. I was under the impression that Localcast was just creating a direct stream from my PC, similar to a direct stream from Netflix. However, if it is actually forwarding the stream from my PC through my phone to the chromecast, that would explain the poor performance (the stream has to go out to the phone and then back to the router and then out to the chromecast).

Greetings (again) fellow TiVo user! I refuse to give up my lifetime subscription and Series3 display!
Here's what I suggest...
Install Serviio on the PC with the converted videos on them. This will make your PC a DLNA/UPnP server. Be sure to configure the library so the folder with the videos is accessible.
Install BubbleUPnP on your phone.
Set the BubbleUPnP Library to your Serviio PC (it should show up in the list).
Set the BubbleUPnP Renderer to your Chromecast.
Go to the Library and find something to play. Depending on the metadata, you may need to use the Folder view rather than categories.
I tested it and the BubbleUPnP client app that runs on Chromecast seems to grab the stream directly from the server, rather than brokering the stream through your phone. That ought to help your bandwidth issue so you can use higher bitrates to get better quality.
I like what you're doing, it's something I'd like to do eventually too.
Localcast might do the same as BubbleUPnP once you get Serviio running, I haven't used it.

Yeah, I'm not ready to give up my old Tivo either! My wife has been bugging me that she can't watch recorded shows
I played around with my setup last night and found some things that work. I installed Plex Media Server on my PC and the BubbleUPnP on my phone. The BubbleUPnP app automatically detected the Plex Media Server and casting to my Chromecast was very easy. And you are right, this setup allows casting directly from PC to the Chromecast. I was able to stream my files without any stuttering! I have to go back now and re-encode my existing files to a higher video quality, but that is a price I am willing to pay.
Plex Media Server downloads the metadata about the recordings from the internet and automatically names, organizes and adds thumbnails for each recording. This is really cool. It took me a few attempts to figure out how the folders and files needed to be stored on my PC to get it to work right, but I think I have the hang of it now.
The only small trouble I have in the process is it seems like Tivo's episode information is incorrect on some of the recordings. For example, Tivo thinks a particular recording is Episode number X, but really it is Episode number Y. Tivo's Episode Title is correct, but Plex seems to just look for the Season/Episode information to pull the metadata, and then overwrites the Episode Title with the downloaded info. I have to go back into my PC and correct the episode number, which then corrects the trouble on Plex at the next download. However, this has just happened on a couple of recordings and it may not be a big issue.
I'll take a look at Serviio and see how it compares to Plex.
My next project is to see if I can find a way to stream recordings from my Mega cloud account. With 50bg of free storage, that would allow my Tivo recordings to be available wherever I am. I see Mega has a mobile app, and they say that it is possible to stream files from it, but I haven't been able to get it to work. You can long press on a file and share it to BubbleUPnP or Localshare, but I get an error message on Chromecast saying the file type is not supported. It would be nice if Mega added Chromecast support. That would rock. Even if I can't cast it to Chromecast, being able to stream it on my phone would be great. However, when I click on the file, it just tries to download the file to my phone's storage. I see there are 3rd party apps that claim to stream Mega files, but I'm wary of trying them since they don't look to be widely used.

Good move with the Bubble and Plex addition....
The two of those give a great one two punch and really make all the other options for streaming pretty lackluster IMO...
Do these Tivo files have CC embedded?
Might think about moving to an MKV container and using Handbrake for the conversion.

Asphyx said:
Good move with the Bubble and Plex addition....
The two of those give a great one two punch and really make all the other options for streaming pretty lackluster IMO...
Do these Tivo files have CC embedded?
Might think about moving to an MKV container and using Handbrake for the conversion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kmttg lists closed captioning data as one of their features. I haven't tried it so I can't say if/how it works.
It also has the ability to detect and cut out commercials, but they suggest you manually check the cuts before they are made since the detection system isn't always accurate. I want this process to be totally automated, so I haven't tried that feature out fully either. The few times I have chosen to cut the commercials, something has gotten messed up with the audio sync. This would be a great feature if I can figure it out.
Thanks for the suggestion of the MKV option. I tried that encoding profile in the beginning and I kept getting errors each time the file started saying that something wasn't compatible and possibly the audio wouldn't work. Everything seemed to stream correctly, but the error message was annoying each time. Additionally, now that I have Plex installed, it doesn't seem like the old leftover MKV files are showing up in my library...as if it is an unsupported file type. I'll work on it some more. It could be the particular MKV profile I chose, or some other issue that I can work through.

whitenack said:
The only small trouble I have in the process is it seems like Tivo's episode information is incorrect on some of the recordings. For example, Tivo thinks a particular recording is Episode number X, but really it is Episode number Y. Tivo's Episode Title is correct, but Plex seems to just look for the Season/Episode information to pull the metadata, and then overwrites the Episode Title with the downloaded info. I have to go back into my PC and correct the episode number, which then corrects the trouble on Plex at the next download. However, this has just happened on a couple of recordings and it may not be a big issue.
I'll take a look at Serviio and see how it compares to Plex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the TiVo guide info has been spotty lately, which is not a good thing since the guide info is what the subscription is for!
Some episodes are incorrectly numbered (though the back-to-back dual-episode premieres and finales always tend to be confusing), some don't have episode numbers at all. Almost seems like they're pulling from two sources and when the "good" source doesn't have info, we get the generic version.
Asphyx said:
Do these Tivo files have CC embedded?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plex's metadata library really is one of its strong points
TiVo recordings do have embedded CC AFAIK, but I haven't looked to see if it's encoded as MPEG subcode like on DVD or differently. My guess is it's subcode, as it's embedded in the original transport stream.
whitenack said:
It also has the ability to detect and cut out commercials, but they suggest you manually check the cuts before they are made since the detection system isn't always accurate. I want this process to be totally automated, so I haven't tried that feature out fully either. The few times I have chosen to cut the commercials, something has gotten messed up with the audio sync. This would be a great feature if I can figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've successfully used VideoReDo TVSuite 4 to edit both native TiVo .tivo and MPEG transport streams. It has some nifty features to fix rubbished streams and also has commercial detection. It's not free, though since I already have it, this auto-processor may just have reserved a few future weekends... Hmm, I might have to get a new machine after all (granted, my desktop is over 5 years old - I just dislike change, haha).

whitenack said:
kmttg lists closed captioning data as one of their features. I haven't tried it so I can't say if/how it works.
It also has the ability to detect and cut out commercials, but they suggest you manually check the cuts before they are made since the detection system isn't always accurate. I want this process to be totally automated, so I haven't tried that feature out fully either. The few times I have chosen to cut the commercials, something has gotten messed up with the audio sync. This would be a great feature if I can figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I understand the automated want...PITA to have to manually do it. Commercials are always a PITA to cut out. You can just as easily FF through them later.
whitenack said:
Thanks for the suggestion of the MKV option. I tried that encoding profile in the beginning and I kept getting errors each time the file started saying that something wasn't compatible and possibly the audio wouldn't work. Everything seemed to stream correctly, but the error message was annoying each time. Additionally, now that I have Plex installed, it doesn't seem like the old leftover MKV files are showing up in my library...as if it is an unsupported file type. I'll work on it some more. It could be the particular MKV profile I chose, or some other issue that I can work through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm it could be the CC Subtitles that are the actual issue with compatibility. You might be able to tweak that profile properly but if you don't need them why bother. I only asked because I have a few family members who watch my library but seem to need CC to help them so I have been forced to add embedded CC subtitles to my Library system (mostly MKV) and was curious if you had that capability.
bhiga said:
Plex's metadata library really is one of its strong points
TiVo recordings do have embedded CC AFAIK, but I haven't looked to see if it's encoded as MPEG subcode like on DVD or differently. My guess is it's subcode, as it's embedded in the original transport stream.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For guys like us (and other XDA folk) it's probably not as important to have a nice and easy interface to navigate with but since we all have friends and family who need to navigate these things Plex just makes the whole process a lot simpler to teach for those uninitiated users.
One of the biggest downsides to the DLNA architecture is it's lack of metadata and good interface system.
Uninitiated want to see box covers not file listings.
As for your old computer it may be 5 years old but that still makes it a good prospect for a media server...Throw a bit more ram in and run Linux and it should be good enough for transcode and serving.
But you know that already! LOL

Asphyx said:
Yep I understand the automated want...PITA to have to manually do it. Commercials are always a PITA to cut out. You can just as easily FF through them later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, precisely why I haven't really put much effort into dealing with them to date. Still, when you're archiving hundreds of hours, those commercials add up.
Asphyx said:
I only asked because I have a few family members who watch my library but seem to need CC to help them so I have been forced to add embedded CC subtitles to my Library system (mostly MKV) and was curious if you had that capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That describes me perfectly. Something's either wrong with my hearing, audio system, or both.
Asphyx said:
As for your old computer it may be 5 years old but that still makes it a good prospect for a media server...Throw a bit more ram in and run Linux and it should be good enough for transcode and serving.
But you know that already! LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a dual quad-core with 32GB of RAM, so still quite capable for my needs, which is why I haven't upgraded (aside from cost), but as an encoding machine its fans SCREAM so I usually throttle encoding tasks outside of sleep times using Battle Encoder Shirase. The other alternative is to switch to liquid cooling, but my system is not mainstream (AMD Socket F server board) so doing that will likely require more than a weekend.
This just reminded me though... I do have my previous desktop which was a quiet machine. Nowhere near the same horsepower, but it was quiet... Hmm... Now ALL of my precious spare time has been shot! LOL!!

Asphyx said:
Hmmm it could be the CC Subtitles that are the actual issue with compatibility. You might be able to tweak that profile properly but if you don't need them why bother. I only asked because I have a few family members who watch my library but seem to need CC to help them so I have been forced to add embedded CC subtitles to my Library system (mostly MKV) and was curious if you had that capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nevermind. I see my problem now. It's not the MKV that is causing the problem, its the fact I don't have the folder set up correctly for that particular show (the only recordings for that particular show were MKVs). I dropped an MKV file into an existing show folder and it recognizes it. Awesome. So, at this point I just need to figure out which encoding profile I need to use to generate the best video quality for the smallest file size.

whitenack said:
So, at this point I just need to figure out which encoding profile I need to use to generate the best video quality for the smallest file size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Individual quality judgements will vary (and so will Spouse Approval Factor), but as a matter of reference, DTV streams are typically 19 Mbps MPEG-2, so they're already squashed, which roughly translates to around 4 Mbps in MPEG-4.
Commercials are good for threshold purposes, especially those with the tiny text at the bottom of action commercials that says "Professional stunt person - Do not attempt." One because those types of commercials have a lot of action and scene changes, and two because the text at the bottom tends to be small, and that's usually the first thing to go blocky/fuzzy when you drop too many bits.
Watch out of the car commercials though, the SUPER tiny text on those is usually already destroyed by the cable company's compression.

bhiga said:
Individual quality judgements will vary (and so will Spouse Approval Factor), but as a matter of reference, DTV streams are typically 19 Mbps MPEG-2, so they're already squashed, which roughly translates to around 4 Mbps in MPEG-4.
Commercials are good for threshold purposes, especially those with the tiny text at the bottom of action commercials that says "Professional stunt person - Do not attempt." One because those types of commercials have a lot of action and scene changes, and two because the text at the bottom tends to be small, and that's usually the first thing to go blocky/fuzzy when you drop too many bits.
Watch out of the car commercials though, the SUPER tiny text on those is usually already destroyed by the cable company's compression.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We cut the cable cord a few years ago, so unfortunately I am accustomed to uncompressed quality. Having said that, the Chromecast is connected to our bedroom TV and it isn't exactly a high quality display. It was one of those Black Friday specials where they pretty much give it away. Thanks for the tip on the commercial text test. That will be handy.

bhiga said:
It's a dual quad-core with 32GB of RAM, so still quite capable for my needs, which is why I haven't upgraded (aside from cost), but as an encoding machine its fans SCREAM so I usually throttle encoding tasks outside of sleep times using Battle Encoder Shirase. The other alternative is to switch to liquid cooling, but my system is not mainstream (AMD Socket F server board) so doing that will likely require more than a weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get one of those corsair pre-built models...
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...1366_2011_AM2_AM3.html?tl=g30c321&id=Ar4dvGLz
That should be more than enough for Encoding/Transcoding...You would only need more for Gaming....
But I agree you are a far way off from needing an upgrade with that rig!
whitenack said:
Nevermind. I see my problem now. It's not the MKV that is causing the problem, its the fact I don't have the folder set up correctly for that particular show (the only recordings for that particular show were MKVs). I dropped an MKV file into an existing show folder and it recognizes it. Awesome. So, at this point I just need to figure out which encoding profile I need to use to generate the best video quality for the smallest file size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for Profile everything I have currently is H.264 4-10Mbs with AAC Stereo, AAC Surround and in some cases where it was available AC3 or DHT.
But that is not conducive to automated encode really...
What I do for most of my movies is if it has AC3 or DHT I add in AAC Stereo, AAC Surround based off the Dolby track and add any subtitle tracks I need as well.
So what I wind up with is a virtually device wide compatible Video track and Multiple Audio and subtitle tracks to choose from depending on the output device.
Probably don't need something that comprehensive for TV shows...Just make sure there is at least one AAC audio track.
File Size will really be dictated by Video Bitrate which @bhiga already mentioned...4MBs is probably the most you could need given the source quality.

Asphyx said:
Probably don't need something that comprehensive for TV shows...Just make sure there is at least one AAC audio track.
File Size will really be dictated by Video Bitrate which @bhiga already mentioned...4MBs is probably the most you could need given the source quality.
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Click to collapse
I just checked a file I had encoded earlier using a profile that has a description of "same res h.264 video", which I assume means the video quality is not altered in any way. I looked at the details of the file and it shows this:
Code:
Data Rate - 2511kbps
Total bitrate - 2704kbps
Frame Rate - 59 fames/second
Forgive me for being a noob, but is this saying that the total bitrate doesn't even exceed 3MBs? So even if I picked an encoding profile that limited the file to 4MBs, I would still be getting original video quality?

whitenack said:
I just checked a file I had encoded earlier using a profile that has a description of "same res h.264 video", which I assume means the video quality is not altered in any way. I looked at the details of the file and it shows this:
Code:
Data Rate - 2511kbps
Total bitrate - 2704kbps
Frame Rate - 59 fames/second
Forgive me for being a noob, but is this saying that the total bitrate doesn't even exceed 3MBs? So even if I picked an encoding profile that limited the file to 4MBs, I would still be getting original video quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same res = same resolution, but the bitrate can still affect video quality.
That said, the parameters you're showing should produce good results.

An AIO corsair or any other closed loop would start getting costly for him. Remember he has more than one CPU to cool, so you'd really wants go open loop cause you need two CPU blocks and I don't know anything else about the system so I won't guess how many rads you would need. Maybe change the fans out if there too loud, but I'm assuming you need something very powerful like delta fan's to keep it cool. Anyways that site recommended above does have a nice selection of quality water cooling components and fans. Check out alphacool, I use there rads with a swiftech block, but watch out for the clearance its around 60mm.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

whitenack said:
I just checked a file I had encoded earlier using a profile that has a description of "same res h.264 video", which I assume means the video quality is not altered in any way. I looked at the details of the file and it shows this:
Code:
Data Rate - 2511kbps
Total bitrate - 2704kbps
Frame Rate - 59 fames/second
Forgive me for being a noob, but is this saying that the total bitrate doesn't even exceed 3MBs? So even if I picked an encoding profile that limited the file to 4MBs, I would still be getting original video quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but thats what your encoding profile says not the source bitrate right? You should experiment a bit and see at what bitrate you see little to no quality loss or find some way to figure out the bitrate of the source file (since it's in some proprietary format might not be possible).
Then just make sure your target bitrate for re-encode is slightly higher with the same frame rate and you should be fine. from the looks of it it sounds like your FPS may be too high. And that might be a cause of loss of quality. Great for movement but the frames and pixels suffer.
Think if it similar to the following
The VBrate is like a bottle holds all the data for video and comes once a second.
FPS determines how many pictures are in that bottle with each picture being limited to the data size that allows all pictures to fit in that bottle.
Resolution (1080, 720) determines how many pixels must be REPRESENTED (but not always actually present) in each picture.
SO...
a VBRate with 4000K and 60 fps means 66.6K worth of pixel data per frame,
VBRate of 4000k and 30 fps means 133.3K worth of data per frame
Divide that number yet again by the number of pixels (resolution) and you get the data allotment for each pixel. As that number gets smaller the pixels actually get larger and blockier by trying to make one pixel tell the story of 4 or 8 pixels to fit into the limits of the picture so the pictures (FPS) can fit into the limits of the bottle (VBRate) and the dynamic range of each pixel gets compromised as it must use a shorter pallette for Light Dark, and RGB (Red Green Blue).
By the same token this is also why Upconverting often leads to blockiness not because of the limits of the Output but the limitations of the input. And no BETTER quality is actually possible.All the encoder does is double the pixels or framerate using the VBrate for each but you are not actually getting any better quality just magnifying the pixels. And that is just like looking at a screen with a magnifying glass. You see how blocky the pixels really are in the original and those blocks just get BIGGER on the upconvert.
I suggest you see what the top Bitrate and resolution of the source files are and then set your profile accordingly to at least get parity for the best quality possible.
Resolution and FPS should exactly match and then the VBrate as long as it is the same or slightly above will ensure your getting everything there is to get out of the source...
Nizda1 said:
Remember he has more than one CPU to cool,...
...Anyways that site recommended above does have a nice selection of quality water cooling components and fans. Check out alphacool, I use there rads with a swiftech block, but watch out for the clearance its around 60mm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes good catch I missed the DUAL and just saw the Quad...The Dual CPU does complicate things.
I have used Frozen for most of my Personal Builds of rigs but mostly because they are so damn close to me that I get the shipments almost next day even when I ship it ground.
IMO Cooling is the most overlooked and underrated part of Rig Building...
I happen to have a Cosmos S case I use for all my main rigs (Just keep changing the guts) because it's just so versatile no matter what I decide to do, Water, Fans and plenty of room for all of it.

Asphyx said:
Yes but thats what your encoding profile says not the source bitrate right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that file had been encoded, but at a much higher rate than what it ended up at. I think the bitrate was set at either 4000 or 5000, but still only produced a file at a bitrate of about half. Therefore, I assume that the Tivo file is set at that bitrate?
You should experiment a bit and see at what bitrate you see little to no quality loss or find some way to figure out the bitrate of the source file (since it's in some proprietary format might not be possible).
Then just make sure your target bitrate for re-encode is slightly higher with the same frame rate and you should be fine. from the looks of it it sounds like your FPS may be too high. And that might be a cause of loss of quality. Great for movement but the frames and pixels suffer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, these are .TiVo files, and I can't find any information on it. You were right about the frame rate...too high. I adjusted to 30 and that helped. I then tried about 4 or 5 different bitrate settings and am still looking for the perfect match between video quality and file size. I currently have one (480xheight, 1250 bitrate, 1500 max rate) that is a nice file size but a little fuzzy for my tastes. Then I have another one (1280xheight, 2000 bitrate, 2500 max rate) that looks great. What I'll try to do tonight is work on trimming the bitrate down a bit on the higher quality one until I notice a quality change, and then see if it changes the file size enough to justify the loss of quality.
Think if it similar to the following
The VBrate is like a bottle holds all the data for video and comes once a second.
FPS determines how many pictures are in that bottle with each picture being limited to the data size that allows all pictures to fit in that bottle.
Resolution (1080, 720) determines how many pixels must be REPRESENTED (but not always actually present) in each picture.
SO...
a VBRate with 4000K and 60 fps means 66.6K worth of pixel data per frame,
VBRate of 4000k and 30 fps means 133.3K worth of data per frame
Divide that number yet again by the number of pixels (resolution) and you get the data allotment for each pixel. As that number gets smaller the pixels actually get larger and blockier by trying to make one pixel tell the story of 4 or 8 pixels to fit into the limits of the picture so the pictures (FPS) can fit into the limits of the bottle (VBRate) and the dynamic range of each pixel gets compromised as it must use a shorter pallette for Light Dark, and RGB (Red Green Blue).
By the same token this is also why Upconverting often leads to blockiness not because of the limits of the Output but the limitations of the input. And no BETTER quality is actually possible.All the encoder does is double the pixels or framerate using the VBrate for each but you are not actually getting any better quality just magnifying the pixels. And that is just like looking at a screen with a magnifying glass. You see how blocky the pixels really are in the original and those blocks just get BIGGER on the upconvert.
I suggest you see what the top Bitrate and resolution of the source files are and then set your profile accordingly to at least get parity for the best quality possible.
Resolution and FPS should exactly match and then the VBrate as long as it is the same or slightly above will ensure your getting everything there is to get out of the source...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all the help. I came to this post knowing nothing about any of this and all the information I have is from you guys and reverse engineering some existing profiles. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you guys.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I see there may be an option to access my Plex Media Server from other networks over the internet. Looks like BubbleUPnP also supports setting up media servers over the internet, so I will work on that next.

whitenack said:
Oh, I forgot to mention that I see there may be an option to access my Plex Media Server from other networks over the internet. Looks like BubbleUPnP also supports setting up media servers over the internet, so I will work on that next.
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Yeah I would shoot for 720P (1280 X 720) as that is likely the best quality your likely getting from the sources you have recorded.
I don't see where encoding set at one bitrate would actually wind up with a lower bitrate output, unless of course you have it set to Auto Match Bitrate. Which really shouldn't be done because the new codec you are encoding to might require a higher bitrate to get the same quality (Remember different codecs compress differently and as a result require more or less bandwidth than other codecs to get the same quality)
So you have to choose the target bitrate that works best for the codec you are encoding in. In the case of H.264 and 720P 4Mb is a good balance of size and quality. That will translate to roughly 1Gb of file per hour of programming give or take how active the footage in the material is.
As for remote Streaming...Yes both Plex and Bubble support this. You do have to have a machine up and running at all times and you must set up your router to port forward the ports used by these servers to be sent to the server. Make sure also that the Server has a static IP or that you have set a DHCP reservation in yor router for the server machine so it has the same IP address every time.
Remote streaming will almost always require you to ask for a reduced bandwidth version of the stream since your ISP is unlikely to give you enough upload speed to get full quality but it has helped me pass the time on those long days where I have nothing to do and just waiting around to pass the time.

Asphyx said:
I don't see where encoding set at one bitrate would actually wind up with a lower bitrate output, unless of course you have it set to Auto Match Bitrate. Which really shouldn't be done because the new codec you are encoding to might require a higher bitrate to get the same quality (Remember different codecs compress differently and as a result require more or less bandwidth than other codecs to get the same quality)
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Click to collapse
Hmmm, we are quickly getting over my head. I don't have any experience in encoding, I am hijacking example encoding profiles and tweaking them a bit. Can you take a look at my profile and see if I am making any mistakes?
Code:
FFMPEG -y -i INPUT -threads CPU_CORES -vcodec libx264 -level 31 -subq 6 -me_range 16 -qmin 10 -qmax 50 -g 300 -s 1280xHEIGHT -r 29.97 -b 2000k -maxrate 2500k -acodec aac -strict -2 -ac 2 -ab 160k -ar 48000 -f mp4 OUTPUT
I think I pulled this code off an example iPhone profile. I have tweaked the resolution, bitrate and max rate a bit to experiment, but am not really sure what anything else does other than the fps and stereo aac (which is all I need).
Remote streaming will almost always require you to ask for a reduced bandwidth version of the stream since your ISP is unlikely to give you enough upload speed to get full quality but it has helped me pass the time on those long days where I have nothing to do and just waiting around to pass the time.
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Click to collapse
Ok, forget that then. I hadn't thought about my ISP upload speed. I have TWC and my download speeds are enough for my needs but my upload speeds are pretty weak.