VirtualDub: save direct to MP4 (Fraps to YouTube) with external encoders

I always load these filters....

[EDIT - moved here]

 

The only place I have "128" or "44100" in my settings is in the description, not the actual commands. I found better settings, changed them and forgot to update the description. Sorry about that, it happens!

(EDIT 6/21 - the description has been changed again to simply "MP4," to work around a quirk in VirtualDub 1.10.3 where the "Export..." dialog box, under "Save as type," shows the encoder set description and not its extension.

The Nero AAC command line now sets "constant quality" encoding, not "constant bitrate."

That way you save some bits if the encoder decides you don't need them. One reason why AAC is better than MP3. Some of my videos have bitrates in the 70-80 kbps area and they sound fine.

Approx. average bitrate <-> Quality table
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=44310

Code:

  Bitrate          Quality
  ~16                0.05 <<< bad
  ~33                0.15
  ~66                0.25
  ~100              0.35 <<< good (my setting)
  ~146              0.45
  ~192              0.55 <<< better
  ~238              0.65
  ~285              0.75
  ~332              0.85 <<< ridiculous
  ~382              0.95

 

No clue. Your ideas (use relative paths or copy the .exe's) sound good to me. Thanks for posting.

 

Hi Huwa, this actually isn't the best place for your question, so I have replied to you to on a different thread: see "Rafriff's Awesome VirtualDub Tutorial," post #54.

 

SETUP QUICK START:
1. Copy the code below and save as "ffmpeg-1.vdprof"
2. Go to Options, External Encoders, Import and import the file you just saved.
3. Open each imported encoder or muxer and browse for ffmpeg.exe on your system.
4. If you can't find ffmpeg.exe in your program files, get it from zeranoe.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Been trying to set up ffmpeg as an external encoder for some time, on and off, and I always ran into "anonymous pipe" type errors until now. Finally got it working, thanks to a post (see PDF link) from Budman1 at videohelp.com

The great thing about ffmpeg is its versatility. Once you get one encoder working, the others are relatively easy. Here are three examples.

• "mov ff x264+pcm": x264 video, PCM audio. MOV container
  
• "mp4 ff mpeg4 q1+ac3": MPEG-4 ASP
• "mov ff mjpeg+pcm": MJPEG

Mix and match the various components as you please. If you don't want a MOV container, switch muxers - I've included ffmpeg muxers for avi and mp4 as well. The thing I like about QT/MOV as a container is that it accepts PCM audio, unlike MP4 (unless I'm wrong about that)

Note: tested with ffmpeg version N-54036-g6c4516d (Jun 15 2013)
Windows build from zeranoe.com

ffmpeg-1.vdprof

Code:

{
"description": "VirtualDub external encoder profile collection",
"externalEncoders": {
  "sets": {
  "mov ff x264 r18+pcm": {
  "videoEncoder": "V ff 264 r18",
  "audioEncoder": "A ff pcm",
  "multiplexer": "M ff mov",
  "description": "mov",
  "extension": "mov",
  "processPartial": true,
  "useOutputAsTemp": false
  },
  "mp4 ff mpeg4 q1+ac3": {
  "videoEncoder": "V ff mpeg4 q1",
  "audioEncoder": "A ff ac3 192k",
  "multiplexer": "M ff mov",
  "description": "mp4",
  "extension": "mp4",
  "processPartial": true,
  "useOutputAsTemp": false
  },
  "mov ff mjpeg+pcm": {
  "videoEncoder": "V ff mjpeg q1",
  "audioEncoder": "A ff pcm",
  "multiplexer": "M ff mov",
  "description": "mov",
  "extension": "mov",
  "processPartial": true,
  "useOutputAsTemp": false
  }
  },
  "profiles": {
  "M ff mov": {
  "name": "M ff mov",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-i \"%(tempvideofile)\" -i \"%(tempaudiofile)\"  -c:v copy -c:a copy -r %(fps) -f mov \"%(outputname)\"",
  "outputFilename": "%(outputname).audio",
  "type": 2,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "V ff 264 r18": {
  "name": "V ff 264 r18",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-f rawvideo -s %(width)x%(height) -r %(fps) -i - -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 18 -preset veryfast -x264opts colormatrix=bt709:vbv-maxrate=62500:vbv-bufsize=78125  \"%(tempvideofile)\"",
  "outputFilename": "video.mov",
  "type": 0,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "V ff 264 r22": {
  "name": "V ff 264 r22",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-f rawvideo -s %(width)x%(height) -r %(fps) -i - -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 22 -preset medium -x264opts colormatrix=bt709:vbv-maxrate=62500:vbv-bufsize=78125  \"%(tempvideofile)\"",
  "outputFilename": "video.mov",
  "type": 0,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "A ff pcm": {
  "name": "A ff pcm",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-i - -vn -c:a pcm_s16le -f wav \"%(tempaudiofile)\"",
  "outputFilename": "%(outputname).wav",
  "type": 1,
  "inputFormat": 1,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": true,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "V ff mpeg4 q1": {
  "name": "V ff mpeg4 q1",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-f rawvideo -s %(width)x%(height) -r %(fps) -i - -c:v mpeg4 -q:v 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p  \"%(tempvideofile)\"",
  "outputFilename": "video.mp4",
  "type": 0,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "M ff mp4": {
  "name": "M ff mp4",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-i \"%(tempvideofile)\" -i \"%(tempaudiofile)\"  -c:v copy -c:a copy -r %(fps) -f mp4 \"%(outputname)\"",
  "outputFilename": "%(outputname).audio",
  "type": 2,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": false,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": false
  },
  "M ff avi": {
  "name": "M ff avi",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-i \"%(tempvideofile)\" -i \"%(tempaudiofile)\"  -c:v copy -c:a copy -r %(fps) -f avi \"%(outputname)\"",
  "outputFilename": "%(outputname).audio",
  "type": 2,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "A ff ac3 192k": {
  "name": "A ff ac3 192k",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-i - -vn  -f ac3 -acodec ac3 -b:a 192k -ar 48000 -ac 2 \"%(tempaudiofile)\"",
  "outputFilename": "%(outputname).ac3",
  "type": 1,
  "inputFormat": 1,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": true,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "V ff mjpeg q1": {
  "name": "V ff mjpeg q1",
  "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "commandArguments": "-f rawvideo -s %(width)x%(height) -r %(fps) -i - -c:v mjpeg -q:v 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p  \"%(tempvideofile)\"",
  "outputFilename": "%(outputname).mp4",
  "type": 0,
  "inputFormat": 0,
  "checkReturnCode": true,
  "logStdout": true,
  "logStderr": true,
  "bypassCompression": false,
  "predeleteOutputFile": true
  }
  }
}
}

Edit - added "-r %(fps)" to FFmpeg muxers
Edit - added quick start guide

 

Some professional formats for transferring from VirtualDub to Premiere, Avid etc

• Apple Prores
• Avid DNxHD

Requires ffmbc (or newer versions of ffmpeg)

Code:

{
"description": "VirtualDub external encoder profile collection",
"externalEncoders": {
  "sets": {
  "mov ffmbc prores+pcm": {
    "videoEncoder": "V ffmbc prores",
    "audioEncoder": "A ff pcm 48k",
    "multiplexer": "M ff mov",
    "description": "mov",
    "extension": "mov",
    "processPartial": true,
    "useOutputAsTemp": false
  },
  "mov ffmbc dnxhd+pcm": {
    "videoEncoder": "V ffmbc dnxhd",
    "audioEncoder": "A ff pcm 48k",
    "multiplexer": "M ff mov",
    "description": "mov",
    "extension": "mov",
    "processPartial": true,
    "useOutputAsTemp": false
  }
  },
  "profiles": {
  "M ff mov": {
      "name": "M ff mov",
      "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
      "commandArguments": "-i \"%(tempvideofile)\" -i \"%(tempaudiofile)\"  -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mov \"%(outputname)\"",
      "outputFilename": "%(outputname).audio",
      "type": 2,
      "inputFormat": 0,
      "checkReturnCode": true,
      "logStdout": true,
      "logStderr": true,
      "bypassCompression": false,
      "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "A ff pcm 48k": {
    "name": "A ff pcm 48k",
    "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
    "commandArguments": "-i - -vn -c:a pcm_s16le -ar 48000 -f wav \"%(tempaudiofile)\"",
    "outputFilename": "%(outputname).wav",
    "type": 1,
    "inputFormat": 1,
    "checkReturnCode": true,
    "logStdout": true,
    "logStderr": true,
    "bypassCompression": true,
    "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "V ffmbc prores": {
    "name": "V ffmbc prores",
    "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmbc.exe",
    "commandArguments": "-f rawvideo -s %(width)x%(height) -r %(fps) -i -  -pix_fmt yuv422p -vcodec prores -qscale 1 \"%(tempvideofile)\"",
    "outputFilename": "%(outputname).mov",
    "type": 0,
    "inputFormat": 0,
    "checkReturnCode": true,
    "logStdout": true,
    "logStderr": true,
    "bypassCompression": false,
    "predeleteOutputFile": true
  },
  "V ffmbc dnxhd": {
    "name": "V ffmbc dnxhd",
    "program": "C:\\Program Files\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmbc.exe",
    "commandArguments": "-f rawvideo -s %(width)x%(height) -r %(fps) -i - -pix_fmt yuv422p -vcodec dnxhd -b 185M \"%(tempvideofile)\"",
    "outputFilename": "%(outputname).mov",
    "type": 0,
    "inputFormat": 0,
    "checkReturnCode": true,
    "logStdout": true,
    "logStderr": true,
    "bypassCompression": false,
    "predeleteOutputFile": true
  }
  }
}
}

 

I copy the default file name from the AVI 'Save As' dialog and paste it into the External 'Save As' dialog so I don't have to type it. After pasting I change .avi to .mp4 - sorry that wasn't clear.

So say my source is "Dwm 2013-06-15 22-36-49-87.avi" and I want to save the compressed MP4 as "Dwm 2013-06-13 22-36-49-87 -edit1.mp4" - copying and pasting the base file name saves a lot of time. Maybe most people would just type a more descriptive name like "series 1 ep 5.mp4", but usually I want to be able to find the original source.

Am I understanding your question?

 

> The backslashes stop after the second entry for Program Files (x86)...
When you change program paths in the .vdprof file, remember to make all backslashes (\) doubled (\\).

It might be easier to just import the .vdprof, then update the program paths within the GUI:
1. Options menu, External encoders, Encoders tab
2. Click on each item in the list and browse to the proper program location.
3. Hit OK, repeat...

EDIT - OP is updated to clarify this. Thanks for your questions.

 

I have done some preliminary work on making the VirtualDub encoder log output more helpful in case of error. If you get weird errors with MP4Box or NeroAAC, you might want to try this.

 

Thank you, Eugene. It appears the batch wizard does not currently work with external encoders. You can manually add files to the Job List though - File, Queue batch operation, Export with external encoder.

 

No, I don't.