Input On DVD Rebuilder Guide

Vurbal
Will you be adding a section on the various controls and the options? A lot of the newbies ask things like "How do I get HC to work?" Obviously, enter the path to the encoder and then select the Mode. Though that is an intuitive move for many of us, for the novices it appears not to be. So an in depth segment would definitely help. There are a few things I still wonder about; like Set Decoder iDCT. Everything seems to work well at 32 Bit Simple MMX (XVID); but what are the differences and what happens with the various settings there. I know that goes a bit more in depth (expert settings), but I'm one of those people who wasn't an AV engineer when I got involved with doing backups using RB.

 

I would think that the best setting under avs options would not be 32 bit simple mmx (xvid) but rather two up 32 bit SSE2/MMX.

 

Now for the million dollar question, [bold]what's the difference? [/bold]

 

Look dude, you asked the same question on two separate threads and you know that its against forum policy. LOL

 

You're right, I believe some character named Sophocles may have lead into the same subject on another thread. Guess I'll have to call a Mod and complain. LOL

Other than you, vurbal, and me, I don't think too many people know this thread exists. When was that last post before you posted to the thread a few days ago? (rhetorical)

 

@brobear

i was wondering the same thing as you about IDCT settings in may . i asked about it here . http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/84/97052

 

Thought I'd just import that little bit as it pertains to the subject at hand. As iDCT=7 was a common setting before, many of us probably had it and that accounts for the "32 Bit Simple MMX (XviD)" setting. I noticed new installations do default to the "Decoder Default" setting. I ran the Rockas installer a few hours ago just to see how it works. My set up was an old one I'd done manually and had been using for some time. I can't tell much difference on my PC with the different settings. The speed also seems to be about the same. Possibly with different processors, there may be a more noticable difference; like not working as with Soph's AMD processor, if not set correctly. Wonder how it would have gone with "Decoder Default".

 

I've been tweaking my system for speed but I never expected to get my encode times down to less than 90 minutes let alone 74 minutes without having a dual core system.

Hmmm! Dual core!

brobear

I still can't encode "Diary of Mad Black Woman" and I'm now pretty certain that I'm facing a new physical protection of some kind.

 

LOL Yes, the dual core CPUs sound good. I thought you might try one, especially since you were talking about dual processor boards. Then you come up with the overclocked AMD. I bought so much chrome, I can't afford any new PC toys for a while.

I think I'll try the movie when I get a chance to see what happens on my old mule.

 

Fortunately my system is Dual Core Ready and I just might make the leap before christmas. At this time I couldn't justify spending an extra $400 above what I've already paid when I could get about 90% of or better performance on most applications from a faster single core. As multi threaded applications become more common then I'll make the leap. The only true multi threaded application that I use is CCE.

 

That already exists... have you tried the help file? (it's included on the Professional Installer

You can also get it here:
http://dvd-rb.dvd2go.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=50

You can put it under Rebuilder's installation folder or on a folder called Help (under Rebuilder's folder) then just click on "Contents" on Rebuilder's Help Menu

keep it UP

 

Rockas,
Good looking guide/help folder.

Let me play dumb here. I'll say it first, "doesn't take a lot of work on my part", LOL. The guide could have been a bit more in depth, or is there a definition section I'm missing. Take the iDCT settings for example; I know what the selection is setting up for (compatibility on individual systems), but what does iDCT stand for? Then there are the 7 settings. How does one go about finding which is most appropriate for their system? The iDCT=7 left the 32 Bit Simple MMX (XVID) setting on many of our PCs from the manual setups. I know my system is supposed to utilize MMX technology, but which of the settings should I use? By the way the "32 Bit Simple MMX (XVID)" and "Decoder Default" work about the same on my PC. However, I noticed 4 more of the settings include MMX in the option title.

[bold]Set Decoder iDTC
With this option you can instruct the decoder to use of of a list of 7 iDCT choices. This replaces the former single "idct=7" choice..[/bold]

As for the guide, it would be nice to know what settings are for besides just having them listed.

 

im also interested in knowing what are the different settings for idct . what settings are for what cpu's ? what is the difference in the different settings ? i currently have it set to 32 bit simple mmx xvid .

 

Rockas

I noticed your guide inside the help file, I don't need it but it looks like a pretty straight forward guide and I'm sure a lot of newbies will need it.

brobear has a point regarding the differences between the various 32 bit SSE2/MMX settings. Two of them have exactly the same menu description. Now, I'm guessing that the differences are CPU format related but if that's so, then which are aimed at Intel and Which are aimed at AMD? Like brobear stated when you install the latest over version of RB over an older one it defaults to 32 bit SSE2/MMX (xvid).What does Xvid have to do with backing up DVD's, its an mpeg4 encoder? I set mine to the settings 3 up from the bottom and my encodes now come in at 30 to 40 minutes faster. In the last 8 movies I did only 1 took 84 minutes but rest took 82 minutes or less.

brobear

I could be wrong but try the second setting under default, but I think those settings are marked for Intel but it's just a guess.

 

Well I guess you are right but please... If I go to a "depth" explanation of all the new features of Rebuilder I would have to write a Bible

The help file is there to explain everything that has a direct relation with Rebuilder... now... remember that the most complicated stuff is in "Advanced" sections on menus and usually there's a warning saying "If you don't know what you are doing... don't touch"

Now... usually and "Advanced/Expert" user nows or try to know that stuff by his own means, right? That's why the forum are out there

Anyway... some informatio about this (inside Rebuilder) can be found here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=94925&highlight=decoder+idct

@Sophocles
I don't think you are right... the default value is SSE/MMX not SSE2/MMX... anyway... SSE2/MMX is compatible with Pentium IV and AMD64... SSE/MMX is compatible with those two plus Pentium III and Amd ATHLON.

Hope you understand my point here... I just don't want to make an help file bigger than the Application it self lol ... but... maybe... if my free time allows me, maybe I can go a little deeper on some of that stuff

keep it UP

 

Oh! by the way... I forgot to announce this here on the forum... I introduced some new and great features on the RME (Rebuilder's Matrix Editor)... check it here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=97114

It still has some bugs... (don't use it with ILVU sources yet I corrected the problem... it will be out on 0.2.0.6 release... but I'm doing some final tests on QuEnc mode.

keep it UP

ps. Don't forget to read the TODO list on the changelog of the 0.2.0.5 release ... I think I may need everybodies help on the filters stuff

 

Rockas
Sophocles has been a regular on the forums as far as RB goes. I'd say if he gets confused on an item like the iDCT settings, then someone has been amiss at getting out the info, even to the "experts".

If there is no connection stated as to what settings are for, then why even mention them; just leave a statement "do not touch" and state the default setting it's supposed to be on. Even on the forums, I've not seen a lot of what the expert settings are for. That's an idea, do a guide/help segment for Expert Settings only. I'm not saying do a guide for every possible eventuality. I do think, since CCE is the more popular encoder, that the different settings one can go into with it should be explained. Most all of the settings are intuitive or easily figured out. The 2 big exceptions are the "AVS Options -> Advanced (Expert) Options" and the "Advanced (Expert) Options", both located under Options in the RB controls. If someone would just take the time to do an in depth description of those segments, it would go a long way in describing the optional functionality of RB for those of us who may be technically challenged and a few of the "experts" who didn't get the memo.

 

Rockas

If RB's Default value is SSE/MMX then unless there are more PIII's and older AMD's out there than P4's and newer AMD's, that can't be right and it has to be the wrong choice to default to.

I didn't know what the current default, defaulted to but if one started from an older setup with Idct=7 selected and chose to overwrite the current setup, then the new version of RB 1.00 RC2 automatically sets the avs option to 32 bit SSE2/MMX (Xvid) which also can't be right.

All P4's come with SSE2/MMX natively and the Prescott even comes with SSE2/3/MMX as does my new AMD Venice core. In the menu where those settings are found there are two settings with the exact same option of 32 bit SSE2/MMX near the top and bottom with no distinction between them.

I recently had a problem with a DVD which lead me to review my setup and it was then that I discovered that it was set to the 32 bit SSE2/MMX (Xvid) setting. Since then I've discovered that numerous other people also have had that same setting with (Xvid) with no explanation as to how it got set.

Having just built a new system (using the AMD64 3500 Venice core)I changed the setting to the one that is the third from the bottom,
32 Bit SSE2/MMX which is an instruction that my CPU is capable of handling. Immediately after I made the setting I noticed that my encode times had dropped by about 30 minutes. I haven't compared to any other settings yet but my prepare/encode/rebuild times are still coming it at about 80 minutes.

I have no idea as to why there are two 32 Bit SSE2/MMX choices in the menu because they are by their description the exact same setting. I read your entire help file and there's no explanation there for any of this. These aren't expert settings that we're discussing they're just common sense settings. I'm being bombarded with questions about these settings and I'd like to be able to answer them without sounding glib.

 

The choices in the menu are there because those are the ones that are listed as available in DGDECODE.DLL and MPEG2DEC3DG.DLL. I added the menu because several DVD-RB users requested to have easier access to the settings. As Sophocles can attest, some algorithms work better on some processors.

These are all routines that do the transform in different ways. (The two SSE/MMX choices are not the same, they are two different algorithms).

I believe the XVID choice is named the way it is be because the routine was "lifted" from the XVID project. While XVID may be an MPEG-4 project -- iDCT is iDCT.

 

Ok.. Ok.. I'll make some deeper research and I'll try to make it as simple as I can to insert it on the Help file.

Thanks for the suggestions

edit: one thing that is extremely dangerous for beginners is too much information.... I think we can all agree on this