VDubMod cluster compression Helper

Hello, guys.

Avery - once again, thanks for keeping up with this essential tool.=20
I just wonder, what we would do if there would be no VirtualDub ;)
You might recall, we had a conversation some time ago. Or you might not=
,
I guess you receive mail from thousands of people. We spoke about
factorization techniques used in AVI FPS info. Anyway ;)

You, DubMod guys, have made a great work gathering all VDub modificatio=
ns
work together and work just fine. Personally I use now only DubMod
(and yes, I use VBR mp3 - ah, what a shame! ;)

OK, let me get to the point. I don't know why this part is no longer=20
supported in DubMod 1.5.* - I'm talking about Net compression. It appea=
rs
to be VERY useful. OK, no 2-pass is the problem, but.. Having 1-pass
encoding done by 5-10 PCs is VERY good thing, believe me ;)

Look, I have a VHS VCR, video capture and some friends with video camer=
as.
They ask me from time to time to capture their videos and burn them on =
CDs.
And here is where it kicks in: processing video with some filters to ge=
t it
look better makes my iCel 1,4 run at 1 FPS, which is miserable. I have
10 PCs in my office, 1 FPS on ten PCs turns out to be 10 FPS which is m=
uch
more better ;)   This way I can have 30 hr task completed in 4-5 hrs.

But there is a major drawback in the method VirtualDubMod 1.4.13 use.
It first processes the file via multiple PCs into multiple files, and=20
then runs a task to append all these part altogether. Thus, it requires=
=20
twice as much space, as the result file will take.

As far as I am quality-obsessed, I use HuffYUV (i.e. no loss compressio=
n)
in the intermediate stage. And HuffYUV means up to 40 GB/hr. Usual tape=
 is
1,5-2 hr. This means that I can process only one hour at a piece on my =
80G
hard disk. And if I buy a new 120G HDD I will get only 60G more of work=
ing=20
space.

This seems to be nonsense for me. I tried to work around this feature.

The idea is simple: why should I put these files all together into one
if I only need them to be processed and deleted? Also Dub can easily
append several files and work with them as with one big file.

=46irst thing came into my mind was just open the 1st file in Dub and t=
hen=20
append all other files. Two problems: 1 file per minute or so, that is
you have to open 80 files in correct order. The second problem: the ord=
er.
=46iles are numbered as they are processed, not as they are played in v=
ideo.

DubMod stores this (and some more) information in .parts file. OK, I ha=
ve
looked through it, guessed what means what. Then I exported it to Excel=
,
sorted the table by the begin frame number and this way I received corr=
ect
order of parts numbers. Then I go to Dub, Append AVI segment, Append,=20
Append... I've done this operation for two videos and then I started to=
=20
think: there must be another way.

The other way I found in Dub script: .jobs file. There is a command Ope=
n
followed by multiple Append's. OK, this is it. I multiply the line with
Append, then I copy as a vertical block a sorted column from Excel and=20
I can see a correct numbers right in correct lines of .jobs script.=20
I only have to put the numbers into their place inside the line of scri=
pt.

Doing this once more made me think hard again. And the thing is that=20
I'm a programer, and this is rather a diagnosis than an occupation ;)

Well, enough of talking. I've coded a utility that takes .parts file fo=
r
input and generates Open-Annend part of .jobs script, all based on the =
info
from that .parts file. Interface should be very simple for anyone who i=
s
able to use CLI.

It's very simple to use: after you taks was processed by the cluster of=
 PCs,
abort the creation of one big avi. Open Dub, open the any small avi, se=
tup
everything you need and save the job. You might setup several jobs with=
 you=20
video if you need to: like 1st and second pass of DivX compression.=20
Close Dub, run my tool (VDMCH) with the name of the video being process=
ed=20
as a parameter. You'll get a file named "your_video_name.jobs.part".
Edit you Dub's .jobs script: replace line with Open(... with the conten=
ts
of the .jobs.part file: there is one Open and multiple Append's.
Now save the script, open Dub and run your jobs.

That's it, no more disk space waste.

If anyone wants I may send him a source code (coded in MS VC++ .NET 200=
3,=20
in C++, plain WinAPI console application, STL, also some comments ;).=20
You decide what to do with it and how to use it. I would be very glad i=
f you=20
incorporate compress over network feature in newer DubMod releases,=20
and I would be even more if my code will be of any use for you.

Thank you for your attention, this is all. The tool is available at
http://Hopka.kiev.ua/ in both zipped and uncompressed versions.

PS sorry for so much talk. Feel free to transfer this info to forums/et=
c.,
    wherever you think this would be listened to. The soft is usual
    'freeware/no warranty/use at your own risk' - feel free to distribu=
te.
--=20
                          =E1=CE=C4=D2=C5=CA =E7=D5=CC=C5 aka =EB=D2=CF=
=CC=C9=CB (Andriy Gule aka Krolyk)
E-mail: [email protected]   ICQ: 33362031   SMS: [email protected].=
ua
WWW: www.Hopka.kiev.ua         Mail: Ukraine, 03028, Kyiv-28, P.O. box =
64



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