Chapters within videos - how they can help you

I mentioned that my encode of Chisato's solo live vol. 1 is the first video I've uploaded here that features chapters. This post is meant to better explain what they are and how it can make watching things like concerts much more awesome.

So first let me explain what they are. When you hear the word "chapter", you probably think about chapters in a book, which is good because chapters within a video serve a similar purpose.

If you are reading a book and want to go to specific point in the book, you look in the index, find the chapter you want, and turn to that page right? It's the same concept here.

For example, if you are watching Chisato's solo live and want to skip to when she sings Bokura no Kagayaki, all you have to do is select the chapter that says Bokura no Kagayaki and instantly the video skips to that performance. Doesn't that sound helpful?

Now I'll show you how to do that, using the Chisato solo live encode in this post. Note: not all video players support this feature. Media Player Classic, VLC Player, and Zoom Player (three of my favorite video players, in that order) DOES support chapters. Windows Media Player (the one built into Windows) does NOT support chapters.

For Media Player Classic:
1. Open the video
2. On the menu bar, click on Navigate
3. Click Jump to
4. Select whatever chapter you want

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A Guide to Encoding, part eight (editing video)

Well it's about time, eh? I started talking about encoding two months ago and said I'd cover editing video and so here I am.

This part is not meant to be read alone. It's named part eight for a reason - you should have read the other seven parts before you start on this one.

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Is Blu-Ray really that big of a deal?

I'm doing a lot more posts about encoding than originally planned, but hey, at least this one is about Hello! Project. Anyway, I'll keep this one short and to the point. Thanks to the random wota that uploaded the Shuffle Date Blu-Ray ISO to the net, I have been able to run a couple of tests to see what looks best on Youtube (will make a couple public soon). For now, here are two images which should help you answer the question presented in the title.

(Click for full size image)

(Click for full size image)

The first picture is from the regular DVD, upscaled to 1080p. The second picture was taken from a LQ test rip I made from the Blu-Ray ISO.

I hope that you can see that the difference in quality is staggering. This is why I always say that just because you resized a video to 720p or 1080p does not mean that it's true HD.

It's time to cross your fingers for more Blu-Ray release in the future.

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A guide to encoding, part seven (final wrap up)

If you actually read all six parts and followed my instructions then you are one step closer to becoming a better encoder. However, even with all of the help I've given you, don't think that you are done. There are so many things that I either glossed over or did not touch on at all. My guide will get you started. It's up to you whether or not you continue practicing, experiment, and make yourself better.

With that said, here are some links that I found very helpful when I first started encoding.

• Doom9 Forums  - A giant forum where many brilliant minds gather to answer questions and develop new things for Avisynth, MeGUI, and many other encoding programs. If you get an error in MeGUI or something goes wrong, Doom9 is a great place to search for answers.

• Avisynth Wiki  - The official wiki page for Avisynth. Very, very helpful in explaining the finer points of Avisynth. If you ever want to go above and beyond MeGUI and do more advanced things to your video, that is the link to visit.

• Writing Avisynth scripts from scratch - from the Avisynth wiki, a quick guide to writing a very simple avisynth script without the help of MeGUI.

• Avisynth Filter Intro - An introduction to what Avisynth filters are (very important if you want your encodes to look even better).

• MeWiki  - The official MeGUI wiki.

• x264 settings  - From the MeWiki, a very advanced guide to all of x264's settings. Not for beginners.

• All About Video Fields - a long guide explaining what interlacing is.

• 100fps  - Another guide about interlacing/deinterlacing. Probably easier to understand than the guide above.

• AfterDawn - a multipurpose site. Has download links to encoding programs, a decent forum, and guides. This particular link goes to a good guide on how to use Avisynth.

• Scintilla's Guide to AVISynth Postprocessing Filters  - another guide to Avisynth filters. Very detailed and pretty easy to understand.

• AnimeMusicVideo's guides - quite possibly the most helpful set of guides (for me at least). They are pretty clear and easy to understand but at the same time, explains some of the more technical aspects of encoding that are good to know.

Finally, I promised a video showing you how I encode. It's basically a quick, condensed version of this whole guide, put into action.


(best viewed in 720p using the expanded player on Youtube)


Edit: As promised, I finally wrote a follow up to this guide, explaining how I edit in MeGUI. Head on over to part eight.

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A guide to encoding, part six (encoding & finishing up)

Almost done, yay!

Once again, return to the main MeGUI window. The "Avisynth Script", "Video Output", "Audio Input", and "Audio Output" boxes should all have files in them, like so.

Now, where it says "File Format", select either .mkv or .mp4. Either one is fine (if you are using xvid to encode, .avi should be the only thing you choose).

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A guide to encoding, part five (h264 encoding and profile settings)

Before you can actually start encoding your video, you need to understand a couple of other things about MeGUI. Don't worry, I won't go over everything - that's for you to explore on your own - instead, I will tell you enough to get you going.

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A guide to encoding, part four (dealing with .ISOs continued)

You will see three tabs in the Avisynth Creator - "I/O", "Filters", and "Script". Starting in the first tab, I/O, I will explain most of the settings.

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A guide to encoding, part three (Key terms & Dealing with .ISOs)

A quick note before I begin: words in bold are "key terms" - common encoding words that I am not expecting the readers of this guide to know the meaning of. If you hover your mouse over those words, you will see a definition of the word written by me as well as a link you can click on if you would like even more information.

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A guide to encoding, part two (Setup)

Ready to make the plunge? Great, but first you will need to download a couple of things to make everything work.

• Avisynth - The main component that you'll need.  

• MeGUI - A graphical user interface (yep, that's what GUI stands for) for Avisynth. Basically it means that MeGUI is a program that makes using Avisynth a lot more manageable for those unfamiliar with writing scripts from scratch.

• Winrar or 7zip - Winrar is free for 30 days and 7zip is 100% free. Both have similar functions, which is extracting the contents of .zip, .rar, and many other types of files. For the purpose of encoding, we will use either program to extract the contents of an .iso file. 

• A video source - An .ISO preferably, but any random .avi, .mp4, .mkv, etc.. will do (though I won't be covering encoding from other DVD-Rips in this guide; you can figure it out on your own if you read through). 

Now, everything below is not required, but I strongly suggest downloading them because I will be using them in this guide.

• Nero AAC Encoder - For encoding your audio into high quality AAC files.

• VirtualDubMod - For quickly editing video. I find the included function in MeGUI to be lacking. 

• CCCP  - Combined Community Codec Pack. Basically a requirement for those who don't have Windows 7 (and even if you do run 7, I still suggest it). CCCP makes video playback go smoothly and also includes my favorite video player, Media Player Classic Homecinema.

• K-Lite Codec Pack - You don't need both CCCP and K-Lite -- either one is fine. K-Lite is more up-to-date, so those with newer PCs may want to download this instead. If you do choose K-Lite, download either the Full or Mega version.

Download the three required programs (and the three optional if you wish) and install. I hope you don't need help installing so I won't go over that, but if you have specific questions about any of the programs, feel free to ask.

In part three I will explain a couple of key terms and how to get started with ISOs.

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Why my encoding methods are better than yours: a guide to encoding, part one (Introduction)

Whenever I take interest in something, I like to go all out. I must know anything and everything there is to know about the topic at hand and I must become one of the best at it (or at least as close as I possibly can). Encoding is no different.

Now don't get me wrong. I do not claim to be the best encoder ever. No where near. In the real world I'm above average at best. However, over these past three years (and with the above stated personality trait in mind), I have learned many invaluable things that has made me the encoder I am today.

With that out of the way, there is the question of why I'm making this post. Well, in the past couple of weeks I have encoded a dozen different videos for various people, have been asked by at least three people to teach them specific tasks of the encoding process, and in some cases I was asked to teach my encoding methods from scratch. That does not even include the various people who have asked me for help over the past couple of years. So here I am with this multi-part guide on how exactly I encode.

As cocky as the title may sound, I and many others firmly believe that using avisynth is by far the best solution to encoding high quality videos for Windows users. Why? With most other programs you can only do whatever function that specific program was created to do. Avisynth is different in that regard. With the power of scripting, you can carryout just about any function you could possibly want, in order to enhance your video.

Continue reading part two to find out how.

By the way, I would like to warn everyone that this guide is not for those looking for a quick fix. There is a reason why I am writing this in multiple parts - it is going to be a long process and I will be explaining nearly everything I learned in two years of using avisynth. Things can and will get complicated.

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