ALL-IN-ONE: Codecs, Tools, Players, Editing and more.

[Maher]

You won't find full guides here, but you'll learn the basics and will have the tools and resources for what you need. Feel free to add, correct, improve or just comment.

Lines written in red are obviously meant to catch your attention, they can be recommendations or warnings. Lines in blue are general tips. Other colors used are just to make it look nice

Request: This is not a finished work, and you probably can't finish this kind of work. So my request from all experienced members is to add to this thread, especially in the last chapter.

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I want to begin by mentioning some of the tools that you probably should have. All tools mentioned here are freeware, which is the best kind of ware . Most of these tools and codecs can be found at www.codecs.com (which is also free-codecs.com).

Media players
Media Player Classic (MPC): The best there is! Got tons of features including subtitles and various video rendering options. You'll be amazed how many rendering problems or sound playback problems this "little" player solves. We'll talk about some of its important features later.
VLC: An excellent player that can play anything you throw at it. Commonly used for previews in eMule.
'BS Player - Free Version' used to be here, but Gh3tt0PC claims that it has adware (post #4), so I removed it. MPC and VLC are much better anyway.

Video editing
Virtual Dub: This is the only program I'm going to mention because you can't top that for free. It can do almost anything with video/audio. We'll talk about doing some basic editing or converting in this thread. If you need something advanced, ask here or visit the Virtual Dub Forums.

Other video tools
AviSynth: "A powerful video programming language for post-production editing".
DGMPGDec: With AviSynth, it's used to give the ability to convert .VOB files to be used in VirtualDub.
GSpot: A nice tool to view all the information needed about a video file.
ffdshow: VERY RECOMMENDED. It's an application (and a codec) that can be used to decode/encode XviD/DivX (and more) files. It processes the video on-the-fly instead of your media player, and deliveres the video uncompressed to ANY media player. You can apply tons of filters (also on-the-fly) while watching the video. One of those filters is subtitles, so you can have subtitles with any media player!

DVD backup/resize
DVD Shrink: The only one I ever used. Can resize from DVD9 to DVD5, remove zone protection, you can remove unwanted dubs or subtitles, make an ISO file or burn directly to a DVD. DVD backup is a sensitive issue, so I won't put a guide here.

Video codecs
XviD: A free to use MPEG4 codec (encoder & decoder).
DivX: Free as a decoder.
An organized List of Codecs at Wikipedia.

Codec packs
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack: Haven't used any other codec pack for so long because it's more than enough. Has all the basic codecs + many other less known ones. Most importantly, the new versions of MPC are included. Another nice thing is that it includes the QuickTime-Alternative codec which relieves you of installing QuickTime. Has the RealAudio alternative as well. It's updated frequently. Bottom line is, it'll probably play any video you have.
If it's not enough for you, look on www.codecs.com for other packs or individual codecs.

Audio tools
WavePad: For a freeware, this application is simply amazing. Supports all formats of audio, has effects like amplify, echo and reverb. Got excellent noise-reduction tools and it can convert between various formats. Can open video files for audio. You'll probably use it mostly for conversion/amplifying/noise reduction. A full version can be purchased also.

Audio codecs
Lame ACM MP3 Codec: A good MP3 encoder that you should have! Used in the Virtual Dub examples below.

Subtitle tools
DivXLand Media Subtitler: Allows you to create subtitles and adjust the timing on-the-fly while running the video. I use it to make subtitles for music videos and then embed the subtitles in Virtual Dub.
SUB2SSA: Used to edit and shape .SUB and .SRT subtitles and convert them to .SSA files to be used in Virtual Dub with the subtitler filter. It's not maintained any more but works like a charm.
Subtitler Filter: A Virtual Dub filter that takes .SSA files and embeds them on the video. Very simple and has a preview option.

For more tools, codecs and applications: http://www.free-codecs.com/Software.htm

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>>> Media Player Classic: The basics and the powerful features

First, we learn some useful keys.
Space Bar plays/pauses the video, a click on the video also does that. Double-click makes it full screen or returns to normal (so does Alt-Enter). Keys 1 2 3 4 change how MPC looks like. Alt-1/2/3/4 will zoom the video 50%/100%/200%/auto-fit respectively. Keys RIGHT and LEFT are used to scan the video frame by frame. Keys UP and DOWN to change volume, Ctrl-M to mute. Ctrl-7 opens/closes the playlist. PAGE-UP and PAGE-DOWN are next and previous in the playlist. Ctrl-L loads subtitles file. "O" opens the option menu. The NUM-PADS can shift the image (skew). Also, right-clicking the video area in the player brings a quick menu.

TIP: If you use the K-Like Mega Codec pack and choose to install MPC, you can configure some of its options with the codec pack installer. You mainly want to configure which file extensions to associate with MPC and your speaker configuration.

Now we get to know some important features in the options menu. Press "O" or go to "View > Options".
(1) Player: Not much to explain here. Look at sub menus: Formats and Keys.

• Formats: You can change what MPC plays by default, add extensions and decide what MPC should auto-play.
• Keys: A full list of the shortcut keys which you can change to your liking or just learn them.

(2) Playback: No need for explanation here. See sub menus Output and Audio Switcher.

• Output: This can solve a common problem where the video doesn't appear on TV (with the graphics card TV-out). It's recommended to use VMR9 (renderless) to have full support for subtitles and TV-out. I use VMR9 and leave everything else as default.

(3) Internal Filter: It's explained there if you read. Simply, what filters you want MPC to internally apply.

• Audio Switcher: This is one of most important options in MPC. It's recommended to check Normalize. This simply takes the dB to 0, which is maximum possible level without distortions. I'm not sure how Regain Volume option really works, but I think, for example, when there's a loud noise in the video, it takes it down, and when the volume is back to normal it stops. You can also boost the volume here, but not really recommended, Normalize is enough and doesn't reduce quality. Audio time shift can be used to make the sound play earlier than the frame, or later, which is good if the sound is out of sync. "-500 ms" for example makes the audio play half a second earlier, which you can use if the picture is faster by 500ms (approx.) than the sound.

(4) Subtitles: I don't think this needs explanation, just look at all the parameters and options, they're very easy to understand.

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>>> Video editing: Virtual Dub in a nutshell

First, we get to know a little about Virtual Dub.
This excellent application brings you many tools to work with. To name a few: cutting/joining, compression/decompression of audio and video, audio extraction and integration, video/audio capture (with a video capture device ofcourse). It also has many video and audio filters, like: cropping, resizing, deinterlacing for video. For audio, filters like: mix, resample, split.

Now we need to learn some basics in Virtual Dub (VDUB) so we won't have to explain them each time ahead. Open a video file in VDUB with "File > Open video file" or by dragging the video to the VDUB window. By default you should see 2 videos, the left one is the input, and the right one is the output. Right-clicking them brings up some options. Those options affect rendering inside VDUB only. You have a progress bar under the video windows. Putting your mouse over the buttons pops up an explanation. Putting your mouse over entries in the menus, shows explanation in the lowest left corner of VDUB.

Now, examine the Video menu, look at "Direct stream copy" , "Fast recomress", "Normal recompress", "Full processing mode".

• Direct stream copy: Leaves the video untouched. Check this if you only working on the audio.

• Fast recompress: Check this if you just want to quickly re-encode the video.

• Normal recompress: Also for recompressing the video, slower than the previous but better quality.

• Full processing mode: This is the only one where you can use filters for the video. So you actually have "Normal recompress" with the ability to use filters.

So you have to select one of those four modes. If you select one of the last three, you'll have to select a compression method. Also under the Video menu, you have "Compression" and "Filters".

• Compression: Here's where you choose what codec you want to encode the video file with. I choose XviD usually because it's free to use and I have an MPEG4 DVD player which supports it. We'll talk about XviD later.

• Filters: Only availble with "Full processing mode". Here's where you select what filters to apply and configure them.

• Frame rate: If you need to change the frame rate, here's where it's done.

Now, open the Audio menu to examine. You have "No audio", "Source audio", "WAV Audio".

• No audio: No audio processing, the output video won't have any audio.

• Source audio: Use the audio from the video file itself.

• WAV Audio: Integrate audio from external WAV file.

If you select one of the last two, you'll have to select if you want to process the audio or not. Also under the Audio menu, look at "Direct stream copy" and "Full processing mode". Just like in video, you select if you want the audio untouched or if you want to process it. IF you select "Full processing mode", you'll have the following menus availble under Audio also:

• Compression: What codec you want for the audio.

• Use advanced filtering: Check this to enable the "Filters" menu.

• Filters: What filters to apply on the audio.

• Conversion: Here you can change the Sample Rate, Precision and Channels.

• Volume: Change the volume of the audio.

TIP: Sometimes when you open a video file with MP3 audio, VDUB tells you that the audio is in VBR and not CBR, and it recommends to change it, because it may go out of sync. I recommend that too, because in many cases it did go out of sync. So you have to select "Full precessing mode" and select a CBR codec.

We covered the basics of how to configure things for saving our file. Let's examine some of the items under the File menu. (Some of the items will come up later, so they're not all in this list).

• Save AVI: This processes and saves the file with the compression and filters you selected. In the "Save file" dialoge you can check "Don't run this job now...", this adds it to the Job List and doesn't start processing immediately.

• File information: Gives you quick information about your opened filed. Use GSpot for full information.

• Save WAV: This extracts and saves the audio from the opened file in a WAV file. It's good if you want to work on some issues in the audio in an external application.

• Load/Save processing settings: Those are actually two menus. With the "Save" one, you can save all the configuration you made in VDUB (like compression,filters...) in a file. "Load" opens a previously saved VDUB configuration file (.vcf file). This is good if you want to use the same configuration on several video files.

• Capture AVI: Opens another window where you can capture video/audio from an external feed (TV, camera...).

• Job control: Opens the jobs list where you can start/stop/edit queued jobs.

Use the help inside VDUB to learn a lot more about its features and tools.

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>>> Video editing: Basics of editing in Virtual Dub

FOR ALL THE EXAMPLES AHEAD: our original (input) video file is 'My_Birthday.avi' , it's 1.5GB in size and has a resolution of 800x600, its length is 45:30 (45 minutes and 30 seconds), audio at 48KHz. We assume both video and audio are uncompressed.

TIP: When possible, you should work with the original uncompressed video files. Some filters in VDUB are problematic when the input video in compressed. I don't know why it's like that, just don't be surprised if it refused to start the process and pops up an error message.

EXAMPLE 1: The basics of compression
I want to start with an example of a solution to a common problem: You want to fit a large video on a CD.
Solution: We're going to use the XviD codec for the video, and LAME MP3 encoder for our audio (we assume we want 128kbps CBR stereo for audio). We open 'My_Birthday.avi' with VDUB, set the mode to "Normal recompress" for video, and "Full processing mode" for audio, and we also set "Source audio" because we want the the audio source from the video. Go to "Video > Compression" and select "XviD MPEG-4 Codec" (usually the last in the list), and click the button "Configure".

At this window make sure that the "Profile @ Level" is set to '(unrestricted)' and the "Encoding type" to 'Single pass'. The first button on the left might say "Target quantizer" or "Targate bitrate (kbps)", click to change it to "Targate bitrate (kbps)". On the right you have a button that says "calc", click it and a window will appear. Here we can calculate the maximum kbps (bitrate) for our 45:30 video so it would fit on a CD. Select the "Target size (kbytes)", in our case it's 700MB CD so 700x1024=716800kbytes, which is already there as a preset. Under Format select "AVI-OpenDML". Under video fill in 0:45:30 (our video length), and select the frames-per-second it has (you find that out by going to "File > Information" or with GSpot). We assume it's 25fps (PAL). For audio, we are going to use "MP3 128kbps CBR" (we don't actually set the audio here, it's only for calculation). Now, the result "Avergate bitrate (kbps)" should be 2019. Press "OK" and you'll return to the previous XviD menu. You'll notice that it filled in 2023 kbps, change that to 2019 (the result we got). Leaving it at 2023 may result in the video exceeding the 702MB the CD can contain (rarely happens, but no need for headaches). Click "OK" (twice).

Now we go to "Audio > Compression", we select "Lame MP3" on the left and select "48000Hz, 128 kbps CBR, Stereo". "File > Save AVI", type in 'My_Birthday_COMPRESSED.avi' and save. If everything in your system is OK, and the codecs are not broken, it will start processing and saving the file immediately. The file 'My_Birthday_COMPRESSED.avi' should now be in XviD-2019kbps (kbps varies sometimes, don't worry it's normal), will have have 128kbps-CBR MP3 audio and will be 700MB (approx.).

So we have learned how to compress a video with XviD, how to calculte how much kbps we can fit into a fixed file size, and how to compress audio.

TIP: A higher kbps = better quality. When calculating kbps for the XviD codec, the resolution of the input video or the output video doesn't matter, only the length. Since our video is 800x600 and must be 700MB, if we resize it to 640x480 before compressing, it would still be 2019kbps after compressing, but should have more quality. It's because there's less frame information for the same kbps value. And remember, if you want to calculate to custom size, say 415MB, you should do 415x1024, which is 424960kbyte, and THAT'S what you type in the XviD calculator.

I won't teach you more about XviD, we only used very little of it. If you want to learn about its features, check the XviD Wikipedia page, and check the external links at the bottom of that page.

EXAMPLE 2: Filters
So now that you know how to change codecs and (re)compress video and audio, we can introduce you to the VDUB filters. For that, we are going to expand EXAMPLE 1, and we want to resize the video from 800x600 to 640x480 (640x480 is proportional to 800x600), and still have it at 700MB.
Solution: We are going to repeat the steps of the first example, but the only change we make is we set the video mode to "Full processing mode" instead of "Normal recompress" because we want to apply filters. We repeat all other steps from the original example.
Open "Video > Filters" and click "Add", select "resize" and click "OK", the resize window should appear. Type in 640 for new-width and 480 for new-height. For the Filter-mode, I recommend using Lanczos3, it gives a very good quality. You can also add black-bars with this filter as you can see. This is good if you want the video to be in a specific aspect ratio. You also have a preview button for the filter. That's it! You can save the file and it will be resized and compressed.

When selecting a filter to be added, you can read its explanation in the box below it. You have also Audio Filters ("Audio > Filters"), but I never used them in VDUB. If I need to something with audio I extract a WAV file and work on it in external application(s). Check the VDUB audio filters if you like. In the next chapter we'll see common problems which can be solved with those filters.

TIP: To add external filters, copy the filter file (.vdf) to the 'Plugin' directory inside the VDUB directory (example 'C:\Virtual Dub 1.6.17\plugins'). All filters that you apply are processed and done before compression. The compression process takes the final result of all applied filters, and occurs then.

EXAMPLE 3: Cutting and joining
Cutting is done by using the Edit menu and the progress bar. You place the progress bar at the point you want to start cutting from, and you press HOME or go to "Edit > Set selection start". Now you move the bar to the point where you want the cutting to end, and press END or go to "Edit > Set selection end". (You can also move frame by frame using the arrow keys, which gives you maximum precision of where you want to begin cutting and where to end it). The selection should now be blue in the progress bar. Now you have many options to select from:

• Save AVI: You can now save this selection to a file. You can select "Direct stream copy" and no recompression will occur for the selection, it will keep it's original compression. You can also apply filters and select a compression and it will only apply to the selection. Goes for both video/audio.

• Copy/Cut/Paste: Press CTRL-C to copy the selection, or CTRL-X to cut it, move the progress bar to where you want to add the selection and press CTRL-V. Just like in text

• Delete: Simply delete the selection from the video.

• Clear Selection: Clear current selection (or don't select anything).

• Select All: Select all video.

Joining of 2 AVI files is actually simple, yet it can be annoying. VDUB won't join 2 AVI files if they are not the same resolution, or don't have the same frame rate, or if the audio is different and some other reasons. But for the example, let's assume both videos have the same properties. Open the first video, and then go to "File > Append AVI segment" and load the second file. Now you can do whatever you want with it and save it. That's it.

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>>> Common problems & solutions

(1) I have a video with some junk on the sides, how do I remove it?

• You need to crop the video. In VDUB, add video filter "Null Transform", select the filter and click the button "Configure". No need for further explanation.

(2) Some videos have weird horizontal lines, what to do?

• Those horizontal lines are a result of interlaced recording (as opposed to progressive). They can be the result of a camera or TV recording. In VDUB, add video filter "Deinterlace", a window will appear with deinterlacing methods, the first one is already recommended and works great.

(3) How do I embed subtitles on the video?

• You need the "subtitler" filter for VDUB, and need an application called SUB2SSA. With SUB2SSA you open a .srt or a .sub file. Then you can select what fonts and colors you want, and how the subtitles are going to be placed on the video. You can also edit each line in the subtitles and apply different effects on each line. After that, you save the file as .SSA file. You use the VDUB video filter "subtitler" to load the SSA file in VDUB. It has a preview of how the subtitles are gonna look like.

(4) How do I open .VOB files (DVD files) with VDUB ?

• You need 2 extra applications: DGMPGDec and AviSynth. Check this quick start guide for DGMPGDec, it answers the question perfectly.

[-=bluebird=-]

omg, although im mostly a linux user i have a lot of problems with codecs in windows. this helped me a lot. thx maher, i vote for a sticky

watching pr0n will be easier now

[chronDiggity]

feels STICKY

btw -- I use something called "Community Codec Pack." It works pretty well.

[Gh3tt0PC]

I don't think BSPlayer is anywhere near as good as VLC or MPC, thus if it's included at all, it should be at the absolute bottom of the list. It should also have in HUGE RED LETTERS next to it that the free version has adware included "This version has an client-side software application Whenu Save! that deliver a limited number of behaviorally targeted and contextually relevant coupons, ads and comparative shopping results directly to consumers desktops"

[Maher]

I can't even remember when I used BS Player for the last time, I'm removing it from the list. Give recommendations for other players if you got any.

[Taichan]

i use Zoom player which comes with Combined Community Codec Pack

CCCP is actually what the group who makes MKV suggests to play mkvs

[johnny45]

I wonder how the k-lite codec pack and the cccp stacks up to each other.

I've always liked the k-lite mega codec pack and its never let me down, so I guess there isn't much of a need to find anything better.

[AaronNicoli]

Don't forget GOM player that baby kicks ***!
Much faster than media player etc. and really nice interface with alot of controls etc.

[Jahova]

Amarok!!!!!
xine xine-engine
gstreamer gstreamer-ugly gstreamer-devel gstreamer-nonfree
kaffeine (my favorite movie player)
kplayer
mplayer and mplayer-all win32 codecs
libdvdcss libdvdcss2 libdvdnav

thats some core essential video and audio player stuff for Linux, BSD, and other Posix-standard operating systems. have fun.

[Daniel56]

add "b" as a useful key for media player clasic.

Immidiate pause of what you are watching and minimize.

[Synth]

Nice guide, I'd vote sticky BUT don't put too much emphasis on codec packs; you are much better installing codecs one at a time when required to avoid having conflicts and having to use netgraph to fix the **** thing

[Interceptor]

Why dont You also include 3IVX which is also a excellent codec.

[psycoclan1]

i need help!i have an athlon xp 2400+, 1gb ram, geforce6600gt and i recently downloaded some HDTV 1080p videos but my crappy pc cant play them!well, actually it plays them but the sounds isnt normal and the video is freezing every second :P
i'm pretty sure that this is a codecs problem!what do i need in order to play these videos?(codecs video&audio,players etc)

[Jahova]

Originally Posted by psycoclan1

i need help!i have an athlon xp 2400+, 1gb ram, geforce6600gt and i recently downloaded some HDTV 1080p videos but my crappy pc cant play them!well, actually it plays them but the sounds isnt normal and the video is freezing every second :P
i'm pretty sure that this is a codecs problem!what do i need in order to play these videos?(codecs video&audio,players etc)

What operating system is that on... actually, by the sound of it your probably using Windows, so that will narrow it down some. What video player did you use? Have you installed any codecs or anything related to playing video/audio?

Mplayer

Other people might need this too. So I will go ahead and post it for everyone. Instructions too.

Windows:

Mplayer GUI for Windows
Mplayer codecs for Windows.

Basically, you need the first link for the media player, and the other link is all the recent codecs available.

Instructions:
1. Download both of those .zip files.
2. Extract them both.
3. Open the folder called "Windows- all...".
4. Highlight/select every single file in there. Not just the ones you can see, but actually "Select all".
5. Click on "Cut" to cut all of the files from that folder.
6. Open the other folder you extracted named "Mplayer- ...".
7. Double-click the folder icon that says "Codecs".
8. Right-click anywhere in there and click "Paste". Or just go to Edit >> Paste.

Your done. To open it, double click on the file "gmplayer.exe" located in the Mplayer folder. Right-click anywhere in the movie window to access options and other stuff. Mplayer is very customizable and scalable. If you also want a desktop icon, you need to right-click the "gmplayer.exe" file and click on "Create new shortcut". Then you will see a file appear called "Shortcut to gmplayer". Now you can drag that new shortcut onto your desktop and open Mplayer from there without any delay.

OSX:

Mplayer for OSX on Intel

Instructions:
1. Download the file.
2. Double-click the DMG icon.
3. Drag it to your Applications folder.

Thats it. To setup Mplayer to open video files automatically, ctrl-click the video file type and select "Info". Now set your default movie player for that file type to open with Mplayer. You may need to select Mplayer manual by navigating to the Applications folder and selecting the icon from within the Info dialog.

Fedora 8 Linux 32-bit and 64-bit:

Livna RPM

Instructions:
1. Install the Livna Repository RPM from the link by opening it (you don't need a command line interface).
2. Now open Terminal or Konsol and gain root privileges by typing "su" .
3. Finally, copy this command into the Terminal (hint: select the text in the quote and right-click it and click copy. Then, on the Terminal or Konsol, right-click and paste)

yum install mplayer mplayer-gui mplayer-skins mplayer-fonts mplayerplug-in mencoder libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay libdvdnav lsdvd libdvbpsi

The Mplayer icon should show up in your menu under Sound and Video, at least in Gnome it does. KDE will have it under a similar name. You can also right-click any audio/video file and open it with mplayer now.

[psycoclan1]

windows xp pro sp2. i have lots of codecs by now only K-lite codec pack is installed with ffdshow codec running!i used every player i know. media player 11,vlc,bsplayer,nero showtime, kmplayer, HDTVplayer BlazeDTV, powerDVD 7 deluxe.....(i'm not sure if i forgot anything)
now i'm trying to play some of these movies in mplayer but LOTR isn't playing really well! i'm really dont know what to do!i believe that my pc isnt that bad!

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Daniel56

add "b" as a useful key for media player clasic.

Immidiate pause of what you are watching and minimize.

lol For when your roommate walks in and your watching.... Well maybe i just have a dirty mind.

great guide. I also think that gom player should be added, I would say but not quite as good as VLC, but close.