Official "This Part of the Guide SUCKS!" thread

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:14 am

OK, I'm looking at the guides again.

Avisynth 2.5x is very very mature now, dvd2avi has been fixed up by Donald Graft and now Xvid 1.0 looks not too distant.

Hence, it's time for a big update of both guides and amvapp together.

Things that will be changing/being included:

- Readability of the practical guides. Everything will be linear, no skipping from mini guide to mini guide then back again.

- Better ripping instructions using DVDDecrypter and some pictures

- How to work out field order by hand

- Simplified 24fps approach

- YV12 explanations (ouch, that one's going to hurt)

- Encoding refocus. The key to good encodes is well-prepared footage.

- Xvid 1.0 options and GUI explained (gui may change so guide will be delayed until 1.0 is final)

- Containers... what they are and why anyone should care.

- Alternative codecs for alternative people - Div5, RV9, WMV9, vp6, 3vix... explain but not always recommended

- How to use avisynth sources in programs like After Effects

- Toubleshooting FAQ explaining how to get out of the most common pitfalls such as memory issues, compatibility blah blah blah.

Please feel free to quickly list anything you think needs to be changed/added or improved and I'll add it to the list of things to look at.

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 12:22 pm

Ok, I think a few things need to be explained a bit more in depth in the begining. Like starting at the very basics.

Maybe we need to have a pointer to some sort of "Basics of Computing" website. Some of the people reading the guides can barely use their mouse :p. Many of them have no clue about how data is stored on their computer in MB/KB/Bits/Bytes...

I think containers should be explained at the begining. So should some basics of Video for Windows. Maybe some pretty diagrams such as data -----> vfw ----> codec ---->uncompressed data. This I think would give people more insight as to exactly what they're doing with AVIsynth. Info on DirectShow wouldn't be that bad either.

Making it more linear is a good idea. I think more examples need to be made. Ofcourse this probably isn't going to be the end all video editing program. But a VirtualDub tutorial that actually has them say downloading an AMV off of here or using one of their own to then import to Vdub and recompress out to. This will make it seem like they're actually learning/accomplishing something instead of it going in one ear and out the other.

Just throwing this out, but maybe we could add in a quiz at the end of each chapter. So that people could test themselves before moving on to the next chapter. If they miss some it'll tell them what pages they should re-read to get up to snuff.

Ofcourse I am a feature creeper

. I'd never get it done because I'd always be adding something and having to change something else.

Just suggestions tho ;o.

Declan_Vee · Post by **Declan_Vee** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 12:47 pm

I'm not so sure about a quiz as such... maybe something like an "After this you should be able to" checklist at the beginning or end of each chapter.

Research the Troubleshooting FAQ to buggery. I know you will, but I felt like adding a bit more emphasis. (Maybe even discover ways of causing problems no ones thought of yet)

Otherwise... all the best.

CaTaClYsM · Post by **CaTaClYsM** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 1:15 am

Lets not single out the video for alternative codec guides, if you get my drift. (audio too.)

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:12 pm

CaTaClYsM wrote:Lets not single out the video for alternative codec guides, if you get my drift. (audio too.)

I do - although alternative audio codecs will mainly be discussed in relation to alternative containers.

CaTaClYsM · Post by **CaTaClYsM** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 9:48 pm

yeah, OGG and alternative containers go hand in hand.

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 6:13 pm

A "compression noise spotters guide", perhaps with a few anigifs to help people identify some of the more common types of artifacting, along with suggestions for what Avisynth filters and settings might most effectively clean each type might be extremely helpful as part of the footage prep guide.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:34 pm

FurryCurry wrote:A "compression noise spotters guide", perhaps with a few anigifs to help people identify some of the more common types of artifacting, along with suggestions for what Avisynth filters and settings might most effectively clean each type might be extremely helpful as part of the footage prep guide.

Seconded. Personally, I'm gradually getting a better eye for compression (and other) noise... but I have no idea what filters to use to fix the various kinds.

godix · Post by **godix** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:42 pm

A better explaination of AVIsynth. I still use VFAPI because I never quite got the hang of all the various options in AVIsynth and more importantly I never had Adobe throw a fit about using a VFAPI file while I have yet to get adobe to use an AVIsynth file.

Perhaps, if you feel like typing alot, a quick and dirty guide that's little more than 'do this, this, then this and you have your clip' as well as a guide going more indepth like the current one does. There are times I just want a quick instructions on how to do 3:2 pulldown correction without bothering without wading through the theory behind it all.

ErMaC · Post by **ErMaC** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 6:48 pm

I personally always take issue with "quick and dirty" guides. I don't like them. They wind up giving tools to people and those people have no idea what they're actually doing or how to use them properly. It's like giving car keys to someone and saying "You drive by turning the steering wheel and hitting the accellerator. Go Nuts." When I wrote the original guide I swore that I wanted them to teach THEORY.
The important thing about teaching theory is that if you understand it, you now have the tools to figure things out on your own. If you know the theory of 3:2 pulldown, and you know what colorspaces are, and you know how AVI files work, it doesn't matter what the other tools you're using are called this month, you'll be able to figure out how to use them. Teaching the quick and dirty way means that as soon as things change, you have to go back to the drawing board and rewrite a new quick and dirty way because the technology has changed. If AVISynth is suddently replaced by something else, will we have to go back and change the guides? Yes, but the people who've read and understood the guides and know the theory behind them will most likely already have adapted to whatever has replaced AVISynth because they don't just know AVISynth, they know video processing at the theoretical level.