5 opinions for information!

[staces]

Hey, I'm willing to leave 5 (or if you have less than 5 AMVs reviews for as many as you have) opinions for anyone who will write me an idiot-proof step by step guide to converting .wmv files to a better format (.avi, .mp4, whatever) while retaining quality. Preferably I want to know how to do it with a free (or inexpensive) program with filters and cropping tools.

Please?... And if you think you're wording is too dumbed down, don't worry, you can go ahead and dumb it down some more! For making a buttload of AMVs I really am quite slow in the technical department. ^^;;

[CrackTheSky]

No ops needed...but couldn't you just use:

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DirectShowSource("pathtovideo.wmv")

with AviSynth and then use AviSynth filters to clean it up?

If you don't know how to do this, the .org's guides are pretty much idiot-proof as they are (explanation of how AviSynth works can be found here).

[Kariudo]

get avisynth (get the .exe), and install

get virtualDubMod (get the all-inclusive zip), and install

get lagarith (get codec and installer 1.3.12) and Huffyuv
unzip the huffyuv and lagartih files, right click the files that look like a notepad with a gear until you see an "install' option, click it (do this for both codecs)

write an avisynth script:
open notepad
put the following into notepad

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DirectShowSource()

inside the parenthesis you will need to put the filepath to your wmv file enclosed in double quotes.

Finding the filepath in WinXP:

navigate to your wmv file

in this example, I will use legacy.wmv.
the filepath is made form the two parts underlined in red
for this example, your script would look like this

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DirectShowSource("C:\Documents and Settings\Use\My Documents\amvs\Legacy.wmv")

notice how it is surounded in double quotes, and has another '\' between "amvs" and "Legacy.wmv" these are both vital.

in notepad, once your script resembles my example, go to file, save as.
name your file, and add .avs to the end (ex. myScript.avs)
do not mess with the filetype box, make sure the encoding box is set to ANSI

open up virtualDubMod
go to file, open video file, and browse for your .avs file
there is a chance that you might get an error, there isn't really any way to tell you what to do before you get an error though...if you get an error, post in the avs section.

go to video, compression.
you should see a list of different codecs on the left side, scroll down until you find huffyuv or lagarith
***WMM does not like lagarith, if you are using WMM use HuffYuv instead***
click once to highlight, then click the "configure" button

Configuring HuffYuv
make sure that the "always suggest RGB format for output" box is checked
personally, I have YUY2 compression method to predict median (best) and RGBcompression method to predict gradient (best)
Enable RGBA compression is unchecked (for me at least)
swap fields on decompress is unchecked
enable console-window logging is unchecked

configuring Lagarith
Enable null frames is unchecked
Always suggest RGB for output is checked
Use multithreading, unless you know for certain that you have a dual-core cpu you should leave this unchecked
mode is set to RGB (or RGBA)

press ok to exit the configure dialog window
press ok to exit the compression dialog window
go to file, save as, name your file and click save

now you just wait for your file to be converted.
Lossless files are large, but are the best for editing.
for encoding for distribution (using Xvid) please look at this page of eadfag

[staces]

Thank you so much Kariudo! ^____^ Definitely idiot/me-proof. =) I'll get you all of your opinions within the next two days, I promise.

Mods, you can lock this now please and thank you =)

[CrackTheSky]

[Kariudo]

thanks, but you don't have to op my first two vids if you don't want to. (typical first videos, in all the pixilated and random clip and lip flap glory)