Post by: BlueSlingShot on November 10, 2009, 02:10:00 PM
Is there any way to convert a batch of movies rather than one at a time? I can't see this thing only doing 1 file at a time i'll be in front of my comp for days doing all these? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
The xmv converter i have does not have an msbatch command so i'm not ure if i have the one resx's tutorial talks about. Any thoughts?
Thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Post by: Monkeys69 on November 11, 2009, 04:59:00 AM
??Simply put the converter exe file (xmvtool.exe) and your wmv videos in that folder and double click the run.bat and it will convert for you.
Also, if space is an issue for you on your xbox, you can cut the size of the resulting .xmv files in half with very little loss in video quality by doing this:
1: Open the "run batch" as a text or notepad document.
It should look like this:
for /f "tokens=*" %%a IN ('dir /b ^"*.wmv^"') do xmvtool -i "%%a" -o "%%~na.xmv"
2: Add a "c" next to the: -i
Making it this:
for /f "tokens=*" %%a IN ('dir /b ^"*.wmv^"') do xmvtool -ic "%%a" -o "%%~na.xmv"
3: Save and close. Then use the batch as you would normally, putting the batch and converter in the folder of your .wmv files.
Hope that clears things up for you
Post by: ressurectionx on November 11, 2009, 06:12:00 AM
The program, when you have the right one, will simply mass-convert any wmv files you have in the directory by double clicking on it.
I thought the instructions were around for getting the right one somewhere around here. I used to have a link posted in my thread to a megaupload upload of it, but I was told to take it down since it had some M$ code in it I guess.
Sorry it's got to be a pain, but they're not my rules.
Post by: madmab on November 11, 2009, 08:04:00 AM
I know that when Zsnesxbox was released with video support the tools and batch file were included in the same location that it was sent to ( The Usual Places )..
But essentially it is the batch file that does "mass" converting..
Post by: cbagy on November 11, 2009, 09:17:00 AM
Post by: FrankMorris on November 11, 2009, 09:55:00 AM
QUOTE(cbagy @ Nov 11 2009, 06:17 PM) 
Be aware, if the original wmv encoding isnt all that good, adding the "ic" command will seriously reduce the quality to approx 60% (long time since i used it). It mat turn from blurry to blurry and blocky.
You sure about that cba?
I always thought it only compress the audio to Xbox native ADPCM format.
Post by: cbagy on November 11, 2009, 10:15:00 AM
Never actually used the "ac" switch. The "ic" switch ive only ever used on "xmv" and it does reduce it badly regardless of what some text says somewhere. Try it and see.
As far as using the "ic" switch on "wmv", i dont know as ive never bothered after earlier experiences with "xmv" (quite a few yrs back). The "ic" switch may be ok with "wmv", try it.
I presume that "ac" is for audio compression.
I thought the "ic" switch was for general incoming/compression as used in the Official xbox tools. The old way was -ic file.avi/mpeg etc -o file.xmv (or there abouts).
As i say, i have never read any documentation on it anywhere (perhaps i should have), just stating from what i have experienced.
The thing to do then is for users to try it and see how it compares ! This way they can see for themselves !
PS. As stated in yout little black quote there, regardless of switches your video "will always be compressed". Now to compress it either pulls off a secret miracle or reduces bitrate. If it reduces bitrate it "must" reduce the quality. Now quality reduction depends how good are your eyes. Was the video good quality to start with ?
All i can say is, if ive misinformed anyone its unintentional. But the results will speak for themselves.
This post has been edited by cbagy: Nov 11 2009, 06:24 PM
Post by: cbagy on November 11, 2009, 12:12:00 PM
An after thought really but, to reduce the to less than what they already are will save you what ? Maybe 1-2gb. Seems a lot to save at first but when you consider a relatively full install will be about 20gb or there abouts anyway.
Let us know how you get on and your findings.
Post by: FrankMorris on November 11, 2009, 12:53:00 PM
(IMG:http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9289/30921096.png)
I ran some tests and here's my knowledge so far:
- That "ic" switch doesn't reduce video/audio bitrate any more than "i" does.
Like stated in the doc it only compress the audio stream using the ADPCM.
Mega Man (?) or pCeSlAyEr can confirm that only thing which get reduced is filesize.
I think everyone should continue using that ic switch when converting WMV2XMV.
Post by: cbagy on November 11, 2009, 01:10:00 PM
So if i read it right, using the -i switch will compress the video but not the audio and then using -ic will compress both audio and video. ?????
Will have to test. Be back in half an hour or so.
Post by: cbagy on November 11, 2009, 02:10:00 PM
I have in the past ( quite a few years ago now) tried xmv through this same process but some videos hit a wall as far as reducing file size is concerned. Any xmv of lower than retail quality will pixelate/blocky when going through this process. Stick to converting wmv.
Well done Frank and co. Now i have a shit load of wmv to compress again. B******
Post by: BlueSlingShot on November 11, 2009, 08:46:00 PM
Cbagy, i don't know which videos are yours...i just dl'ed everything on res x's page.
Post by: ressurectionx on November 11, 2009, 09:05:00 PM
Glad you're enjoying the Xtras.
I had a few things I figured I'd let you know about...
First, you may want to reconsider adding the little "hack" they've figured out to reduce the size of the videos.
More and more I'm hearing that this doesn't reduce quality at all and I neglected to do it from the start. I probably have about 6,000 console videos total now and I'm sure a 20% reduction in size would leave a ton more room for a lot of XBox or Playstation games. I guess I should go back and do this at some point. At least things are organized well on my PC and it shouldn't take too long.
Second, Cbagy's stuff isn't included in any of my downloads yet. In fact, many of those downloads on my page are as many as 8 months out of date.
Currently I'm working on updating about 10 emulators worth of roms. I'm trying to acquire the best boxart for them, collecting videos for all of them, adding Gilles' Generic Boxarts for all of the prototypes/hacks/homebrew/etc. so all games have boxart/cartart representation.
There are many upgrades going into all of these sets as we speak. I'm mostly done with the big 3 (or 4) but I'm leaving them open for a few months for people to add higher quality artwork/videos or to add new games before I release everything.
I hate to say that there will not be "upgrade" packs to what were up there. There are simply too many changes to keep up with. When I called them "Final" before, that ended up being BS.
If you like what you see with your current downloads, you're going to LOVE the new releases.
Expect a GIANT update sometime in February or March.
Later,
~Rx
Post by: cbagy on February 02, 2020, 11:11:00 PM
QUOTE(BlueSlingShot @ Nov 12 2009, 03:46 AM) 
Hey guys thanks for so many replies. I found the right converter with the missing batch file, it was driving me crazy. I'm not onna bother doing the trick to cut the size of the video....i have soooo much room on this 750 gb hd i shoved in my xbox last winter that even with the videos being bigger than the wmv's themselves it won't hardly even make a dent;)
Cbagy, i don't know which videos are yours...i just dl'ed everything on res x's page. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)
There won't be much room once you get the bug.
The ones you downloaded are the correct ones for now, mine arent even available properly yet and may not even make the ResX packs. As Rx says, i also think you ought to edit the "run.bat" to include the "-ic" switch. Once its done just leave it. It doesnt constantly need editing. If using windows, right click, edit and a txt type file will open revealing
for /f "tokens=*" %%a IN ('dir /b ^"*.wmv^"') do xmvtool -i "%%a" -o "%%~na.xmv"
change the switch "-i" to "-ic" so it will read
for /f "tokens=*" %%a IN ('dir /b ^"*.wmv^"') do xmvtool -ic "%%a" -o "%%~na.xmv"
Post by: Bomb Bloke on November 11, 2009, 11:17:00 PM
QUOTE(cbagy @ Nov 12 2009, 01:15 AM)
PS. As stated in yout little black quote there, regardless of switches your video "will always be compressed". Now to compress it either pulls off a secret miracle or reduces bitrate. If it reduces bitrate it "must" reduce the quality. Now quality reduction depends how good are your eyes. Was the video good quality to start with ?
To clarify, compressing doesn't automatically mean a lower bitrate during playback. The main idea behind it is to increase the efficiency of information storage, not to strip bits out (though most codecs do end up doing both).
For example, if you create a ZIP file, when you extract the files from it later they'll be the same as the originals. Despite this, the compressed archive will usually be of a smaller file size. You're essentially trading processor time for hard drive space (it takes more effort to interpret an "efficiently encoded file" then it takes to grab a raw chunk of information off the disk).
In video/audio encoding though, data preservation is the exception, rather then the rule. Most codecs are lossy (including the ones discussed in this thread, such as ADPCM), and when converting from one to the other (even while maintaining the same bitrate/resolution/etc between them) you're quite right to expect less quality.
QUOTE(cbagy @ Nov 12 2009, 05:10 AM)
Didnt notice any real difference between the qualities although i thought the reduced one flickered or dropped frames slightly but i think that may have been mind games.
The more compression algorithms you wrap around a given chunk of media, the more processor power you need to play it back in real time. Hence why XBMC on the Xbox can handle HD video but only if it's not combined with heavy handed codecs. (eg Xvid/DivX can work, while h.264 and similar are right out). This sort of thing points more towards problems in the hardware rather then the media itself; altering an audio stream won't cause any "real" problems with the video stream other then the player's ability to handle the overall workload.
Though I'm just talking theory here; I haven't tried any of these ADPCM encoded streams myself.
Post by: dballs442 on February 03, 2020, 08:42:00 PM
just a quick question. why are the videos pre converted in rx's xtras packs to begin with?
Post by: ressurectionx on February 03, 2020, 09:35:00 PM
You still have to convert them from WMV to XMV.
I took the time to convert from AVI to WMV early on since it takes about 5 to 10 times longer to convert from AVI to WMV.
Post by: cbagy on February 04, 2020, 01:12:00 AM
QUOTE(dballs442 @ Nov 13 2009, 03:42 AM)
just a quick question. why are the videos pre converted in rx's xtras packs to begin with?
The video's are captured in ".avi". Then converted to ".wmv".
The final conversion to ".xmv" must be done by yourself as it's
a bit naughty to distribute ".xmv". The process is automated so its easy.
Post by: dballs442 on February 04, 2020, 01:46:00 AM
btw thanks rx for all your hard work. i thought making icons for my whole box was a chore but what you did.... woooo weeee! thank you!
Post by: ressurectionx on February 04, 2020, 04:25:00 AM
Glad to see somebody using them.
I don't know if you saw my note by the Xtras, but there will be massive upgrades to the packs in February or March. They will be entirely new downloads from what are on the sheet now, so you'll be doing them from scratch. There was just way too many changes to make it worthwhile to have update packs.
I know that's a long time to wait, but I figured I'd throw that out there for you to decide how much work you want to put into this now before the updates come out.
Post by: cbagy on February 04, 2020, 05:38:00 AM
you will also get practice with the emulator file structures and the process of
intergrating and creating the media.
Post by: BlueSlingShot on November 13, 2009, 06:13:00 PM
QUOTE(dballs442 @ Nov 13 2009, 09:46 AM)
word ok.
btw thanks rx for all your hard work. i thought making icons for my whole box was a chore but what you did.... woooo weeee! thank you!
Yea i agree here Resx you really put alot of heart into this whole project. Everyone for that matter as well. Just the patience to make up the dat files and going through all the rom dumps since they first appeared on the internet...is anyone paying you here???
Post by: ressurectionx on November 13, 2009, 07:44:00 PM
Got a lot of great work out of a bunch of other people though. The fact that I may still be only 30 years old when I finish this project is more than payment enough.
Thanks everyone,
~Rx
Post by: Mega Man (?) on November 20, 2009, 12:34:00 AM
So this looks like it makes it definitely worth it...
Happy "converting" Cbagy...
you'll be glad you did with the space you will save.QUOTE
Just the patience to make up the dat files and going through all the rom dumps since they first appeared on the internet...is anyone paying you here???
It was a pain... but a life saver for some, like myself... (still waiting to see if anyone else comes out with more alt-dats)but actually, Rx has paid me...
ya know... through special little internet favors and such.....
(lets just say: web-cams aren't water proof...
)PS. Wow... I did'nt think I would go there.... but now I have.... and I don't know where I stand anymore...
JK...JK...
Post by: cbagy on November 20, 2009, 01:18:00 AM