Getting started with AviSynth. Meanings of errors (1 Viewer)

[PhillJones]

I've been trying to get AviSynth working and just plain can't, can anybody with experience with this software lend a hand? The Version() command works fine so the thing is installed properly but if I try and write a simple AVS file to just pipe an AVI file to media player 6.4. I get this error message.

'The video compressor couldn't produce a YUV2 or RGB output'

I have the codec needed for this avi as it'll play in mplayer directly. I also tried downloading another avi off the web. Just some random thing I found. That didn't work but I got a 'can't open file'.

I've been through all the trouble shooting to no avail. I'm sure it can be made to work as so many people swear by it but I'm damned if I can make it do even the simplest thing.

Any suggestions?

Phill

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Phill,

Can you start by posting your entire script? And please tell me what codec your AVI file uses. I'm a little rusty at AviSynth (haven't used it in a while) but I would be happy to help you out.

 

[PhillJones]

Thanks for offering to help Rob.

My script is one line long. The codec is Microsoft RLE.

AviSource("c:chair2.avi")

This generates the error

AviSource: The video decompressor couldn't produce YUV or RGB ouptut (c:chair_c.avs,line 1)

The filename of the avi file is correct, I checked that.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Phill,

First try this:

Substitute, for the command "AviSource", either "OpenDMLSource" or "AviFileSource".

If neither of those works, let me know. I will try to come up with something else.

EDIT: Also try "DirectShowSource" too

 

[PhillJones]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try it on monday and get back to you.

 

[PhillJones]

I tried both and got exactly the same result both times.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Phill,

Did you try the 3rd option, the one I added in my EDIT to the above post?

I have never worked with MS RLE files before so I don't know what their quirks are. Is the file smaller than 10MB? If so you can e-mail it to me at xxxxxxxxx dot com and I'll see what I can do.

 

[PhillJones]

I tried the thirds option and got a new and exciting error

'The filter graph manager won't talk to me'

Personally, I think AviSynth is a bit of a cry baby.

Anyway, the file is here.

http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~pjones/chair2.avi

Cheers,
Phill

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Hi Phill,

I downloaded the AVI last night and should be able to give it some attention this weekend. I'll keep you updated.

I agree that AviSynth is very "user un-friendly" and totally unforgiving of errors, but once your scripts are error free, you will have some very powerful capabilities at your fingertips.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Phill,

I haven't been able to get AviSynth to read that file either.

I was able to open the video in VirtualDub (another free video tool) and export it as uncompressed video. The uncompressed version opened just fine with AviSynth.

I wish I had an explanation for this, but I don't. Perhaps because RLE is a special case? It is not a "codec" like MPEG or Huffyuv; it uses code within the OS to decompress. Also, I noticed the FourCC code (four character code which identifies the video format) was read as "|(_RLE8)" by one program and "|" by another. Neither of these looks like a valid FourCC to me. I tried changing the code to "RLE8" and "MRLE" (for Microsoft RLE) but neither of those worked.

In any case, it appears that you will be able to use this video file with AviSynth IF you first de-compress it with VirtualDub. I realize that extra step should not be necessary, and in a way defeats the purpose of using a frameserver in the first place, but I'm afraid that is the best solution I can come up with. If you would like help with VirtualDub, let me know. Also, you may want to check out the AviSynth forums at http://forum.doom9.org .