Dreamcast 4XM video testing

[Ian Micheal]

Point is DVD quality not to fit something on a cdr. You could use my Xvid for fit-ment if it takes 6 cdrs it dont matter at this point.. Where not trying to lower the qualty to fit the size of cdr

You can make a 2gb cdi for gdemu Whole point of this is quality you cant get.. NO the codec was made for DVD quality on low end machine like 166mhz pc.. Size of output is not the point it's that it plays

DVD quality means it be the same size as DVD 4.6 to 6 gb a file

Not DVD quality that fits on a cdr that's not possible

ONly using 700kb file never going to be HQ video it's never going to fit on a cdr and have the bitrate..

Where thinking 4 to 6 cdrs for one movie

Mission statement is DVD quality on a dreamcast not that it will ever fit on 1 cdr

You might of missed the point of what where doing..

[Ian Micheal]

Where inputting 5000 bit right not 700 you tried my trailer yet it is dvd quality

That will create a really large output file. Would not be practical if we want to use a long video using dreamon. Clearly, this 4xm format was made for small files. The Sega docs says maximum length of 3m for the dreamon submissions. Downloading you CDI now.

Oops. Can post that again?

I have files running 30 mins Max is because you dont have the space where not worried about that can have disk 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

[MoeFoh]

From my reading of the topic, you & smith were working of two things.
1) as proof of concept, create a working demonstration of a DVD quality 4xm file.
2) create a multi-disk working demonstration of a 4xm movie (or some lengthy video file), that must work on burned CDR's. Optimal settings have yet to be determined.
I was working on number 2). Right? Wrong?

[Ian Micheal]

From my reading of the topic, you & smith were working of two things.
1) as proof of concept, create a working demonstration of a DVD quality 4xm file.
2) create a multi-disk working demonstration of a 4xm movie (or some lengthy video file), that must work on burned CDR's. Optimal settings have yet to be determined.
I was working on number 2). Right? Wrong?

Quality of each disk must be DVD quality

Bit rate of 700kb is not even something worth trying 4xm can do up to 9000 bit rate 336kb plus audio

Video can be split on as many disks as it takes..

Gdemu is where this would be use-able to normal person as 2gb a cdi is possible

HQ music video of DVD quality should be possible on 1 cdr of 800 mb

More fun then anything No other codec can do this on dreamcast to the standard it can..

[MoeFoh]

The original file must have a higher bitrate than the converted avi/mp4 file, otherwise judging video quality is pointless. Right?

My original input file had a video bitrate of 980k - a common value for a lot of the 720p stuff off the Internet.

[Ian Micheal]

Yes that's too low starting I'm with very high bitrate movie trailers 900 up 1200 will play fine on my player no point in that..

Not trying to prove any thing about 4xm there docs show it's DVD quality..

Code: Select all

Quality and
performance...
A targeted pricing
policy...
Licenses...
- available for PC, MacOs, Dreamcast and Playstation 2*
- the fastest decompression on the market
- incomparable visual quality
high definition from low-end computers upwards
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API C/C++, Xtra Director, ActiveX
4X Movie allows full screen display of your animated sequences
(video, cinema, computer generated, etc) with DVD quality and
even on low-end computers.
Speed
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medium.
Visual quality
Incomparable video quality
- DVD quality on a Pentium 166 MHz or a Imac at 25 fps
- high definition at 800x600 and 30 fps on any Pentium II
- high definition at 1024x768 at 50 fps on a Pentium II 600 MHz
- optimal quality at 640x480 and 60 fps on Dreamcast
- animated texture at 256x256 and 25 fps (less than 10% of CPU time on
Dreamcast or Pentium II)

Incomparable video quality
- DVD quality on a Pentium 166 MHz or a Imac at 25 fps
- high definition at 800x600 and 30 fps on any Pentium II
- high definition at 1024x768 at 50 fps on a Pentium II 600 MHz
- optimal quality at 640x480 and 60 fps on Dreamcast
- animated texture at 256x256 and 25 fps (less than 10% of CPU time on
Dreamcast or Pentium II

Can it do it yes Where not trying to hit 60fps here..

Code: Select all

4X MOVIE®, by 4X Technologies
1. Who are 4X Technologies ?
4X Technologies develop highly technical but easy to master professional tools aimed at the
producers and developers of multimedia items. 4X MOVIE is the most effective video compression
solution on the market and meets the whole range of your needs, whether you are a developer,
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2. Video compression with 4X MOVIE
4X MOVIE is a video compression and decompression tool, which enables you to compress and
retrieve (digital) video sequences with Broadcast quality on most of the platforms (including 95% of
the PCs installed in the world). In addition to the visual quality of the compressed video material,
4X MOVIE is very simple to use thanks to its user-friendly tools
Who is designed 4X Movie® for?
For every professional user of digital videos:
- Game developers
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- BtoB and BtoC Communication agencies.
a) Quality
- Can compress in any resolution
- DVD quality from a 640*480 video at 25 frames/sec.
- 100% perfect reproduction both of real and computer-generated images
b) Performance
- The fastest software decompression
- Ex 1 : a 640*480 video at 25 frames/sec on a Pentium 166 MHz
- Ex 2 : a 1024*768 video at 50 frames/sec on a Pentium III 600 MHz
- Ex 3 : a 640*480 video at 60 frames/sec on the Dreamcast (SEGA).
c) Circulate your products to the masses
- On PC, MAC, Dreamcast, PS2 platforms
- On any supports: CD, DVD, GD ROM,…
- In different languages: up to 7 simultaneous languages
on a single 4X Movie file

- Can compress in any resolution
- DVD quality from a 640*480 video at 25 frames/sec.

[MoeFoh]

Yep, you proved DVD quality output can be done on the Dreamcast. Awesome! And you can encode a movie - just bring lots of cdr's and be patient on the encoding. That's what I take away.

[SMiTH]

moefoh, we are trying to work together to see what the optimal settings might be for 4xm.
it is all up in the air as to what can be done.
ideas about how we would split the files and what the filesize of the fully converted 4xm's will be is all theory until we do it.

yes, we can figure it out.
and i bet we get a damn good proof of concept of a full dvd quality movie either with multiple .cdi's or some weird stroke of luck we get one .cdi or we go the route of a large .cdi for gd-emu.

this is a process that we can complete together, don't kill the dream so quick.
i think you have the ability to help us reach the goal.

keep in mind multiple instances of 4xm_comp will allow us to shorten the time needed to encode.
so split videos and multiple 4xm's would be the most efficient way.
but this is not set in stone, we need to figure out the best settings for 4xm on real hardware with cd-r then go from there.

whatever ideas you have please share them.
what ways should we go about the source file converting, what types of files should we try, what are your theories? etc..

p.s ian is a good dude to have in your corner.

[Ian Micheal]

Yep, you proved DVD quality output can be done on the Dreamcast. Awesome! And you can encode a movie - just bring lots of cdr's and be patient on the encoding. That's what I take away.

With 50% or more moving to gdemu and 22+ year old dreamcast there will be time when there is no working gdrom drives left

Like i said 2gb cdi image is possible on gdemu IDE dreamshell 30gb is possible ..


Still working on My xvid player but bit rate at 320x240 max 1000 and it struggles with that..

Dcplayer 320x240 500 bit rate that's it

Best mpeg is milcd and the tools by mrneo240 it's far better then wince dev sample gypsy play which has max bit rate of under 1000 with no sync code in the code.. does not use the gpu at all just software frame buffer

Sfd is ok but is software and even high bitrate you can see pixel shift..

Only 2 hardware players that use the pvr gpu in the dreamcast is 4xm retail
Xvid i did direct pvr and still cant match 4xm even at 320x240

There is no video player that can match it's bitrate not back then or now running on dreamcast..

If you can find a 320x240 or like you did 640x436 with better bit rate then god horrible vcd players that be step up .. I can get my Xvid player better looking then it..

What i have found is start with the HQ video at the start then encode and you get the best out the other end..

Practical My Xvid player update can fit 4 movies on cdr but right now it struggles even with 4 months of optimizing profiling sh4 asm and tons of years before me with other coders..
we can all have fun with this maddness lol please share more test..

All i was saying is this codec is more about the compression of quality so it plays much less about the space it uses.. I dont think they made that clear in the docs..


Alone in the dark game uses 320x240 videos because of space Compression is quality of the out put .. This sort of video it displays is not possible on dreamcast hardware and it can do it..

Even direct pvr 640x480 just does not work..

[Ian Micheal]

moefoh, we are trying to work together to see what the optimal settings might be for 4xm.
it is all up in the air as to what can be done.
ideas about how we would split the files and what the filesize of the fully converted 4xm's will be is all theory until we do it.

yes, we can figure it out.
and i bet we get a damn good proof of concept of a full dvd quality movie either with multiple .cdi's or some weird stroke of luck we get one .cdi or we go the route of a large .cdi for gd-emu.

this is a process that we can complete together, don't kill the dream so quick.
i think you have the ability to help us reach the goal.

keep in mind multiple instances of 4xm_comp will allow us to shorten the time needed to encode.
so split videos and multiple 4xm's would be the most efficient way.
but this is not set in stone, we need to figure out the best settings for 4xm on real hardware with cd-r then go from there.

whatever ideas you have please share them.
what ways should we go about the source file converting, what types of files should we try, what are your theories? etc..

p.s ian is a good dude to have in your corner.

Thanks SMith..

Cdr or mil cd does not use DMA like gdrom so where losing speed check how metal slug 6 runs on a cdr compared to a gdemu.. Gdemu can use DMA CDR does not btw..

Only Gdrom you here the faint beep when it knows a real gdrom is playing turns on DMA transfer

What we need to do is benchmark the speed of gdrom drive playing a cdr it no where near be anywhere like a real gdrom disk.. If we can think it more be like 4x cdrom or closer to serial port speed which is 4x cdrom

This why Atomis wav ports conversions cant run on cdr ..