4.0.24 (rc1):
- Merge with ffmpeg 4.0 series. vgtmpeg should now be more compatible with 4.0+ ffmpeg
- Versioning scheme now makes it easier to identify upstream ffmpeg branch. {ffmpeg_ver}.{vgtmpeg_rev}
- DVD/bluray urls no longer needs explicit output mapping. Default, titles, video and audio tracks are selected. This fixes common error “Output file #0 does not contain any stream” when not specifying mapping
- libx265/libx264/libvpx updated to latest versions
- libfaac AAC encoder dropped in favor of the much higher quality fdk-aac. Use encoder ‘libfdk_aac’ to use this aac encoder
- 32bit binaries have been deprecated for all platforms

2.0.35
- fixed bug that was disabling keyboard interaction while in ffmpeg mode

2.0.34
- added h265 encoding support with x265
- added vp9 encoding support and libvpx-vp9
- vgtmpeg now comes with 384 codecs and 270 formats by default without extra libraries. see ‘vgtmpeg -codecs’ and ‘vgtmpeg -formats’ for actual list
- this version is merged off ffmpeg version 2.5.4
- now compatible ffmpeg version is reported in command line. System integrators can use this to gauge ffmpeg compatilibity.
- vgtmpeg does no longer need explicit ‘-map’ command line settings to map intput streams to output streams. Defaults are provided if not indicated.
- updated libdvdread to 5.x series and released vgtmpeg version in github http://github.com/concalma/libdvdread-vgtmpeg
- miscellaneous bugfixes

However the lack of 64bit browsers has been a challenge to go 64bit. Things are getting better though, and with today’s release of Chrome on 64bit for Windows, albeit only on the dev channel for the moment, you can now use 64bit on Windows. 64bit Chrome OS X is still missing though. Hopefully it will come online soon.

There are many benefits about running goDromo Media Transcoder on 64bit, the main one being performance. In our tests 64bit gMT is about 15-20% faster than the 32bit counterpart. You can check the support page to know more about 64bit mode but you can always check the task manager on Windows 8 to see if gMT/vgtmpeg is running in 64 bit mode.

vgtmpeg screaming through a transcode at 64bit speeds on Windows 8.1

Happy 64bit Transcoding!!

For a video editor like VirtualDub where precise frame access is crucial, all file formats that use inter frame compression (most of them these days) are sort of a pain point. The editor has to gain precise access to random frames in the file, whose intra/IDR/GOP frame structure is not known a priori. The input file plugin has to go through a bunch of hoops to provide this functionality many times with unexpected or undesirable results.

For this reason sometimes is not a bad idea to simply convert your media assets to some sort of uncompressed intra frame compressed media file, like an AVI file with uncompressed YUV/RGB video and uncompressed audio. Fear not, I just tinkered the AVI Converter by adding a new preset that does just that. It will take any media input including DVD and BluRay folders and output a big fat uncompressed AVI file. Beware the files will be huge specially if you are dealing with HD video. To use it just select the ‘to AVI Uncompressed ‘ preset. Also because gMT is running at native speeds is wicked fast and a great way to give your new SSD drive a great workout.

Here is screenshot of Windows 8.1 task manager running on a Samsung SSD 840, 317MB/s, not too shabby for a web app.

Use the AVI Converter/Decompressor here

Download VirtualDub here