Problems with HEVC conversions including subtitles

[OldGeezer916]

I have 3 Windows machines, two are 8.1 & one Windows 7. Ubuntu 18.04 is my main machine. I still use Windows offline for many things including VidCoder. For some reason VidCoder-5.21-Portable won't let me change presets any more, so I went back to VidCoder-2.50-x64-Portable. For big conversions I would like to be able to split up the seasons between the 3 machines, but only 1 of the 8.1 machines will include the subtitles in the new files. All 3 machines are exactly the same hardware. For conversions I have done on the other 2, I have had to use MKVToolNix to mux the subtitle track from the original file. That's just too much hassle, so I have quit trying on them. I could cut my time by two thirds if I could use all 3 machines.

Also, as I mentioned above, why won't 5.21 let me change presets any more? It always used to. I already had a setting that is right for the series I am doing right now, but the issue with subtitles is the same for both versions. With 2.50, presets are no problem. I click the settings button & a box always pops up. I suppose there probably are improvements in 5.21, but for my use I have not seen any.

Vidcoder is the only program I trust for HEVC conversions. I use Xilisoft converter for many things & it's very reliable with 264 files. It's supposed to do 265 HEVC, but I have had it produce defective files. Whenever Vidcoder says the conversion was successful the file has always been good.

At first I thought the problem was just Windows 7, so I fired up the 8.1 that I don't usually use. I keep programs updated on all 3 just briefly putting them online. Microsoft bricked security updates for anyone with a 7th generation Kaby Lake or later even though support for 8.1 was supposed to be good until 2023. That's only if you have a very old machine. Not going to ever install spyware version 10, hence the Ubuntu for online.

[RandomEngy]

In the Picker window do you have a preset selected? If you've got one selected there it locks you to that one.

[OldGeezer916]

If you are locked to any selection, how can ever change any settings? It won't bring it up whether you have any files loaded or not. In 2.50 it will bring it up even while a file is converting. I wouldn't try making a change without stopping & starting over. It just let's me confirm the settings are right. I didn't use to have this problem with 5.2. And why will only one machine of 3 automatically include the subtitles using either versions? Same versions, same series of files. Same hardware. One 8.1 will do it. Works every time. The other 8.1 won't. 7 won't. I find no settings for subtitles either in the window or the options.

[OldGeezer916]

Worked out a solution. On my 2nd Windows 8.1 machine, instead if batch dragging files in, I just drag the first file to the upper area. Then it will show an option for subtitles. I select English & click add to que. May not be necessary, but I drag the rest one at a time to the top & also add click add to que. Encoded files now have subtitles. Don't know why all this is unnecessary on my first Windows 8.1 machine. There I just select the settings & batch drag 20 or 30 files to the lower area. No adding to que button. Get subtitles every time. Doesn't even show the subtitle option button. Haven't tried it on my 7 machine yet, but I assume this fix will work on it too.

Using 2.5 because 5.2 still won't let me change any profile settings. Even previously when it did, I failed to see any better features. 2.50 is very reliable at successfully cropping or converting to HEVC files. Why would I even need 5.2? I take files that have ridiculously high bit rates, 5GB for a 42 minute episode. I set H265 bit rate at 2600 & get 950MB files that looks just as good om my 70 inch screen.

Can anybody tell me anything that better in 5.21 over 2.50? To me, just a different GUI. 2.50 works great. Why fix what ain't broke?

[RandomEngy]

Later releases have made the Picker work significantly better. That's what automatically picks subtitles for you when you drag a bunch over.

I would like to figure out why you are having trouble changing your profile settings on 5.21. Usually the reason is that in the Picker window you have selected a preset:

You could also check if you have that issue with the 6.17 Beta. The beta installs side-by-side with the stable version.

One more thing to check would be renaming %appdata%\VidCoder\VidCoder.sqlite and checking if the problem goes away. If so, you can send me that problematic VidCoder.sqlite file and I'll take a look.

Also what would be helpful would be step-by-step instructions to reproduce your issue and explain what you saw vs what you expected to see, perhaps with screenshots.

As for what's different in later versions, it's more than just the look of the UI. All the libraries to decode and encode video get updates for stability and performance. Later versions have better hardware encoding support and support more formats. There are more and better filters. I've fixed a lot of functional issues with the pickers. I've added the ability to encode multiple videos simultaneously for many-CPU systems. I've replaced the worker process communication with a more reliable library.

You don't have to upgrade. But I'm not going to give you support if you keep using the old version, because I've fixed so many things since then I wouldn't know if your problems are due to an already resolved issue.

[OldGeezer916]

@RandomEngy: Thanks for the reply. I've had a lot going on & I'm just now getting around to trying 5.21 out. I figured out what I was doing wrong trying to bring up the profile settings window. I thought where it says encoding settings was only to choose previously saved profiles. I was trying to click underneath where it says settings. On my Windows 8.1 that I use regularly that is networked to my Ubuntu 18.4, when I brought up 5.21, it automatically imported my previously saved profiles from 2.50. On my backup 8.1 I had to start from scratch. I chose a built in & set it up for HEVC x265 MKV. To save file size I'm not using pass through on the audio because it had a ridiculously high bit rate. AC3 at 384 is plenty high enough quality. When I drag several files at once it puts them in the queue same as in 2.50. It gives no subtitle options. For some reason on my regular 8.1 it just added track 1 automatically even when they had 2 srt files.On my backup 8.1 machine it did not. I dragged single files to the top panel & added them 1 at a time to the queue & that worked with 2.50. Right now I'm trying dragging episode 1 to the top & selecting both tracks just to see if it will convert with both. Then I dragged over 3 files that went into the queue. I want to see if it will carry the same settings over even though it's still showing episode 1 in the top panel. I also want to try this with another profile I'll save for cropping to 16:9. I still have 30 minutes to go on the first file.

I'll do some experimenting & get back with you. I don't know what the picker is for. It only shows default & picker 1, so I left it on default. I'm a novice with VidCoder, but I have been using Xilisoft ultimate for years. It works very reliably with 264 files & MP4's. It's very useful for clipping files very precisely. I have HandBrake on my Linux. When I upgraded to 18.4 it probably went to the latest version like all my other programs. Long ago when I tried it, I found that VidCoder had more features. I don't want a program that pegs out my processor running on my main machine. I'm a holdout that doesn't want to be forced to that spyware Windows 10. My computer genius son set up a "user friendly" Ubuntu for me. No typing command code. Just click the icons he gave me. I like Windows better for some things & there are good programs that just don't have a Linux version. He works as a programmer getting all the benefits & twice the pay Boeing ever gave me. I gave him his 1st PC in 1989 for his 4th birthday & he figured out DOS way faster than me. No idle brag that he's genius. He was reading 5th grade level when he started 1st grade, so he was put into the gifted program. Video conversions is one area he just never got much into.

I'm 68 & my hearing is gradually failing so I want subtitles on every video I can. I very much appreciate the programmer that wrote this taking the time to help me. On most boards you only get other users replying. Sometimes if 6 people reply, you will get 6 different answers.

It's about half way through the 2nd file, but I have to get to bed now. I'm grateful there are dedicated people like you who write great programs like VidCoder. I'll eventually figure out a lot more features in it.

Thank you!

[RandomEngy]

Thanks for the kind words! The Picker will pick audio tracks and subtitle tracks for you. You can tell it to pick up the first one, include all of them, include the English ones or several other choices.

[OldGeezer916]

@RandomEngy: Thanks for the reply. I've had a lot going on & I'm just now getting around to trying 5.21 out. I figured out what I was doing wrong trying to bring up the profile settings window. I thought where it says encoding settings was only to choose previously saved profiles. I was trying to click underneath where it says settings. On my Windows 8.1 that I use regularly that is networked to my Ubuntu 18.4, when I brought up 5.21, it automatically imported my previously saved profiles from 2.50. On my backup 8.1 I had to start from scratch. I chose a built in & set it up for HEVC x265 MKV. To save file size I'm not using pass through on the audio because it had a ridiculously high bit rate. AC3 at 384 is plenty high enough quality. When I drag several files at once it puts them in the queue same as in 2.50. It gives no subtitle options. For some reason on my regular 8.1 it just added track 1 automatically even when they had 2 srt files.On my backup 8.1 machine it did not. I dragged single files to the top panel & added them 1 at a time to the queue & that worked with 2.50. Right now I'm trying dragging episode 1 to the top & selecting both tracks just to see if it will convert with both. Then I dragged over 3 files that went into the queue. I want to see if it will carry the same settings over even though it's still showing episode 1 in the top panel. I also want to try this with another profile I'll save for cropping to 16:9. I still have 30 minutes to go on the first file.

I'll do some experimenting & get back with you. I don't know what the picker is for. It only shows default & picker 1, so I left it on default. I'm a novice with VidCoder, but I have been using Xilisoft ultimate for years. It works very reliably with 264 files & MP4's. It's very useful for clipping files very precisely. I have HandBrake on my Linux. When I upgraded to 18.4 it probably went to the latest version like all my other programs. Long ago when I tried it, I found that VidCoder had more features. I don't want a program that pegs out my processor running on my main machine. I'm a holdout that doesn't want to be forced to that spyware Windows 10. My computer genius son set up a "user friendly" Ubuntu for me. No typing command code. Just click the icons he gave me. I like Windows better for some things & there are good programs that just don't have a Linux version. He works as a programmer getting all the benefits & twice the pay Boeing ever gave me. I gave him his 1st PC in 1989 for his 4th birthday & he figured out DOS way faster than me. No idle brag that he's genius. He was reading 5th grade level when he started 1st grade, so he was put into the gifted program. Video conversions is one area he just never got much into.

I'm 68 & my hearing is gradually failing so I want subtitles on every video I can. I very much appreciate the programmer that wrote this taking the time to help me. On most boards you only get other users replying. Sometimes if 6 people reply, you will get 6 different answers.

It's about half way through the 2nd file, but I have to get to bed now. I'm grateful there are dedicated people like you who write great programs like VidCoder. I'll eventually figure out a lot more features in it.

Thank you!

[OldGeezer916]

@RandomEngy: Looks like I have it figured out. Each time I make a new profile I go to the default picker & make the changes, tell it to use that profile & save the picker with the same name. Can drag as many files as I want into the queue & they all use the same settings. I'll just do like I did in Xilisoft, Goldwave, MKVToolNix & other programs. By guess & by golly figure it out. I have the basics down with VidCoder. Thanks for a great program. I didn't believe the claims for X265 at first. I can take a 5 gig 42 minute file & encode it at 2600 kb/s & on a 70 inch screen I can't tell the difference. File size 950 MB. As proficient as I am with those other programs been using for years, I'm still learning new tricks with them. I'll read through some of the other threads. Now that I'm getting it down I'll set it up on my Windows 7 machine. Thanks again. Just out of curiosity, what are all those tags that show up in MKVToolNix on converted files?

[RandomEngy]

I don't know, I have not used MKVToolNix.

[OldGeezer916]

@RandomEngy You should try MKVToolNix. It's amazing at repairing files other people would just delete. Also letting you combine tracks from different files. I just added a low quality file To a good one & unchecked the audio & video & added the subtitles to the HD file. If you get files the tracks are out of sync, you can advance or delay them. If they are different durations, you can stretch or shrink tracks to match. You can have a bad spot in a file that would make VLC cut out. It can make the file playable again, often with just a minor glitch. Many other tools. Best part is it's free & there is a team regularly updating it.

[RandomEngy]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot if I run into bad files.