Homebrew DPG for X (dpg4x) 2.1

[tai1976]

After recently doing a search of GBAtemp I was surprised to hardly see any mention of dpg4x.

So what is dpg4x? Dpg4x is a year and a half old project created by Félix. Based on dpgconv, along with additional contributed Python code, Félix designed and added a graphical user interface with a full featured DPG encoder for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Not unlike that of MoonShell's own DPGenc or BatchDPG for Windows.

What sets dpg4x apart from other DPG converters is not only what it can do but how it does it. Some features include:

• Simple GUI suitable for beginners.
• Includes lots of options for the advanced user.
• Supports individual per-media settings when needed.
• Multiple DPG version support, from DPG0 to DPG4.
• Can process any video file playable by mplayer.
• Encodes your DVD and VCD directly.
• Includes subtitles support.
• Ability to preview the encoding settings.
• Drag and drop support from your favourite file manager.
• Batch processing.
• Multiplatform including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Multilanguage currently Catalan, English, Spanish, and Swedish.
• The dpg2avi script can convert DPG files to AVI format.

In addition to Félix's hard work Tomas, as of version 2.1, has contributed a simplified Windows installer which makes downloading and installing dpg4x a snap.

Personally, I switched to dpg4x almost a year ago because I wanted to be able to encode files on Linux, dpg4x creates smaller files than DPGenc, and I have a better success rate with dpg4x over others.

Dpg4x can be download from here: dpg4x project files
and the development website here: dpg4x project home

 

[Isabelyes]

"Includes subtitles support"?
For .mkv's, too?

I don't use Moonshell anymore (or my Acekard for that matter, seeing how my DSi kinda broke),
but this is great news for those who want to convert soft-subbed anime to .dpg format.

And for those who want to convert porn faster and easier. :3


Anyway, those features look really impressive.
Thanks for posting this!

 

[Sausage Head]

is there any update or something? if it's not this belongs to...

... we'll let a mod decide. if there's no update then it's not news

 

[Terminator02]

this does look really nice, i might try it out once i decide to view a video on my DS again for some unknown reason

 

[tai1976]

is there any update or something? if it's not this belongs to...

... we'll let a mod decide. if there's no update then it's not news

Sure there's an update in fact there are many updates, I listed them in the post. The last version was released 2 months ago but since the application itself was never announced I thought it might qualify as news.

As far as I know there aren't any other DPG encoders in active development and I wasn't sure how many people still make use of this sort of thing.

Anyway, thanks for checking out the post.

 

[2-bias]

I tried the Linux version with my Ubuntu Netbook and it works like charm. DPG4 gives me some big artefacts but DPG3 on high quality is fine.

 

[Shiro09]

Ill download soon, if this can convert .mkv then Im keeping.

 

[Mantis41]

This is a very good app. I have only used the 2.0 version from the download link under Windows 7 SP1.

I have tested it with several MP4s and AVI (xvid)s, using DPG V4 and high quality settings and the quality was on par with DPGenc. There was no out of sync audio issues that I have experienced in the past and the seek bar responded instantly when scrolling through the video under Moonshell 2.10.

I will continue to use this app as it appears to encode slightly quicker than other apps I have tried and the user interface has a nice feel. It produces a good quality video and does not appear to produce any audio sync or seek bar issues that have plagued me in the past. I have yet to try a subtitled file. I am sceptical about the results due to the small DS screen size.

 

[Mantis41]

I tried the Linux version with my Ubuntu Netbook and it works like charm. DPG4 gives me some big artefacts but DPG3 on high quality is fine.

Did you use 2.1 or 2.0? 2.1 looks like a beta vestion, it has the same modified date as 2.0.

 

[2-bias]

I tried the Linux version with my Ubuntu Netbook and it works like charm. DPG4 gives me some big artefacts but DPG3 on high quality is fine.

Did you use 2.1 or 2.0? 2.1 looks like a beta vestion, it has the same modified date as 2.0.

I used 2.1

 

[Mantis41]

I tried the Linux version with my Ubuntu Netbook and it works like charm. DPG4 gives me some big artefacts but DPG3 on high quality is fine.

Did you use 2.1 or 2.0? 2.1 looks like a beta vestion, it has the same modified date as 2.0.

I used 2.1

try 2.0 with DPG4

 

[2-bias]

I tried the Linux version with my Ubuntu Netbook and it works like charm. DPG4 gives me some big artefacts but DPG3 on high quality is fine.

Did you use 2.1 or 2.0? 2.1 looks like a beta vestion, it has the same modified date as 2.0.

I used 2.1

try 2.0 with DPG4

I'll give it a try but i think it's more a microSD issue. I haven't got a new one in the last 2-3 years and i can't even tell what class it is. If got artefacts with the Imtoo Converter on DPG4 too and i hardly use Moonshell for watching videos.

 

[Inuuto]

This is great considering that I'm dual booting my Windows 7 computer with Ubuntu. I tried to use BatchDPG and Super with Wine(don't want to talk about my experience) but this should make it easier for anime fans fans like me to convert anime for my DS.

 

[tai1976]

Ill download soon, if this can convert .mkv then Im keeping.

Sure can. In fact, the general rule of dpg4x encoding is if mplayer can play it, dpg4x can encode it.

The biggest problem you may run into is audio/video synchronization which is almost always dependent on the quality of the video source file and I've only seen in

 

[tai1976]

I tried the Linux version with my Ubuntu Netbook and it works like charm. DPG4 gives me some big artefacts but DPG3 on high quality is fine.

Did you use 2.1 or 2.0? 2.1 looks like a beta version, it has the same modified date as 2.0.

A number of items should be noted here:
[*]If all configuration settings are kept the same and only the "DPG Version" is changed to either 3 or 4, dpg4x will produce exactly the same video output. The only difference between DPG3 and 4 as far as dpg4x is concerned is DPG4 files contain a thumbnail image and the header declares a different version, DPG3 or DPG4 respectively. It also should be said that "Quality" High will produce better and faster output than Extra High. Moonshell2 may play DPG3 and 4 files differently however.[*]The main changes between 2.1 over 2.0 were improved packaging and installation support for both Windows and Linux and Windows support heavily improved (see the ChangeLog for more details). Encoding quality was not modified and should be equivalent. In any case 2.1 should always be used over 2.0.[*]The overall project status was Beta but was recently changed to Stable since it out performs most commercial and free products at this point. Beta was held over from the original 1.0 release.[*]The modified date you are referring to 2011-04-16, is the file release date for 2.1 and the archive directory for 2.0. The original release date of 2.0 is 2011-11-14 and the date of the actual file.

 

[2-bias]

A number of items should be noted here:
[*]If all configuration settings are kept the same and only the "DPG Version" is changed to either 3 or 4, dpg4x will produce exactly the same video output. The only difference between DPG3 and 4 as far as dpg4x is concerned is DPG4 files contain a thumbnail image and the header declares a different version, DPG3 or DPG4 respectively. It also should be said that "Quality" High will produce better and faster output than Extra High. Moonshell2 may play DPG3 and 4 files differently however.

The video output is the same?
Do all Encoders work this way or just this one? I mean its kinda strange, i know some people who all have problems with dpg4 and artifacts. And if only a thumbnail image is added, why is the output size so different?

 

[tai1976]

A number of items should be noted here:
[*]If all configuration settings are kept the same and only the "DPG Version" is changed to either 3 or 4, dpg4x will produce exactly the same video output. The only difference between DPG3 and 4 as far as dpg4x is concerned is DPG4 files contain a thumbnail image and the header declares a different version, DPG3 or DPG4 respectively. It also should be said that "Quality" High will produce better and faster output than Extra High. Moonshell2 may play DPG3 and 4 files differently however.

The video output is the same?
Do all Encoders work this way or just this one? I mean its kinda strange, i know some people who all have problems with dpg4 and artifacts. And if only a thumbnail image is added, why is the output size so different?

I believe you are confusing two concepts here. There are DPG file version differences which are subtle, such as the list of DPG3 to DPG4 changes listed below. Then there are encoding settings which can be further modified regardless of the DPG file version but must be supported within the specified DPG file version.

That said, remember that the DPG file format ignores standards and uses a virtually undocumented file type aside from what has been reversed engineered. So how the various encoders generate DPG files can differer greatly but must play within Moonshell 1 or 2.

There are only a handful of differences between each DPG file version update. This is not a complete list but points out the more notable changes:
DPG0:
Mono audio was used
DPG1:
Added stereo sound
DPG2:
GOP List added for faster seeking
DPG3:
Ability to choose OGG as audio format.
Better video Quality
DPG4: (MoonShell 2.00)
Audio bitrate is 160KB/s
Video Quality is slightly improved

However dpg4x, as well as other encoders, also allow you to further adjust video, audio, and subtitle settings. If those settings are kept within the boundaries of what DPG2, DPG3 or even DPG4 support the resulting video should be nearly, if not identical. Changing the audio bitrate, video bitrate, or overall output quality will certainly influence the DPG output file size but they can be changed independently of the DPG file version.

If your output file size wildly differs as you say, then you have also modified the settings which may not necessarily be tied to the DPG file version or you are using an encoder which hard codes more parameters than dpg4x.

For my test case the file sizes were:
DPG3 67560390
DPG4 67658698
which is a difference of 98,308 bytes or the exact size of the image file + the 4 byte "THM0" extended DPG4 header.

The point is, a DPG4 file with the right settings may not have more artifacts than a DPG3 file but it could depending on the settings and the encoder being used.

So the questions is, what encoder and specific settings are you using to create your comparison DPG3 and DPG4 files? Are you using Moonshell 2.10 or some other variant? How large are the file size differences?

In the meantime, I will test playing DPG3 and DPG4 files and see if in fact DPG4 files do contain more artifacts than DPG3 files.

 

[2-bias]

I made some test and i must admit that your infos are right. I used the highest video quality settings for both encoders and Moonshell 2.10 Child zwai to watch them.

The DPG3 and DPG4 made using dpg4x are the same, except the small difference size for the thumpnail image. Also the artifacts level is the same on both videos.

Then i used ImToo Video Converter 6 Ultimate.
The DPG4 is almost 15MB bigger than DPG3 and it has no thumpnail. The DPG4 quality is better than DPG3 and i hardly can't see any artifacts. So it is the best of all four versions, except the lack of a thumpnail.

Compared to dpg4x the sizes are bigger while using imtoo.
Both dpg4x version have a size of 16MB, the DPG3 from imtoo has 20MB and the imtoo DPG4 35MB.
The source video was a youtube mp4 with 21MB in size.

 

[thedarkpinecone]

How would I install this on a mac computer