Problem with Inventory compression - 0RT_C01

Hello experts,
We are in NW04S, implemetation for retail customer.
for inventory data I am using BX, BF and UM datasources.
Now the problem is if I do compression of the dataload at cube (0RT_C01-standard cube for retail) level (as per explained in HOW TO INVENTORY document) I get totally wrong values [for closing balance (0CPTOTSTOBU), Outflow issue(0CPTSTISBU) and inflow reciepts(0CPTSTREBU)]
But values come out correctly if we Dont do the compression at all.
Now my question is, as per How To inventory document we have to do the compression to get right values but if i do so i get wrong data.
But if i dont do the compression I get the right data.
why this is happening.... did anyone faced this kind of issue before?

Hello Ashu,
Thanks for your reply.
As you said "0RT_C01 cubes doesn't supports BX data source for Stock Initilization. Instead of it, SAP recommends to use 2Lis_40_s278 for stock inilization." If SAP doesnt recommend to use BX then why SAP have delivered BX datsource with 0rt_c01?
as you are also using the same cube so are you compressing the data(using marker updates)?? and if yes then are you getting right values after compression??
or you using 2Lis_40_s278 for stock inilization? if yes then is it working fine in your case?
Thanks
Jagpreet.

Similar Messages

Common problem with inventory...but urgent...!!!

I have very basic problem with inventory data. Getting negative data...
The steps i followed are below:
1)After doing the initialization of BX using MCNB transaction I loaded the data in BW(till PSA level).
2)Initialization of BF(historical data) and loaded in BW(till psa level)
3) Upload the data with BX using DTP and Compress it with "Marker update" in the cube.
4) Upload the data with BF(historical data)using DTP and Compress it with "No Marker update"
5) Upload the data with UM(historical data)using DTP and Compress it with "No Marker update"
Now in the report I am getting wierd negative values in total stock (non cumulative key figure)
Can anyone suggest if I am missing some step or doing something wrong.

Hi,
I recall reading some OSS notes on this issue. Search on OSS as there is a setting in the IMG you need to make sure you have done.

Problem with Inventory stock audit Report in other currency

Hi I have a problem with Inventory stock audit, the SBO show me the report in local currency, and I have to obtain that report in other currency, I was working with OINM table, but I don't know how obtain the report

Alberto,
Other currency information is available at the document row level and in the Journal Entries.
What you could do is join the OINM with the associated document and let the foriegn currency value.
OINM.TransType = ObjType (marketing document)
OINM.BASE_REF .......Document Ref
OINM.DocLineNum ......LineNum
Suda

Problem with inventory marker

Hi,
I have a problem with my inventory markers.
When I do: Material 1000251, Plant=0212, Record type = 1 (Only include material, plant, day, issues, and receipts)
I get the totals of: Issues = 0. Receipts = 1 (This is correct. On hand Qty = 1)
When I do: Material 1000251, Plant=0212, Record type = 1 (but I now include 0MAT_PLANT as well)
I get the totals of: Issues = 0. Receipts = -4 (This is NOT correct. On hand Qty = 1)
Any ideas on how to correct this marker problem for 0MAT_PLANT?
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,
Check the Marker Update scenarios in the below doc. This would give you some clue on your issue.
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/f83be790-0201-0010-4fb0-98bd7c01e328
Regards,
Suman

Problems with Inventory after upgrade to LMS 4.0.1

Hello,
after an upgrade to LMS 4.0.1 there is a problem with the inventory. The inventory is not working for all switches, most of them are with CAT OS
with different versions.
I have found a bug that resembles the situation but it looks like this was a bug with the previous version of LMS - CSCsv65621.
Any ideas for some other problems that may cause LMS 4.0.1 not to find in the inventory all the devices?
Thanks in advance,
Vesko

First these are the only CAT OS devices supported:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_lan_management_solution/4.0.1/device_support/table/lms401sdt.html#Catalyst%20OS%20Devices
1. What kind of devices are we talking about here?
2. Enable the debugs from Admin --> System --> Debug Settings --> Config and Image Management Debugging settings. Select ICServer and enable the debugs the modules listed.
3. Duplicate the problem.
4. Post the show ver along with the LMS logs from CSCOpx/log directory called dcmaclinet.log, dcmaservices.log, and ICServer.log. Give me a sample IP or hostname to work with to troubleshoot.
5. Get the jobs logs from CSCOpx/files/rme/jobs/ICServer/ . The job ID is from step 3 when you recreated the job to duplicate the problem.

[2.6.37] Problems with module compression

Hello,
during the last days I had problems installing carl9170-driver package from the aur. It is a package based on compat-wireless.
Some other people had similar problems with other compat-wireless aur packages
All the packages that are based on compat-wireless provide new versions of already existing kernel modules. They put those modules under /lib/modules/kernel-version/updates.
After installing depmod -a should find the new modules in the /updates folder and after a reboot you can use the updated wireless drivers.
This does not work for kernel 2.6.37 because all the in-kernel modules are .gz compressed but the carl9170-driver package produces uncompressed modules.
I guess that depmod is not able to work correctly if you mix compressed modules with uncompressed ones.
I found this https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/4039/ and it seems that there are configuration options wheter you get a compressed or uncompressed module when you run "make install_modules" in a PKGBUILD.
These configuration is made in "Makefile.modinst"
So the question is: Is this a problem with arch's kernel? I think when compressed in-kernel-modules are used, then external modules should compile in the same way.

Thanks for your post. I've been reporting this problem for weeks:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=41472
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=41485
https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/22633
I solved the problem by going to /lib/modules/kernel2.6.37ARCH/updates...iwlwifi and then ran:
cd /lib/modules/2.6.37ARCH/update
gzip -r *
depmod
Then I reloaded the modules and finally depmod would report that the compat-wireless one was loaded.
The above instructions only worked with compat-wireless-patched from AUR. I'm still unable to use compat-wireless-patched-daily even with the above trick (no module get loaded at all).
Last edited by alphazo (2011-02-20 19:54:59)

Problems with parallel compression

I'm having some problems utilizing parallel compression on some drums. Here's the setup:
-9 tracks of audio (mixed, EQ'ed, etc. ) outputting to a Bus, which serves as the master drum fader
-master drum fader has very light EQ and compression, and a limiter
-audio tracks also have a (post-fader) send going to a separate bus for parallel compression
-parallel comp bus is heavily compressed, slightly EQ'ed
-plugins used are all Logic's: limiter, compressor, channel EQ
The problem is that as I increase the parallel fader, the bass drum loses it's punch. It almost sounds like some kind of phase cancellation. The snare seems to lose a little presence as well. The cymbals, on the other hand, sound great. So if I leave the parallel fader very low, I'm not getting the compression I want out of the cymbals. Any ideas?
I'm still pretty new to mixing, and definitely to parallel compression, so it seems likely a problem with my plugin settings. I got some advice from a friend of mine, and tweaked a little from there, but here are the settings of the compressor on the parallel bus:
Threshold: -17 dB
Ratio: 10:1
Attack: 10 ms
Release: 11 ms
Knee: 0.0
Peak Mode
Thanks for your help.

I guess I'm just a little stuck on the usual parameters (ratio, threshold, attack/release, etc.), though I realize the Warmer doesn't operate in quite the same way.
Right. It is a bit confusing and there are only some controls which have usual plug-in equivalents. Look at VM as being a limiter, which in turn has an infinite ratio. The compression element of VM (as I understand it) affects the amount of compression underneath the ceiling. So the knee control affects that compression depth, rather than the compression curve, related to threshold, as seen in conventional compressors, like a sub threshold adjustment.
the knee sets the amount of compression applied to signals leading up to the ceiling, right?
Exactly. The ceiling, you would think, is the limiter ceiling for output a bit like Logic's adaptive limiter output. It is really a way of moving the output level to something other than 0 dbFS, and works with the saturation settings on the VM's back panel, and the way it handles the input side of VM. So I usually leave the ceiling at zero (as it's not being used for mastering) and change the drive, knee and saturation to taste. So the metering behavior you see, to me makes sense. Compare with pre and post, and adjust the drive, and it is more visually in step. I think it's more like a threshold than anything else. The knee is also affecting VM's make up gain, which you can balance with the drive knob to get the right amount of coloration.
Drive is, as you say, just an input level.
I always have FAT on. When used on drums, I change the rear saturation to less high and bass, more mid. I also change the freq. settings to be more active in the low mids, but this changes for each kit. I usually have brick wall and Auto (for release, not auto gain) on, with release set at X1.
The Mix control is mysterious to me. You would think that it works so that you can change the mix between an unprocessed input to the VM output and therefore use it on a drum submix without a separate bus for parallel compression, but it sounds different to me (and much better) when I use it on a bus set to 100%, so that's what I do, with some EQ before VM.

PROBLEM WITH INVENTORY ARRAY

I am needing help on a inventory program for a class that was due a couple of days ago. The program needs to use an array to store items, output should display the value on the entire inventory, and use a method to calculate the inventory and sort the array items by name. This is one of the errors I am receiving.
72: incompatible types
found : Product[]
required: int[]
DVD = new Product [5];
Here is the code I have so far, thanks to any help anyone can provide.
import java.util.Scanner; //program uses Scanner
class DVD
 private double itemNumber; // class variable that stores the item number
 private double unitsInStock; // class variable that stores the number of units in stock
 private double pricePerUnit; // class variable that stores price of each unit
 private String nameOfDvd; //class variable for the name of DVD
 public DVD() // Constructor for the DVD class
 itemNumber = 0.0;
 unitsInStock = 0.0;
 pricePerUnit = 0.0;
 nameOfDvd = "";
 public void setitemNumber(double number) // Method to set the item number
 itemNumber = number;
 public double getitemNumber() // Method to get the item number
 return itemNumber;
 public void setunitsInStock(double units) // Method to set the units in stock
 unitsInStock = units;
 public double getunitsInStock() // Method to get the units in stock
 return unitsInStock;
 public void setpricePerUnit(double price) // Method to set the price per unit
 pricePerUnit = price;
 public double getpricePerUnit() //Method to get price per unit
 return pricePerUnit;
 public void setnameOfDvd(String name) // Method to set the name of DVD
 nameOfDvd = name;
 public double calculateInventoryValue() // Method to calculate inventory value
 return unitsInStock * pricePerUnit;
}//end class DVD
public class Inventory2Array
 // main methods begins execution of java application
 public static void main( String args[])
 // create Scanner to obtain input from command window
 Scanner input = new Scanner( System.in );
 // Instantiate product array
 int[] DVD;
 DVD = new Product [5];
 // Instantiate objects for the array
 DVD[0] = new Product("The Faculty", 1, 10, 10.00);
 DVD[1] = new Product("Shaun of the Dead", 2, 10, 10.00);
 DVD[2] = new Product("Spider Man 3", 3, 20, 20.00);
 DVD[3] = new Product("House M.D. Season 3", 4, 10, 45.00);
 DVD[4] = new Product("Clerks Special Edition", 5, 10, 25.00);
 // Print out a screen title
 System.out.printf("DVD Inventory\n\n");
 // call the sort
 Arrays.sort( inventory );
 System.out.println( DVD.toString() );
 for(j=0; j<3; ++j)
 System.out.printf("Inventory %s Products $ %.2f\n\n\n",
 inventory[j].getnameOfDvd(),
 inventory[j].calculateInventoryValue() );
 //display the inventory value
 } // end main method
 public static void sortProduct(Product[] inventory)
 Product temp = new Product();
 int i, j;
 for (i=1; i < inventory.length; i++)
 for (j=0; j < inventory.length-i; j++)
 if (inventory[j].getnameOfDvd().compareTo(inventory[j+1].getnameOfDvd())>0)
 // exchange elements
 temp = inventory[j];
 inventory[j] = inventory[j+1];
 inventory[j+1] = temp;
}

I see what you mean. Can you tell me if I am on the right track with my code, I am receiving an error that states "cannot find symbol Arrays.sort(dvds); here is my code:
{code}import java.util.Scanner; //program uses Scanner
class DVD
private double itemNumber; // class variable that stores the item number
private double unitsInStock; // class variable that stores the number of units in stock
private double pricePerUnit; // class variable that stores price of each unit
private String nameOfDvd; //class variable for the name of DVD
public DVD() // Constructor for the DVD class
itemNumber = 0.0;
unitsInStock = 0.0;
pricePerUnit = 0.0;
nameOfDvd = "";
public void setitemNumber(double number) // Method to set the item number
itemNumber = number;
public double getitemNumber() // Method to get the item number
return itemNumber;
public void setunitsInStock(double units) // Method to set the units in stock
unitsInStock = units;
public double getunitsInStock() // Method to get the units in stock
return unitsInStock;
public void setpricePerUnit(double price) // Method to set the price per unit
 pricePerUnit = price;
public double getpricePerUnit() //Method to get price per unit
 return pricePerUnit;
public void setnameOfDvd(String name) // Method to set the name of DVD
nameOfDvd = name;
public double calculateInventoryValue() // Method to calculate inventory value
return unitsInStock * pricePerUnit;
}//end class DVD
class Inventory2Array
// main methods begins execution of java application
public static void main( String args[])
// create Scanner to obtain input from command window
Scanner input = new Scanner( System.in );
// Instantiate product array
Product [] dvds;
dvds = new Product [5];
// Instantiate objects for the array
dvds[0] = new Product("The Faculty", 1, 10, 10.00);
 dvds[1] = new Product("Shaun of the Dead", 2, 10, 10.00);
dvds[2] = new Product("Spider Man 3", 3, 20, 20.00);
 dvds[3] = new Product("House M.D. Season 3", 4, 10, 45.00);
 dvds[4] = new Product("Clerks Special Edition", 5, 10, 25.00);
// Print out a screen title
System.out.printf("DVD Inventory\n\n");
// call the sort
Arrays.sort(dvds);
 System.out.println(dvds);
public class InventoryProgram1
 //main method begins execution of Java
 public static void main (String args [])
 //create Scanner to obtain input from command window
 Scanner input = new Scanner (System.in);
double itemNumber = 0.0; // variable that stores the item number
double unitsInStock = 0.0; // variable that stores the units in stock
double pricePerUnit = 0.0; // variable that stores the price per unit
double InventoryValue = 0.0; // variable that stores inventory value
String nameOfDvd = ""; // DVD name
//create InventoryProgram1 object and assign to myInventoryProgram1
InventoryProgram1 myInventoryProgram1 = new InventoryProgram1 ();
System.out.print ("Item Number:\n");
System.out.print("DVD Name:\n");
System.out.print("Units In Stock:\n");
System.out.print("Price Per Unit:\n");
InventoryValue = unitsInStock * pricePerUnit; // calculate inventory value
 System.out.println("Inventory Value: $100.00\n"); // display inventory value
{code}

Problem with Inventory Cube

Inventory ZCUBE extracting data from datasource 2LIS_03_BF,
Loading records wrongly:
R/3 side:
Matdoc no       PO No.       Debit/Credit Indicator    Qty        Amt
400000065      350000444       S               55         8888
400000077      350000555       H               66     9999
BW side:
Matdoc no        PO No.       Debit/Credit Indicator    Qty        Amt
400000065      350000444       H               55-        8888- (wrong)
400000077      350000555       H               66-     9999- (right)
Second record is fine.
User Exit:
I wrote an exit , that shows H records Qty and Amt values in BW side as negative values. If it is S that doest execute the code.
Problem:
Positive values for S , are also showing as negative values in BW side? A very small percentage of data is showing like this for a PO type which starts 35000 series.
Why it is showing 1st records S positive values are showing as negative values in BW side?
Pls help me on this
Cheers,
Srilaxmi

Hi Roberto,
Thanks for ur help. pls see the code.
Problem S is debit incator : (positive)
for S type :
Whatever record at r/3 side it should as it is.
(Problem is S type is showing error )
for H type :
Whatever record at r/3 side ,should show Negative values for amt and qty only
This exit is maintained in CMOD->Exit_saplrsap01->Code:
R/3 side
Matdocno   PO No.     Debit/CreditInd. Qty Amt
400000065 350000444     S          55 8888
400000077   350000555    H          66 9999
Matdocno    PO No.     Debit/CreditInd. Qty Amt
Record1 :
Showing ...
400000065   350000444    H          55- 8888-(wrong)
instead of
400000065   350000444    S          55 8888(Right)
Record2 :
400000077   350000555    H          66 9999 (right)
Modified 14/12/2004 JOhn
*2LIS_03_BF to populate ZZDMBTR and ZZMENGED
Modified 17/01/2005 john
Enhance extractor 2LIS_03_BF to correct ZZDMBTR and ZZMENGED values
for duplicate records and for records which have dmbtr as 0 even if
it is not 0 in MSEG table
loop at c_t_data into l_t_2lis_bf.
clear lt_lcl_shkzg.
l_tabix = sy-tabix.
select single pprctr into l_t_2lis_bf-zzpprctr from mseg
where mblnr = l_t_2lis_bf-mblnr
and   mjahr = l_t_2lis_bf-mjahr
and   zeile = l_t_2lis_bf-zeile.
Modify the dmbtr value if it is zero in work area and not in mseg
if ( sy-subrc = c_zero ).
    if ( l_t_2lis_bf-dmbtr = c_zero ) and ( lt_dmbtr ne c_zero ).
       l_t_2lis_bf-dmbtr = lt_dmbtr.
    endif.
    if ( l_t_2lis_bf-menge = c_zero ) and ( lt_menge ne c_zero ).
       l_t_2lis_bf-menge = lt_menge.
    endif.
endif.
*Get the Amount in Local Currency into zzdmbtr
l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr = l_t_2lis_bf-dmbtr.
l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged = l_t_2lis_bf-menge.
*Get the Debit/Credit Value
select single shkzg
      from mseg
where mblnr = l_t_2lis_bf-mblnr
    and   mjahr = l_t_2lis_bf-mjahr
    and   zeile = l_t_2lis_bf-zeile.
   if sy-subrc = c_zero and lt_lcl_shkzg = c_h.
   l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr = c_zero - l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr.
   endif.
if ( sy-subrc = c_zero and lt_lcl_shkzg = c_h )
                                      or ( l_t_2lis_bf-shkzg = c_h ).
       l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr = c_zero - l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr.
       l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged = c_zero - l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged.
   endif.
*Comment start to correct zzdmbtr and zmenge values
    if ( sy-subrc = c_zero and lt_lcl_shkzg = c_h )
         or ( l_t_2lis_bf-shkzg = c_h ).
       l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr = c_zero - l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr.
         l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged = c_zero - l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged.
        if ( lt_lcl_shkzg = c_h ) and ( l_t_2lis_bf-shkzg ne c_h ) .
l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr = c_zero - l_t_2lis_bf-zzdmbtr.
l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged = c_zero .
       endif.
         if ( lt_lcl_shkzg ne c_h ) and ( l_t_2lis_bf-shkzg = c_h ) .
                  l_t_2lis_bf-zzmenged = c_zero .
         endif.
     endif.
*Comment start for selecting SGTXT value from MSEG
   select single sgtxt into l_t_2lis_bf-zzsgtxt from mseg
    where mblnr = l_t_2lis_bf-mblnr
      and mjahr = l_t_2lis_bf-mjahr
      and zeile = l_t_2lis_bf-zeile.
*Comment Ends
modify c_t_data from l_t_2lis_bf index l_tabix.
endloop.
pls help me.
cheers,
Siri.

LMS 3.2 - Problem with inventory of switches using AAA authentication

Hi all,
we want to migrate our network equpiment from local authentication (telnet password, enable password) to AAA authentication (Cisco ACS server - username, password for priv level 15). The network devices are managed with CiscoWorks 3.2 and inventory works fine when device login credentials are telnet password, enable password.
I have configured a switch for testing the authentication to the ACS server, and tested the logon manually. After the successful test I reconfigured the device credentials in CiscoWorks and checked it by a device export with credentials. The credentials in CW were OK, but from this time CiscoWorks could't pull an inventory of the switch any more. Every inventory job failed.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.
Regards
fred

Joe,
excuse me, I've made a mistake. It's the malfunction of the configuration *archiving* which depends on telnet services. I have included the trace file of the failed CW archiving job. I can see that CW receives the banner and the username prompt, but doesn't send back any telnet credentials. I have also checked the correctness of the device credentials by a DCR export.
fred

Problems with Inventory - Removing Computers from Spiceworks

All -
I am a fellow Spicehead in need of some assistance. We have six different sites with several remote collectors collecting data and reporting back to our main Spiceworks Server Install. We also have the Spiceworks installation hooked into our A/D. We are running Spiceworks ver. 7.4.00065.
We are seeing a lot of computers that are showing up in the inventory scans that are on the network but when I look at our A/D the computers in question have been removed from the A/D (our network) for quite some time. Additionally, I KNOW that these computers are no longer on our network and yet Spiceworks continues to show me that they are there (when I KNOW they are not).My questions are the following:1) Does Spiceworks ever remove the computers automatically on its own?2) If so, I thought I read in the forums that if the Spiceworks Installation...
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

All -
I am a fellow Spicehead in need of some assistance. We have six different sites with several remote collectors collecting data and reporting back to our main Spiceworks Server Install. We also have the Spiceworks installation hooked into our A/D. We are running Spiceworks ver. 7.4.00065.
We are seeing a lot of computers that are showing up in the inventory scans that are on the network but when I look at our A/D the computers in question have been removed from the A/D (our network) for quite some time. Additionally, I KNOW that these computers are no longer on our network and yet Spiceworks continues to show me that they are there (when I KNOW they are not).My questions are the following:1) Does Spiceworks ever remove the computers automatically on its own?2) If so, I thought I read in the forums that if the Spiceworks Installation...
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

Are there any problems with un-compressing a drive?

Bottman wrote:
The only issue that I can think of is if the compressed files are then larger than the available space on the drive.
If you're worried about this, you could uncompress a block of files at a time.
The drive is currently 67% free. I don't know what the compression ratio is but it probably wouldn't cause an issue with drive space.

I have a very important 2TB logical disk (NTFS, Basic, not the system disk) attached to a Server 2008 R2 virtual machine. Write performance has been very slow with large files and I realized that "Compress this drive to save disk space" is checked for the whole drive. Are there any issues with disabling this feature? It's easy enough to enable but I don't know what happens when I disable it.
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

Problem with Batch Compressing

I may be doing something wrong but when I'm batch compressing (15 short films in this instance) Compressor wants to call each one the same name as the first one, even though they are uniquely named. Is this some odd quirk of the programme?
For example if one is called 'film' at the top, when I send the rest off to compress, it puts 'film' in the title box of the others.
Can anyone shed any light on this for me>?
Cheers.

Well although it seemed to want to title all of them the same as the first one, they did all have unique names at the end of the job.
So now worries!
K.

Inventory management problem with WS-C2950-24 on CWLMS 4.0

Hi Joe,
I have a problem with inventory management wiht 2950- 24 switches on which I am not able to capture inventory as well as the configurations. The IOS version is 121-22.EA13 and featureset is i6k2l2q4-mz. However, when I troubleshoot it, all the transport protocols (Telnet, ssh, tftp etc) shows success.
Thanks,
Best Regards // Rajiv

Inventory uses snmp to communicate to device. Please check you device has snmp configured and LMS has correct SNMP RO credentials added to it.
Please try to do a manual snmpwalk from LMS server (using device centre > tools) and see the walk succeeds.
Then again try to run the inventory from LMS server on this perticular device and if it fails, share the failure result/screenshot etc details. NMSROOT/log/ic_server.log as well.
-Thanks

Isolating problems with MPEG2 VBR "best"

There have long been discussions here around problems with the quality of MPEG2 compression with Compressor v2.x, usually difficult to quantify or "solved" with "It doesn't work, use something else" such as a different product, Compressor v1 or a Quicktime MPEG2 export component. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I have to believe that someone who owns the code behind the Compressor product really does care to improve the quality of the compression, and is just waiting for a decent test case to figure-out what everyone is complaining about.
That in mind, I would like to propose that the most visible problems I've seen can be isolated to something to do with what is done when switching from "VBR" compression to "VBR best" compression, either in 1-pass or 2-pass mode. I would be curious if others who have had similar quality complaints could also check if they are using "VBR best" compression, such as the various default presets for "DVD: MPEG2 best quality..." which use "2-pass VBR best". In short, it seems as though one can get rid of the most serious artifacting problems by taking a "best quality" preset and changing the quality from "2-pass VBR best" to simply "2-pass VBR" (and similarly for 1-pass).
My own example: I've taken a short clip (less than 30 seconds) from the start of a recent home movie and published it along with some results on my iDisk's Public folder (Finder > Go > iDisk...): member name "dickermn" [sic], with no password. There you will find the folder CompressorTest, containing...
-> 2006winter - a self-contained QT movie with the DV source material.
-> dualG4 - a folder with the results of Compressor's MPEG2 compression with various settings, as run on a dual-1GHz G4 system.
-> coreDuo - a folder with the results of the same settings as above, but with Compressor run from a coreDuo mini.
-> *.png - two pairs of window-capture shots showing the same frames as compressed with "VBR" and "VBR best" settings.
Background: after having various odd and intermittent problems with MPEG2 compression results, I've used the recent upgrades to start with a clean slate: on the G4 system I ran Software Update, then removed all the components of DVD Studio Pro 4, Compressor and Qmaster, along with all preferences, application support files, frameworks, receipts, etc, as recommended in these web pages to remove these programs, then did a full install of my unversal upgrade to Final Cut Studio, and re-ran Software Update. This got me up to the current ProApps updates and Compressor v2.3.
Using only Compressor's default presets, selecting "DVD: Best Quality 150 minutes - 4:3" (2-pass VBR best, 3.7Mbps average rate), gives results with very visible artifacting. Using this same preset but changing the quality to "2-pass VBR" appears to clear up the most visible problems. Similarly, selecting "DVD: Fastest Encode 150 minutes - 4:3" (1-pass VBR) gives good results, but changing the preset's quality to "1-pass VBR best") produces visible artifacting.
For the purposes of testing, I also installed just Compressor on my coreDuo mini - a clean install - then ran Software Update to bring this to Compressor v2.3. Running the same tests as above on the Intel-based machine produced similar artifacting problems when selecting "best quality", but in different places in the media than on the G4. Using the same quality settings as above, but moving the average bitrate down to 3.0Mbps has similar behavior, but the artifacts are just more pronounced, and using a default preset with higher bitrate (5Mbps average, not included here) the artifacts are still quite visible, but less pronounced. From the 3Mbps results on the G4, the still frames captured show good examples of the problems at hand, though the artifacts are much more visible with the video in motion. These are the examples described below.
The clip shows some still titles against a still, horizontal-blurred background. At the end of the titles, the blurred background "un-blurs" and the motion starts: a horizontal pan, a wipe transition, and a downward pan. The subject is all falling snow, trees, our back deck, my son and me. The footage was taken with a consumer-grade Sony handheld camcorder.
The problems first noticable in the video appear as a blockiness to the images, particularly notable against the floor of snow where the image shifts visibly to different intensities of gray/white as the camera moves. More severe are blocks which don't move correctly with the camera, at first visible as a jerkiness to the opening background as it un-blurs, but more pronounced in the trees and decking during the downward pan at the end.
At about 14s is a good still of the blocking artifacts, seen here in the 1-pass VBR still frame. Note the large blocks in the snow in the "best" encoding, which are small enough to be lost in the noise for the "not-best" encoding. These shimmer between the different shades of gray as the camera moves.
At the last half of the clip, as the camera pans down, parts of the trees appear to jump independently of their branches. This is very clearly visible around the straight-lines of the railing in the lower part of the frame as the clip ends. The still is from about 23s into the clip, and you can see a block of the railing in the lower right which has clearly jumped-above the rest of the railing. Interestingly enough, this is the correct placement for those pixels in the next frame (as the camera continues to pan downward). In each of these "jumpy" cases, it would appear as though blocks of pixels show-up one frame early, and their surrounding blocks catch-up in the next frame (while these hold still). Again, when using the same settings without "best" quality, the jumping does not occur.
Note that with each pair of still (png) images you can group-select the pair and double-click to open them both in Preview, which allows you to toggle back-and-forth easily between the "best" and "not-best" versions. Comparing the two, you can easily spot several blocks in the frame which shift relative to their surroundings.
While I am aware that MPEG2 at low bitrates is a complicated thing (though I will leave open for debate how low 3-4Mbps is in today's world), and consumer-grade video has lots of noise which the encoder has to dance-around, I do believe it is fair to assume that the "best" settings should give visibly better results than their faster "non-best" counterparts, all else being equal - at the very least, the results should not be visibly worse. It is worth noting that the "best" VBR settings do appear (subjectively) to give better contrast or color-depth, so clearly something right is going-on - I just have to believe that there is something going awry in the whole process which creates artifacts negating the other benefits, but which, with any luck, could easily be fixed.
Please post with your comments, experiences or similar issues... or exactly what is the proper way to get this information to someone who could fix it?
dual 1GHz G4 + coreDuo mini Mac OS X (10.4.8) Compressor v2.3 / Final Cut Studio (univseral)

Well, I've found one more piece to this puzzle: hardware graphics accelerators.
In short, I tried this same test running Compressor on my G4 PowerBook (with Radion Mobility 9700) and got better results. The terrible blockiness and pixelation problems seem - dare I say it - gone from the MPEG2 video. In this regard, the video compressed as both the default "2-pass VBR best" and the same preset adjusted to use "1-pass VBR best" both looked cleaner than any of the VBR "not best" encodings produced on this machine, or either of the others.
Unfortunately, we're not completely out of the woods: the problems evidenced later in the clip - blocks which appear displaced in space/time for one frame - are still there, though they have moved to different locations in the frame.
This gets me to thinking: my PowerBook is just barely past current muster in terms of hardware-accelerated graphics (enough to run Motion, for example), whereas my other two machines are not (NVidia GForce4Ti & mini's Intel graphics). So this starts to get to the root of "If these presets don't work, why does Apple label them best - or distribute them at all?" I'm going to hazard a guess that there are various pieces to the codecs which can take either a software-only path or a hardware-accelerated path, and the bugs seen here exist only in the software (non-accelerated) path. Anyone testing on the latest top-notch hardware with a fancy-shmancy graphics card wouldn't go down that path and see any problems. And the problems are subtle enough that they'd even slip by the occasional testing of the slower path.
So now I'm out to find a more-current-than-my-PB graphics card to run the test, to see if I can get rid of the other problem. Updating to Compressor v2.3 got rid of most of the problems, and if buying new hardware is all it takes to fix MPEG2 compression, I might just spring for it - and hey, I'd get to run Motion, too.
So anyone out there with a whiz-bang graphics card care to run these tests and compare/contrast with what I've got here? I might know someone with a new MacBookPro, which I hear has a pretty current graphics chip in it...

Problem with Inventory compression - 0RT_C01

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