Mencoder instead for built in processing!

[pBS]

it does do you have ffmpeg set as converter for the mvp?
[not sure but it should work also with the built-in mvp software converter too]
you should be able to play an .avs file directly on mvp...
[it does do conversion as it plays tho]
there's a trans2mvp.bat file you could use for a different transcoder to mvp..
[just put in the command line you want to use there...ffmpeg is good choice there..or mencoder..] but optimize it as you'll need this profile to run at better than realtime so it won't bog you down while playing..

[fvfv]

Thanks. That sounds like a better option than using postprocessing.bat to reencode.

I'll try it tonight when I get home.

BTW, I could only find trans2mvp.exe, not trans2mvp.bat . Is that on the plugins or utilities ?

[pBS]

it's like the other batch files,if it finds one it runs it,if not,it doesn't...so you have to create that one yourself..oops...i think in the new version you can just go into config and set it to use ffmpeg for mvp processing...

[devilman1974]

This is an interesting option which i've been trying out. Looking for options because the xvid and divx options in the "Auto convert" options in GBPVR result in pixely vids.

This Mencode option provides great quality, but the file sizes are not that much smaller than the original file.

Ie. American Idol's original file is 1.03 GB, it's converted .new file is 800 MB.

I record lots of shows and would like to find an alternative to give me good quality conversions shrunken to the max.

PBS, can you point me to a resource for the command line options used in your mencode.bat ? Must be some setting to get a smaller file size, perhaps mp3 audio encoding or something. Pardon my noobness.

Thanks all.

So glad to see the new transcoding button in the menus, and got me to thinking, maybe i could pull a fast one and substitute mencoder for ffmpeg for the transcoding options...ffmpeg is ok but a bit raw,not as many options as mencoder,no reading dvd's etc...
So i made a little app that takes the ffmpeg options and passes them to a mencode.bat file seamlessly...

i'm still working on how i'd like to do it..several ways are possible..
looking for suggestions, and may be able to do all the ways i mention with one setup..

i can have the fake ffmpeg export filenames to a que file and schedule a batch file to run on it like on the wiki 'convert 2 xvid'
[which i have already made an upgraded batch file that actually works with long/spaced filenames] also looking to put in an 'aging' function so it will only transcode if file is over xx days old...

or have the ability to select 'transcode' from the menu and have it work immediately..
and i think with 2 profiles i can accomplish both with a single batch file and fake ffmpeg.exe..
additional profiles can be used to alter mencoder commands as well..
[the profiles will still function as profiles, but for mencoder commands]

any thoughts,suggestions, features wanted? i'll see what's possible with a limited batch file but theoretically it all should be because of the parameters available in the config..[like ability to name the outfile with title_episode,etc]
i'm leaning towards a replacement function with the overnight processing and renaming the original,with a log of processed files so you know where to delete ones you know came out ok..
and as for the on-demand menu,just that...it works now just like ffmpeg [except for the progress and stopping it but it does close box when it's done] EDIT: Progress DOES work! cool..lol still can't stop it tho..['cept with taskmgr]
and am working on integrating the overnight processing into the same batch file...
the auto-it script allows me hide the command window entirely,but not sure if that would always be a good thing...thoughts?
right now i'm minimizing it and nothing shows on tv but it does wait and close gbpvr dialog when done...it merrily continues on it's way if you exit or try to stop..[you could always have a kill mencoder custom command on menu]

So, if you'd like to try out the single functionality and use mencoder from the menus,here's the first version of my "plugin"

To setup:
rename your ffmpeg.exe in gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg\
copy the fake ffmpeg.exe from zip to there..
gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg\ffmpeg.exe
then copy mencode.bat to gbpvr dir..
[you can edit settings for the encode in there]
then edit your config.xml...[backup!] and edit a profile to read:
<Conversion name="Mencode" cmd=" {SOURCE_FILE} {DEST_FILE} " targetExtension=".new.mpg" />
****
of course have a copy of mencoder.exe in your gbpvr dir and you're all set...
go into library or wherever you see the transcode button and highlight a file and hit transcode...select the mencoder profile and start...
edit vbscale= for quality/sizee output,or add your own opts..!
shoot,can even use a different encoder!!
happy 'n'coding!

[pBS]

i got my info from the manual page that comes with mencoder..[html]
also look for mplayer web page on the net..[the other half of mencoder]
actually i've gotten better results with ffmpeg..but the default options aren't very good..
if you look in my batch files in the first post there are good examples for several encoders..actually i've found that the quality of your tv greatly determines the compressability...if you have a hi-res tv set, then you probably won't be able to compress too much before you don't like the quality...
however on most regular sd sets,[say 27"] you can go all the way down to around 1000kbps for full resolution and have great quality..
another thing to try is halving the h. resolution..you'd be surprised at the quality...and quite a file size reduction..[352x480]
i took my encodes that looked great on my set and on my sis's big screen HD it looked pretty compressed...looked perfect on my set tho..!

i use the constant quality method to ensure a good quality and the files sizes are what they are.. noise in signal is almost impossible to compress any...
can't stress that enough...ANY noise makes the compressor choke badly..
[snow=tons of detail,wastes bitrate]
i use the -qscale option at around 4-8 [4=almost same quality,8=mucho compression]
youll have to play with that number [start at 4 and go up] til you get the highest compression that you can stand the quality with...
also i am just finishing a dvd burning plugin that makes menus and all...it will be an option for my transcoder plugin... [burn dvd's from your shows by selecting within video library] all from remote
with the same options on ffmpeg and mencoder,[they share the same roots and codecs] i got better quality from ffmpeg..
try both,it's different for every setup...

[devilman1974]

if you look in my batch files in the first post there are good examples for several encoders..

Hi pBS, thanks for the response,
Im looking in your original post and only see 1 batch file ( mencode.bat ) should there be more?

Anyhow, let's say i wanted to try the ffmpeg option, would I simply edit mencode.bat

from

Mencoder.exe %1 -priority low -cache 4096 -edl "%~dpn1.edl" -hr-edl-seek -idx -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -lavcopts ildct:vcodec=mpeg2video:vb_strategy=1:vqmin=3:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=6800:vqscale=4:keyint=16:vmax_b_frames=2:acodec=mp2:abitrate=128:autoaspect -o %2
exit

to

ffmpg.exe " whatever command line options here " ?

[pBS]

oops..sorry i missed this post..
yea,that's all there is to it...but i'm coming out with a way cool alternative with 3 different encoder examples built-in ...it also let's you burn dvd's from the transcode menu too! [with menus no less!!]
all without a real 'plugin'
so be patient...i just finished the menu creation part and now have to make a check to see if you're tryin to add more than a dvd's worth of files..
next couple days...
was thinking of calling it "ShowBurner"
should be the fastest,most stable burner out there..[i'm using lots of piping commmand into eachother,so not a lot of temp files or wasted time]
and batch files tested heavily...ffmpeg does most of the work..
about 15-20 mins to burn a dvd with nero..start to finish..
perty too..lol

[pBS]

finally got the whole install uploaded to the wiki so both the mencoder add-on and showburner dvd burner are integrated into one and there's now an installer..
[still kinda beta so any feedback appreciated]
i've been using it for several months now so works pretty reliably..
btw,mencoder is totally optional, i use ffmpeg for almost all my processing and it does most of the work making the dvd's too
[sure hope vlc gets the indexing/timestamps working sometime this century! ]
it's curious, since they use ffmpeg for codecs, why theirs doesn't work quite right..[ff/rw,time totals are wrong]

[frumbert]

I tried this out and get this message:

Code:

MEncoder 1.0pre7-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon MP/XP Thoroughbred (Family: 6, Stepping: 1)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal!
To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.
File not found: 'frameno.avi'
Failed to open frameno.avi
Option vf: fspp doesn't exist.

Exiting... (error parsing cmdline)

Also. it pops up as a dos box in front of BGPVR. Any way to make it run minimised or something - it's annoying when a show stops recording and processing takes over to have the box come up in front of whatever you were doing.