Automated Cutting and Transcoding Guide Using Mencoder

[cakes]

But when I play the resulting .avi via MVP, the video & audio are out of sync. It looks like the video is progressing way too fast. Also via the Hauppauge MVP soft the .avi doesn't play correctly.

I've been playing around with the script and only after removing a lot of options on the mencoder line, I finally came to an .avi which plays well on the MVP (both with GBPVR and the MVP soft). In GBPVR I need to use ffdshow though, else there is still a slight sync problem.

This may be interesting for other MVP users, so this is the line I which is now in the :tandard section

Code:

start /low /wait /min %mencoder_path% %name% -edl "%~dpn1.edl" -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=900 -oac mp3lame -lameopts mode=2:cbr:br=128    -vf scale=640:480  -ofps 25 %test% -o "%~dpn1.avi"

[tieke]

I've been playing around with transcoding a bit, as my wife has just bought herself a video iPod and wanted to watch some programs while waiting for buses etc. While sub's built-in transcoding options are good, this seems to offer a bit more flexibility when used in conjunction with dirmon etc.

My problem is that what I want to do is to simply create an ipod-compatible, ads-removed version of the originally recorded mpg file (has already had comskip run on it). While your script will let that happen, I can't figure out how to avoid the initial transcode it does before it starts on the Portable transcode. I am probably missing something obvious, and rather than have a bash at writing my own script it's probably simplest if I figure out this one first

cheers,

tieke

[-stattik-]

My problem is that what I want to do is to simply create an ipod-compatible, ads-removed version of the originally recorded mpg file (has already had comskip run on it). While your script will let that happen, I can't figure out how to avoid the initial transcode it does before it starts on the Portable transcode. I am probably missing something obvious, and rather than have a bash at writing my own script it's probably simplest if I figure out this one first

cheers,

tieke

When you choose the IPod profile and you want to remove commercials, the script will first run the mpeg though mencoder to cut out the commercials, then it will run the sliced mpeg through ffmeg which will create the IPod video. So you can't skip the initial transcode unless you've already cut out the commercials.

[theredbaron]

Hey all... I'm in the process of doing a test run. I was wondering if anyone has added this script to post-processing. I think it would be handy, but I often record two shows back to back (w/ one PVR150)... and since the script take about 45 min. for me and runs the CPU at ~95-100% I was wondering if it would cause problems with the subsequent recording (or if the second show starts transcoding before the first one is finished). Is DirMon the better way to go with this?

[-stattik-]

I've run it both ways and haven't had any problems with CPU utilization or stuttering. The script runs in low priority mode so it shouldn't interfere.

[theredbaron]

I like the script, I've gotten an output every time. However, it seems a bit blotchy. It compresses the 600MB epi to about 87MB, which is great, but I'd be willing to give it more space if the quality can be improved. I know the "garbage in, garbage out" mantra, but the medium setting provides very decent quality (for me). I tried using AutoGK... it runs well, and produces the quality I'm looking for, but there's a synch issue that I just can never get over! Your script doesn't have that issue for me stattik, but are there any settings/filters I can tweak to improve the quality and blotchiness. I'm a total noob at this, but if there are some basic steps I can follow, I'd like to give it a try. Thanks!

[-stattik-]

You could try tweaking the bitrate. Search for "bitrate=900" in the standard profile. Set it to 1024 or a larger number. Open up the autogk encoded file with gspot and check out the bitrate and FPS for reference. The next version of the scipt will allow you to set the bitrate globally but it's still in testing.

This is the part of the current script you sould be looking for:

Code:

:standard
Rem #### This is for all material that doesn't fall into the above catagories ####
   start /low /wait %mencoder_path% %name% -edl "%~dpn1.edl" -ovc xvid -xvidencopts [B]bitrate=900[/B]:me_quality=6:chroma_me:noqpel:chroma_opt:vhq=4:bvhq=1:trellis:hq_ac:gmc:quant_type=mpeg:max_key_interval=240%turbo% -oac mp3lame -lameopts mode=2:cbr:br=128    -vf filmdint,softskip,scale=512:384,hqdn3d=3:2:3:3  -ofps 24000/1001 %test% -o "%~dpn1.avi"
goto post:

Change bitrate=900 to bitrate=1024 and see of that's better for you.

[-stattik-]

Version 0.2 posted in the Wiki:

http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...anscodeCut

Here's what's new:

0.2

* New logic is used to determine best settings for a file using Mplayer. (You’ll have to add it’s path to the config file. The script will automatically choose the best settings for HDTV or SDTV recordings.)(Thx Unix)
* Directory cleanup. The recordings directory tends to get filled with EDL files after the show is deleted from within GBPVR. Enabling this and setting the location of your recordings directory will delete orphaned edl files.
* noopendml fix. Certain users were experiencing problems with encoding avi’s that were larger than 1 gig. This may fix that problem.
* User-defined profile settings. Alternate audio/video bitrate, resolution, FPS, etc can be set.
* There is a new method to determine the best filesize for a 2-pass encode. This one uses the show length to determine the best size. (Mplayer path must be set.)
* Metadata Transfer. If metadata exists for the original file, it is transferred to the new file.

It's important that you set up the path to Mplayer as it's critical to the new logic used in the script. All feedback is welcome.



Also, if anyone has any SDTV DVR-MS files they'd like transcoded, PM me. I'd like to add it to the script but I don't have any files to test.

[hylandgj]

Hmm.. Reading about the latest script (0.2), does not seem to match the actual script posted on the Wiki for 0.2 - ie no mention of mplayer or dml in the script. Coudl I suggest that you put a version number in the top of the script comments to help figure out what version people have got. Would help in sorting out problems too I think.
I have issues trying to mencode movies and stripping out the adds. The resulting AVI seems to end at an add break 2/3 to 3/4 of way through the film. Funny - ends exactly ont he add break though. Am about to try encode without edl cutting to see if any better. Bot sure whether related but I get lots of "Cannot seek back in linear streams during the encode". Maybe your opendml change will fix?

[wtg]

I too have seen the encode stop with a file only partially encoded when cutting with the edl option. I haven't yet figured out what it is making it happen, and so far it's only happened on one file (2nd season finale of Lost).

If you find an answer, be sure to post back.