Automated Cutting and Transcoding Guide Using Mencoder

[-stattik-]

i was having that problem so i'm still using the 0.2 bat script one 1pass.

The output from the scripts shouldn't be very different. Mencoder1.0pre8 fixed the junk data for me.

[curt1s]

Hey stattik,

I got the latest 0.4b and have a few questions:

The directory that contains the files I need transcoded is:
d:\research\hidden camera shows

Inside of that I have one subdirectory called:
d:\research\hidden camera shows\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU

Inside this directory I have 3 files that I wanted transcoded:
the gags on you [DVD] - 01.mpg
the gags on you [DVD] - 02.mpg
the gags on you [DVD] - 03.mpg

I made my settings like this:
set recordings_path=D:\research\hidden~1\

:: AUTO-TRANSCODE SETTINGS
SET directory_monitoring=yes
SET transcode_directories="THE_GAGS_ON_YOU"
SET secondary_transcode_directory=D:\research\hidden~1\
SET target_extension=edl
SET transcode_extension=mpg
SET secondary_transcode_extension=null
SET script_wait=30


When I ran the batch file, it did not find anything to transcode?? I am guessing my settings are wrong somehow:

stattik's Mencoder Automation Script
Version 0.4b
.
Variables Loaded. Script is starting.
.
Automated Directory Scanning has been enabled.
.
There are no files to transcode at this time....checking again in 30 minutes.


Can you point me in the right direction here???

Thanks!!

[curt1s]

Hey sttatik,

I changed:

SET target_extension=edl

to

SET target_extension=mpg

and something different happened. Here is the latest output:

stattik's Mencoder Automation Script
Version 0.4b
.
Variables Loaded. Script is starting.
.
Automated Directory Scanning has been enabled.
.
.
The following files will be transcoded...
.
"D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 01.mpg"
"D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 02.mpg"
"D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 03.mpg"
"D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 01.mpg"
"D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 02.mpg"
"D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 03.mpg"
.
.
stattik's Mencoder Automation Script
Version 0.4b
.
Variables Loaded. Script is starting.
.
Now Processing "D:\research\hidden~1\THE_GAGS_ON_YOU\the gags on you [DVD] - 01.
mpg"
.
Copying EDL file to create PTL file.
.
Getting source file info... Ignore any errors for the next 4-6 lines
.
.
The system cannot find the path specified.
Divide by zero error.
Missing operand.
Missing operand.
Missing operand.
Missing operand.
.
.
Checking to see if source file matches any transcode profiles.
.
Applying automatic encoding logic to source file.



and then the window closes... but nothing seems to happen as far as transcoding..

help!

[-stattik-]

I'll do some testing. In the meantime if you're in a hurry, you can SET target_extension=edl and create some blank edl files for the shows you want to transcode. Then the script should work fine.

The reason that the script lists the shows twice is because of this part of the config:

SET transcode_directories="THE_GAGS_ON_YOU"
SET secondary_transcode_directory=D:\research\hidden~1 \

SET transcode_directories will add any files found in the listed directories.

SET secondary_transcode_directory will add any file found in any subdirectories.

Since you configured both, it found the files in each sweep and added them to the list.

I'll be back with more info.

[curt1s]

Hey,

I copied your script to another machine and changed the directories and used the same settings and its working over there!!!

no idea what went wrong on this machine though.. No big deal now because the files I needed to transcode were on the other machine anyway

Thanks!

[-stattik-]

Hey,

I copied your script to another machine and changed the directories and used the same settings and its working over there!!!

no idea what went wrong on this machine though.. No big deal now because the files I needed to transcode were on the other machine anyway

Thanks!

Interesting. I wonder what the difference was.

The following output...

Code:

Missing operand.
Missing operand.
Missing operand.
Missing operand.

...typically means that mplayer was unable to get file info. That could be due to a buggy file or a buggy version of mplayer.

[psicotron3]

I noticed that the scripts was overwriting the ".avi" files I tried to transcode, and found out that I just had to change this line:

:: Change filename if source and destination extensions are the same.
IF /I "%~x1" == ".%dest_ext%" (


the original was:

:: Change filename if source and destination extensions are the same.
IF /I "%~x1" == %dest_ext% (

Now everything works fine.

By the way, why does it call another window to run memcoder.exe? If I remove every "start /wait /low", I´ll get into trouble?

And another one. For DVP-642, I think the best option for audio is "cbr" instead of "abr". Actually never had any problems with "abr", but it was on every DVP-642 docs I´ve read across the net. Anyway "cbr" is easier to cut and join with VirtualDub.
[EOM]

[-stattik-]

I noticed that the scripts was overwriting the ".avi" files I tried to transcode, and found out that I just had to change this line:

:: Change filename if source and destination extensions are the same.
IF /I "%~x1" == ".%dest_ext%" (


the original was:

:: Change filename if source and destination extensions are the same.
IF /I "%~x1" == %dest_ext% (

Now everything works fine.

Thanks for the info. That's fixed in the next version.

By the way, why does it call another window to run memcoder.exe? If I remove every "start /wait /low", I´ll get into trouble?

It was a matter of preference for me. I choose it because I was able to spawn it off minimalized and at low priority. Plus in auto mode, it acts as sort of log file that shows what files have been transcoded and at what settings. I've never tried running it from inside the script. Tell me how it works out if you attempt it.

And another one. For DVP-642, I think the best option for audio is "cbr" instead of "abr". Actually never had any problems with "abr", but it was on every DVP-642 docs I´ve read across the net. Anyway "cbr" is easier to cut and join with VirtualDub.
[EOM]

The DVP-642 profile has always been off-and-on for me. Sometimes transcodes would be fine. Other times, I would have problems with AV synch. I never really got too much feedback so I left it as is. So you transcode with the script and then cut/join with virtualdub? What is the source material that you use with the profile?

[psicotron3]

By the way, why does it call another window to run memcoder.exe? If I remove every "start /wait /low", I´ll get into trouble?

It was a matter of preference for me. I choose it because I was able to spawn it off minimalized and at low priority. Plus in auto mode, it acts as sort of log file that shows what files have been transcoded and at what settings. I've never tried running it from inside the script. Tell me how it works out if you attempt it.

I tried and it worked, but it seems that mencoder doesn´t aceppt the documented "-priority" option, it will always run with normal priority.

To bypass that issue, I´m using PRIO software (free for personal use, can be found at http://www.prnwatch.com/prio.html). This programs atachs itself to the default Windows Task Manager and saves every priority I set. So if I set mencoder to run at "idle" once, it´ll always open with that priority.

Now, I can run the script from Windows Scheduler, and configure the job to end 4 hours after it have started. The batch will stop (killing mencoder process too, if it´s still running) at the desired time.

And another one. For DVP-642, I think the best option for audio is "cbr" instead of "abr". Actually never had any problems with "abr", but it was on every DVP-642 docs I´ve read across the net. Anyway "cbr" is easier to cut and join with VirtualDub.

The DVP-642 profile has always been off-and-on for me. Sometimes transcodes would be fine. Other times, I would have problems with AV synch. I never really got too much feedback so I left it as is. So you transcode with the script and then cut/join with virtualdub? What is the source material that you use with the profile?

I only do my transcodes with the DVP-642 profile, it never failed, and I never had sync problems. My source material are various Brazilian TV movies and animes, captured trought my analog Pixelview PlayTV Pro Ultra, using GBPVR WDM Software Card Plugin. The converted files play fine on my philips DVP-5100 (the substitute for DVP-642).

Virtualdub don´t deal with vbr audio very well, so every time I need to cut something I have to extract the audio to wav and make virtualdub recompress it with to constant bitrate. This is another tranconding pass that I can eliminate just by setting mencoder to generate files with cbr audio instead of abr or vbr.

Altought I can´t try it, I think there would be no problems playing the videos with cbr audio on dvp-642 too. If it can do VBR and ABR, I´m sure it could handle CBR. And it also may solve your problem with audio sync.
[EOM]

[-stattik-]

Virtualdub don´t deal with vbr audio very well, so every time I need to cut something I have to extract the audio to wav and make virtualdub recompress it with to constant bitrate. This is another tranconding pass that I can eliminate just by setting mencoder to generate files with cbr audio instead of abr or vbr.

Altought I can´t try it, I think there would be no problems playing the videos with cbr audio on dvp-642 too. If it can do VBR and ABR, I´m sure it could handle CBR. And it also may solve your problem with audio sync.
[EOM]

I'll add cbr audio encoding back to the DVP-642 profile for the next version. Thanks for all the info.