Avi support

[freakimus]

I've just bought an MVP and it's working great for me apart from one problem, almost all of the video I have is avi rather than mpg. I can re-encode it into the right format but that takes forever on my machine.

Is there some way I can get it to play avis?

[sub]

No, you cant play AVIs with GB-PVR on the MVP.

[freakimus]

Bugger. So theres no patches or other software that support avi then?

[sub]

Nope, its a feature that would consume to much time to implement. Time which I dont have.

[darrin75]

you can always use the new version of the mvp software, this plays avi files..

[jorm]

Another option, if you want to do some leg work for me.

There is a program called ffmpeg that can convert between formats from a command line. I have been meaning to try it to see if it can convert a avi/divx file in real time (faster then the running time on the video). If so we can implement transcoding just like the hauppauge software.

It is on my todo list along with 20 other items. So I would love to get some help.

If it works it looks like it would allow us to transcode almost everything. If anyone has already tried this please post it here.

The ultimate goal would be to allow nightly conversions of video to divx (maybe if the video is over a week old), that would probably result in a 400% increase in video capacity.

http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php

Supported file formats
http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC16

[sash]

for realtime file conversion ( even if a bit non standard- in the windows platform) I always liked using vlc. then I would either broadcast it out upd or write to the drive as tsmpeg/psmpeg then to have my netstream display it.. it seems to do very good and fast conversion on the fly.. but then again it based on ffmpeg and other linux code. one could always go alot more basic and write a a "avi wrapper " that would do this.. but really if you did not have hardware decoder of some form in your computer would really run out of gas to convert and decode again.. but then again, this method would only be used buy people with limited hardware decoders anyways...

[jorm]

does it support a command line interface?

I have played a little with ffmpeg. I can convert a divx video to mpeg in less than the run time. I am having a problem though.

The video will not play in less I force the audio to 32kbs, however when I specify that to ffmpeg the audio disappears.

[sash]

jorm By the way vlc does support command line ( even has a command line builder so you do not even have to think about to much how to get it to work the way you want it to)

[Guest]

I use Canopus Procoder V.2 for my converting.

It contains a WATCH FOLDER setting:

From the Help file:

Quote[/b] ]Creating Watch Folders
A watch folder is used to automatically convert files placed into it. ProCoder "watches" the folder for new files and when a new file arrives, it is converted automatically according to the settings assigned without needing user input.

In ProCoder, there are two types of watch folders:

Permanent Watch Folders are set up by ProCoder's Watch Folder Manager tool. Files placed into permanent watch folders are converted using the associated target profile and are active regardless of whether the ProCoder application is open and remain watched until removed using the Watch Folder Manager tool.
Temporary Watch Folders are set up using the ProCoder Wizard. Files placed into a temporary watch folder are only converted while the ProCoder Wizard is open. Once the ProCoder Wizard is closed, the folder stops being watched and returns to being a normal folder.

Granted the program is relatively expensive, but it is also one of the best software converters out there.