Automated Cutting and Transcoding Guide Using Mencoder

[gEd]

Also, am I right to infer from Erik's earlier post back in dec that autocrop (from comskip file data) isn't really going to do what we and that we will need to use crop on all sides instead?

looking forward to the next release (i;ve got 23 shows that need cropping and encoding)

cheers

[g2k]

This link may help you:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555194

Method B and C seem the best bet.

Tell me if it works out.

I'll try method C first and see how it works out (if not, i'll give method B a shot also). i'll update you on the results.
Thanks

[-stattik-]

Here's 0.5.5b. Please test it and post any issue of question you have.

Here's what's new:

0.5.5b
* Tweaked autocrop settings for PAL material.
* PSP Profile now uses x264 AVC for video.
* When ripping anamorphic DVD's and choosing full resolution, you will get 848x480 for NTSC and 1024x576 for PAL.
* Added custom_crop option. (Thanks vmq) If you want all shows of a certain size (IE 720x480) to get cropped, set the custom variables to your liking. If you also set full_resolution=yes, make sure your final height and width are divisible by 16. The encoder likes that
* added custom_letterbox option to override script generated letterbox settings.
* croptop has been depreciated in favor of the custom_crop_top variable.
* MKV container support added. (Preliminary)

Other Changes since the last Wiki release

0.5.5
* Added support for multi-core CPU's. (mencoder needs to be compiled with xvid 1.2)
* Added the ability to set what time range transcoding will occur during the day
* Added the ability to set how old the source files need to be before being transcoded
* Added the ability to set the threshold of free space before transcoding begins
* Added the ability to move the source files to a temp directory after transcoding
* Added the ability to set the threshold of free space before deleting files in the MOVE directory.(First in, first out)
* Added support for MP4 and MKV containers (mencoder builds after Oct 7th support this)
* Added the ability to automatically determine if cropping is needed. (Need to edit you comskip.ini file. verbose=10)
* x264 encoding speed increased by about 60%. (Changed some encoding settings that didn't have a good speed/quality ratio.
* Added the ability to manually update the GBPVR database with the new extension if you're running in client/server mode. (works for files with ?'s in the name as well.)
* Added logic that allows the script to verify if a source file is being transcoded by another script/computer.
* Added option to re-index source file if needed before running comskip.
* The script should automatically disable IVTC if the source is PAL.
* The script will encode subtitles of DVDrips if set.

NOTE: There is one oddity when running the script with time_check/file_move enabled. Sometimes the script beeps and shows a message similar to this:

Code:

The system cannot find the file T.
The system cannot find the file ?.

This does NOT affect the transcoding or the files and can be ignored. I'm not sure what's causing it. Perhaps a script guru can shed some light on it.

[gEd]

cheers Stattik

Am am having the same problem with this release as I was with the previous version. I seem to have broken mencoder somehow - it just barfs. Any advice on how I can debug it or which version I should try (ideally CPU optimised as I have an old AMD XP CPU)
MEncoder dev-SVN-r25279-4.2.2 © 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: AMD Athlon™ XP (Family: 6, Model: 10, Stepping: 0)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 0
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 3DNow 3DNowEx SSE

success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x43926000
MPEG-PS file format detected.
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 2) 25.000 fps 15000.0 kbps (1875.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x576 fps:25.00 ftime:=0.0400
Input fps will be interpreted as 25.00 instead.
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
xvid: using library version 1.2.-127 (build xvid-1.2.0-dev)
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [hqdn3d=3:2:3:3]
Opening video filter: [scale w=512 h=384]
Opening video filter: [pp=ci]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES)
[PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Try appending the scale filter to your filter list,
e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
VDecoder init failed
Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b
Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm: libmpeg2 (MPEG-1 or 2 (libmpeg2))
==========================================================================

[-stattik-]

Hi gEd,

As far as mencoder builds go, this one uses runtime detection so it should work with almost an CPU:

http://tirnanog.fate.jp/mirror/mplayer/m...7.12.03.7z

I tested it out on my Athlon 1800xp and it worked fine. It will probably need pthreadGC2.dll which can be found in this thread a page or two back or you can google it.

To debug mencoder you can add the following to the command line:

Code:

-msglevel all=0:identify=6

or

Code:

-msglevel all=0:identify=9

if you really want to get info.

If you want to debug the script you can change the "echo off" to "echo on" and run the script. Just make sure you have lots and lots of screen buffer for it. Otherwise I have a small batch file you can drop the script on and it will save all the output to a file. It only works in directory scanning mode.

[-stattik-]

What is the best profile for generating PDA (240x320) content? Or can I create a new profile for this?

Other question: I'm using the 'crop on all sides' hack posted earlier in this topic. Will this be incorporated in the 'final' release?

You could try the psp profile. It depends on what your PDA supports. Post the specs if you can.

The recently posted version of the script contains the custom cropping addition.

[-stattik-]

Also, am I right to infer from Erik's earlier post back in dec that autocrop (from comskip file data) isn't really going to do what we and that we will need to use crop on all sides instead?

looking forward to the next release (i;ve got 23 shows that need cropping and encoding)

cheers

The info the script gets from comskip only determines whether or not the show is letterboxed. If the show is letterboxed, you now have two choices. The script can automatically determine the area to be cropped or you can set the custom_letterbox_crop to manually choose the top and bottom crops.

My pvr150 captures with black bars on three sides so the default custom_crop settings in the new script address that. Just remember to make sure that the final resolution is divisible by 16.

[gEd]

thanks for the replies Stattik.

I tried adding the mencoder debug settings to general_settings but that version of mencoder just wont work for me.

I have reverted back to this version and it is now running ok...

MEncoder 1.0rc1-3.4.2 © 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
CPU: AMD Athlon™ (Family: 6, Model: 10, Stepping: 0)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x43926000
MPEG-PS file format detected.
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 2) 25.000 fps 15000.0 kbps (1875.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x576 fps:25.00 ftime:=0.0400
Input fps will be interpreted as 25.00 instead.
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
xvid: using library version 1.1.0 (build xvid-1.1.0)
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [hqdn3d=3:2:3:3]
Opening video filter: [scale w=512 h=384]
Opening video filter: [pp=ci]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES)
[PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Try adding the scale filter, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
VDecoder init failed
Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b
Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm: libmpeg2 (MPEG-1 or 2 (libmpeg2))

[-stattik-]

thanks for the replies Stattik.

I tried adding the mencoder debug settings to general_settings but that version of mencoder just wont work for me.

I have reverted back to this version and it is now running ok...

So the version I linked to above failed as well? Does RC2 fail too? I've noticed that it's faster than RC2 for me. (Although I still prefer the optimized builds.)

Here's another place to get builds. The version of xvid it's compiled with doesn't support multiple CPU's though.


http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php

[gEd]

http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php

the athlon build from this link works fine - thanks!