Automated Cutting and Transcoding Guide Using Mencoder

[-stattik-]

Hi, I've been browsing around this forum for a while trying to find my answer but I haven't been able to so far. I'm trying to convert my recordings from gbpvr that's in mpeg-2 format into an avi form so I can do my final good compression with virtualdub.
I've also tried your utility by itself from here:
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...anscodeCut
using stattik transcode version 0.5.1f but this also has given me poor outputs.

Any suggestions? please let me know if you need more info to help.

Thanks, xJedix

If you goal is to transcode with virtualdub then why not try virtualdubmod which allows for mpg input? Then you can skip the middle step.

[xJedix]

I was trying virtualdubmod also, but there isn't a way of compressing the audio. Secondly, the audio when converted with virtualdubmod had a very high pitch background noise which I'm not sure why that is happening.
Maybe I missed it, but is there a way of compressing audio with virtualdubmod?

Ideally, I would use your tool to remove commercials, do a xvid 2-pass compression, with the total filesize around 350mb, and I would only use your program. But the output has been poor quality.

Thanks, xJedix

[-stattik-]

I was trying virtualdubmod also, but there isn't a way of compressing the audio. Secondly, the audio when converted with virtualdubmod had a very high pitch background noise which I'm not sure why that is happening.
Maybe I missed it, but is there a way of compressing audio with virtualdubmod?

Ideally, I would use your tool to remove commercials, do a xvid 2-pass compression, with the total filesize around 350mb, and I would only use your program. But the output has been poor quality.

Thanks, xJedix

What is your source material? HiDef? Standard Def? Depending on the source, you could go full resolution or use x264(crf) for your encode. Xvid(Fixed Quant) is another good place to start. The quality of of the source will impact the quality of the transcode. The cleaner the signal, the better the compressibility and final quality.

[xJedix]

hey, my source is standard def. It's cable tv. I have gbpvr recording settings at NTSC 720x480, constant 9000 kbits/sec, with audio bit rate 320 and sample rate 48khz.

Last night, I was able to get the x264(crf) with ITVC = yes, and profile set to 2 for full resolution to give me a good output. Then I had the problem where I couldn't open the output with virtualdub, I found I needed a ffdshow vfw codec. So far this has worked out pretty nicely. I have my final compression with virtualdub at this moment. We'll see how it turns out

Just wondering, for xvid(fixed Quant), what quant value would give me a good output?

[-stattik-]

hey, my source is standard def. It's cable tv. I have gbpvr recording settings at NTSC 720x480, constant 9000 kbits/sec, with audio bit rate 320 and sample rate 48khz.

Last night, I was able to get the x264(crf) with ITVC = yes, and profile set to 2 for full resolution to give me a good output. Then I had the problem where I couldn't open the output with virtualdub, I found I needed a ffdshow vfw codec. So far this has worked out pretty nicely. I have my final compression with virtualdub at this moment. We'll see how it turns out

Just wondering, for xvid(fixed Quant), what quant value would give me a good output?

Good to hear. For Xvid(fixed quant), the default is 3, 2 would give you better quality at a higher bitrate.

For x264 (I installed ffdshow for playback as well) a CRF of 21 is used with 16 being about the best you could get with quality.

[Deusxmachina]

Tell me if I got this right.
You can create avi's with x264.
You can create mkv's and mp4's with xvid.
If you try to create mkv's and mp4's with x264, mencoder errors out.

If the above it correct, can I get the command line for a mkv or mp4 with x264 that error out?

My apologies for the lateness. Everything was going wrong for awhile there, and I didn't want to mess with it. The above is correct. After trying multiple Mencoder builds and multiple Stattik .bat files, I am posting the log in the interest of science, but the computer is probably just haunted.

The blank-lines gap in the file is just to separate the first command line window from the second one that comes up.

[-stattik-]

My apologies for the lateness. Everything was going wrong for awhile there, and I didn't want to mess with it. The above is correct. After trying multiple Mencoder builds and multiple Stattik .bat files, I am posting the log in the interest of science, but the computer is probably just haunted.

The blank-lines gap in the file is just to separate the first command line window from the second one that comes up.

Things look clean from your attachment. Maybe the PC really is haunted...

Have you tried a build from here?

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

[pastro]

Can you share what the mencoder command line would be for a NTSC video that you want to just cut commercials from? BigC gets better results from your script as part of skipeditor rather than the command line that is in burndvdx2.

[-stattik-]

What's BigC?

Here's the command line:

mencoder.exe video.mpg -edl video.edl -of mpeg -ovc copy -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -oac copy -o output.mpg

[pastro]

What's BigC?

Here's the command line:

mencoder.exe video.mpg -edl video.edl -of mpeg -ovc copy -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -oac copy -o output.mpg

He's a forum member that was using asking me about why burndvdx2 commercial cut wasn't producing as good of results as skipeditor which uses your scripts. I do set the bitrate and resolution in the command line on Burndvdx2, so that's probably the trouble. Thanks for the help.