Mencoder instead for built in processing!

[pBS]

So glad to see the new transcoding button in the menus, and got me to thinking, maybe i could pull a fast one and substitute mencoder for ffmpeg for the transcoding options...ffmpeg is ok but a bit raw,not as many options as mencoder,no reading dvd's etc...
So i made a little app that takes the ffmpeg options and passes them to a mencode.bat file seamlessly...

EDIT: NO LONGER NEEDED..CHANGES IN VIDEO LIBRARY HAVE MADE THIS UNNECESARY!! USE SHOWBURNER FROM WIKI
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utility/ShowBurner

additional profiles can be used to alter mencoder commands as well..
[the profiles will still function as profiles, but with a few differences]
first parameter is command you wish to run.. eg. fmpeg.exe
the rest are parameters to use with that command..:
cmd="fmpeg.exe -y -i {SOURCE_FILE} -f avi -ab 128 -ac 2 -acodec mp3 -vcodec mpeg4 et.c etc....
basically the cmd= section is run as is..so anything could be done here..

any thoughts,suggestions, features wanted? i'll see what's possible with a limited batch file but theoretically it all should be because of the parameters available in the config..[like ability to name the outfile with title_episode,etc]
Progress DOES work! cool..lol
the auto-it script allows me hide the command window entirely,but not sure if that would always be a good thing...thoughts?
right now i'm minimizing it and nothing shows on tv but it does wait and close gbpvr dialog when done...

To setup:
Instructions in zip... of course have a copy of mencoder.exe in your gbpvr dir and you're all set...
go into library or wherever you see the transcode button and highlight a file and hit transcode...select a profile and start...
edit vbscale= for quality/size output,or add your own opts..!
shoot,can even use a different encoder!!
happy 'n'coding! EDIT: this is version 2 and it is much better and extensible.. and the new Showburner add-on..Burn dvd's from the menus too!! [including menus]

NEW VERSION on WIKI with INSTALLER!

[unzip to gbpvr dir]
just under 8 megs total..

[pBS]

got the batch file done, and in final testing of que'd overnight encoding..
so far so good...as many profiles as you like for on the spot transcoding with *any*encoder you'd like, and 1 profile for adding to the deferred que,and another to run the scheduled deferred processing...

wondering if anyone interested in having the ability to use ANY cli encoder seamlessly with the remote..on either single files or deferred batches..
i'd like to have someone help me torture test it in a differing system..


and any suggestions for mencoder options or any other encoders are gladly welcome...i'll even show you how to substitute..!
note: the profiles are selectable whithin the menus in GBPVR, so you could have one just for psp, say using ffmpeg to encode,and then lines to copy to dir for copying to psp or do a on the spot encode and have the profile copy it to the psp when it's finished! [all in one profile/selection] the possibilities are endless..!
the executable is an auto-it script that's decompilable so check it out..

here's the NEW mencode2.zip with profiles and all..[adjust to your taste]

....and the new ShowBurner.zip add-on that will alow burning shows to dvd from the remote! [with menus]
Feedback Welcome...

[fvfv]

Hello PBS . You have been helping me these days with mencoder to overlay closed captions into an mpg for postprocessing.

Unfortunately, my mencoder files fail 3 out of 4 times with an "Mencoder has performed an illegal operation and it will shut down". I was thinking to give ffmepg a try but so far I see the quality of the video pretty degrading. I understand ffmpeg is used mostly to compress and archive into divx format. I am not interested in saving space.

My command line is :
mencoder.exe -subcc -noskip -ovc lavc -cache 10240 -oac lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf:telecine -ofps 24000/1001 -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vqscale=4.5:vmax_b_frames=2:keyint=16:acodec=mp2:abitrate=128:autoaspect -af volume=16 -idx -o "%~dpn1_cc.mpg" "%~dpn1.mpg".

If I do not include -subcc on the command line, it works ok , but I do not get closed captions overlayed.

Is there anything that ffmpeg can do differently ?

Can you post a command line of ffmpeg to achieve the same.

Thanks.

[fvfv]

By the way, this comes out a lot on the dos window when doing mencoder:

=================================================
Too many video packets in the buffer: (4096 in 7752048 bytes).
Maybe you are playing a non-interleaved stream/file or the codec failed?
For AVI files, try to force non-interleaved mode with the -ni option.
Pos: 131.2s 3071f ( 3%) 119fps Trem: 12min 561mb A-V:-0.069 [1017:127]
Flushing video frames
=======================================================
But it comes out as well even if I do not use the -subcc option. Again , these are mpg files recorded on a pvr350 with gbpvr . I do not think there is anything wrong with the mpg file, but the -subcc option is causing the mencoder to crash.

[pBS]

mm,suspect something to do with the cc option...try taking out the -cache item..[may interfere with cc processing] yea,after playing more with mencoder i was getting disappointing results..had some glitches with somet files changing field order in middle of show, so i had to add a few filters...encodes everything off the pvr150 without error messages... here's my mencoder line:

Mencoder.exe %1 -priority belownormal -vfm ffmpeg -noskip -vf tfields=0,tinterlace=0,fspp=6:0:32/-al -idx -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -lavcopts ildct:vqscale=5:vcodec=mpeg2video:vb_strategy=1:vqmin=2:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9000:keyint=15:vmax_b_frames=2:acodec=mp2:abitrate=128:autoaspect -o %2

seems the built in ffmpeg mpeg reader codec is better and gives less errors, and the tfields solves the mismatched frame error,the fspp is visual quality filter..
but still i see ffmpeg as giving better results [looks better and smaller size]
here's my ffmpeg line...:
fmpeg.exe -y -f mpeg -target ntsc-dvd -ildct -qscale 5 -bf 2 -i %1 -acodec mp2 -ab 128 -vcodec mpeg2video %2

if you can find the cc option for ffmpeg i'd suggest using that..i also found mencoder can't even open a 4g+ file from a network, but ffmpeg can..
since they take their codecs from ffmpeg anyways, only reasonable that it would be much more robust and stable..
i think i'm gonna have to look for a better version [probably older] of mencoder or maybe a beta cuz the results aren't lookin that good but i like the filters/options/dvd ability so not giving up on it yet...lol
hope that helps..

[jam_zhou]

what does -priority belownormal mean?

I can't seem to find it on the mplayerhq documentation. Does it set the windows process priority? Somewhat akin to start /low ??

[pBS]

yep, same thing...apparently it by-passes some of the windows mechanisms for that in win so it provides one itself and monitors it's own process time..
yea,i've noticed that manuals are kinda spotty...lol they say 'read the source' code for the real manual...lol! as if we're gonna pour thru source code just to find out the switches...it's very inconsistant so i have 2 or 3 'manual' pages bookmarked to loook thru...checkt he 'manual.htm' that comes with it..*and* the one on the web site, and any others you can find...

[fvfv]

Thanks Sub.

Unfortunately, some or one of the new options on your command line disables the execution of overlaying closed captions. It does not even process any of the -sub options.

If I could integrate ffmpeg with ffdshow, it would solve the problem. In other words, use your ffmpeg command line but tell ffmpeg to use ffdshow as the video encoder so that ffdshow process the closed captions. I have seen very good rendering of closed captions using WMP when ffdshow is told to decode closed captions on mpg files.

I just do not know how to interface both.

Thanks

[pBS]

have you tried avisynth? i'm sure it can handle the conversion and cc's as it has insane abilities but can sometimes be buggy...works great for simple processing..
[i'l have to see if ffmpeg can open avs files directly,mencoder can but last time i checked no sound yet-new feature]
it's like a pre-processing filter that looks like a regular avi to most programs..
resize/crop/add borders/etc..on the fly before recording..
and i'm sure it can do the cc overlay before encoding so check it out,much more powerfull as you'll probably have more control over cc display..[font/color placement etc]

[pBS]

oh and add the relevant -sub parts yourself as needed cuz i don't use cc processing normally..
but the rest of the line makes for excellent quality encodes..
keeps the file interlaced,cuz that's how it was captured, and keeps the telecine info in the mpeg stream so decoders can deal with the varying framerates of tv broadcasts..[30fps AND 24fps in same show ecoded and broadcast at 30fps]
no jerkiness,perfect motion...and more efficient encoding..

i went round and round trying to find something that would work on ANY tv captured content...and then compared to ffmpeg with same options..
the default options Sub puts in gbpvr aren't very optimal...and no mpeg-mpeg option at all i don't think...that ffmpeg line a couple posts up makes nice dvd burnable files out of anything you can input to it..decently fast but not as fast as mencoder.. [and -trell isn't necessary, should speed it up if not on]
and btw, I'm NOT Sub!
just a happy helper..