XVid encoding creating larger files

[SickBoy]

I know this is more a general question than a GBPVR-specific one but I'm hoping for some help here....

I'm automatically transferring my recorded show files over to my Linux fileserver and attempting to encode them with mencoder (which works) but is creating larger files (which baffles me).

I'm using the xvid codec - here's how I run mencoder

mencoder <original filename> -o <new filename>

and here's the contents of my ~/.mplayer/mencoder file:

ovc=xvid=1
oac=mp3lame=1
xvidencopts=pass=2:bitrate=300
lameopts=q=8

In theory this should be fairly low quality sound and video, but all of my shows are coming out as a bigger filesize than the originals, which obviously defeats the purpose.

I'm using a Hauppage PVR500 and my default recording quality setting is "medium" and I don't believe I've ever fiddled with GBPVR's defaults in this regard.

Help me save some disk space....

[pBS]

use mencoder with command line options first till you get good quality results,it's so hard to mess with that config file syntax..
[it can also do 2pass from command-line]
have you tried ffmpeg's xvid? it gives better quality from what i've seen...[even tho it's 'supposed' to be from same root codec]
i've been using it for 1pass encodes quite happily using this command-line..

ffmpeg.exe -y -i {SOURCE_FILE} -f avi -ab 128 -ac 2 -acodec mp3 -vcodec mpeg4 -qscale 5 -vtag XVID {DEST_FILE}

runs fast and great results tho you can't stop it mid-encode like mencoder,the file won't play with most players but if you cancel recording with mencoder by hitting cntrl-c it will stop and build the avi index with what has been encoded..
but head to head with mencoder using same opts,it looks better and smaller file with ffmpeg...the real xvid encoding in mencoder is wayyyyy slow but has real xvid optimizations...still i like the speed and quality of ffmpeg just fine...wish the interface were nicer like mencoder tho..[and no dvd reading with ffmpeg! ]
i think your problems are with the mencoder config file syntax..it's quite odd...
and sometimes mencoder can't find it..
anyways,get it working from command-line then make the config..
let us know it comes along..

[sgilani]

Can you copy one of these files over to a Windows box and open it up in GSpot? Then you could see exactly what's going on in terms of the audio and video tracks and the bitrate/resolution...

My gut feeling is that your options aren't getting loaded in quite right. Have you tried doing it all on a command line?