Help me with creating a Transcoding config setting

[McBainUK]

I would like to use GB-PVR to easily convert recorded TV shows and videos to XviD for playback on my Palm (Zire 71).

I currently use Pocket DivX Encoder and have some conversion settings setup that work well on the low spec Palm hardware. It uses mencoder for its conversion but I reckon, given the right parameters GB-PVR's ffmpeg can do the same thing.

Unfortunately I know squat about mencoder/ffmpeg command line options so wondered if anyone here could help me? The command Pocket DivX Encoder uses is:

./mencoder.exe "D:\My Documents\My Videos\GBPVR and Palm transcoding tests\3min clip.mpg" -subfont-autoscale 3 -subcp "latin1" -font "C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\Arial.ttf" -noodml -nosound -vf scale=320:180 -sws 9 -ofps 16 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:turbo:vhq:vmax_b_frames=2:vbitrate=164:vpass=1 -ffourcc DX50 -o "D:\My Documents\My Videos\GBPVR and Palm transcoding tests\3min clip_2nd go.avi" >> 1.txt 2>> 2.txt
./mencoder.exe "D:\My Documents\My Videos\GBPVR and Palm transcoding tests\3min clip.mpg" -audio-preload 0.8 -delay 0.1 -af volnorm -srate 32000 -oac mp3lame -lameopts mode=3:cbr:br=32 -subfont-autoscale 3 -subcp "latin1" -font "C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\Arial.ttf" -noodml -vf scale=320:180 -sws 9 -ofps 16 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vmax_b_frames=2:vbitrate=164:vpass=2 -ffourcc DX50 -o "D:\My Documents\My Videos\GBPVR and Palm transcoding tests\3min clip_2nd go.avi">> 1.txt 2>> 2.txt

The general settings I use for the Palm video file are (I don't know what they all mean mind):
Video 320x180, 16fps, 24kbps, 2-pass encoding with b-frames
Audio 3200hz, 32kbps, mono

[McBainUK]

So far I've got this:

ffmpeg.exe -i INPUTFILE -b 220k -s 320x180 -vcodec mpeg4 -ar 22050 -ac 1 -ab 32 -acodec mp3 -f avi -bf 2 -r 16 -vtag DIVX OUTPUTFILE

Which works OK but Windows reports the bit rate as 32kbps even tho I've specified -b 220k. I would like to do 2-pass encoding as I believe this will be better.

Anyone good at this kind of stuff? :eek:

[McBainUK]

OK this is doing my head in - is there anyway of getting GB-PVR to launch mencoder instead, with a command line like the one in my first post?

[sub]

You should be able to specify something like the following in the config.xml:

<Conversion name="Palm" exe="mencoder.exe" cmd="........" targetExtension=".avi" />

For this to work you'd need mencoder.exe in the "c:\program files\devnz\gbpvr\third party" directory.

[McBainUK]

Sub, you're a legend. Working great now

[zehd]

Sub, you're a legend. Working great now

What were the final settings you used? I'd like to add them as defaults into ZProcess for FFmpeg, MEncoder and VLC...

[McBainUK]

What were the final settings you used?

The transcoding config line I've decided on is below, its ripped straight from the command line Pocket DivX Encoder uses.

<Conversion name="Palm" exe="mencoder.exe" cmd="{SOURCE_FILE} -audio-preload 0.8 -delay 0.1 -af volnorm -srate 32000 -oac mp3lame -lameopts mode=3:cbr:br=32 -noodml -vf scale=320:180,dsize=-1 -sws 9 -ofps 16 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts max_bframes=2:bitrate=164 -ffourcc XVID -o {DEST_FILE}" targetExtension=" (Palm).avi" />

This is for the relatively old Zire 71 Palm, newer ones have larger screens and could probably handle more fps.

[zehd]

The transcoding config line I've decided on is below, its ripped straight from the command line Pocket DivX Encoder uses.

This is for the relatively old Zire 71 Palm, newer ones have larger screens and could probably handle more fps.

That is a monster. And you said you don't know anything about transcoders...

[McBainUK]

That is a monster. And you said you don't know anything about transcoders...

Had a bit of a crash course last nite

[taz]

You should be able to specify something like the following in the config.xml:

<Conversion name="Palm" exe="mencoder.exe" cmd="........" targetExtension=".avi" />

For this to work you'd need mencoder.exe in the "c:\program files\devnz\gbpvr\third party" directory.

I am assuming then that I can use other applications (besides ffmpeg or mencoder) as long as it is the correct directory and accepts command line parameters?