[MEncoder-users] MPEG4 (Simple Profile)

[George Dunlap]

On 3/22/06, Hans-Carl Oberdalhoff <hco at gmx.de> wrote:
> As far, as I understand, this bundled software will allow you to
> convert a lot of stuff, including avis, in a fitting format for your
> device. Depending on what kind of source of video you have, you might
> try converting it directly with that software.
> Otherwise you might use MEncoder to convert your video to mpeg4 in avi
> and then mux it into .mp4 using this software or gpac.
>
> Hope this helps :)

You know, I almost smacked myself when the site quoted mentioned
"included software" that would do the conversion for me.  But then I
looked into it -- the site quoted is a UK site.  The US site has no
mention of any such software, and the CD that came with the device
(bought in the US) has only the manual and Adobe Acrobat Reader.  I've
e-mailed Epson support and asked them about this.

The container is not a problem -- it will read an avi container.  The
following "recipe" re-encoded an existing .avi into something it could
use:
 mencoder [filename].avi -oac pcm -ovc lavc -vf scale=320:-3
	-lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -o test.avi

There are two problems with this: one is mjpeg seems to have a lot
worse compression ratio than mpeg4.  Also, it won't play an mp3 sound
stream if it's in mjpeg.  The manual says it will play mp3 if it's an
mpeg4 (simple profile) codec, but not in mjpeg. :-/  (Advice on
getting the audio stream into AAC would be helpful too.)

So I'm guessing that the problem is that the video player wants only
"simple profile" mpeg4 streams -- nothing fancy like 2d, core,
advanced simple profile, &c &c.  Is there a simple (or a
not-so-simple) way to turn off all the more advanced mpeg4 compression
features?

Thanks for your help -- I'll look into gpac and see if I can make
anything work there as well.  If I get a good solution, I'm definitely
going to put up a website...

 -George