[MEncoder-users] Re: Re: Re: Tutorial?

[Ilya Zakharevich]

[A complimentary Cc of this posting was NOT [per weedlist] sent to
The Wanderer 
<mencoder-users at mplayerhq.hu>], who wrote in article <4526F7CA.1030508 at comcast.net>:
> >>> In a nutshell, when you specify pass=1, xvid ignores any option
> >>> setting either bitrate or quantizer. But, so what?

> >> So that I can change my mind, and specify different bitrate on
> >> pass=2 command line.

> > Huh? I'm not even sure what you're trying to say here. I suspect your
> > statement is based on a misunderstanding.

> I suspect that what he meant is "so that I can realize that it is safe
> to specify a different bitrate in pass 2 if I happen to change my mind
> after starting the first pass"

Correct; thanks for making it more explicit.  It somehow beats me what
ambiguity was there in the form I originally wrote it, but now it is
history...

> >> Please do not vouch for "most users".  Thanks.

> > It's true, whether you agree or not. Unless you presume to vouch for
> > most users, yourself.

> I think that you both mean "speak for". To "vouch for" somone is to
> confirm their credentials, as it were - to indicate that they are, in
> fact, trustworthy.

Point taken.  Thanks.

> >> Could you please explain WHICH of two answers is "clear", and how
> >> one can deduce it looking in documentation.  I do not know even
> >> after running half a dozen of tests.

> > As the docs say, positive number sets target bitrate, negative number
> > sets target output file size (which is the same as setting bitrate,
> > only you make the computer do slightly more arithmetic for you). I
> > probably shouldn't have to say this, but if you have pass=1 in your
> > xvidencopts, you will not observe any difference.

> However, his question appears to be whether it is "instantaneous
> bitrate" (i.e., the bitrate which will be used at all times no matter
> what) or "average bitrate" (i.e., the total number of bits in the stream
> divided by the total length of the stream).

???  Nope.

Let me restate my question again: which of two semantics holds:

  a) the bitrate part of `xvidencopts' is the target bitrate/size of the
     VIDEO PART of the produced file;

  b) the bitrate part of `xvidencopts' is the target TOTAL (=video +
     audio) bitrate/size of the produced file.

Thanks,
Ilya