[MEncoder-users] Recoding RM files for iPod

[Ulf Magnusson]

On Dec 27, 2007 5:36 AM, James Hastings-Trew <jimht at shaw.ca> wrote:
> RC wrote:
> > On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:52:39 -0600
> > James Hastings-Trew <jimht at shaw.ca> wrote:
> >
> >
> >> iTunes won't download them to the ipod unless the "itunes" atom is set
> >> to the correct value.
> >>
> >
> > That's only true for 640:480 h.264 videos.  He's using 320:240, which
> > works fine without any hacks.
> >
> Very first time I've heard that. Thanks for the tip.
>
>
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Actually, I managed to get it to work without using that hack, and
with 640x480 encoding, using the following:

# Dump sound
mplayer -channels 2 -novideo -hardframedrop -ao pcm:file=$1.sound.wav $1
# Convert sound
faac --mpeg-vers 4 --obj-type LC -o $1.sound.aac $1.sound.wav
# Convert video
~/svnmp/bin/mencoder $1 -o $1.video.264 \
-channels 2                             \
-of rawvideo                            \
-nosound                                \
-ovc x264 -x264encopts qp=20:keyint=60:nocabac:level_idc=30 \
-vf scale=640:480,dsize=640:480,harddup

# Combine into MP4 container
/usr/local/bin/MP4Box -add $1.video.264 -add $1.sound.aac $2 -brand
isom:1 -fps 15.000  # it's a RM, 15 fps is correct

That produces a file that iTunes will copy to the iPod, and that plays
great, except for one thing. I recoded the file from
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/6/6.046j/f05/lecturenotes/ocw-6.046-07sep2005-220k.rm
. When playing back the result on the iPod, the video freezes around
14:22 (when he says "does not affect your grade") but the sound keeps
playing. It you attempt to seek past that point, you are taken back to
14:22. This only happens on the iPod, and not in QuickTime. Any ideas
what could be wrong, and how you could fix it?

/Ulf