[MEncoder-users] Stopping mencoder from stream seeking

[Phil Combs]

Reimar--

Thanks again for the reply. Comments added in-line:

>On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 07:39:54PM -0400, Phil Combs wrote:
> I've added the two switches as suggested but they have not helped.  

>not sure that combining them is a good idea, also try -demuxer mpegpes
>-nocache

Tried this, same result in TySuiteJ.  I brought up Windows Task Manager 
and looked at CPU load--System Idle task was 99% when the program 
appeared 'hung.'

> Putting that line into TySuiteJ (with a few format changes specific 
to 
> that program) just won't work. The program starts encoding, gets ~4MB 
> in and freezes.  I can up the cache amount to a ridiculous amount 
(eg. 
> 308,000) and the file will completely process but nothing gets 
written 
> to disk until I abort the program; when I do the file is unplayable 
as 
> (I believe) something doesn't close properly and the file format 
> probably gets corrupted. 

>How large is the file then? I'd actually assume that it does not play
>because the only thing that gets written is the index.

The test source file when brought from the Tivo as an MPEG is 122 MB.

> The error.txt file that gets written through TySuiteJ gives the 
> following):

>Do you also have the exact commandline that that program uses?

I'm listing the DOS command line here that I use successfully.  I could 
cut-and-paste the TySuiteJ config file line but, unless you're looking 
at TySuiteJ the minor format changes wouldn't make sense.  Here's what 
works in DOS:

"c:\program files\tysuitej\mencoder\mencoder" "morning express.mpg" -o 
me.mpg -noskip -mc 0 -demuxer mpegpes -nocache -oac copy -ovc lavc -of 
mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -vf crop,scale=720:480:1,harddup -lavcopts 
acodec=ac3:vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9696:vbitrate
=5731:keyint=18:ildct:ilme:top=0:mbd=2:trell:vpass=1 -ofps 30000/1001 > 
mencoder_out.txt

> *****
> The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
> Try appending the scale filter to your filter list,
> e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
> Limiting audio preload to 0.4s.
> Increasing audio density to 4.
> New_Face failed. Maybe the font path is wrong.
> Please supply the text font file (~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf).
> subtitle font: load_sub_face failed.
> 
> Skipping frame!
> 
> Skipping frame!
> 
> Skipping frame!
> *****
> 
> I've deduced through reading other online posts that the video_out 
> device error is common.  It's probably a hook into mplayer as it's 
> expecting an output device to be defined (which we're not doings as 
the 
> output is a DVD-compatible file, not a video card).  The same with 
the 
> New_Face error.

>>operation, and the "Skipping frame!" later indicates that processing 
has
>started, so the "video_out" message has no meaning and is not the cause
>for any problems.

> The funny thing is that it says frames are skipped but 
> I've tld the program not to do that.

>For some reason, -noskip alone does not work right, you must use
>-noskip -mc 0.

Good to know--incorporated this change.

>find out if mencoder really hangs (e.g. by using highest-quality, very
>slow encoding options and look at the CPU usage), and if yes, e.g. use
>gdb or some other debugger to find out where it hangs.
>Unfortunately I can't help you much there, I have never found a way to
>debug things under Windows that isn't a huge pain (except the
>IDE-integrated tools which can't be used properly in such a case).

Yeesh--that sounds a bit above my current experience level, but if I 
have to I'll try this route.  I suppose I could always write a batch 
file and use mencoder from the command line each time, but that's going 
to be a major PITA.  :)