[MEncoder-users] Recording a video from a ivtv tv-card (Hauppauge PVR 150)

[RC]

On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:49:02 +0200
Saedelaere <saedelaere at arcor.de> wrote:

> Now I got one question. Is mencoder using a software encoder to recode
> the video or is it using only the build in hardware mpeg encoder.

MEncoder is not reencoding the video or audio, because you told it to
"copy" both.  It is, however, demuxing and remuxing the MPEG stream.  

> The problem is when recording a video via mencoder the process has an
> approximate cpu load of 4%.

Encoding video would use MUCH more CPU power than that. 

> Using a simple cat command (cat /de/video0 > test.mpeg) causes a cpu
> load of less than 1%.

The relevant question being, why don't you use that method, instead of
mencoder?  Perhaps most importantly, using mencoder introduces the
potential for desync, and really provides no advantages.