[MEncoder-users] mencoder starter needs help

[Andy Civil]

B K wrote:
> I am a beginner who has a move file in ac3 audio format and mpeg2 video format.  mplayer can play the video with no hassles.  Although Windows media player will not play the audio, which is why I would like to encode this file into a format that can be played anywhere no matter which codecs are present.  I am assuming the file will be big as this will lose all forms of compression, but are there any other disadvantages?I am not familar wit encoder to even know where to start.I tried the following:C:\mplayer\1.0rc2>mencoder C:\goat.mpg -o goat.avi -of avi -ovc raw -oac copyThe output was not what I expected.  The video would hardly move, and the sound was all distorted with plenty of jitter.Can anyone help me ?  I am trying to achieve good quality output.Thanks

You can't play a file with "no" codec, you need something :-) I think you want 
to be sure that anyone can play your file, without needing to install unusual 
codecs right? It seems that most installations can already play mpeg2 because 
it's the DVD format, so I don't think you need to change the video.

I have tried to find which of the many newer, better codecs are normally 
available with a Windows installation, and the answer is "none of them". Youtube 
gets round this by including the codec capability in the flash player.

I suggest you try leaving the video unchanged, but switch the audio to something 
old and common such as mp2. Here is my suggestion:

mencoder C:\goat.mpg -ovc copy -oac lavc -of mpeg -lavcopts 
acodec=mp2:abitrate=224 -o goat_converted.mpg

(Note, I have not tried this, so apologies if there are typos...)

Translation:
mencoder C:\goat.mpg -o goat_converted.mpg (command, input file, output file)
-ovc copy (output video codec: just copy what's in the input)
-of mpeg (make an mpeg file "container" i.e. the headers etc.)
-oac lavc (use lavc as the audio codec)
-lavcopts (set options for the codec)
acodec=mp2:abitrate=224  (use mp2 for the audio, at a bit rate of 224 kb/s)

-- 
Andy