[MEncoder-users] Converting H.264-AVC 1920 X 1080 to mpeg-2

[James Hastings-Trew]

L Lee wrote:
> On 2/10/09 7:41 AM, "James Hastings-Trew" <jimht at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>   
>> What version of mencoder are you using? I used to have errors like these
>> using mencoder to encode files from certain blu-ray titles (one in
>> particular was Sunshine). Using the latest builds, the problem has gone
>> away.
>>
>> Another thing to try is to actually play the file you want to encode
>> with mplayer. In my case, the problem files would "smear" at certain
>> points where mencoder would show those errors. The errors were quite
>> visible. Again, the problem went away when I switched up to a current
>> rev. of mplayer and mencoder.
>>     
>
>
> Thanks, James.
>
> My current version is MEncoder SVN-r28493-4.0.1 (I usually stay up to date
> with the latest SVN every week or so, and I usually complain on the list if
> a new release won't compile). One of the first things I did when I
> experienced these results was to get the latest svn. That was one or two
> days ago now, I guess.
>
> Yes, I tried playing using mplayer with the same result, so I figure my best
> bet is to find a filter that will let it handle the files. The smear is the
> other way the problem manifests itself. The messages appear so frequently,
> I'm sure that the problem exists quite homogenously. It has to be a format
> thing.
>
> At this point I guess I might as well come clean with the details about what
> I'm doing. I use an Intel Mac core duo (yes, one of the 32-bit ones
> purchased in 2006) running the latest version of Mac OS X, 10.5.6. I bought
> one of those Hauppauge HD-PVRs to use with Elgato's EyeTV 3.1 software, and
> I'm *not* trying to sell DVDs or anything, I just want to bridge the barrier
> between what high quality content I can view when I want and what high
> quality content my TV service tells me I can view when I want. Granted, the
> EyeTV software lets me export in several formats, some of which provide
> deinterlacing, but so far the export choices that retain high quality take
> about 500 percent of the duration of real time playback, and then I still
> have to run them through Mencoder.
>
> For me, right now the DVD video disk provides the ideal compromise between
> compatibility, quality, and portability for video content, so that's my goal
> for most anything I keep. I've used Toast and iDVD along with the EyeTV
> methods that support those programs and others, and so far nothing I've
> tried approaches the quality I get using MEncoder after simply using an
> EyeTV export process to remove the interlacing. But that's not perfect and
> it just takes too long to be practical, so I'm still trying. If I can tackle
> the mplayer problem, then I plan to start to concentrate on the subtleties
> of improving MEncoder output. It's nearly your basic stamp or coin collector
> hobbyist strategy applied to digital video. Thanks again, and any further
> help will still be appreciated.
>   
I have an EyeTV (not the newest one) that only does SD video, but it's 
pretty good. I've used VisualHub (now discontinued) to convert the EyeTV 
stuff to other formats, including an export to DVD format. If you have 
VisualHub, or can figure out where to download it now, that's the best 
thing out there.

I complied mencoder from SVN yesterday, and ended up with version 28500. 
Works fine as far as I can tell, but mplayer throws an error about the 
-vo macosx being unavailable. Since literally all I did was:

svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
./configure
make

I am pretty sure I missed something crucial to the process. Maybe you 
can give me some pointers.

Can you record a representative snippet of what you are trying to encode 
and put it up somewhere one of those file sharing sites like RapidShare 
or Megaupload for me to download and see if I can suss out what the 
problem might be?

I'm trying to work my way up to compiling mplayer and mencoder on 
windows as well, but the process seems daunting to someone who isn't a 
programmer (seems to be lots and lots of libraries or headers or whatnot 
to collect and put in the right places - scarey). Maybe someone can 
provide a nice, up to date guide on that too... The ones I've found 
online so far are completely out of date, and reference various utility 
packages that no longer exist.