[MEncoder-users] mencoder mpeg2 settings to best preserve original quality

[John Ratliff]

I am using tivo to record shows and then trying to use mencoder to 
convert them to other formats (lower quality DVD or x264). I also want 
to cut the commercials before I burn the shows. I have a program that 
will cut mpegs for me. It does a pretty good job, but most of the 
television I record seems to be a combination of telecine and 
progressive NTSC film. If I cut an mixed mpeg, the audio/video goes out 
of sync.

So, before I cut the video, I want to use mencoder to inverse telecine 
my movie. Anything I record off tivo that I want to keep I record at 
best quality. So my original mpeg from tivo is a 480x480 MPEG-2 CBR 7.65 
Mbps (i think). To get the mpeg I can cut (after inverse telecine), I'm 
doing this:

mencoder tivo.mpg -nosound -ovc lavc -ofps 24000/1001 -o /dev/null -vf \
pullup,softskip,crop=464:371:8:55,hqdn3d,scale=640:360,harddup -lavcopts \
vpass=1:vcodec=mpeg2video:vstrict=0:vrc_buf_size=1835:vbitrate=5500:vrc_maxrate=9800:keyint=15:aspect=16/9

mencoder tivo.mpg -oac copy -ovc lavc -ofps 24000/1001 -o 24fps.mpg -of 
mpeg -vf \
pullup,softskip,crop=464:371:8:55,hqdn3d,scale=640:360,harddup -lavcopts \
vpass=2:vcodec=mpeg2video:vstrict=0:vrc_buf_size=1835:vbitrate=5500:vrc_maxrate=9800:keyint=15:aspect=16/9

Is there a better way to do the inverse telecine and keep roughly the 
same high quality I have in the input?

Thanks,

--John Ratliff