[MEncoder-users] Intermediate codec from mpegts on the way to h264

[David Liontooth]

On 11/11/2010 11:08 PM, Martijn van Beurden wrote:
> Op 12-11-10 02:43, David Liontooth schreef:
>> Is there a good intermediate codec/format I can use that is not 
>> horribly CPU-intensive, and won't lose me too much quality -- 
>> something that's a good stopover on the way to h264?
> What about H.264 itself set at higher qp/bitrate/crf and with some 
> options that enhance encoding speed engaged?
OK, that sound reaonsable -- do you have a mencoder command to illustrate?

The incoming stream is QAM/ATSC:

     Stream #0.0[0x31]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 
DAR 16:9], 16578 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
     Stream #0.1[0x34]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 384 kb/s

For the final version I use this, at 640:-3 (maintaining aspect):

ref=3:mixed-refs:bframes=6:weightb:direct=auto:b-pyramid:me=umh:subme=9:analyse=all:8x8dct:t
rellis=1:nr=150:no-fast-pskip=1:psy-rd=1,1

Would it for instance make sense to compress the incoming file at the 
same frame size?

Dave

PS Is there a way for mplayer/mencoder to output stream characteristics? 
I used ffprobe above.