[MPlayer-users] mpeg files by mencoder don't work under Windows

[Rich Felker]

On Thu, Jun 16, 2005 at 08:48:17AM +0300, Joonas Koivunen wrote:
> hey there,
> 
> I was just trying to encode some clips to my friend, who wishes to put
> those clips to a dvd he's been gathering up. I have the latest
> released mplayer/mencoder, which is MPlayer 1.0pre7.
> 
> The problem seems to be that when I transfer the "-of mpeg" files to
> windows (my friend tries to build the dvd with Adobe Encore), none of
> the windows players are able to show the video in the files (which
> have mp2 audio (lavc) and mpeg2 video (lavc)), only the audio.
> 
> If I do "mencoder -o test.mpg -of mpeg -nosound -ovc copy
> transcoded.mpeg", windows players will be able to show the video, but
> it's framerate varies a lot. At some points it seems to decode as many
> as possible frames, otherwise it decodes them at normal speed.
> 
> I have a Athlon XP 1800+ based system so I doubt that any cpu shortage
> can cause the strange playing under windows..
> 
> The line used to create the mpeg's was something along the lines of
> (all sources were already 25fps):
> "mencoder source.avi -oac lavc -ovc lavc -vf
> crop=....,pp=md,scale=720:576 -lavcopts
> acodec=mp2:vcodec=mpeg2video:vbitrate=3500:abitrate=128:vhq:trell:autoaspect
> -of mpeg -o output.mpg"
> 
> (I didn't really pay attention to the aspect because it can be fixed
> in the mastering phase.)
> 
> Is there something catastrofally wrong with those parameters? Oh yeah,
> I almost forgot. mplayer is able to play all the files created by
> mencoder just fine. If only all other players were as flexible...

At the very least, you MUST use vrc_maxrate when encoding mpeg1/2.
Otherwise a bitrate of 0 will be stored in the headers which causes
most broken players to fail. I'd also recommend using vrc_buf_size and
possibly vrc_minrate.

Rich