May 2008 - MEncoder-users - lists.mplayerhq.hu

Help with MPG video encoding
by Walter Belhaven 20 Apr '13

20 Apr '13

Hi, I've got a question on how to get the best possible MPG encoding of a movie source, "at any price" so to speak -- i.e., as many bits as the encoder needs to get the highest possible video quality. It appears to me that the MPG encoding process is introducing artifacts that are present regardless of the amount of "free reign" I give to the encoder with respect to quantization, bitrate, and the like. My bottom line question is thus: "Are these artifacts inherent in MPG encoding, or am I just not twiddling the knobs and dials on the encoder correctly?" Here's all the details ... My source is a mixed hard- and soft-telecined "movie" at 1080/60i that I'm trying to tanscode to 480/24p, soft telecined to 480/60i, for ultimate burning to an NTSC DVD-Video. When I use mencoder to inverse telecine, crop out the crud, expand back to the original letterbox ratio (it's 2.35:1, not 16/9), and 'encode' the video with HUFFYUV (422P), the resulting video looks stunning, with no 'blocking' artifacts to speak of. This, of course, is as expected. But when I encode the video in MPG2 or MPG4, even with vqscale=1 or vqscale=2, I see sometimes severe blocking in the resulting video. Is this because the chroma is being subsampled vertically and horizontally (4:2:0), or is it because 'vqscale' is (perhaps necessary but) not sufficient to get "maximum quality at any price" encoding? Thanks, WB ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121

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B-frames and GOP with MPEG-2 for DVD
by Nicolas Hesler 16 Apr '11

16 Apr '11

Can anyone offer any input to the following command line? I've been trying to refine for the highest possible quality of MPEG-2 while staying DVD compliant. The source is 24fps. (Note: format=mpeg2, because format=dvd does not work with Adobe Encore 2.0). From what I understand, keeping GOP open, improves quality. Is this true? Is it 100% DVD compliant? Do I want to introduce B frames in my encoding? (The vb_strategy part of my command line is currently useless, right?) If parts of my video are reaching into 9-10 Mbs bitrate, would it beneficial to introduce B-Frames? Will it improve quality? (This is probably a stupid question) Are the sync issues with bframes only relevant to mpeg4 or lavf? mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=mpeg2:tsaf:telecine / -vf scale=720:480,harddup -mc 0 -noskip -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000:0:2 -lavcopts / vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=7000:vbitrate=6000:keyint=12 / :trell:mbd=2:precmp=2:subcmp=2:cmp=2:dia=-10:predia=-10:cbp:mv0:vqmin=1:lmin=1 / :dc=10:vpass=1:vb_strategy=2:acodec=ac3:abitrate=224:aspect=16/9:vstrict=0 -ofps 24000/1001 -o $output $input

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sstep with cropdetect
by Micah Chambers 28 Nov '08

28 Nov '08

For some reason I can't get cropdetect to work with sstep. I found a previous message where someone had an issue, but that wasn't really resolved. I am using the latest version of mplayer in svn: here is my configuration flags: Install prefix: ~/bin/mplayer Data directory: ~/bin/mplayer/share/mplayer Config direct.: ~/bin/mplayer/etc/mplayer Byte order: little-endian Optimizing for: Languages: Messages/GUI: en Manual pages: en Enabled optional drivers: Input: ftp pvr tv-teletext tv-v4l2 tv-v4l tv cddb cdda libdvdcss(internal) dvdread(internal) vcd dvb smb network Codecs: x264 xvid libavcodec real xanim faad2 faac libmpeg2 liba52 mp3lib libtheora tremor(internal) libmad liblzo gif Audio output: alsa oss v4l2 sdl mpegpes(dvb) Video output: v4l2 sdl gif89a pnm jpeg png mpegpes(dvb) fbdev aa xvidix cvidix opengl dga xv x11 xover md5sum tga Disabled optional drivers: Input: dvdnav vstream radio tv-dshow live555 nemesi Codecs: libdv libamr_wb libamr_nb qtx win32 musepack libdca speex toolame twolame Audio output: sun openal jack pulse esd arts ivtv dxr2 nas Video output: zr zr2 ivtv dxr3 dxr2 vesa svga caca ggi xmga mga winvidix 3dfx xvmc dfbmga directfb bl xvr100 tdfx_vid s3fb tdfxfb so here is what happens: $ ~/mplayer/mplayer -vf cropdetect -vo null -nosound -sstep 100 -frames 10 Judge\ Dredd.vob MPlayer dev-SVN-r26916-4.2.4 (C) 2000-2008 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 11) CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2 Cannot load bitmap font: /home/osmo/.fonts/microsoft-vista/calibri.ttf Playing Judge Dredd.vob. MPEG-PS file format detected. VIDEO: MPEG2 720x480 (aspect 2) 29.970 fps 9800.0 kbps (1225.0 kbyte/s) dvdsublang...judge dredd fi fin en eng dvdsublang...judge dredd fi fin en eng Opening video filter: [cropdetect] ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough VDec: vo config request - 720 x 480 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES) Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale... Opening video filter: [scale] Opening video filter: [lavc] Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale... Opening video filter: [scale] The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec. Try appending the scale filter to your filter list, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp. VDecoder init failed :( Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family Selected video codec: [ffmpeg2] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-2) ========================================================================== Audio: no sound Starting playback... VDec: vo config request - 720 x 480 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12) VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0) Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect. [mpeg1video @ 0xb50d60]removing common factors from framerate VO: [null] 720x480 => 720x540 Mpeg PES V: 208.9 9/ 7 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0 demux_mpg: 24000/1001fps progressive NTSC content detected, switching framerate. V: 0.0 51/ 48 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0 Could it be a compile flag I have left out or something? Thanks

3 2

2pass: auto-calculation of bitrate?
by Ilya Zakharevich 25 Nov '08

25 Nov '08

I'm looking for a way to let mencoder (I use xvid) to automatically select the 2-pass average video bitrate based on the contents. I'm pretty sure that most (if not the all) of the logic to do it is already there, but I can't find the UI to trigger this behaviour. A) For example: suppose I have 100 videos; now a) append them all together; b) do 2-pass encoding of them all with, e.g., 1200kb/sec bitrate; c) split the result into 100 video files. This way, mencoder will automatically assign some "appropriate" average bitrate to each video. B) Now suppose that I have only 1 video, but I have all 100 logs of pass=1 for all 100 videos. Theoretically, this is all which is needed to do an equivalent of a/b/c for this particular video. How to convince mencoder to use these extra log files? C) Now suppose that I have only 1 video, and only 1 log of pass=1 for this video. It is more or less obvious that all I need from the remaining 99 logs is very short "summaries". How to create the summaries, and how to "feed" them to mencoder? D) And now the last logical step: If of these 99 remaining videos 40% is "action-like", 40% is "arthouse-like", and 20% is animation, then law of big numbers starts to be applicable. Essentially, I won't need to have summaries of the particular videos; I could feed in 40 copies of "average action-like summary", 40 copies of "average arthouse-like summary", and 20 copies of "average animation summary". So if I keep these summaries in ~/.mplayer in action.sum arthouse.sum animation.sum, then I could ask mencoder to do bitrate_from=1200,40*action+40*arthouse+20*animation and it could choose the appropriate bitrate. Is it possible to do now (possibly, with some pre-processing)? Any plans to have this? Thanks, Ilya

5 11

Cannot achieve better picture quality with MPEG2 - help needed
by Nicolas Hesler 04 Jun '08

04 Jun '08

I'm struggling to achieve better picture quality with mencoder and MPEG2, especially with video that contains gradients. I've uploaded a test example to ftp://upload.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/ File : gradient.avi (an lossless FFV1 rgb32 video file used for encoding) File : screenshots_gradient.psd (a photoshop file containing screenshots to compare original to encoded screenshots) The PSD contains three labeled layers: - the first, the source, an uncompressed gradient - the second, a screenshot of the resulting MPEG-2 created with MEncoder (command line to follow) - the third, a screenshot of the resulting MPEG-2 created with Adobe Media Encoder. You'll notice that the Adobe Media Encoder screenshot has a much better picture (far less color distortion and far less banding) than the MEncoder screenshot. I'm hoping to achieve better results with MEncoder. I'm not concerned with bitrate or time to encode, I simply want to match the picture as best I can. I've tried countless command line options but still to no avail. Can someone help me with this? Is it possible to get the picture retention I'm after with mencoder and MPEG-2? Here is the command line (pass 1 of 2 passes) I used for the above example: mencoder -sws 9 -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=mpeg2:muxrate=10080:tsaf:telecine -vf scale=720:480,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000:0:2 -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=7000:vbitrate=6000:trell: mbd=2:preme=2:dia=4:predia=4:precmp=2:cmp=2:subcmp=2:cbp:mv0:acodec=ac3: abitrate=224:keyint=12:vpass=1:autoaspect:lmin=0.01:dc=10:vstrict=0 -ofps 24000/1001 input -o output

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problem with big files
by a a 31 May '08

31 May '08

Hello all i have 2 .avi file sized 4.9 Gig and 12 Gig, and i want to convert them to 2 mpeg files, but when i run mencoder as usual to change these files, it works on them until it reaches the 4096 MB of input file and then it stops without any unusual message :-( Then i got the last version of mplayer sources (1-rc2) and myself compiled it with option --enable-largefiles and again converted those files with new mencoder, but no any benefits was made. The filesystems that i used for input and output files were ext3 . and the OSs were Ubuntu-7.10-amd64 and Knoppix-5.1.1 on 2 computers with same result. What is the problem , and its solutions ? How can i convert such files? thanks Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

4 3

Problem with the aspect of an mpeg-ps film
by TAJTHY Tamás 30 May '08

30 May '08

Dear List, I have bought a Sony camera which creates MPEG-PS encoded films. I set the camera to record films in 16:9. I downloaded the recorded films to my PC and I tried to encode to avi, but there was some problems with the aspect. So I tried to investigate what the problem is. Playing the original mpeg-ps films with mplayer the aspect is correct (it seems to be 16:9), but playing on my DVD player the aspect is 4:3 (or 5:4?), so everything seems to be too thick (compressed horizontally). I checked what mplayer sees from such an mpeg-ps file (output atteched to the end of this mail). It is evident that mplayer knows somehow that this is not a 720x576 film contrary that the resolution is stated to be 720x576. Mplayer resizes it to 1024x576. I tried to swith on/off the autoaspect option, use noaspect, use -aspect 16:9 options with no luck. Could anybody help me what should I do to see the proper aspect on the DVD player? Thanks in advance! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< $ /usr/local/mplayer/mplayer.exe M2U00001.MPG -identify -vo directx MPlayer Sherpya-SVN-r25088-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team CPU: AMD Athlon(TM) XP 2400+ (Family: 6, Model: 8, Stepping: 1) SSE supported but disabled CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0 Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 3DNow 3DNowEx 93 audio & 211 video codecs Playing M2U00001.MPG. Cache fill: 0.00% (0 bytes) ID_AUDIO_ID=128 ID_VIDEO_ID=0 MPEG-PS file format detected. VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 3) 25.000 fps 9100.0 kbps (1137.5 kbyte/s) ID_FILENAME=M2U00001.MPG ID_DEMUXER=mpegps ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=0x10000002 ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=9100000 ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=720 ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=576 ID_VIDEO_FPS=25.000 ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=0.0000 ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=8192 ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=0 ID_AUDIO_RATE=0 ID_AUDIO_NCH=0 ID_LENGTH=32.00 ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES) Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale... Opening video filter: [scale] The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec. Try appending the scale filter to your filter list, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp. VDecoder init failed :( Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm: libmpeg2 (MPEG-1 or 2 (libmpeg2)) ========================================================================== ID_VIDEO_CODEC=mpeg12 ========================================================================== Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52 Using 3DNowEx optimized IMDCT transform Using MMX optimized resampler AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 256.0 kbit/16.67% (ratio: 32000->192000) ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=256000 ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000 ID_AUDIO_NCH=2 Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52) ========================================================================== AO: [dsound] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample) ID_AUDIO_CODEC=a52 Starting playback... VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12) VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0) Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect. ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=1.7778 VO: [directx] 720x576 => 1024x576 Planar YV12 Exiting... (Quit) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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Error message: "Invalid frame duration" - What is causing this and what could be done about it?
by Roger Pryor 30 May '08

30 May '08

Hi: I trust that I am asking this in the correct newsgroup - apologies if not. I'm using a pcHDTV HD5500 HDTV video card, with an analog cable TV input to record, using mencoder. The command line is embedded in a shell script, below, and is simply invoked with a run (duration) time and a channel number. Occasionaly, perhaps 1 in 10 times, or perhaps worse, I get a stream of error messages, below, and a video file that is bad, jumpy images, possibly field reversed, although I wouldn't recognise that if it bit me. I would appreciate advise as to what could be causing this and what could be done about it. Thank you ERROR Message: Invalid frame duration value (5039.772/5039.562 => -0.210). Defaulting to 0.053 sec. COMMAND Line: Command line from the shell script, where S2 is the channel# and $1 is the running time > mencoder tv:// \ > -tv > driver=v4l2:chanlist=us-cable:norm=NTSC-M:device=/dev/video0:input=0:quality=0:width=640:height=480:brightness=20:saturation=20:adevice=hw.0:alsa:channel= > $2 \ -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=2000:vratetol=32000:mbd=2 > \ -oac mp3lame -lameopts fast \ -vf > crop=636:476:2:2,denoise3d=4:3:6,harddup \ -noskip -noencodedups > -skiplimit 0 -endpos $1 \ -of avi -ofps 30000/1001 -o test.avi SUCCESSFUL output for a (very) short run > MEncoder 1.0rc2-SUSE Linux 10.3 (x86_64)-Packman-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 > MPlayer Team CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13GHz > (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 6) CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 > 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: > MMX MMX2 3DNow 3DNowEx SSE SSE2 > > success: format: 9 data: 0x0 - 0x0 > TV file format detected. > Selected driver: v4l2 > name: Video 4 Linux 2 input > author: Martin Olschewski <olschewski(a)zpr.uni-koeln.de> > comment: first try, more to come ;-) > Selected device: pcHDTV HD5500 HDTV > Tuner cap: > Tuner rxs: > Capabilites: video capture VBI capture device tuner read/write > streaming supported norms: 0 = PAL-BG; 1 = PAL-DK; 2 = PAL-I; 3 = PAL-M; > 4 = PAL-N; 5 = PAL-Nc; 6 = PAL-60; 7 = NTSC-M; 8 = NTSC-M-JP; 9 = > NTSC-443; 10 = SECAM-DK; 11 = SECAM-L; inputs: 0 = Television; 1 = > Composite1; 2 = S-Video; Current input: 0 Current format: BGR24 > v4l2: current audio mode is : MONO > v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument > v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument > Selected channel: 3 (freq: 61.250) > Channel count not available - reverting to default: 2 > Channel count not available - reverting to default: 2 > [V] filefmt:9 fourcc:0x59565955 size:640x480 fps:29.97 ftime:=0.0334 > ========================================================================== > Opening audio decoder: [pcm] Uncompressed PCM audio decoder > AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 1411.2 kbit/100.00% (ratio: 176400->176400) > Selected audio codec: [pcm] afm: pcm (Uncompressed PCM) > ========================================================================== > Opening video filter: [expand osd=1] > Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1 > Opening video filter: [harddup] > Opening video filter: [denoise3d=4:3:6] > Opening video filter: [crop w=636 h=476 x=2 y=2] > Crop: 636 x 476, 2 ; 2 > ========================================================================== > Opening video decoder: [raw] RAW Uncompressed Video > VDec: vo config request - 640 x 480 (preferred colorspace: Packed UYVY) > Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale... > Opening video filter: [scale] > VDec: using Packed UYVY as output csp (no 0) > Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied. > SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 4 > SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 4 > SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 1 > SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 9 -> 8 > [swscaler @ 0xd323f0]SwScaler: BICUBIC scaler, from uyvy422 to yuv420p > using MMX2 [swscaler @ 0xd323f0]SwScaler: using 4-tap MMX scaler for > horizontal luminance scaling [swscaler @ 0xd323f0]SwScaler: using 4-tap > MMX scaler for horizontal chrominance scaling [swscaler @ 0xd323f0] > SwScaler: using 1-tap MMX "scaler" for vertical scaling (YV12 like) > [swscaler @ 0xd323f0]SwScaler: 640x480 -> 640x480 videocodec: libavcodec > (636x476 fourcc=34504d46 [FMP4]) [VE_LAVC] High quality encoding > selected (non-realtime)! Selected video codec: [rawuyvy] vfm: raw (RAW > UYVY) > ========================================================================== > MP3 audio selected. Forcing audio preload to 0, max pts correction to 0. > Writing header...1f ( 0%) 0.00fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [0:0] > ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not > writing vprp header. Writing header... > ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not > writing vprp header. Pos: 5.0s 150f ( 0%) 28.71fps Trem: 0min > 0mb A-V:0.000 [2530:174] Flushing video frames. > Writing index... > Writing header... > ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not > writing vprp header. > > Video stream: 2530.538 kbit/s (316317 B/s) size: 1583168 bytes 5.005 > secs 150 frames > > Audio stream: 174.123 kbit/s (21765 B/s) size: 108596 bytes 4.989 > secs v4l2: 157 frames successfully processed, 0 frames dropped. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roger Pryor Email: rpryor(a)infoserve.net Vancouver, Canada

2 1

Audio sync / shift issue with Real Media rm files
by Nate Solas 30 May '08

30 May '08

My problem is I'm writing a script to automatically (hands off) convert Real Media rm videos to flv videos. The command line I've worked out seems solid for almost all of our source files, but a few have somehow been originally encoded with the video starting about 5 seconds after the audio. My biggest confusion is that mplayer is able to correct for this after about 8 seconds if I use the -mc flag: mplayer -mc .1 rtsp://ice.walkerart.org:8080/translocations/media/Jamie.rm (that's an example I'm working with, please give it a try) But mencoder never regains sync: mencoder rtsp://ice.walkerart.org:8080/translocations/media/Jamie.rm -ni -o output.flv -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=56 -srate 22050 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=flv:vbitrate=300:mbd=2:mv0:trell:v4mv:cbp:last_pred=3 -fps 15 -ofps 15 -mc 1 -of lavf -lavfopts i_certify_that_my_video_stream_does_not_use_b_frames -ss 00:00:00 -endpos 00:04:12 The mplayer -identify info is below: MPlayer 2:1.0~rc1-0ubuntu13 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team CPU: Dual-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2218 (Family: 15, Model: 65, Stepping: 2) CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled with runtime CPU detection. . . . VIDEO: [RV30] 320x240 24bpp 15.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s) Clip info: name: Jamie ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=name ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=Jamie author: Walker Art Center ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME1=author ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE1=Walker Art Center copyright: �2003 ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME2=copyright ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE2=�2003 ID_CLIP_INFO_N=3 ID_FILENAME=Jamie.rm ID_DEMUXER=real ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=RV30 ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=0 ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=320 ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=240 ID_VIDEO_FPS=15.000 ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=0.0000 ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=sipr ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=0 ID_AUDIO_RATE=8000 ID_AUDIO_NCH=1 ID_LENGTH=252.00 Is there any way I can detect the video delay from a script and correct it that way? (although using -delay 5 -mc 0 causes me to lose the first 5 seconds of audio) Why can mplayer regain sync but mencoder can't? Thanks for any tips! I've been working on this for two days and just can't find a way... Nate

1 0

possible to use -af scaletempo with mencoder?
by Paul Ivanov 30 May '08

30 May '08

is it possible to encode video with the scaletempo plugin? I can play videos at twice the speed with reasonable audio (no chipmunk sounds) using: mplayer -af scaletempo -speed 2 but mencoder -af scaletempo -speed 2 just ignores the -af scaletempo option (audio and video are twice the speed, but higher pitch) thanks

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