December 2009 - 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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yadif: what does "spatial interlacing check" mean?
by Christian Ebert 29 Jun '10

29 Jun '10

Hi, TFM say about the 2 and 3 options for yadif that they "skip spatial interlacing check". What does this mean exactly? What's the better way to go if I want better quality regardless of encoding time? And would recommendations differ if I use yadif in connection with mcdeint? TIA c -- \black\trash movie _C O W B O Y_ _C A N O E_ _C O M A_ Ein deutscher Western/A German Western -->> http://www.blacktrash.org/underdogma/ccc.html -->> http://www.blacktrash.org/underdogma/ccc-en.html

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losing audio sync during video capture
by DaveG 03 Jan '10

03 Jan '10

Any suggestions or link pointers on how to get around losing audio sync during video capture? FreeBSD 7.1 bktr0: <BrookTree 878> mem 0xe8005000-0xe8005fff irq 17 at device 8.0 on pci0 bktr0: [GIANT-LOCKED] bktr0: [ITHREAD] bktr0: Hauppauge Model 44805 D111 bktr0: Hauppauge WinCast/TV, Philips PAL I tuner. MEncoder 1.0rc2-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (Family: 15, Model: 3, Stepping: 4) CPUflags: Type: 15 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 #!/bin/sh length="-endpos 00:11:00" outfile=/home9/camcorder/camcorder.avi audio="-oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=128" filter="-vf pp=lb,crop=738:560:16:8,scale=738:290" bitrate="vbitrate=8000" video="-fps 25 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:ildct:ilme:vhq:keyint=250" mencoder -noskip -mc 0 tv://0 ${length} ${filter} ${video}:${bitrate} / ${audio} -of avi -ffourcc DX50 -o ${outfile} While capturing, framerate gets up to 24.9fps. Sound is lagging by at least 0.5s within 60s of playback. Should I be trying to "fix" the above command line or trying some other codec? Do I need a better capture card? Ideally I'd like the output file to be in DV for editing in kino but I can't get past the problem of two streams being required. Googling for dv encoding points to using -tv options such as amode=1, forceaudio etc. but mencoder, despite having amode and forceaudio in the man page mencoder insists it doesn't understand those options. Do you need any other info to help me out/point me in the right direction? -- Dave

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clean up TS ?
by Kevin Bailey 01 Jan '10

01 Jan '10

I have some digital TV recordings that my player is having trouble with. Its claiming that it can't find the PMTs. The player is ffmpeg based yet mplayer/mencoder have no trouble deciphering it. So I was hoping to have mencoder "clean it up". I tried completely re-encoding it: mencoder -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vbitrate=... but this threw off the timing in the player. I tried just converting the format: mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -of mpeg ... but this shrunk the file from 3GB to 100MB. Clearly wrong. So is there a way to either: - preferably, re-create the same TS stream, except with proper PMT blocks or - create a PS stream by copying the blocks without converting them (I'm hoping the player can grok PS) TIA

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Newbie question
by Ender wyvern 30 Dec '09

30 Dec '09

I'm trying to use mencoder to create a video slideshow with no audio using a set of jpeg images. My mencoder script (see below) works as long as all the images are in landscape orientation (4000x3000 instead of 3000x4000). If any of the images are portrait-oriented, the script fails. I don't control the orientation of the jpegs provided by the end user; they may be portrait or landscape. Therefore, I use imagemagick to resize and letterbox the portrait-oriented photos to 4000x3000. The script still fails if it contains these letterboxed images. Furthermore, even if I simply resize (and distort) the images to 4000x3000, the script *still* fails. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here? Thanks! C:\Documents and Settings\kleib\Desktop\New Folder>mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of rawvideo -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -vf scale=720:480,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=8000:keyint=18:vstrict=0:aspect=16/9 -ofps 30000/1001 -o convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image14.avi "mf://convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image1.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image2.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image3.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image4.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image5.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image6.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image7.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image8.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image9.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image10.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image11.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image12.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image13.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image14.JPG" -mf fps=1/3 -nosound MEncoder Sherpya-SVN-r29355-4.5.0 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team success: format: 16 data: 0x0 - 0x0 MF file format detected. [mf] filelist: convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image1.JPG,convert edFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image2.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoo m_UndefinedRoomId_Image3.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Imag e4.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image5.JPG,convertedFirstF loor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image6.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_Undefi nedRoomId_Image7.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image8.JPG,c onvertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image9.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_Fam ilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image10.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoom Id_Image11.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image12.JPG,conver tedFirstFloor_FamilyRoom_UndefinedRoomId_Image13.JPG,convertedFirstFloor_FamilyR oom_UndefinedRoomId_Image14.JPG [mf] number of files: 14 [demux_mf] file type was not set! trying 'type=JPG'... VIDEO: [IJPG] 0x0 24bpp 0.333 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s) [V] filefmt:16 fourcc:0x47504A49 size:0x0 fps:0.333 ftime:=3.0000 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: [scale w=720 h=480] ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family Unsupported PixelFormat -1 Selected video codec: [ffmjpeg] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MJPEG) ========================================================================== Unsupported PixelFormat 34 Unsupported PixelFormat 34 VDec: vo config request - 4000 x 3000 (preferred colorspace: Unknown 0x0000) 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.

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test
by Jean-Michel Bruenn 28 Dec '09

28 Dec '09

Hey, i hope i'm on the right maillinglist here. I'm wondering whether the mplayer/mencoder ac3 channel mapping at 5.1 is wrong or correct. This is quite difficult, because nearly every page i found related to this is saying something else. Some say it's LF, LR, C, LFE, LS, LR, others say it's LF, C, RF, LS, LR, LFE (which seems to be the correct variant, as my tests on different hw and sw players have shown and the dolby page at wikipedia explains) and Mplayer/Mencoder seems to use a totally different variant, it seems Center is on the 5th Channel. I'd be really glad if someone could write down the correct channel-mapping for ac3 and stop the overall confusion related to this.. Cheers Jean

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What is the fastest video codec/settings combo?
by Andrew Berg 28 Dec '09

28 Dec '09

I have some videos that are in sync as-is, but somehow become out-of-sync when I convert them. This is a problem with the cutting tools I have to deal with these special files, and I have no problems with sync when dealing with other videos. I want to test some things, but I have to convert at least 45 minutes of the video, and I want to do it as quickly as possible with almost no consideration given to quality. I only need to visually test sync, so big blocky or blurry blobs will do. Which codec available in MEncoder is the fastest, what should I use for its options, and are there any filters I can use to speed things up other than scale (to decrease the resolution)?

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Determining proper frame rate
by Andrew Berg 27 Dec '09

27 Dec '09

How would I determine a TV show's original frame rate? It could either be 24000/1001 or 30000/1001, but I don't know which. It looks like the latter and I would assume that generally only films are 24000/1001fps, but I can't say for sure.

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Mencoder won't strip DVB audio anymore
by Thomas Worthington 25 Dec '09

25 Dec '09

Hi, I used to covert DVB radio shows to mp3 using the command line mencoder <filename> -o <filename> -oac copy -ovc raw -of rawaudio -hr-edl-seek -edl <edlfile> -aid <aid> This was a very quick and useful way of getting radio shows onto an mp3 player with editing out of unwanted pre- and post- show material using Mythtv's editor. But at some point in the last year this stopped working and returns the error: MEncoder SVN-r29463-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x1e21cab4 TS file format detected. NO VIDEO! AUDIO MPA(pid=439) NO SUBS (yet)! PROGRAM N. 1 Video stream is mandatory! Is there any way to get the old behaviour back, or can anyone tell me which version of mencoder I need to revert to to get this working again? I've tried some other options but they either fail the same way or they won't let me use an edl file. -- Thomas Worthington

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