CP> filesize = length * (video_bitrate + audio_bitrate) CP> hardly complicated. of course if you can't be arsed to even do that, try CP> my program... http://acidrip.thirtythreeandathird.net . And eitherway, CP> with 3-pass encoding mencoder DOES recommend a bitrate.
... hardly rocket science EXCEPT that the codecs appear to be VBR... and i've tried using the calculated settings and i'm getting much smaller files than it says (which isn't a bad thing and they look fine. so it's not a big issue for DVD rips)
well divx uses a variable bitrate yes, but you can still get an accurate approximation. i use that simple equation, and using abr on mp3 my files are nearly *always* 683 to 686 megabytes. works great, however approximate it might be.
But i'd also like to use the program to encode motion graphics etc that i create for distro across the net. my video, so it's not going to be for CDs... so the estimations that mplayer gives me aren't neccesarily that useful.
good for you. i still say calculations are fine, assuming you can make reasonable assumptions about the source video. chris xxxx