[MEncoder-users] Re: Re: Re: Re: Tutorial?

[The Wanderer]

Dieter wrote:

>> It is not the domain of the MPlayer documentation (at least not the
>> man page) to explain such basic ideas in more than the most general
>> of terms, if indeed at all. If people really don't understand these
>> things from the information which *is* provided, then they need to
>> educate themselves elsewhere before they can make meaningful use of
>> *any* video encoder - not just MEncoder.
> 
> One shouldn't need to be a world-class video guru to record and play
> back a video.  It wasn't necessary with VCRs and it shouldn't be
> necessary with DVRs.

And it isn't. However, even VHS had its own specialized terminology
(SP/LP/EP, for the first thing which springs to a just-awake mind), and
the stories about difficulties with "programming a VCR" are legendary -
but if all you wanted to do was stick in some random cassette and hit
Record, you could get minimally adequate results. Likewise, if you just
pass a video source to MEncoder and take the defaults, then unless the
source is weird in some way (and there are probably too many ways to
list briefly), you should get minimally adequate results... but if you
want to understand what is going on and gain more control over the
process, you need to do some more work.

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.