(Old) MediaShrink - An HTPC focused encoder

[evilpenguin]

This thread is closed, for the latest release/instructions see this new thread...

Older/Outdated info is below...

Release History:

• Beta1
• Beta2
• Latest: Dev Version

What it is:
There are a lot of great encoding tools out there (ffmpeg, mencoder, handbrake, etc.) but none of them are really focused on the specific needs of HTPC users. So I decided to create mediaShrink as a CLI front end that automatically mixes and matches the best encoding tools to use depending on the type of content you're trying to encode.

Is your video telecined?
Is it Interlaced?
Does it have embedded subtitles?
Does it need to be cropped?

MediaShrink will automatically scan the video and determine those answers for you so you end up with a great looking encode no matter what. And if you aren't' satisfied with the defaults, you can easily modify the settings until you're happy with the results.

Working on backing up your DVD's? MediaShrink can help you there too. It'll scan the DVD and automagically encode the main movie, include the main audio as well as any commentary tracks, and attach the closed captioning as a subtitle track. Working with TV show DVD's? No problem there either. It'll automatically pick out all of the episodes on the DVD and encode each of them individually.

Usage Instructions: See 2nd post

Download @ Sourceforge (Source Code)

Submitting Issues:

If you have any issue i'll need you to post the mediaEngine.log file that gets created next to the .exe. Otherwise I'll have no idea what the problem is.

Tools Used:
I can't take credit for much in this tool. 99% of of the work gets done by great tools written by other talented developers, I just wrote some perl code to get them all to play nice together.

• Comskip - Used for detecting crop settings and generating EDL files for commercial cutting.
• Mencoder - Used for detecting telecine, demuxing A/V, sampling DVD's to check for closed captioning, and encoding
• Handbrake - Used for scanning DVD's for titles, detecting processor types, and encoding
• ccextractorwin - Used for detecting/extracting closed captions embedded in recordings and DVD's
• mkvtoonix - Used for muxing mkv videos
• mp4box, mp4creator - Used for muxing mp4 videos
• ffmpeg/sageTVTranscoder - Used for creating test clips and detecting video properties
• And Lots More!

Known Issues:

[evilpenguin]

For the latest release/instructions see this post...

Older/Outdated info is below...

Basic Usage:

For general usage all you need to do is drag and drop videos, VIDEO_TS folders, and/or folders containing videos onto mediaShrink.exe and, by default it'll encode them using the AutoEncode profile.

AutoEncode Profile:

The AutoEncode profile will go inspect the video and automatically pick the encoding options for you.

SDTV:

Video: 1500 kbs h.264
Audio: 128 kbs AAC
Container: MKV
Extra Settings: Decomb, AutoCrop
Encoder: Handbrake

720p HDTV:

Video: 1500 kbs h.264
Audio: copy original 5.1 AC3 or 2 Channel 128 kbs AAC
Container: MKV
Extra Settings: Decomb, AutoCrop
Encoder: Handbrake

Note: I never IVTC 720p video (60 fps -> 23.976 fps). About half the time it'll end up with jerky video and/or the audio/video will be out of sync. IMHO the video looks great when left at 60 fps and x264 is so smart/efficient it'll recognize all of the duplicate frames and not waste a lot of bitrate on them

1080i HDTV:

Video: 1500 kbs h.264
Audio: copy original 5.1 AC3 or 2 Channel 128 kbs AAC
Container: MKV
Extra Settings: Scale to 720x???, Decomb, VFR if telecined, AutoCrop
Encoder: Handbrake

In addition if there are embedded closed captions it'll extract it and attach it to the MKV as a subtitle track. (I know Sage doesn't support them now, but hopefully they will eventually )

Advanced Usage:

MediaShrink reads all of its default options out of mediaShrink.defaults.txt which is right next to MediaShrink.exe and it is just a list of command line switches that will always be used.

These are the default options:

/defaultProfile autoEncode /scanDVDs

In addition you can also add any of the below, available, switches to further customize the encode

Available Switches:

• /(avi|mp4|mkv) - Force video to use specified container (default: mkv)
• /(divx|xvid|x264) - Force video to use specified encoder (default: x264)
• /(mp3|aac|aac|aac51|copyAudio) - Force audio to use specified encoder (default: aac)
• /cliBitrate "###" - Use specified video bitrate (default: 1500)
• /deinterlace - Use a deinterlacing filter
• /denoise- Use a denoising filter
• /reverseTelecine- Use a reverse telecine filter (Will convert video to 24 fps)
• /verticalScale "###" - Scale video vertically to specified height
• /horizontalScale "###" - Scale video horizontally to specified width
• /autoCrop - Automatically detect and crop out black bars
• /onePass - Do a one pass encode
• /inPlace - Replace the original video with the encoded one
• /forceMencoder - Force to use mencoder for encodes
• /cutComm - Cut commercials using VideoRedo or Mencoder (NOTE: SEE BELOW!!!!!)
• /onlyWhenVprj - Can be used with /cutComm to only cut commercials if a vprj file already exists.

Commercial Cutting:
Yes, this tool will cut commercials, but there are a few catches.

1. If your commercial detection isn't perfect then the encodes will either cut too much or to little. Crap in... crap out. You've been warned
2. By a wide margin, my recommended cutting method is to use VideoRedo. It costs $$$ but is well worth it in my opinion. Alternatively the tool can also attempt to cut the videos with mencoder but in my experience that fails 50% of the time.

I've tried many other tools and they are either un-scriptable and/or unreliable. If you've think you've got another tool that'll do the job, see if you can get it working 100% from the command line and if so let me know.

My advice: Buy VideoRedo and make your .vprj files by hand before you try and encode.

Why does this seem very similar to mediaScraper?:

Because it's 100% the same code, just different profiles

[S_M_E]

I like the idea but I'll wait for the instructions before I start asking questions...

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by S_M_E

I like the idea but I'll wait for the instructions before I start asking questions...

This looks awesome and I've been waiting for this since video tools 3.5 got scrapped.

However, i don't trust my self to play with this and not brake something. I'll wait on some instructions and give this a whirl.

Thanks EP.

[S_M_E]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

This looks awesome and I've been waiting for this since video tools 3.5 got scrapped.

However, i don't trust my self to play with this and not brake something. I'll wait on some instructions and give this a whirl.

Thanks EP.

VT3.5 *not* cropping if I dragged and dropped is why I stopped using it and moved to handbrake+gui...

[QueOnda]

EP, NICE. I'm waiting IMpatiently!!

[flashbacck]

If I read the other thread correctly, mediaShrink is not ment to be integrated into Sage like SVT was. If I just want to compress recordings, is there any benefit to switching over to this?

[evilpenguin]

To be completely honest, this tool did a lot more heavy lifting before Handbrake became so damn awesome that I just started using it for everything

But there's still a lot of benefits of using this as a wrapper for handbrake: Commercial Cutting, Closed Caption support, automatically encoding all episodes on a TV DVD, more accurate auto crop, and drag and drop operation. Basically, for me atleast, it just fills in the blanks that Handbrake hasn't filled in (yet ).

And if you're still using Sage's built in encoding, you should give this (or just handbrake a shot). The difference in the quality of the encodes is *staggering*.

[S_M_E]

Why isn't /autocrop a default, is there a reason not to crop?

What other options are recommended that aren't default?

[nyplayer]

EP,

I notice handbrake runs at normal priority is there a way to force it to run belownormal?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by S_M_E

Why isn't /autocrop a default, is there a reason not to crop?

What other options are recommended that aren't default?

All of my recommended options (autoCrop, decomb, mkv, x264, aac, etc.) get set by the AutoEncode profile automatically. The only reason you'd have to add it to the mediaShrink.defaults.txt file is if you were manually using the handbrake or mencoder profiles by themselves.

Edit: Oh, I see why you were confused. I went ahead and added AutoCrop to the list extra settings for all of the Auto Encode descriptions.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

EP,

I notice handbrake runs at normal priority is there a way to force it to run belownormal?

Ahh, I knew I forgot something. I've actually got that working in another branch, I just need to port it over.

[razrsharpe]

This looks awesome can't wait to try it out

One question: Does it handle multiple audio tracks for TV shows (.mpgs)? I just want to direct stream copy all the audio tracks. The reason I care is there is a bug in my recording of the local FOX feed (don't know if its on my end or on FOX's). Sometimes (occasionally and rarely but often enough to be REALLY annoying) my HDHR records 2 audio tracks. One of them is empty; the other contains the normal english soundtrack. Inevitably the empty one is the default. So in this case all I want to do is just copy both soundtracks.

Second question: I know .ts files (from the hd-pvr) crashed 3.5. Is that still the case?

Anyway it looks great and I can't wait to start using it.

[matt91]

EP -

IIRC, your prior video tools project provided for a Sage Recording -> DVD profile. That is, you could create a DVD from recorded TV shows.

I don't think I ever tried it, so this is just from memory.

Does this tool, now or perhaps in the future, allow for this use? (I'm not sure that I'd ever use it, but just curious).

Thanks for all the effort on these projects lately.

Matt

[Arioch5]

1080i HDTV:
Extra Settings: Scale to 720x???

Can you explain that a little? This looks like if I record OTA HD-TV with a HD-Homerun the auto profile will scale the video down to 720. I'm sure there's a good reason for it can you tell me why we would want this? Seems like you would lose quality.

[nyplayer]

EP,

I noticed you always use Decomb. Is there a way to not use Decomb if you choose not to?.

[S_M_E]

Can we drag and drop multiple files at once?

If so, does it join them or work like a batch of separate files?

[matt91]

The media scraper will process multiple-dragged files independently, I'm sure this does the same.

[S_M_E]

Every time I try to D&D a VIDEO_TS folder it runs for a second and quits with no conversion. Perhaps it's a Vista64 thing or, more likely, it's a UAC problem...or a bug.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

EP,

I noticed you always use Decomb. Is there a way to not use Decomb if you choose not to?.

You'd have to manually remove it from AutoEncode.profile by modifying this line.

    Encode CLI #8     =?>ORIGINAL:videoCodec=~mpeg2video&&!ORIGINAL:videoResolution=~(1280x|x720)&&!reverseTelecine<:>/deinterlace<?
    Encoder #8        =/setOptions

Originally Posted by S_M_E

Every time I try to D&D a VIDEO_TS folder it runs for a second and quits with no conversion. Perhaps it's a Vista64 thing or, more likely, it's a UAC problem...or a bug.

Are they UNC paths?