Cmd Line MPEG4 Encoder - ffmpeg

[mlbdude]

Anyone know of a good DivX encoder that either has an API or good command line options?

I am looking into doing some kind of re-compression that integrates into the Sage UI. I have done a little looking and don't see anything good.

If I can't find something as good as the current tools out there to do it manually, I probably won't bother .

There must be something .

[nielm]

I was (unpleasantly) surprised about how few 'decent' avi encoders there are... This coupled with how few 'decent' VFW mpeg2 decoders makes mpeg2->avi quite a pain...

The fastest I have found so far seems to be the Gknot solution of Mpg(video)->DGindex->d2V->GKnot/AviSynth->VirtualDubMod; together with Mpg(audio)->BeSweet->mp3; for audio, and then in VirtualDubMode.

VirtualDubMod does read mpeg2 video, and seems to be scriptable, but cannot recode the mpeg2 audio stream, and it's video decompresser seems to be very slow, incomparison with the Gknot solution...

I have not actually tried AutoGK yet, maybe this is more suitable, but it appeared to be only for DVD->DivX than MPEG2->DivX [Edit]: and AutoGK FAQ says no CLI mode, ever!... [/Edit]

In any case, the www.Doom9.org forums are full of information like this, and thir Download page seems to have every video software ever imagened!

[thatdude90210]

I've used AutoGK, it's very nice. It's easy to use and the results are fantastic. The only thing I have to set is 350MB for a 1 hour show, and 512pixel width, and the results look almost as good on tv as the original mpeg.

But right now, AutoGK seems to only accept input from folders that looks like ripped dvd stucture. So usually I just use TMPGenc dvd author to edit out commercials and author to a folder, then use AutoGK. I started doing it this way because the first time I tried Gknot, it just looked too confusing.

[cgrey]

Originally posted by thatdude90210
I've used AutoGK, it's very nice. It's easy to use and the results are fantastic. The only thing I have to set is 350MB for a 1 hour show, and 512pixel width, and the results look almost as good on tv as the original mpeg.

But right now, AutoGK seems to only accept input from folders that looks like ripped dvd stucture. So usually I just use TMPGenc dvd author to edit out commercials and author to a folder, then use AutoGK. I started doing it this way because the first time I tried Gknot, it just looked too confusing.

I don't want to take this too far off-topic, since no matter what, AutoGK is still not a command-line solution - but, the current (1.35b) version does support MPG file input, you just need to enable it (check the FAQ - I think it's CTRL-F12).

[thatdude90210]

Originally posted by cgrey
I don't want to take this too far off-topic, since no matter what, AutoGK is still not a command-line solution - but, the current (1.35b) version does support MPG file input, you just need to enable it (check the FAQ - I think it's CTRL-F12).

Thanks for the heads-up, I just checked my version and I'm way behind with v1.23b, heh. Looks like they have 1.42beta out now.

[mlbdude]

At this point I can't seem to find anything good to use that even comes close to the quality of the manual tools out there. I will keep on eye on this thread for awhile, though, but I feel this project may never happen .

[edbmdave]

Dr. DivX is supposed to release a new version in July that will have increased batch capablities. You might want to check with thekidd at the forums on www.divx.com. He might be willing to spill the beans to a developer working on a module for SageTV than to us commoners. But there was some hinting that CLE might be available.

[dmidtbo]

In another thread someone suggested HGRip as a command line compressor. I havn't tried it myself, but it looks promising for integration with SageTV. It sounds similar to autoGK, but has command line options.

Other Thread

Here is the link:

HGRip

[clavinniu]

Screw DivX. XVID has much better quality and compression and it's open source.

[mlbdude]

I would love to use XVid too. Same questions for it as well. I don't see any decent MPEG4 cmd line tools.

I will check out HGRIp.

[justme]

I personally prefer Xvid as well. I think the quality is better especially for anime. But you do have to admit that if you just want to do something quick and dirty then Dr Divx is good(too bad it lacks CLI ATM). Which ever(Divx/Xvid) is used the trick is getting a app that has good CLI support(read functions and documentation) and doesn't need much info from us to get going. Without that I can't see MlbDude going anyhwere with this. There's no need for him to have to re-invent GK or any of other apps of that style. I'll never understand why so many developers leave off CLI support, when it's such a usefull thing. Here's hoping HGRIp is a winner.

/justme

[dmidtbo]

I just tested HGRip and I think we have a winner for 3rd party integration with Sage. It only works with XVID (not DIVX) but I like XVID better anyway.

The command line options are simple and it has a decryptor built in, unlike AutoGK which required DVDDecryptor to run separately before compression.

The command line is simple, for (ac3 audio / high quality video):

HGRip ac3high

Read the advancedoptions.txt that comes with it to see other useful command line commands.

It took about 3 hours to convert a DVD->AVI(Mpeg4/xvid) on an XP1800+. It went from 5.7gigs to 1.3gigs. Watched the movie afterwards and it looked and sounded good.

A simple batch file could move the .avi file it generates to the library after it finishes running.

One minor problem is that by default it brings up a couple small windows during processing. It should be possible to have them start minimized so they won't be in the way.

[JUC]

Will we be able to use this to compress MPEGs recorded by Sage as well?
JUC

[Crashless]

I was doing some digging and it seems Virtualdub has command line options.

The Scripting Doc

Scripted Job Creation

VirtualDubMPEG-2 Upgrade (my favorite)

VirtualDub Forums

I hope these help. This would be such a great feature. Let me know if you need someone to help test/develop it.

[Jason]

FFMpeg is also out there... It is command line based as well.

FFmpeg is a complete solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It is a command line tool to convert one video file format to another. It also supports grabbing and encoding in real time from a TV card.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=263

http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/

When you couple this with changing the priority of the actual program, you can eliminate most of the drag on the system...

-Jason

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by Jason
FFMpeg is also out there... It is command line based as well.



http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=263

http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/

When you couple this with changing the priority of the actual program, you can eliminate most of the drag on the system...

-Jason

ffmpeg seems perfect. I may go with this one. Only thing is it seems to only do MPEG4 ISO and not Divx or Xvid. Not sure this is a bad thing yet as the files will work great with Sage and won't require updating codecs.

[edbmdave]

Does anyone know what the pros / cons of using MPEG4 vs. XVID?

I really like the compression and quality I have gotten from using DIVX and XVID but have no MPEG4 experience.

Do we know if the project is actively moving and supported? It looks like the last release was 9/2003 (almost a year ago).

[stanger89]

Originally posted by edbmdave
Does anyone know what the pros / cons of using MPEG4 vs. XVID?

I really like the compression and quality I have gotten from using DIVX and XVID but have no MPEG4 experience.

Do we know if the project is actively moving and supported? It looks like the last release was 9/2003 (almost a year ago).

DivX and XviD are variants of MPEG-4 or "MPEG-4 compatible"

from the Xvid FAQ
XviD is an ISO MPEG-4 compliant video codec. It's no product, it's an open source project which is developed and maintained by lots of people from all over the world.

from About DivX
DivX technology is compatible with the MPEG-4 video compression standard...

[edbmdave]

Sorry, let me better qualify my question. Does anyone know what type of compression and quality are rendered by the ffmpeg product, and do we know what type of ongoing support it has?

[mlbdude]

OK, just an update on this. I now have the UI modified with a "Compress" option in the recording details section for a recording. This will dump out an XML file to a configurable location.

The XML file contains all information needed for encoding (source path, dest path, video bit-rate, audio bit-rate, and show information).

What I had planned on doing is developing another application that a user can schedule and configure on any machine (not just the SageTV server box) that would poll this directory and process those jobs. Since the user would have to schedule this job themselves in Windows Scheduler the user could define when and how often the job would run.

The program would compress each MPEG2 to MPEG4 using ffmpeg to the destination folder plus title subdirectory. I envision the destination folder to be somewhere under the SageTV servers video library structure. The program would also output an appropriate .my file that would contain the meta data for the show (title, description) that would be visible in the SageTV video library.

Here is my immediate problem. I am out of time . I am building a house so my free time is limited for the next month or so. Do I have any volunteers I can work with to do the compression program?

Thanks!