03-05-2003: myvcd for avi,dvd->mpeg/vcd/svcd encoding

[c_kuzmanic]

Just a quick note that I released a new version of myvcd (v.1.4.0)

Myvcd will now encode from dvd.

Script is available at :

http://s87461889.onlinehome.us/

Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Details below:

UPDATE: 03-05-2003

################################################################################

# IMPORTANT, READ THIS FIRST:

# When emerging mplayer, use the following command

# $ su
# $ USE="-truetype" emerge mplayer

# this will disable mplayer truetype support. Truetype support causes problems in current versions
# of mplayer (0.90_rc*) and will prevent mplayer from exiting properly. If you are compiling from
# source please configure mplayer to disable TrueType support.

# Mplayer should ALSO be configured to NOT use the gui by default, as this will interfere with command line execution of this script.
# Edit your /etc/mplayer.conf (systemwide) or the .mplayer/config in your home directory to include 'gui = no'
#
# If you plan to use myvcd to encode from DVD, you need to compile mplayer with dvd support, handled by libdvdread,
# using gentoo, simply add "dvd" to your use flags in /etc/make.conf and (re)emerge mplayer using the command above.

################################################################################


# Change Log:

# v.1.4.0 - 03-05-2003
# Ability to encode from /dev/dvd, chapter probing support through libmyvcd
# Added -xvcdout, -cvdout options.
# When encoding from dvd, -w option is no longer necessary since libmyvcd should
# auto-detect aspect ratio.
# Numerous code clean ups and bug fixes.

# v.1.3.3 - 04-02-2003
# Added 'using myvcd HOWTO'
# Identified mplayer truetype bug which will prevent mplayer from exiting properly,
# thus stalling the script.
# Added work-around 'USE="-truetype" emerge mplayer' to top of script.
#
# v.1.3.2 - 02-02-2003
# Fixed minor bug when not passing a number to the -sample option.
# Added smart-sizing of ouput *.bin/*.mpg files. Myvcd will now attempt to evenly split
# the encoded content using the maximum defined cd size.
# For example, instead of creating two vcd's where one has a playtime of 60 minutes and the other
# vcd would have a playtime of 30 minutes, myvcd will automatically adjust the output size to 2 vcd's with
# a playtime of 45 minutes each.
# Added sanity check to check for required files
# Numerous minor code clean-ups

# v.1.3.1 - 01-02-2002
# Numerous minor bug-fixes, clean-ups and refinements.
# Added configurable variable TV_NORM to define default (s)vcd target Television norm (pal or ntsc)
# Added -quality option to give user flexibility to define speed/quality of encoding

# v.1.3.0 - 12-27-2002
# Version released for download

# TODO:
# Ability to encode form multiple source files
# Better progress bar statistics
# Sampling frame options using mplayer -vo? png, to compare vcd vs svcd
# Add auto-update function using wget, needs install function too - update needs fixed path to script,eg. /usr/bin/myvcd
# Port this beast to Ruby, make it object-oriented and modular
# Add advanced logging for debugging options
# and (possibly) syntactic parser to diagnose the log file in case of error(s)


# LEGAL DISCLAIMER:

# The Author will not be be held responsible for any (mis)use of myvcd for any purposes whatsoever,
# and does not make any guarantees as to the usage/results of this script. Use this script at your
# own discretion,risk and in accordance with the law.

################################################################################
# README

# for Configurable options check the script'


# About:

# Myvcd is a simple, but sophisticated script which will encode any source
# readable by mplayer such as :
# mov, wmf, divx, avi, mpg,DVD files
# to high quality, compliant and (hopefully) functional (s)vcd's.
# The script aims to be as fail-safe and easy as possible while at the same time mainting a full set of configurable
# options for advanced usage.


# Important:

# mplayer should be configured to NOT use the gui by default, as this will interfere with command line execution of this script.
# Edit your /etc/mplayer.conf (systemwide) or the .mplayer/config in your home directory to include 'gui = no'
# If you plan to use myvcd to encode from dvd, you need to compile mplayer with dvd support, handled by libdvdread.
# In gentoo, simply add "dvd" to your use flags in /etc/make.conf and (re)emerge mplayer.

# Required Packages:
# Gentoo Installation: Other Distros, download url:

# transcode ($ emerge transcode) http://www.theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de/~ostreich/transcode
# mplayer ($ emerge mplayer) http://www.mplayerhq.hu/
# mjpegtools ($ emerge mjpegtools) http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
# vcdimager ($ emerge vcdimager) http://www.vcdimager.org/
# cdrdao ($ emerge cdrdao) http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/
# libdvdread ($ emerge libdvdread) http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/groups/dvd/

# Installation

# 1. If you use gentoo linux, simply emerge the packages shown above,
# if you use any other distro simply download the packages listed above and install them.

# 2. Once you have installed the necessary packages, untar the myvcd package and cd into the directory, then
# open myvcd with the text editor of your choice and set the 'CONFIGURABLE OPTIONS' section
# to your preferences. Don't forget to set CONFIGURE_ME to '0' once you are done.

3. Once configured, you are ready to install myvcd with the following command:
#``
# $ su
# $ ./myvcd -install # note the space between myvcd and -install, myvcd-install will not work:)

# Usage

# usage: myvcd <name> [options] [mplayer options]
#
# For detailed usage examples simply type "myvcd" at the command line

# For a short HOWTO to use myvcd, see the HOWTO section of this script, shown below..


# Technical Information:

# Quality Settings / Encoding Speed:
# Myvcd will apply medium quality settings by default, thus balancing between quality and encoding speed.
# To define quality settings other than medium, use the '-quality fast' or '-quality best' option.
# Myvcd should produce high quality (S)VCD's using the default medium quality option.
# Encoding speed will vary according to your hardware and system resources. The higher the quality setting,
# the slower the encoding process. Myvcd uses constant bit rate encoding, which will yield
# much higher quality output than variable bitrate encoding.


# Frame Rates:
# This script will not perform frame rate conversions, but will instead force TV_NORM compliant frame sizes.
# The input frame rate of your source file will determine the output frame rate. There is no explicit need to
# convert the ouput from one frame rate to another, since almost all modern DVD players are able to play both,
# NTSC and PAL frame rates without any problems.
# What myvcd will do is make sure that the output frame size matches the TV you use by
# setting TV_NORM.

# HOWTO - Using myvcd:

# UPDATED: 03-05-2003

# Note: Simplay typing 'myvcd' without arguments will show detailed usage info.

# EXAMPLE 1:

# Making a (s)vcd from an avi using myvcd.

# 1. After you installed myvcd and made sure that it is in your path,
# pick a directory where you want to encode files in.
# Make sure the drive on which the directory resides has aedequate space,
# since the resulting output files will be quite large, typcially 1.2 - 1.6 Gigabyte
# for a 2 hour source file.

# 2. I't's allways a good idea to make a short sample of our output file first,
# this way we can preview what myvcd will actually spit out before we go
# through the trouble of encoding the whole file. This is the point where we would
# decide which quality setting to use. By default, myvcd is set to medium quality settings,
# this setting will yield high quality output at a reasonable rate of encoding speed.
# For the purpose of this howto we will assume you are using avi source file, note that you could also
# use other mplayer supported files such as mpeg, wmf and mov files.
#
# Let's create and view a sample with the following command:

# $ myvcd test-vcd -sample -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi


# Here's a step-bystep description of what will happen now:


# 1) Myvcd will probe the source file and determine the configuration options to
# which to encode the output file with.
#
# 2) Myvcd will then open mplayer, play the sourcefile and pipe the output
# to the encoder, which will encode the provided data into the ouput *.mpv mpeg video file.
# All the audio content will be dumped into a raw wav file
# which will be encoded next, after the video encoding process is finished..

# 3) Once mplayer is finished, the encoder will encode the raw audio dump
# into the *.mpa mpeg audio file.

# 4) Finally, once the ouput mpeg video and audio files are encoded,
# my vcd will multiplex (mix) the audio and video file into the finished *.mpg
# file, and play it using mplayer.

# Once the sample is playing, press 'F' to view the
# sample in full screen and have a look at the resulting quality. You will see that the resulting
# sample will be formatted in wide screen format 16:9, due to the fact that we used
# the -w {output in widescreen} option, the default aspect ratio is 4:3.

# Press 'Q' to quit mplayer and have a look at the resulting output files in the encoding
# directory. You will see
# a:) An *.mpv file - This is the encoded mpeg output video, temporary file
# b:) An *.mpa file - This is the encoded audio file, temporary file
# c:) The multiplexed *.mpg - The finished ouput file, in the next step we will make an image of it using vcdimager
# So far, we only made a sample mpg.
# d) The audiodump file and stream pipe. ---> temporary files

# Note that you can remove, all of the temporary files after you are done encoding the entire movie,
# For now after making the sample just leave them there.

# Syntax to make a sample in detail:

# $ myvcd test-vcd -sample -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi
# {output name} {make a sample} {ouput in widescreen} {sourcefile location}

#
# IMPORTANT: You should have mplayerconfigured to NOT use the GUI by
# default since this will interfere with this script. See the top of this script for info on how to configure mplayer.
#
# 4. Ok, now let's have a look at the sample using the highest quality setting.

# $ myvcd test-vcd -quality best -sample -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi

# Again, after encoding is finished, player will play the sample output *.mpg file. Switch to fullscreen mode
# by pressing "F" on the keyboard and take a look at the ouput. You will notice that the quality of the ouput
# file will have increased, don't be dissapointed if you don't see a radical difference, myvcd does pretty well using
# -quality fast and the -quality medium option.

# 5. Good, now that we have seen two samples, we're ready to encode the entire file, and let's use the -quality medium
# option. This option is the default myvcd option, so just calling myvcd qithout -quality explicitely set will
# use medium quality settings..

# $ myvcd test-vcd -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi
#
# And that's it. Myvcd will now probe and encode the sourcefile, then create the burnable *.bin/*.cue vcd-image(s).

# 6. After the encoding process is finished, you will see the resulting *.bin/*.cue files in your encoding directory.
# Use the cdrecording software of you choice to record the image, if you use kde, arson (a very nice gui front end to
# cdrdao) to burn *.cue/*.bin images.

# Alternatively, you can also use myvcd to burn the resulting image, by using the -burnonly option.
#
# $ myvcd test-vcd -burnonly

# This will result in myvcd prompting you to insert a cd. Put a cd in your cdrecording device, and press "Enter".
# Myvcd will now burn each of the images to cd. If your're output is split into several *.bin files, myvcd will
# eject the finished cd and prompt you for the next cd after it is done with the first one.

# You can also tell myvcd to burn the images right after it's finished encoding by using the -burn option

# $ myvcd test-vcd -burn -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi

# This will encode and burn the ouput requiring no further user interaction, except confiramtion that the
# cd has been put into the drive.

# 7. And that's it !

# Using the example above, you have sampled your source, created the output files, and burnt
# the ouput to vcd(s).

# If you want to ouput to svcd instead of vcd, you simply use the -svcdout option.

# $ myvcd test-svcd -sample -svcdout -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi

# $ myvcd test-svcd -svcdout -w /home/user/my_encode_dir/my_sourcefile.avi



# EXAMPLE 2:

# Making a (s)vcd directly from a dvd using myvcd.

# IMPORTANT: If you encode chapters of less than 30 seconds in length,
# you might get audio-video sync problems. Only encode chapters of more than 30
# seconds in length.

# 1. This example will assume that your dvd device is set up properly, also make sure
# you set the path to your dvd device properly in the CONFIGURABLE OPTIONS
# section below.

# 2. If your dvd device is functional, let's start by making a sample and view the output
# before we do a full encode. For this example we will use the -quality fast option to speed
# up the encoding process:

# $ myvcd test -sample -quality fast -w -dvd 1

# (Note that the -w option will tell myvcd to encode the ouput to widescreen
# 16:9 format. When encoding from dvd, myvcd should be able to autodetect
# if the source is encoded in 4:3 or 16:9 and should adjust the output automatically,
# therefore when encoding from dvd you should be able to omit the -w option.)

# Myvcd wiil now probe /dev/dvd and probe if there are chapters on the dvd. If it finds chapters,
# it will displayed detailed chapter information and prompt you for a selection of chapters you wish to encode.

# Select a a single chapter for now since we are just making a sample. After you have selected the chapter, myvcd will
# procede to encode the chapter, multliplex the audio and video ouput, and then open mplayer to view the sample. You can
# also tell myvcd to encode chapters without prompting you for them first by using the -chapter option,e.g.:

# $ myvcd test -quality fast -dvd 1 -chapter 2-7

# for multiple chapters or

# $ myvcd test -quality fast -dvd 1 -chapter 5 , for single chapters

# 3. Now that you have seen a sample of what your output will look like,
# let's can experiment with different ouput options, such as -quality best, or -svcdout, -cvdout and -xvcdout
# to see how different ouput formats will look like:

# $ myvcd test -sample -quality best -dvd 1

# The above command will tell myvcd to apply the highest search radius while encoding, and will
# improve quality on fast-motion (s)vcd's.

# $ myvcd test -sample -quality best -xvcdout -dvd 1

# Same as previous example, but now output will be encoded to xvcd format which means that the output
# will have 1800 kbs instead of the standard 1152 kbs. The -xvcd option will greatly improve quality for
# vcd's and is a great alternative to the -svcdout option since encoding is much faster but quality only slightly
# decreased. Note that especially older dvd players might not support the xvcd format.

# $ myvcd test -sample -quality best -svcdout -dvd 1

# The above example will encode to svcd format. Output quality is usually best with the -svcdout option, however
# especially on slower computer systems the encoding can be painfully slow. If encoding speed is an issue, you should
# stick to the xvcd format by using the -xvcdout instead of the -svcdout option.

# $ myvcd test -sample -cvdout -dvd 1

# The above example will produce an cvd format svcd, the difference being that the ouput is encoded with the standard svcd bitrate
# but at smaller output resolution than svcd. Note that especially older DVD players might not support the cvd format.
# The -cvdout option is provided mostly for convenience, I find -svcdout to yield much higher quality output than -cvdout.

# Note that all the examples above will produce ouput of exactly 1000 frames in length.
# If for some reason you want to produce longer samples you can do this by providing a frame number to the -sample option:

# $ myvcd test -sample 3000 -quality best -dvd 1

# The above example will encode 3000 frames to the sample in default vcd format.

# Finally, you can also specify where to start the encode process:

# $ myvcd test -sample 3000 -seek 01:00 -dvd 1 -chapter 4

# This will forward to 1 minute of playback on chapter 4 and then start the encode process.

# 4. Ok, now that you have seen what exactly myvcd will produce using different output options,
# let's rip and encode the dvd, we'll assume that you will encode to the xvcd format:

# $ myvcd test -quality best -xvcdout -dvd 1

# After you are done selecting the chapters, myvcd start encoding and produce the *.cue / *.bin images.

# 5. What about chapters ???

# The current version of myvcd does support not ripping chapter information, however myvcd version 2.0
# will support automatic ripping of chapters and generation of menus with still images.


# Further examples

# For more examples using myvcd, simply type:

# $ myvcd

# At the command line. This will bring up details and examples of myvcd usage and options.

[c_kuzmanic]

UPDATE: Just fixed a minor bug when using the -sample option without specifying a number of frames, script has been updated:)

[c_kuzmanic]

UPDATE:

New Version 1.3.3, 04-02-2003

Myvcd will now work with ALL versions of mplayer. The cause of earlier problems was a mplayer-truetype bug which would prevent mplayer from finishing the process, thus stalling the script. See the update readme at the top of this post for details.

I also added a 'Using myvcd to encode vcd's HOWTO' inside the script. Once I get some more feedback and there are no problems, I will submit this script as an ebuild to the portage tree.

I encourage everybody interested to try the script an post feedback, myvcd is a remarkably easy and reliable way to encode (s)vcds in linux.

Enjoy:)

[bsnipes]

Wow! Exactly what I was looking for! I like the 'burn' option!
Now for the requests :
- an option to use /dev/dvd as a source

Currently I use another script I found to create the source avi file but it would be great if you script did this one extra thing also....

Brian

[c_kuzmanic]

[dweebs0r]

How soon before you do a gui? I know i'm spoiled but I really like the way dvd:ripper lets you select a chapter, point and click. Great work thus far.

--Dweebs

[mlybarger]

can anyone who's used this comment on the quality of the vcd's? i've created in the past vcd's using an array of tools on windows (Mpgenc?) and had excellent results. i tried to use dvd::rip in the past on linux, just to extract the vob's but they seemed to produce troubled vcd's (audio slightly off, picture problems, etc). finally, i was left to only using linux for the vcdimager/burning portion of the process.

once i can get mplayer/xine to play the dvd's i'll definately give this a shot.

[dweebs0r]

I dont know if I used the program correctly. I used dvd:ripper to create a Divx of a Simpsons episode from the Season 2 DVD and then used myvcd to convert it to an svcd. The quality was descent but it was hard to judge because it was a cartoon. I tried creating an SVCD with dvd:ripper alone and the quality was terrible. I'm used to the quality of cinema craft encoder under windows and the quality wasnt acceptable in comparison. I even tried installing vmware and installing windows 2000 on it but couldnt get dvd2svcd working under that environment. Anyone who rips svcds in Linux (with good quality results) post a quick and dirty how-to.

--Dweebs

[mlybarger]

i thought the point of this myvcd was to convert dvd -> vcd? you certainly don't want to go from dvd->avi/divx -> vcd. i would expect quality to suck in that case.

i think we're all after the same thing here -> quick and easy software for dvd -> vcd under linux. we'll see how myvcd pans out

[c_kuzmanic]

Myvcd can produce very high quality ouput files, in terms of quality definitely comparable to TMPGenc for windows. Myvcd uses constant bitrate encoding by default, which produces higher quality output than variable bitrate encoding.

I'm probably biased, but I think you should probably just give it a try

[c_kuzmanic]

[dweebs0r]

I didnt add the -quality best tag. I had tried encoding from a divx that I made as high quality as possible thinking that was where my problem was. Stupid question, if I want to encode a particular dvd chapter what is the command line format id use (can i use something like dvd:ripper to determine start and finish point of a particular chapter).

--Dweebs

[jetblack]

[c_kuzmanic]

EDIT: Made a mistake while typing earlier look below for the new post regarding ripping from dvd chapters:

[c_kuzmanic]

[dweebs0r]

Thanks! Ill try this today and post my results. Ive said it once before on these forums that the proggie dvd2svcd is the last thread keeping my windows partitian in place. If the quality of these rivals that of tmpeg and cce than its bye bye xp!

--Dweebs

[mlybarger]

i'm seeing the following trying the dvd example in the script.. any suggestions?

[code]connect: Invalid argument
ERROR: Could not probe sourcefile for frame rate. Did you give a valid sourcefile name and path?[/code]

[c_kuzmanic]

[mlybarger]

i don't have any avi's or wmv files (compressed video). i'm trying to backup a dvd... looking forward to your update!

[c_kuzmanic]

Just a quick update to let you know that a new version of myvcd will be available soon. The new version features encoding from /dev/dvd and can encode by track aswell as chapters. A new adjunct library for my mvcd, called libmyvcd is able to extract detailed chapter information and display that before encoding begins, much like dvd:rip .
Myvcd is now also able to auto-probe the source(files) for the proper aspect ratio (16:9 vs 4:3) and will apply it automatically during the encode, hence making the -w option for specifying wide-screen output obsolete. Numerous small improvements have also been made. The new version of myvcd will be up as soon as I'm finished testing.

[dweebs0r]

I want a gui!

/me is spoiled.

--Dweebs

[tomlow]

[c_kuzmanic]

[Anubis]

From other thread:

[abracadaver]

this is a really great script! it has almost all the options I could want, and I hope i just overlooked something in the readme and the script does in fact have this last option I need, anyway, I would like to change the resolution (specifically make a vcd at 352x480) is it possible to do this with a command or is there something I can change/add to the script itself? this is still a really great script, I must say I'm very impressed (and im really sorry if i just didn't rtfm well enough, i've just been searching for something to convert divx to (s)vcd decently all day and im tired lol)