HOWTO conveniently convert videos using mencoder, x264

[fangorn]

I just posted an update to riptoh264

Also I had a little free time on my hands so I updated my menc script. It has some neat new features now but depends on avi2mkv for Matroska muxing.

@SlashBeast
Try the menc script for your problem. I tried it with some sources and it worked, but I did not have any subtitles at hand.

Try this command (including the " and the \")

Code: Select all

menc  -p htcmagic -R "-fontconfig -font \"Arial Black\" -subfont-text-scale 2.7 -sub-bg-alpha 150 -subpos 97 -subcp cp1250 -sub <subfile>" <inputfile>

you can also add 2pass encoding, but atm all other options for video processing (like deinterlacing, denoising, ... ) are ignored.

[SlashBeast]

35-38fps on core2 t7500 and 720p source, after encoding I have something about MP4 Container and just dropped to shell, still ${name}_tmp.mp4 and... this file dont work at all, even ffmpeg cant read it.

[fangorn]

OK, my test file was standard PAL and I only played it in VLC as I don't own any mobile devices. That is why I wanted you to test it.

Can you paste the log files and the output from the shell somewhere so I can try to debug?

[fangorn]

I just updated avi2mkv. It now has some exciting new features. See the according post for a list

Also I updated all my other scripts to reflect this new features. Even if they are not using them all atm.

@SlashBeast
Please update the scripts and try again with menc, adding the -4 option and replacing "-p htcmagic" by "-p htm". (while using the command line given before)

[durian]

Can these be downloaded from somewhere? They are too large for my copy/paste buffer at least...

-peter

[fangorn]

Not at the moment. I am working on a solution to place them somewhere always accessible. My dyndns is too unstable for that.

[fangorn]

I just changed my distribution scheme. You can now download always the newest version from a server and the forum is some kB smaller The first post contains a link list to the newest versions.

[durian]

Nice, thanks!

-peter

[fuzzybee]

I'm trying to use your scripts to shrink a Blu-Ray rip mkv file. I enter:

~ # blu2mkv -nB -p bd40 /var/video/movies/New_rips/The_Hangover.mkv

and I get:

Code: Select all

Width = 1920
Height = 1080
Aspect = 1.77777777777778
Aspect should be 1.77777777777778
Source Framerate: 23.976
Input Framerate used: 24000/1001
Output Framerate used: 24000/1001
Resolution = 1280:720
Do not scale is yes
video is interlaced: no
dynamic noise reduction is active: no

using audio stream one
No audio stream specified. Trying to use specified languages if specified in source file. If not, default stream will be used.
MPlayer SVN-r29796-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team

Playing /var/video/movies/New_rips/The_Hangover.mkv.
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_TRUEHD) "5.1", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Track ID 3: audio (A_AC3) "3/2+1", -aid 1, -alang eng
[mkv] Subtitle type 'S_HDMV/PGS' is not supported.
[mkv] Track ID 4: subtitles (S_HDMV/PGS), -sid 0, -slang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO:  [WVC1]  1920x1080  24bpp  23.976 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
Core dumped ;)

Exiting... (End of file)
calling external program choose_x264_encoding_parameters.sh
external call was successfull
using seleted preset bd40
not resizing video
video filters used for first pass:  -vf harddup
MEncoder SVN-r29796-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0x81563005
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_TRUEHD) "5.1", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Track ID 3: audio (A_AC3) "3/2+1", -aid 1, -alang eng
[mkv] Track ID 4: subtitles (S_HDMV/PGS), -sid 0, -slang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO:  [WVC1]  1920x1080  24bpp  23.976 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:31  fourcc:0x31435657  size:1920x1080  fps:23.976  ftime:=0.0417
Input fps will be interpreted as 23.976 instead.
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 0
Opening video filter: [harddup]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffvc1] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg WVC1)
==========================================================================

Exiting...
video filters used for second pass:  -vf harddup
MEncoder SVN-r29796-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0x81563005
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_TRUEHD) "5.1", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Track ID 3: audio (A_AC3) "3/2+1", -aid 1, -alang eng
[mkv] Track ID 4: subtitles (S_HDMV/PGS), -sid 0, -slang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO:  [WVC1]  1920x1080  24bpp  23.976 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:31  fourcc:0x31435657  size:1920x1080  fps:23.976  ftime:=0.0417
Input fps will be interpreted as 23.976 instead.
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 0
Opening video filter: [harddup]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffvc1] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg WVC1)
==========================================================================

Exiting...
muxing to Matroska container
mkvmerge v2.9.7 ('Tenderness') built on Dec 11 2009 09:57:09
Error: The file 'The_Hangover.avi' has unknown type. Please have a look at the supported file types ('mkvmerge --list-types') and contact the author Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org> if your file type is supported but not recognized properly.

In my file's directory, I have:
0 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover.avi
408 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_avi2mkv_command.log
237 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_avi2mkv_mkvmerge_info.txt
118 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_avi2mkv_mplayer_info.txt
1400 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_commands.log
1136497886 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_eng.ac3
59 2010-01-21 23:45 The_Hangover_file_info.txt
624 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_mencoder.log
15054811141 2010-01-21 06:34 The_Hangover.mkv
3655 2010-01-21 23:45 The_Hangover_mplayer_info.txt
375 2010-01-21 23:47 The_Hangover_x264_encoding_parameters.txt


Any suggestions as to what I can change to get this working?

[fangorn]

OK, this is a case I have not tested. Your source has

1. TrueHD main audio stream
2. 2 audio streams with the same language setting
3. SUP format subtitles (that are ignored and should not cause any problems)

Could you paste The_Hangover_commands.log The_Hangover_file_info.txt The_Hangover_mencoder.log The_Hangover_mplayer_info.txt and The_Hangover_x264_encoding_parameters.txt somewhere? nopaste.info for example.

Easy fix: use mmg to reduce to one audio stream and no subtitle and encoding should work, regardless if audio is TrueHD or simple AC3. Also it should not be a problem if an unsupported subtitle is present, but I dont know because I did not test it explicitely.

As an alternative you can use the mmg Header Editor to change the language setting of one of the audio streams to an unneeded value (by default "ger" and "eng" are used and you choose "hun" for example)

I will look into the problem, but I don't know when I will have a solution.

[fuzzybee]

OK, this is a case I have not tested. Your source has

1. TrueHD main audio stream
2. 2 audio streams with the same language setting
3. SUP format subtitles (that are ignored and should not cause any problems)

Could you paste The_Hangover_commands.log The_Hangover_file_info.txt The_Hangover_mencoder.log The_Hangover_mplayer_info.txt and The_Hangover_x264_encoding_parameters.txt somewhere? nopaste.info for example.

Easy fix: use mmg to reduce to one audio stream and no subtitle and encoding should work, regardless if audio is TrueHD or simple AC3. Also it should not be a problem if an unsupported subtitle is present, but I dont know because I did not test it explicitely.

As an alternative you can use the mmg Header Editor to change the language setting of one of the audio streams to an unneeded value (by default "ger" and "eng" are used and you choose "hun" for example)

I will look into the problem, but I don't know when I will have a solution.

Thanks for the reply!

Here you go:
http://nopaste.info/aeb38f2675.html (I hope I did that right).

[fuzzybee]

I may be able to try the mmg when I get home - I'm just using CLI right now.

[fuzzybee]

OK - I installed mmg and took out the subtitles and the TrueHD track. Once again, it puls out the AC3 track and then stops:

# blu2mkv -nB -p bd40 /var/video/movies/New_rips/The_Hangover-b.mkv
Width = 1920
Height = 1080
Aspect = 1.77777777777778
Aspect should be 1.77777777777778
Source Framerate: 23.976
Input Framerate used: 24000/1001
Output Framerate used: 24000/1001
Resolution = 1280:720
Do not scale is yes
video is interlaced: no
dynamic noise reduction is active: no

using audio stream one
No audio stream specified. Trying to use specified languages if specified in source file. If not, default stream will be used.
MPlayer SVN-r29796-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team

Playing /var/video/movies/New_rips/The_Hangover-b.mkv.
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_AC3) "3/2+1", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO: [WVC1] 1920x1080 24bpp 23.976 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
Core dumped

Exiting... (End of file)
calling external program choose_x264_encoding_parameters.sh
external call was successfull
using seleted preset bd40
not resizing video
video filters used for first pass: -vf harddup
MEncoder SVN-r29796-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x3af767e6
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_AC3) "3/2+1", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO: [WVC1] 1920x1080 24bpp 23.976 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:31 fourcc:0x31435657 size:1920x1080 fps:23.976 ftime:=0.0417
Input fps will be interpreted as 23.976 instead.
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 640.0 kbit/41.67% (ratio: 80000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 0
Opening video filter: [harddup]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffvc1] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg WVC1)
==========================================================================
audiocodec: framecopy (format=2000 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=16 B/s=80000 sample-1)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.

Exiting...
video filters used for second pass: -vf harddup
MEncoder SVN-r29796-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x3af767e6
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_AC3) "3/2+1", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO: [WVC1] 1920x1080 24bpp 23.976 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:31 fourcc:0x31435657 size:1920x1080 fps:23.976 ftime:=0.0417
Input fps will be interpreted as 23.976 instead.
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 640.0 kbit/41.67% (ratio: 80000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 0
Opening video filter: [harddup]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffvc1] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg WVC1)
==========================================================================
audiocodec: framecopy (format=2000 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=16 B/s=80000 sample-1)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.

Exiting...
muxing to Matroska container
mkvmerge v2.9.7 ('Tenderness') built on Jan 23 2010 09:46:28
Error: The file 'The_Hangover-b.avi' has unknown type. Please have a look at the supported file types ('mkvmerge --list-types') and contact the author Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org> if your file type is supported but not recognized properly.

[fangorn]

Is your mplayer/ffmpeg built with support for vc1/wmv3 video? What versions are you using?

[fuzzybee]

I have installed each from their packages:

media-video/mplayer
Installed versions: 1.0_rc4_p20091026-r1(04:40:44 PM 12/31/2009)(3dnow 3dnowext X a52 aac alsa ass cddb cdio dirac dts dv dvb dvd dvdnav enca encode faac faad iconv ipv6 jack jpeg kernel_linux live mad mmx mmxext mp3 network opengl osdmenu oss quicktime rar real rtc schroedinger sdl shm speex sse sse2 theora toolame tremor truetype twolame unicode video_cards_nvidia vorbis x264 xinerama xscreensaver xv xvid xvmc -aalib -altivec -bidi -bindist -bl -bs2b -cdparanoia -cpudetection -custom-cpuopts -debug -dga -directfb -doc -dxr3 -esd -fbcon -ftp -ggi -gif -gmplayer -joystick -ladspa -libcaca -lirc -lzo -md5sum -mng -nas -nut -openal -opencore-amr -png -pnm -pulseaudio -pvr -radio -samba -ssse3 -svga -teletext -tga -v4l -v4l2 -vdpau -video_cards_mga -video_cards_s3virge -video_cards_tdfx -vidix -win32codecs -xanim -zoran)


media-video/ffmpeg
Installed versions: 0.5_p20373(04:24:02 PM 12/24/2009)(3dnow 3dnowext X alsa encode hardcoded-tables ieee1394 ipv6 jack mmx mmxext mp3 oss sdl ssse3 threads video_cards_nvidia vorbis x264 xvid zlib -altivec -bindist -cpudetection -custom-cflags -debug -dirac -doc -faac -faad -gsm -jpeg2k -network -opencore-amr -pic -schroedinger -speex -test -theora -v4l -v4l2 -vdpau)

[fuzzybee]

What's weird is that mplayer can play the .mkv with no problem (well, it's slow, because I'm going over VNC, but it plays).

It does say, though:

Code: Select all

Requested video codec family [wmvvc1dmo] (vfm=dmo) not available.

but I get:

Code: Select all

Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffvc1] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg WVC1)

If I do a mplayer -vc help|grep vc1, I get:

Code: Select all

ffvc1       ffmpeg    problems  FFmpeg WVC1  [vc1]
ffvc1vdpau  ffmpeg    problems  FFmpeg WVC1 (VDPAU)  [vc1_vdpau]
wmvvc1dmo   dmo       working   Windows Media Video (VC-1) Advanced Profile  [wvc1dmod.dll]

but I get problems with WMV3:

Code: Select all

mplayer -vc help|grep wmv3
ffwmv3      ffmpeg    problems  FFmpeg WMV3/WMV9  [wmv3]
ffwmv3vdpau ffmpeg    problems  FFmpeg WMV3/WMV9 (VDPAU)  [wmv3_vdpau]

Where does the WMV3 get built-in?

[fangorn]

WMV3 is the newest codec version from Microsoft. Long time there were problems decoding this one. But ffmpeg from 2009-12 should decode it well.

As I already told, I am using svn version built by hand, so I cannot be sure where the problem is. If you want to try (they are installing into /usr/local/ so they don't mess with your system packages).

Code: Select all

svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg

I am using these configurations

Code: Select all

> less mplayer_config.sh
export LINGUAS="en de"
./configure --enable-vdpau --enable-network --disable-arts --disable-nemesi --disable-fribidi --disable-enca --disable-inet6 --disable-lirc --disable-lircc --disable-apple-ir --disable-libnut --enable-menu --disable-smb --disable-xss --disable-joystick --disable-libcdio --disable-tv-bsdbt848 --disable-ivtv --disable-pvr --enable-radio --enable-radio-capture --disable-liba52 --disable-musepack --disable-live --disable-mad --disable-mng --disable-pnm --disable-speex --disable-tga --disable-xanim --disable-qtx --disable-ggi --disable-md5sum --disable-aa --disable-dga1 --disable-dga2 --disable-dxr3 --disable-fbdev --disable-caca --disable-vesa --disable-vidix --disable-vidix-pcidb --disable-zr --disable-gui --enable-xvmc --with-xvmclib=XvMCW --disable-3dfx --disable-tdfxvid --disable-tdfxfb --disable-esd --disable-jack --disable-ladspa --disable-nas --disable-openal

> less ffmpeg_config.sh
./configure --disable-debug --enable-shared --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-pthreads --enable-vdpau  --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-postproc

[fuzzybee]

OK, I've followed your directions here, and also had to get the SVN for x264. Now, mplayer won't build - it keeps stopping at:

Code: Select all

gcc -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavformat -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavutil -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -L"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,--warn-common -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavformat -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -Wl,-rpath-link,"/usr/local/ffmpeg"/libavutil -Wl,-Bsymbolic -o ffmpeg_g ffmpeg.o cmdutils.o -lavfilter -lpostproc -lavdevice -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil -lswscale -lz -lbz2 -pthread -lm -lfaac -lfaad -lmp3lame -lm -ltheoraenc -ltheoradec -logg -lvorbisenc -lvorbis -logg -lx264 -lm -lxvidcore -lasound -ljack -ldl -lasound -ljack -lasound
/usr/local/ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.so: undefined reference to `x264_encoder_open_83'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [ffmpeg_g] Error 1

Anybody here run into this?

[trumee]

Is it possible to specify the path where the output file will be written. menc currently outputs to the folder where the source file exists which i dont want.

[fangorn]

@fuzzybee
Yes, it is a little bit tricky getting them to build when more than one version of x264 is installed. And WOW: they are at version 83 with x264 now? I am using revision 79.

Your ffmpeg seems to have built fine. You can test it by running ffplay with a x264 video.

See the ./configure --help of mplayer for how to set the path for x264. atm it detects your older version in /usb/lib.


@trumee
You could always edit the script, but there is no such option in the current version of the scripts.

[trumee]

Should i simply prepend the path to the filename i.e. change line number 132 in menc to

Code: Select all

moviename=/myvideodir/"$moviebase"".mkv"

a) Also, is the output filename always the same as input filename. any way to modiy it?
b) is it possible to redirect all the temporary files to /tmp. i only want to retain the mkv file.

My objective is to use this script as a userjob in mythtv to convert the recordings to x264.

Thanks for the excellent script.

[fangorn]

Code: Select all

moviename=/myvideodir/"$moviebase"".mkv" 

This should work. Or you add a line

Code: Select all

mv "$moviename" /myvideodir/

after the call to avi2mkv

to a)
atm menc is designed to always use the same name as the input file (as in massive batch conversion of hundreds of source files ). An option to specify a moviename on the command line should not be a problem though. I just need to find the time to implement it.

to b)
I was planning on putting temporary files in a subdirectory like in riptoh264 but did not get along so far. In this case all processing would be done in that directory and result mkv moved back to the current working directory.

[fuzzybee]

OK - finally got everything built (I think). Thanks for the help.

I tried changing the language of the TrueHD track, and it didn't work. Then, I changed the TrueHD track to #3, and the AC3 track to #2, and it's started. I'll let you know tomorrow how it ends up.

[fangorn]

mmg header editor can also edit the "Default Track" flag. Remove from one and add to the other audio stream would be sufficient without rebuilding a copy of the MKV.

[fuzzybee]

I'm pretty sure I changed the default audio track, and it didn't like that. I'll try again with the file tonight.