[mythtv-users] Transcode blues...

[Michael Tiller]

One question...is it better to do this with the built-in transcoding or does
it make more sense to user a user job?  (that is what I am working on
currently)

For example, at this point I cannot play HD recordings directly on my
frontend.  I'd like to transcode all HD recordings down.  But if I set up
automatic transcoding then it seems like I'll get into a situation where I'm
transcoding everything which is unnecessary.  Using a user job, at least I
can check the dimensions of the recording to see if it needs transcoding
otherwise do nothing.  Or, perhaps I'm misunderstanding how automatic
transcoding works?!?

--
Mike

On 11/29/06, Joe Silver <devils.taco at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On 11/26/06, Michael Tiller < michael.tiller at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I've never used transcoding in MythTV (automatic or otherwise) but
> > because I
> > > recently got an HDHomerun I am now dealing with two issues that, it
> > would
> > > seem, would benefit from transcoding.
> > >
> > > The first is that I can now get HD.  For the time being, I cannot view
> > HD
> > > (still working on XvMC, etc but no joy so far).  What I'd like to do
> > in the
> > > meantime is trancode things down.  I thought this would be
> > simple.  Just
> > > setup a transcoding profile (I used the High Quality one) to transcode
> > to
> > > 720x480.  I used a bit rate around 3800 and left pretty much
> > everything else
> > > the same.  I used this to transcode an HD program.  The results were
> > > terrible.  First, the file size went from 7Gb to 6.6Gb.  This despite
> > the
> > > fact that I was transcoding from MPEG2 to MPEG4?!?  The picture
> > quality was
> > > pretty bad (in spite of this) and, finally, the playback was
> > jerky.  This
> > > seems like such a straightforward thing, how did I screw it up?
> > >
> > > The second is that I can now get SD broadcasts as well.  However the
> > audio
> > > is AC3.  Unfortunately my MediaMVPs can't play this (even though mvpmc
> > says
> > > it supports AC3).  So I thought I would simply do some kind of
> > MPEG2->MPEG2
> > > transcoding switching the audio to MP3.  But this doesn't seem to be
> > an
> > > option.  If I want to transcode it seems like I can only trancode to
> > MPEG4
> > > or RTJpeg (?).  But those won't play on the Media MVP.  Am I correct
> > in
> > > saying that there is no support for MPEG2->MPEG2 trancoding?  I could
> > swear
> > > I've seen people talk about that before?!?  Ideally I'd like lossless
> > video
> > > trancode ( i.e. strictly AC3->MP3 transcoding).
> > >
> > > Oh yes, and lastly I would like to try and save space by transcoding
> > some of
> > > the movies I have down in MPEG2 to MPEG4.  I've tried this with mixed
> > > results.  Often the transcoding bombs out with an error status of 0
> > (is that
> > > an error status?!?) or 255.  Where do I look to find out more details
> > about
> > > why the failure occurred?  Also, while successful commercial flaggings
> >
> > > appear in the jobs queue window in MythWeb, it doesn't show successful
> > > transcodings (only unsuccessful ones) which makes me a big nervous.
> > >
> > > Any pointers would be very much appreciated.  Thanks.
> > >
> >
> >
>
> I just tonight found a post with a link to some hd transcoding tips.  they
> might be useful:
> http://www.myhdbox.com/mythtips/
>
> i haven't tried these exact profiles yet, but they're pretty close to what
> i've had been doing to play back transcoded HD on an xbox frontend.  i was
> doing essentially the 'resize med' profiles and using mp3 for the audio.  i
> use an identical profile for SD transcoding with an exception of changing
> the resolution to 512x384.
>
> good luck.
> JS
>
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