[olug] Video Conversion Help

[Jordan Fox]

recently I just converted some files from mpeg2 to h.264.  I went the really
easy way and used VLC.  That's probably not the best solution for what you
want, but it is really easy, and it works.  There is another program called
winFF - it's available for both windows and linux.  It's a front end for
ffmpeg.  I can't remember the specific reason I didn't use it, because it
looked pretty easy, but something wasn't working right for me.  Check out
the MPlayer webpage, as there are a few mencoder front-ends that would make
it easy.  If, as you say, you don't mind writing some scripts, then your
probably diligent enough to use mencoder or ffmpeg from the command line or
write a script for it.  I didn't want to take the time to learn all the
different flags and other encoding specific info.  I know the basics, but I
just wanted to convert a few files quickly without trying to figure
something out.

H.264 works really well, there is an x.264 free codec for linux.  I don't
really know much about it though.  Other than some of the proprietary stuff,
I really like the h.264.  I can't tell the difference in visual quality on
the videos I converted from mpeg2 to h.264 and the files went from being 1.1
GB to ~225 MB.  Pretty good in my book, but I'm not a huge audio/video
purist, so I don't know how good the quality really is.

I can't help you with the ps3 stuff as I don't have one.  Although, I
thought about getting one, so I could have my own personal linux
supercomputer.  But, I don't really like sony for the same reasons I don't
like apple or ms - they try to lock you into their proprietary stuff all the
time.  (But they lose money on every console, so I could stick it to the man
by buying one - at least that's what I tell myself when I think about buying
one)

I hope all this rambling helps.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/projects.html

http://winff.org/html/

Merry Christmas,
Jordan

On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 1:02 PM, T. J. Brumfield <enderandrew at gmail.com>wrote:

> I believe I was asking along these lines before, but I'm not sure I
> asked specifically about software programs.  Either way I am going to
> rip my entire DVD collection (about 400 discs) and I would prefer that
> my PS3 can play the video files I spit out.  I can eventually build a
> Linux home theater PC, but the PS3 picks up shared video files just
> fine for me at the moment.  The PS3 seems fickle about what it plays.
> It supposedly supports a bunch of codecs, but it won't play one XVID
> file, and then it plays another.  That is an issue I'm going to take
> up with a Sony PS3 forum, or tech support.  However, I'm looking for
> an app (can be Windows or Linux as I dual-boot) to help me rip the
> DVDs and convert the files.
>
> I'm not opposed to a bash script and doing it via the command line.
>
> I'm assuming mpeg-4/mp4 files with h.264 encoding is the way to go,
> but frankly I'm not set on a container or codec.  If it looks pretty
> good, I can get a movie around or under 1 gig in size (that is what
> I'm hoping for at least) and it will play, I'll be happy.
>
> Suggestions for apps and methods?
>
> -- T. J. Brumfield
> "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of
> people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
> --Douglas Adams
> "Nihilism makes me smile."
> --Christopher Quick
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