[vdr] Re: convert (S)VCD's to VDR files using MEncoder

[Patrick Cernko <errror@ps.uni-sb.de>]

Also sprach Michael Reinelt zu "11.02.2004 06:33" Anno Domini:
> Hi List,
[...]

> If I have a SVCD which is already PAL, I'm using this command:
> mencoder vcd://1 -ovc copy -oac copy -of mpeg -o 001.vdr
>
> Q1: is the command correct? should I specify any additional option?
You could make it even easier:

mplayer vcd:// -dumpstream -dumpfile 001.vdr

The MPEG stream on on (s)vcd can be played directly by vdr! It only 
lacks the capability to read (s)vcds!

> Q2: Why are there always two tracks on the VCD, the first one being
> quite short, and sometimes leads to a hanging MEncoder? I have to use
> vcd://2 then. Can I always use vcd://2?
Did you try simply "vcd://" without a track number? Mplayer is quiet 
smart in finding the right one, I think!

> If I process one of these NTSC SVCD's, I'm using this command: (all in
> one line)
> mencoder vcd://1 -ovc lavc -oac copy -lavcopts
> vcodec=mpeg2video:vbitrate=2500:mbd=2 -vf scale=480:576 -of mpeg -ofps 
> 25 -o 001.vdr
>
> The original video has 480x480 pixel, and 29,97 fps. I have to correct
> both of them (do I have to correct both of them?)
>
> Q3: is the command correct? should I specify any additional option?
Have a look at the mplayer.sh script from Juri Haberland at 
http://batleth.sapienti-sat.org/projects/VDR/ and my own work on my 
homepage http://www.errror.de/vdr/ . There you can find severel 
solutions for confertion NTSC material to PAL using mplayer/mencoder.

> Q3b: what vbitrate would you suggest? Is 2500 far too low or far too high?
I think its quiet right for MPEG2 at this resolution! You should check 
the quality on your TV set yourself!

> Q4: I want to make a script for these commands, which would fake the
> necessary VDR directory structure, and would generate the VDR index file
> afterwards. But as there are two different commands for NTSC and PAL, is
> there a way to detect the format of the SVCD?
>
> Q4b: when encoding a DVD, I have to specify 'aspect=16:9'. I want to 
> find out the 'source aspect', too, to use this value in my script. How 
> could I?
Newer mplayer versions support a -identify switch which prints out 
informations about the played stream. I think all your questions get 
answered from this output. Again have a look at Juri's mplayer.sh script 
about how to use the idetify option.

> Q5: during processing, I regularly get the following messages:
> "1 duplicate frame(s)!"
> "Unknown block type, possibly non-MPEG stream!"
> "Skipping frame!"
> "Error in stream: PTS earlier than SCR!"
> "Error in stream: PTS to SCR delay 0 is too little!"
> "Error in stream: PTS to SCR delay 1148 is too little!"
> What do they mean? should I worry about them, or just ignor'em?
Hopefully this errors/warnings will disapear as sone as you use the 
right switches for convertion NTSC2PAL (see above).

> Q6: when I try to run above commands directly on my server, which has an
> SCSI CD drive, I get really very lots of messages from the kernel:
> Feb  8 14:15:55 lizard kernel: sr1: CDROM (ioctl) reports ILLEGAL REQUEST.
> Feb  8 14:16:26 lizard last message repeated 4140 times
> Feb  8 14:17:27 lizard last message repeated 8154 times
> Feb  8 14:18:28 lizard last message repeated 8208 times
> Feb  8 14:19:29 lizard last message repeated 7653 times
> Feb  8 14:20:08 lizard last message repeated 4880 times
> They flood my syslogd, and put a quite high load on the machine, which
> slows down the mencoder process a lot.
> I'd like to do this porocessing oin the server, because the resulting
> files won't go over the lan. What can I do?
It seams, that your SCSI drive does not support all low-level commands 
mplayer uses for extracting the (s)vcd data from the disc. That is the 
sad story about (s)vcds: The data can only be accessed "directly" from 
the device using low-level interfaces, which are not generally supported 
by all drives. The best solution is to replace your drive with one of 
another manufactor, maybe also with a IDE interface only!

> Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I hope this does (at least partly)!

> If someone is interested in the resulting VDR scripts, let me know!
Not personally, but I suggest, that you publish it on a website, so that 
other can benefit from your work!

CU
--
Patrick Cernko | mailto:errror@errror.de | http://www.errror.de
Quote of the Week: "Quis custodit custodes?
                    Ceterum censeo Microsoftem esse delendam!"
                   (anonyum)


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