Transcoding

[ferguscan]

Hi,

I like to copy DVDs to my hard drive.  They take up a whole lotta space, however.  When copying a DVD to my hard drive, I would like to transcode to MPEG-4.  Does LinuxMCE contain a mechanism for doing this (automatically, or through manual prompting)?

Thanks,

Stuart

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

I like to copy DVDs to my hard drive.  They take up a whole lotta space, however.  When copying a DVD to my hard drive, I would like to transcode to MPEG-4.  Does LinuxMCE contain a mechanism for doing this (automatically, or through manual prompting)?

Thanks,

Stuart

No it doesn't at present... but HandBrake might be a way forward. Look here http://handbrake.m0k.org/

The cli version (the only option currently if you not running Windows or Mac OSX) would look to be a good fit as it could be easily scripted to do the conversion ('easy' is a relative term here as HandBrake is a complex/powerful tool). I have not tried this I has to be said... but it looks 'doable' ;-)

[nite_man]

Good point, totallymaxed! It'd be great to have that option when DVD is stored on HDD.

[gazlang]

Has anybody tried handbrake for linux?

I downloaded it to attempt burning some dvd's in kubuntu, outside of LMCE, to prevent using so much disc space, but don't know how to install it!!

haven't had any experience with a 'cli'

[nite_man]

Has anybody tried handbrake for linux?

I downloaded it to attempt burning some dvd's in kubuntu, outside of LMCE, to prevent using so much disc space, but don't know how to install it!!

haven't had any experience with a 'cli'

Just download binary for Linux and untar it somewhere. Then run it

Code Select Expand

./HandBrakeCLI -i /home/public/data/videos/Harry_Potter_IV.dvd -o ~/tmp/Harry_Potter_IV.mp4

[totallymaxed]

Good point, totallymaxed! It'd be great to have that option when DVD is stored on HDD.

Yep... ;-)

It HandBrake has all the features needed and because it can be drive smoothly from scripts its a great fit. I'm just experimenting with the many options for configuring HandBrake...

Hmmm... now that N770 or N800 looks like it could handle some down sampled video content ;-)

[Zaerc]

Hmmm... now that N770 or N800 looks like it could handle some down sampled video content ;-)

My old iPaq (with "familiar" on it) has little trouble streaming live video (at 320x240, using VLC).  Those Nokias should have equivalent but probably better specs then that old machine.  So I guess it could be very feasable to implement it as a full blown media director that way, what an awesome idea!

[totallymaxed]

Hmmm... now that N770 or N800 looks like it could handle some down sampled video content ;-)

My old iPaq (with "familiar" on it) has little trouble streaming live video (at 320x240, using VLC).  Those Nokias should have equivalent but probably better specs then that old machine.  So I guess it could be very feasable to implement it as a full blown media director that way, what an awesome idea!

Yeah I totally agree a full blown Orbiter with media playing capabilities would be very cool. I am doing a bunch of tests on the best settings for transcoding for N770 now (also iPod and PS3 too). It's just a matter of figuring out the best balance between video/audio quality/bit rate and size (if the video is going to be downloaded to the N770). If streamed from the Core then size is not the problem as such but bit rate maybe. Handbrake is a great tool and very scriptable...

[CrafyZA]

I think I wanna try my hand at programming a front end for handbrake. Comming from a .NET and c# environment, I'm thinking this cannot be too hard to figure out. Perhaps it can be build in such a way to be executed from withing LMCE. Will look at how things fit together. It can then either be executed from the on screen orbiter under advanced, or from the admin website?

[totallymaxed]

I think I wanna try my hand at programming a front end for handbrake. Comming from a .NET and c# environment, I'm thinking this cannot be too hard to figure out. Perhaps it can be build in such a way to be executed from withing LMCE. Will look at how things fit together. It can then either be executed from the on screen orbiter under advanced, or from the admin website?

We're working on a wrapper around HandBrake that will manage the setup for transcoding to different devices and scheduling those jobs for you. We're writing it as a set of shell scripts. These could be driven from Web Admin or from a simple DCEplugin.

[CrafyZA]

can i help?

[totallymaxed]

can i help?

Sure!... that would be great. Let me pull together what we have and I'll either post it here or make if available from a server. :-)

[cirion]

What about grouping up with RatDVD...

RatDVD compresses an entire DVD to a Divx DVD... When you play it, you get full menu an all audio tracks. It even supports burning back to a DVD again.

http://ratdvd.ca/

[gazlang]

does LMCE play Divx encoded video??

[Zaerc]

What about grouping up with RatDVD...

RatDVD compresses an entire DVD to a Divx DVD... When you play it, you get full menu an all audio tracks. It even supports burning back to a DVD again.

http://ratdvd.ca/

The problem with ratdvd is that it's not an open standard, last time I looked (a while ago) there was only windows software available and no intention whatsoever to open up the specifications.  The project also appeared to be using opensource software components without complying to the apropriate licenses. 

What I've heard from people trying it out is that the quality was not impressive at all.  Personally, as far as the dvd menus go, they annoy the crap out of me anyway.

does LMCE play Divx encoded video??

Yes it does that perfectly in my experience, just a shame it won't pick up on a disc with a bunch of them burned.