MP plugin for Video Transcoding

[pierremenard]

Originally Posted by Noelix

Fabrice, I still can't see my recorded tv episodes when I go to the transcoder plugin. It shows up in Recorded TV. I've included a screenshot of the data in the database. It may have something to do with me using MySQL instead of MSSQL.

Yesterday I noticed that only dvrms file are shown. I tried to convert to mpeg before transcoding to xvid, but this was not possible, as transcoder plugin seems only to manage dvrms file. Should it be the answer to your problem?

Moreover, I noticed a couple of small bug: on 2 pass xvid transcoding, the plugin show "completed " after the first pass (while ffmpeg continues working on the background) insted of completing the percentage.
Then powerscheduler does not "feel" transcoder plugin running, putting the pc in hybernation while transcoding.

Quality issue: in compressed avi (only tried with ffmpeg) I noticed some issues in movement, as it is not "fluid". I guessed it is because ffmpeg can't get correctly the fps of dvrms file generated by mediaportal (some are seen as 52 fps some others as 0.8 fps). Could it be right?

[fabriceD06]

Hello Noelix,

Do you use the TV Engine ? because normally it is filesystem database SQL lite and the table is called "recorded"

Bye
Fabrice

[fabriceD06]

Yesterday I noticed that only dvrms file are shown. I tried to convert to mpeg before transcoding to xvid, but this was not possible, as transcoder plugin seems only to manage dvrms file. Should it be the answer to your problem?

yes the plugin gets only records with extension .dvr-ms, after the transconding theses files are updated in .avi , i don't see any use case to re-encode again the new avi file ?no ?

It is exist a mean to encode with MP directly in MPEG2 container (whithout use dvr-ms) ?if yes ok i remove the filter

Moreover, I noticed a couple of small bug: on 2 pass xvid transcoding, the plugin show "completed " after the first pass (while ffmpeg continue working on the background) insted of completing the percentage.

ok , i will fix it in next version

Then powerscheduler does not "feel" transcoder plugin running, putting the pc in hybernation while transcoding.

Very good question ! i will look the powerscheduler API to see a possibility to notice the powerscheduler of Transcoding activities (just information the MP compress plugin doesn't support this )

Quality issue: in compressed avi (only tried with ffmpeg) I noticed some issues in movement, as it is not "fluid". I guessed it is because ffmpeg can't get correctly the fps of dvrms file generated by mediaportal (some are seen as 52 fps some others as 0.8 fps). Could it be right?

Yes, i think it is due because MP and TV cards (like PVR 150) support to encode the stream in variable bit rate and FFMPEG doesn't support correctly xvid encoding in variable bit rate

But i think FFMPEG and MENCODER is very good transcoder from MPEG2 source, so i think integrated DVRMSToolBox (like crunchie) to extract the MPEG2 stream (for the dvr-ms file) before to apply XVID encoding, what do you think ?

the other solution, it is to transcode dvr-ms(MPEG2-TS) stream to mpeg2 normal stream with FFMPEG or MENCODER (normally it fast) and after re-encode it with the profile selected. For that it is necessary to know if the FFMPEG or MENCODER transcode correctly the dvr-ms -> mpeg2 without lag.
Can you test FFMPEG to transcode the dvr-ms stream to mpeg2 to say it is ok?


So for next version , here the todo list of new version :

1. Fix percentage issue in 2 pass mode.
2. integration of powerscheduler.
3. add parameter color format and quantizer parameter
4. add "My videos" source
5. Use DVRMSToolBox before to transcode in Xvid, h264,... for dvrms file.

todo list in background:

1. add source "DVD" (select the language and transcode the track)
2. add source "CD" (audio or file)
3. Scheduling ( automatically wake up at specific time and take all tv recorded to transcode)

Bye
Fabrice

[pierremenard]

Originally Posted by fabriceD06

It is exist a mean to encode with MP directly in MPEG2 container (whithout use dvr-ms) ?if yes ok i remove the filter

[cut]

But i think FFMPEG and MENCODER is very good transcoder from MPEG2 source, so i think integrated DVRMSToolBox (like crunchie) to extract the MPEG2 stream (for the dvr-ms file) before to apply XVID encoding, what do you think ?

the other solution, it is to transcode dvr-ms(MPEG2-TS) stream to mpeg2 normal stream with FFMPEG or MENCODER (normally it fast) and after re-encode it with the profile selected. For that it is necessary to know if the FFMPEG or MENCODER transcode correctly the dvr-ms -> mpeg2 without lag.
Can you test FFMPEG to transcode the dvr-ms stream to mpeg2 to say it is ok?

Yesterday I converted dvr-ms to mpeg in mediaportal (MP can do it quite fast) but I could not transcode it beacuse of the filter on file extension.

As soon as next version (without the filter on extension) will be avaiable, I'll try to transcode to xvid a mpeg files converted by MP from a dvrms. This could be quite the solution.

The best would be a 3 pass transcoding made by ffmpeg

1st dvrms to mpeg
2nd mpeg to xvid (1st pass)
3rd mpeg to xvid (2nd pass) (optional)

If you post the command line to transcode from dvrms to mpeg I will do the test!

[Macfox]

The plugin download link is dead.

[fabriceD06]

Hi

I am affraid but the server was down momently now it works ,( i will change of host) .

@pierremenard: you can use " ffmpeg -i in.dvr-ms -vcodec mpeg2video -sameq -s 704x576 -aspect 16:9 -acodec copy out.mpg " , thanks

Bye Fabrice

[Noelix]

Originally Posted by fabriceD06

Hello Noelix,

Do you use the TV Engine ? because normally it is filesystem database SQL lite and the table is called "recorded"

Bye
Fabrice

Yes I use the TV Engine. The SQLite Database Browser works for viewing the TVE2 database, but I don't know how to use it to connect to the MySQL database, so I used this program called SQLyog which seems to work pretty well. Take a look at the screenshot I posted earlier, it shows how it's organized. The DB name is tvlibrary and the table name is recording.

All the recordings I made with the TV Server are in .mpg format. I've been reading here and it looks you might include that format on the next version, so I'll test that and see if it works. Regardless, if you add compatibility for MyVideos, I'll be able to use it just fine I would think :-)

[pierremenard]

Originally Posted by fabriceD06

@pierremenard: you can use " ffmpeg -i in.dvr-ms -vcodec mpeg2video -sameq -s 704x576 -aspect 16:9 -acodec copy out.mpg "

Quite fast (but not as MP internat converting) and a lot of errors logged ("error, non monotone timestamps"). Mpg file has same quality issues as avi even on audio track this time (so I thought it would be useless converting the mpg into xvid, and I skipped the further steps). Differently form mp converted dvrms, the mpeg is bigger in size that the original dvrms (in MP the converted mpg and dvrms have the same size).

Originally Posted by fabriceD06

thanks
Bye Fabrice

Thank YOU! This was a very missed plugin! In few steps I think it would become perfect.

F.

[fabriceD06]

Quite fast (but not as MP internat converting) and a lot of errors logged ("error, non monotone timestamps"). Mpg file has same quality issues as avi even on audio track this time (so I thought it would be useless converting the mpg into xvid, and I skipped the further steps). Differently form mp converted dvrms, the mpeg is bigger in size that the original dvrms (in MP the converted mpg and dvrms have the same size).

Thanks , for your test. So for the tv recorded with extension .dvr-ms i will extract the MPEG2 stream with Microsoft api (like MP internal converting) and after i launch FFMPEG or MENCODER with the profile selected on the mpeg2 temporary stream.

I will provide this version quickly to confirm me i works better.

@Noelix: the file recorded by the TVEngine have the extension '.mpg' ? i try to find a solution to included theses records in My TV recorded.

Bye
Fabrice

[Macfox]

Thanks for your efforts fabriceD06.

Works well. Just had a hiccup with the utils.dll, but fixed now.

Looking forward to a scheduler, or post record transcode. Keep up the good work.