MPEG2 Encoder for Linux?

Muppet Meat · Member Joined: 13 May 2004 Location: New Jersey USA

Are there any MPEG2 encoders that equal the quality of Cinemacraft Encoder but is supported on the linux platform?
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wmcbrine · Member Joined: 02 Mar 2005

I haven't used CCE, but mpeg2enc from the mjpegtools package seems pretty good. I would not recommend mencoder for MPEG2 -- the result looks good, but it doesn't play back properly in WinDVD/PowerDVD/etc.

courtrrb · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: United States

Every file I've converted with mencoder has work with WinDVD/PowerDVD/etc the catch is you have to get the options just right. As a matter of fact it convert video clips that TMPGEnc just thows up on. The easiest way to use mencode is to get tovid. It looks at each clip and sets the options correctly.

disturbed1 · Member Joined: 22 Apr 2001 Location: init 4

Tovid is the way to go for easy VCD, SVCD, DVD mpeg encoding. The files work just fine on every standalone DVD player I've tried. Sorry, don't have a windows install anymore to test play back with WinDVD or PowerDVD, but the files do work just fine with Xine, Mplayer and Totem

No, the quality isn't anything like what you'd get from TMPG, CCE(w/Avisynth) or Procoder. But for simple video to DVD for your personal use, it's more than enough.

If you require more, you can always use Avidemux, which has a few filters ported from avisynth, and has the option of using mpeg2enc or ffmpeg.

wmcbrine · Member Joined: 02 Mar 2005

Yes, the mencoder MPEG2 files I made also play back perfectly with mplayer, xine and totem, so that's not really a test. What I found when I played them on WinDVD etc. was the colors going wacky every few frames. I'll check out tovid, thanks.

courtrrb · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: United States

Just to double check thing out I went back to a couple of DVD's I made and played them back with WinDVD and your right they do play like crap. But the funny thing is they play perfect in my stand-alone dvd player on top of the tv and againg with Xine & Mplayer. So is it poor video encoding or a poor video playback?

disturbed1 · Member Joined: 22 Apr 2001 Location: init 4

It could be the multiplexing.

Most directshow codecs have trouble with certain streams. I know, when I ran windows, Power DVD had an issue playing back multiplexed VOBs, but of course played the title perfectly when I loaded the IFO.

Garibaldi · Car Guy Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Location: Earth

wmcbrine · Member Joined: 02 Mar 2005

schunn99 · Member Joined: 07 Jan 2004 Location: huntersvile, nc

hey all,
Is there a mpeg2 encoder app for linux that rivals tmpgenc? or is someone making a port of tmpgenc for linux?
thanks,
schunn99

courtrrb · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: United States

I've had more problems using tmpgenc so I hope its never ported to Linux. If the video codec isn't exactly on standard it thows up. If you want a mpeg2 use tovid. It uses mencoder a part of Mplayer and it's easier to install then tmpgenc and all the different codecs it needs. It will convert 100+ times more than tmpgenc ever will.

disturbed1 · Member Joined: 22 Apr 2001 Location: init 4

courtrrb · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: United States

Ah disturbed1 think again. Here is a few lines of code taken from tovid. So please get your facts straight before posting a comment like that.

# ***********************************
# ENCODE VIDEO
# ***********************************

echo "$SEPARATOR"

# If existing video is OK, skip video-encoding step
if [[ -z $FORCE_ENCODING && -n $VIDEO_OK ]]; then
echo "The video stream already appears to be in the selected output format."
echo "Video will be copied as-is."
# Copy the video stream
mencoder -nosound -ovc copy "$INFILE" -o "$OUT_PREFIX.$VID_SUF" >> $LOG_FILE 2>&1
else
[[ -e stream.yuv ]] && rm stream.yuv
echo "Creating and encoding video stream using the following commands:"

# If we're doing two-pass encoding, the commands are somewhat different...
if [[ $TWO_PASS == "y" ]]; then
VID_PLAY_CMD="mencoder \"$INFILE\" -o stream.yuv -nosound -ovc lavc \
-lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg:mbd=2 $VID_FILTER $VID_SCALE -ofps 29.97"
VID_ENC_CMD="lav2yuv $LAV2YUV_ASPECT stream.yuv | \
$YUVDENOISE mpeg2enc $MTHREAD \
$ASPECT_FMT $MPEG2_FMT $VID_FPS $VERBOSE $VID_NORM $MPEG2_QUALITY \
-o \"$OUT_PREFIX.$VID_SUF\""
echo $VID_PLAY_CMD

disturbed1 · Member Joined: 22 Apr 2001 Location: init 4

courtrrb · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: United States

I just check the latest version of tovid Version 0.18b
It still has mencoder in it.
if you open it and check lines 895, 1020, 1023 you will see the mencode executable. Besides when you install it
it checks for the mplayer/mencoder executable. Since mencoder is part of the Mplayer project that would make us both right.