Converting from MPEG1 to AVI?

[stung4ever]

Using OS 10.2.5 on a G3 iMac with 700 Megahertz. I'm using a TiVo like device that converts TV signals to MPEG1 files, for VCDs. I'd like to convert them to AVI to burn on a data CD in case a VCD gets scratched.

Would I have to demux the MPEG file, then convert the audio to AIF and the video to MOV, then convert to AVI (which takes a night, and doesn't always seem to work), or is there a faster way?

Thanks.

[stung4ever]

Um, pity bump?

I've gotten ffmpegX to reencode the MPEG files, but it only cuts the size by by about 30 megs, from 460 to 430, not feasible for storage. Are there any tools that will let me cut the size, to a maximum of 345 megs?

I've downloaded decent quality AVIs that will convert to VCD ready MPEGs (using DivX Doctor and Quicktime) that take up only 70-80 megs (for 40 minutes), most likely encoded on Windoze.

[WiseWeasel]

What settings are you using in ffmpegX? Are you keeping the resolution at VCD size (320x240 if memory serves)? Are you setting the bitrate to reasonable levels or using one of the presets? You can encode divx on the Mac at about the same quality as with Windows, with the right encoder and settings. If you're setting the bitrate, it should be around 100 - 150 KB/s, or 800-1200 kbps. Use good motion estimation, and you should be able to get 40 minutes into about 150 - 200 MB at very good quality, or into 75 - 100 MB at crappy quality (depending on the type of source - live action needs a lot more bandwidth than animated content).

[galactica]

Try this. from the terminal type the following:

mencoder -ovc copy -oac pcm /path/to/input.mpg -o /path/to/output.avi


should work for you

[ZeroSix]

indeed it will!.0

[stung4ever]

What settings are you using in ffmpegX? Are you keeping the resolution at VCD size (320x240 if memory serves)? Are you setting the bitrate to reasonable levels or using one of the presets? You can encode divx on the Mac at about the same quality as with Windows, with the right encoder and settings. If you're setting the bitrate, it should be around 100 - 150 KB/s, or 800-1200 kbps. Use good motion estimation, and you should be able to get 40 minutes into about 150 - 200 MB at very good quality, or into 75 - 100 MB at crappy quality (depending on the type of source - live action needs a lot more bandwidth than animated content).

It's live action, and I set the auto size to VCD NTSC (352x240), and the frame rate to NTSC (29.97). With the bit rate set to 890 kbit/s, the output AVI is about 340 megs, but DivX Doctor can't read it, it gives me a -223 error.

I found another encoder (DVision) that gave me an output file of 230 megs for the same file, and the quality looks pretty good. Tonight I'll confirm that the file can be made into a VCD (it should, but I've learned that should doesn't always mean it will), and Doctor output it to a .mov just fine.

Thanks for your help.

[stung4ever]

Try this. from the terminal type the following:

mencoder -ovc copy -oac pcm /path/to/input.mpg -o /path/to/output.avi


should work for you

[Christian-Waits-Computer:~] christianwait% mencoder -ovc copy -oac pcm /OS9/Shared/movies/Lost World/Lost World-321.mpg -o /OS9/Shared/Lost World-321.avi
mencoder: Command not found.

I don't have much experience with terminal, am I missing something stupid (typo?), or do I have to include the user in the path, or something like that?

I have mencoder installed in a folder on my desktop.

Thanks.

[galactica]

You have spaces in your paths! Remove them.....
The easiset way to get a file path, rather than typing it in, is to drag the file to the terminal when you want the path displayed.
It will then automatically display the correct path for the file.

but make sure you have menocder installed. I cant remember where its supposed to be, but I have mine sitting in my home directory.

any additional thoughts zerosix?? I think its the spaces in Lost World

just make it LostWorld or even Lost_World

remember, unix hates spaces.... so try not to EVER have spaces in any names of folders, if you have to have them, use _

[galactica]

if you want, just use the GUI mencoder which you can get off versiontracker.com

just use the source as your .mpeg
use the defult save location to your desktop, and push start conversion

it will do the same thing, just with a GUI for you to look at.

[WiseWeasel]

but make sure you have menocder installed. I cant remember where its supposed to be, but I have mine sitting in my home directory.

I think to have the terminal recognize the 'mencoder' command, the mencoder binary executable should be placed in /usr/bin. That's if you want to be able to do the "mencoder -opts /path/to/source /path to output" type command. You can just have it located anywhere, though, but you'll have to do the command this way: "/path/to/mencoder -opts ...". Does just sticking it in the home dir make the terminal recognize it as a command?

[galactica]

to be honest, i dont know. I installed it sooo long ago i think it is in /usr/bin and also in my home folder so i can do drag and drop with terminal when i want.

let me do a quick test....
Yep you are right.

That works the same for me as just typing mencoder

so just drag the mencoder file to the terminal to get its path, then continue with the process...

[stung4ever]

Thanks, guys. I'll test it tonight to see what kind of quality and compression I can get out of it.

[galactica]

i dont think it does any sort of quality change, all you are doing is converting it to .avi nothing with changing k/sec or anything like that.

its quite fast, you will enjoy it I think.

[ZeroSix]

if you want to have them converted to .avi, then you do not want to use the '-ovc copy' option. what this will do is copy the mpeg1 video stream, which will result in compatibility issues with any other media player except Mplayer. NOT recommended. If you use the '-ovc lavc' option, the change in video codec will hardly be noticable. LAVC is the LibAVCodec, which is VERY VERY good to begin with.

To install Mencoder, do the following.

Download this file:

http://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mplayerosx/stablebinaries.sit

Once is it decompressed, open the terminal and change to the folder you downloaded to. If it goes to your desktop, it would be:

cd ~/desktop/stablebinaries

once in that directory, type:

sudo cp mencoder /usr/local/bin/

-then-

sudo cp mencoder /usr/bin/

You be asked for your password.

Then type:

rehash

Mencoder should be ready for ya.

Then type:

mencoder -oac pcm -ovc lavc /path/to/input.mpg -o /path/to/output.avi

Alternatively, you can change the 'pcm' tag to 'mp3lame' to encode the audio to mp3 as opposed to PCM. This will give you a much smaller file, but the conversion will take longer.

Regardless, it will do the trick for you. The resulting .avi files should be able to be played back on any video player program, such as Quicktime, Mplayer, VLC, and our set-top Divx players.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you run into any issues.

[AntnyMD]

Wouldn't the short answer here be "burn 2 copies of the VCD just in case one gets scratched"? All this time spent gathering tools, testing for quality, learning curve, and mile-long posts could be better spent enjoying the material on VCD! That, plus blank CDs are dirt cheap, even good quality ones.

[WiseWeasel]

Exactly, I was wondering what the whole point of this was. Just save a copy of the VCD or MPG file on CD or DVD media (DVD is cheaper), and remaster a VCD from that if needed. Or just keep an extra copy of each VCD in a safe place.

[stung4ever]

Yeah, but I'm cheap.

But I like to increase my knowledge about computers, especially Mac Audio/Video. And it's fun, too.

[stung4ever]

And I used the GUI app for mplayer, and it output the file to about 300 megs. I tested the DVision avi (which output to 230 megs, perfect size to put 3 on a CD), and the VCD looks just fine.

Again, thanks for all your help.

[galactica]

now here's someone I like...
all the work and its just for educational purposes!

props to you stung4ever!

[WiseWeasel]

Just so you know, the conversion of video from the MPEG1 VCD format to formats like divx is a lossy process, and so you will be losing quality each time you convert the video. The higher you set the bitrate on the divx files, the less quality you lose, but even with a higher bitrate than the source, you will be losing some quality. That is why I always keep the original MPG files backed up, so I can master a new VCD in its original quality if something should happen (like normal wear and tear) to the first one I burnt. Up to you to decide if the savings in storage media is worth the loss in quality .

[ZeroSix]

Just so you know, the conversion of video from the MPEG1 VCD format to formats like divx is a lossy process...

Agreed... There really is no sense in converting to a .avi unless you want to do extensive editing in a Quicktime program, such as FCP or FCE.

[Man Dat Ting]

How to convert VCD audio back to editable formats? Is there an application which creates separate files for audio and video?.
So far I convert the .dat file from the VCDs to my desktop and change standard AVSEQ01.DAT to Whatever.mpg. This allows me to view and listen no problems with all sorts of software apps. However Quicktime and every quicktme based app does not convert the audio at all.
I tried all presets in ffmpegX, however I got nothing. Tried to uncheck the encode video box in the first tab, and in the audio tab I checked the encode audio, tried all available conversions but I usually get a Video conversion although I desable it and no sound.


What next?

[AntnyMD]

Someone techie really ought to make a simple program for us who want to convert MPEG1 Layer2 audio into AIFF or WAV without having to demux and/or dropping the demuxed audio into iTunes.

- ok -

As soon as I hit submit I just remembered that Toast 6 Titanium version 6.0.3 will now re-encode the audio only if its at the wrong sample rate for the format you wanna make.