Definitive command line for ffmpeg conversion to ipod from tivo?

[orev]

I've done quite a bit of searching (if I missed it please point me), but I'd really like to know a definitive command line to convert a file to h.264 for use on an ipod (classic). I've found some info on various forums, like a command line that someone was using, but then messages further down that it didn't work for them.

I'm trying to encode at 640x480, and looking to do it in a batch file. I plan on messing with the bitrates until I find a good quality, but even after reading the ffmpeg docs, I'm not sure how most of the other options apply.

I downloaded videora and looked at the console, so I was thinking of using the command line that they use, which is:
Pass 1:

ffmpeg.exe -y -i "infile.mpg" -an -pass 1 -f mp4 -title "title" -timestamp "2008-01-03 09:58:26" -vcodec libx264 -level 30 -s 640x480 -b 768k -bt 768k -bufsize 10000k -maxrate 10000k -g 300 -coder 0 -threads auto "outfile.mp4"

Pass 2:

ffmpeg.exe -y -i "infile.mpg" -pass 2 -f mp4 -title "title" -timestamp "2008-01-03 10:01:30" -vcodec libx264 -level 30 -s 640x480 -b 768k -bt 768k -bufsize 10000k -maxrate 10000k -g 300 -coder 0 -threads auto -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ab 128k "outfile.mp4"

Does anyone have any additions or other options they use when doing this encoding? Why?

The situation is I would like to encode video from my TiVo by downloading via tivotogo, then using tivodecode to get the mpg file. I'll be running comskip from there, then converting to mp4 video.

Bonus questions: tivo files are recorded at 480x480. Is it better to scale directly to 640x480, or set the aspect ratio and use anamorphic pixel size? (not sure how I would even do that). How about autocropping letterboxed shows?

[Soopafresh]

You might have to remux the output MP4 with NicMp4Box in order to make it work well with the iPod

http://nic.dnsalias.com/NicMP4Box.zip

You might be able to keep the dimensions at 480x480. I believe the iPod only cares about TOTAL number of pixels, in which case 640x480 is the max.