need to convert video to m1v

[Mr.Curious]

2 pass encoding:

ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -an -c:v mpeg1video -b:v 5000k -pass 1 output1.m1v
ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -an -c:v mpeg1video -b:v 5000k -pass 2 output2.m1v

But that won't help if the encoder can't deliver the bitrate you're requesting. With a test I ran at 5000 kbps I got this for the two passes:
But when I asked for 30000 kbps the encoder only delivered 15000 kbps and the two files were nearly identical.

This looks promising ! I will never need more than 15000kps so this might work well. May I ask you what the bitrate was of the input file?

Cheers

[jagabo]

I will never need more than 15000kps so this might work well.

But your video is different. You said it delivered 5000 kbps when you asked for 30000. So the encoder probably can't deliver much more than 5000 kbps with that video.

I ran some tests. The default settings use no B frames (only I and P) and a GOP size of 12. You can force it to use all I frames to get higher frame rates. But doesn't necessarily mean you'll get better quality.

ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -an -c:v mpeg1video -g 1 -b:v 30000k output.m1v

May I ask you what the bitrate was of the input file?

I don't really know because I was using a small portion of a larger file. The entire AVC source video had an average bitrate around 2000 kbps (1920x1080, 24 fps). But it doesn't matter what the source bitrate was. Different encoders with different settings will deliver different bitrates.

[Mr.Curious]

I will never need more than 15000kps so this might work well.

But your video is different. You said it delivered 5000 kbps when you asked for 30000. So the encoder probably can't deliver much more than 5000 kbps with that video.

I ran some tests. The default settings use no B frames (only I and P) and a GOP size of 12. You can force it to use all I frames to get higher frame rates. But doesn't necessarily mean you'll get better quality.

ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -an -c:v mpeg1video -g 1 -b:v 30000k output.m1v

May I ask you what the bitrate was of the input file?

I don't really know because I was using a small portion of a larger file. The entire AVC source video had an average bitrate around 2000 kbps (1920x1080, 24 fps). But it doesn't matter what the source bitrate was. Different encoders with different settings will deliver different bitrates.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help. This new command helped bump things up to 30k in the final m1v. I need to bring it down a bit though. I tried to bring it down using

ffmpeg -y -i run.mkv -an -c:v mpeg1video -g 1 -b:v 12000k run2.m1v

and got something around the ballpark of 13k which is what i need.

Ill run some more tests, but at least I know there are options out there!

[Mr.Curious]

hmmm I cant seem to bring it any lower than 13.8 Mb/s now.

Using:

ffmpeg -y -i run.mkv -an -c:v mpeg1video -g 1 -b:v 12000k run.m1v

and

 ffmpeg -y -i run.mkv -an -c:v mpeg1video -g 1 -b:v 5000k run.m1v

both give a bitrate of 13.8 Mb/s

taking out the

-g 1

seemed to work as

ffmpeg -y -i run.mkv -an -c:v mpeg1video -b:v 8000k run.m1v

yielded a 8067 kb/s file, but alas this is still too big! lol. I'll just have to keep tinkering with things. I think you've helped me quite a bit.

Thanks so much.

[jagabo]

Some more experimenting. You can get higher bitrates by limiting the min/max quantizers (defaults are 2 and 31):

ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -an -c:v mpeg1video -qmin 1 -qmax 1 -b 30000k output.m1v

That gave me a 34 Mb/s video from my test file. But "fixes" like this are limiting the encoder's ability to deliver an exact requested bitrate. So you may get higher bitrates but not have good control on the exact bitrate you get.