[gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Iain Buchanan]

Hi all,

I have a shiny new usb "media drive" (with internal hd, lcd, AV out)
that plays photos, music and video.  I have a few choices for video[1].

I have lots of different types of video files - from short funny ads, to
1/2 hr tv episodes, to full movies, in all sorts of formats - wmv, avi,
mpeg, etc.

I want to find a program (hopefully only 1!) that will help convert them
to a format playable by the device.  I'm happy if thats a command line
only program.  I will probably copy them 1 by 1 as I want to watch them.

Space it not too much of an issue (I'll eventually have about 60Gb on
the device) - I'd rather not lessen the quality any more than it is
already.

So, here are my questions:
1. whats the best format to use out of the ones listed, given
   a) Good quality (not much less than, or the same as original)
   b) Size reasonable - large files ok, but compression is always a
bonus)
2. what program will convert 'anything' to said format.


Many thanks for your suggestions.


[1] Video formats:
MPEG-1
Resolution :352X288@30fps
Bit Rate :1.5Mbps
Audio :MPEG-1 Layer II/III
Format :.MPG/.DAT ,VCD

MPEG-4
Resolution : 720x480@25fps or 640x480@30fps
Bit Rate : 4Mbps
Audio : AAC
Format :.MP4 ,Simple Profile without 4MV

DivX-5.x
Resolution : 720x480@25fps or 640x480@30fps
Bit Rate : 4Mbps
Audio : MPEG-1 Layer III, AAC, ADPCM
Format :.AVI ,
Remark:DivX-3.x/4.x unsupported

-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

Even historians fail to learn from history -- they repeat the same mistakes.
		-- John Gill, "Patterns of Force", stardate 2534.7

-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Chris White]

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On Thursday 15 December 2005 12:45, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a shiny new usb "media drive" (with internal hd, lcd, AV out)
> that plays photos, music and video.  I have a few choices for video[1].

I want one

> I have lots of different types of video files - from short funny ads, to
> 1/2 hr tv episodes, to full movies, in all sorts of formats - wmv, avi,
> mpeg, etc.
>
> I want to find a program (hopefully only 1!) that will help convert them
> to a format playable by the device.  I'm happy if thats a command line
> only program.  I will probably copy them 1 by 1 as I want to watch them.

mencoder / transcode

> Space it not too much of an issue (I'll eventually have about 60Gb on
> the device) - I'd rather not lessen the quality any more than it is
> already.
>
> So, here are my questions:
> 1. whats the best format to use out of the ones listed, given
>    a) Good quality (not much less than, or the same as original)
>    b) Size reasonable - large files ok, but compression is always a
> bonus)

DivX

> 2. what program will convert 'anything' to said format.

See above 

> Many thanks for your suggestions.
>
>

> DivX-5.x
> Resolution : 720x480@25fps or 640x480@30fps
> Bit Rate : 4Mbps
> Audio : MPEG-1 Layer III, AAC, ADPCM
> Format :.AVI ,
> Remark:DivX-3.x/4.x unsupported

Pick this

> --
> Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>
>
> Even historians fail to learn from history -- they repeat the same
> mistakes. -- John Gill, "Patterns of Force", stardate 2534.7

Chris White

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Iain Buchanan]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 12:59 +0900, Chris White wrote:
> On Thursday 15 December 2005 12:45, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> >
> > I have a shiny new usb "media drive" (with internal hd, lcd, AV out)
> > that plays photos, music and video.  I have a few choices for video[1].
> 
> I want one

haha!  I had to buy a usb hd enclosure, and I wanted a mp3 player, so I
thought I'd mix them all together (plus throw in some more features)!
It also copies from memory card to its hd without plugging into the
computer - useful for when my camera memory card fills up.  I have a
trigger happy finger... but I digress!

> > So, here are my questions:

and I forgot:

3. with a video file recorded from my digital still camera[1], I can't
fast forward or re-wind (on the device).  Is this a "feature" of AVI, or
probably of the device?  (Apparently mplayer can do it because it
creates some sort of sudo-index?)

Thanks again,

[1]
$ file *AVI
CIMG1957.AVI: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 320 x 240, ~15 fps, video:
Motion JPEG
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

I don't think it's worth washing hogs over.
             -- Larry Wall in <199710060253.TAA09723@wall.org>

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Chris White]

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On Thursday 15 December 2005 13:51, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> haha!  I had to buy a usb hd enclosure, and I wanted a mp3 player, so I
> thought I'd mix them all together (plus throw in some more features)!
> It also copies from memory card to its hd without plugging into the
> computer - useful for when my camera memory card fills up.  I have a
> trigger happy finger... but I digress!

Interesting..

> 3. with a video file recorded from my digital still camera[1], I can't
> fast forward or re-wind (on the device).  Is this a "feature" of AVI, or
> probably of the device?  (Apparently mplayer can do it because it
> creates some sort of sudo-index?)

seeking is not what a video camera is made for.  The type of compression 
you're dealing with:

> $ file *AVI
> CIMG1957.AVI: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 320 x 240, ~15 fps, video:
> Motion JPEG

Is motion jpeg, a form where video is composed of individual jpeg frames[1], 
v. other algorithms to speed up the process of video rendering.  Those are 
best converted, as the seeking in them takes a bit more power than 
traditional mpegs. In fact, there are actually cards avaliable to help 
leviate the render processing from your cpu.

> --
> Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>
>
> I don't think it's worth washing hogs over.
>              -- Larry Wall in <199710060253.TAA09723@wall.org>

Chris White

[1] 
http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/video/codecs/MJPEG.html

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Martins Steinbergs]

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>
> > I have lots of different types of video files - from short funny ads, to
> > 1/2 hr tv episodes, to full movies, in all sorts of formats - wmv, avi,
> > mpeg, etc.
> >
> > I want to find a program (hopefully only 1!) that will help convert them
> > to a format playable by the device.  I'm happy if thats a command line
> > only program.  I will probably copy them 1 by 1 as I want to watch them.
>
> mencoder / transcode

ill bet for ffmpeg

>
> > Space it not too much of an issue (I'll eventually have about 60Gb on
> > the device) - I'd rather not lessen the quality any more than it is
> > already.
> >
> > So, here are my questions:
> > 1. whats the best format to use out of the ones listed, given
> >    a) Good quality (not much less than, or the same as original)
> >    b) Size reasonable - large files ok, but compression is always a
> > bonus)
>
> DivX

try xvid mpeg4 and theres many more with different sources, or google for 
codecs and artefacts and stuff like that to pick best.

>
> > 2. what program will convert 'anything' to said format.
>
> See above
>
> > Many thanks for your suggestions.
> >
> >
> >
> > DivX-5.x
> > Resolution : 720x480@25fps or 640x480@30fps
> > Bit Rate : 4Mbps
> > Audio : MPEG-1 Layer III, AAC, ADPCM
> > Format :.AVI ,
> > Remark:DivX-3.x/4.x unsupported
>
> Pick this
>

converting wmv and other low quality sources with these settings will fill 
your fresh device pretty soon. setting bitrate above 1800 kb/s isn't 
necessary, almost no gain in quality.

martins
-- 
Linux 2.6.14-ck6 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+
 06:48:02 up  3:00,  5 users,  load average: 4.43, 3.96, 3.23

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Iain Buchanan]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 14:04 +0900, Chris White wrote:
> On Thursday 15 December 2005 13:51, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> 
> > 3. with a video file recorded from my digital still camera[1], I can't
> > fast forward or re-wind (on the device).  Is this a "feature" of AVI, or
> > probably of the device?  (Apparently mplayer can do it because it
> > creates some sort of sudo-index?)
> 
> seeking is not what a video camera is made for.  The type of compression 
> you're dealing with:
> 
> > [1]
> > $ file *AVI
> > CIMG1957.AVI: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 320 x 240, ~15 fps, video:
> > Motion JPEG
> 
> Is motion jpeg
[snip]

I was referring to seeking on the media player, not the digital camera.
I haven't got a process yet for converting other files to the media
player, so I don't know if the media player can't seek, or if MJPEG
isn't suited to seeking, or both.

thanks,
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

No group of professionals meets except to conspire against the public at large.
		-- Mark Twain

-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Iain Buchanan]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 12:59 +0900, Chris White wrote:
> 
> mencoder / transcode
> 
> DivX
> 
> > DivX-5.x
> > Resolution : 720x480@25fps or 640x480@30fps
> > Bit Rate : 4Mbps
> > Audio : MPEG-1 Layer III, AAC, ADPCM
> > Format :.AVI ,
> > Remark:DivX-3.x/4.x unsupported
> 
> Pick this

hmm, mencoder can't seem to do mpeg4 with aac audio, or divx5...

$ cat test.wmv | mencoder -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=4000 -nosound -

makes a test.avi, but when I try and play it on the device, I simply get
"unsupported file type".

I've tried similar options for 

$ cat test.wmv | mencoder -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg1video:vbitrate=1500 -ofps 30 -oac mp3lame -

and other such commands, but all to no avail.  When I try

$ cat test.wmv | mencoder -ovc divx4 -ofps 30 -oac mp3lame -

I just get "Couldn't find video filter 'divx4'."

ffmpeg also seems to fail:
$ ffmpeg -i test.wmv -b 4000 -r 30 -s 352x288 -aspect 4:3 -vcodec mpeg4 test.avi

when I copy test.avi to the device as test.mp4, it says "file content
error!"

Any further suggestions?

thanks,
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a
percentage point to prove they have a sense of humor.
		-- Edgar R. Fiedler

-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:15:54 +0930, Iain Buchanan wrote:

> 2. what program will convert 'anything' to said format.

transcode and mencoder will do it, but ffmpeg is easier to use. Less
arcane options and a readable man page make life a lot easier for ffmpeg
users :)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Windows - From the people who brought you EDLIN!

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Iain Buchanan]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 09:55 +0000, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:15:54 +0930, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> 
> > 2. what program will convert 'anything' to said format.
> 
> transcode and mencoder will do it, but ffmpeg is easier to use. Less
> arcane options and a readable man page make life a lot easier for ffmpeg
> users :)

$ man ffmpeg
No manual entry for ffmpeg

`ffmpeg` produces some help info, but then
-vcodec codec       force video codec ('copy' to copy stream)
doesn't say what the actual codecs are...

I guess I'll google it...
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

All intelligent species own cats.

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:57:29 +0930, Iain Buchanan wrote:


> $ man ffmpeg
> No manual entry for ffmpeg

echo "media-video/ffmpeg doc" >>/etc/portage/package.use
emerge --oneshot ffmpeg

The man page makes up for being easy to read by being hard to find :(

I don't know why the ebuild was written like this, the doc flag is
supposed to control extra documentation, not manpages.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

WYTYSYDG - What you thought you saw, you didn't get.

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Re: [gentoo-user] converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Martins Steinbergs]

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> >
> > transcode and mencoder will do it, but ffmpeg is easier to use. Less
> > arcane options and a readable man page make life a lot easier for ffmpeg
> > users :)
>
> $ man ffmpeg
> No manual entry for ffmpeg
>
> `ffmpeg` produces some help info, but then
> -vcodec codec       force video codec ('copy' to copy stream)
> doesn't say what the actual codecs are...

hit plain 'ffmpeg' without any option and you will get full help

or 
ffmpeg -formats            show available formats, codecs, protocols, ...

or online
http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/ffmpeg-doc.html

by the way, hadn't use ffmpeg for long time and just checked and looks like 
mine copy is broken, encodes with quality setting in thousands so its now 
good tool to fill the free space on storage, and clock speeds up. will 
investigate later. 

martins
-- 
Linux 2.6.14-ck6 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+
 15:34:21 up 11:46,  5 users,  load average: 1.15, 1.07, 1.02

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[gentoo-user] Re: converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[James]

Iain Buchanan <iaindb <at> netspace.net.au> writes:


> I have lots of different types of video files - from short funny ads, to
> 1/2 hr tv episodes, to full movies, in all sorts of formats - wmv, avi,
> mpeg, etc.

yes we all suffer from numerous types of video. Often the differences
are trite, just enough to intice cosumers(microsoft victims) to
go out and spend money unnecessarily.

> I want to find a program (hopefully only 1!) that will help convert them
> to a format playable by the device.  I'm happy if thats a command line
> only program.  I will probably copy them 1 by 1 as I want to watch them.

yes well that's the dream we all share. Currently, it a work in progress
and to be robust, your going to use many different pieces of code.
When ffmpeg hits 1.0 your dream might be close....

> Space it not too much of an issue (I'll eventually have about 60Gb on
> the device) - I'd rather not lessen the quality any more than it is
> already.

Disc space is a relative thing. It always get's filled up. Human nature.
You will never have enough disk space for adults is like
candy for children, never, ever enough.


> So, here are my questions:
> 1. whats the best format to use out of the ones listed, given

Well you first have to realize that 'mpeg 4' is like saying
I want a car. It has numerous classifications and profiles that
allow a vendor to deliver 'mpeg 4' which is a virtual blend of mathematical
technologies that are slightly incompatible with other vendor's equipment
and software.

Take remote video surveillance.  'MPEG 4 ASP', is often referred to 
as the simple profile. The last time I look Mpeg4 has 18 visual object
types and 19 different visual profiles: Nine of the visual profiles are defined
my MPeg4 visual version one: simple, simple scalable, main, n-bit, core,
Scalable texture, basic animated texture, simple face animation and hybrid....
It goes on and on and on. In essence when a vendor tells you, it's
mpeg4 it may be interoperable mpeg4 based video and it may not be.
Enter REVERSE ENGINEERING.....

Good news. Mpeg4 porfile 10 AVC is the same as ISO's H.264, except for
some minor header differences. Currently. H.264 delivers the highest quality
for a given level of compression (that's the natural trade off for
all video and images, i.e. quality vs size. Human perception of quality
does not mimick mathematical measurements of quality, i.e. quality
as perceived by humans is subjective, interspersed with some established
proven techniques. That's why video is so complicated. The perception
 of quality is mostly subjective with some mathematical tendencies.

H.264 is the best (current consensus of experts) but, it is licensed and
owned by nefarious video moguls. Still there are filters in  the public
domain that allow for conversion (ffmpeg for one) others exist. H.264
which the same as 'mpeg4 part 10 AVC' is still a work in progress
as the various mathematical tools available are staggering. Kalman
filters is my favorite.... H.264 is CPU intensive, particularly
on the encoding side of compression.

However, there are those that believe 'theora' will be dominant or
dam close, in the not to distant future. MJpeg makes nice video streams,
but for broadcast in uses twice as much bandwidth to an equivalent
(remember based on subjective human evaluations) h.264 video stream.
This may not be a factor on a LAN, but it dominates WAN considerations.

>    a) Good quality (not much less than, or the same as original)

Use H.264 until theora matures.

>    b) Size reasonable - large files ok, but compression is always a
> bonus)

H.264

> 2. what program will convert 'anything' to said format.

Ah, well, being a computer scientist, I dabble in things that are,
incomplete. If/when you find a simple package to do robust video
manipulations of all sorts, do drop me a line. For now, plan
on using a palate of code and packages.

All things video are a work in progress. I can run (2) color
video streams over a 56 kbps frame relay link, with acceptable
quality for a utility. For their needs, nothing is close to
H.264, at this time, as we have evaluated dozens of formats.
H.264 is also the most efficient in raw video storage.  Still
I stuggle with a software package that will run on linux;
one day. H.264 is largely being ignored by the 'open source'
community, for obvious reason, but, it does yeild stunning
results.


HTH,
James






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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Uwe Thiem]

On 15 December 2005 17:02, James wrote:

[ snip - lots of good stuff ]
> All things video are a work in progress. I can run (2) color
> video streams over a 56 kbps frame relay link, with acceptable
> quality for a utility. For their needs, nothing is close to
> H.264, at this time, as we have evaluated dozens of formats.
> H.264 is also the most efficient in raw video storage.  Still
> I stuggle with a software package that will run on linux;
> one day. H.264 is largely being ignored by the 'open source'
> community, for obvious reason, but, it does yeild stunning
> results.

I can only agree on each single point.

We managed to encode a 1h45m movie in full TV quality (which isn't all that 
much quality) using H.264 with a resulting file of about 500MB!!!!!! It took 
5 hours on a dual G5 (yes, a mac). So encoding is rather expensive. Decoding 
can be done on the fly. Especially interesting for me is that I can stream it 
using just about 100Kb/s per stream. My target is a LAN with hundreds of 
simultaneous streams, and H.264 let me get away with Gb technology for the 
backbone.

All that said, I *can* watch H.264 on linux by now. No audio yet, though. 
That's not the fault of ffmpeg; it's just that the encoding software on the 
mac uses some audio codec I can not get my hands on for linux - yet.

Encoding H.264 on linux is a different bowl of fish. Last time I tried it, the 
result was - how should I put it? - bizarre. But then, it is, like James 
said, a work in progress. I had a ffmpeg snapshot from August, and it 
couldn't display it at all. Got a snapshot from November, and it did it 
beautifully - except for the audio.

For now, I use macs for a commercial product. The moment things get right on 
linux, I'll drop macs and use linux boxes in newer deployments. 

Uwe

-- 
Unix is sexy:
who | grep -i blonde | date
cd ~; unzip; touch; strip; finger
mount; gasp; yes; uptime; umount
sleep
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[gentoo-user] Re: converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[James]

Uwe Thiem <uwix <at> iway.na> writes:


> I can only agree on each single point.
> So encoding is rather expensive. 

Well, I have a solution for this. openmosix:
http://openmosix.snarc.org/
http://openmosix.sourceforge.net/

I'm just a little timid to jump in now, as I'm drowning
with current obligations, promises, and a general
lack of deliverables....


> Encoding H.264 on linux is a different bowl of fish. Last time I tried it, the 
> result was - how should I put it? - bizarre. But then, it is, like James 
> said, a work in progress. I had a ffmpeg snapshot from August, and it 
> couldn't display it at all. Got a snapshot from November, and it did it 
> beautifully - except for the audio.

> For now, I use macs for a commercial product. The moment things get right on 
> linux, I'll drop macs and use linux boxes in newer deployments. 

Amen  bro! I owe you some code. I have not forgotten. I did just get my
elphel 333 so it has captured my imagination and spare cpu_cycles
at the moment. I use DSPs both commercial and homespun_dev_hardware 
to encode h.264.  FPGA are on the near horizon. 

Andrey has built one hell of a camera, and I'd encourage
anyone serious about video to purchase one of these *bad_boys*. 
He's my latest hero when it comes to video! 

He has open sourced the hardware and software, so I'll be noodling
around with verilog(VHDL) now, as if I did not have enough things to
eat away my time.

http://www.elphel.com
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT3888835064.html

James


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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Iain Buchanan]

Success!  Partially at least (skip to the bottom if you want to know
how!)

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 15:02 +0000, James wrote:
> Iain Buchanan <iaindb <at> netspace.net.au> writes:
> 
> > Space it not too much of an issue
> 
> Disc space is a relative thing. It always get's filled up. Human nature.
> You will never have enough disk space for adults is like
> candy for children, never, ever enough.

good point - same with memory, processor speed, etc.  As soon as you
have more, something more intensive comes out to use it...

> > So, here are my questions:
> > 1. whats the best format to use out of the ones listed, given
> 
> Well you first have to realize that 'mpeg 4' is like saying
> I want a car.
[snip]

wow.  After reading your post, I realise it's much more complicated that
I first thought...

> Use H.264 until theora matures.

Unfortunately, with the comments from you and Uwe, I don't think H.264
will be suitable.  Firstly, I doubt my little low powered video device
will decode it, secondly I doubt I can encode it properly on linux, as
good as it sounds.

I think I will be happy with something simpler, even though it may be a
lower quality (that's the human subjective perception of the quality of
course :)  I guess it's like when people ask me for a recommendation on
purchasing computers.  They want to buy the cheap sub-$1000 all in one
deals, and I say "stay away, you're better off in the long run going for
something more expensive, with a better quality, longer life, etc".
However, sometimes they purchase their sub-$1000 PC's and they're
perfectly happy, because they don't use it like I do, and they haven't
had the experience with higher quality.

> HTH,

absolutely!

---------------------------------------------------------------

So, this is what I've come up with so far (for those following the
thread).  Simply:

ffmpeg -i test.wmv -b 4000 -s 640x480 -an test.mp4

(It's the filename .mp4 that did it! note the -an produces no audio)

$ file test.mp4
test.mp4: ISO Media, MPEG v4 system, version 1

however:
$ ls -alh test*
-rw-r--r--  1 iain users 8.5M 2005-12-16 09:18 test.mp4
-rw-------  1 iain users 1.8M 2005-12-15 21:51 test.wmv

as you can see, thats ~4x the size of the original... and thats without
sound.  That's not so good...

Well, I still have a bit to go, but at least I know I can put
_something_ on the device!  If anyone is interested, I can keep posting
back here with my results.

PS, can someone give me an example of how to encode divx with mencoder
or ffmpeg?  Or any program on linux for that matter?

thanks!
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

Mater artium necessitas.
	[Necessity is the mother of invention].

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: converting any video to mpeg-1, mpeg-4 or DivX-5

[Ognjen Bezanov]

Iain Buchanan wrote:

>Success!  Partially at least (skip to the bottom if you want to know
>how!)
>
>On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 15:02 +0000, James wrote:
>  
>
>>Iain Buchanan <iaindb <at> netspace.net.au> writes:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Space it not too much of an issue
>>>      
>>>
>>Disc space is a relative thing. It always get's filled up. Human nature.
>>You will never have enough disk space for adults is like
>>candy for children, never, ever enough.
>>    
>>
>
>good point - same with memory, processor speed, etc.  As soon as you
>have more, something more intensive comes out to use it...
>
>  
>
>>>So, here are my questions:
>>>1. whats the best format to use out of the ones listed, given
>>>      
>>>
>>Well you first have to realize that 'mpeg 4' is like saying
>>I want a car.
>>    
>>
>[snip]
>
>wow.  After reading your post, I realise it's much more complicated that
>I first thought...
>
>  
>
>>Use H.264 until theora matures.
>>    
>>
>
>Unfortunately, with the comments from you and Uwe, I don't think H.264
>will be suitable.  Firstly, I doubt my little low powered video device
>will decode it, secondly I doubt I can encode it properly on linux, as
>good as it sounds.
>
>I think I will be happy with something simpler, even though it may be a
>lower quality (that's the human subjective perception of the quality of
>course :)  I guess it's like when people ask me for a recommendation on
>purchasing computers.  They want to buy the cheap sub-$1000 all in one
>deals, and I say "stay away, you're better off in the long run going for
>something more expensive, with a better quality, longer life, etc".
>However, sometimes they purchase their sub-$1000 PC's and they're
>perfectly happy, because they don't use it like I do, and they haven't
>had the experience with higher quality.
>
>  
>
>>HTH,
>>    
>>
>
>absolutely!
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>
>So, this is what I've come up with so far (for those following the
>thread).  Simply:
>
>ffmpeg -i test.wmv -b 4000 -s 640x480 -an test.mp4
>
>(It's the filename .mp4 that did it! note the -an produces no audio)
>
>$ file test.mp4
>test.mp4: ISO Media, MPEG v4 system, version 1
>
>however:
>$ ls -alh test*
>-rw-r--r--  1 iain users 8.5M 2005-12-16 09:18 test.mp4
>-rw-------  1 iain users 1.8M 2005-12-15 21:51 test.wmv
>
>as you can see, thats ~4x the size of the original... and thats without
>sound.  That's not so good...
>
>Well, I still have a bit to go, but at least I know I can put
>_something_ on the device!  If anyone is interested, I can keep posting
>back here with my results.
>
>PS, can someone give me an example of how to encode divx with mencoder
>or ffmpeg?  Or any program on linux for that matter?
>
>thanks!
>  
>
On My site I wrote about DVD 2-Pass encoding to xvid (hope its close 
enough to divx for you, you can do divx as well, but I am not sure how) 
, Basically this command provides xvid encoding:

/mencoder dvd://1 -sws 2  -nosound -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=580 -o 
./video.avi

I presume you probably will need to state the input file rather then 
dvd://1
/

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