[MPlayer-users] encoding problems after upgrade to 1.0-pre3

[Karl Wood]

> i understand very little about video, or about the different
> mencoder options, but after going through the list archives at some
> length, it seemed to me that this was a good commandline for
> two-pass encoding from vob files:
 
> mencoder -sws 2 -ovc lavc -lavcopts\ 
> vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=800:vhq:v4mv:trell:\ 
> precmp=3:cmp=3:subcmp=3:vmax_b_frames=1:qpel:vlelim=-2:vcelim=7:\ 
> lumi_mask=0.05:dark_mask=0.05:naq:vqcomp=0.7:mbcmp=2:psnr:vpass=x\ 
> -oac mp3lame -lameopts q=0:aq=0 -vop crop=700:372:8:104 -o castaway.avi\  
> castaway.vob

I don't have a DVD drive or your source material so I can't test
your settings exactly. It works for me with 1.0pre3 on different
source material.

> [mpeg4 @ 0x8576ef0]Error: 2pass curve failed to converge

Looks to me like you are asking for too much quality or compression or
both. I don't know, I'm no guru, I'm doing this for debugging practice
stuck inside on a rainy day with a cold.

I suggest:

Use -ss and -endpos to encode say 16 seconds rather than the whole
movie. This way you can do lots of tests quickly.

(e.g. -ss 44 -endpos 16 selects from t=44 seconds to t=60 seconds)

That's one scary commandline. Remove the complex options, keep it
simple, don't be too aggressive on bitrate, get it working, then
restore/try/vary complex options one by one.

I would try something simple like this (complex options removed,
higher bitrate)

mencoder -ss 44 -endpos 60 \
-sws 2 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=1800:vpass=x \
-oac mp3lame -o movie.avi movie.vob

o Try earlier versions of mencoder. If 1.0pre2 works and 1.0pre3
fails, you need only search recent changes in CVS for clues. You need
only build each version once and use "make install" to switch between
them.

Hope this helps