comparison DOCS/encoding.html @ 8816:341d8083491a

fix lots of stuff that was outdated, unclear, inaccurate, or misleading. hopefully no one objects to any of these changes.

8815:74dd9b5cc7f6

<H2><A NAME="encoding">2.4 Encoding with MEncoder</A></H2>

<P>For the complete list of available MEncoder options and examples, please see
  the man page.</P>

<H3><A NAME="2pass">2.4.1 Encoding 2 or 3-pass DivX4</A></H3>

<P><U><B>2-pass encoding:</B></U> the name comes from the fact that this method
  encodes the file <I>twice</I>. The first encoding (dubbed <I>pass</I>)
  creates some temporary files (*.log) with a size of few megabytes, do not
  delete them yet (you can delete the AVI). In the second pass, the 2-pass
  output file is created, using the bitrate data from the temporary files. The
  resulting file will have much better image quality. If this is the first time
  you heard about this, you should consult some guides available on the
  Net.</P>

<P>This example shows how to encode a DVD to a 2-pass DivX4 AVI. Just two
  commands are needed:<BR>
  <CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rm frameno.avi</CODE> - remove this file, which
    can come from a previous 3-pass encoding (it interferes with current
    one)<BR>
  <CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;mencoder -dvd 2 -ovc lavc -lavcopts
    vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1 -oac copy -o movie.avi<BR>

      prints the recommended bitrate values for 650Mb, 700Mb, and 800Mb
      destination sizes, after this pass finishes.</P></LI>
  <LI>Second pass:
    <P><CODE>mencoder &lt;file/DVD&gt; -oac copy
      -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1:vbitrate=&lt;bitrate&gt;</CODE></P>
    <P>Alias the first pass of DivX4 video encoding. 
      Optionally specify the video bitrate MEncoder printed at the end of
      the previous pass.</P></LI>
  <LI>Third pass:
    <P><CODE>mencoder &lt;file/DVD&gt; -oac copy
      -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=2:vbitrate=&lt;bitrate&gt;</CODE></P>
    <P>Alias the second pass of DivX4 video encoding. 
      Optionally specify the video bitrate MEncoder printed at the end of
      the previous pass. In this pass, audio from <CODE>frameno.avi</CODE> will
      be inserted into the destination file.. and it's all ready!</P></LI>
</OL>

<H4>Example for 3-pass encoding:</H4>

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rm frameno.avi</CODE> - remove this file,

<UL>
  <LI>mjpeg - Motion JPEG</LI>
  <LI>h263 - H263</LI>
  <LI>h263p - H263 Plus</LI>
  <LI>mpeg4 - DivX4</LI>
  <LI>msmpeg4 - the old DivX</LI>
  <LI>msmpeg4v2 - Micro$oft MPEG4 V2 (DivX alias MP43 predecessor)</LI>
  <LI>rv10 - an old RealVideo codec</LI>
  <LI>mpeg1video - MPEG1 video :)</LI>
</UL>

<P>The first column contains the codec names that should be passed after the
  <CODE>vcodec</CODE> config, like: <CODE>-lavcopts vcodec=msmpeg4</CODE></P>

<OL>
  <LI>MEncoder <I>decodes</I> the input image(s) with
    <CODE>libjpeg</CODE> (when decoding PNGs, it will use <B>libpng</B>).</LI>

  <LI>MEncoder then feeds the decoded image to the chosen video compressor
    (DivX4, Xvid, ffmpeg msmpeg4, etc...). Watch for the PNG decoder, as
    currently it can output only to RGB formats, thus can't be used with codecs
    that require YUV as input, like DivX4 or ffmpeg's msmpeg4.</LI>
</OL>

<H4>Examples</H4>

<P>The explanation of the <CODE>-mf</CODE> option can be found below in the

8816:341d8083491a

<H2><A NAME="encoding">2.4 Encoding with MEncoder</A></H2>

<P>For the complete list of available MEncoder options and examples, please see
  the man page.</P>

<H3><A NAME="2pass">2.4.1 Encoding 2 or 3-pass MPEG-4 ("DIVX")</A></H3>

<P><U><B>2-pass encoding:</B></U> the name comes from the fact that this method
  encodes the file <I>twice</I>. The first encoding (dubbed <I>pass</I>)
  creates some temporary files (*.log) with a size of few megabytes, do not
  delete them yet (you can delete the AVI). In the second pass, the 2-pass
  output file is created, using the bitrate data from the temporary files. The
  resulting file will have much better image quality. If this is the first time
  you heard about this, you should consult some guides available on the
  Net.</P>

<P>This example shows how to encode a DVD to a 2-pass MPEG-4 ("DIVX") AVI. Just
  two commands are needed:<BR>
  <CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rm frameno.avi</CODE> - remove this file, which
    can come from a previous 3-pass encoding (it interferes with current
    one)<BR>
  <CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;mencoder -dvd 2 -ovc lavc -lavcopts
    vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1 -oac copy -o movie.avi<BR>

      prints the recommended bitrate values for 650Mb, 700Mb, and 800Mb
      destination sizes, after this pass finishes.</P></LI>
  <LI>Second pass:
    <P><CODE>mencoder &lt;file/DVD&gt; -oac copy
      -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1:vbitrate=&lt;bitrate&gt;</CODE></P>
    <P>This is the first pass of video encoding. 
      Optionally specify the video bitrate MEncoder printed at the end of
      the previous pass.</P></LI>
  <LI>Third pass:
    <P><CODE>mencoder &lt;file/DVD&gt; -oac copy
      -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=2:vbitrate=&lt;bitrate&gt;</CODE></P>
    <P>This is the second pass of video encoding. 
      Specify the same bitrate as in the previous pass unless you really know
      what you are doing. In this pass, audio from <CODE>frameno.avi</CODE>
      will be inserted into the destination file.. and it's all ready!</P></LI>
</OL>

<H4>Example for 3-pass encoding:</H4>

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rm frameno.avi</CODE> - remove this file,

<UL>
  <LI>mjpeg - Motion JPEG</LI>
  <LI>h263 - H263</LI>
  <LI>h263p - H263 Plus</LI>
  <LI>mpeg4 - ISO standard MPEG-4 (DivX 4/5, OpenDivX, XVID compatible)</LI>
  <LI>msmpeg4 - pre-standard MPEG-4 variant by MS, v3 (aka DivX3)</LI>
  <LI>msmpeg4v2 - pre-standard MPEG-4 by MS, v2 (used in old asf files)</LI>
  <LI>wmv1 - Windows Media Video, version 1 (aka WMV7)</LI>
  <LI>rv10 - an old RealVideo codec</LI>
  <LI>mpeg1video - MPEG1 video :)</LI>
  <LI>huffyuv - lossless compression</LI>
</UL>

<P>The first column contains the codec names that should be passed after the
  <CODE>vcodec</CODE> config, like: <CODE>-lavcopts vcodec=msmpeg4</CODE></P>

<OL>
  <LI>MEncoder <I>decodes</I> the input image(s) with
    <CODE>libjpeg</CODE> (when decoding PNGs, it will use <B>libpng</B>).</LI>

  <LI>MEncoder then feeds the decoded image to the chosen video compressor
    (DivX4, Xvid, ffmpeg msmpeg4, etc...).</LI>
</OL>

<H4>Examples</H4>

<P>The explanation of the <CODE>-mf</CODE> option can be found below in the