view DOCS/xml/it/encoding-guide.xml @ 25623:b955a135e3a8

Do not use exit_player in the signal handler, this code just can not be called from a signal handler. Instead only make the input system generate quit commands for the first CTRL+C and otherwise do getch2_disable and exit.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- 30% synced with r22753 -->
<chapter id="encoding-guide">
<title>La codifica con <application>MEncoder</application></title>

<sect1 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4">
<title>Produrre un rip di un film da DVD in un
  MPEG-4 ("DivX") di alta qualità</title>

<para>
Una domanda frequente è "Come posso generare il rip con la migliore qualità
per una dimensione data?". Un'altra domanda è "Come posso fare il rip da DVD
migliore in assoluto? Non mi interessa la dimensione del file, voglio solo la
più alta qualità."
</para>

<para>
L'ultima domanda è perlomeno forse posta malamente. Dopo tutto, se non ti
interessa la dimensione del file, perché non ti copi semplicemente l'intero
flusso video MPEG-2 dal DVD? Certo, avrai un AVI di 5GB, prendere o lasciare,
ma se vuoi la miglior qualità e non ti importa della dimensione, è
sicuramente la scelta migliore.
</para>

<para>
Invero, la ragione per cui vuoi codificare un DVD in MPEG-4 è proprio perché
ti interessa <emphasis role="bold">davvero</emphasis> la dimensione del file.
</para>

<para>
E' difficile offrire una ricetta da libro su come generare un rip da DVD in
qualità molto alta. Bisogna considerare vari fattori, e dovresti comprendere
questi dettagli, altrimenti alla fine probabilmente sarai insoddisfatto del
risultato. Più sotto evidenziamo alcuni di questi argomenti e poi passiamo ad
esaminare un esempio. Partiamo dal principio che per codificare il video tu
stia usando <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> anche se la
teoria si applica allo stesso modo agli altri codec.
</para>

<para>
Se questo ti sembra troppo, dovresti probabilmente usare una delle belle
interfacce elencate nella
<ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/projects.html#mencoder_frontends">sezione su MEncoder</ulink>
nella pagina dei progetti collegati (related projects).
In tal modo riuscirai ad ottenere rip di alta qualità senza pensarci troppo,
dato che la maggior parte di questi strumenti sono progettati per prendere
decisioni sagge al tuo posto.
</para>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-preparing-encode">
<title>Prepararsi alla codifica: identificare il materiale sorgente e la frequenza fotogrammi (framerate)</title>

<para>
Prima ancora di pensare a codificare un film, devi fare alcuni passi
preliminari.
</para>

<para>
Il primo e più importante passo prima della codifica dovrebbe essere
determinare il tipo di contenuto che stai trattando.
Se il tuo materiale di partenza arriva da un DVD o da TV in
broadcast/via cavo/satellite, sarà salvato in uno dei due formati: NTSC per
il Nord America e il Giappone, PAL per l'Europa, etc...
E' importante tuttavia comprendere che questo è solo il formato per la
trasmissione in televisione, e spesso <emphasis role="bold">non</emphasis>
corrisponde al formato originario del film.
L'esperienza insegna che il materiale NTSC è molto più difficile da
codificare, perché ci sono più elementi da identificare nel sorgente.
Per generare una codifica adeguata, devi sapere il formato originario.
Il non tenerne conto porterà a molti __flaws__ nella tua codifica, inclusi
artefatti orrendi __combing__ (interlacing) e fotogrammi duplicati o addirittura
perduti.
Oltre ad essere brutti, gli artefatti influenzano negativamente l'efficienza
della codifica: otterrai una peggior qualità a parità di bitrate.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-preparing-encode-fps">
<title>Identificare la frequenza fotogrammi (framerate) del sorgente</title>

<para>
C'è qui un elenco di tipi comuni di materiale sorgente, dove facilmente si
trovano e le loro proprietà:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Film standard</emphasis>: prodotti per la visione
  su schermi da cinema a 24fps.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Video PAL</emphasis>: registrati con una videocamera
  PAL a 50 campi al secondo.
  Un campo è composto dalle sole linee pari o dispari di un fotogramma.
  La televisione è stata progettata per aggiornarle alternativamente come un
  metodo economico di compressione analogica.
  L'occhio umano teoricamente compensa la cosa, ma una volta che capisci come
  funziona l'interlacciatura imparerai a vederla anche in TV e non ti piacerà
  più la TV.
  Due campi <emphasis role="bold">non</emphasis> fanno un fotogramma intero,
  poiché sono registrati a 1/50 di secondo di distanza nel tempo e quindi non
  si allineano a meno che non ci sia movimento alcuno.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Video NTSC</emphasis>: registrati con una videocamera
  NTSC a 60000/1001 campi al secondi, o 60 campi al secondo nell'era precedente
  al colore.
  Per il resto sono simili ai PAL.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Animazione</emphasis>: solitamente disegnati a 24fps,
  ma se ne trovano anche in tipologie con frequenza di fotogrammi mista.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Computer Graphics (CG)</emphasis>: possono essere con
  qualsiasi frequenza di fotogrammi, ma alcuni sono più comuni di altri;
  sono tipici 24 e 30 fotogrammi al secondo per NTSC e 25fps per PAL.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Vecchi Film</emphasis>: varie e più basse frequenze di
  fotogrammi.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-preparing-encode-material">
<title>Identificare il materiale sorgente</title>

<para>
I film composti da fotogrammi sono indicati come "progressivi", mentre quelli
composti da campi indipendenti sono chiamati "interlacciati" o video - anche se
quest'ultimo termine è ambiguo.
</para>

<para>
Per complicare ulteriormente le cose, alcuni film possono essere un misto di
molti dei suddetti.
</para>

<para>
La più importante distinzione da farsi tra tutti questi formati è che alcuni
sono basati su fotogrammi mentre gli altri sono basati su campi.
<emphasis role="bold">Ogniqualvolta</emphasis> un film viene preparato per la
visualizzazione in televisione (DVD inclusi), viene convertito in un formato
basato su campi.
I vari metodi con cui si può fare sono conosciuti nel loro insieme come
"telecine", di cui il tristemente famoso "3:2 pulldown" NTSC è una tipologia.
A meno che il materiale originale sia anch'esso basato su campi (e con la stessa
frequenza di campi) otterrai un filmato in un formato diverso da quello che è
in origine.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Ci sono vari tipi usuali di "pulldown":</title>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Pulldown PAL 2:2</emphasis>: il più bello di tutti.
  Ciascun fotogramma viene mostrato per la durata di due campi, estraendo le
  linee pari e dispari e mostrandole alternativamente.
  Se il materiale di origine è a 24fps questo processo velocizza il filmato
  del 4%.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Pulldown PAL 2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:3</emphasis>:
  Ogni dodicesimo fotogramma viene mostrato per la durata di tre campi, invece
  che solamente per due.
  Questo evita il problema dell'aumento del 4% di velocità, ma rende il
  processo molto più difficile da __reversare__.
  Solitamente viene usato nelle produzioni musicali, dove modificare del 4% la
  velocità rovinerebbe pesantemente la colonna sonora.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Telecine NTSC 3:2</emphasis>: i fotogrammi vengono
  mostrati alternativamente per la durata di 3 o 2 campi.
  Questo porta ad una frequenza di campi di 2.5 volte la frequenza orginaria.
  Il risultato viene anche leggermente rallentato da 60 campi al secondo fino a
  60000/1001 campi al secondo, per mantenere la frequenza dei campi di NTSC.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Pulldown NTSC 2:2</emphasis>: utilizzato per mostrare
  materiale a 30fps su NTSC.
  Carino, proprio come il pulldown PAL 2:2.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Ci sono anche alcuni metodi per convertire tra video NTSC e PAL, ma gli
arogmenti relativi non sono obiettivo di questa guida.
Se ti trovi di fronte a un film di questo genere e lo vuoi codificare, la tua
scelta migliore è cercarne una copia nel formato originale.
La conversione tra questi due formati è altamente distruttiva e non può
essere __reversed__ in maniera pulita, perciò la tua codifica __soffrirà__
molto se eseguita da una sorgente convertita.
</para>

<para>
Quando il video viene salvato du un DVD, coppie consecutive di campi sono
raggruppati in un fotogramma, anche se non sono pensati per esser mostrati
nello stesso momento.
Lo standard MPEG-2 usato sui DVD e per la TV digitale fornisce un modo sia per
codificare i fotogrammi progressivi originali, che uno per memorizzare
nell'intestazione del fotogramma il numero dei campi per cui il fotogramma
stesso debba essere mostrato.
Se viene usato questo metodo il filmato verrà spesso indicato come
"soft telecine", visto che il procedimento indica semplicemente al lettore DVD
di applicare il pulldown al film, invece che modificare il film stesso.
Questa situazione è decisamente preferibile, dato che può essere facilmente
__reversed__ (__actually ignored__) dal condificatore, e dato che mantiene la
massima qualità.
Tuttavia, molti studi di produzione DVD e di trasmissione non usano tecniche di
codifica appropriate, ma al contrario producono filmati con "hard telecine", in
cui i campi sono sotanzialmente duplicati nell'MPEG-2 codificato.
</para>

<para>
Le modalità per gestire questi casi verranno descritte
<link linkend="menc-feat-telecine">più avanti in questa guida</link>.
Per adesso ti lasciamo alcune indicazioni su come identificare il tipo di
materiale che stai trattando:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Regioni NTSC:</title>
<listitem><para>
  Se <application>MPlayer</application> dice che la frequenza fotogrammi passa
  a 24000/1001 durante la visione del film e non ritorna come prima, è quasi
  sicuramente un qualche contenuto progressivo che è stato modificato in
  "soft telecine".
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Se <application>MPlayer</application> dice che la frequenza fotogrammi va
  avanti e indietro tra 24000/1001 e 30000/1001 e ogni tanto vedi delle "righe",
  allora ci sono varie possibilità.
  Le parti a 24000/1001 fps sono quasi certamente contenuto progressivo, in
  "soft telecine", ma le parti a 30000/1001 fps possono essere sia contenuto in
  "hard telecine" a 24000/1001 fps che video NTSC a 60000/1001 campi al secondo.
  Usa le stesse linee guida dei due casi seguenti per determinare quale.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Se <application>MPlayer</application> non mostra mai una modifica alla
  frequenza dei fotogrammi e ogni singolo fotogramma con del movimento appare
  "rigato", il tuo filmato è video NTSC a 60000/1001 campi al secondo.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Se <application>MPlayer</application> non mostra mai una modifica alla
  frequenza dei fotogrammi e due fotogrammi ogni cinque sono "rigati", il tuo
  film è contenuto a 24000/1001fps in "hard telecine".
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Regioni PAL:</title>
<listitem><para>
  Se non vedi mai alcuna "riga", il tuo film è pulldown 2:2.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Se vedi delle "righe" che vanno e vengono ogni mezzo secondo,
  allora il tuo film è pulldown 2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:3.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Se vedi sempre "righe" durante il movimento, allora il tuo film è video
  PAL a 50 campi al secondo.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<note><title>Consiglio:</title>
<para>
  <application>MPlayer</application> può rallentare la riproduzione del film
  con l'opzione -speed o riprodurlo fotogramma per fotogramma.
  Prova ad usare <option>-speed</option> 0.2 per guardare molto lentamente il
  film o premi ripetutamente il tasto "<keycap>.</keycap>" per riprodurre un
  fotogramma per volta ed identificare la sequenza, se non riesci a vederla a
  velocità normale.
</para>
</note>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-2pass">
<title>Quantizzatore costante vs. multipassaggio</title>

<para>
E' possibile codificare il filmato in un'ampia gamma di qualità.
Con i codificatori video moderni e un pelo di compressione pre-codec
(ridimensionando e ripulendo), è possibile raggiungere una qualità molto
buona in 700 MB, per un film di 90-110 minuti in widescreen.
Inoltre tutti i film tranne i più lunghi possono essere codificati con una
qualità pressoché perfetta in 1400 MB.
</para>

<para>
Ci sono tre approcci per codificare il video: bitrate costante (CBR),
quantizzatore costante, e multipassaggio (ABR, o bitrate medio).
</para>

<para>
La complessità dei fotogrammi di un filmato, e di conseguenza il numero di
bit necessari per comprimerli, può variare molto da una scena ad un'altra.
I codificatori video moderni possono adattarsi via via a queste necessità
e cambiare il bitrate.
In modalità semplici come CBR, tuttavia, i codificatori non sanno il bitrate
necessario alle scene venture e perciò non possono stare sopra al bitrate
richiesto per lunghi periodi di tempo.
Modalità più avanzate, come la codifica in multipassaggio, possono tener
conto delle statistiche del passo precedente; questo corregge il problema
suddetto.
</para>

<note><title>Nota:</title>
<para>
La maggior parte dei codec che gestisce la codifica in ABR può usare solo la
codifica a due passaggi mentre altri come
<systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>,
<systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem> e
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> gestiscono il
multipassaggio, che migliora leggermente la qualità ad ogni passo, anche se
tale moglioramento non è più misurabile né visibile veramente oltre il
quarto passo o giù di lì.
Perciò in questa sezione due passaggi e multipassaggio avranno lo stesso
significato.
</para>
</note>

<para>
In ambedue i modi, il codec video (come
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>) spezza il fotogramma video
in macroblocchi da 16x16 pixel e poi applica un quantizzatore a ciascun
macroblocco. Più basso è il quantizzatore, migliore sarà la qualità e
più alto il bitrate.
Il metodo usato dal codificatore del filmato per determinare quale quantizzatore
utilizzare per un dato macroblocco varia ed è altamente configurabile.
(Questa è una semplificazione estrema del vero processo, ma il concetto di base
è comodo per capire.)
</para>

<para>
Quando specifichi un bitrate constante, il codec video codificherà il video,
scartando dettagli tanto quanto è necessario e il meno possibile, in modo da
rimanere al di sotto del bitrate voluto. Se non ti interessa davvero la
dimensione del file, potresti anche usare CBR e specificare un bitrate
infinito. (In pratica, questo significa un valore abbastanza alto da non porre
limiti, come 10000Kbit.) Con nessun limite sul bitrate, il risultato è che il
codec userà il quantizzatore più basso possibile per ciascun macroblocco
(come specificato da <option>vqmin</option> per
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>, che è 2 di default).
Appena specifichi un bitrate abbastanza basso tale che il codec venga forzato
ad utilizzare un quantizzatore più alto, allora stai sicuramente diminuendo la
qualità del tuo video.
Per evitarlo, dovresti probabilmente ridurre la dimensione del tuo video,
seguendo il metodo descritto più avanti in questa guida.
In generale dovresti evitare del tutto CBR se ti interessa la qualità.
</para>

<para>
Con il quantizzatore costante, il codec utilizza lo stesso quantizzatore per
ogni macroblocco, come specificato dall'opzione <option>vqscale</option> (per
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>).
Se vuoi la più alta qualità possibile di rip, sempre ignorantdo il bitrate,
puoi usare <option>vqscale=2</option>.
Ciò porterà gli stessi bitrate e PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) come CBR
con <option>vbitrate</option>=infinito e <option>vqmin</option> di default a 2.
</para>

<para>
Il problema con la quantizzazione costante è che usa il quantizzatore indicato
sia che il macroblocco ne abbia bisogno o no. Perciò è possibile che venga
usato un quantizzatore più alto su un macroblocco senza sacrificare la
qualità visiva. Perché sprecare i bit di un quantizzatore basso che non
serve? La tua CPU ha tanti cicli fin quando c'è tempo, ma c'è solo un certo
numero di bit sul tuo disco rigido.
</para>

<para>
Con una codifica a due passi, il primo codificherà il filmato come se fosse
CBR, ma manterrà una registrazione delle caratteristiche di ogni fotogramma.
Questi dati sono poi utilizzati durante il secondo passo in modo da effettuare
scelte intelligenti su quale quantizzatore usare. Durante le scene con azione
veloce o molti dettagliate, verrano usati più probabilmente quantizzatori più
alti, e durante scene lente o con pochi dettagli, verranno usati quantizzatori
più bassi. Solitamente è molto più importante la quantità di movimento
che la quantità di dettagli.
</para>

<para>
Se usi <option>vqscale=2</option>, allora stai sprecando dei bit. Se usi
<option>vqscale=3</option>, allora non stai ottenendo la miglior qualità.
Supponi di rippare un DVD a <option>vqscale=3</option> e che il risultato sia
1800Kbit. Se fai una codifica a due passi con <option>vbitrate=1800</option> il
video risultante avrà una <emphasis role="bold">qualità superiore</emphasis>
a <emphasis role="bold">parità di bitrate</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
Dato che ora sei convinto che i due passaggi siano la strada da percorrere, la
vera domanda adesso è quale bitrate usare? La risposta à che non c'è una
risposta definitiva. Idealmente vuoi scegliere un bitrate che porti al miglior
equilibrio tra qualità e dimensione del file. Tutto ciò varia in dipendenza
del video di origine.
</para>

<para>
Se la dimensione non è importante, un buon punto di partenza per un rip di
qualità molto elevata è intorno a 2000Kbit più o meno 200Kbit.
Per video con scene di azione veloce o con molti dettagli, oppure se
semplicemente hai l'occhio critico, potresti scegliere 2400 o 2600.
Per alcuni DVD potresti non notare alcuna differenza a 1400Kbit. Sperimentare
con alcune scene a vari bitrate è una buona idea per farsi un'opinione.
</para>

<para>
Se punti a una data dimensione, dovrai calcolare il bitrate in un qualche modo.
Prima di farlo, però, devi sapere quanto spazio devi riservare per la traccia
(le tracce) audio, per cui devi dapprima fare il
<link linkend="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-audio">rip di queste</link>.
Puoi calcolare il bitrate con l'equazione che segue:
<systemitem>bitrate = (dimensione_voluta_in_Mbytes - dimensione_audio_in_Mbytes)
* 1024 * 1024 / lunghezza_in_secondi * 8 / 1000</systemitem>
Per esempio, per far stare un film di due ore su un CD da 702MB, con 60MB di
traccia audio, il bitrate video diventerà:
<systemitem>(702 - 60) * 1024 * 1024 / (120*60) * 8 / 1000
= 740kbps</systemitem>
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-constraints">
<title>Vincoli per una codifica efficiente</title>

<para>
A causa della natura del tipo di compressione MPEG, ci sono alcuni vincoli da
seguire per avere la massima qualità.
L'MPEG divide il video in quadrati da 16x16 chiamati macroblocchi, ciascuno di
essi composto da blocchi 4x4 con informazioni sulla luminanza (intensità) e
due blocchi da 8x8 a metà risoluzione per la crominanza (colore) (uno per
l'asse rosso-ciano e l'altro per l'asse blu-giallo).
Anche se la larghezza e l'altezza del tuo filmato non sono multipli di 16 il
codificatore userà tanti macroblocchi 16x16 in modo da coprire tutta la
superficie dell'immagine, e lo spazio in esubero sarà sprecato.
Indi, per migliorare la qualità a una dimensione prefissata è una brutta
idea utilizzare dimensioni che non siano multiple di 16.
</para>

<para>
La maggior parte dei DVD ha anche alcune con bordi neri sui lati. Lasciarli lì
avrà un'influenza <emphasis role="bold">molto</emphasis> negativa sulla
qualità in svariati modi.
</para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>
  Il tipo di compressione MPEG è pesantemente dipendente dalle trasformazioni
  di dominio frequenti, in particolare la "trasformazione discreta del coseno"
  (Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT)), che xxièe' simile alla trasformazione di
  Fourier. Quest'approccio di codifica è efficiente nella rappresentazione di
  motivi e transizioni delicate, ma trova difficoltà con spigoli più
  definiti. Per codificarli deve usare molti più bit oppure apparirà un
  artefatto conosciuto come 'ringing'.
  </para>

  <para>
  La trasformazione di frequenza (DCT) prende luogo separatemente in ogni
  macroblocco (praticamente in ogni blocco) perciò questo problema si applica
  solo quando lo spigolo definito è dentro a un blocco. Se il bordo nero inizia
  esattamente sul lato di un multiplo di 16, questo non e' un problema.
  Tuttavia i bordi neri sui DVD difficilmente sono ben allineati, perciò
  nella realtà dovrai sempre tagliarli via per evitare questi problemi.
  </para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>
Oltre alle trasformazioni del dominio di frequenza, il tipo di compressione
MPEG usa dei vettori di movimento per rappresetare le variazioni da un
fotogramma al successivo. Naturalmente i vettori di movimento funzionano molto
meno bene per i nuovi contenuti che arrivano dai bordi dell'immagine, dato che
non erano presenti nel fotogramma precedente. Fintanto che l'immagine arriva
fino al bordo dell'area codificata, i vettori di movimento non incontrano
alcun problema con li contenuto che esce dall'immagine. Tuttavia ci possono
esser problemi quando ci sono dei bordi neri:
</para>

<orderedlist continuation="continues">
<listitem>
  <para>
  Per ogni macroblocco il tipo di compressione MPEG memorizza un vettore, che
  identifica quale parte del fotogramma precedente debba essere copiata nel
  macroblocco stesso, come base per predire il fotogramma successivo. Serve
  codificare solo le differenze restanti. Se un macroblocco oltrepassa il
  bordo dell'immagine e contiene parte del bordo nero, allora i vettori di
  movimento provenienti da altre zone dell'immagine ricopriranno il bordo
  nero. Questo significa che si devono utilizzare molti bit o per riannerire il
  bordo che è stato ricoperto, oppure (più verosimilmente) un vettore di
  movimento non sarà proprio usato e tutti i cambiamenti in questo
  macroblocco dovranno venir esplicitamente codificate. In un modo o nell'altro
  si ricuce di gran lunga l'efficienza della codifica.
  </para>

  <para>
  Inoltre questo problema si applica solo se i bordi neri non sono allinati
  su limiti di multipli di 16.
  </para>
</listitem>

<listitem>
  <para>
  Immagina infine di avere un macroblocco all'interno dell'immagine, ed un
  oggetto che passa da questo blocco verso il bordo dell'immagine. La
  codifica MPEG non può dire "copia la parte che è dentro all'immagine, ma
  non il bordo nero". Perciò anche il bordo nero vi verrà copiato
  all'interno, e molti bit saranno sprecati codificando l'immagine che si
  suppone stia lì.
  </para>

  <para>
  Se l'immagine arriva al limite della superficie codificata, l'MPEG ha una
  particolare ottimizzazione che consta nel copiare ripetutamente i pixel sul
  bordo dell'immagine quando un vettore di movimento arriva dall'esterno della
  superficie codificata. Questa funzionalità diventa inutile quando il film
  ha dei bordi neri. Diversamente dai problemi 1 e 2, allineare i bordi a
  multipli di 16 in questo caso non aiuta.
  </para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>
  A dispetto del fatto che i bordi siano completamente neri e non cambino mai,
  c'è perlomeno un piccolo spreco nell'avere più macroblocchi.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>
Per tutte queste ragioni si consiglia di tagliar via completamente i bordi neri.
Inoltre, se c'è una zona di rumore/distorsione sui bordi dell'immagine,
tagliarla migliorerà ancora l'efficienza di codifica. I puristi videofili che
vogliono mantenere il più possibile l'originale potrebbero obiettare su questo
taglio, ma a meno di non codificare a una quantizzazione costante, la qualità
guadagnata tagliando sorpasserà di gran lunga la quantità di informazioni
perse sui bordi.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-crop">
<title>Tagliare e Ridimensionare</title>

<para>
Ricorda dalla sezione precedente che la dimensione finale dell'immagine che
codifichi dovrebbe essere un multiplo di 16 (sia in larghezza che altezza).
Si può ottenere ciò tagliando, ridimensionando o combinando le due cose.
</para>

<para>
Quando tagli, ci sono alcune linee guida che si devono seguire per evitare di
rovinare il tuo filmato.
Il formato YUV abituale, 4:2:0, memorizza le informazioni sulla crominanza
(colore) sottocampionate, per es. la crominanza viene campionata in ogni
direzione solo la metà di quanto venga la luminanza (intensità).
Osserva questo diagramma, dove L indica i punti di campionamente della
luminanza e C quelli della crominanza.
</para>

<informaltable>
<?dbhtml table-width="40%" ?>
<?dbfo table-width="40%" ?>
<tgroup cols="8" align="center">
<colspec colnum="1" colname="col1"/>
<colspec colnum="2" colname="col2"/>
<colspec colnum="3" colname="col3"/>
<colspec colnum="4" colname="col4"/>
<colspec colnum="5" colname="col5"/>
<colspec colnum="6" colname="col6"/>
<colspec colnum="7" colname="col7"/>
<colspec colnum="8" colname="col8"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa1-2" namest="col1" nameend="col2"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa3-4" namest="col3" nameend="col4"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa5-6" namest="col5" nameend="col6"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa7-8" namest="col7" nameend="col8"/>
  <tbody>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry spanname="spa1-2">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa3-4">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa5-6">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa7-8">C</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry spanname="spa1-2">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa3-4">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa5-6">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa7-8">C</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
  </tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>

<para>
Come puoi vedere, le righe e le colonne dell'immagine vengono sempre a coppie.
Quindi i tuoi valori di spostamento e dimensione <emphasis>devono</emphasis>
essere numeri pari.
Se non lo sono la crominanza non sarà più allineata correttamente con la
luminanza.
In teoria è possibile tagliare con uno spostamento dispari, ma richiede che la
crominanza venga ricampionata, il che potenzialmente è un'operazione in perdita
e non è gestita dal filtro crop.
</para>

<para>
Inoltre, il video interlacciato viene campionato come segue:
</para>

<informaltable>
<?dbhtml table-width="80%" ?>
<?dbfo table-width="80%" ?>
<tgroup cols="16" align="center">
<colspec colnum="1"  colname="col1"/>
<colspec colnum="2"  colname="col2"/>
<colspec colnum="3"  colname="col3"/>
<colspec colnum="4"  colname="col4"/>
<colspec colnum="5"  colname="col5"/>
<colspec colnum="6"  colname="col6"/>
<colspec colnum="7"  colname="col7"/>
<colspec colnum="8"  colname="col8"/>
<colspec colnum="9"  colname="col9"/>
<colspec colnum="10" colname="col10"/>
<colspec colnum="11" colname="col11"/>
<colspec colnum="12" colname="col12"/>
<colspec colnum="13" colname="col13"/>
<colspec colnum="14" colname="col14"/>
<colspec colnum="15" colname="col15"/>
<colspec colnum="16" colname="col16"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa1-2"   namest="col1" nameend="col2"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa3-4"   namest="col3" nameend="col4"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa5-6"   namest="col5" nameend="col6"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa7-8"   namest="col7" nameend="col8"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa9-10"  namest="col9" nameend="col10"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa11-12" namest="col11" nameend="col12"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa13-14" namest="col13" nameend="col14"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa15-16" namest="col15" nameend="col16"/>
  <tbody>
    <row>
      <entry namest="col1" nameend="col8">Campo superiore</entry>
      <entry namest="col9" nameend="col16">Campo inferiore</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry spanname="spa1-2">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa3-4">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa5-6">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa7-8">C</entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry spanname="spa9-10">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa11-12">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa13-14">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa15-16">C</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry spanname="spa1-2">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa3-4">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa5-6">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa7-8">C</entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry spanname="spa9-10">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa11-12">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa13-14">C</entry>
      <entry spanname="spa15-16">C</entry>
    </row>
    <row>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry></entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
      <entry>L</entry>
    </row>
  </tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>

<para>
Come puoi notare, il motivo non si ripete fino a dopo 4 linee.
Quindi per il video interlacciato, il tuo spostamento sull'asse y e l'altezza
devono essere multipli di 4.
</para>

<para>
La risoluzione nativa DVD è 720x480 per NTSC e 720x576 per PAL, ma c'è un
flag per l'aspetto che indica se è full-screen (4:3) o wide-screen (16:9).
Molti (se non quasi tutti) i DVD in widescreen non sono esattamente 16:9 e
possono essere sia 1.85:1 o 2.35:1 (cinescope). Questo significa che nel video
ci saranno bordi neri  che bisogna tagliare via.
</para>

<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> fornisce un filtro che rileva i valori di
taglio e fornisce il rettangolo per crop (<option>-vf cropdetect</option>).
Esegui <application>MPlayer</application> con <option>-vf cropdetect</option> ed
emetterà le impostazioni di taglio per crop al fine di rimuovere i bordi.
Dovresti lasciare andare avanti il film abbastanza da ottenere valori di taglio
precisi.
</para>

<para>
Dopodiché prova con <application>MPlayer</application> i valori ottenuti usando
la linea comando emessa da <option>cropdetect</option>, e correggi il
rettangolo se e come serve.
Il filtro <option>rectangle</option> può esserti di aiuto, dato che ti
permette di impostare interattivamente la posizione del rettangolo di taglio
sopra al filmato.
Ricordati di seguire le linee guida sui multipli in modo da non disallineare
i piani di crominanza.
</para>

<para>
In talune occasioni, il ridimensionamento può essere indesiderabile.
Il ridimensionamento sulla direzione verticale è difficoltoso con video
interlacciato e se vuoi mantenere l'interlacciamento, dovresti evitare il
ridimensionamento.
Se non ridimensionerai, ma vuoi comunque usare dimensioni multiple di 16,
dovrai tagliare di più.
Evita di tagliare di meno, dato che i bordi neri sono un male per la codifica!
</para>

<para>
Dato che MPEG-4 usa macroblocchi 16x16 vorrai esser sicuro che ambedue le
dimensioni del video che stai per codificare siano multiple di 16, altrimenti
perderai in qualità, soprattutto a bitrate più bassi. Puoi farlo abbassando
la larghezza e l'altezza del rettangolo di taglio al multiplo di 16 più vicino.
Come detto precedentemente, quando tagli, vorrai aumentare lo scostamento Y
della metà della differenza tra la nuova e la vecchia altezza, in modo che il
video risultante sia preso dal centro del fotogramma. Inoltre, a causa del modo
in cui il video DVD viene campionato, assicurati che lo scostamento sia un
numero pari. (Infatti, come regola, non utilizzare mai valori dispari per alcun
parametro quando tagli e ridimensioni un video.) Se non ti va di scartare dei
pixel in più, potresti piuttosto preferire il ridimensionamento del video.
Prenderemo in esame questa situazione più avanti.
Puoi in verità lasciare che tutte le considerazioni suddette vengano fatte
dal filtro <option>cropdetect</option>, visto che ha un parametro
<option>round</option> facoltativo, che è impostato a 16 di default.
</para>

<para>
Fai anche attenzione ai pixel "mezzi neri" sui bordi. Assicurati di tagliare
anch'essi, altrimenti sprecherai bit più utili altrove.
</para>

<para>
Dopo aver detto e fatto tutto ciò, probabilmente avrei un vide i cui pixel
non saranno proprio 1.85:1 o 2.35:1, ma piuttosto un valore vicino. Potresti
calcolare a mano il nuovo rapporto di aspetto, ma
<application>MEncoder</application> ha un'opzione per <systemitem
class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> chiamata <option>autoaspect</option>
che lo farà per te. Non aumentare assolutamente le dimensioni del video per
avere i pixel quadrati, a meno che tu non voglia sprecare il tuo spazio disco.
Il ridimensionamento dovrebbe essere eseguito in riproduzione, e per definire
la risoluzione giusta il riproduttore userà l'aspetto memorizzato nell'AVI.
Sfortunatamente non tutti i riproduttori verificano l'informazione sul rapporto
perciò potresti voler comunque effettuare il ridimensionamento.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-resolution-bitrate">
<title>Scegliere la risoluzione e il bitrate</title>

<para>
Other parameters such as scaling, cropping, etc. will
<emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> alter the file size unless you
change the bitrate as well!.
A meno che tu non stia per codificare con quantizzazione costante devi
impostare un bitrate.
La logica del bitrate è abbastanza semplice.
Normalmente il bitrate viene misurato in kilobit (1000 bit) al secondo.
La dimensione del filmato sul disco è il bitrate moltiplicato per la durata
del filmato, più un piccolo quantitativo in "surplus" (vedi per esempio la
sezione sul
<link linkend="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-muxing-avi-limitations">contenitore AVI</link>).
Altri parametri come ridimensionamento, taglio, etc...
<emphasis role="bold">non</emphasis> influiscono sulla dimensione del file a
meno che tu non cambi anche il bitrate!
</para>

<para>
Il bitrate <emphasis role="bold">non</emphasis> è direttamente proporzionale
alla risoluzione.
Tanto per capirci, un file 320x240 a 200 kbit/sec non avrà la stessa qualità
dello stesso filmato a 640x480 e 800 kbit/sec!
Ci sono due ragioni per ciò:
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Percettiva</emphasis>: noti di più gli artefatti MPEG
  quando sono più grandi!
  Gli artefatti appaiono a livello dei blocchi (8x8).
  Il tuo occhio non noterà errori in 4800 piccoli blocchi tanti quanti ne
  vedrà in 1200 grossi blocchi (assumendo che tu li stia ridimensionando tutti
  e due a schermo intero).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Teorica</emphasis> : quando rimpicciolisci un immagine
  ma usi la stessa dimensione dei blocchi (8x8) per la trasformazione spaziale
  della frequenza, hai più dati nelle bande ad alta frequenza. In parole
  povere, ogni pixel contiene più dettagli di quanti ne contenesse prima.
  Quindi anche se la tua immagine rimpicciolita contiene 1/4 delle informazioni
  sulle direzioni spaziali, potrebbe ancora contenere una gran parte delle
  informazioni nel dominio delal frequenza (assumendo che le alte frequenze
  siano sotto-utilizzate nell'immagine di origine a 640x480).
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>

<para>
Guide precendenti hanno consigliato di scegliere un bitrate e una risoluzione
in base ad un approccio "bit al secondo", ma di solito ciò non è valido a
causa delle ragioni suddette.
Una stima migliore pare essere che il bitrate è proporzionale alla radice
quadrata della risoluzione, per cui 320x240 e 400 kbit/sec sarà
paragonabile a 640x480 a 800 kbit/sec.
Tuttavia ciò non è stato verificato con certezza empirica o teorica.
Inoltre, dato che i filmati hanno diversi livelli di disturbo, dettaglio, angoli
di movimento, etc..., è vano dare consigli generici su bit per lunghezza della
diagonale (analogamente a bit per pixel, usando la radice quadrata).
</para>
<para>
Finora abbiamo parlato della difficoltà nel scegliere un bitrate e una
risoluzione.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-resolution-bitrate-compute">
<title>Calcolare la risoluzione</title>

<para>
I passaggi seguenti ti guideranno nel calcolo della risoluzione per la tua
codifica senza distorcere troppo il video, tenendo in considerazione vari tipo
di informazioni riguardo la sorgente video.
Per prima cosa dovresti calcolare il rapporto di aspetto codificato:
<systemitem>ARc = (Wc x (ARa / PRdvd )) / Hc</systemitem>

<itemizedlist>
<title>dove:</title>
<listitem><para>
  Wc e Hc sono la larghezza e l'altezza del video tagliato,
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  ARa è il rapporto di aspetto mostrato, che di solito è 4/3 o 16/9,
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  PRdvd à il rapporto del pixel del DVD che è uguale a 1.25=(720/576) per DVD
  PAL e 1.5=(720/480) per DVD NTSC.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Dopo puoi calcolare la risoluzione X e Y, basandoti su un dato fattore
di qualità di compressione (Compression Quality, CQ):
<systemitem>ResY = INT(SQRT( 1000*Bitrate/25/ARc/CQ )/16) * 16</systemitem>
and
<systemitem>ResX = INT( ResY * ARc / 16) * 16</systemitem>
</para>

<para>
Okay, ma cos'è la CQ?
Il CQ rappresenta il numero di bit per pixel e per fotogramma in codifica.
Parlando più semplicemente, più alto è la CQ, più difficilmente si vedranno
codificati degli artefatti.
Tuttavia, se desideri una particolare dimensione per il tuo film (per esempio
1 o 2 CD), hai un numero limitato di bit da utilizzare; devi quindi trovare un
buon compromesso tra compressione e qualità.
</para>

<para>
La CQ dipende dal bitrate, dall'efficienza del codec video e dalla risoluzione
del filmato.
Per alzare la CQ, di solito dovrai rimpicciolire il filmato visto che il bitrate
viene calcolato in funzione della dimensione voluta e della lunghezza del
filmato, che sono delle costanti.
Con codec MPEG-4 ASP come <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem> e
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>, una CQ inferiore a 0.18
solitamente genera un'immagine abbastanza squadrettata, perché non ci sono
abbastanza bit per codificare l'informazione di ogni macroblocco. (MPEG4, come
molti altri codec, ragruppa i pixel in blocchi di pixel per comprimere
l'immagine; se non ci sono abbastanza bit, si vedono i bordi dei blocchi.)
E' saggio anche prendere una CQ compresa tra 0.20 e 0.22 per un rip a 1 CD,
e 0.26-0.28 per un rip a 2 CD con impostazioni standard di codifica.
Opzioni più evolute di codifica come quelle qui indicate per
<link linkend="menc-feat-mpeg4-lavc-example-settings"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>
e
<link linkend="menc-feat-xvid-example-settings"><systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem></link>
dovrebbero permetterti di ottenere la stessa qualità con CQ compresa tra
0.18 e 0.20 per un rip da 1 CD, e da 0.24 a 0.26 per 2 CD.
Con codec MPEG-4 AVC come <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>,
puoi usare una CQ che varia da 0.14 a 0.16 con opzioni standard di codifica, e
dovresti riuscire a scendere tra 0.10 e 0.12 con <link linkend="menc-feat-x264-example-settings">impostazioni avanzate di codifica
<systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem></link>.
</para>

<para>
Prendi per favore nota che CQ è solo un valore indicativo, dato che dipende dal
contenuto che  viene codificato, una CQ di 0.18 può andar bene per un Bergman,
mentre per un film come Matrix, che contiene molte scene ad alta velocità, no.
D'altro canto è inutile portare la CQ oltre 0.30 dato che sprecherai dei bit
senza avere alcun guadagno visibile in qualità.
Nota anche che come detto precedentemente in questa guida, per video a bassa
risoluzione serve una CQ più alta (in rapporto, per esempio, alla risoluzione
DVD) perché si vedano bene.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-filtering">
<title>Filtraggio</title>

<para>
Imparare come usare i filtri video di <application>MEncoder</application> è
essenziale per produrre delle buone codfiche.
Tutta l'elaborazione video è eseguita attraverso i filtri -- taglio,
ridimensionamento, aggiustamento del colore, rimozione del disturbo, rilevamento
margini, deinterlacciatura, telecine, telecine inverso, e deblocco, solo per
nominarne qualcuno.
Insieme con la vasta gamma di formati di entrata gestiti, la varietà dei
filtri disponibili in <application>MEncoder</application> è uno dei suoi
più grandi vantaggi sugli altri programmi similari.
</para>

<para>
I filtri vengono caricati in catena usando l'opzione -vf:

<screen>-vf filtro1=opzioni,filtro2=opzioni,...</screen>

La maggior parte dei filtri riceve alcune opzioni numeriche separate da due
punti, ma la sintassi per le opzioni cambia da filtro a filtro, indi leggiti la
pagina man per i dettagli sul filtro che desideri usare.
</para>

<para>
I filtri lavorano sul video nell'ordine in cui vengono caricati.
Per esempio la catena seguente:

<screen>-vf crop=688:464:12:4,scale=640:464</screen>

dapprima taglia la zona 688x464 dell'immagine con uno scostamento dall'alto a
sinistra di (12,4), e poi ridimensiona il risultato a 640x464.
</para>

<para>
Taluni filtri devono essere caricati all'inizio o vicino all'inizio della
catena di filtri, in modo da trarre vantaggio dalle informazioni che arrivano
dal decoder video, che potrebbero essere perse o invalidate da altri filtri.
Gli esempi principali sono <option>pp</option> (post elaborazione
(postprocessing), solo quando esegue operazioni di deblock o dering),
<option>spp</option> (un altra post elaborazione per eliminare artefatti MPEG),
<option>pullup</option> (telecine inverso), e <option>softpulldown</option>
(per passare da telecine soft a hard).
</para>

<para>
In generale vorrai filtrare il meno possibile in modo da rimaner fedele alla
sorgente DVD originale. Il taglio è spesso necessario (com detto sopra), ma
evita di ridimensionare il video. Anche se alcune volte si preferisce
rimpicciolire per poter usare quantizzatori più alti, vogliamo evitare ciò:
ricorda che abbiamo sin dall'inizio deciso di investire bit in qualità.
</para>

<para>
In più, non reimpostare la gamma, il contrasto, la luminosità, etc...
Quello che si vede bene sul tuo schermo potrebbe non vedersi bene su altro.
Queste modifiche dovrebbero esser fatte solo durante la riproduzione.
</para>

<para>
Una cosa che voresti però fare è tuttavia far passare il video attraverso un
leggero filtro di rimozione disturbo, come <option>-vf hqdn3d=2:1:2</option>.
Ancora, è una questione di poter meglio utilizzare quei bit: perché sprecarli
codificando disturbo mentre puoi semplicemente aggiungerlo di nuovo durante la
riproduzione? Alzando i parametri per <option>hqdn3d</option> aumenterà
ancora la compressione, ma se aumenti troppo i valori, rischi un degrado pesante
dell'immagine. I valori sopra consigliati (<option>2:1:2</option>) sono
abbastanza conservativi; sentiti libero di sperimentare con valori più alti e
verificare da solo il risultato.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-interlacing">
<title>Interlacciamento e Telecine</title>

<para>
Quasi tutti i film vengono ripresi a 24 fps. Dato che NTSC è 30000/1001 fps,
si devono eseguire alcune elaborazioni affinché questo video a 24 fps sia
letto al giusto framerate NTSC. Il processo è chiamato "3:2 pulldown", meglio
conosciuto come "telecine" (poiché pulldown viene spesso applicato durante il
processo di telecine), e descritto rozzamente, agisce rallentando il film a
24000/1001 fps, e ripetendo ogni quarto fotogramma.
</para>

<para>
Non viene invece eseguita alcuna elaborazione sul video per i DVD PAL, che
girano a 25 fps. (Tecnicamente, PAL può subire il telecine, chiamato
"2:2 pulldown", ma non è usanza abituale.) Il film a 24 fps viene
semplicemente riprodotto a 25 fps. Il risultato è che il filmato è leggermente
più veloce, ma a meno che tu non sia un alieno, probabilmente non noterai la
differenza.
La maggior parte dei DVD PAL hanno audio corretto ai picchi, in modo che quando
siano riprodotti a 25 fps le cose suonino giuste, anche se la traccia audio
(e quindi tutto il filmato) ha un tempo di riproduzione che è il 4% inferiore
ai DVD NTSC.
</para>

<para>
A causa del fatto che il video nei DVD PAL non è stato alterato, non dovrai
preoccuperti molto della frequenza fotogrammi. La sorgente è 25 fps, e il tuo
rip sarà a 25 fps. Tuttavia, se stai codificando un film da DVD NTSC,
potresti dover applicare il telecine inverso.
</para>

<para>
Per film ripresi a 24 fps, il video sul DVD NTSC è o con telecine a 30000/1001,
oppure è progressivo a 24000/1001 fps e destinato a subire il telecine al volo
da un lettore DVD. D'altro canto le serie TV sono solitamente solo
interlacciate, senza telecine. Questa non è una regola ferrea: alcune serie TV
sono interlacciate (come Buffy the Vampire Slayer) mentre alcune sono un misto
di progressivo e interlacciato (come Angel, o 24).
</para>

<para>
Si consiglia vivamente di leggere la sezione su
<link linkend="menc-feat-telecine">Come trattare il telecine e l'interlacciamento nei DVD NTSC</link>
per imparare come gestire le varie possibilità.
</para>

<para>
Ciononostante, se stai principalmente rippando solo film, solitamente ti
troverai di fronte a video a 24 fps progressivo o con telecine, nel qual caso
puoi usare il filtro <option>pullup</option> <option>-vf
pullup,softskip</option>.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-encoding-interlaced">
<title>Codificare video interlacciato</title>

<para>
Se il film che vuoi codificare è interlacciato (video NTSC o PAL) dovrai
scegliere se vuoi de-interlacciare o no.
Se da un lato de-interlacciare renderà il tuo filmato utilizzabile su
schermi a scansione progressiva come monitor di computer o proiettori, porta
con sé un costo: la frequenza dei campi di 50 o 60000/1001 campi al secondo
viene dimezzata a 25 o 30000/1001 fotogrammi al secondo, e circa la metà delle
informazioni nel tuo film saranno perdute, in scene con movimento significativo.
</para>

<para>
Per di più, se stai codificando puntando ad alta qualità di archiviazione.
si consiglia di non de-interlacciare.
Puoi sempre de-interlacciare il film durante la riproduzione attraverso
dispositivi a scansione progressiva.
La potenza dei computer attuali forza per i riproduttori l'utilizzo di un filtro
di de-interlacciamento, che porta un leggero degrado dell'immagine.
Ma i lettori del futuro saranno in grado di simulare lo schermo di una TV,
de-interlacciando a piena frequenza di campi e interpolando 50 o 60000/1001
fotogrammi interi al secondo dal video interlacciato
</para>

<para>
Bisogna porre speciale attenzione quando si lavora con video interlacciato:
</para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
  Altezza e scostamento del taglio devono essere multipli di 4.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Qualsiasi ridimensionamento verticale va fatto in modalità interlacciata.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  I filtri di post elaborazione e di rimozione disturbo potrebbero non
  funzionare come ci si aspetta a meno che tu non ponga particolare attenzione
  per farli lavorare su un campo per volta, e possono rovinare il video quando
  usati in modo non corretto.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>
Tenendo a mente queste cose, ecco il nostro primo esempio:
<screen>
mencoder <replaceable>capture.avi</replaceable> -mc 0 -oac lavc -ovc lavc -lavcopts \
    vcodec=mpeg2video:vbitrate=6000:ilme:ildct:acodec=mp2:abitrate=224
</screen>
Nota le opzioni <option>ilme</option> e <option>ildct</option>.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-av-sync">
<title>Note sulla sincronizzazione Audio/Video</title>

<para>
Gli algoritmi di sincronizzazione audio/video di
<application>MEncoder</application> sono stati progettati con l'intento di
recuperare file con sincronia danneggiata.
In alcuni casi tuttavia, possono generare inutili duplicazioni o scarti di
fotogrammi, e possibilmente leggera desincronia A/V quando vengono usati con
sorgenti buone (i problemi di sincronizzazione A/V accadono solo se elabori o
copi la traccia audio mentre transcodifichi il video, il che è decisamente
consigliato).
Perciò potresti dover passare ad una sincronizzazione di base con l'opzione
<option>-mc 0</option>, o metterla nel tuo file di configurazione
<systemitem>~/.mplayer/mencoder</systemitem>, sempre che tu stia lavorando con
buone sorgenti (DVD, acquisizione TV, rip MPEG-4 ad alta qualità, etc) e non
con file ASF/RM/MOV rovinati.
</para>

<para>
Se vuoi proteggerti ulteriormente da strani salti e duplicazioni di fotogrammi,
puoi usare sia <option>-mc 0</option> che <option>-noskip</option>.
Questo disabiliterà <emphasis>tutte</emphasis> le sincronizzazioni A/V, e
copierà i fotogrammi uno ad uno, perciò è inutilizzabile se stai usando dei
filtri che aggiungono o rimuovono arbitrariamente fotogrammi, ovvero se il
tuo file sorgente ha una frequenza fotogrammi non costante!
Quindi l'utilizzo di <option>-noskip</option> in linea di massima si sconsiglia.
</para>

<para>
Si sa che la cosiddetta codifica audio in "tre passi", che
<application>MEncoder</application> gestisce, può causare desincronizzazione
A/V.
Il che capiterà prontamente se viene usata insieme con alcuni filtri, per cui
si consiglia di <emphasis>non</emphasis> usare la modalità audio a tre passi.
Questa caratteristica viene lasciata solo per finalità di compatibilità e
per utenti esperti che sanno quando sia adeguato usarla e quando no.
Se non hai mai sentito parlar prima della modalità a tre passi, dimenticati
di averla anche solo sentita nominare!
</para>

<para>
Ci sono anche stati rapporti di desincronia A/V codificando con
<application>MEncoder</application> da stdin.
Non farlo! Usa sempre come ingresso un file o un dispositivo CD/DVD/etc.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-codec">
<title>Scegliere il codec video</title>

<para>
Quale possa esere il miglior codec video dipende da molti fattori, come
dimensione, qualità, possibilita di farne lo streaming, usabilit, diffusione,
alcuni dei quali dipendono fortemente dai gusti personali e dalle variabili
tecniche in gioco.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>
  E' abbastanza facile da capire che i codec più recenti sono fatti per
  aumentare qualità e compressione.
  Quindi gli autori di questa guida e moltra altra gente suggeriscono che non
  potete sbagliare
  <footnote id='fn-menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-codec-cpu'><para>
  Fai comunque attenzione: la decodifica di video MPEG-4 AVC a risoluzione DVD
  richiede una macchina veloce (per es. un Pentium 4 oltre 1.5GHz o un Pentium
  M superiore a 1GHz).
  </para></footnote>
  quando scegliete un qualche codec MPEG-4 AVC come
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> piuttosto che un codec MPEG-4
  ASP come l'MPEG-4 di <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> o
  <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem>.
  (Per sviluppatori avenzati di codec potrebbe essere interessante leggere
  l'opinione di Michael Niedermayer sul
  "<ulink url="http://guru.multimedia.cx/?p=10">perché MPEG-4 ASP faccia schifo</ulink>"
  (in inglese).)
  Analogamente dovresti ottenere una miglior qualità usando MPEG-4 ASP rispetto
  a quella ottenuta con codec MPEG-2.
  </para>

  <para>
  Tuttavia, i codec più recenti che sono sotto pesante sviluppo possono avere
  problemi che non sono ancora stati scoperti, e che possono rovinare una
  codifica.
  Questo è semplicemente il contrappasso per usare la tecnologia di punta.
  </para>
  
  <para>
  Inoltre iniziare ad utilizzare un codec nuovo richiede l'utilizzo di un po'
  di tempo per familiarizzare con le sue opzioni, affinché tu sappia cosa
  impostare per ottenere la qualità dell'immagine voluta.
  </para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Compatibilità Hardware</emphasis>:
  Solitamente ci va un po' di tempo prima che i lettori da tavolo incomincino ad
  includere il supporto per il video codec più recente.
  Il risultato è che la maggior parte legge MPEG-1 (come i VCD, XVCD e KVCD),
  MPEG-2 (come DVD, SVCD e KVCD) e MPEG-4 ASP (come DivX,
  LMP4 di <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> e
  <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem>)
  (attenzione: solitamente non sono gestite tutte le caratteristiche
  MPEG-4 ASP).
  Fai per favore riferimento alle specifiche tecniche del tuo lettore (ove
  disponibili) o cerca su internet per ulteriori informazioni.
</para></listitem>

<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Miglior qualità per tempo di codifica</emphasis>:
  Codec che sono in giro da parecchio tempo (come MPEG-4 di
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> e
  <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem>) sono spesso molto ottimizzati
  con ogni tipo di algoritmo furbo e codice SIMD in assembly.
  Per questo tendono a fornire il miglior rapporto tra qualità e tempo di
  codifica. Tuttavia, possono avere delle opzioni avanzate che, quando
  abilitate, rendono la codifica molto lenta fornendo poco guadagno.
  </para>
  
  <para>
  Se stai cercando di incrementare la velocità dovresti cercare di non
  modificare troppo le impostazioni di default del codec video (anche se
  dovresti comunque provare le altre opzioni che sono citate in altre sezioni
  di questa guida).
  </para>
  
  <para>
  Puoi tenere in considerazione anche la scelta di un codec che possa eseguire
  elaborazioni multi-thread, anche se ciò è utile solo per utenti di macchine
  con più di una CPU.
  MPEG-4 di <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> lo permette,
  ma il guadagno in velocità è limitato, e c'è un leggere effetto negativo
  sulla qualità dell'immagine.
  La codifica multi-thread di <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem>,
  attivata dall'opzione <option>threads</option>, può essere usata per
  accelerare la velocità di codifica &mdash; tipicamente di circa il 40-60%
  &mdash; con poco se non nessun degrado dell'immagine.
  Anche <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> permette la codifica in
  multi-thread, la quale attualmente velocizza la codifica del 94% per core di
  CPU mentre abbassa il PSNR tra 0.005dB e 0.01dB, con impostazioni tipiche.
  </para>
</listitem>

<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Gusto personale</emphasis>:
  Qui è dove capita l'irrazionale: per la stessa ragione per cui alcuni
  restano attaccati a DivX&nbsp;3 per anni, mentre nuovi codec stanno
  facendo meraviglie, alcuni personaggi preferiranno
  <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem> o MPEG-4 di
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> a
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>.
  </para>
  <para>
  Dovresti prendere le tue decisioni; non prendere consigli da gente che
  fanno giuramenti su un codec.
  Prendi alcuni pezzi di esempio da sorgenti grezze e compara le diverse
  opzioni di codifica e di codec per trovare quello che ti garba di più.
  Il miglior codec è quello che riesci a gestire al meglio, e quello che ai
  tuoi occhi e sul tuo schermo si vede meglio.
  <footnote id='fn-menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-codec-playback'><para>
  La stessa codifica potrebbe non apparire uguale sullo schermo di qualcun
  altro o se riprodotta con un decodificatore differente, perciò controlla
  i tuoi risultati riproducendoli in diverse condizioni.
  </para></footnote>!
  </para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Fai per favore riferimento alla sezione
<link linkend="menc-feat-selecting-codec">selezionare codec e formati contenitore</link>
per avere un elenco dei codec usabili.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-audio">
<title>Audio</title>

<para>
L'audio è un problema di decisamente più facile soluzione: se ti interessa la
qualità, lascialo semplicemente com'è.
Anche i flussi AC-3 5.1 sono al massimo a 448Kbit/s, e ne valgono ogni bit.
Potresti esser tentato di trascodificare l'audio in Vorbis ad alta qualità, ma
solo perché a tutt'oggi non hai un decodificatore AC-3 pass-through ciò non
significa che non ne avrai uno in futuro. Assicura un futuro ai tuoi rip da DVD
preservando il flusso in AC-3.
Puoi mantenere il flusso AC-3 anche copiandolo direttamente nel flusso video
<link linkend="menc-feat-mpeg4">durante la codifica</link>.
Puoi anche estrarre il flusso AC-3 al fine di farne il mux in contenitori come
NUT o Matroska.
<screen>
mplayer <replaceable>file_sorgente.vob</replaceable> -aid 129 -dumpaudio -dumpfile <replaceable>suono.ac3</replaceable>
</screen>
effettuerà il dump della traccia audio numero 129 dal file
<replaceable>file_sorgente.vob</replaceable> nel file
<replaceable>suono.ac3</replaceable> (NB: i file VOB da DVD spesso usano una
numerazione dell'audio diversa, il che significa che la traccia audio 129 è la
seconda traccia del file).
</para>

<para>
Alcune volte invece, non hai davvero altra scelta se non comprimere
ulteriormente il suono per poter usare più bit per il video.
La maggior parte delle persone sceglie di comprimere l'audio con i codec MP3
ovvero Vorbis.
Mentre quest'ultimo è un codec decisamente efficiente per lo spazio, MP3 è
meglio supportato dai lettori da tavolo, anche se la situazione sta cambiando.
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>Non</emphasis> usare <option>-nosound</option> mentre codifichi un
file con dell'audio, anche se farai la codifica e il mux dell'audio
separatamente in seguito.
Anche se potesse andar bene in casi ideali, facilmente usare
<option>-nosound</option> nasconderà alcuni problemi nelle tue impostazioni di
codifica sulla riga comando.
In altre parole mantenere la colonna sonora durante la codifica ti assicura,
a patto che tu non veda messaggi del tipo
<quote>Troppi pacchetti audio nel buffer</quote>, di ottenere un'adeguata
sincronizzazione.
</para>

<para>
Devi fare in modo che <application>MEncoder</application> processi il suono.
Puoi per esempio copiare la colonna sonora originaria durante la codifica con
<option>-oac copy</option>, o convertirla in un "leggero" PCM WAV mono a 4 kHz
con <option>-oac pcm -channels 1 -srate 4000</option>.
In caso contrario in alcuni casi verrà generato un file video che sarà
desincronizzato con l'audio.
Casi del genere sono quelli in cui il numero dei fotogrammi video nel file di
origine non corrisponde alla lunghezza totale dei fotogrammi audio oppure
ogniqualvolta vi siano delle discontinuità/splice in cui mancano o ci sono
fotogrammi audio in più.
Il modo giusto di gestire questo tipo di problemi è inserire del silenzio o
tagliare l'audio in quei punti.
Tuttavia <application>MPlayer</application> non è in grado di farlo, per cui se
fai il demux dell'audio AC-3 e lo codifichi con un'altro programma (o ne fai il
dump in PCM con <application>MPlayer</application>), gli splice rimarranno
sbagliati e l'unico modo per correggerli è scartare/duplicare fotogrammi video
nel punto di splice.
Fintantochè <application>MEncoder</application> vede l'audio mentre codifica il
video, può eseguire questo scarto/duplicazione (che solitamente è OK, dato che
capita con scene nere o cambi scena), ma se <application>MEncoder</application>
non vede l'audio, processerà i fotogrammi così come sono e alla fine non
corrisponderanno al flusso audio finale quando per esempio inserirai i flussi
audio e video dentro a un file Matroska.
</para>

<para>
Prima di tutto dovrai convertire l'audio DVD in un file WAV che il codec audio
possa usare come ingresso.
Per esempio:
<screen>
mplayer <replaceable>file_sorgente.vob</replaceable> -ao pcm:file=<replaceable>suono_destinazione.wav</replaceable> \
    -vc dummy -aid 1 -vo null
</screen>
eseguirà il dump della seconda traccia audio dal file
<replaceable>file_sorgente.vob</replaceable> sul file
<replaceable>suono_destinazione.wav</replaceable>.
Potresti voler normalizzare il suono prima della codifica, visto che le tracce
audio dei DVD spesso sono registrate a volumi bassi.
Puoi usare per esempio lo strumento <application>normalize</application>, che
è disponibile nella maggior parte delle distribuzioni.
Se stai usando Windows, lo stesso mestiere lo può fare uno strumento tipo
<application>BeSweet</application>.
Effettuerai la compressione in Vorbis ovvero in MP3.

Per esempio:
<screen>oggenc -q1 <replaceable>suono_destinazione.wav</replaceable></screen>
codificherà <replaceable>suono_destinazione.wav</replaceable> con qualità
di codifica 1, che equivale circa a 80Kb/s, ed è la qualità minima in cui
dovresti codificare se ti interessa la qualità.
Fai per favore attenzione che attualmente <application>MEncoder</application>
non è in grado di fare il mux di tracce audio Vorbis nel file di uscita,
perché gestisce solo contenitori AVI e MPEG in uscita, ognuno dei quali può
portare a problemi di sincronizzazione audio/video durante la riproduzione con
alcuni lettori quando il file AVI contiene flussi audio VBR come Vorbis.
Non preoccuparti, questa documentazione ti mostrerà come tu possa farlo
comunque con programmi di terze parti.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-muxing">
<title>Muxing</title>

<para>
Now that you have encoded your video, you will most likely want
to mux it with one or more audio tracks into a movie container, such
as AVI, MPEG, Matroska or NUT.
<application>MEncoder</application> is currently only able to natively output
audio and video into MPEG and AVI container formats.
for example:
<screen>
mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy  -o <replaceable>output_movie.avi</replaceable> \
    -audiofile <replaceable>input_audio.mp2</replaceable> <replaceable>input_video.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
This would merge the video file <replaceable>input_video.avi</replaceable>
and the audio file <replaceable>input_audio.mp2</replaceable>
into the AVI file <replaceable>output_movie.avi</replaceable>.
This command works with MPEG-1 layer I, II and III (more commonly known
as MP3) audio, WAV and a few other audio formats too.
</para>

<para>
<application>MEncoder</application> features experimental support for
<systemitem class="library">libavformat</systemitem>, which is a
library from the FFmpeg project that supports muxing and demuxing
a variety of containers.
For example:
<screen>
mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -o <replaceable>output_movie.asf</replaceable> -audiofile <replaceable>input_audio.mp2</replaceable> \
    <replaceable>input_video.avi</replaceable> -of lavf -lavfopts format=asf
</screen>
This will do the same thing as the previous example, except that
the output container will be ASF.
Please note that this support is highly experimental (but getting
better every day), and will only work if you compiled
<application>MPlayer</application> with the support for
<systemitem class="library">libavformat</systemitem> enabled (which
means that a pre-packaged binary version will not work in most cases).
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-muxing-filter-issues">
<title>Improving muxing and A/V sync reliability</title>

<para>
You may experience some serious A/V sync problems while trying to mux
your video and some audio tracks, where no matter how you adjust the
audio delay, you will never get proper sync.
That may happen when you use some video filters that will drop or
duplicate some frames, like the inverse telecine filters.
It is strongly encouraged to append the <option>harddup</option> video
filter at the end of the filter chain to avoid this kind of problem.
</para>

<para>
Without <option>harddup</option>, if <application>MEncoder</application>
wants to duplicate a frame, it relies on the muxer to put a mark on the
container so that the last frame will be displayed again to maintain
sync while writing no actual frame.
With <option>harddup</option>, <application>MEncoder</application>
will instead just push the last frame displayed again into the filter
chain.
This means that the encoder receives the <emphasis>exact</emphasis>
same frame twice, and compresses it.
This will result in a slightly bigger file, but will not cause problems
when demuxing or remuxing into other container formats.
</para>

<para>
You may also have no choice but to use <option>harddup</option> with
container formats that are not too tightly linked with
<application>MEncoder</application> such as the ones supported through
<systemitem class="library">libavformat</systemitem>, which may not
support frame duplication at the container level.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-muxing-avi-limitations">
<title>Limitations of the AVI container</title>

<para>
Although it is the most widely-supported container format after MPEG-1,
AVI also has some major drawbacks.
Perhaps the most obvious is the overhead.
For each chunk of the AVI file, 24 bytes are wasted on headers and index.
This translates into a little over 5 MB per hour, or 1-2.5%
overhead for a 700 MB movie. This may not seem like much, but it could
mean the difference between being able to use 700 kbit/sec video or
714 kbit/sec, and every bit of quality counts.
</para>

<para>
In addition this gross inefficiency, AVI also has the following major
limitations:
</para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
  Only fixed-fps content can be stored. This is particularly limiting
  if the original material you want to encode is mixed content, for
  example a mix of NTSC video and film material.
  Actually there are hacks that can be used to store mixed-framerate
  content in AVI, but they increase the (already huge) overhead
  fivefold or more and so are not practical.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Audio in AVI files must be either constant-bitrate (CBR) or
  constant-framesize (i.e. all frames decode to the same number of
  samples).
  Unfortunately, the most efficient codec, Vorbis, does not meet
  either of these requirements.
  Therefore, if you plan to store your movie in AVI, you will have to
  use a less efficient codec such as MP3 or AC-3.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>
Having said all that, <application>MEncoder</application> does not
currently support variable-fps output or Vorbis encoding.
Therefore, you may not see these as limitations if
<application>MEncoder</application> is the
only tool you will be using to produce your encodes.
However, it is possible to use <application>MEncoder</application>
only for video encoding, and then use external tools to encode
audio and mux it into another container format.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-muxing-matroska">
<title>Muxing into the Matroska container</title>

<para>
Matroska is a free, open standard container format, aiming
to offer a lot of advanced features, which older containers
like AVI cannot handle.
For example, Matroska supports variable bitrate audio content
(VBR), variable framerates (VFR), chapters, file attachments,
error detection code (EDC) and modern A/V Codecs like "Advanced Audio
Coding" (AAC), "Vorbis" or "MPEG-4 AVC" (H.264), next to nothing
handled by AVI.
</para>

<para>
The tools required to create Matroska files are collectively called
<application>mkvtoolnix</application>, and are available for most
Unix platforms as well as <application>Windows</application>.
Because Matroska is an open standard you may find other
tools that suit you better, but since mkvtoolnix is the most
common, and is supported by the Matroska team itself, we will
only cover its usage.
</para>

<para>
Probably the easiest way to get started with Matroska is to use 
<application>MMG</application>, the graphical frontend shipped with
<application>mkvtoolnix</application>, and follow the
<ulink url="http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/doc/mkvmerge-gui.html">guide to mkvmerge GUI (mmg)</ulink>
</para>

<para>
You may also mux audio and video files using the command line:
<screen>
mkvmerge -o <replaceable>output.mkv</replaceable> <replaceable>input_video.avi</replaceable> <replaceable>input_audio1.mp3</replaceable> <replaceable>input_audio2.ac3</replaceable>
</screen>
This would merge the video file <replaceable>input_video.avi</replaceable>
and the two audio files <replaceable>input_audio1.mp3</replaceable>
and <replaceable>input_audio2.ac3</replaceable> into the Matroska
file <replaceable>output.mkv</replaceable>.
Matroska, as mentioned earlier, is able to do much more than that, like
multiple audio tracks (including fine-tuning of audio/video
synchronization), chapters, subtitles, splitting, etc...
Please refer to the documentation of those applications for
more details.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="menc-feat-telecine">
<title>How to deal with telecine and interlacing within NTSC DVDs</title>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-telecine-intro">
<title>Introduction</title>

<formalpara>
<title>What is telecine?</title>
<para>
If you do not understand much of what is written in this document, read the
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine">Wikipedia entry on telecine</ulink>.
It is an understandable and reasonably comprehensive
description of what telecine is.
</para></formalpara>

<formalpara>
<title>A note about the numbers.</title>
<para>
Many documents, including the guide linked above, refer to the fields
per second value of NTSC video as 59.94 and the corresponding frames
per second values as 29.97 (for telecined and interlaced) and 23.976
(for progressive). For simplicity, some documents even round these
numbers to 60, 30, and 24.
</para></formalpara>

<para>
Strictly speaking, all those numbers are approximations. Black and
white NTSC video was exactly 60 fields per second, but 60000/1001
was later chosen to accomodate color data while remaining compatible
with contemporary black and white televisions. Digital NTSC video
(such as on a DVD) is also 60000/1001 fields per second. From this,
interlaced and telecined video are derived to be 30000/1001 frames
per second; progressive video is 24000/1001 frames per second.
</para>

<para>
Older versions of the <application>MEncoder</application> documentation
and many archived mailing list posts refer to 59.94, 29.97, and 23.976.
All <application>MEncoder</application> documentation has been updated
to use the fractional values, and you should use them too.
</para>

<para>
<option>-ofps 23.976</option> is incorrect.
<option>-ofps 24000/1001</option> should be used instead.
</para>

<formalpara>
<title>How telecine is used.</title>
<para>
All video intended to be displayed on an NTSC
television set must be 60000/1001 fields per second. Made-for-TV movies
and shows are often filmed directly at 60000/1001 fields per second, but
the majority of cinema is filmed at 24 or 24000/1001 frames per
second. When cinematic movie DVDs are mastered, the video is then
converted for television using a process called telecine.
</para></formalpara>

<para>
On a DVD, the video is never actually stored as 60000/1001 fields per
second. For video that was originally 60000/1001, each pair of fields is
combined to form a frame, resulting in 30000/1001 frames per
second. Hardware DVD players then read a flag embedded in the video
stream to determine whether the odd- or even-numbered lines should
form the first field.
</para>

<para>
Usually, 24000/1001 frames per second content stays as it is when
encoded for a DVD, and the DVD player must perform telecining
on-the-fly. Sometimes, however, the video is telecined
<emphasis>before</emphasis> being stored on the DVD; even though it
was originally 24000/1001 frames per second, it becomes 60000/1001 fields per
second. When it is stored on the DVD, pairs of fields are combined to form
30000/1001 frames per second.
</para>

<para>
When looking at individual frames formed from 60000/1001 fields per
second video, telecined or otherwise, interlacing is clearly visible
wherever there is any motion, because one field (say, the
even-numbered lines) represents a moment in time 1/(60000/1001)
seconds later than the other. Playing interlaced video on a computer
looks ugly both because the monitor is higher resolution and because
the video is shown frame-after-frame instead of field-after-field.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Notes:</title>
<listitem><para>
  This section only applies to NTSC DVDs, and not PAL.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  The example <application>MEncoder</application> lines throughout the
  document are <emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> intended for
  actual use. They are simply the bare minimum required to encode the
  pertaining video category. How to make good DVD rips or fine-tune
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> for maximal
  quality is not within the scope of this document.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  There are a couple footnotes specific to this guide, linked like this:
  <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">[1]</link>
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-telecine-ident">
<title>How to tell what type of video you have</title>

<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-ident-progressive">
<title>Progressive</title>

<para>
Progressive video was originally filmed at 24000/1001 fps, and stored
on the DVD without alteration.
</para>

<para>
When you play a progressive DVD in <application>MPlayer</application>,
<application>MPlayer</application> will print the following line as
soon as the movie begins to play:
<screen>
demux_mpg: 24000/1001 fps progressive NTSC content detected, switching framerate.
</screen>
From this point forward, demux_mpg should never say it finds
"30000/1001 fps NTSC content."
</para>

<para>
When you watch progressive video, you should never see any
interlacing. Beware, however, because sometimes there is a tiny bit
of telecine mixed in where you would not expect. I have encountered TV
show DVDs that have one second of telecine at every scene change, or
at seemingly random places. I once watched a DVD that had a
progressive first half, and the second half was telecined. If you
want to be <emphasis>really</emphasis> thorough, you can scan the
entire movie:
<screen>mplayer dvd://1 -nosound -vo null -benchmark</screen>
Using <option>-benchmark</option> makes
<application>MPlayer</application> play the movie as quickly as it
possibly can; still, depending on your hardware, it can take a
while. Every time demux_mpg reports a framerate change, the line
immediately above will show you the time at which the change
occurred.
</para>

<para>
Sometimes progressive video on DVDs is referred to as
"soft-telecine" because it is intended to
be telecined by the DVD player.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-ident-telecined">
<title>Telecined</title>

<para>
Telecined video was originally filmed at 24000/1001, but was telecined
<emphasis>before</emphasis> it was written to the DVD.
</para>

<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> does not (ever) report any
framerate changes when it plays telecined video.
</para>

<para>
Watching a telecined video, you will see interlacing artifacts that
seem to "blink": they repeatedly appear and disappear.
You can look closely at this by
<orderedlist>
<listitem><screen>mplayer dvd://1</screen></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Seek to a part with motion.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Use the <keycap>.</keycap> key to step forward one frame at a time.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Look at the pattern of interlaced-looking and progressive-looking
  frames. If the pattern you see is PPPII,PPPII,PPPII,... then the
  video is telecined. If you see some other pattern, then the video
  may have been telecined using some non-standard method;
  <application>MEncoder</application> cannot losslessly convert
  non-standard telecine to progressive. If you do not see any
  pattern at all, then it is most likely interlaced.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>

<para>
Sometimes telecined video on DVDs is referred to as
"hard-telecine". Since hard-telecine is already 60000/1001 fields
per second, the DVD player plays the video without any manipulation.
</para>

<para>
Another way to tell if your source is telecined or not is to play
the source with the <option>-vf pullup</option> and <option>-v</option>
command line options to see how <option>pullup</option> matches frames.
If the source is telecined, you should see on the console a 3:2 pattern
with <systemitem>0+.1.+2</systemitem> and <systemitem>0++1</systemitem>
alternating.
This technique has the advantage that you do not need to watch the
source to identify it, which could be useful if you wish to automate
the encoding procedure, or to carry out said procedure remotely via
a slow connection.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-ident-interlaced">
<title>Interlaced</title>

<para>
Interlaced video was originally filmed at 60000/1001 fields per second,
and stored on the DVD as 30000/1001 frames per second. The interlacing effect
(often called "combing") is a result of combining pairs of
fields into frames. Each field is supposed to be 1/(60000/1001) seconds apart,
and when they are displayed simultaneously the difference is apparent.
</para>

<para>
As with telecined video, <application>MPlayer</application> should
not ever report any framerate changes when playing interlaced content.
</para>

<para>
When you view an interlaced video closely by frame-stepping with the
<keycap>.</keycap> key, you will see that every single frame is interlaced.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-ident-mixedpt">
<title>Mixed progressive and telecine</title>

<para>
All of a "mixed progressive and telecine" video was originally
24000/1001 frames per second, but some parts of it ended up being telecined.
</para>

<para>
When <application>MPlayer</application> plays this category, it will
(often repeatedly) switch back and forth between "30000/1001 fps NTSC"
and "24000/1001 fps progressive NTSC". Watch the bottom of
<application>MPlayer</application>'s output to see these messages.
</para>

<para>
You should check the "30000/1001 fps NTSC" sections to make sure
they are actually telecine, and not just interlaced.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-ident-mixedpi">
<title>Mixed progressive and interlaced</title>

<para>
In "mixed progressive and interlaced" content, progressive
and interlaced video have been spliced together.
</para>

<para>
This category looks just like "mixed progressive and telecine",
until you examine the 30000/1001 fps sections and see that they do not have the
telecine pattern.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-telecine-encode">
<title>How to encode each category</title>
<para>
As I mentioned in the beginning, example <application>MEncoder</application>
lines below are <emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> meant to actually be used;
they only demonstrate the minimum parameters to properly encode each category.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-encode-progressive">
<title>Progressive</title>
<para>
Progressive video requires no special filtering to encode. The only
parameter you need to be sure to use is <option>-ofps 24000/1001</option>.
Otherwise, <application>MEncoder</application>
will try to encode at 30000/1001 fps and will duplicate frames.
</para>

<para>
<screen>mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -ovc lavc -ofps 24000/1001</screen>
</para>

<para>
It is often the case, however, that a video that looks progressive
actually has very short parts of telecine mixed in. Unless you are
sure, it is safest to treat the video as
<link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-encode-mixedpt">mixed progressive and telecine</link>.
The performance loss is small
<link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">[3]</link>.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-encode-telecined">
<title>Telecined</title>

<para>
Telecine can be reversed to retrieve the original 24000/1001 content,
using a process called inverse-telecine.
<application>MPlayer</application> contains several filters to
accomplish this; the best filter, <option>pullup</option>, is described
in the <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-encode-mixedpt">mixed
progressive and telecine</link> section.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-encode-interlaced">
<title>Interlaced</title>

<para>
For most practical cases it is not possible to retrieve a complete
progressive video from interlaced content. The only way to do so
without losing half of the vertical resolution is to double the
framerate and try to "guess" what ought to make up the
corresponding lines for each field (this has drawbacks - see method 3).
</para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
  Encode the video in interlaced form. Normally, interlacing wreaks
  havoc with the encoder's ability to compress well, but
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> has two
  parameters specifically for dealing with storing interlaced video a
  bit better: <option> ildct</option> and <option>ilme</option>. Also,
  using <option>mbd=2</option> is strongly recommended
  <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">[2] </link> because it
  will encode macroblocks as non-interlaced in places where there is
  no motion. Note that <option>-ofps</option> is NOT needed here.
  <screen>mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts ildct:ilme:mbd=2</screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Use a deinterlacing filter before encoding. There are several of
  these filters available to choose from, each with its own advantages
  and disadvantages. Consult <option>mplayer -pphelp</option> and
  <option>mplayer -vf help</option> to see what is available
  (grep for "deint"), read Michael's Niedermayer
  <ulink url="http://guru.multimedia.cx/deinterlacing-filters/">Deinterlacing filters comparison</ulink>,
  and search the
  <ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/mailing_lists.html">
  MPlayer mailing lists</ulink> to find many discussions about the
  various filters.
  Again, the framerate is not changing, so no
  <option>-ofps</option>. Also, deinterlacing should be done after
  cropping <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">[1]</link> and
  before scaling.
  <screen>mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -vf yadif -ovc lavc</screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Unfortunately, this option is buggy with
  <application>MEncoder</application>; it ought to work well with
  <application>MEncoder G2</application>, but that is not here yet. You
  might experience crahes. Anyway, the purpose of <option> -vf
  tfields</option> is to create a full frame out of each field, which
  makes the framerate 60000/1001. The advantage of this approach is that no
  data is ever lost; however, since each frame comes from only one
  field, the missing lines have to be interpolated somehow. There are
  no very good methods of generating the missing data, and so the
  result will look a bit similar to when using some deinterlacing
  filters. Generating the missing lines creates other issues, as well,
  simply because the amount of data doubles. So, higher encoding
  bitrates are required to maintain quality, and more CPU power is
  used for both encoding and decoding. tfields has several different
  options for how to create the missing lines of each frame. If you
  use this method, then Reference the manual, and chose whichever
  option looks best for your material. Note that when using
  <option>tfields</option> you
  <emphasis role="bold">have to</emphasis> specify both
  <option>-fps</option> and <option>-ofps</option> to be twice the
  framerate of your original source.
  <screen>
mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -vf tfields=2 -ovc lavc \
    -fps 60000/1001 -ofps 60000/1001<!--
  --></screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  If you plan on downscaling dramatically, you can extract and encode
  only one of the two fields. Of course, you will lose half the vertical
  resolution, but if you plan on downscaling to at most 1/2 of the
  original, the loss will not matter much. The result will be a
  progressive 30000/1001 frames per second file. The procedure is to use
  <option>-vf field</option>, then crop
  <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">[1]</link> and scale
  appropriately. Remember that you will have to adjust the scale to
  compensate for the vertical resolution being halved.
  <screen>mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -vf field=0 -ovc lavc</screen>
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-encode-mixedpt">
<title>Mixed progressive and telecine</title>

<para>
In order to turn mixed progressive and telecine video into entirely
progressive video, the telecined parts have to be
inverse-telecined. There are three ways to accomplish this,
described below. Note that you should
<emphasis role="bold">always</emphasis> inverse-telecine before any
rescaling; unless you really know what you are doing,
inverse-telecine before cropping, too
<link linkend="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">[1]</link>.
<option>-ofps 24000/1001</option> is needed here because the output video
will be 24000/1001 frames per second.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
  <option>-vf pullup</option> is designed to inverse-telecine
  telecined material while leaving progressive data alone. In order to
  work properly, <option>pullup</option> <emphasis role="bold">must</emphasis>
  be followed by the <option>softskip</option> filter or
  else <application>MEncoder</application> will crash.
  <option>pullup</option> is, however, the cleanest and most
  accurate method available for encoding both telecine and
  "mixed progressive and telecine".
  <screen>
mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -vf pullup,softskip 
    -ovc lavc -ofps 24000/1001<!--
  --></screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  An older method
  is to, rather than inverse-telecine the telecined parts, telecine
  the non-telecined parts and then inverse-telecine the whole
  video. Sound confusing? softpulldown is a filter that goes through
  a video and makes the entire file telecined. If we follow
  softpulldown with either <option>detc</option> or
  <option>ivtc</option>, the final result will be entirely
  progressive. <option>-ofps 24000/1001</option> is needed.
  <screen>
mencoder dvd://1 -oac copy -vf softpulldown,ivtc=1 -ovc lavc -ofps 24000/1001
  </screen>
</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>
  I have not used <option>-vf filmdint</option> myself, but here is what
  D Richard Felker III has to say:

  <blockquote><para>It is OK, but IMO it tries to deinterlace rather
     than doing inverse telecine too often (much like settop DVD
     players &amp; progressive TVs) which gives ugly flickering and
     other artifacts. If you are going to use it, you at least need to
     spend some time tuning the options and watching the output first
     to make sure it is not messing up.
  </para></blockquote>
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-telecine-encode-mixedpi">
<title>Mixed progressive and interlaced</title>

<para>
There are two options for dealing with this category, each of
which is a compromise. You should decide based on the
duration/location of each type.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>
  Treat it as progressive. The interlaced parts will look interlaced,
  and some of the interlaced fields will have to be dropped, resulting
  in a bit of uneven jumpiness. You can use a postprocessing filter if
  you want to, but it may slightly degrade the progressive parts.
  </para>

  <para>
  This option should definitely not be used if you want to eventually
  display the video on an interlaced device (with a TV card, for
  example). If you have interlaced frames in a 24000/1001 frames per
  second video, they will be telecined along with the progressive
  frames. Half of the interlaced "frames" will be displayed for three
  fields' duration (3/(60000/1001) seconds), resulting in a flicking
  "jump back in time" effect that looks quite bad. If you
  even attempt this, you <emphasis role="bold">must</emphasis> use a
  deinterlacing filter like <option>lb</option> or
  <option>l5</option>.
  </para>

  <para>
  It may also be a bad idea for progressive display, too. It will drop
  pairs of consecutive interlaced fields, resulting in a discontinuity
  that can be more visible than with the second method, which shows
  some progressive frames twice. 30000/1001 frames per second interlaced
  video is already a bit choppy because it really should be shown at
  60000/1001 fields per second, so the duplicate frames do not stand out as
  much.
  </para>

  <para>
  Either way, it is best to consider your content and how you intend to
  display it. If your video is 90% progressive and you never intend to
  show it on a TV, you should favor a progressive approach. If it is
  only half progressive, you probably want to encode it as if it is all
  interlaced.
  </para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>
  Treat it as interlaced. Some frames of the progressive parts will
  need to be duplicated, resulting in uneven jumpiness. Again,
  deinterlacing filters may slightly degrade the progressive parts.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-telecine-footnotes">
<title>Footnotes</title>

<orderedlist>
<listitem>
  <formalpara>
  <title>About cropping:</title>
  <para>
  Video data on DVDs are stored in a format called YUV 4:2:0. In YUV
  video, luma ("brightness") and chroma ("color")
  are stored separately. Because the human eye is somewhat less
  sensitive to color than it is to brightness, in a YUV 4:2:0 picture
  there is only one chroma pixel for every four luma pixels. In a
  progressive picture, each square of four luma pixels (two on each
  side) has one common chroma pixel. You must crop progressive YUV
  4:2:0 to even resolutions, and use even offsets. For example,
  <option>crop=716:380:2:26</option> is OK but
  <option>crop=716:380:3:26 </option> is not.
  </para>
  </formalpara>

  <para>
  When you are dealing with interlaced YUV 4:2:0, the situation is a
  bit more complicated. Instead of every four luma pixels in the
  <emphasis>frame</emphasis> sharing a chroma pixel, every four luma
  pixels in each <emphasis> field</emphasis> share a chroma
  pixel. When fields are interlaced to form a frame, each scanline is
  one pixel high. Now, instead of all four luma pixels being in a
  square, there are two pixels side-by-side, and the other two pixels
  are side-by-side two scanlines down. The two luma pixels in the
  intermediate scanline are from the other field, and so share a
  different chroma pixel with two luma pixels two scanlines away. All
  this confusion makes it necessary to have vertical crop dimensions
  and offsets be multiples of four. Horizontal can stay even.
  </para>

  <para>
  For telecined video, I recommend that cropping take place after
  inverse telecining. Once the video is progressive you only need to
  crop by even numbers. If you really want to gain the slight speedup
  that cropping first may offer, you must crop vertically by multiples
  of four or else the inverse-telecine filter will not have proper data.
  </para>

  <para>
  For interlaced (not telecined) video, you must always crop
  vertically by multiples of four unless you use <option>-vf
  field</option> before cropping.
  </para>
</listitem>

<listitem><formalpara>
  <title>About encoding parameters and quality:</title>
  <para>
  Just because I recommend <option>mbd=2</option> here does not mean it
  should not be used elsewhere. Along with <option>trell</option>,
  <option>mbd=2</option> is one of the two
   <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> options that
  increases quality the most, and you should always use at least those
  two unless the drop in encoding speed is prohibitive (e.g. realtime
  encoding). There are many other options to
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> that increase
  encoding quality (and decrease encoding speed) but that is beyond
  the scope of this document.
  </para>
</formalpara></listitem>

<listitem><formalpara>
  <title>About the performance of pullup:</title>
  <para>
  It is safe to use <option>pullup</option> (along with <option>softskip
  </option>) on progressive video, and is usually a good idea unless
  the source has been definitively verified to be entirely progressive.
  The performace loss is small for most cases. On a bare-minimum encode,
  <option>pullup</option> causes <application>MEncoder</application> to
  be 50% slower. Adding sound processing and advanced <option>lavcopts
  </option> overshadows that difference, bringing the performance
  decrease of using <option>pullup</option> down to 2%.
  </para>
</formalpara></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="menc-feat-enc-libavcodec">
<title>Encoding with the <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>
  codec family</title>

<para>
<link linkend="ffmpeg"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>
provides simple encoding to a lot of interesting video and audio formats.
You can encode to the following codecs (more or less up to date):
</para>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-enc-libavcodec-video-codecs">
<title><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s
  video codecs</title>

<para>
<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
  <row><entry>Video codec name</entry><entry>Description</entry></row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>mjpeg</entry>
  <entry>Motion JPEG</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>ljpeg</entry>
  <entry>lossless JPEG</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>jpegls</entry>
  <entry>JPEG LS</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>targa</entry>
  <entry>Targa image</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>gif</entry>
  <entry>GIF image</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>bmp</entry>
  <entry>BMP image</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>png</entry>
  <entry>PNG image</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>h261</entry>
  <entry>H.261</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>h263</entry>
  <entry>H.263 </entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>h263p</entry>
  <entry>H.263+</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>mpeg4</entry>
  <entry>ISO standard MPEG-4 (DivX, Xvid compatible)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>msmpeg4</entry>
  <entry>pre-standard MPEG-4 variant by MS, v3 (AKA DivX3)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>msmpeg4v2</entry>
  <entry>pre-standard MPEG-4 by MS, v2 (used in old ASF files)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>wmv1</entry>
  <entry>Windows Media Video, version 1 (AKA WMV7)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>wmv2</entry>
  <entry>Windows Media Video, version 2 (AKA WMV8)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>rv10</entry>
  <entry>RealVideo 1.0</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>rv20</entry>
  <entry>RealVideo 2.0</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>mpeg1video</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-1 video</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>mpeg2video</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-2 video</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>huffyuv</entry>
  <entry>lossless compression</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>ffvhuff</entry>
  <entry>FFmpeg modified huffyuv lossless</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>asv1</entry>
  <entry>ASUS Video v1</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>asv2</entry>
  <entry>ASUS Video v2</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>ffv1</entry>
  <entry>FFmpeg's lossless video codec</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>svq1</entry>
  <entry>Sorenson video 1</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>flv</entry>
  <entry>Sorenson H.263 used in Flash Video</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>flashsv</entry>
  <entry>Flash Screen Video</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>dvvideo</entry>
  <entry>Sony Digital Video</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>snow</entry>
  <entry>FFmpeg's experimental wavelet-based codec</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>zbmv</entry>
  <entry>Zip Blocks Motion Video</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>

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

<informalexample><para>
An example with MJPEG compression:
<screen>
mencoder dvd://2 -o <replaceable>title2.avi</replaceable> -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -oac copy
</screen>
</para></informalexample>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-enc-libavcodec-audio-codecs">
<title><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s
  audio codecs</title>

<para>
<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row><entry>Audio codec name</entry><entry>Description</entry></row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>mp2</entry>
  <entry>MPEG Layer 2</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>ac3</entry>
  <entry>AC-3, AKA Dolby Digital</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>adpcm_ima_wav</entry>
  <entry>IMA adaptive PCM (4 bits per sample, 4:1 compression)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>sonic</entry>
  <entry>experimental FFmpeg lossy codec</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>sonicls</entry>
  <entry>experimental FFmpeg lossless codec</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>vorbis</entry>
  <entry>Xiph Ogg Vorbis codec</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>wmav1</entry>
  <entry>Windows Media Audio v1 codec</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>wmav2</entry>
  <entry>Windows Media Audio v2 codec</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>

The first column contains the codec names that should be passed after the
<literal>acodec</literal> option, like: <option>-lavcopts acodec=ac3</option>
</para>

<informalexample><para>
An example with AC-3 compression:
<screen>
mencoder dvd://2 -o <replaceable>title2.avi</replaceable> -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=ac3 -ovc copy
</screen>
</para></informalexample>

<para>
Contrary to <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s video
codecs, its audio codecs do not make a wise usage of the bits they are
given as they lack some minimal psychoacoustic model (if at all)
which most other codec implementations feature.
However, note that all these audio codecs are very fast and work
out-of-the-box everywhere <application>MEncoder</application> has been
compiled with <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> (which
is the case most of time), and do not depend on external libraries.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-lavc-encoding-options">
<title>Encoding options of libavcodec</title>

<para>
Ideally, you would probably want to be able to just tell the encoder to switch
into "high quality" mode and move on.
That would probably be nice, but unfortunately hard to implement as different
encoding options yield different quality results depending on the source
material. That is because compression depends on the visual properties of the
video in question.
For example, anime and live action have very different properties and
thus require different options to obtain optimum encoding.
The good news is that some options should never be left out, like
<option>mbd=2</option>, <option>trell</option>, and <option>v4mv</option>.
See below for a detailed description of common encoding options.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Options to adjust:</title>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vmax_b_frames</emphasis>: 1 or 2 is good, depending on
  the movie.
  Note that if you need to have your encode be decodable by DivX5, you
  need to activate closed GOP support, using
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s <option>cgop</option>
  option, but you need to deactivate scene detection, which
  is not a good idea as it will hurt encode efficiency a bit.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vb_strategy=1</emphasis>: helps in high-motion scenes.
  On some videos, vmax_b_frames may hurt quality, but vmax_b_frames=2 along
  with vb_strategy=1 helps.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">dia</emphasis>: motion search range. Bigger is better
  and slower.
  Negative values are a completely different scale.
  Good values are -1 for a fast encode, or 2-4 for slower.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">predia</emphasis>: motion search pre-pass.
  Not as important as dia. Good values are 1 (default) to 4. Requires preme=2
  to really be useful.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">cmp, subcmp, precmp</emphasis>: Comparison function for
  motion estimation.
  Experiment with values of 0 (default), 2 (hadamard), 3 (dct), and 6 (rate
  distortion).
  0 is fastest, and sufficient for precmp.
  For cmp and subcmp, 2 is good for anime, and 3 is good for live action.
  6 may or may not be slightly better, but is slow.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">last_pred</emphasis>: Number of motion predictors to
  take from the previous frame.
  1-3 or so help at little speed cost.
  Higher values are slow for no extra gain.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">cbp, mv0</emphasis>: Controls the selection of
  macroblocks. Small speed cost for small quality gain.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">qprd</emphasis>: adaptive quantization based on the
  macroblock's complexity.
  May help or hurt depending on the video and other options.
  This can cause artifacts unless you set vqmax to some reasonably small value
  (6 is good, maybe as low as 4); vqmin=1 should also help.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">qns</emphasis>: very slow, especially when combined
  with qprd.
  This option will make the encoder minimize noise due to compression
  artifacts instead of making the encoded video strictly match the source.
  Do not use this unless you have already tweaked everything else as far as it
  will go and the results still are not good enough.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vqcomp</emphasis>: Tweak ratecontrol.
  What values are good depends on the movie.
  You can safely leave this alone if you want.
  Reducing vqcomp puts more bits on low-complexity scenes, increasing it puts
  them on high-complexity scenes (default: 0.5, range: 0-1. recommended range:
  0.5-0.7).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vlelim, vcelim</emphasis>: Sets the single coefficient
  elimination threshold for luminance and chroma planes.
  These are encoded separately in all MPEG-like algorithms.
  The idea behind these options is to use some good heuristics to determine
  when the change in a block is less than the threshold you specify, and in
  such a case, to just  encode the block as "no change".
  This saves bits and perhaps speeds up encoding. vlelim=-4 and vcelim=9
  seem to be good for live movies, but seem not to help with anime;
  when encoding animation, you should probably leave them unchanged.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">qpel</emphasis>: Quarter pixel motion estimation.
  MPEG-4 uses half pixel precision for its motion search by default,
  therefore this option comes with an overhead as more information will be
  stored in the encoded file.
  The compression gain/loss depends on the movie, but it is usually not very
  effective on anime.
  qpel always incurs a significant cost in CPU decode time (+25% in
  practice).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">psnr</emphasis>: does not affect the actual encoding,
  but writes a log file giving the type/size/quality of each frame, and
  prints a summary of PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) at the end.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Options not recommended to play with:</title>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vme</emphasis>: The default is best.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">lumi_mask, dark_mask</emphasis>: Psychovisual adaptive
  quantization.
  You do not want to play with those options if you care about quality.
  Reasonable values may be effective in your case, but be warned this is very
  subjective.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">scplx_mask</emphasis>: Tries to prevent blocky
  artifacts, but postprocessing is better.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-mpeg4-lavc-example-settings">
<title>Encoding setting examples</title>

<para>
The following settings are examples of different encoding
option combinations that affect the speed vs quality tradeoff
at the same target bitrate.
</para>

<para>
All the encoding settings were tested on a 720x448 @30000/1001 fps
video sample, the target bitrate was 900kbps, and the machine was an
AMD-64 3400+ at 2400 MHz in 64 bits mode.
Each encoding setting features the measured encoding speed (in
frames per second) and the PSNR loss (in dB) compared to the "very
high quality" setting.
Please understand that depending on your source, your machine type
and development advancements, you may get very different results.
</para>

<para>
<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="4">
<thead>
<row>
  <entry>Description</entry>
  <entry>Encoding options</entry>
  <entry>speed (in fps)</entry>
  <entry>Relative PSNR loss (in dB)</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>Very high quality</entry>
  <entry><option>vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:mv0:trell:v4mv:cbp:last_pred=3:predia=2:dia=2:vmax_b_frames=2:vb_strategy=1:precmp=2:cmp=2:subcmp=2:preme=2:qns=2</option></entry>
  <entry>6fps</entry>
  <entry>0dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>High quality</entry>
  <entry><option>vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:trell:v4mv:last_pred=2:dia=-1:vmax_b_frames=2:vb_strategy=1:cmp=3:subcmp=3:precmp=0:vqcomp=0.6:turbo</option></entry>
  <entry>15fps</entry>
  <entry>-0.5dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Fast</entry>
  <entry><option>vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:trell:v4mv:turbo</option></entry>
  <entry>42fps</entry>
  <entry>-0.74dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Realtime</entry>
  <entry><option>vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:turbo</option></entry>
  <entry>54fps</entry>
  <entry>-1.21dB</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="custommatrices">
<title>Custom inter/intra matrices</title>

<para>
With this feature of
<link linkend="ffmpeg"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>
you are able to set custom inter (I-frames/keyframes) and intra
(P-frames/predicted frames) matrices. It is supported by many of the codecs:
<systemitem>mpeg1video</systemitem> and <systemitem>mpeg2video</systemitem>
are reported as working.
</para>

<para>
A typical usage of this feature is to set the matrices preferred by the
<ulink url="http://www.kvcd.net/">KVCD</ulink> specifications.
</para>

<para>
The <emphasis role="bold">KVCD "Notch" Quantization Matrix:</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
Intra:
<screen>
 8  9 12 22 26 27 29 34
 9 10 14 26 27 29 34 37
12 14 18 27 29 34 37 38
22 26 27 31 36 37 38 40
26 27 29 36 39 38 40 48
27 29 34 37 38 40 48 58
29 34 37 38 40 48 58 69
34 37 38 40 48 58 69 79
</screen>

Inter:
<screen>
16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
22 24 26 30 32 32 34 36
24 26 28 32 34 34 36 38
26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
28 30 32 34 36 38 42 42
30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44
</screen>
</para>

<para>
Usage:
<screen>
mencoder <replaceable>input.avi</replaceable> -o <replaceable>output.avi</replaceable> -oac copy -ovc lavc \
    -lavcopts inter_matrix=...:intra_matrix=...
</screen>
</para>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder <replaceable>input.avi</replaceable> -ovc lavc -lavcopts \
vcodec=mpeg2video:intra_matrix=8,9,12,22,26,27,29,34,9,10,14,26,27,29,34,37,\
12,14,18,27,29,34,37,38,22,26,27,31,36,37,38,40,26,27,29,36,39,38,40,48,27,\
29,34,37,38,40,48,58,29,34,37,38,40,48,58,69,34,37,38,40,48,58,69,79\
:inter_matrix=16,18,20,22,24,26,28,30,18,20,22,24,26,28,30,32,20,22,24,26,\
28,30,32,34,22,24,26,30,32,32,34,36,24,26,28,32,34,34,36,38,26,28,30,32,34,\
36,38,40,28,30,32,34,36,38,42,42,30,32,34,36,38,40,42,44 -oac copy -o svcd.mpg
</screen>
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-example">
<title>Example</title>

<para>
So, you have just bought your shiny new copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber
of Secrets (widescreen edition, of course), and you want to rip this DVD
so that you can add it to your Home Theatre PC. This is a region 1 DVD,
so it is NTSC. The example below will still apply to PAL, except you will
omit <option>-ofps 24000/1001</option> (because the output framerate is the
same as the input framerate), and of course the crop dimensions will be
different.
</para>

<para>
After running <option>mplayer dvd://1</option>, we follow the process
detailed in the section <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine">How to deal
with telecine and interlacing in NTSC DVDs</link> and discover that it is
24000/1001 fps progressive video, which means that we need not use an inverse
telecine filter, such as <option>pullup</option> or
<option>filmdint</option>.
</para>

<para id="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-example-crop">
Next, we want to determine the appropriate crop rectangle, so we use the
cropdetect filter:
<screen>mplayer dvd://1 -vf cropdetect</screen>
Make sure you seek to a fully filled frame (such as a bright scene,
past the opening credits and logos), and
you will see in <application>MPlayer</application>'s console output:
<screen>crop area: X: 0..719  Y: 57..419  (-vf crop=720:362:0:58)</screen>
We then play the movie back with this filter to test its correctness:
<screen>mplayer dvd://1 -vf crop=720:362:0:58</screen>
And we see that it looks perfectly fine. Next, we ensure the width and
height are a multiple of 16. The width is fine, however the height is
not. Since we did not fail 7th grade math, we know that the nearest
multiple of 16 lower than 362 is 352.
</para>

<para>
We could just use <option>crop=720:352:0:58</option>, but it would be nice
to take a little off the top and a little off the bottom so that we
retain the center. We have shrunk the height by 10 pixels, but we do not
want to increase the y-offset by 5-pixels since that is an odd number and
will adversely affect quality. Instead, we will increase the y-offset by
4 pixels:
<screen>mplayer dvd://1 -vf crop=720:352:0:62</screen>
Another reason to shave pixels from both the top and the bottom is that we
ensure we have eliminated any half-black pixels if they exist. Note that if
your video is telecined, make sure the <option>pullup</option> filter (or
whichever inverse telecine filter you decide to use) appears in the filter
chain before you crop. If it is interlaced, deinterlace before cropping.
(If you choose to preserve the interlaced video, then make sure your
vertical crop offset is a multiple of 4.)
</para>

<para>
If you are really concerned about losing those 10 pixels, you might
prefer instead to scale the dimensions down to the nearest multiple of 16.
The filter chain would look like:
<screen>-vf crop=720:362:0:58,scale=720:352</screen>
Scaling the video down like this will mean that some small amount of
detail is lost, though it probably will not be perceptible. Scaling up will
result in lower quality (unless you increase the bitrate). Cropping
discards those pixels altogether. It is a tradeoff that you will want to
consider for each circumstance. For example, if the DVD video was made
for television, you might want to avoid vertical scaling, since the line
sampling corresponds to the way the content was originally recorded.
</para>

<para>
On inspection, we see that our movie has a fair bit of action and high
amounts of detail, so we pick 2400Kbit for our bitrate.
</para>

<para>
We are now ready to do the two pass encode. Pass one:
<screen>
mencoder dvd://1 -ofps 24000/1001 -oac copy -o <replaceable>Harry_Potter_2.avi</replaceable> -ovc lavc \
    -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=2400:v4mv:mbd=2:trell:cmp=3:subcmp=3:autoaspect:vpass=1 \
    -vf pullup,softskip,crop=720:352:0:62,hqdn3d=2:1:2
</screen>
And pass two is the same, except that we specify <option>vpass=2</option>:
<screen>
mencoder dvd://1 -ofps 24000/1001 -oac copy -o <replaceable>Harry_Potter_2.avi</replaceable> -ovc lavc \
    -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=2400:v4mv:mbd=2:trell:cmp=3:subcmp=3:autoaspect:vpass=2 \
    -vf pullup,softskip,crop=720:352:0:62,hqdn3d=2:1:2
</screen>
</para>

<para>
The options <option>v4mv:mbd=2:trell</option> will greatly increase the
quality at the expense of encoding time. There is little reason to leave
these options out when the primary goal is quality. The options
<option>cmp=3:subcmp=3</option> select a comparison function that
yields higher quality than the defaults. You might try experimenting with
this parameter (refer to the man page for the possible values) as
different functions can have a large impact on quality depending on the
source material. For example, if you find
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> produces too much
blocky artifacting, you could try selecting the experimental NSSE as
comparison function via <option>*cmp=10</option>.
</para>

<para>
For this movie, the resulting AVI will be 138 minutes long and nearly
3GB. And because you said that file size does not matter, this is a
perfectly acceptable size. However, if you had wanted it smaller, you
could try a lower bitrate. Increasing bitrates have diminishing
returns, so while we might clearly see an improvement from 1800Kbit to
2000Kbit, it might not be so noticeable above 2000Kbit. Feel
free to experiment until you are happy.
</para>

<para>
Because we passed the source video through a denoise filter, you may want
to add some of it back during playback. This, along with the
<option>spp</option> post-processing filter, drastically improves the
perception of quality and helps eliminate blocky artifacts in the video.
With <application>MPlayer</application>'s <option>autoq</option> option,
you can vary the amount of post-processing done by the spp filter
depending on available CPU. Also, at this point, you may want to apply
gamma and/or color correction to best suit your display. For example:
<screen>
mplayer <replaceable>Harry_Potter_2.avi</replaceable> -vf spp,noise=9ah:5ah,eq2=1.2 -autoq 3
</screen>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="menc-feat-xvid">
<title>Encoding with the <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem>
  codec</title>

<para>
<systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem> is a free library for
encoding MPEG-4 ASP video streams.
Before starting to encode, you need to <link linkend="xvid">
set up <application>MEncoder</application> to support it</link>.
</para>

<para>
This guide mainly aims at featuring the same kind of information
as x264's encoding guide.
Therefore, please begin by reading
<link linkend="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-intro">the first part</link>
of that guide.
</para>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-xvid-intro">
<title>What options should I use to get the best results?</title>

<para>
Please begin by reviewing the
<systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem> section of
<application>MPlayer</application>'s man page.
This section is intended to be a supplement to the man page.
</para>

<para>
The Xvid default settings are already a good tradeoff between
speed and quality, therefore you can safely stick to them if
the following section puzzles you.
</para>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-xvid-encoding-options">
<title>Encoding options of <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem></title>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vhq</emphasis>
  This setting affects the macroblock decision algorithm, where the
  higher the setting, the wiser the decision.
  The default setting may be safely used for every encode, while
  higher settings always help PSNR but are significantly slower.
  Please note that a better PSNR does not necessarily mean
  that the picture will look better, but tells you that it is
  closer to the original.
  Turning it off will noticeably speed up encoding; if speed is
  critical for you, the tradeoff may be worth it.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">bvhq</emphasis>
  This does the same job as vhq, but does it on B-frames.
  It has a negligible impact on speed, and slightly improves quality
  (around +0.1dB PSNR).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">max_bframes</emphasis>
  A higher number of consecutive allowed B-frames usually improves
  compressibility, although it may also lead to more blocking artifacts.
  The default setting is a good tradeoff between compressibility and
  quality, but you may increase it up to 3 if you are bitrate-starved.
  You may also decrease it to 1 or 0 if you are aiming at perfect
  quality, though in that case you should make sure your
  target bitrate is high enough to ensure that the encoder does not
  have to increase quantizers to reach it.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">bf_threshold</emphasis>
  This controls the B-frame sensitivity of the encoder, where a higher
  value leads to more B-frames being used (and vice versa).
  This setting is to be used together with <option>max_bframes</option>;
  if you are bitrate-starved, you should increase both
  <option>max_bframes</option> and <option>bf_threshold</option>,
  while you may increase <option>max_bframes</option> and reduce
  <option>bf_threshold</option> so that the encoder may use more
  B-frames in places that only <emphasis role="bold">really</emphasis>
  need them.
  A low number of <option>max_bframes</option> and a high value of
  <option>bf_threshold</option> is probably not a wise choice as it
  will force the encoder to put B-frames in places that would not
  benefit from them, therefore reducing visual quality.
  However, if you need to be compatible with standalone players that
  only support old DivX profiles (which only supports up to 1
  consecutive B-frame), this would be your only way to
  increase compressibility through using B-frames.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">trellis</emphasis>
  Optimizes the quantization process to get an optimal tradeoff
  between PSNR and bitrate, which allows significant bit saving.
  These bits will in return be spent elsewhere on the video,
  raising overall visual quality.
  You should always leave it on as its impact on quality is huge.
  Even if you are looking for speed, do not disable it until you
  have turned down <option>vhq</option> and all other more
  CPU-hungry options to the minimum.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">hq_ac</emphasis>
  Activates a better coefficient cost estimation method, which slightly
  reduces filesize by around 0.15 to 0.19% (which corresponds to less
  than 0.01dB PSNR increase), while having a negligible impact on speed.
  It is therefore recommended to always leave it on.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
 <emphasis role="bold">cartoon</emphasis>
  Designed to better encode cartoon content, and has no impact on
  speed as it just tunes the mode decision heuristics for this type
  of content.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">me_quality</emphasis>
  This setting is to control the precision of the motion estimation.
  The higher <option>me_quality</option>, the more
  precise the estimation of the original motion will be, and the
  better the resulting clip will capture the original motion.
  </para>
  <para>
  The default setting is best in all cases;
  thus it is not recommended to turn it down unless you are
  really looking for speed, as all the bits saved by a good motion
  estimation would be spent elsewhere, raising overall quality.
  Therefore, do not go any lower than 5, and even that only as a last
  resort.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">chroma_me</emphasis>
  Improves motion estimation by also taking the chroma (color)
  information into account, whereas <option>me_quality</option>
  alone only uses luma (grayscale).
  This slows down encoding by 5-10% but improves visual quality
  quite a bit by reducing blocking effects and reduces filesize by
  around 1.3%.
  If you are looking for speed, you should disable this option before
  starting to consider reducing <option>me_quality</option>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">chroma_opt</emphasis>
  Is intended to increase chroma image quality around pure
  white/black edges, rather than improving compression.
  This can help to reduce the "red stairs" effect.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">lumi_mask</emphasis>
  Tries to give less bitrate to part of the picture that the
  human eye cannot see very well, which should allow the encoder
  to spend the saved bits on more important parts of the picture.
  The quality of the encode yielded by this option highly depends
  on personal preferences and on the type and monitor settings
  used to watch it (typically, it will not look as good if it is
  bright or if it is a TFT monitor).
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">qpel</emphasis>
  Raise the number of candidate motion vectors by increasing
  the precision of the motion estimation from halfpel to
  quarterpel.
  The idea is to find better motion vectors which will in return
  reduce bitrate (hence increasing quality).
  However, motion vectors with quarterpel precision require a
  few extra bits to code, but the candidate vectors do not always
  give (much) better results.
  Quite often, the codec still spends bits on the extra precision,
  but little or no extra quality is gained in return.
  Unfortunately, there is no way to foresee the possible gains of
  <option>qpel</option>, so you need to actually encode with and
  without it to know for sure.
  </para>
  <para>
  <option>qpel</option> can be almost double encoding time, and
  requires as much as 25% more processing power to decode.
  It is not supported by all standalone players.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">gmc</emphasis>
  Tries to save bits on panning scenes by using a single motion
  vector for the whole frame.
  This almost always raises PSNR, but significantly slows down
  encoding (as well as decoding).
  Therefore, you should only use it when you have turned
  <option>vhq</option> to the maximum.
  <systemitem class="library">Xvid</systemitem>'s GMC is more
  sophisticated than DivX's, but is only supported by few
  standalone players.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-xvid-encoding-profiles">
<title>Encoding profiles</title>

<para>
Xvid supports encoding profiles through the <option>profile</option> option,
which are used to impose restrictions on the properties of the Xvid video
stream such that it will be playable on anything which supports the
chosen profile.
The restrictions relate to resolutions, bitrates and certain MPEG-4
features.
The following table shows what each profile supports.
</para>

<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="16" align="center">
<colspec colnum="1"  colname="col1"/>
<colspec colnum="2"  colname="col2"/>
<colspec colnum="3"  colname="col3"/>
<colspec colnum="4"  colname="col4"/>
<colspec colnum="5"  colname="col5"/>
<colspec colnum="6"  colname="col6"/>
<colspec colnum="7"  colname="col7"/>
<colspec colnum="8"  colname="col8"/>
<colspec colnum="9"  colname="col9"/>
<colspec colnum="10" colname="col10"/>
<colspec colnum="11" colname="col11"/>
<colspec colnum="12" colname="col12"/>
<colspec colnum="13" colname="col13"/>
<colspec colnum="14" colname="col14"/>
<colspec colnum="15" colname="col15"/>
<colspec colnum="16" colname="col16"/>
<colspec colnum="17" colname="col17"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa2-5"   namest="col2" nameend="col5"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa6-11"  namest="col6" nameend="col11"/>
<spanspec spanname="spa12-17" namest="col12" nameend="col17"/>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry spanname="spa2-5">Simple</entry>
  <entry spanname="spa6-11">Advanced Simple</entry>
  <entry spanname="spa12-17">DivX</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Profile name</entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry>1</entry>
  <entry>2</entry>
  <entry>3</entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry>1</entry>
  <entry>2</entry>
  <entry>3</entry>
  <entry>4</entry>
  <entry>5</entry>
  <entry>Handheld</entry>
  <entry>Portable NTSC</entry>
  <entry>Portable PAL</entry>
  <entry>Home Theater NTSC</entry>
  <entry>Home Theater PAL</entry>
  <entry>HDTV</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Width [pixels]</entry>
  <entry>176</entry>
  <entry>176</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>176</entry>
  <entry>176</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>720</entry>
  <entry>176</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>352</entry>
  <entry>720</entry>
  <entry>720</entry>
  <entry>1280</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Height [pixels]</entry>
  <entry>144</entry>
  <entry>144</entry>
  <entry>288</entry>
  <entry>288</entry>
  <entry>144</entry>
  <entry>144</entry>
  <entry>288</entry>
  <entry>288</entry>
  <entry>576</entry>
  <entry>576</entry>
  <entry>144</entry>
  <entry>240</entry>
  <entry>288</entry>
  <entry>480</entry>
  <entry>576</entry>
  <entry>720</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Frame rate [fps]</entry>
  <entry>15</entry>
  <entry>15</entry>
  <entry>15</entry>
  <entry>15</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>15</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>15</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>25</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
  <entry>25</entry>
  <entry>30</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Max average bitrate [kbps]</entry>
  <entry>64</entry>
  <entry>64</entry>
  <entry>128</entry>
  <entry>384</entry>
  <entry>128</entry>
  <entry>128</entry>
  <entry>384</entry>
  <entry>768</entry>
  <entry>3000</entry>
  <entry>8000</entry>
  <entry>537.6</entry>
  <entry>4854</entry>
  <entry>4854</entry>
  <entry>4854</entry>
  <entry>4854</entry>
  <entry>9708.4</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Peak average bitrate over 3 secs [kbps]</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>800</entry>
  <entry>8000</entry>
  <entry>8000</entry>
  <entry>8000</entry>
  <entry>8000</entry>
  <entry>16000</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Max. B-frames</entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>0</entry>
  <entry>1</entry>
  <entry>1</entry>
  <entry>1</entry>
  <entry>1</entry>
  <entry>2</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>MPEG quantization</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Adaptive quantization</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Interlaced encoding</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Quaterpixel</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Global motion compensation</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry>X</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-xvid-example-settings">
<title>Encoding setting examples</title>

<para>
The following settings are examples of different encoding
option combinations that affect the speed vs quality tradeoff
at the same target bitrate.
</para>

<para>
All the encoding settings were tested on a 720x448 @30000/1001 fps
video sample, the target bitrate was 900kbps, and the machine was an
AMD-64 3400+ at 2400 MHz in 64 bits mode.
Each encoding setting features the measured encoding speed (in
frames per second) and the PSNR loss (in dB) compared to the "very
high quality" setting.
Please understand that depending on your source, your machine type
and development advancements, you may get very different results.
</para>

<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="4">
<thead>
<row><entry>Description</entry><entry>Encoding options</entry><entry>speed (in fps)</entry><entry>Relative PSNR loss (in dB)</entry></row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>Very high quality</entry>
  <entry><option>chroma_opt:vhq=4:bvhq=1:quant_type=mpeg</option></entry>
  <entry>16fps</entry>
  <entry>0dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>High quality</entry>
  <entry><option>vhq=2:bvhq=1:chroma_opt:quant_type=mpeg</option></entry>
  <entry>18fps</entry>
  <entry>-0.1dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Fast</entry>
  <entry><option>turbo:vhq=0</option></entry>
  <entry>28fps</entry>
  <entry>-0.69dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Realtime</entry>
  <entry><option>turbo:nochroma_me:notrellis:max_bframes=0:vhq=0</option></entry>
  <entry>38fps</entry>
  <entry>-1.48dB</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</sect2>
</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="menc-feat-x264">
<title>Encoding with the
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> codec</title>

<para>
<systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> is a free library for
encoding H.264/AVC video streams.
Before starting to encode, you need to
<link linkend="codec-x264-encode">set up <application>MEncoder</application> to support it</link>.
</para>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options">
<title>Encoding options of x264</title>

<para>
Please begin by reviewing the
<systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> section of
<application>MPlayer</application>'s man page.
This section is intended to be a supplement to the man page.
Here you will find quick hints about which options are most
likely to interest most people. The man page is more terse,
but also more exhaustive, and it sometimes offers much better
technical detail.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-intro">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>
This guide considers two major categories of encoding options:
</para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
  Options which mainly trade off encoding time vs. quality
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  Options which may be useful for fulfilling various personal
  preferences and special requirements
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>
Ultimately, only you can decide which options are best for your
purposes. The decision for the first class of options is the simplest:
you only have to decide whether you think the quality differences
justify the speed differences. For the second class of options,
preferences may be far more subjective, and more factors may be
involved. Note that some of the "personal preferences and special
requirements" options can still have large impacts on speed or quality,
but that is not what they are primarily useful for. A couple of the
"personal preference" options may even cause changes that look better
to some people, but look worse to others.
</para>

<para>
Before continuing, you need to understand that this guide uses only one
quality metric: global PSNR.
For a brief explanation of what PSNR is, see
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSNR">the Wikipedia article on PSNR</ulink>.
Global PSNR is the last PSNR number reported when you include
the <option>psnr</option> option in <option>x264encopts</option>.
Any time you read a claim about PSNR, one of the assumptions
behind the claim is that equal bitrates are used.
</para>

<para>
Nearly all of this guide's comments assume you are using two pass.
When comparing options, there are two major reasons for using
two pass encoding.
First, using two pass often gains around 1dB PSNR, which is a
very big difference.
Secondly, testing options by doing direct quality comparisons
with one pass encodes introduces a major confounding
factor: bitrate often varies significantly with each encode.
It is not always easy to tell whether quality changes are due
mainly to changed options, or if they mostly reflect essentially
random differences in the achieved bitrate.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-speedvquality">
<title>Options which primarily affect speed and quality</title>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">subq</emphasis>:
  Of the options which allow you to trade off speed for quality,
  <option>subq</option> and <option>frameref</option> (see below) are usually
  by far the most important.
  If you are interested in tweaking either speed or quality, these
  are the first options you should consider.
  On the speed dimension, the <option>frameref</option> and
  <option>subq</option> options interact with each other fairly
  strongly.
  Experience shows that, with one reference frame,
  <option>subq=5</option> (the default setting) takes about 35% more time than
  <option>subq=1</option>.
  With 6 reference frames, the penalty grows to over 60%.
  <option>subq</option>'s effect on PSNR seems fairly constant
  regardless of the number of reference frames.
  Typically, <option>subq=5</option> achieves 0.2-0.5 dB higher global
  PSNR in comparison <option>subq=1</option>.
  This is usually enough to be visible.
  </para>
  <para>
  <option>subq=6</option> is slower and yields better quality at a reasonable
  cost.
  In comparison to <option>subq=5</option>, it usually gains 0.1-0.4 dB
  global PSNR with speed costs varying from 25%-100%.
  Unlike other levels of <option>subq</option>, the behavior of
  <option>subq=6</option> does not depend much on <option>frameref</option>
  and <option>me</option>.  Instead, the effectiveness of <option>subq=6
  </option> depends mostly upon the number of B-frames used. In normal
  usage, this means <option>subq=6</option> has a large impact on both speed
  and quality in complex, high motion scenes, but it may not have much effect
  in low-motion scenes. Note that it is still recommended to always set
  <option>bframes</option> to something other than zero (see below).
  </para>
  <para>
  <option>subq=7</option> is the slowest, highest quality mode.
  In comparison to <option>subq=6</option>, it usually gains 0.01-0.05 dB
  global PSNR with speed costs varying from 15%-33%.
  Since the tradeoff encoding time vs. quality is quite low, you should
  only use it if you are after every bit saving and if encoding time is
  not an issue.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">frameref</emphasis>:
  <option>frameref</option> is set to 1 by default, but this
  should not be taken to imply that it is reasonable to set it to 1.
  Merely raising <option>frameref</option> to 2 gains around
  0.15dB PSNR with a 5-10% speed penalty; this seems like a good tradeoff.
  <option>frameref=3</option> gains around 0.25dB PSNR over
  <option>frameref=1</option>, which should be a visible difference.
  <option>frameref=3</option> is around 15% slower than
  <option>frameref=1</option>.
  Unfortunately, diminishing returns set in rapidly.
  <option>frameref=6</option> can be expected to gain only
  0.05-0.1 dB over <option>frameref=3</option> at an additional
  15% speed penalty.
  Above <option>frameref=6</option>, the quality gains are
  usually very small (although you should keep in mind throughout
  this whole discussion that it can vary quite a lot depending on your source).
  In a fairly typical case, <option>frameref=12</option>
  will improve global PSNR by a tiny 0.02dB over
  <option>frameref=6</option>, at a speed cost of 15%-20%.
  At such high <option>frameref</option> values, the only really
  good thing that can be said is that increasing it even further will
  almost certainly never <emphasis role="bold">harm</emphasis>
  PSNR, but the additional quality benefits are barely even
  measurable, let alone perceptible.
  </para>
  <note><title>Note:</title>
  <para>
  Raising <option>frameref</option> to unnecessarily high values
  <emphasis role="bold">can</emphasis> and
  <emphasis role="bold">usually does</emphasis>
  hurt coding efficiency if you turn CABAC off.
  With CABAC on (the default behavior), the possibility of setting
  <option>frameref</option> "too high" currently seems too remote
  to even worry about, and in the future, optimizations may remove
  the possibility altogether.
  </para></note>
  <para>
  If you care about speed, a reasonable compromise is to use low
  <option>subq</option> and <option>frameref</option> values on
  the first pass, and then raise them on the second pass.
  Typically, this has a negligible negative effect on the final
  quality: You will probably lose well under 0.1dB PSNR, which
  should be much too small of a difference to see.
  However, different values of <option>frameref</option> can
  occasionally affect frametype decision.
  Most likely, these are rare outlying cases, but if you want to
  be pretty sure, consider whether your video has either
  fullscreen repetitive flashing patterns or very large temporary
  occlusions which might force an I-frame.
  Adjust the first-pass <option>frameref</option> so it is large
  enough to contain the duration of the flashing cycle (or occlusion).
  For example, if the scene flashes back and forth between two images
  over a duration of three frames, set the first pass
  <option>frameref</option> to 3 or higher.
  This issue is probably extremely rare in live action video material,
  but it does sometimes come up in video game captures.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">me</emphasis>:
  This option is for choosing the motion estimation search method.
  Altering this option provides a straightforward quality-vs-speed
  tradeoff. <option>me=dia</option> is only a few percent faster than
  the default search, at a cost of under 0.1dB global PSNR. The 
  default setting (<option>me=hex</option>) is a reasonable tradeoff
  between speed and quality. <option>me=umh</option> gains a little under
  0.1dB global PSNR, with a speed penalty that varies depending on
  <option>frameref</option>.  At high values of
  <option>frameref</option> (e.g. 12 or so), <option>me=umh</option>
  is about 40% slower than the default <option> me=hex</option>. With
  <option>frameref=3</option>, the speed penalty incurred drops to
  25%-30%.
  </para>
  <para>
  <option>me=esa</option> uses an exhaustive search that is too slow for
  practical use.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">partitions=all</emphasis>:
  This option enables the use of 8x4, 4x8 and 4x4 subpartitions in
  predicted macroblocks (in addition to the default partitions).
  Enabling it results in a fairly consistent
  10%-15% loss of speed. This option is rather useless in source
  containing only low motion, however in some high-motion source,
  particularly source with lots of small moving objects, gains of
  about 0.1dB can be expected.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">bframes</emphasis>:
  If you are used to encoding with other codecs, you may have found
  that B-frames are not always useful.
  In H.264, this has changed: there are new techniques and block
  types that are possible in B-frames.
  Usually, even a naive B-frame choice algorithm can have a
  significant PSNR benefit.
  It is interesting to note that using B-frames usually speeds up
  the second pass somewhat, and may also speed up a single
  pass encode if adaptive B-frame decision is turned off.
  </para>
  <para>
  With adaptive B-frame decision turned off
  (<option>x264encopts</option>'s <option>nob_adapt</option>),
  the optimal value for this setting is usually no more than
  <option>bframes=1</option>, or else high-motion scenes can suffer.
  With adaptive B-frame decision on (the default behavior), it is
  safe to use higher values; the encoder will reduce the use of
  B-frames in scenes where they would hurt compression.
  The encoder rarely chooses to use more than 3 or 4 B-frames;
  setting this option any higher will have little effect.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">b_adapt</emphasis>:
  Note: This is on by default.
  </para>
  <para>
  With this option enabled, the encoder will use a reasonably fast
  decision process to reduce the number of B-frames used in scenes that
  might not benefit from them as much.
  You can use <option>b_bias</option> to tweak how B-frame-happy
  the encoder is.
  The speed penalty of adaptive B-frames is currently rather modest,
  but so is the potential quality gain.
  It usually does not hurt, however.
  Note that this only affects speed and frametype decision on the
  first pass.
  <option>b_adapt</option> and <option>b_bias</option> have no
  effect on subsequent passes.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">b_pyramid</emphasis>:
  You might as well enable this option if you are using >=2 B-frames;
  as the man page says, you get a little quality improvement at no
  speed cost.
  Note that these videos cannot be read by libavcodec-based decoders
  older than about March 5, 2005.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">weight_b</emphasis>:
  In typical cases, there is not much gain with this option.
  However, in crossfades or fade-to-black scenes, weighted
  prediction gives rather large bitrate savings.
  In MPEG-4 ASP, a fade-to-black is usually best coded as a series
  of expensive I-frames; using weighted prediction in B-frames
  makes it possible to turn at least some of these into much smaller
  B-frames.
  Encoding time cost is minimal, as no extra decisions need to be made.
  Also, contrary to what some people seem to guess, the decoder
  CPU requirements are not much affected by weighted prediction,
  all else being equal.
  </para>
  <para>
  Unfortunately, the current adaptive B-frame decision algorithm
  has a strong tendency to avoid B-frames during fades.
  Until this changes, it may be a good idea to add
  <option>nob_adapt</option> to your x264encopts, if you expect
  fades to have a large effect in your particular video
  clip.
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem id="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-speedvquality-threads">
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">threads</emphasis>:
  This option allows to spawn threads to encode in parallel on multiple CPUs.
  You can manually select the number of threads to be created or, better, set
  <option>threads=auto</option> and let
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> detect how many CPUs are
  available and pick an appropriate number of threads.
  If you have a multi-processor machine, you should really consider using it
  as it can to increase encoding speed linearly with the number of CPU cores
  (about 94% per CPU core), with very little quality reduction (about 0.005dB
  for dual processor, about 0.01dB for a quad processor machine).
  </para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-misc-preferences">
<title>Options pertaining to miscellaneous preferences</title>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Two pass encoding</emphasis>:
  Above, it was suggested to always use two pass encoding, but there
  are still reasons for not using it. For instance, if you are capturing
  live TV and encoding in realtime, you are forced to use single-pass.
  Also, one pass is obviously faster than two passes; if you use the
  exact same set of options on both passes, two pass encoding is almost
  twice as slow.
  </para>
  <para>
  Still, there are very good reasons for using two pass encoding. For
  one thing, single pass ratecontrol is not psychic, and it often makes
  unreasonable choices because it cannot see the big picture. For example,
  suppose you have a two minute long video consisting of two distinct
  halves.  The first half is a very high-motion scene lasting 60 seconds
  which, in isolation, requires about 2500kbps in order to look decent.
  Immediately following it is a much less demanding 60-second scene
  that looks good at 300kbps. Suppose you ask for 1400kbps on the theory
  that this is enough to accomodate both scenes. Single pass ratecontrol
  will make a couple of "mistakes" in such a case. First of all, it
  will target 1400kbps in both segments. The first segment may end up
  heavily overquantized, causing it to look unacceptably and unreasonably
  blocky. The second segment will be heavily underquantized; it may look
  perfect, but the bitrate cost of that perfection will be completely
  unreasonable. What is even harder to avoid is the problem at the
  transition between the two scenes. The first seconds of the low motion
  half will be hugely over-quantized, because the ratecontrol is still
  expecting the kind of bitrate requirements it met in the first half
  of the video. This "error period" of heavily over-quantized low motion
  will look jarringly bad, and will actually use less than the 300kbps
  it would have taken to make it look decent. There are ways to
  mitigate the pitfalls of single-pass encoding, but they may tend to
  increase bitrate misprediction.
  </para>
  <para>
  Multipass ratecontrol can offer huge advantages over a single pass.
  Using the statistics gathered from the first pass encode, the encoder
  can estimate, with reasonable accuracy, the "cost" (in bits) of
  encoding any given frame, at any given quantizer. This allows for
  a much more rational, better planned allocation of bits between the
  expensive (high-motion) and cheap (low-motion) scenes. See
  <option>qcomp</option> below for some ideas on how to tweak this
  allocation to your liking.
  </para>
  <para>
  Moreover, two passes need not take twice as long as one pass. You can
  tweak the options in the first pass for higher speed and lower quality.
  If you choose your options well, you can get a very fast first pass.
  The resulting quality in the second pass will be slightly lower because size
  prediction is less accurate, but the quality difference is normally much
  too small to be visible. Try, for example, adding
  <option>subq=1:frameref=1</option> to the first pass
  <option>x264encopts</option>. Then, on the second pass, use slower,
  higher-quality options:
  <option>subq=6:frameref=15:partitions=all:me=umh</option>
  </para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Three pass encoding</emphasis>?
  x264 offers the ability to make an arbitrary number of consecutive
  passes. If you specify <option>pass=1</option> on the first pass,
  then use <option>pass=3</option> on a subsequent pass, the subsequent
  pass will both read the statistics from the previous pass, and write
  its own statistics. An additional pass following this one will have
  a very good base from which to make highly accurate predictions of
  framesizes at a chosen quantizer. In practice, the overall quality
  gain from this is usually close to zero, and quite possibly a third
  pass will result in slightly worse global PSNR than the pass before
  it. In typical usage, three passes help if you get either bad bitrate
  prediction or bad looking scene transitions when using only two passes.
  This is somewhat likely to happen on extremely short clips. There are
  also a few special cases in which three (or more) passes are handy
  for advanced users, but for brevity, this guide omits discussing those
  special cases.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">qcomp</emphasis>:
  <option>qcomp</option> trades off the number of bits allocated
  to "expensive" high-motion versus "cheap" low-motion frames. At
  one extreme, <option>qcomp=0</option> aims for true constant
  bitrate. Typically this would make high-motion scenes look completely
  awful, while low-motion scenes would probably look absolutely
  perfect, but would also use many times more bitrate than they
  would need in order to look merely excellent. At the other extreme,
  <option>qcomp=1</option> achieves nearly constant quantization parameter
  (QP). Constant QP does not look bad, but most people think it is more
  reasonable to shave some bitrate off of the extremely expensive scenes
  (where the loss of quality is not as noticeable) and reallocate it to
  the scenes that are easier to encode at excellent quality.
  <option>qcomp</option> is set to 0.6 by default, which may be slightly
  low for many peoples' taste (0.7-0.8 are also commonly used).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">keyint</emphasis>:
  <option>keyint</option> is solely for trading off file seekability against
  coding efficiency. By default, <option>keyint</option> is set to 250. In
  25fps material, this guarantees the ability to seek to within 10 seconds
  precision. If you think it would be important and useful to be able to
  seek within 5 seconds of precision, set <option>keyint=125</option>;
  this will hurt quality/bitrate slightly. If you care only about quality
  and not about seekability, you can set it to much higher values
  (understanding that there are diminishing returns which may become
  vanishingly low, or even zero). The video stream will still have seekable
  points as long as there are some scene changes.
</para></listitem> 
<listitem>
  <para>
  <emphasis role="bold">deblock</emphasis>:
  This topic is going to be a bit controversial.
  </para>
  <para>
  H.264 defines a simple deblocking procedure on I-blocks that uses
  pre-set strengths and thresholds depending on the QP of the block
  in question.
  By default, high QP blocks are filtered heavily, and low QP blocks
  are not deblocked at all.
  The pre-set strengths defined by the standard are well-chosen and
  the odds are very good that they are PSNR-optimal for whatever
  video you are trying to encode.
  The <option>deblock</option> allow you to specify offsets to the preset
  deblocking thresholds.
  </para>
  <para>
  Many people seem to think it is a good idea to lower the deblocking
  filter strength by large amounts (say, -3).
  This is however almost never a good idea, and in most cases,
  people who are doing this do not understand very well how
  deblocking works by default.
  </para>
  <para>
  The first and most important thing to know about the in-loop
  deblocking filter is that the default thresholds are almost always
  PSNR-optimal.
  In the rare cases that they are not optimal, the ideal offset is
  plus or minus 1.
  Adjusting deblocking parameters by a larger amount is almost
  guaranteed to hurt PSNR.
  Strengthening the filter will smear more details; weakening the
  filter will increase the appearance of blockiness.
  </para>
  <para>
  It is definitely a bad idea to lower the deblocking thresholds if
  your source is mainly low in spacial complexity (i.e., not a lot
  of detail or noise).
  The in-loop filter does a rather excellent job of concealing
  the artifacts that occur.
  If the source is high in spacial complexity, however, artifacts
  are less noticeable.
  This is because the ringing tends to look like detail or noise.
  Human visual perception easily notices when detail is removed,
  but it does not so easily notice when the noise is wrongly
  represented.
  When it comes to subjective quality, noise and detail are somewhat
  interchangeable.
  By lowering the deblocking filter strength, you are most likely
  increasing error by adding ringing artifacts, but the eye does
  not notice because it confuses the artifacts with detail.
  </para>
  <para>
  This <emphasis role="bold">still</emphasis> does not justify
  lowering the deblocking filter strength, however.
  You can generally get better quality noise from postprocessing.
  If your H.264 encodes look too blurry or smeared, try playing with
  <option>-vf noise</option> when you play your encoded movie.
  <option>-vf noise=8a:4a</option> should conceal most mild
  artifacting.
  It will almost certainly look better than the results you
  would have gotten just by fiddling with the deblocking filter.
  </para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-x264-example-settings">
<title>Encoding setting examples</title>

<para>
The following settings are examples of different encoding
option combinations that affect the speed vs quality tradeoff
at the same target bitrate.
</para>

<para>
All the encoding settings were tested on a 720x448 @30000/1001 fps
video sample, the target bitrate was 900kbps, and the machine was an
AMD-64 3400+ at 2400 MHz in 64 bits mode.
Each encoding setting features the measured encoding speed (in
frames per second) and the PSNR loss (in dB) compared to the "very
high quality" setting.
Please understand that depending on your source, your machine type
and development advancements, you may get very different results.
</para>

<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="4">
<thead>
<row>
  <entry>Description</entry>
  <entry>Encoding options</entry>
  <entry>speed (in fps)</entry>
  <entry>Relative PSNR loss (in dB)</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>Very high quality</entry>
  <entry><option>subq=6:partitions=all:8x8dct:me=umh:frameref=5:bframes=3:b_pyramid:weight_b</option></entry>
  <entry>6fps</entry>
  <entry>0dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>High quality</entry>
  <entry><option>subq=5:8x8dct:frameref=2:bframes=3:b_pyramid:weight_b</option></entry>
  <entry>13fps</entry>
  <entry>-0.89dB</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>Fast</entry>
  <entry><option>subq=4:bframes=2:b_pyramid:weight_b</option></entry>
  <entry>17fps</entry>
  <entry>-1.48dB</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</sect2>
</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="menc-feat-video-for-windows">
<title>
  Encoding with the <systemitem class="library">Video For Windows</systemitem>
  codec family
</title>

<para>
Video for Windows provides simple encoding by means of binary video codecs.
You can encode with the following codecs (if you have more, please tell us!)
</para>

<para>
Note that support for this is very experimental and some codecs may not work
correctly. Some codecs will only work in certain colorspaces, try
<option>-vf format=bgr24</option> and <option>-vf format=yuy2</option>
if a codec fails or gives wrong output.
</para>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-enc-vfw-video-codecs">
<title>Video for Windows supported codecs</title>

<para>
<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="4">
<thead>
<row>
  <entry>Video codec file name</entry>
  <entry>Description (FourCC)</entry>
  <entry>md5sum</entry>
  <entry>Comment</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>aslcodec_vfw.dll</entry>
  <entry>Alparysoft lossless codec vfw (ASLC)</entry>
  <entry>608af234a6ea4d90cdc7246af5f3f29a</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>avimszh.dll</entry>
  <entry>AVImszh (MSZH)</entry>
  <entry>253118fe1eedea04a95ed6e5f4c28878</entry>
  <entry>needs <option>-vf format</option></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>avizlib.dll</entry>
  <entry>AVIzlib (ZLIB)</entry>
  <entry>2f1cc76bbcf6d77d40d0e23392fa8eda</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>divx.dll</entry>
  <entry>DivX4Windows-VFW</entry>
  <entry>acf35b2fc004a89c829531555d73f1e6</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>huffyuv.dll</entry>
  <entry>HuffYUV (lossless) (HFYU)</entry>
  <entry>b74695b50230be4a6ef2c4293a58ac3b</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>iccvid.dll</entry>
  <entry>Cinepak Video (cvid)</entry>
  <entry>cb3b7ee47ba7dbb3d23d34e274895133</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>icmw_32.dll</entry>
  <entry>Motion Wavelets (MWV1)</entry>
  <entry>c9618a8fc73ce219ba918e3e09e227f2</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>jp2avi.dll</entry>
  <entry>ImagePower MJPEG2000 (IPJ2)</entry>
  <entry>d860a11766da0d0ea064672c6833768b</entry>
  <entry><option>-vf flip</option></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>m3jp2k32.dll</entry>
  <entry>Morgan MJPEG2000 (MJ2C)</entry>
  <entry>f3c174edcbaef7cb947d6357cdfde7ff</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>m3jpeg32.dll</entry>
  <entry>Morgan Motion JPEG Codec (MJPG)</entry>
  <entry>1cd13fff5960aa2aae43790242c323b1</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>mpg4c32.dll</entry>
  <entry>Microsoft MPEG-4 v1/v2</entry>
  <entry>b5791ea23f33010d37ab8314681f1256</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>tsccvid.dll</entry>
  <entry>TechSmith Camtasia Screen Codec (TSCC)</entry>
  <entry>8230d8560c41d444f249802a2700d1d5</entry>
  <entry>shareware error on windows</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>vp31vfw.dll</entry>
  <entry>On2 Open Source VP3 Codec (VP31)</entry>
  <entry>845f3590ea489e2e45e876ab107ee7d2</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>vp4vfw.dll</entry>
  <entry>On2 VP4 Personal Codec (VP40)</entry>
  <entry>fc5480a482ccc594c2898dcc4188b58f</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>vp6vfw.dll</entry>
  <entry>On2 VP6 Personal Codec (VP60)</entry>
  <entry>04d635a364243013898fd09484f913fb</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>vp7vfw.dll</entry>
  <entry>On2 VP7 Personal Codec (VP70)</entry>
  <entry>cb4cc3d4ea7c94a35f1d81c3d750bc8d</entry>
  <entry>wrong FourCC?</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>ViVD2.dll</entry>
  <entry>SoftMedia ViVD V2 codec VfW (GXVE)</entry>
  <entry>a7b4bf5cac630bb9262c3f80d8a773a1</entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>msulvc06.DLL</entry>
  <entry>MSU Lossless codec (MSUD)</entry>
  <entry>294bf9288f2f127bb86f00bfcc9ccdda</entry>
  <entry>
  Decodable by <application>Window Media Player</application>,
  not <application>MPlayer</application> (yet).
  </entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>camcodec.dll</entry>
  <entry>CamStudio lossless video codec (CSCD)</entry>
  <entry>0efe97ce08bb0e40162ab15ef3b45615</entry>
  <entry>sf.net/projects/camstudio</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>

The first column contains the codec names that should be passed after the
<literal>codec</literal> parameter,
like: <option>-xvfwopts codec=divx.dll</option>
The FourCC code used by each codec is given in the parentheses.
</para>

<informalexample>
<para>
An example to convert an ISO DVD trailer to a VP6 flash video file
using compdata bitrate settings:
<screen>
mencoder -dvd-device <replaceable>zeiram.iso</replaceable> dvd://7 -o <replaceable>trailer.flv</replaceable> \
-ovc vfw -xvfwopts codec=vp6vfw.dll:compdata=onepass.mcf -oac mp3lame \
-lameopts cbr:br=64 -af lavcresample=22050 -vf yadif,scale=320:240,flip \
-of lavf -lavfopts i_certify_that_my_video_stream_does_not_use_b_frames
</screen>
</para>
</informalexample>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-video-for-windows-bitrate-settings">
<title>Using vfw2menc to create a codec settings file.</title>

<para>
To encode with the Video for Windows codecs, you will need to set bitrate
and other options. This is known to work on x86 on both *NIX and Windows.
</para>
<para>
First you must build the <application>vfw2menc</application> program.
It is located in the <filename class="directory">TOOLS</filename> subdirectory 
of the MPlayer source tree.
To build on Linux, this can be done using <application>Wine</application>:
<screen>winegcc vfw2menc.c -o vfw2menc -lwinmm -lole32</screen>

To build on Windows in <application>MinGW</application> or 
<application>Cygwin</application> use:
<screen>gcc vfw2menc.c -o vfw2menc.exe -lwinmm -lole32</screen>

To build on <application>MSVC</application> you will need getopt.
Getopt can be found in the original <application>vfw2menc</application> 
archive available at:
The <ulink url="http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php">MPlayer on win32</ulink> project.
</para>
<informalexample>
<para>
Below is an example with the VP6 codec.
<screen>
vfw2menc -f VP62 -d vp6vfw.dll -s firstpass.mcf
</screen>
This will open the VP6 codec dialog window. 
Repeat this step for the second pass
and use <option>-s <replaceable>secondpass.mcf</replaceable></option>.
</para>
</informalexample>
<para>
Windows users can use 
<option>-xvfwopts codec=vp6vfw.dll:compdata=dialog</option> to have
the codec dialog display before encoding starts.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>


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<sect1 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7">
<title>Using <application>MEncoder</application> to create
<application>QuickTime</application>-compatible files</title>


<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-why-use-it">
<title>Why would one want to produce <application>QuickTime</application>-compatible Files?</title>

<para>
  There are several reasons why producing
  <application>QuickTime</application>-compatible files can be desirable.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
  You want any computer illiterate to be able to watch your encode on
  any major platform (Windows, Mac OS X, Unices &hellip;).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <application>QuickTime</application> is able to take advantage of more
  hardware and software acceleration features of Mac OS X than
  platform-independent players like <application>MPlayer</application>
  or <application>VLC</application>.
  That means that your encodes have a chance to be played smoothly by older
  G4-powered machines.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 supports the next-generation codec H.264,
  which yields significantly better picture quality than previous codec
  generations (MPEG-2, MPEG-4 &hellip;).
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-constraints">
<title><application>QuickTime</application> 7 limitations</title>

<para>
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 supports H.264 video and AAC audio,
  but it does not support them muxed in the AVI container format.
  However, you can use <application>MEncoder</application> to encode
  the video and audio, and then use an external program such as
  <application>mp4creator</application> (part of the
  <ulink url="http://mpeg4ip.sourceforge.net/">MPEG4IP suite</ulink>)
  to remux the video and audio tracks into an MP4 container.
</para>

<para>
  <application>QuickTime</application>'s support for H.264 is limited,
  so you will need to drop some advanced features.
  If you encode your video with features that
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 does not support,
  <application>QuickTime</application>-based players will show you a pretty
  white screen instead of your expected video.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">B-frames</emphasis>:
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 supports a maximum of 1 B-frame, i.e.
  <option>-x264encopts bframes=1</option>. This means that
  <option>b_pyramid</option> and <option>weight_b</option> will have no
  effect, since they require <option>bframes</option> to be greater than 1.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Macroblocks</emphasis>:
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 does not support 8x8 DCT macroblocks.
  This option (<option>8x8dct</option>) is off by default, so just be sure
  not to explicitly enable it. This also means that the <option>i8x8</option>
  option will have no effect, since it requires <option>8x8dct</option>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Aspect ratio</emphasis>:
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 does not support SAR (sample
  aspect ratio) information in MPEG-4 files; it assumes that SAR=1. Read
  <link linkend="menc-feat-quicktime-7-scale">the section on scaling</link>
  for a workaround.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-crop">
<title>Cropping</title>
<para>
  Suppose you want to rip your freshly bought copy of "The Chronicles of
  Narnia". Your DVD is region 1,
  which means it is NTSC. The example below would still apply to PAL,
  except you would omit <option>-ofps 24000/1001</option> and use slightly
  different <option>crop</option> and <option>scale</option> dimensions.
</para>

<para>
  After running <option>mplayer dvd://1</option>, you follow the process
  detailed in the section <link linkend="menc-feat-telecine">How to deal
  with telecine and interlacing in NTSC DVDs</link> and discover that it is
  24000/1001 fps progressive video. This simplifies the process somewhat,
  since you do not need to use an inverse telecine filter such as
  <option>pullup</option> or a deinterlacing filter such as
  <option>yadif</option>.
</para>

<para>
  Next, you need to crop out the black bars from the top and bottom of the
  video, as detailed in <link linkend="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-example-crop">this</link>
  previous section.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-scale">
<title>Scaling</title>

<para>
  The next step is truly heartbreaking.
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7 does not support MPEG-4 videos
  with a sample aspect ratio other than 1, so you will need to upscale
  (which wastes a lot of disk space) or downscale (which loses some
  details of the source) the video to square pixels.
  Either way you do it, this is highly inefficient, but simply cannot
  be avoided if you want your video to be playable by
  <application>QuickTime</application> 7.
  <application>MEncoder</application> can apply the appropriate upscaling
  or downscaling by specifying respectively <option>-vf scale=-10:-1</option>
  or <option>-vf scale=-1:-10</option>.
  This will scale your video to the correct width for the cropped height,
  rounded to the closest multiple of 16 for optimal compression.
  Remember that if you are cropping, you should crop first, then scale:

  <screen>-vf crop=720:352:0:62,scale=-10:-1</screen>
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-avsync">
<title>A/V sync</title>

<para>
  Because you will be remuxing into a different container, you should
  always use the <option>harddup</option> option to ensure that duplicated
  frames are actually duplicated in the video output. Without this option,
  <application>MEncoder</application> will simply put a marker in the video
  stream that a frame was duplicated, and rely on the client software to
  show the same frame twice. Unfortunately, this "soft duplication" does
  not survive remuxing, so the audio would slowly lose sync with the video.
</para>

<para>
  The final filter chain looks like this:
  <screen>-vf crop=720:352:0:62,scale=-10:-1,harddup</screen>
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-bitrate">
<title>Bitrate</title>

<para>
  As always, the selection of bitrate is a matter of the technical properties
  of the source, as explained
  <link linkend="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-resolution-bitrate">here</link>, as
  well as a matter of taste.
  This movie has a fair bit of action and lots of detail, but H.264 video
  looks good at much lower bitrates than XviD or other MPEG-4 codecs.
  After much experimentation, the author of this guide chose to encode
  this movie at 900kbps, and thought that it looked very good.
  You may decrease bitrate if you need to save more space, or increase
  it if you need to improve quality.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-example">
<title>Encoding example</title>

<para>
  You are now ready to encode the video. Since you care about
  quality, of course you will be doing a two-pass encode. To shave off
  some encoding time, you can specify the <option>turbo</option> option
  on the first pass; this reduces <option>subq</option> and
  <option>frameref</option> to 1. To save some disk space, you can
  use the <option>ss</option> option to strip off the first few seconds
  of the video. (I found that this particular movie has 32 seconds of
  credits and logos.)  <option>bframes</option> can be 0 or 1.
  The other options are documented in <link
  linkend="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-speedvquality">Encoding with
  the <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> codec</link> and
  the man page.

  <screen>mencoder dvd://1 -o /dev/null -ss 32 -ovc x264 \
-x264encopts pass=1:turbo:bitrate=900:bframes=1:\
me=umh:partitions=all:trellis=1:qp_step=4:qcomp=0.7:direct_pred=auto:keyint=300 \
-vf crop=720:352:0:62,scale=-10:-1,harddup \
-oac faac -faacopts br=192:mpeg=4:object=1 -channels 2 -srate 48000 \
-ofps 24000/1001</screen>

  If you have a multi-processor machine, don't miss the opportunity to
  dramatically speed-up encoding by enabling
  <link linkend="menc-feat-x264-encoding-options-speedvquality-threads">
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>'s multi-threading mode</link>
  by adding <option>threads=auto</option> to your <option>x264encopts</option>
  command-line.
</para>

<para>
  The second pass is the same, except that you specify the output file
  and set <option>pass=2</option>.

  <screen>mencoder dvd://1 <emphasis role="bold">-o narnia.avi</emphasis> -ss 32 -ovc x264 \
-x264encopts <emphasis role="bold">pass=2</emphasis>:turbo:bitrate=900:frameref=5:bframes=1:\
me=umh:partitions=all:trellis=1:qp_step=4:qcomp=0.7:direct_pred=auto:keyint=300 \
-vf crop=720:352:0:62,scale=-10:-1,harddup \
-oac faac -faacopts br=192:mpeg=4:object=1 -channels 2 -srate 48000 \
-ofps 24000/1001</screen>
</para>

<para>
  The resulting AVI should play perfectly in
  <application>MPlayer</application>, but of course
  <application>QuickTime</application> can not play it because it does
  not support H.264 muxed in AVI.
  So the next step is to remux the video into an MP4 container.
</para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-remux">
<title>Remuxing as MP4</title>

<para>
  There are several ways to remux AVI files to MP4. You can use
  <application>mp4creator</application>, which is part of the
  <ulink url="http://mpeg4ip.sourceforge.net/">MPEG4IP suite</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
  First, demux the AVI into separate audio and video streams using
  <application>MPlayer</application>.

  <screen>mplayer narnia.avi -dumpaudio -dumpfile narnia.aac
mplayer narnia.avi -dumpvideo -dumpfile narnia.h264</screen>

  The filenames are important; <application>mp4creator</application>
  requires that AAC audio streams be named <systemitem>.aac</systemitem>
  and H.264 video streams be named <systemitem>.h264</systemitem>.
</para>

<para>
  Now use <application>mp4creator</application> to create a new
  MP4 file out of the audio and video streams.

  <screen>mp4creator -create=narnia.aac narnia.mp4
mp4creator -create=narnia.h264 -rate=23.976 narnia.mp4</screen>

  Unlike the encoding step, you must specify the framerate as a
  decimal (such as 23.976), not a fraction (such as 24000/1001).
</para>

<para>
  This <systemitem>narnia.mp4</systemitem> file should now be playable
  with any <application>QuickTime</application> 7 application, such as
  <application>QuickTime Player</application> or
  <application>iTunes</application>. If you are planning to view the
  video in a web browser with the <application>QuickTime</application>
  plugin, you should also hint the movie so that the
  <application>QuickTime</application> plugin can start playing it
  while it is still downloading.  <application>mp4creator</application>
  can create these hint tracks:

  <screen>mp4creator -hint=1 narnia.mp4
mp4creator -hint=2 narnia.mp4
mp4creator -optimize narnia.mp4</screen>

  You can check the final result to ensure that the hint tracks were
  created successfully:

  <screen>mp4creator -list narnia.mp4</screen>

  You should see a list of tracks: 1 audio, 1 video, and 2 hint tracks.

<screen>Track   Type    Info
1       audio   MPEG-4 AAC LC, 8548.714 secs, 190 kbps, 48000 Hz
2       video   H264 Main@5.1, 8549.132 secs, 899 kbps, 848x352 @ 23.976001 fps
3       hint    Payload mpeg4-generic for track 1
4       hint    Payload H264 for track 2
</screen>
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-quicktime-7-metadata">
<title>Adding metadata tags</title>

<para>
  If you want to add tags to your video that show up in iTunes, you can use
  <ulink url="http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/">AtomicParsley</ulink>.
  
  <screen>AtomicParsley narnia.mp4 --metaEnema --title "The Chronicles of Narnia" --year 2005 --stik Movie --freefree --overWrite</screen>

  The <option>--metaEnema</option> option removes any existing metadata
  (<application>mp4creator</application> inserts its name in the 
  "encoding tool" tag), and <option>--freefree</option> reclaims the
  space from the deleted metadata.
  The <option>--stik</option> option sets the type of video (such as Movie
  or TV Show), which iTunes uses to group related video files.
  The <option>--overWrite</option> option overwrites the original file;
  without it, <application>AtomicParsley</application> creates a new
  auto-named file in the same directory and leaves the original file
  untouched.
</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd">
<title>Using <application>MEncoder</application>
  to create VCD/SVCD/DVD-compliant files</title>

<sect2 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-constraints">
<title>Format Constraints</title>

<para>
<application>MEncoder</application> is capable of creating VCD, SCVD
and DVD format MPEG files using the
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> library.
These files can then be used in conjunction with
<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/software/vcdimager/vcdimager.html">vcdimager</ulink>
or
<ulink url="http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/">dvdauthor</ulink>
to create discs that will play on a standard set-top player.
</para>

<para>
The DVD, SVCD, and VCD formats are subject to heavy constraints.
Only a small selection of encoded picture sizes and aspect ratios are
available.
If your movie does not already meet these requirements, you may have
to scale, crop or add black borders to the picture to make it
compliant.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-constraints-resolution">
<title>Format Constraints</title>

<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="9">
<thead>
<row>
  <entry>Format</entry>
  <entry>Resolution</entry>
  <entry>V. Codec</entry>
  <entry>V. Bitrate</entry>
  <entry>Sample Rate</entry>
  <entry>A. Codec</entry>
  <entry>A. Bitrate</entry>
  <entry>FPS</entry>
  <entry>Aspect</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>NTSC DVD</entry>
  <entry>720x480, 704x480, 352x480, 352x240</entry> 
  <entry>MPEG-2</entry>
  <entry>9800 kbps</entry>
  <entry>48000 Hz</entry>
  <entry>AC-3,PCM</entry>
  <entry>1536 kbps (max)</entry>
  <entry>30000/1001, 24000/1001</entry>
  <entry>4:3, 16:9 (only for 720x480)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>NTSC DVD</entry>
  <entry>352x240<footnote id='fn-rare-resolutions'><para>
  These resolutions are rarely used for DVDs because
  they are fairly low quality.</para></footnote></entry> 
  <entry>MPEG-1</entry>
  <entry>1856 kbps</entry>
  <entry>48000 Hz</entry>
  <entry>AC-3,PCM</entry>
  <entry>1536 kbps (max)</entry>
  <entry>30000/1001, 24000/1001</entry>
  <entry>4:3, 16:9</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>NTSC SVCD</entry>
  <entry>480x480</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-2</entry>
  <entry>2600 kbps</entry>
  <entry>44100 Hz</entry>
  <entry>MP2</entry>
  <entry>384 kbps (max)</entry>
  <entry>30000/1001</entry>
  <entry>4:3</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>NTSC VCD</entry>
  <entry>352x240</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-1</entry>
  <entry>1150 kbps</entry>
  <entry>44100 Hz</entry>
  <entry>MP2</entry>
  <entry>224 kbps</entry>
  <entry>24000/1001, 30000/1001</entry>
  <entry>4:3</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>PAL DVD</entry>
  <entry>720x576, 704x576, 352x576, 352x288</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-2</entry>
  <entry>9800 kbps</entry>
  <entry>48000 Hz</entry>
  <entry>MP2,AC-3,PCM</entry>
  <entry>1536 kbps (max)</entry>
  <entry>25</entry>
  <entry>4:3, 16:9 (only for 720x576)</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>PAL DVD</entry>
  <entry>352x288<footnoteref linkend='fn-rare-resolutions'/></entry>
  <entry>MPEG-1</entry>
  <entry>1856 kbps</entry>
  <entry>48000 Hz</entry>
  <entry>MP2,AC-3,PCM</entry>
  <entry>1536 kbps (max)</entry>
  <entry>25</entry>
  <entry>4:3, 16:9</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>PAL SVCD</entry>
  <entry>480x576</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-2</entry>
  <entry>2600 kbps</entry>
  <entry>44100 Hz</entry>
  <entry>MP2</entry>
  <entry>384 kbps (max)</entry>
  <entry>25</entry>
  <entry>4:3</entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry>PAL VCD</entry>
  <entry>352x288</entry>
  <entry>MPEG-1</entry>
  <entry>1152 kbps</entry>
  <entry>44100 Hz</entry>
  <entry>MP2</entry>
  <entry>224 kbps</entry>
  <entry>25</entry>
  <entry>4:3</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>

<para>
If your movie has 2.35:1 aspect (most recent action movies), you will
have to add black borders or crop the movie down to 16:9 to make a DVD or VCD.
If you add black borders, try to align them at 16-pixel boundaries in
order to minimize the impact on encoding performance.
Thankfully DVD has sufficiently excessive bitrate that you do not have
to worry too much about encoding efficiency, but SVCD and VCD are
highly bitrate-starved and require effort to obtain acceptable quality.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-constraints-gop">
<title>GOP Size Constraints</title>

<para>
DVD, VCD, and SVCD also constrain you to relatively low 
GOP (Group of Pictures) sizes.
For 30 fps material the largest allowed GOP size is 18.
For 25 or 24 fps, the maximum is 15.
The GOP size is set using the <option>keyint</option> option.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-constraints-bitrate">
<title>Bitrate Constraints</title>

<para>
VCD video is required to be CBR at 1152 kbps.
This highly limiting constraint also comes along with an extremly low vbv
buffer size of 327 kilobits.
SVCD allows varying video bitrates up to 2500 kbps, and a somewhat less 
restrictive vbv buffer size of 917 kilobits is allowed.
DVD video bitrates may range anywhere up to 9800 kbps (though typical
bitrates are about half that), and the vbv buffer size is 1835 kilobits.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-output">
<title>Output Options</title>

<para>
<application>MEncoder</application> has options to control the output
format.
Using these options we can instruct it to create the correct type of
file.
</para>

<para>
The options for VCD and SVCD are called xvcd and xsvcd, because they
are extended formats.
They are not strictly compliant, mainly because the output does not
contain scan offsets.
If you need to generate an SVCD image, you should pass the output file to
<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/software/vcdimager/vcdimager.html">vcdimager</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
VCD:
<screen>-of mpeg -mpegopts format=xvcd</screen>
</para>

<para>
SVCD:
<screen>-of mpeg -mpegopts format=xsvcd</screen>
</para>

<para>
DVD (with timestamps on every frame, if possible):
<screen>-of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf</screen>
</para>

<para>
DVD with NTSC Pullup:
<screen>-of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf:telecine -ofps 24000/1001</screen>
This allows 24000/1001 fps progressive content to be encoded at 30000/1001 
fps whilst maintaing DVD-compliance.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-output-aspect">
<title>Aspect Ratio</title>

<para>
The aspect argument of <option>-lavcopts</option> is used to encode
the aspect ratio of the file.
During playback the aspect ratio is used to restore the video to the
correct size.
</para>

<para>
16:9 or "Widescreen"
<screen>-lavcopts aspect=16/9</screen>
</para>

<para>
4:3 or "Fullscreen"
<screen>-lavcopts aspect=4/3</screen>
</para>

<para>
2.35:1 or "Cinemascope" NTSC
<screen>-vf scale=720:368,expand=720:480 -lavcopts aspect=16/9</screen>
To calculate the correct scaling size, use the expanded NTSC width of
854/2.35 = 368
</para>

<para>
2.35:1 or "Cinemascope" PAL
<screen>-vf scale=720:432,expand=720:576 -lavcopts aspect=16/9</screen>
To calculate the correct scaling size, use the expanded PAL width of
1024/2.35 = 432
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-a-v-sync">
<title>Maintaining A/V sync</title>

<para>
In order to maintain audio/video synchronization throughout the encode,
<application>MEncoder</application> has to drop or duplicate frames.
This works rather well when muxing into an AVI file, but is almost
guaranteed to fail to maintain A/V sync with other muxers such as MPEG.
This is why it is necessary to append the
<option>harddup</option> video filter at the end of the filter chain
to avoid this kind of problem.
You can find more technical information about <option>harddup</option>
in the section
<link linkend="menc-feat-dvd-mpeg4-muxing-filter-issues">Improving muxing and A/V sync reliability</link>
or in the manual page.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-output-srate">
<title>Sample Rate Conversion</title>

<para>
If the audio sample rate in the original file is not the same as
required by the target format, sample rate conversion is required.
This is achieved using the <option>-srate</option> option and 
the <option>-af lavcresample</option> audio filter together.
</para>

<para>
DVD:
<screen>-srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000</screen>
</para>

<para>
VCD and SVCD:
<screen>-srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100</screen>
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-lavc">
<title>Using libavcodec for VCD/SVCD/DVD Encoding</title>

<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-lavc-intro">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> can be used to
create VCD/SVCD/DVD compliant video by using the appropriate options.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-lavc-options">
<title>lavcopts</title>

<para>
This is a list of fields in <option>-lavcopts</option> that you may
be required to change in order to make a complaint movie for VCD, SVCD,
or DVD:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">acodec</emphasis>:
  <option>mp2</option> for VCD, SVCD, or PAL DVD;
  <option>ac3</option> is most commonly used for DVD.
  PCM audio may also be used for DVD, but this is mostly a big waste of
  space.
  Note that MP3 audio is not compliant for any of these formats, but
  players often have no problem playing it anyway.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">abitrate</emphasis>:
  224 for VCD; up to 384 for SVCD; up to 1536 for  DVD, but commonly
  used values range from 192 kbps for stereo to 384 kbps for 5.1 channel
  sound.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vcodec</emphasis>:
  <option>mpeg1video</option> for VCD;
  <option>mpeg2video</option> for SVCD;
  <option>mpeg2video</option> is usually used for DVD but you may also use
  <option>mpeg1video</option> for CIF resolutions.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">keyint</emphasis>:
  Used to set the GOP size.
  18 for 30fps material, or 15 for 25/24 fps material.
  Commercial producers seem to prefer keyframe intervals of 12.
  It is possible to make this much larger and still retain compatibility 
  with most players.
  A <option>keyint</option> of 25 should never cause any problems.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vrc_buf_size</emphasis>:
  327 for VCD, 917 for SVCD, and 1835 for DVD.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vrc_minrate</emphasis>:
  1152, for VCD. May be left alone for SVCD and DVD.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vrc_maxrate</emphasis>:
  1152 for VCD; 2500 for SVCD; 9800 for DVD.
  For SVCD and DVD, you might wish to use lower values depending on your
  own personal preferences and requirements.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vbitrate</emphasis>:
  1152 for VCD;
  up to 2500 for SVCD;
  up to 9800 for DVD.
  For the latter two formats, vbitrate should be set based on personal
  preference.
  For instance, if you insist on fitting 20 or so hours on a DVD, you
  could use vbitrate=400.
  The resulting video quality would probably be quite bad.
  If you are trying to squeeze out the maximum possible quality on a DVD,
  use vbitrate=9800, but be warned that this could constrain you to less
  than an hour of video on a single-layer DVD.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">vstrict</emphasis>:
  <option>vstrict</option>=0 should be used to create DVDs.
  Without this option, <application>MEncoder</application> creates a
  stream that cannot be correctly decoded by some standalone DVD
  players.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-lavc-examples">
<title>Examples</title>

<para>
This is a typical minimum set of <option>-lavcopts</option> for
encoding video:
</para>
<para>
VCD:
<screen>
-lavcopts vcodec=mpeg1video:vrc_buf_size=327:vrc_minrate=1152:\
vrc_maxrate=1152:vbitrate=1152:keyint=15:acodec=mp2
</screen>
</para>

<para>
SVCD:
<screen>
-lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=917:vrc_maxrate=2500:vbitrate=1800:\
keyint=15:acodec=mp2
</screen>
</para>

<para>
DVD:
<screen>
-lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:\
keyint=15:vstrict=0:acodec=ac3
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-lavc-advanced">
<title>Advanced Options</title>

<para>
For higher quality encoding, you may also wish to add quality-enhancing
options to lavcopts, such as <option>trell</option>,
<option>mbd=2</option>, and others.
Note that <option>qpel</option> and <option>v4mv</option>, while often
useful with MPEG-4, are not usable with MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.
Also, if you are trying to make a very high quality DVD encode, it may
be useful to add <option>dc=10</option> to lavcopts.
Doing so may help reduce the appearance of blocks in flat-colored areas.
Putting it all together, this is an example of a set of lavcopts for a
higher quality DVD:
</para>

<para>
<screen>
-lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=8000:\
keyint=15:trell:mbd=2:precmp=2:subcmp=2:cmp=2:dia=-10:predia=-10:cbp:mv0:\
vqmin=1:lmin=1:dc=10:vstrict=0
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-audio">
<title>Encoding Audio</title>

<para>
VCD and SVCD support MPEG-1 layer II audio, using one of
<systemitem class="library">toolame</systemitem>,
<systemitem class="library">twolame</systemitem>,
or <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s MP2 encoder.
The libavcodec MP2 is far from being as good as the other two libraries,
however it should always be available to use.
VCD only supports constant bitrate audio (CBR) whereas SVCD supports
variable bitrate (VBR), too.
Be careful when using VBR because some bad standalone players might not
support it too well.
</para>

<para>
For DVD audio, <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s
AC-3 codec is used.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-audio-toolame">
<title>toolame</title>

<para>
For VCD and SVCD:
<screen>-oac toolame -toolameopts br=224</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-audio-twolame">
<title>twolame</title>

<para>
For VCD and SVCD:
<screen>-oac twolame -twolameopts br=224</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-audio-lavc">
<title>libavcodec</title>

<para>
For DVD with 2 channel sound:
<screen>-oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=ac3:abitrate=192</screen>
</para>

<para>
For DVD with 5.1 channel sound:
<screen>-channels 6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=ac3:abitrate=384</screen>
</para>

<para>
For VCD and SVCD:
<screen>-oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=224</screen>
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all">
<title>Putting it all Together</title>

<para>
This section shows some complete commands for creating VCD/SVCD/DVD
compliant videos.
</para>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-pal-dvd">
<title>PAL DVD</title>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf \
  -vf scale=720:576,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 \
  -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:\
keyint=15:vstrict=0:acodec=ac3:abitrate=192:aspect=16/9 -ofps 25 \
  -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-ntsc-dvd">
<title>NTSC DVD</title>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf \
  -vf scale=720:480,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 \
  -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:\
keyint=18:vstrict=0:acodec=ac3:abitrate=192:aspect=16/9 -ofps 30000/1001 \
  -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-pal-ac3-copy">
<title>PAL AVI Containing AC-3 Audio to DVD</title>

<para>
If the source already has AC-3 audio, use -oac copy instead of re-encoding it.
<screen>
mencoder -oac copy -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf \
  -vf scale=720:576,harddup -ofps 25 \
  -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:\
keyint=15:vstrict=0:aspect=16/9 -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-ntsc-ac3-copy">
<title>NTSC AVI Containing AC-3 Audio to DVD</title>

<para>
If the source already has AC-3 audio, and is NTSC @ 24000/1001 fps:
<screen>
mencoder -oac copy -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf:telecine \
  -vf scale=720:480,harddup -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:\
  vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:keyint=15:vstrict=0:aspect=16/9 -ofps 24000/1001 \
  -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-pal-svcd">
<title>PAL SVCD</title>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=xsvcd -vf \
    scale=480:576,harddup -srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100 -lavcopts \
    vcodec=mpeg2video:mbd=2:keyint=15:vrc_buf_size=917:vrc_minrate=600:\
vbitrate=2500:vrc_maxrate=2500:acodec=mp2:abitrate=224 -ofps 25 \
    -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
  </screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-ntsc-svcd">
<title>NTSC SVCD</title>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=xsvcd  -vf \
    scale=480:480,harddup -srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100 -lavcopts \
    vcodec=mpeg2video:mbd=2:keyint=18:vrc_buf_size=917:vrc_minrate=600:\
vbitrate=2500:vrc_maxrate=2500:acodec=mp2:abitrate=224 -ofps 30000/1001 \
    -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-pal-vcd">
<title>PAL VCD</title>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=xvcd -vf \
    scale=352:288,harddup -srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100 -lavcopts \
    vcodec=mpeg1video:keyint=15:vrc_buf_size=327:vrc_minrate=1152:\
vbitrate=1152:vrc_maxrate=1152:acodec=mp2:abitrate=224 -ofps 25 \
    -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="menc-feat-vcd-dvd-all-ntsc-vcd">
<title>NTSC VCD</title>

<para>
<screen>
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=xvcd -vf \
    scale=352:240,harddup -srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100 -lavcopts \
    vcodec=mpeg1video:keyint=18:vrc_buf_size=327:vrc_minrate=1152:\
vbitrate=1152:vrc_maxrate=1152:acodec=mp2:abitrate=224 -ofps 30000/1001 \
    -o <replaceable>movie.mpg</replaceable> <replaceable>movie.avi</replaceable>
</screen>
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>