SIMPLE full avc mp4 to avi solution?

[charleski]

Ok, I know someone will probably :search: this, but I can't find it.

ATM if anyone asks how to convert h.264/AAC mp4's back to divx and mp3 I tell them to download mencoder and give them a commandline that works (in the most basic fashion). Is there any better way? RealAnime chokes on mp4s and StaxRip doesn't even recognise them :(.

I've tried avs scripts with DirectShowSource("blah") and they don't even want to know about it, even though these files play fine on my computer using DS filters.
I feel safe in knowing that mencoder CAN do a full mp4->avi conversion for standalones (I've tested it myself), but it would be nice to be able to point disbelievers to an 'easy' GUI solution (dling mencoder and pasting in a commandline is about as easy as it gets, but doc support for the -lavcopts is severly lacking).

[IvS]

Regardiing DirectShowSource, it's very buggy, so no surprise.
What do you mean by converting AVC/AAC back to divx/mp3? It's not like that was the original format :) plus why would you want to do that horrible thing? I can understand transcoding from a DVD or an MJPEG, both are pretty high bitrate sources, but transcoding from transcoded, more or less low bitrate formats? Bye bye any form of quality. If the only reason is to be able to play stuff back on some hardware players, too bad, it's sad.

[charleski]

What do you mean by converting AVC/AAC back to divx/mp3? It's not like that was the original format :) .Yeah, well 'back' was meant in a metaphorical sense, heh. I think that well-encoded h.264 has enough information to produce an acceptable xvid with re-encoding if that is what is needed. And, at the end of the day, what is needed is what's important, that's something I can relate to.
Obviously people lose out by not seeing the original encode, but that's a decision they make when they work out their display-chain.

[foxyshadis]

There's ffmpeg, but that's just as commandlinish. You can try SUPER (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html), which uses ffmpeg or mencoder so it's not dependant on directshow. It's pretty simple to select avi, xvid, mp3, and be off. It isn't easy to create a perfect 700 mb re-encode without extra work, and it may or may not give amazing quality, but it works.

[[)370|\|470!2]

Really shame, that mp4 loses all its pros there, when it comes to ds support, editing
and so on.