h264enc for Linux

[microchip8]

ChangeLog for version 9.3.6

* Fixed the subtitles function which got broken when the get_selection_func() function got introduced

[Carpo]

I would use this tool but a few things i am unsure of, for example, how will i know what interlacing options to choose? Is there a way of scanning the stream on linux and having it tell you? Guess comming from windows i have been spoilt by MeGUI doing it all for me

[microchip8]

Originally Posted by Carpo

I would use this tool but a few things i am unsure of, for example, how will i know what interlacing options to choose? Is there a way of scanning the stream on linux and having it tell you? Guess comming from windows i have been spoilt by MeGUI doing it all for me

Not for interlacing, no. I haven't implemented that and I don't think I will. However, if you feed it an NTSC type DVD, it will try to detect whether it's (soft) telecined or not, and it will tell you. But for pure interlacing, you'd have to know your source and answer appropriate

if you want a fast and decent deinterlacer (not perfect) use yadif. You can go even higher by combining yadif + mcdeint but I don't see much difference between yadif only and yadif with mcdeint, and the latter can be much slower (depends on chosen mcdeint mode)

[ganymede]

Originally Posted by Carpo

Is there a way of scanning the stream on linux and having it tell you?

Use mediainfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/).

[Rasi]

Are there any plans to support ffmpeg in the future?

mencoder wasnt worked on for quite a while (years) and even its dev say its a hack, while ffmpeg is constantly improving... i find it odd, that there is only one tool for easy ripping with ffmpeg (handbrake)

[microchip8]

Originally Posted by Rasi

Are there any plans to support ffmpeg in the future?

mencoder wasnt worked on for quite a while (years) and even its dev say its a hack, while ffmpeg is constantly improving... i find it odd, that there is only one tool for easy ripping with ffmpeg (handbrake)

Yes, I know about the state of mencoder

No, I don't plan in supporting ffmpeg within h264enc as it will require a major rewrite in a lot of parts in the script... Maybe I'll write a new script at some point which uses ffmpeg instead. My main problem with ffmpeg is that it can't directly read from DVDs while mencoder easily can

[watsonalgas]

Do you know if there's any reason why recently it's been necessary to add -mc 0 -noskip to my h264enc encodes? It wasn't necessary before (unless if the DVDs I've done recently have all had similar aspects, which I doubt), but it seems like I have to do it to everything now. Maybe it should be added as default or at least as an option?

I've attached the config I'm using, and most recent encodes have lost audio-video sync (no matter if I have to deinterlace, IVTC, or nothing at all) without the two mentioned parameters.

[microchip8]

that preset you attached doesn't tell me anything. it's just the x264 options. I need the batch file instead

what audio codec are you using?

[watsonalgas]

I don't have the encoding file anymore, if I come across another one I'll upload it. I tried all of them with either IVTC or just plain, and the audio would be out of sync and a bunch of Skipped frame! or Duplicate frame! warnings.

The audio codec was either copy (AC3), or a couple had to be encoded from LPCM to AC3. Finally I would just do -nosound and do the audio myself due to the problem I was having.

[microchip8]

that's your problem right there. Recent versions of mencoder have issues with copying AC3 streams (or encoding to AC3). I suggest using a different audio codec. I always use Nero AAC and never have issues

[watsonalgas]

Yeah, you're right. So I just have to use -nosound to fix the problem. I use AC3 because I like a copy of the audio stream, not an encode.

It's weird that mencoder recently broke that, it seems like a big issue for encoding anyway.

POSSIBLE FIX: I know this isn't a problem with h264enc, but if you're interested a fix could be just encoding (or dumping) all audio seperately instead of during the encode. That solved my problems with AC3. So instead of dumping and encoding the audio in the same command as the video encode (as is usually done), make it -nosound and do the main audio like secondary audio streams are done.

[yak_vi]

Hi, thanks for sharing this utility! i have a VPS with Centos 5, all ok but when start to encode say this (all for command line i dont have video card), the error is:

[root@213671 html]# h264enc -2p -p fast

+=============================================================+
|<<<<<<< h264enc - the interactive shell script ripper >>>>>>>|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
|<<<<<< version: 9.3.6 - (C) 2006-2011, Grozdan Nikolov >>>>>>|
+=============================================================+


Select the Input type [file/dir/dvd/vcd]: file
Provide the Input Video File: SAMPLE.VOB
Provide a name for the Output File [default is H264-23961]: sample

Note that you are running out of disk space in
the destination output directory and/or in the
configuration directory of h264enc!

This could be a problem if you want to convert
the final encode to MKV, OGM, TS or to the MP4
container. It is recommended to free up some disk
space or provide a different destination output
directory before continuing with the encoding
process if you intend to do some of the above
tasks!

Space left over in '/root': 2592 MiB
Space left over in '/root/.h264enc/job23961': 2592 MiB

#### Press 'Enter' to continue, CTRL+C to exit ####

Scan for multiple video streams? [y/N]: n
Would you like to use Pre/Postprocessing video filters? [y/N]: n
Would you like to Crop the Video file? [y/N]: n
Would you like to include/rip a Subtitle? [y/N]: n

-> Detecting FPS value...
-> Detected 25.000 FPS
-> Number of frames: 1722

Would you like to set/force the Output Frame Rate (FPS)? [y/N]: n
Would you like to do Frame Rate Conversion? [y/N]: n

-> Detecting original resolution...
-> Original resolution: 720x576

-> Detected Aspect Ratio (AR): 1.7778:1
-> Storage Aspect Ratio (SAR): 1.2500:1
-> Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR): 1.4222:1
-> Total pixels: 414720

Specify the desired Resolution [default is 720x576]: 720x576
Specify the Expand filter parameters [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Would you like to set/force the input Video Aspect Ratio? [y/N]:

+=============================+
| H.264 Encoder Configuration |
+=============================+

Specify the desired Video Bitrate in kbps [default is 1000]:

-> Bits Per Pixel value: 0.096 bpp
-> Bits Per Block value: 24.691 bpb
-> Using "x264 fast" preset

+=====================+
| Audio Configuration |
+=====================+

Scan for multiple Audio streams? [y/N]: n

Available Audio Codecs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MP3 -----> Container support: AVI, MKV, MP4, OGM, TS
AC3 -----> Container support: AVI, MKV, MP4, OGM, TS
AAC -----> Container support: MKV, MP4, TS
AAC+ ----> Container support: MP4, MKV
neroAAC -> Container support: MP4, MKV
VORBIS --> Container support: MP4, MKV, OGM
FLAC ----> Container support: MKV
PCM -----> Container support: AVI, MKV, OGM
COPY ----> Container support: Depends on audio codec
NOSOUND -> Container support: AVI, MKV, MP4, OGM, TS

Track 1: Select the Audio Codec [default is AAC]: AAC
Track 1: Specify the AAC encoding mode [ABR/VBR - default is ABR]: VBR
Track 1: Specify the AAC Quality value [10-500 - default is 150]: 96
Track 1: Enable AAC Temporal Noise Shaping? [y/N]: n
Track 1: Would you like to decode/output more than 2 Audio Channels? [y/N]: n
Track 1: Would you like to use Audio filters? [y/N]: n

+=============================+
| Miscellaneous Configuration |
+=============================+

Would you like to inspect the MEncoder options? [y/N]: n
Would you like to encode a Sample? [y/N]: n
Would you like to save the MEncoder options to a file? [y/N]: n
Would you like to convert the final encode from AVI to MKV? [y/N]: y
Specify the Release Year of the content [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Specify a Genre for the content [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Provide a Cover file in jpeg/png format [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Would you like to convert the final encode from AVI to MP4? [y/N]: y
Specify the Release Year of the content [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Specify a Genre for the content [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Provide a Cover file in jpeg/png format [press 'Enter' to skip]:
Hint the MP4 file for RTP/RTSP streaming sessions? [y/N]: n
Would you like to convert the final encode from AVI to TS? [y/N]: n

-> Starting to encode the Video file in 2-pass mode
-> Using "x264 fast" preset
-> Using '/dev/null' as output for the first pass
-> Using '/root/sample.avi' as output file for the second pass

Starting to encode in: 5 4 3 2 1
MEncoder SVN-r31628-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
Option x264encopts: turbo option is deprecated; use slow_firstpass to disable turbo
success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0x4bae000
MPEG-PS file format detected.
VIDEO:  MPEG2  720x576  (aspect 3)  25.000 fps  9608.0 kbps (1201.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2  fourcc:0x10000002  size:720x576  fps:25.000  ftime:=0.0400
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [ffac3] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AC-3)
==========================================================================
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [harddup]
Opening video filter: [softskip]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffmpeg2] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-2)
==========================================================================
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
x264 [info]: using SAR=64/45
x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities: none!
x264_encoder_open failed.
FATAL: Cannot initialize video driver.

Exiting...
-> MEncoder has exited with a non-zero value!
-> Exiting in function: mencoder_exit()

FATAL: Cannot initialize video driver.

Always say same error!

Is possible encode with your utility in linux only in console?

Thanks!

[microchip8]

@yak_vi

I'm not sure what is causing this. Try updating your mencoder/mplayer. Also your x264 looks like it can't detect any CPU capabilities. Looks like broken to me

yes it is possible to encode on linux in console only. I do it all the time

[microchip8]

ChangeLog for version 9.3.7

* Removed the ssim and psnr options from the presets. Should only be used for benchmarking

[yak_vi]

froggy1 is possible in the script modify to add subtitles to video? Thanks!

[microchip8]

@yak_vi

you can already do that

[microchip8]

ChangeLog for version 9.3.8

* Update the mq, nq, hq, vhq, ehq, uhq and ihq presets. Increase subme by 1. For the ihq preset, this means that
it uses subme 11 now which requires latest x264 from git

[microchip8]

ChangeLog for version 9.3.9

* Bugfix: selecting the x264 internal denoiser does nothing due to missing $nr variable in the MEncoder options

[microchip8]

ChangeLog for version 9.4.0

* Disable mbtree in multipass mode to prevent segfaulting MEncoder due to differences in frames amount in
the passlog file. Disabling mbtree reduces quality but saves us a crash in MEncoder
* Notify the user that the script does not support AAC in AVI anymore. Also exit if user has not selected any of
the other supported containers

[microchip8]

ChangeLog for version 9.4.1

* Introduced two new variables in the config file, DEFAULT_VID_BITRATE and DEFAULT_AUD_CODEC.
The first one sets the default video bitrate or CRF/QP value while the second one can be used to set a
default audio codec. This change updates the config file to version 20
* Fixed a typo in man page