Help with FFMPEG on Ubuntu 12.04LTS

[xosuitehearts]

Hey folks,

So basically I need some help taking a copy of a movie I have that is about 4.7GB and I need to convert it down to 2.7GB so say 2GBs.

Here's the base command I have, Im converting it over from .mkv to .mp4 -

ffmpeg -i movie.mkv -acodec copy -vcodec copy -scodec copy out.mp4

I need some help with getting this converted down.

Can anyone help me with some syntax?

I'm using ffmpeg version 0.10.2.git Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jun 4 2012 20:04:51 with gcc 4.6.3

[bernd_b]

You need at least to reencode the video.
In your commandline, you have to exchange "-vcodec copy" with the video codec you want to use.

If you want to know the exact resulting bitrate, you should set the bitrate using the "-b" option. Use a Bitratecalculator to set it to the right number.

If not, -crf is a good friend to play around, e.g.:
"-vcodec libx264 -preset veryfast -crf 16"

Even the preset is a matter of discussion, maybe you like "slow" more than "veryfast"? At least, it much more easier to choose a preset than to adjust the other options manually - and I guess much more reasonable.

All in all: Reencoding is a matter of art as well as syntax. For a start, I may suggest to use a graphical tool like http://handbrake.fr/.

[xosuitehearts]

You need at least to reencode the video.
In your commandline, you have to exchange "-vcodec copy" with the video codec you want to use.

If you want to know the exact resulting bitrate, you should set the bitrate using the "-b" option. Use a Bitratecalculator to set it to the right number.

If not, -crf is a good friend to play around, e.g.:
"-vcodec libx264 -preset veryfast -crf 16"

Even the preset is a matter of discussion, maybe you like "slow" more than "veryfast"? At least, it much more easier to choose a preset than to adjust the other options manually - and I guess much more reasonable.

All in all: Reencoding is a matter of art as well as syntax. For a start, I may suggest to use a graphical tool like http://handbrake.fr/.

Thanks mate.