up vote 1 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I have lots of movies in avi format. Some of them are not compatible with my DVD-player.

Is there a one-liner for mencoder or ffmpeg - to do just minimal conversion to make the videos DVD-player-compatible?

I don't want to lose any quality or do any transcoding. There's a DeVeDe but - it doesn't do just minimal conversions.

link|improve this question
86% accept rate
Does your DVD player play some AVI files but not others, or does it only play standard DVDs? – OrbWeaver Aug 2 '11 at 8:44
It does! I think it's a pretty standard dvd-player - and the problem is relevant for many people. – Adobe Aug 2 '11 at 8:50
1  
Could you please clarify? Does it play some AVI files or does it only play DVDs? – CadentOrange Aug 2 '11 at 9:05
@Adobe - the point is that if it only plays regular DVDs, it will require DVD-formatted streams of PAL/NTSC MPEG-2 video and precisely nothing else. If it plays some AVI files but not others, maybe the others can be tweaked without reprocessing. – OrbWeaver Aug 2 '11 at 9:10
I appreciate Your help. It plays both - for sure - DVDs and some AVIs. For some other AVIs it says - "the format is not supported". It could also play mp3. So overall - it's really just basic modern dvd-player ("it's a Sony" BTW). – Adobe Aug 2 '11 at 10:26
show 1 more comment
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

Found soulution:

mencoder inputFile -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1:threads=4 -oac mp3lame -lameopts vbr=3 -o outputFile.avi

(subsitute your's number of threads, or if you have a single thread discard ":threads=4")

I tried it for both avi file I coundn't play before, and mkv file. Both plays well in my dvd-player (Sony) after the above transcoding. Both files got a little bit fatter after transcoding:

  • avi: 1.5G -> 1.6G

  • mkv: 1.4G -> 2.1G

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote -1 down vote

I'd recommend handbrake.

But a warning. Be prepared to lose a good amount of quality. This is inevitable due to, well, the laws of nature. Short of retouching each frame manually, this will apply til the heat death of the universe.

link|improve this answer
How will Handbrake help if you don't even know which formats are compatible and which not? Handbrake does not even output AVI containers anymore, and no MPEG-2 either (if that's what the DVD player needs). – slhck Aug 2 '11 at 9:14
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.