Converting with Mencoder

[averylinden]

I've had my Zen a few days and I've started to re-encode some video for it. I'm a linux user and pretty handy with mencoder. After reading some of the posts about settings, I used this command line for 2-pass mencoder encoding:

mencoder -quiet myfile.avi -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1:profile=dxnportntsc:bitrate=-253303:me_quality=6:chroma_opt:autoaspect:trellis: vhq=4:quant_type=h263 -oac copy -vf crop=572:352:52:0,scale=320:240,harddup -o myzenfile.avi

These files play on the Zen and look great, but in the display, they show up as total time: --:--:-- and I can't fast forward or rewind properly. I tried rebuilding the avi index with -idx and -forceidx and that still doesn't seem to work.

Is there an mencoder option I am missing to allow the Zen to seek through my mencoder video file? Thanks in advance.

[CrowdAds]

[gukin]

AVI files do not allow seeking forwards or backwards IF they're incomplete. Did your encoding get interrupted? Have you tried playing the file using mplayer? Does it seek correctly?

[averylinden]

Yes they work fine through the stock ubuntu mplayer and also with XBMC. I can ffd/rew and also see the total video length using those players.

[gukin]

Okay, I've got my Zen so I'm not talking out my backside anymore. Here's what I've found.

I bought the cheapie 2GB player but added a 4G SD card.

The video WON'T seek from the player memory but WILL seek on the SD card. I'm not sure why but it might have something to do with gnomad not getting the full file across.

In any case, I can seek when the videos are on the SD card.

Here's the mencoder magic I used:

mencoder $1 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=512:vhq:keyint=250:threads=2 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64 -ffourcc XVID -vf scale=320:-2,crop=320:240,expand=320:240 -af resample=44100:0:0 -o $2

If you don't have an SD card, Sears has 4G PNY cards on sale until 2/23/08

[averylinden]

I think it's gnomad. When I transfer the videos over on Windows, they behave correctly on the player. Time to see if there are any open bugs in gnomad! Thanks for the tip...

[RogerTango]

Try Any Video Converter... Mencoder is the engine, but they figured it out somehow, and at this point, my Xvid/MP3 AVIs have been working fine!

I have not had a chance to check yet, but all my videos are on SD card. There was a problem I found with videos that were stored directly in the Zen's memory. Ill have a chance to check that later and post a follow up!

Andrew

[kevo777]

Since he mentioned being a Linux user, I don't think Any Video Converter is an option. AVC is a Windows-based GUI for Mencoder.

[mc.p2]

I had the exact same problem with videos not seeking. It is not the encoding, it is the transferring, Gnomad doesn't seem to transfer videos properly. I use Banshee for videos (make sure it is a newer version, the older versions don't support video) and it works with the same videos that didn't work when transferred with Gnomad.

[RogerTango]

I have to update my reply, I have had very limited success with AVI files on the Zen. Once in a while I can make one that plays, seeks and syncs (A/V) properly. Much better success is had with WMV, but even at that... the encoder is key.

See other post here for more details on properly encoding WMV for the Zen.

HTH,
Andrew

[kevinm]

The seeking problems I've seen have all been related to using mtp from the desktop. Banshee seems to not strip away the video length information that maybe needed for proper seeking. Videos copied with Banshee seek fine.

I AM having painful problems getting any video's the stay in sync. Anything over about 15-20 minutes will start to have sync problems which get worse the longer the video.

I've tried mencoder with the -audio-delay switch but this setting gets ignored by the Zen. This probably wouldn't be a solution anyways since the audio sync gets worse over the duration so a fixed offset wouldn't help.

I could not get anything good from ffmpeg. I have only been converting files from Mythtv using nuvexport. transcode and mencoder options work but not ffmpeg.

Maybe I should return the Zen and get something else.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by kevinm

I've tried mencoder with the -audio-delay switch but this setting gets ignored by the Zen. This probably wouldn't be a solution anyways since the audio sync gets worse over the duration so a fixed offset wouldn't help.

I saw this post today regarding Mencoder.... maybe it can help.

[anthony.phipps]

its 100% a gnomad2 problem.

if you use an SD card, you are bypassing gnomad2 and therefore the video index is copied over. Supposedly they fixed this issue in a recent version but mine still does this on 64bit Fedora 10

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by anthony.phipps

its 100% a gnomad2 problem.

if you use an SD card, you are bypassing gnomad2 and therefore the video index is copied over. Supposedly they fixed this issue in a recent version but mine still does this on 64bit Fedora 10

Good to know. Thanks for posting!