 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Warp wrote:
> Nowadays you might want to use mpeg4 instead of mpeg1. The former can
> compress to less than one fourth the size of the latter, while retaining
> the same image quality (or even better).
>
> mpeg1 is just old and obsolete nowadays.
Yes, but... does any program known to Man actually *play* MPEG-4?
I'd use AVI, except that the AVI files Mencoder produces won't play
properly. MPEG-1 may be old and stuff, but it _works_ everywhere. (Also,
sometimes large AVI files won't play properly because my HD isn't fast
enough. MPEG easily fixes this.)
>> I'm curios... why is it so damned hard to do this??
>
> mencoder is a tool from hackers to hackers.
*sigh* Yes, from reading the "documentation" you do get that
impression... :-(
Personally I think Virtual Dub is a fine tool, but I'm looking for
something that can *programatically* build and play animations.
Mencoder/MPlayer can do this - although it seems to be horribly
difficult to get right. (E.g., I just discovered that the filename used
for the output file can actually affect the transcoding process - WTF?)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>
> Yes, but... does any program known to Man actually *play* MPEG-4?
>
MPlayer does :).
--
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
http://www.zbxt.net
aer### [at] removethis zbxtnetinvalid
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> > Nowadays you might want to use mpeg4 instead of mpeg1. The former can
> > compress to less than one fourth the size of the latter, while retaining
> > the same image quality (or even better).
> >
> > mpeg1 is just old and obsolete nowadays.
> Yes, but... does any program known to Man actually *play* MPEG-4?
> I'd use AVI, except that the AVI files Mencoder produces won't play
> properly.
You are confusing the AVI format, which is a *container* format, with
a video format, which for example MPEG4 is.
AVI doesn't specify the format of the video. You can have an MPEG4 video
inside an AVI file just fine.
Most current players will play MPEG4 just fine if you have the proper
codec installed, and a few will play it even if you don't (such as eg.
vlcplayer).
> MPEG-1 may be old and stuff, but it _works_ everywhere.
At the cost of looking like crap or being humongous.
> >> I'm curios... why is it so damned hard to do this??
> >
> > mencoder is a tool from hackers to hackers.
> *sigh* Yes, from reading the "documentation" you do get that
> impression... :-(
I see nothing wrong with the documentation. You just have to learn to
read it.
> Personally I think Virtual Dub is a fine tool, but I'm looking for
> something that can *programatically* build and play animations.
I don't understand what you mean by that.
--
- Warp
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Warp wrote:
> mencoder is a tool from hackers to hackers.
In other words, hey, the guy who wrote it knows how to use it... :-)
It always bugs me when people build open-source tools they expect others
to use (like libraries and such) and then expect you to read the source
code to try to figure out what it does because they're too lazy to write
even the vaguest of documentation.
For something like mencoder, it's pretty reasonable. Author needs to
encode some video, author writes a tool, author gives it away.
But I run into way too many situations where people write stuff with the
express intent of you using it and/or even improving it, and they don't
put any documentation into it. Imagine POV-Ray if it came with no
documentation but the sample files....
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
>> Yes, but... does any program known to Man actually *play* MPEG-4?
>
>> I'd use AVI, except that the AVI files Mencoder produces won't play
>> properly.
>
> You are confusing the AVI format, which is a *container* format, with
> a video format, which for example MPEG4 is.
OK, I rephrase: I'd use fully uncompressed AVI, but when I ask Mencoder
to do that, the result isn't playable with anything except MPlayer.
> Most current players will play MPEG4 just fine if you have the proper
> codec installed, and a few will play it even if you don't (such as eg.
> vlcplayer).
OK, well if I ever see an MPEG4 file, I'll try it. ;-)
[I suppose I could ask Mencoder to make one - but then how would I know
if it's really an MPEG4 file?]
>> MPEG-1 may be old and stuff, but it _works_ everywhere.
>
> At the cost of looking like crap or being humongous.
Well size isn't too much of an issue for me. Besides, the final image
will be encoded with MPEG-2 anyway.
[Although actually... Mencoder is doing something strange at me. No
matter how high I turn up the bitrate, the colours look a tad blocky for
no apparent reason...]
>>> mencoder is a tool from hackers to hackers.
>
>> *sigh* Yes, from reading the "documentation" you do get that
>> impression... :-(
>
> I see nothing wrong with the documentation. You just have to learn to
> read it.
You realise I've spent several *hours* today reading it trying to find
the information I want, right?
>> Personally I think Virtual Dub is a fine tool, but I'm looking for
>> something that can *programatically* build and play animations.
>
> I don't understand what you mean by that.
Virtual Dub is nice, but you can only control it using a mouse. I want
something I can control from the program I wrote.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Darren New wrote:
> In other words, hey, the guy who wrote it knows how to use it... :-)
It always surprises me when a big well-known "jewl" of the open source
scene has really poor documentation. You'd think something that popular
would be well-documented...
It seems to be kinda pot luck though. Some open source still *is*
fabulously documented. [The GIMP, MySQL, PostgreSQL off the top of my
head.] And some things are shockingly UNdocumented. [I wouldn't say that
Mencoder is *that* bad, but it could be much better.]
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> OK, well if I ever see an MPEG4 file, I'll try it. ;-)
Isn't a VOB file on a DVD an mpeg4 file?
> [Although actually... Mencoder is doing something strange at me. No
> matter how high I turn up the bitrate, the colours look a tad blocky for
> no apparent reason...]
If the problem with Mencoder is B-frames, that would explain it.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> It always surprises me when a big well-known "jewl" of the open source
> scene has really poor documentation. You'd think something that popular
> would be well-documented...
Yeah. Stuff like Freenet, which last I looked, was documented by people
reading the source code and trying to figure out what it did well enough
to write a user manual on how to use it. Like, WTF?
I personally can't imagine how you even start a major complicated
project without writing some documentation first. "Hey, let's make this
database engine, write all the code, then try to figure out what the
layout in the files will be and what the API to access it should look
like." WTF? At a minimum, put the notes you made while you were
thinking about it on the wiki along with everything else.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> OK, well if I ever see an MPEG4 file, I'll try it. ;-)
>
> Isn't a VOB file on a DVD an mpeg4 file?
Nope. Mpeg2.
--
In an Astronomy class (toward an Astronomy major, not that gen-ed crap)
the professor did not tell us we would have to remember constants, and
he asked them as questions. They were short questions, and weren't worth
a lot.
One of them was: What is the orbital period of Saturn? (2 pts/100)
I started thinking about Bode's law and the posibility I could calculate
it from an approximate radius I would get from that law... if I could
remember it. But when you expect a 72% to be an A on a test, you have
bigger fish to fry.
Then I got it. It was right, it should work, and no one would have to be
nailed to anything.
I wrote: One Saturn-Year
I didn't get credit for it. A couple years later a sophomore was telling
me about this funny question he had in the same class. He showed it to
me. It read:
What is the orbital period of Saturn? (Do not put one Saturn-Year)
I was so right that it had to be guarded against. Yet those were 2
points I would never have.
(as told by SetupWeasel on Slashdot)
/\ /\ /\ /
/ \/ \ u e e n / \/ a w a z
>>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
anl
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> I think most people use ffmpeg for this kind of thing.
>
> I don't have that. [Note that we're talking about M$ Windoze here.]
Did you install the binary mplayer codecs package? It may have it.
Here's an old version for Windows:
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/ffmpeg
Somehow, I feel there must be tools other than mencoder that will let
you do this on Windows. I'm the wrong person to tell you them, though.
--
In an Astronomy class (toward an Astronomy major, not that gen-ed crap)
the professor did not tell us we would have to remember constants, and
he asked them as questions. They were short questions, and weren't worth
a lot.
One of them was: What is the orbital period of Saturn? (2 pts/100)
I started thinking about Bode's law and the posibility I could calculate
it from an approximate radius I would get from that law... if I could
remember it. But when you expect a 72% to be an A on a test, you have
bigger fish to fry.
Then I got it. It was right, it should work, and no one would have to be
nailed to anything.
I wrote: One Saturn-Year
I didn't get credit for it. A couple years later a sophomore was telling
me about this funny question he had in the same class. He showed it to
me. It read:
What is the orbital period of Saturn? (Do not put one Saturn-Year)
I was so right that it had to be guarded against. Yet those were 2
points I would never have.
(as told by SetupWeasel on Slashdot)
/\ /\ /\ /
/ \/ \ u e e n / \/ a w a z
>>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
anl
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
