MPEG-2 practical solution(s)

[IanH1982]

Hi

Like many, I'm using a Pi as a media pc, based on Openelec. I have a large collection of media, including a whole host of file formats that I've ripped over the years. Included in this media collection are quite a few mpeg-2's - mainly where I've just ripped a whole DVD to the HDD either as vob files, or as an iso.

I also have a server pc with an attached usb freeview tuner (UK) running a MediaPortal backend. Through time (i.e. when I get time to bug-fix), this will allow each media pc in the house to schedule recordings from this tuner card.

Please don't use this thread as a place to ask for mpeg-2 decoding...please use another thread for that!

So, I'm interested to know what are the practical solutions to this? I think I'm going to have to encode all of my mpeg-2 media. I don't mind doing this, but there's no way I'm going to go into each of my movies in order to see if it needs to be encoded. Does anyone know of a software (windows ideally) that I can use to list out all of my media files, detailing whether they are xvid/divx/h264/mpeg-2 etc? Ideally, a one-stop shop that would also encode any mpeg-2's it finds and then delete the originals, but that might be a tad optimistic?

I'll also want, through time, the recording software to automatically encode any recorded TV to h264. Does anyone know of a way to do this automatically in MediaPortal? Again, a plugin that solves the first might work too!

[IanH1982]

Been thinking about this some more, and one possible answer may lie in XBMC itself...

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Im ... rt_library

According to this, if you export a library, then you get an xml file containing (amongst others)

Code: Select all

<fileinfo>
            <streamdetails>
                <video>
                    <codec>h264</codec>
                    <aspect>2.35</aspect>
                    <width>1920</width>
                    <height>816</height>
                </video>

So, exporting will give you a searcheable file.

Taking it a step further, the database runs on mysql. So, I should be able to query the database and tell it to output a list of filepaths where <codec> = mpeg 2 (or similar).

Then I just need a conversion software tool to allow me to batch convert - ideally straight from the file, but I could, if needs be, copy and past each line.

Any thoughts on this?

[jensk]

I am using Mythtv both as backend (mythbuntu) and as frontends. On my backend i have an automatic transcode job that converts each recorded mpeg2 file to h264. This is a standard feature on mythtv. This transcode functionwill also transcode rippped dvd's and iso files.

I don't know Mediaportal but Ii can see that there is a compress function and a transcode plugin http://www.team-mediaportal.com/plugins ... transcoder. As I read it these two functions in mediaportal should be able to convert your mpeg2 to h264..

[IanH1982]

great, thanks - that looks like the thing I need for recordings. It will be interesting to see how this interacts with the xbmc plugin - I imagine this will move the xbmc part of the setup to just being "schedule recordings", with any viewing done via the "TV Shows" page (so long as I can rename the TV shows for the xbmc library to pick them up).

I didn't get chance to look at the en-masse conversion last night, but going to have a look on videohelp.com to see if there are any batch converters that look suitable.

[robwriter]

I am using Mythtv both as backend (mythbuntu) and as frontends. On my backend i have an automatic transcode job that converts each recorded mpeg2 file to h264. This is a standard feature on mythtv. This transcode functionwill also transcode rippped dvd's and iso files.

I don't know Mediaportal but Ii can see that there is a compress function and a transcode plugin http://www.team-mediaportal.com/plugins ... transcoder. As I read it these two functions in mediaportal should be able to convert your mpeg2 to h264..

Does this transcode the file and leave it in the MythTV program library, or just transcode it and dump the file somewhere else. I got the latter working, but couldn't get the former to transcode to h264.

[JonathanGraham]

Personally, I think transcoding is unnecessary. I think decoding mpeg-2 is doable in software.

Right now I've got mplayer doing DVD quality mpeg2 @ 27 fps without sound on a stock RPi.

A few people are looking into this: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... &start=125

[IanH1982]

thanks - i keep checking out the progress on decoding the mpeg2s with interest. to be honest, that's partly why ive buried my head in the sand with regards getting any transcoding done.

I really should get it sorted though - got a pi hooked up in one room for mpeg-4s and above (its mostly kids stuff thats mpeg2, and the kids dont go in that room), but got another just sat in a kitchen cupboard waiting for me to do something with it...

[mentar]

In-case anyone came to this thread for reference:
You can now buy a Mpeg2 hw decode license for RPi for £2.40 http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/