[MPlayer-users] rawrgb -> Divx: -idx makes incomplete file

[Alan Murrell]

Hello,

A little more testing and information here...

First, just as a recap: I am doing "archiving" of programs from TV.  My 
Mencoder command is the following:

mencoder -tv on:driver=v4l:input=1:norm=NTSC:outfmt=yuv12:width=320:height=240 
-oac copy -ovc rawrgb -o "/media/Video/recorded/tv.avi"

However, when I convert to Divx, there is no index, so I can't "seek" through 
the final Divx video.  Also, when I play the raw video thorugh Mplayer, there 
is still no index.

Now, after some testing, I have found that when using the above recording 
option (for the raw video), a 5 minute recording *does* have an index.  A one 
hour recording does not.  I am currently doing different recording times to 
see at what point an index suddenly stops being created, and in fact 
disappears.

If this is the case, is there an option to have Mencoder record to several 
different files, based on time, number of frames, etc.?  If so, what is the 
option.  I didn't see anything in the manpage when I skimmed through it.

> Why not just take the good (but unseekable) file you got without -idx,
> and use mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy to give it an index??

I took the 700MB Divx file that got created (without the index) and did the 
following:

mencoder source_file.avi -oac copy -ovc copy -o output_file.avi

but the resulting file still did not have have an index.  Add the '-idx' or 
'-forceidx' did not do it either.

TIA for your help and advice.

Alan Murrell <alanm at vcn.bc.ca>