[MPlayer-users] Can mencoder write partial files while encoding?

[Rainer Hantsch]

On 28 Aug 2003, Erik Slagter wrote:
| > Instead, it would be very much smarter when mencoder could get passed a
| > maximum filesize, and whenever this is reached, it will start a new file on
| > the fly, with an increasing numbering on the end.
| >
| > -> This question was not answered until now, but would be the only
| >    _intelligent_ solution at all. All other solutions are complicated,
| >    need a lot of work and disk space, and do not make life really easier.
|
| For that you'd have to use transcode with v4l import. BUT transcode
| (like ffmpeg, btw) doesn't keep track of a/v as well as mencoder. If the
| input process misses a frame (which may happen easily under moderate
| load) no frames are duplicated or anything like that, so you'll end up
| with an out-of-sync movie. First minute is ok, then it starts showing.

Oh, yes, EXACTLY! -- I experienced this in the past, but I always thought that
this is caused by some kind of incompatibility in the avi files created by
transcode and/or mencoder... But anyway, the result is as you said.

And because of this, I would like to see that mencoder will allow this by
itself. This shouldn't be a lot of work, only one (new) option which defines
the maximum file size, and a little bit more "intelligence" with output
filenames.

All what has to be done is:
a.)  parsing the output filename and locating some placeholder for increasing
     numbering of partial files, ( -o outfile-###.avi ) which will be substi-
     tuted by 000 001 002 003 ... during runtime.
b.)  watch the filesize and start a new one with next number, whenever it is
     exceeding the limit given by an option.

Maybe the writing process can fork, so that the old process can update the
AVI-header of the previous file gently in the background, while it records
into a new file? Other ways of doing that are also possible, but when this is
done smart enough, mencoder will loose no one frame hereby.


That's it! And from this moment on, mplayer can record TERABYTES of video
without getting troubles with filesize.



| I have no solution for this, maybe I'll have a look at the v4l import
| module and try to fix it. Don't hold your breath though.
|
| OTOH IMHO transcode is actually being worked at, at the moment, contrary
| to mencoder :-(

I for myself _love_ transcode and _dvd::rip_. This combination works such
excellent with DVD's, I never saw something comparable until today, including
the Windoze side. Mencoder - sorry to say this here - is surely much more
powerful and flexible, maybe also better in some manner, but it is like
a "woodstock". It lacks a good frontend which makes it easier to use and
something like a "cookbook for dummies", which gives examples out of
practice...


mfg

  Ing. Rainer Hantsch