[MPlayer-users] Re: mencoder /mplayer bugs

[Jonathan Rogers]

Corey Hickey wrote:
> To the original poster, I don't think you'll be able to manage deducting
> the clip length by using -ss and subtracting the times mplayer shows. As
> you've already seen, the values are inaccurate, and sometimes the
> timestamps on the video "packets" on a DVD reset to zero, making it
> impossible to know the time if you've just jumped to that position.
> These are both known annoyances of DVDs, that have yet to be worked
> around in mplayer.

This is exactly what my experience has been, so I gave up on precise 
seeking in mplayer/mencoder. This is one thing transcode does much 
better. It seems to me that the main advantage mencoder has over 
transcode is greater flexibility of input formats and encodings. 
Transcode can output all the same formats and use the same encoders as 
mencoder, and then some. If transcode can decode what you want to use, 
it'll probably be a better tool.

I switched from transcode to mencoder for a while because I wanted to 
try libavcodec. Then, I realized I could do everything I wanted with 
lavc using transcode. I just learned how to configure lavc settings when 
using the transcode ffmpeg output module: you must create a 
configuration file called "ffmpeg.cfg" in the current directory. Look in 
the file "export_ffmpeg.txt" in the "docs" directory of the source 
distribution for details.

<URL:http://www.theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de/~ostreich/transcode>

Jonathan Rogers