[MPlayer-users] advice on mencoder options

[HR]

> [mailto:mplayer-users-bounces at mplayerhq.hu] On Behalf Of 
> Tuukka Toivonen
[...]
> On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, D Richard Felker III wrote:
> 
> >> But I think that it might be possible that in the future 
> vhq could set some
> >> other things than just mbd (or maybe it already does) and 
> therefore I like
> >> to always use also vhq in addition to mbd.
> >No, this makes no sense. vhq is identical to mbd=1 and always will be
[...]
> In that case vhq could be a synonym for enabling the slow mode, and it
> would set all sensible parameters to slow-but-good settings.
Changing the meaning of an already existing parameter is horrible
programming in any context. The only radical change acceptable is
removal.

[...]
> Maybe it would be good idea to enable only features that 
> still keep the
> bitstream simple profile -compatible, but things like trellis 
> and mbd=2
> should be enabled with just a single vhq-option.
Using 'presets' is not a bad idea, and probably most people have had
this thought at some point. There's nothing demeaning in such a feature.
For features where it can be proven that setting A is better than
setting B, there could definitively be an option that switched on "all
the goodies" without actually changing the compatibility. Decision
algorithms, for instance. And who better to set up such presets than the
developers. A few such presets would be helpful for us with little or no
insight into the theories of image/video compression and mpeg
standards... And then this mailing list wouldn't get hit by this subject
"every time" someone starts using mencoder for the first time...

HR