[MPlayer-users] Scaling and expanding when encoding tv

[RC]

On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 21:29:10 -0800
Barton Bosch <bartonbosch at SoftHome.net> wrote:

> The -identify option does not round to whole numbers, correct?  So 
> the file is @ 29 fps and not the 29.97 of the original broadcast? 
> Would this cause playback to be a little jumpy/look like frames had 
> been dropped?

Encoding a TV signal at a reduced frame-rate will cause a multitude of
problems, glitches, artifacts, etc.  No one can conclusively say that
the problem you are seeing is only a result of this issue, though,
without much more information.

> So what are the best options for recording tv at less than full file 
> size (either compressed or scaled or ?) so as to encode them to 
> dvd/mpeg2?

There's no such thing as "best".  People have very different priorities.
 It's all going to depend on whether you want to save disk space, CPU
time, or want the very best quality you can manage.

First, you can encode to a lossless codec (huff, ffv1), or use a very
high-bitrate with a lossy codec (mpeg2, mpeg4), and re-encode that in
2-pass mode to your normal bitrate.  

Or you can just do a single-pass encode, and go straight from
your TV stream to your final video codec and bitrate...  Worse quality
that way, but much faster, using much less disk space, and at such high
DVD-bitrates, the video won't look too bad.