[MPlayer-users] Mencoder + Futurama (Sorta long)

[Avery]

Hey guys,

Trying to encode some good rips of Futurama off DVD.  I've posted on here 
before, and though I got lots of help, I was never able to completely repair the 
problem.  Thought I'd give it another shot, but things aren't going any better  
this time around.  :)

The best I've gotten is using a chain like this:
-vf softpulldown,filmdint,pullup

I suppose I should post the full options:
mencoder <input> -o <output> -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=1000 
-oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:vol=3 -vf softpulldown,filmdint,pullup -endpos 180

Would post a clip, but dns is being silly, so my domain won't resolve.  But 
that's a message for a different board.  Maybe tomorrow I can get one up.

I apparently need to have all three of those filters on the chain active in 
order to truly get the inverse telecine to look right.  In one of my earlier 
posts, someone pointed out to me that my source was a combination of soft and 
hard telecine (in case this helps).

And yes, I am aware that this will output 1/4 gig files (per 1/2hr show).  
That's fine with me.  Just bought a 250 gig drive soley to store decent rips.

Kind of an amatuer when it comes to this stuff, but I'm learning.  IF I 
understand correctly, softpulldown converts the entire file to telecine, then 
filmdint and pullup are filters that convert from telecine to progressive.  
(Feel free to mock or, hopefully, correct me where wrong.)

Neither filmdint, pullup, or any of the other inverse telecine filters I've used 
will work by themselves.  In fact, no combination of them works, except for 
filmdint + pulling.

The only problem with using these two filters in conjuction is that the output 
has lots of noise in it.  I've tried to add denoise filters to the end of the 
chain, but I'm not really having any luck with it.  As well I get some 
corruption during the opening sequence.  Blurring helps a -little-, but not a 
whole lot.

It isn't that the noise is so bad, really, they're just as good rips as I've 
seen "in the wild", but if I'm going to toss a quarter or fifth of a gig at each 
ep, I'd think I could probably get relatively noise-free output... if I just 
knew what I was doing, a bit more.

I've played with variable bitrate a bit, but so far it hasn't seemed to help a 
lot.  The corruption though is only on "high-traffic" scenes.  Near-static 
pictures look perfect.

Does anyone else have experiencing ripping NTSC Futurama DVDs?  Anyone have any 
ideas in general as to what my problem might be?  Did I miss something obvious 
in my mencoder options?

PS: I read on here at one point.. someone said that you could never truly get a 
progressive picture from a telecined source, unless you halved the vertical 
resolution.  Assuming I'm willing to do that (I'd rather not, but hey, anything 
is better than nothing), how would I go about it?  I've poked around the 
ever-useful docs/manpages, but I don't see anything to help me this time.

PPS: Can anyone explain to me the importance of using -ofps?  I'm sure this ties 
in with 24fps/30fps, but I never got a mental hold on it.  Anyone know of a good 
 site explaining this?

Thanks again guys
-Avery