[MPlayer-users] low volume problem: mencoder tv:// to DVD or SVCD

[Yusuf]

Hi there.

I'm having a hard time trying to capture a VHS video.  I used to do this 
with VirtualDub, but my Windoze install is "deprecated", since I don't 
boot it much anymore, and I can't get a good capture on it; be it 
VirtualDub, Adobe Premiere or STOIK Capturer, with either the Nvidia GF 
Ti 4800SE or Avermedia TV98 video interfaces; the captured video its 
"squeezed": what should be a minute of video plays under 40 secs, with 
out of synch "squirrel" audio.

Anyway, I'm done with Winbugs, so it was time to learn to do video 
edition in Linux.  But my education is probing more painful than usual.

The test bed is an Athlon XP 2600+, 768 MB DDR333, MSI GF Ti 4800SE, 
Avermedia TV98, CLSB Audigy 2 CZ, Maxtor 40 GB ATA33, running Debian 
Sarge, 2.6.7-1-k7.

So far, my best results are provided, you got it, by mencoder (Kino 
produces incrementally out of synch streams (like 1 sec each min), 
Cinellera crashes merrily on most saving operations, xawtv doesn't wants 
to record, Freevo and MythTV are too cumbersome for just capturing).

The only problem with the mencoder captures is the audio volume, which 
is way too low.  Kino gets it right, if "just" out of synch.  I have 
tried with "-af volume=40", which gets it audible, but still much 
quieter than the line-in raw output, and with a very deteriorated quality.

Current capture script:

--
#!/bin/bash

CHAN=$1
TIME=$2
NAME=Ch_$1_At_`date +%y%m%d-%a-%H_%M`

WIDTH=640
HEIGHT=480

MENCODER=/usr/bin/mencoder
AMIXER=/usr/bin/amixer

AUDIO_OPTIONS="alsa:adevice=hw.0,0"
VIDEO_OPTIONS="driver=v4l:input=1:norm=ntsc:outfmt=yuy2:freq=0.000:width=$WIDTH:height=$HEIGHT:device=/dev/video0" 


TV="$VIDEO_OPTIONS:$AUDIO_OPTIONS"

AUDIO="-oac pcm -af volume=+40"
VIDEO="-ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=1200:keyint=30 -vf 
lavcdeint"

$AMIXER -q sset 'Analog Mix Capture Volume' 100%  unmute
$AMIXER -q sset Line 100% unmute cap
$MENCODER tv://$CHAN -tv $TV $VIDEO $AUDIO -endpos $TIME -o  "$NAME.avi"
$AMIXER -q sset Line mute
--

1. ¿What could solve my low volume problem directly in the capture?

Maybee its an Audigy driver issue, since the card mixing in alsa is 
wierd: you can't record from just line-in; you always get the full 
analog mix, current XMMS song included.  But in Kino and other programs 
the sound level is just fine...

2. Right now, I'm gonna try separating the audio stream to raise it some 
dB's Which audio editor and video dubber are advisable

3. Is there a way to make mencoder split the files at certain filesize?

Next I need to convert the video to either DVD or SVCD, with simple menus.

4. What would be the path of "least resistance", DVD or SVCD, and with 
what apps?

So far, I think its to DVD: I transcode the video to mpeg2 and feed it 
to Q DVD-Author, which looks great (but I have yet to install: implies 
"unstabling" my Debian installation).  I have yet to look thoroughly for 
SVCD authoring proggies, though.

5. Recommendations?

Thanks in advance.