[MPlayer-users] How to encode with older codecs?

[Fabio S.]

Hi all,

I have the following problem: I was used to encode with mplayer (1.0pre4-3.2) 
movies from my vcr in order to see them on my tv set via my dvd/dvix player.
Everything worked fine with the following commands
mencoder file.avi -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr -srate 11025 -ovc frameno -o frameno.avi
mencoder file.avi -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=3000:vpass=1:vhq:mbd=2
mencoder file.avi -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=3000:vpass=2:vhq:mbd=2

Now I updated my pc and I have a new version of mplayer (1.0pre7-3.4.3). I used
the same old command to produce a new avi and everything was ok. The problem
is that the new avi is no longer compatible with my dvd/divx palyer (and I
can't upgrade its firmware).
My guess (an easy one... ;-) is that this is a codec problem, so I would
like to be able to encode my movies with older codecs. 
My question is: how to do this?
I can see 2 answer: the simpler one is to change the options in 
order to choose an older codec, but I was not able to figure out how.
The second one is to recompile a (older?) version of mplayer and to use
it only for encoding for my player. This older mplayer should live in a 
"hidden" directory (that is, out of $PATH) and also its codecs should live 
outside of standard paths for codecs. How do I get this?
For more information about the codecs that I have now and I had before, 
I append to this message the output of "tcprobe -i" and of (an extract of)
"mplayer" both on a newfile.avi (which doesn't work) and on an oldfile.avi
(which works).

Thanks a lot for your attention and help

Fabio

############################ new file
tcprobe -i newfile.avi

[tcprobe] RIFF data, AVI video
[avilib] V: 15.000 fps, codec=FMP4, frames=901, width=640, height=480
[avilib] A: 11025 Hz, format=0x55, bits=0, channels=1, bitrate=16 kbps,
[avilib]    128 chunks, 120008 bytes, CBR
[tcprobe] summary for newfile.avi, (*) = not default, 0 = not detected
import frame size: -g 640x480 [720x576] (*)
        frame rate: -f 15.000 [25.000] frc=13 (*)
       audio track: -a 0 [0] -e 11025,0,1 [48000,16,2] -n 0x55 [0x2000] (*)
                    bitrate=16 kbps
            length: 901 frames, frame_time=66 msec, duration=0:01:00.066


mplayer newfile.avi

Cache fill:  0.00% (0 bytes)    AVI file format detected.
VIDEO:  [FMP4]  640x480  24bpp  15.000 fps  3000.0 kbps (366.2 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
  Software: MEncoder 1.0pre7-3.4.3
==========================================================================
Trying to force audio codec driver family libmad...
Opening audio decoder: [libmad] libmad mpeg audio decoder
AUDIO: 11025 Hz, 1 ch, s16le, 16.0 kbit/9.07% (ratio: 2000->22050)
Selected audio codec: [mad] afm:libmad (libMAD MPEG layer 1-2-3)
==========================================================================
vo: X11 running at 1280x1024 with depth 24 and 32 bpp (":0" => local display)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================


########################### old file
tcprobe -i oldfile.avi

[tcprobe] RIFF data, AVI video
[avilib] V: 25.000 fps, codec=DIVX, frames=88497, width=512, height=384
[avilib] A: 44100 Hz, format=0x55, bits=0, channels=1, bitrate=64 kbps,
[avilib]    135531 chunks, 28323213 bytes, CBR
[tcprobe] summary for oldfile.avi, (*) = not default, 0 = not detected
import frame size: -g 512x384 [720x576] (*)
        frame rate: -f 25.000 [25.000] frc=3
       audio track: -a 0 [0] -e 44100,0,1 [48000,16,2] -n 0x55 [0x2000] (*)
                    bitrate=64 kbps
            length: 88497 frames, frame_time=40 msec, duration=0:58:59.880

mplayer oldfile.avi

VIDEO:  [DIVX]  512x384  24bpp  25.000 fps  1598.8 kbps (195.2 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
  Software: MEncoder 1.0pre4-3.2
==========================================================================
Trying to force audio codec driver family libmad...
Opening audio decoder: [libmad] libmad mpeg audio decoder
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 1 ch, s16le, 64.0 kbit/9.07% (ratio: 8000->88200)
Selected audio codec: [mad] afm:libmad (libMAD MPEG layer 1-2-3)
==========================================================================
vo: X11 running at 1280x1024 with depth 24 and 32 bpp (":0" => local display)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================