[mythtv-users] Transcoding questions?

[Chris Petersen]

> 1) >From what I understand, since I don't have transcoding enabled by
> default, my PVR-250 will output RTJpeg directly, and that is what gets
> recorded to disk? or does it get converted to MPEG-2?

The PVR-250 outputs mpeg2 by default.  If you transcode (automatic or
manually), then mythtv would convert the files to mpeg4 or rtjpeg
(depending on what you tell it to do).
 
> 2) Okay, so the .nuv files stored on my disk contain the raw
> video/audio data with the comercial skip, or any other cut points I
> have set, great.

Actually, the cut points, etc. are stored in the database.  the .nuv
file from a pvr-x50 card is really just an mpeg2 file with a .nuv file
suffix (for consistency in myth, so it doesn't have to check for ".mpg
or .nuv", etc)

Your transcode settings are configured under the recording options.

> Basically, I want to be able to offload the files from my MythTV
> system to another machine to play, MPEG-4 format is fine as long as it
> is a high quality copy, I'm more concerned about audio/video quality
> than file size.

You're better off keeping the mpeg2 files.  transcoding will just lose
quality (as reencoding will ALWAYS do), and there really aren't any
players that perfectly support myth's nuv files (whereas the mpeg2 "nuv"
files are really just standard mpeg2 files, they're quite easy to play).

If you want more specific transcoding options, look for my nuvexport
script at http://forevermore.net/mythtv/ - it has a number of different
export options, although it does require more manual interaction.  I'm
also happy to accept new export modules if you end up needing/writing
something that's not included.

-Chris