[mythtv-users] Making best use of spare PCs

Nick knowledgejunkie at gmail.com
Sun May 8 23:12:15 UTC 2005


On 5/8/05, Daniel Howell <howelld at brumster.com> wrote:

<snipped>

> It currently transcodes (via ffmpeg) at somewhere between 18 and 25 fps.
> 
> I've got two other PCs, all running the dreaded Windoze, and I'm wondering
> if I can use them to do some of the work. One is a P4 3.06, the other an AMD
> FX53.
> 
> My main problem is getting these blasted NUV files to a useable MPEG2
> format. I don't want to install linux on these other machines just to get
> "nuvexport" - is there any way of making a NUV into an MPEG2?

Dan,

Why are you transcoding these files when they're MPEG2 to start with?
Here's a quick test - transfer one of your DVB recordings to a Windows
machine, rename it to .mpg, and try to play it. If you've got MPEG2
codecs installed, you should see crystal clear video.

If you are recording from either a DVB or a hardware MPEG2 card, the
nuv file *is* an MPEG2 file. From another thread a few days ago
regarding mastering DVDs from video, I use a combination of ProjectX
to demux and correct any errors in the streams from the recorded file,
and then Cuttermaran and/or DVD Hive to create MPEG2 and ISO files I
can burn to DVD.

I do all of my video editing on Windows 2KP, and am yet to have a
problem with any of the video that MythTV records on the *other*
machine. If you want to use the other PCs - copy the nuv files across
to them (unless you are intending on producing DivX/XVid files you are
not transcoding, just demuxing/remuxing the MPEG2 streams) and edit
them. I can't see you needing both machines, as the process takes only
minutes per hour of video. At the end of the day, you are left with
DVD ISO images that you can burn to disc when you have the time.

It would seem getting things to work with no problems (i.e. a/v sync
drift) is still a bit of fun and games under Linux (i.e. you can run
ProjectX as its a java app). The method I've always used is all GUI
driven:

i) transfer nuv file to Windows machine
ii) open file in ProjectX and demux
iii) open file in Cuttermaran - edit and write out new stream
iv) open in DVD Hive and create ISO image
v) burn ISO image

I know this can mostly all be done from the shell (apart from the
ProjectX bit) but I leave my myth machine alone and do all of this on
my workstation. I even delete the files from the myth machine after
SFTPing them using mythweb - very straightforward process.

HTH,
Nick


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