[mythtv-users] Best way to auto Transcode MPEG2 SD to save storage space

[Roger Heflin]

I have a combination of scripts that scan a given dir and transcode to
mpeg4 SD anything in the dir not mpeg4 SD, an then rebuild the myth
indexes when done.   Right now my script runs in an interactive window
and uses mencoder to do its work, you would have to adjust the code to
only run in the time window you wanted it to run, but otherwise it
should mostly work.

On a 3.0 P4 it would probably run a bit slower than realtime
(1hourvideo==1.5houroftime) for SD to SD.   If it was transcoding 720p
or 1080i stuff it will be slower probably
(1hourvideo==2.5hoursoftime).   I use it on US ATSC (480i/720p/1080i)
to convert mpeg2 to mpeg4.   On SD to SD I get around 1.15GB -> 390MB,
on 1080i I get 10GB -> 600MB, so there is a decent amount of savings.

I don't attempt to do anything with removing commercials.