On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 2:45 AM, Paul Gardiner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lists@glidos.net" target="_blank">lists@glidos.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
"Michael T. Dean"<br>
<div class="im">>So, if you must transcode (i.e. to watch content on some</div><div class="im">
>limited-functionality device, such as a tablet or phone), don't use<br>
>mythtranscode to do it--use a real tool that was designed by a project<br>
>specifically focused on creating transcoding tools.<br>
<br>
</div>When mythtv's transcoding feature works, it is perfectly serviceable. The OP wasn't asking for new features only what used to work in 0.25.</blockquote><div><br></div><div>Actually, I would disagree with Paul's description of "perfectly serviceable". It actually excelled in some functions:</div>
<div>- other than VideoReDo, it is the ONLY "cutter" that I have found that can do essentially frame-accurate cuts on mpeg2 recordings under Linux. (In some cases this requires correcting the indices in the mark-up file first using its built-in buildindex function.) All other methods I'm aware of are only key-frame accurate, which can cause very annoying relocation of the cut points.</div>
<div>- it performs a clean-up / correction of the file, which can eliminate problems while processing the file. This can help with dropped frames, etc. in the original recording. Once I started using mythtrancode to pre-process files before transcoding with Handbrake, I found that audio drift in the output file is rare to non-existent.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Our Mythtv "supports" 6 family members plus myself. Playback devices used include mythfrontends, PS3, WD-TVs (1st gen), WD-Live-Hub, Acer Iconia A500 tablet, and my Samsung phone. As indicated above, I currently use a script that pre-processes and trims the (OTA mpeg2) recording with mythtranscode (0.25), then transcodes the result using HandBrakeCLI to convert it into a format that, after much trial and error, I've found to be compatible with this range of devices (one single transcode). I then store the resulting recording in the Mythtv Videos storage group, as I definitely agree with Mike's preferences here.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Although much has been said about the storage-saving reduction of transcoding, another benefit that hasn't been mentioned yet is wifi bandwidth. An h.264 transcoded version of an OTA mpeg2 recording requires a LOT less bandwidth, resulting in more stable and wifi-network-friendly performance.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Mike's comment suggesting that those users who want mythtranscode 0.26/0.27 fixed should get together and develop a fix is a valid suggestion for an open-source project. Unfortunately, this will require someone with the skillset and sufficient familiarity with the Mythtv coding environment to come forward.</div>
<div><br></div><div>In the meantime, since Ubuntu pushed a dist-upgrade down that removed libmyth-0.25 (breaking the work-around used for 0.26), I've told a friend NOT to upgrade to Mythtv 0.26. Yes, I know that the older libraries can be re-installed (I tried this), but in my case MySQL also got upgraded and became incompatible with the mythtranscode-0.25 environment. I'm now running mythtranscode-0.25 under a chroot environment, which is a pretty ugly work-around, but it works. Sigh. But, like the OP, I really need the functionality.</div>
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