[mythtv-users] Re: Anyone tried MPEG2 to MPEG2 transcoding?

[Phill Edwards]

> Looking through the archives I've found that it's possible top set up
> MPEG2 to MPEG2 automatic transcoding by issuing the following update
> command in mysql:
> 
> update recordingprofiles set videocodec = "MPEG-2" where name = "MPEG2";
> 
> I want to give this a go because I want to keep my recordings in MPEG2
> format but want to reduce the size of the recordings. I can't adjust
> the original recording profile because I'm using DVB-T capture cards
> which don't encode, they just dump the broadcast MPEG2 stream straight
> to disk. So I figure I can reduce the size of them by transcoding to a
> lower bit rate MPEG2 file. I need them in MPEG2 format to work on my
> xbmcmythtv python scripts frontend.
> 
> The question is - has anyone tried this, and what were your results? I
> read a post that said the reason you have to enable it via a mysql
> command is because it can be a bit dodgy which is why it's not turned
> on by default. Should I expect that it's going to play up quite badly
> and defrost my freezer overnight, or will it be OK?

I went ahead and tried this out and the results are as follows:

A)- The jobs show up in the system status screen in red font as
Failed, which would indicate that the transcoding didn't
happen...however...

B) From looking at the size of the recordings in the Delete screen the
files are definitely smaller than the original DVB-T recordings and
they seem to work perfectly in playback.

My questions are:
1) Does anyone know why it says failed, but appears to have worked? 

2) Do I need to clear those failed entries somehow otherwise they're
just going to build up and up for ever - how do I do that?

3) Will it keep re-trying to transcode these files until these failed
entries get cleared?

Regards,
Phill