[mythtv-users] HD/SD Transcoding setup

[Brad Templeton]

Thanks for writing this up.   If you are handy in Perl, you may want to
pull out my mythlib.pl from tvwish, which allows you to write easy
perl scripts to manipulate the myth database.   It worries about finding
the mysql.txt file to open the database, and you can then do the
calls.   Thus you could write a simple script to add a new transcode
profile for people.

One of the types of transcode I think is particularly useful to do
is one from 1080i to 720p.   That's because my TV is 720p and I run
it at 720p, so there's no point (unless I am archiving for future
watching on a 1080 line set) at storing a show at 1920x1080.
This is effectively "lossless" as far as watching is concerned, at
least in resolution.  (true transcoding will always introduce loss.)


This makes sense as an "always do" for 1080i shows (though best to
do it in the middle of the night so you only do it on shows you don't
get to that day).   Reducing below 720p is more of a choice to save
space by deliberately degrading the show.