[mythtv-users] Victims...... I mean Testers wanted.....HD transcode script that should keep AC3 intact if it's in the original stream.

[Another Sillyname]

I've been working on a script specifically for HD transmissions that
does the following....

1.  Produces a H264 output, If the original stream has a AC3 track
keeps it intact.

2.  Identifies whether a transmission is HD based upon the
transmission specs not the EIT or XML data.

3.  Transcodes and allows resize from 1080 down to 360

4.  Puts it all into an mkv container.

5.  Pulls from the mythDB ONLY the HD transmissions and presents the
user with a list of recordings and the station that transmitted them.

6.  Prefers to run the transcode on a different machine from the
mythbackend (to reduce loading on the main box)

7.  Detects and uses the maximum 'sensible' number of threads for the
transcode, i.e. an I7 chip would utilise 6 threads.

8.  Allows the user to set the 'quality' of the transcode on 4 scales.

9.  Uses the edit points in the mythDB to remove adverts, leadin and
leadout rubbish.  If you've setup your recordings with the cutpoints
this should produce edited HD AC3 H264 output in an MKV container.

The script is all menu interaction and all information is pulled from
the mythDB, it's written in BASH and inspired by nuvexport.

I need 5-6 testers and as the script is only aimed at HD recordings
your box needs to record HD transmissions.

The only dependencies on the box are mysql client, mencoder, mplayer,
ffmpeg and mkvtools .

The first test version should be available this weekend.

Please if you're interested let me know what country you're in, rough
spec of your proposed transcoding box and any issues that you can
think of that may be relevant or important.

Note I'm cr*p at scripting so if this causes your machine to catch
fire and burns your house down I'm not responsible, seriously though
I'm not a proper programmer but have pulled together this script from
various different ideas and sources.  I'm sure whole chunks of it can
be re-written far better by the real coders amongst you, but it does
seem to work!!

Anthony