More MediaConverter features

[forart.eu]

MediaConverter needs mutch more features to be usable as a professional transcoder. Here are some examples:

• custom/alternative quantization matrices support for every codec;
• 2 pass for every codec;
• video watermarking;

And here are some links that may inspire:

• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/sgisgui/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/mediadropbox/
• ​http://www.xmedia-recode.de/
• ​http://www.mediacoderhq.com/
• ​http://www.mail-archive.com/ffmpeg-soc@mplayerhq.hu/msg07777.html

[mmadia]

It would be better to list each feature as an individual, decriptive and detailed enhancement ticket.

[forart.eu]

OK, here's some more links to "steal" (even if I strongly hope that 3rd-party open software devs could be *INVOLVED* in portings) interesting features to upgrade MediaConverter:

(multiplatform)

• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvdx/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/handbrake/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/mediadropbox/
• ​https://github.com/concalma/vgtmpeg
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/svideoconverter/
• ​https://code.google.com/p/kakola/

(windows)

• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/tencoder/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/tx264/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/ifme/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/akmeffmpeg/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/flaskmpeg/
• ​http://code.google.com/p/winff/
• ​http://code.google.com/p/convendro/

(linux)

• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/thoggen/
• ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/xmffmpeg/

Hope that helps, or at least inspires.

[pulkomandy]

This kind of general ticket is not good, because it can never be closed and it's hard to track what needs to be done or is already fixed. Anyway, of the 3 features you listed:

• Video watermarking is out of scope of MediaConverter - this is just a simple format conversion tool, not a full blown video editing suite or a tool like nandub/virtualdub
• 2-pass codecs: I don't know what this means. and it's up to the codecs to decide what they do anyway.
• quantization matrices: out of scope for a simple app like MediaConverter, which is meant to be a simple tool to convert video formats.

So, this is not at all the direction we want for MediaConverter. It would make a great 3rd-party application, however.

[waddlesplash]

2-pass encoding is what it sounds like -- the codec goes through the entire video twice. This allows (in some cases) to trim the file size without losing content. And no, it's not up to the codecs, because often doing 2-pass encoding will waste a lot more time than it'll save in file size, so it's left up to the user to decide if they want to run it or not.

[pulkomandy]

​http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd743814(v=vs.85).aspx explains what 2-pass encoding is. It's not "going through the entire video twice". It's splitting the work in two passes which do different things. The first one collects data, and in the second one the actual encoding happens, using information collected in the first pass.

This allows the encoder to make better decisions, like compressing some parts of the video more because it knows that at a later point there is a less easily compressed part, which needs more bandwidth to keep a roughly identical quality.

This is used mostly when you want to encode a file with a fixed final size, and want the encoder to adjust the bitrates dynamically (VBR) so it doesn't waste space on parts of the video that don't really need it, and then overcompresses other parts to compensate.

Since MediaConverter does not allow to set a target file size or even bitrate, there is no use for this. It is still a great 3rd party opportunity for a more complete app.