New Updated Video Encoder for G1

[KungFuNunChuck]

everytime i try to use super c i get an error eventually and the video never finishes converting. i'm beginning to think my computer just wont run it . the program spits out the message about not having the right specifications for the program to run blah blah blah...

anyway is there another free program out there that will convert and fix the stretching problem?? i hate the stupid stretching on the video player.

Have you tried closing all other applications while running the encoder? When I convert video I try not to be doing anything else on that comp just to make sure there's no little hiccup in the process.

[KungFuNunChuck]

This may be asking too much, but I have recorded programs that were shot in widescreen but displayed in fullscreen with the black bars (top & bottom). Is there a way to cut out the black bars from the video so it has better ratio on the G1?

As Ghoonk stated, that requires video editing. Super C and other encoders allow you to add bars (or padding). I suppose you could try cropping the left and right side of the video and see how the results are. Remember the video player on the G1 auto-fits, so it more than likely is possible with the right setting, but that's more effort than I'd like to put into it.

[KungFuNunChuck]

cool. I found this. Gonna give it a shot and then test what you have to recommended.

Tested it this and it works great. I went ahead and updated the OP to include 4:3 aspect.

[Maximosis]

I needed this for the longest i have a huge collection of movies.

[CJ Chitwood]

For those of us using Linux:

Download the source code for ffmpeg and the amr_wb and amr_nb libraries (from what I could tell, the amr provide h263, which is all the G1 can decode). You'll have to google these last two -- it's how I found them, and they weren't exactly hiding, but they're not "free" as in speech like most Linux software, so they can't be redistributed. You will also want libmp3lame if you don't already have it, as well as libfaac0 and libfaad0.

When compiling ffmpeg, use the following command for the configuration:

./configure  --enable-gpl --enable-libamr_nb --enable-libamr_wb --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-nonfree --enable-decoder=h263 --enable-encoder=h263

You may wish to have "checkinstall" installed. It provides an easy method of removing programs that were compiled from source (saves you from having to have the source around to run "make uninstall", which doesn't always work anyway).


After ffmpeg is installed, with all the above-mentioned libraries, the command is straightforward.

 ffmpeg -i source-video.avi -s 480x320 -vcodec mpeg4 -acodec libfaac -ac 1 -ar 16000 -r 13 -ab 32000 -aspect 3:2 output-video.G1.mp4

This is VERY basic. For full options, go to http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC6

-s is "size" of output video. This gave me fits early on because I tried it before (via GUI wrappers, IIRC) and was told by the program that this size wasn't supported regardless of which codec I selected. I don't know what the diff is, but it works for me now.
-vcodec Choices for G1 are mpeg4 and h263. IMHO I get better quality and marginally smaller file size with mpeg4.
-acodec libfaac is the audio codec. I know of no other choice here for this purpose.
-ac 1 Number of audio channels. Use 1 to save filesize since you only have one speaker. Unless you like wearing those painful earbuds all the time. Then use -ac 2.
-ar 16000 Audio sampling rate in Hertz. Some formats won't work with anything other than 8kHz. 16 kHz seems okay to me, considering what I'm watching it on. Don't expect HiFi from a phone.
-r 13 Frames per second. Larger is smoother, but 30 fps requires double the file size of 15 fps. 12 is about the slowest my eyes can comfortably watch. Since DVDs are right at 25 FPS, 12.5 being half of this, I go with 13.
-ab 32000 bitrate of the audio -- 32 kbps in this case. Normally I'd balk at such low numbers, but remember, I'm trying to keep filesize low. I'm not broadcasting to a large audience with this, am I? No, it's for me. For you? Use your best judgement. Experiment a little.
-aspect 3:2 Obviously, this is the aspect ratio of the output file. I'm not sure it matters, when the output size is being set before.

There are a few more options you'll need to know, but you have to do the math. Just like with the Windows side, your 16:9 or 4:3 isn't going to fit without stretching unless you pad it out.

-padtop #, -padbottom #, -padleft #, -padright # - number of pixels thick of padding (black bar) to put on this edge of the video.

I'll use The Terminal starring Catherine Zeta Jones [/drool] and Tom Hanks as a perfect example. The rip I have is 480x256. Not the highest grade to begin with, but I'll live. This is a 1.875:1 ratio, neither 16:9, 16:10. 4:3, nor 3:2. Doesn't matter though, because the G1 screen is 480 pixels wide to begin with. We just need to pad the video out to 320 pixels tall. 320 - 256 is 64, so we need 32 pixels top and bottom.

$ ffmpeg -i terminal.avi -s 480x256 -vcodec mpeg4 -acodec libfaac -ac 1 -ar 16000 -r 13 -ab 32000 -aspect 3:2 -padtop 32 -padbottom 32 terminal.G1.mp4

mplayer spits out the size of the movie in the command line window before playing it, so get the size ratios from that. Divide the actual width by the intended width to get a number, then divide the actual height by that same number to get the intended height. This way, your video will always be full width (assuming you're doing widescreen. If you're doing 4:3, simply swap height and width and solve for the other).




For another example, Office Space, in my rip, is 672 by 352. I want to scale it to fit 480 by 320. 672 (starting width) divided by 480 (target width) is 1.4, so if I divide 672 by 1.4 I get 480. 1.4 is the magic ratio, because now I know what to divide the starting height by to get the target height. So likewise, I divide 352 (starting height) by 1.4 and I get 251.4 (target height). Since ffmpeg requires an even number (and you can't have a fraction of a pixel), I'll round it down to 250 (252 would work too, it won't be visibly noticeable). So the output video will be 480 by 250. [edit: This is the -s option above, and thus should be -s 480x250 on the ffmpeg command line.] This will be full width in the G1, but requires padding top and bottom to prevent the G1 decoder from stretching it to fill the screen. 320 (screen height) - 250 (video height) is 70. Since the padding number must be an even one, I'll go with 34 pixels on top and 36 on the bottom to equal 70 total. [edit: -padtop 34 -padbottom 36 on the ffmpeg command line.]

But what if you like old T.V. shows? Let's say we have a 4:3 video, let's say it's 640 by 480, and we want it to be on the G1. Well, if we fit full width, the G1 will shrink it to fit, and everyone will look wide, so instead, we fit it full height and pad out the width. We know, therefore, the height has to be 320, but it's currently 480. 480 divided by 320 is 1.5, so we divide 640 by 1.5 to get the intended width of 426.667. So we can scale 640x480 down to 426x320. It will now need padding on the left and right to keep G1 from stretching it out to fit the screen. 480 wide, minus 426 output, is 54. Divide by 2 to get 27. Pad left 26 and pad right 28 and you'll have perfect aspect ratio that will fit the screen.

So, -s is the output size BEFORE applying crop and pad arguments.

I think I get it....



Addendum: While ffmpeg is running, you should see the following:

Output #0, mp4, to 'Braveheart.G1.mp4':
   Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 480x320 [PAR 1:1 DAR 3:2], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 13.00 tb(c)
   Stream #0.1: Audio: libfaac, 16000 Hz, mono, s16, 32 kb/s

This will tell you exactly what the output file will be in width and height, and for the G1 should always be 480x320 for optimum scaling. If it's anything other than 480 by 320, you WILL have stretching in the playback on the G1. May be minimal; may not even be noticeable, but it will be there.

[shlongwoodian]

it just works, period. great post, great screen shots. also used "NoChange" to address stretching issues. 4:3 works just fine for the cartoon network .avi vids i was encoding.

thanks kchuck!

[providence]

Can you explain the formula pls

( Width - ( Height * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2.

Here's a couple examples from my DVD rips:

* 886x480 source video: ( 886 - ( 480 * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2 = 16 (set the left and right crop to 16)
* 1128x480 source video: ( 1128 - ( 480 * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2 = 137 (set the left crop to 136 and the right crop to 138)
* 852x480 source video: ( 852 - ( 480 * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2 = -0.7 (this movie is already 16x9 so you can turn Crop OFF)

if its negative then its already in 16:9?