[ATrpms-users] MythTV Transcode/Export Issues

[John Welch]

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 1:10 PM, Kirk Bocek <t004 at kbocek.com> wrote:
>
>
> On 1/13/2011 6:50 AM, John Welch wrote:
>> This might be a question better suited for the MythTV lists, but I
>> figured I would start here where others are likely using the same
>> software / versions as I am.
>>
>> My MythTV back-end system is running under Fedora 14, with all myth
>> and related (mplayer, ffmpeg, etc.) packages from the ATrpms repo.
>> Ever since I've been running MythTV (0.18 days) I've always used
>> 'nuvexport' to take certain recordings (usually TV series), cut the
>> commercials out of them, and transcode to a different format (usually
>> avi) to save disk space.  Due to issues with the way ffmpeg interacts
>> with nuvexport I've flip-flopped between using ffmpeg and mencoder,
>> but one way or another I've always been able to accomplish this task.
>> Typically for an hour-long HD recording that starts out being around
>> 6-7 GB I end up with a transcoded file around 300-400 MB.
>>
>> Lately I've been having issues with this process.  It started with the
>> last ffmpeg update.  The 'nuvexport' script / program apparently
>> doesn't like the info being returned by 'ffmpeg --version'.  I've
>> previously posted here about this issue.  Not really a big deal though
>> because I've always been able to fall back to using mencoder.  Now
>> however when I run 'nuvexport --mencoder' the process runs for a
>> while, but usually when it gets to around 10% complete the process
>> dies and I see a "core dumped" message related to the mencoder
>> command.  I've also tried the "mythnuv2mkv" script, which I've
>> previously had some success with, but this uses mencoder as well for
>> the transcoding and I get similar results -- core dump after running
>> for some time.
>>
>> So, basically I guess I have a few questions:
>>
>> 1) Is anyone else having this problem?  I'm kind of thinking there
>> might be some issue with my system, as I've been searching around and
>> not finding anyone reporting this or similar problems.  I've got other
>> systems around, but have never had any luck working with the MythTV
>> recordings anywhere other than the back-end server.
>>
>> 2) Probably a question specifically for Axel and the other repo
>> maintainers, but would it be possible to get updated mplayer and
>> ffmpeg packages?  I'm sure there is some significance to them, like
>> they contain important fixes or milestones, but to me the current
>> packages seem to be fairly random snapshots (snapshot from 2010-10-02
>> for mplayer and git repo from 2010-10-24 for ffmpeg)
>>
>> 3) Does anyone have any scripts, command lines, programs, etc. that
>> can be used to accomplish the same thing that 'nuvexport', and
>> 'mythnuv2mkv.sh' are doing, namely get rid of commercials and reduce
>> size?
>
> Nuvexport stopped working for me maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I went to the
> mythtv-users list several times over that period seeing if there was a fix but
> I haven't had any success. Try googling "nuvexport
> site:http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/" to see all the woe and suffering.
>
> The story I get is that ffmpeg has so dramatically changed their command line
> options from version to version that the nuvexport people have had trouble
> keeping up.
>
> The issue I seem to be having now is with the x264 files created by my HDPVR.
> These seem to be difficult to edit with *any* tool. I've tried using ffmpeg to
> do something simple like trim a little bit off the beginning and ending of a
> recording. No luck. It doesn't help that I can't seem to find any tools for
> Windows that can reliably edit large x264 files that contain 5.1 audio.
>
> If you find any answers, please share them.
>
> Kirk Bocek
>
> _______________________________________________

Hey Kirk,

Thanks for the response.  Sounds like we are in the same boat as far
as HD-PVR recordings.  I've posted here and in the MythTV list about
my issues with editing these recordings as well (and I believe you
responded to some of those posts).  However, this is an entirely
different problem.  I'm just trying to edit/transcode "regular" HD
recordings from an HDHomerun device, which I've always been able to do
in the past; sometimes with ffmpeg when nuvexport allows me to use it,
and other times with mencoder when I have issues with ffmpeg.

Thanks,
John