XviD with mencoder

[kamikaze]

I've been ripping my DVDs with mencoder for many years. I normally encode into XviD (2Pass) with an MP3 VBR audio stream.

My rips work fine on a couple of hardware decoders, but the S9 just shows a red cross when I try to play them. Even the 480 width rips do not work.

This is the 2nd pass call. Is there anything that shouldn't be there or something missing? Can someone provide me with working encoding options?

mencoder dvd:// -vf scale -zoom -xy 480 -cache 8192 -oac mp3lame -lameopts aq=0:abr:br=192:vol=4 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=2:bitrate=500:autoaspect:noqpel -xvidencopts gmc:nochroma_opt:threads=2 -passlogfile The Island (EN - XviD - MP3).avi.ripXviD/xvid2pass.log -o The Island (EN - XviD - MP3).avi

[TackyTiger]

These are the settings I use (for 16:9 source), I can view the output on the S9 and it looks good with the audio in sync. I haven't tried encoding directly from the DVD yet...

mencoder lebowski.vob -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1:bitrate=1000:trellis:chroma_opt:vhq=4:bvhq=1:quant_type=mpeg:max_bframes=0:nogmc:noqpel -vf scale=480:272 -af volnorm=1 -oac pcm -o "/dev/null"
mencoder lebowski.vob -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=2:bitrate=1000:trellis:chroma_opt:vhq=4:bvhq=1:quant_type=mpeg:max_bframes=0:nogmc:noqpel -vf scale=480:272 -af volnorm=1 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=192 -o lebowski.avi

[kamikaze]

Let's see.
trellis is on by default, I already tried chroma_opt, it does not make a difference. I cannot imagine vhq being the one (the way I understand the manual you should either use trellis or vhq, not both of them), but I will try. bvhq is also on by default.

quant_type is a good bet in my opinion, I will try that next. To set max_bframes to 0 looks kinda counter productive to me. But maybe the player has problems with B-Frames, so I'll try that afterwards. I'll report back here, which option did the trick.

[kamikaze]

None of that worked, I'm totally spooked.

The only thing left is to try constant bitrate mp3, but seriously, this sounds rather far fetched to me.

[Loba]

can you use mediainfo on the ripped file and paste the info here? Tks.

[kamikaze]

It's currently during encode, hence the small file size. I hope that also explains all the other broken information therein.

The audio actually is 128kbit VBR with 44.1kHz sampling, not at all what mediainfo claims.

> mediainfo The\ Island\ \(EN\ -\ XviD\ -\ MP3\).avi
General
Complete name                    : The Island (EN - XviD - MP3).avi
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 472 MiB
Duration                         : 1h 15mn
Overall bit rate                 : 869 Kbps
Writing application              : MEncoder 1.0rc2-4.2.1
Writing library                  : MPlayer

Video
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : Streaming Video@L1
Format settings, BVOP            : Yes
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : 3 warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Codec ID                         : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                    : XviD
Duration                         : 1h 15mn
Bit rate                         : 738 Kbps
Width                            : 480 pixels
Height                           : 270 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16/9
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.228
Stream size                      : 400 MiB (85%)
Writing library                  : XviD 50

Audio
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Codec ID                         : 55
Codec ID/Hint                    : MP3
Duration                         : 1h 15mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 32.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 64.1 MiB (14%)
Alignment                        : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration             : 24 ms (0.60 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration     : 504 ms
Writing library                  : LAME3.98.2

UPDATE:
I just figured audio is really 48.0 KHz, because that's what the source material uses. However 48KHz is listed in the technical specifications, so this shouldn't be causing any trouble.

UPDATE2:
I replaced the output with that of the finished encoding. The MP3 info is still broken, claiming CBR.

UPDATE3:
It doesn't play material encoded without an audio stream either, so it's definitely an XviD problem.

[Loba]

Format settings, BVOP : Yes <== ok
Format settings, QPel : No <== ok
Format settings, GMC : 3 warppoints <== should be zero
Format settings, Matrix : Default <== no idea what this is

[kamikaze]

It works without GMC. I tried without, before, but I didn't try a complete file. Apparently the player is allergic against unfinished rips. Considering that MPEG was designed to be robust against package loss, this is surprising.

Thanks for the help and the patience!