MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l..

In article ,
Warren Oates wrote:

> In article
> ,
> Jolly Roger wrote:
>
> > I'm not sure if it can be done without some other tool like VLC. Before
> > I waste too much time with this, I was wondering if anyone here knows of
> > a way to convert MPEG-2 transport streams to MPEG-4 H.264 from the
> > command line?
>
> Have you looked at ffmpeg? It can be coaxed into doing all sorts of
> things.
>
> http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/

Well I found qt-tools won't do the job, and am looking at doing it with
VLC instead. The VLC Gui application does what I want, so I'm in the
middle of figuring out the command-line syntax to duplicate that on the
command line, while I wait for the extremely slow vlc source package
download...

If I run into a jam, I'll give ffmpeg a look next! Thanks.

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

Jolly Roger wrote:
> I've been using Toast 7 to convert EyeTV transport streams (raw MPEG-2
> data transmitted by broadcasters) to MPEG-4 H.264 files so that I can
> load them up on my iPod.
>

MPEG Streamclip will open transport streams, and can export to H264, and
it's free.

http://www.squared5.com/

Andy
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article
,
Jolly Roger wrote:

> Well I found qt-tools won't do the job, and am looking at doing it with
> VLC instead. The VLC Gui application does what I want, so I'm in the
> middle of figuring out the command-line syntax to duplicate that on the
> command line, while I wait for the extremely slow vlc source package
> download...

VLC has a bunch of command-line options too; also, the nightly snapshots
work with OS X and might have some more advanced stuff.

<http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/ch04.html#id291949>
<http://nightlies.videolan.org/>

> If I run into a jam, I'll give ffmpeg a look next! Thanks

It's a very powerful program. It builds clean on Leopard if you
configure it with --disable-MMX. You can spend a lot of time getting all
the libraries you might want to use though.
--
W. Oates
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

On 2007-11-15 02:57:27 +0200, Jolly Roger said:

> I've been using Toast 7 to convert EyeTV transport streams (raw MPEG-2
> data transmitted by broadcasters) to MPEG-4 H.264 files so that I can
> load them up on my iPod.
>
> Toast does an okay job, except if I queue up a bunch of conversions,
> often Toast tends to crash overnight. Also Toast doesn't often pick a
> name that reflects the actual name of the episode being converted, so I
> end up with names like Damages.mp4, Damages [1].mp4, Damages [2].mp4,
> and so on.
>
> So I'm looking for a command-line utility to let me write a script to
> batch convert these MPEG-2 transport streams to H.264.
>
> I have the QuickTime MPEG-2 playback codec from Apple:
>
> <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/>
>
> But that doesn't enable QuickTime Player to open MPEG-2 transport
> streams, unfortunately. I'm taking a look at qt_tools to see if I can
> use it to do the conversion this evening:
>
> <http://www.omino.com/sw/qt_tools/>
>
> I'm not sure if it can be done without some other tool like VLC. Before
> I waste too much time with this, I was wondering if anyone here knows of
> a way to convert MPEG-2 transport streams to MPEG-4 H.264 from the
> command line?

Qt Tools will really do whatever Quicktime Pro can over command line. I
used it exactly for that purpose, MPEG 2 to MPEG 4/H264.

You can see results at:
http://sumertilmac.com/Film/film.html

It can do Qt Pro "export" dialogue and write them to a .ini file for
later/batch use too.

You should contact Toast guys about that crash, they would be
definately interested. Also remember .eyeTV file is a
package/container, the real mpeg2 file is in it (you can cd into it).


Ilgaz
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article ,
Ilgaz Öcal wrote:

> Qt Tools will really do whatever Quicktime Pro can over command line. I
> used it exactly for that purpose, MPEG 2 to MPEG 4/H264.

Care to share the command line you use to do it? I couldn't get qt_tools
to open the MPEG-2 stream file from the .eyetv bundle.

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article ,
Ilgaz Öcal wrote:

> You should contact Toast guys about that crash, they would be
> definately interested.

Yeah I may do that - I haven't even looked at the crash log yet.

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article ,
Ilgaz Öcal wrote:

> Qt Tools will really do whatever Quicktime Pro can over command line.

(snip)

Why, exactly, did you feel the need to add comp.sys.mac.advocacy to this
thread?

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

Ilgaz Öcal wrote:

> On 2007-11-15 02:57:27 +0200, Jolly Roger said:
>
> > I've been using Toast 7 to convert EyeTV transport streams (raw MPEG-2
> > data transmitted by broadcasters) to MPEG-4 H.264 files so that I can
> > load them up on my iPod.
> >
> > Toast does an okay job, except if I queue up a bunch of conversions,
> > often Toast tends to crash overnight. Also Toast doesn't often pick a
> > name that reflects the actual name of the episode being converted, so I
> > end up with names like Damages.mp4, Damages [1].mp4, Damages [2].mp4,
> > and so on.

Get Handbrake, http://handbrake.m0k.org/

Export your EyeTv recording and load it into Handbrake.

Handbrake will queue up your files and save with the same <filename>.mp4

--

Immunity is better than innoculation.

Peter
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article ,
notinuse2.DeleteThis@btinternet.com (Peter Hayes) wrote:

> Ilgaz Öcal wrote:
>
> > On 2007-11-15 02:57:27 +0200, Jolly Roger said:
> >
> > > I've been using Toast 7 to convert EyeTV transport streams (raw MPEG-2
> > > data transmitted by broadcasters) to MPEG-4 H.264 files so that I can
> > > load them up on my iPod.
> > >
> > > Toast does an okay job, except if I queue up a bunch of conversions,
> > > often Toast tends to crash overnight. Also Toast doesn't often pick a
> > > name that reflects the actual name of the episode being converted, so I
> > > end up with names like Damages.mp4, Damages [1].mp4, Damages [2].mp4,
> > > and so on.
>
> Get Handbrake, http://handbrake.m0k.org/
>
> Export your EyeTv recording and load it into Handbrake.
>
> Handbrake will queue up your files and save with the same <filename>.mp4

I don't want to export from EyeTV. I want to convert the MPEG-2 stream
in the .eyetv bundle directly to mp4 - without using EyeTV's Export
feature.

Handbrake (the current version, at least) cannot open MPEG-2 transport
streams.

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In comp.sys.mac.system Jolly Roger wrote:
> In article ,
> notinuse2 DeleteThis @btinternet.com (Peter Hayes) wrote:
>
>>
>> Get Handbrake, http://handbrake.m0k.org/
>>
>> Export your EyeTv recording and load it into Handbrake.
>>
>> Handbrake will queue up your files and save with the same <filename>.mp4
>
> I don't want to export from EyeTV. I want to convert the MPEG-2 stream
> in the .eyetv bundle directly to mp4 - without using EyeTV's Export
> feature.
>

VisualHub works for me. I can drag EyeTV documents directly into the
VisualHub window and tell it to encode to whatever format I want (I
usually use the AppleTV setting, and have it auto-import into iTunes).
I was actually kind of surprised that worked the first time I tried
it.

Techspansion also offers iSquint, which is freeware - VisualHub is
its ~$25 big brother. I'd guess that iSquint handles eyetv files
as well, but has a much more limited set of encoding choices.
Try 'em both...

www.techspansion.com

And if you have multiple Macs around the house, VisualHub can use
Xgrid to share the load when encoding multiple files. A bit touchy
to set up, but kind of cool when you've got a whole stack of files
to convert.
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In comp.sys.mac.system Jim Glidewell wrote:
>
> VisualHub works for me. I can drag EyeTV documents directly into the
> VisualHub window and tell it to encode to whatever format I want (I
> usually use the AppleTV setting, and have it auto-import into iTunes).
> I was actually kind of surprised that worked the first time I tried
> it.
>
> Techspansion also offers iSquint, which is freeware - VisualHub is
> its ~$25 big brother. I'd guess that iSquint handles eyetv files
> as well, but has a much more limited set of encoding choices.
> Try 'em both...
>
> www.techspansion.com
>
> And if you have multiple Macs around the house, VisualHub can use
> Xgrid to share the load when encoding multiple files. A bit touchy
> to set up, but kind of cool when you've got a whole stack of files
> to convert.

Ooops! Didn't read the subject line, so I didn't realize that command-
line was a requirement.

But I think that VisualHub and maybe iSquint have a log where you can
see the commands they are actually running - you may be able to make
use of that. I doubt that either app is AppleScriptable, but I've never
checked.
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article ,
(Jim Glidewell) wrote:

> In comp.sys.mac.system Jolly Roger wrote:
> > In article ,
> > notinuse2.TakeThisOut@btinternet.com (Peter Hayes) wrote:
> >
> >> Get Handbrake, http://handbrake.m0k.org/
> >>
> >> Export your EyeTv recording and load it into Handbrake.
> >>
> >> Handbrake will queue up your files and save with the same <filename>.mp4
> >
> > I don't want to export from EyeTV. I want to convert the MPEG-2 stream
> > in the .eyetv bundle directly to mp4 - without using EyeTV's Export
> > feature.
>
> VisualHub works for me. I can drag EyeTV documents directly into the
> VisualHub window and tell it to encode to whatever format I want (I
> usually use the AppleTV setting, and have it auto-import into iTunes).
> I was actually kind of surprised that worked the first time I tried
> it.
>
> Techspansion also offers iSquint, which is freeware - VisualHub is
> its ~$25 big brother. I'd guess that iSquint handles eyetv files
> as well, but has a much more limited set of encoding choices.
> Try 'em both...
>
> www.techspansion.com
>
> And if you have multiple Macs around the house, VisualHub can use
> Xgrid to share the load when encoding multiple files. A bit touchy
> to set up, but kind of cool when you've got a whole stack of files
> to convert.

You must have missed the words "command line" in the subject. I already
have a way to do this with GUI tools (namely Toast and VLC). What I want
is a way to do it with command-line tools so I can script it.

I'm playing around with ffmpeg tonight and not having much luck (but
that could be because I'm not using the right command-line switches.
This command line, for instance, results in several errors, and eventual
failure:

# ffmpeg -i 000000000c8cc975.mpg -f m4v -vcodec mpeg4 -b 1024k out.mp4

FFmpeg version SVN-r11041, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et
al.
configuration: --disable-mmx
libavutil version: 49.5.0
libavcodec version: 51.48.0
libavformat version: 51.19.0
built on Nov 15 2007 17:36:12, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)
Input #0, mpegts, from '000000000c8cc975.mpg':
Duration: 17:24:22.9, start: 4.971644, bitrate: 255 kb/s
Program 1
Stream #0.0[0x12c]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x480 [PAR 8:9 DAR
4:3], 6000 kb/s, 29.97 tb(r)
Stream #0.1[0x12d](eng): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 224 kb/s

File 'out.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y

Output #0, m4v, to 'out.mp4':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x480 [PAR 8:9 DAR 4:3],
q=2-31, 1024 kb/s, 29.97 tb(c)
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
[mpeg2video @ 0x353f00]ac-tex damaged at 13 3me=266.8
bitrate=1028.7kbits/s
[mpeg2video @ 0x353f00]ac-tex damaged at 16 4
[mpeg2video @ 0x353f00]Warning MVs not available
[mpeg2video @ 0x353f00]concealing 1215 DC, 1215 AC, 1215 MV errors
frame=107717 fps= 84 q=12.4 Lsize= 449419kB time=3594.2
bitrate=1024.3kbits/s
video:449394kB audio:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.005649%

Naturally, QuickTime Player is unable to open the resulting out.mp4 file.

I'm still reading documentation - hopefully I'll figure out a way to get
it to do what I want...

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l.. 

In article , nospamatall
wrote:

> Jolly Roger wrote:
> > I've been using Toast 7 to convert EyeTV transport streams (raw MPEG-2
> > data transmitted by broadcasters) to MPEG-4 H.264 files so that I can
> > load them up on my iPod.
> >
>
> MPEG Streamclip will open transport streams, and can export to H264, and
> it's free.
>
> http://www.squared5.com/

At first glance, this doesn't appear to be a command-line utility.

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: MPEG-2 transport stream -> MPEG-4 H.264 from the command l..