Transcode

transcode command line arguments
.. Here's an example for my Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD without all those mkdir and cd commands:

transcode -i /space/tng-biggoodbye/vob/004 -w 4357,250,100 -a 1 -b 128,0,0 -s 3.311 -V -f 25 -B 12,10,8 -R 1 -x vob,null -o /dev/null -y xvidcvs,null transcode -i /space/tng-biggoodbye/vob/004 -w 4357,250,100 -a 1 -b 128,0,0 -s 3.311 -V -f 25 -B 12,10,8 -R 2 -x vob -o /space/tng-biggoodbye/avi/004/tng-biggoodbye-004.avi -y xvidcvs

Let's take a look at the first command and its parameters:

* -i /space/tng-biggoodbye/vob/004 obviously tells transcode where to find the files. It can be a file, a device or a directory containing the files. * -w 4357,250,100 sets the video encoding parameters: bit rate, maximum key frame interval and crispness. * -a 1 selects audio track number 1 (starting with 0). * -b 128,0,0 sets the audio encoding parameters for lame: bit rate, VBR and quality. Have a look at lame's man page for an explanation of the parameters -V and -q. * -s 3.311 causes lame to scale the audio and thus normalizing it on the fly. * -V causes transcode to do image processing in the YUV color space. Without -V images would be converted to the RGB color space. Note that some external filters only work with either color space. YUV processing gives a huge speed boost. * -f 25 sets the frame rate. * -B 12,10,8 sets the fast scaling options: the picture will be scaled down to height - 12 * 8 rows and to width - 10 * 8 columns. * -R 1 is the marker for the first (of two) encoding pass. * -x vob,null - the video input comes from VOB files and the audio input will be skipped (it isn't needed for the first pass anyway). * -o /dev/null - We don't need the video either, so just discard it. * -y xvidcvs,null - Output video using XviD and discard audio.

The second command line is not that different. It just skips all options that would discard output (like -o real-file-name and -y xvidcvs). For a more complete reference have a look at transcode's and lame's man pages.

from part of DVD ripping and transcoding with Linux by Moritz Bunkus