Transcoder
Transcoder compresses MPEG2 video files to fit on a single DVD-R.
This application is no longer supported. There are much better and faster ways now to compress DVD files. See eg. DVD2One
What's new in 1.1 beta 3
Added multiplex function
Added VIDEO_TS folder creation
Added disk image creation
Added diskspace availability checking
Plugins updated to latest available versions
Interface Makeover
Other Bugfixes
(plus minor bugfixes to 1.1b1,1.1b2)
Important News
This application is obsolete. There are now much faster ways of compression MPEG2 data, for example using DVD2One, FastDVDCopy. However, even though it is slow, it still works and is FREE, so I will still keep it available for those who want to use it.
How to use it
1) Simply drag and drop pairs of AC3 and M2V files onto the window (*)
2) Choose whether you want the video Transcoded (by default only done if needed)
3) Choose whether you want the audio and video remultiplexed, and a VIDEO_TS folder created
4) Choose whether you want a disk image created (2,3,4 are selected by default)
5) Click START.
The audio file is needed to provide an indication of how much space is left for video, and so the target video bitrate can be calculated.
The type of video (NTSC/PAL, framerate and aspect ratio are all auto-sensed). The only options to choose are
1) Interlaced. Click this if you know the source is interlaced
2) VBR. Not recommended, because it simply reduces the size of the final video file, and there is no point when burning to DVD-R
3) Add pulldown flags. You must select this if you are transcoding "NTSC Film", which is MOST NTSC DVD's
Click the button, sit back, and wait! The batch encoder will process pairs of files one at a time. If you have got the disk space, you can line up several movies and go away for the weekend!
On an 700MHz G4, transcoding progresses at about 7 fps, in which case a 90min PAL movie takes 6 hours to transcode.
(*) you can extract the video and audio from DVD's using DVDExtractor 0.9b in MacOS 9 (or OSEx in MacOS X)
Known Issues
Only senses 29.97 and 25 fps NTSC and PAL.
Can't sense difference between 24fps NTSC Film and 30fps NTSC Video.
Only works on G4 Macs?? Need to confirm.
Won't ever be a non-OSX version - sorry.
"Unrecognisable file?" A limitation of Transcoder at the moment is that the filename and the volume name on which the file is located must not contain the characters "/" or ":"
Got Sync problems?
Shouldn't be any if you are transcoding PAL.
If the sync is WAY out and you a transcoding an NTSC file from DVD, you probably need to select the Pulldown flag.
If the sync is just a little bit out (up to a second or two), then you probably have a mix of NTSC Video and NTSC Film (eg Dolby trailer + film). There is nothing I can do about this at the moment.
Cost
Like all HMS Software,Transcoder is DonateWare. Let me know if you use it, including suggestions for improvements, bug reports and problems, and if you find it useful, please consider a small donation.
Thanks!
Thanks to all those who send in comments and bug reports.
Credits
Transcoder uses the free UNIX tools mpeg2enc, mpeg2dec, dvdauthor, mkisofs and mplex in unmodified form. They and their source code can be obtained below:
mpeg2enc, mplex
© 2000-2002 Rainer Johanni, Andrew Stevens, Gernot Ziegler, Xavier Biquard, Ronald Bultje et al.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mjpeg
mpeg2dec
© 2000-2002 Aaron Holtzman, Michel Lespinasse et al.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/libmpeg2
Patched and altivec-optimized by lordrpi
Copyright (c) 2002 HillmanMinx Software
