junkjof

Hi,
Initially the only converter that I could get to reliable work with the C260 (Latest Firmware) was the shipped AVIConverter 3.0. It not a bad batch conversion utility but had very little options for tweaking the output. High, Normal, Low quality options and Full, 4:3, Widescreen options.
Unfortunately, I wasn't that happy the the output results, so I thought I would have a look see if there was a configuration file with this utility. And I found a Converter.ini file. Looking inside this file you can see that there are 9 different "command line" parameters for the mencoder utility. Mencoder is a standard video conversion tool, used in the background by many other utilities.
So, anyway, 9 configuration = 3x3 configuration settings. So basically you can change any setting related to the each of the High, Normal, Low, and the Full, 4:3, Widescreen etc. settings.

The 3 things I didn't like about the default settings where:

1. 22 fps for all encodings
So, I changed it to 25fps. I did notice some issues with larger bitrate settings at 25fps so I don't think the latest firmware solves everything, but by picking a lower bitrate it seemed to be ok. So, basically the low quality setting now has 25fps which seems to work fine, but the normal and high quality settings need to be kept at 22fps. Hopefully, this can be fixed with firmware updates. I will experiment over the next few days with other options to see if there is a better way to get to 25fps.

2. The file size versus quality options
I looked at the bitrate settings and lowered these (so high is now 400kbps, normal is 300kbps and low is 200kbps), these options will lower the output quality but also save lots of space so I though these worthwhile, I increased the quality setting from 4 to 6 which means it takes longer to encode the video but the results should be better quality, hopefully partially making up for lowering the bitrate. I also lowered the medium audio bitrate to 64kbps.

3. The scaling produced seemed to completely mess up the aspect ratio
The normal and 4:3 seemed to produce the same result and the widescreen just forced a widescreen option. So, with a little playing around with mencoder options (for an hour or 2) I decided that I would make:
a) the "Full" option keep the original aspect ratio but if the movie was widescreen it would show the full width with black lines on the top and bottom.
b) The 4:3 option maximize the content, so that if it was widescreen the borders would be cropped, but again maintaining the aspect ratio.
c) The widescreen option I left as it as it basically forces widescreen which can be useful in some cases.

So, if anyone is interested in using these settings give it a go. By the way, I am no expert in mencoder and I just thought it would be useful for some other Teclasters. So use these settings:
1. Backup your existing Converter.ini file
2. Open Converter.ini (make sure AVIConverter is not running)
3. Replace the [parameter] Section with the following:

******************* BEGIN CUT HERE ****************
[parameter]
1-1-1=-priority idle -ofps 22 -vf-add dsize=320:-2 -vf-add scale=320:-3 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=400:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=128
1-1-2=-priority idle -ofps 22 -vf-add dsize=-2:240 -vf-add scale=-3:240 -vf-add crop=320:240 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=400:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=128
1-1-3=-priority idle -ofps 22 -vf-add scale=320:180 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=400:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=128

2-1-1=-priority idle -ofps 22 -vf-add dsize=320:-2 -vf-add scale=320:-3 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=300:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=64
2-1-2=-priority idle -ofps 22 -vf-add dsize=-2:240 -vf-add scale=-3:240 -vf-add crop=320:240 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=300:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=64
2-1-3=-priority idle -ofps 22 -vf-add scale=320:180 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=300:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=64

3-1-1=-priority idle -ofps 25 -vf-add dsize=320:-2 -vf-add scale=320:-3 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=200:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=64
3-1-2=-priority idle -ofps 25 -vf-add dsize=-2:240 -vf-add scale=-3:240 -vf-add crop=320:240 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=200:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=64
3-1-3=-priority idle -ofps 25 -vf-add scale=320:180 -vf-add expand=320:240:-1:-1:1 -srate 44100 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=200:max_bframes=0:quant_type=h263:me_quali ty=6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=64

******************* END CUT HERE ****************
4. save file and restart AVIConverter.

Hopefully, someone who know more about mencoder settings can also contribute and we can get the best possible conversion settings.

By the way,

Jerome

chespirito

Where Is Convert.ini?

junkjof

Hi,
It should be in the "C:\Program files\AVIConverter" directory after you install AVI Converter. Make sure to make a backup of the file before you change it.!

Jerome

chespirito

i don t undertad what i must go; i don t have the file converter.ini

junkjof

Hi,
I am not sure why you don't have the file. Maybe it gets created after you first use AVIConverter?

Jerome

junkjof

Hi,
I discovered why you can't see the Converter.ini file, it is actually a hidden file in that directory. I have turned on View Hidden Files in my Folder options, so I never noticed it was a hidden file.
Hope this helps.
I have been doing further tweeking with my default settings and I will post up a new version of this file in a few days.

Jerome

slv

thank yopu guy you re a genious, ihave it try it and in hidden file i haven t

Googlygoo

Tried your new configurations, Junkjof. They seem to work quite well. I am just wondering if you have figured out how to make the 25fps work for the higher bitrates yet? Also, is there any way to make the video seem less jerky, or to smooth it out yet? Would another media converter work better? Thanks for all your work.

Brusier

i tried changing only the ofps to 25 for all and converted my files and it played great really smooth

junkjof

Great, I found that it worked fine until there was some fast moving action sequence and then everything after the fast moving action screen was out of sync for a while (but it did seem to get back in sync). So for me, I thought the safest thing was to leave it at 22fps for the higher btrates.
But I haven't tried again with the latest Firmware 1.07.1233 so I might give it another go. I have a version of the .ini file which brightens up the image a little also, it seemed to make most video clips a little clearer on the teclast. I will post this up in a few days.

Jerome