how do I transcode avi to mpeg?

[blackbelt_jones]

What's the simplest way to use transcode to change an avi file to an mpg file? I'm probably the last person on earth to discover how easy it is to make a crude working DVD (no menus, no chapters) out of an mpg file or files. I can just put them in a VIDEO_TS directory, make an .iso file (with iso master) and burn the .iso to a disk. And it plays! Just like that. And if it's under 700 megabytes, I can make a VCD.

So can someone tell me if there's a one-step command for turning an avi file into an mpg file, so I can make a fast DVD? It it really necessary to split the avi into two files and rejoin them like in this tutorial? The transcode manpage is pretty complicated, and I'm hoping someone wouldn't mind just showing me if there's a shortcut.

[blackbelt_jones]

Here's something I found in the Ubuntu forums.


ffmpeg -i InputFile.avi -target ntsc-dvd -sameq OutputFile.vob



So it's ffmpeg that I use, not transcode. I've got one running right now. So far it looks good, we'll see.

[karasu]

Mediacoder ( http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/ ) claims to run 100% in wine. Its a nice interface to mencoder with a somewhat easy to use interface and lots of prebuilt plug-ins (like convert any video to something playable on an ipod and scale it to fit on the ipod screen). It can do anything Mencoder can do

[ph34r]

One more fan of ffmpeg...

[paz120]

ffmpeg -i whatever.avi -target ntsc-dvd -aspect 4:3 movie.mpg (or -aspect 16:9)

mencoder works for me with:
mencoder *.avi -ovc lavc -ofps 25.000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -vf scale=352:288,harddup -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=30 00:vbitrate=2000:keyint=15:acodec=ac3:abitrate=96: aspect=4/3 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -af resample=48000:1:0 -o movie.mpg

i either use ffmpeg or mencoder to convert avi/wmv/mpeg files to dvd complient mpg's. then use these 2 commands:

dvdauthor -o dvd/ -t movie.mpg
dvdauthor -o dvd/ -T

then burn the resulting audio_ts and video_ts folders with k3b or whatever you use. simple no menu dvd's....for menu driven dvd's i use dvdwizard.

[DrChuck]

Here is my favorite. When I capture video with my Hauppage card, I do some rudimentary editing with avidemux before mastering a dvd with dvdauthor:

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.