Re: [PLUG] video / audio encoding format

["Louis Kratz" <louis.kratz@gmail.com>]

Last I checked, handbrake was only available as a linux binary.  I
gathered it wasn't linking against anything for video encoding, so its
possible they are using something other than the x264 library that
ffmpeg and mencoder can link against.

The big difference between handbrake and k3b that I noticed was
handbrake could do dual threaded encoding of H.264 videos.  It gained
a lot of popularity on mac for its ease of use.

Chad, my experience has been that H.264 can produce a higher quality
video than xvid or mpeg-4 part 2.  Knowing how to get a higher
quality, however, can be a bit of a mystery.  Robert Swain has good
information regarding how to get good quality using ffmpeg
http://rob.opendot.cl/index.php/useful-stuff/ffmpeg-x264-encoding-guide/,
which was nice for me since most of my encoding is for ipod.  But
handbrake can do just as well.

As for compatibility, it always seems to be a toss up.  In addition to
codecs, you need to consider what container you wish to package them
up in. If you are concerned with cross-operating system support, you
have some flexibility.  I've had good success encoding H.264 into a
quicktime container (.mov), since its playable on mac, windows, and
linux.  Many handheld devices, however, (ipods, PSPs, etc) have very
specific standards for codecs, size, and containers.  Also,
stand-alone divx players probably won't play H.264, especially the
older ones.

Hope this helps!
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug