What PC application will convert MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 and is scriptable?

November 22, 2005 4:48 PM

I have a video archive in MPEG-2 format. I'd like to create a script to convert the videos to MPEG-4 files for internet streaming. What are my options?

I'd like to embed the MPEG-4 files in a webpage and compatibility with a major plugin video player like QuickTime (or WMP or Real) is a requirement. There should be no requirement for a non-default codec, like DivX, for the video player. Functionally, I'd like something along the lines of Helix Producer or Windows Media Encoder. Either Windows or Unix applications will work.

Can Darwin Streaming Server handle the conversion part of this job? If so, is it the best choice? Will the IBM Toolkit for MPEG-4 do the trick or do those videos have to be played in the Java player? What other software should I consider?

Do you have any good examples of MPEG-4 video implementations on the web? Good sources of documentation for MPEG-4?

posted by McGuillicuddy to computers & internet (4 comments total)

While I'd be interested in a Mac application that can do this, I'm primarily interested in x86 based solutions. I don't have access to Mac hardware to test any proposed Mac solutions.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 4:53 PM on November 22, 2005

You're looking for FFmpeg.
posted by jellicle at 5:06 PM on November 22, 2005

You might want to check out ffmpeg, a multi-format toolkit. I have used the Mac OS X port of it, ffmpegx, to convert MPEG2 to MPEG4; the process ain't quick, but it does work.

Quicktime 7 is required to play back MPEG4--I mean to say, earlier versions of Quicktime will not play it. I can't speak for Windows Media or Real. You should also know (if you don't already) that MPEG4's quality and compression come at the price of steep processor requirements--you're effectively freezing out folks using computers more than a couple years old, I'd estimate.
posted by adamrice at 5:06 PM on November 22, 2005

you're effectively freezing out folks using computers more than a couple years old, I'd estimate.

That depends. If you avoid H.264, anything 700 Mhz+ should be able to handle up to standard definition video (525 lines or less). If you use the H.264 extensions, you'll need about 2.5 Ghz + for the same video for realtime playback.

My old celeron 350 could do DivX at half resolution (240 lines max) without stutter, including MP3 audio.

Some of that is video card dependent. A really poor video card won't be able to scale the video, so it'll look nasty. But it's pretty safe to assume everyone who is interested in playing video on their PC has a 1 Ghz PC or more! :D
posted by shepd at 7:06 PM on November 22, 2005