[tusko]

Handbrake looks pretty limited to me. I can't find any way of setting a maximum bitrate, as required by the original guide.



Like Hansen, I think Mencoder might be the way to go on Linux, but the command line options are quite bewildering for a newbie like me and there doesn't appear to be a decent GUI available.

This is what I'm trying at the moment to convert a 1280x720 MKV source file into something playable on the Xbox:

mencoder INPUTFILENAME.mkv -o OUTPUTFILENAME.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=6300 -oac copy -of avi

I'm presuming this will clamp the bitrate to a max of 6300.

Update:

Hmmm, it's peaking over 6300 bps. Seems to play without dropped frames for the few minutes I watched, even when streamed wirelessly from my PC, but I'd like to know why it's peaking above 6300 bps. Will have to dig around in the Mencoder options.

Hope this response is included before the forum freeze. I use the following command lines for mencoder in linux. I made them using info from this thread, http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/men...codec.html and http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/men...-dvd.html:

For movies/series:

mencoder -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lavcopts vqmin=3:vqmax=6:vmax_b_frames=2:mbd=2:v4mv:
vb_strategy=1:autoaspect:vbitrate=6300:vrc_maxrate=6300:vrc_buf_size=1835:precmp=0:cmp=3:subcmp=3:
dia=-1:predia=4:preme=2:trell:cbp:mv0:qprd:last_pred=3:
psnr
-lameopts abr:br=192 -o divx-encoded.avi h264-original.mkv

For anime:

mencoder -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lavcopts vqmin=3:vqmax=6:vmax_b_frames=2:mbd=2:v4mv:
vb_strategy=1:autoaspect:vbitrate=6300:vrc_maxrate=6300:vrc_buf_size=1835:precmp=0:cmp=2:subcmp=2:
dia=-1:predia=4:preme=2:trell:cbp:mv0:qprd:last_pred=3:
psnr
-lameopts abr:br=192 -o divx-encoded.avi h264-original.mp4

If you want more info. and the forum is closed pm me.