Transcoding vod using MPEG4

[stealthdave]

I've successfully used VLC's VOD features to stream transcoded mpeg2 streams over my network, but the video quality / bandwidth trade-off leaves something to be desired. Is there a way to transcode the streams to mpeg4? Following this thread, I was able to come up with this in the VLM:

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new test vod enabled setup test input test.mpg setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mpgv,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace}

This gives me a playable stream over the vpn at work (hence the very low bitrate), but I'd like to use an mpeg4 stream. I've tried several variations:

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setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace,mux=ts} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace,mux=mp2t} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace,mux=asf} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace,mux=asfh} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace}:standard{mux=ts} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace}:standard{mux=mp2t} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace}:standard{mux=asf} setup test output #transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mp3,vb=100,ab=32,scale=.5,deinterlace}:standard{mux=asfh}

None of these will play video, however. Is it possible to transcode to mpeg4 in vod mode? The docs on vod are a tad sparse, probably due to vod functionality being rather new.

Also, can vod streams be played by other players, ala WMP or QuickTime? I personally love VLC, but other users of one of my video streaming apps don't want to have to load VLC on every computer that they want to stream from, and WMP and QuickTime are usually already installed. (Ah, monopoly power!)

Thanks,
- Stealth Dave

[stealthdave]

Okay, I poured over the docs some more, and found that there was a separate mux option for vod, so I tried the following:

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setup test mux ts setup test mux ogg setup test mux mp2t setup test mux mpeg1 setup test mux ps setup test mux asf

Some of those options I deliberately chose because they should not work (such as mpeg1), but with mpgv/mpga codec combo, they did, which leads me to believe that the setup mux option has no effect.

Is there a list somewhere of the four-letter codec codes? There's a table listing the codec here which is referenced in several places, but I couldn't find the four digit code listing, ala MPEG2 = mpgv, MPEG4 = mp4v, DivX 3 = div3, etc.

Thanks,
- Stealth Dave

[stealthdave]

I still haven't been able to transcode an mpeg4 stream using vod. We know that vlc's vod features can stream mpeg4 when the file is pre-encoded, and that you can transcode audio and video in vod mode. What changes when we try to transcode the stream to mpeg4 instead of mpeg2 (mpgv)? Or any other format for that matter? If this is the wrong place for this question, where should I ask?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
- Stealth Dave