transcoding?

[Jonathan]

First off, does anyone here transcode?

Second, do you transcode everything you get your hands on, or only certain content?

[VLSmooth]

I do not transcode. My roommate does.

I think he only transcodes media to watch on his Homebrew PSP ( wiki ).

[Jonathan]

He only transcodes media to watch on his Homebrew PSP ( wiki ).

The only reason to transcode is to watch on a wimpy, i.e. mobile, device.

Does he transcode everything on the assumption he might want to one day watch it on the PSP, or does he only transcode when he specifically wants to watch something? It seems like it takes too long to transcode on demand.

[VLSmooth]

Got more details. He typically transcodes to different "complexities" of h.264. the playback platforms include:

• PSP
• Video iPod
• Desktop PC

Rationales include required format for the device, and simple compression (instead of raw DVD mpeg level-2) for easy access.

He also adds "about transcoding -- it doesn't take too long if you get a decent system". Of course, "too long" is subjective.

[Jonathan]

sure, sure. so he just decides he wants something in psp format and then he waits while it chugs along?

[VLSmooth]

Sounds about right.

[Jason]

I used to use that 360 connect thing to transcode video so I could play it on my xbox. I didn't wait for it to chug. It did it in real time and then streamed it over the network. The quality wasn't very good because I was doing it off my laptop, but the concept was cool.

[Jonathan]

Er, isn't real time awfully slow?

[Jonathan]

http://www.nullriver.com/index/products/connect360

This?

[Jason]

Nope. I don't think that product is still around, but I think the code base became this: http://runtime360.com/projects/transcod ... 0-download

It was able to do the transcoding in real time from xvid to wmv, but as I said, the quality was horrible.