Hacking the GUI

[JHam]

I love the product and think the MP4 encoding is a neat idea, but encoding for Zune & iPod specifically would be much more useful to me.

Before I start poking around in the code can someone point me in the direction of what to update to add a Zune & iPod check box to the GUI and how to make them call the appropriate ffmpeg command?

And on that note, does anyone know the best settings to make Zune & iPod compatible video files?

Thanks

[Ron Olsen]

As an alternative to hacking the VB code, you can use HandBrake on a PC or Mac to encode to other formats: http://handbrake.fr/

HandBrake has presets for Apple devices, including the iPod, iPad, and Apple TV.

Don't know about the Zune, however.

The simplest hack to the VB code would be to modify /opt/vortexbox/docd_helper.php to modify the ffmpeg options for mp4 encoding to be suitable for the iPod or Zune.

You'll have to do some research to figure out what those options should be.

The command-line version of HandBrake has an option where it prints out all the encoding parameters for each preset; this would be a good place to start to figure out the ffmpeg options needed for the iPod or Zune.

[cburbs]

The downside to having your vortexbox do the encoding is the time it will take -

I did a 5 minute test file a while back on 4 different machines for a handbrake encode -

MSI Atom 1.6 – 2gb ***This is now my Vortexbox
encoding job completed: 01:34:30

Asus Pentium 4 2.8 – 2gb
encoding job completed: 01:03:26

HP laptop Pentium DualCore- 1.72 - 2g
encoding job completed: 00:35:52

AMD Quad Core 260 – 4gb
encoding job completed: 00:09:54

Some options that may help people out are the following: They both allow you to setup a watch folder to convert and save to another folder. I only suggest these as then you can run the conversion on a beefier machine.

Handbrake watchfolder - http://videoscripts.wordpress.com/

MECBuddy - http://mcebuddy.com/
http://www.hack7mc.com/2010/04.....n-wtv.html
http://www.mediasmartserver.ne.....sh-new-ui/

[pmendes]

The downside to having your vortexbox do the encoding is the time it will take -

I did a 5 minute test file a while back on 4 different machines for a handbrake encode -

...
Handbrake watchfolder - http://videoscripts.wordpress.com/

MECBuddy - http://mcebuddy.com/
http://www.hack7mc.com/2010/04.....n-wtv.html
http://www.mediasmartserver.ne.....sh-new-ui/

How to Handbrake watchfolder to run on a powerfull vortexbox server? I want to guet compact files from the DVD/BD disks. Just insert the dvd and forget, cover art and a small mkv file will appear under the dnla server...

Any idea?