I'm starting to use Amarec to record PC games. I use Amarec to get a lossless Lagarith/PCM AVI recording, and then I can convert that to a lossy H.264/AAC MP4 video with a much smaller filesize.
Now, when I record console games on DVD, I'm used to keeping the DVD files since they're not awfully big (4.38 GB for 2 hours of SP quality = 36.5 MB per minute). By keeping the DVD files around, I can later re-encode the video if I want to. For example, I can make an MP4 with different quality settings, or I can make a route comparison video containing clips from old DVD runs as well as newly recorded runs.
However, when recording PC games, the original uncompressed AVI is on the order of 500 MB per minute, which is too big to keep on my hard drive(s). I want to keep a smaller re-encodable video.
I'd like *one* of the following two solutions:
(1) Be able to re-encode directly from the H.264 MP4 file (with good, but not necessarily super good quality). I've read the Avisynth article on loading MPEG-4 AVC files (if I understand right, this is what H.264 MP4 is), but I can't seem to find the DGAVCIndex program anywhere, and I'm reading that FFmpegSource may have caveats with frame accuracy. I also know Avidemux can open H.264 MP4 and has scripting, but after an initial look at it, it seemed like the Avidemux scripting documentation was a bit lacking (not documenting every function, often not documenting function parameters clearly, etc.).
(2) Save a version in an intermediate format that's smaller than uncompressed AVI, and easier to re-encode from than H.264 MP4. Something that has as good of a quality to size ratio as possible. I know of XviD, since SDA used to use it, but I don't know if anything better has surfaced in the past 5 or so years.
Basically, I think I have several options and I'm not sure if any one of them stands out. I also feel like I might be missing out on some better options, as I'm having trouble finding good resources on video encoding. Can anyone give advice on what would be the best options (giving a fairly good quality to size ratio, possible to automate encoding tasks, and not too difficult to figure out)?
Now, when I record console games on DVD, I'm used to keeping the DVD files since they're not awfully big (4.38 GB for 2 hours of SP quality = 36.5 MB per minute). By keeping the DVD files around, I can later re-encode the video if I want to. For example, I can make an MP4 with different quality settings, or I can make a route comparison video containing clips from old DVD runs as well as newly recorded runs.
However, when recording PC games, the original uncompressed AVI is on the order of 500 MB per minute, which is too big to keep on my hard drive(s). I want to keep a smaller re-encodable video.
I'd like *one* of the following two solutions:
(1) Be able to re-encode directly from the H.264 MP4 file (with good, but not necessarily super good quality). I've read the Avisynth article on loading MPEG-4 AVC files (if I understand right, this is what H.264 MP4 is), but I can't seem to find the DGAVCIndex program anywhere, and I'm reading that FFmpegSource may have caveats with frame accuracy. I also know Avidemux can open H.264 MP4 and has scripting, but after an initial look at it, it seemed like the Avidemux scripting documentation was a bit lacking (not documenting every function, often not documenting function parameters clearly, etc.).
(2) Save a version in an intermediate format that's smaller than uncompressed AVI, and easier to re-encode from than H.264 MP4. Something that has as good of a quality to size ratio as possible. I know of XviD, since SDA used to use it, but I don't know if anything better has surfaced in the past 5 or so years.
Basically, I think I have several options and I'm not sure if any one of them stands out. I also feel like I might be missing out on some better options, as I'm having trouble finding good resources on video encoding. Can anyone give advice on what would be the best options (giving a fairly good quality to size ratio, possible to automate encoding tasks, and not too difficult to figure out)?
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