ENCODE(1)

💅 ENCODE(1) — like, the manual page for encodedv, bestie

okay so real talk: this is the General Commands Manual page for encodedv, and it's about to be your new fave. sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, and let's get into it.

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✨ NAME ✨

encodedv — encode a series of images to a digital video stream. that's the whole vibe. 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

encodedv [ options ] video_pattern [ audio_input ]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

encodedv takes a whole series of images in PPM/PGM/video format, plus optionally an audio stream, and compiles them all into a DV-encoded video stream. it's giving "glow up for your frames." ✨

pattern tells it where the input data lives. it can be either - for stdin (yes, just a lil dash, iconic), or a printf-style pattern that takes one numeric argument — that argument gets replaced by the current frame number. like image%03d.ppm, which expands to image000.ppm, image001.ppm, etc. the way that just works 🫶

• --version — show the encodedv version number. slay, now you know what you're running.
• -s, --start-frame=count — start encoding at frame number count. defaults to 0.
• -e, --end-frame=count — end encoding at frame number count. defaults to unlimited (so, literally forever until it runs out, no cap 💀).
• -l, --wrong-interlace — flips the lines to compensate for wrong interlacing in the input data. apparently this happened with mpeg2dec-generated data, so like, not our fault, ok?
• -p, --vlc-passes — vlc code distribution passes, 1-3. greater values = better quality, but not necessarily slower encoding! wild, i know. defaults to best quality = 3. 👑
• -v, --verbose — show encoder statistics / status information. main character energy: it tells you how it's doing.
• -i, --input=filter-name — choose your input filter: [>ppm<, pgm, video]. the ppm-filter only supports raw rgb ppm files, ngl. the pgm file format is the one generated by mpeg2dec of the livid project (http://linuxvideo.org). this means: Y-data appended by U and V data, which are scaled down by 2 and placed side by side. this option defaults to PPM. some things you want to keep in mind (important, bestie, read these 🙈):
  1. if you want to stream video frames (using video_pattern = "-"), you have to make sure there's no trailing garbage at the end of the pictures. this is ignored by most image manipulation programs! so like, check your output, fr fr.
  2. if you're one of the poor persons with a buggy PCI bus-mastering board, be sure to have a backup handy if you want to use video support. some versions of the VIA board chipsets crash your machine and even your harddisk. 😭 since encodedv uses full resolution capturing, it's more likely to trigger these bugs than other programs. if you have a VIA board you definitely want to upgrade to Linux 2.4.3 or higher. like, please. for me. 💀
  3. the encoded pictures must have the correct resolution. if they don't, you may want to try ppmqscale. the used video format is chosen by picture resolution — use 720x576 for PAL and 720x480 for NTSC. measurements matter, periodt.
  4. if you want to speed things up a little bit and you're generating the input pictures automatically, you may want to try pgm's instead of ppm's since they're encoded somewhat faster. but keep in mind that this pgm format is only optimal for PAL, since NTSC averages the U and V values somewhat differently. iykyk. 🌸
• -a, --audio-input=filter-name — choose your audio-input-filter: [>none<, wav, dsp]. no audio by default, silence is chic.
• -o, --output=filter-name — choose your output-filter: [>raw<]. raw it is.
• -q, --static-qno=table-no — static qno tables for quantisation on 2 VLC passes. for turbo (but somewhat lossy encoding) try -q [1,2] -p [2,3]. there are only two static qno tables registered right now:
  1. for sharp DV pictures
  2. for somewhat noisy satelite television signal

if you want to add some more, go ahead ;-) — yes that semicolon-winky is canon, i don't make the rules.

• -f, --fps=fps-number — set frames per second. default: use all frames.
• -d, --force-dct=dct-mode — force dct mode (88 or 248) for the whole picture. no mixing, no matching, one mode to rule them all.

🎀 Help Options 🎀

• -?, --help — show the help message. when in doubt, ask for help, we love a self-aware icon.
• --usage — display a brief usage message. the tl;dr of help messages.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

playdv(1), dvconnect(1), dubdv(1), encodedv(1). the whole friend group, honestly. go say hi. 🫶

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⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

see http://libdv.sourceforge.net/ for the latest version. that's the plug, go get the freshest one.

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

encodedv was written by James Bowman <jamesb@excamera.com> and Peter Schlaile <udbz@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>. legends, both of them. 💜

this manual page is based on encodedv's help message and was written by Daniel Kobras <kobras@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others — sharing is caring ✨). it was updated by Peter Schlaile <udbz@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>.

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🧚 — shoutout to the General Commands Manual fam, dated April 2001, filed under ENCODE(1). no cap, you're basically a DV encoding expert now. mwah 💅🎀