transcode2H264

Unattended video transcoder to H264 and ACC codecs, in MKV containers.

What does this do?

This program transcode video files to H264 and AAC in MKV format. Output files are compatible with computers, Blu-ray and HD-players. Subtitles, if present, are automatically detected and soft subbed into the corresponding output files.

How does it work?

transcode2H264 uses ffmpeg, mkmerge and other system tools to convert the input videos.

How do I install it?

As a python script you can just run the transcode2H264.py file, or put a symbolic link in any directory of your PATH (e.g. /usr/local/bin) The script needs ffmpeg and mkvtoolnix to work, so, if it can not find them in your system it will complain and exit.

Do not many similar programs already exist?

Probably, but I use this. I like it and it works well for me, if you like it too, enjoy it.

How do I use it?

Just do: transcode2H264.py video_file[s]

It has some options (type transcode2H264 -h to see them), but defaults should work in most cases. Maybe you would like to play with the -l option, if you are a perfectionist as myself.

Options

positional arguments:
  video                 Input video file(s).

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            Show this help message and exit.
  -p PRESET, --preset PRESET
                        X264 preset [default: medium].
  -q CRF, --crf CRF     CRF value [default: 23]. Determines the output video
                        quality. Smaller values gives better qualities and
                        bigger file sizes, bigger values result in less
                        quality and smaller file sizes. CRF values should be
                        in the range of 0 to 51. 0 is lossless (and with the
                        biggest file size), 51 is worst possible quality (with
                        the smallest file size) and 18 is visually lossless.
                        Default value results in a nice quality/size ratio.
  -r, --replace-original-video-file
                        If set then original video files will be erased after
                        transcoding. WARNING: deleted files can not be easily
                        recovered!
  -l AVLANG, --avlang AVLANG
                        Default audio language for MKV files obtained (used
                        only if the original stream languages fail to be
                        determined) [default: eng].
  -L SLANG, --slang SLANG
                        Default subtitle language of soft-subbed subtitles
                        (only used if original subtitle languages fail to be
                        determined) [default: spa].
  -x FILENAME_POSTFIX, --filename-postfix FILENAME_POSTFIX
                        Postfix to be added to newly created H.264 video files
                        [default: _h264].
  -t THREADS, --threads THREADS
                        Indicates the number of processor cores the script
                        will use. 0 indicates to use as many as possible
                        [default: 0].
  -c, --auto-crop       Turn on autocrop function. WARNING: Use with caution
                        as some video files has variable width horizontal (and
                        vertical) black bars, in those cases you will probably
                        lose data.
  -v, --version         Show program's version number and exit.