MPEG movie encoding on a Linux box?

There is a way to generate MPEG movies using full motion video and audio output from a program like Broadcast 2000. The encoding sequence is hard but you really aren't doing video until you write MPEG files.

Encoding the video

Basically you render a list of JPEG images for the Berkeley video encoder. The JPEG images must be 320x240 and 24 fps. Other frame rates and sizes are supported but not documented.

Encoding the audio

Render a 16 bit, big endian, PCM file for the ISO MPEG audio encoder. The audio must be 44100 and either 1 or 2 channels. Encode the audio in a 192 kbit, layer II file.

Multiplex into an mpeg system stream

The resulting MPEG files are multiplexed into an mpeg system stream, the kind you download on the internet, using the mplex program.

Let's get started. This tarball contains all the command line utilities you need, as distributed by their respective authors, with virtually nothing altered. This means any Makefile hacking must be done seperately in each directory. More stuff can be found on the Heroine Virtual page.

Here's how I export MPEG streams. Render out your project into a Quicktime movie of whatever frame rate, frame size, audio rate, and audio size you want. Load the output into a new Broadcast 2000 session or whatever program you use. Resample the audio to 44100, scale the video to 320x240, reframe the video to 24fps, and write PCM and JPEG files in the MPEG specifications for the MPEG encoders.

For the audio encoder I run a tuned script in the audio directory that invokes the encoder with certain parameters.

Next I run the Berkeley encoder by issuing mpeg_encode parameters in the video directory, with a tuned parameters file.

Finally comes the multiplexing stage in the multiplex directory. I run the multiplexer by running another script in the multiplex directory. The final product is dumped in the multiplex directory.

Voila! Quit your job at ILM, you've got an MPEG movie studio at home.