[Linux] Convert Fraps video for YouTube?

Does any Linux user know a good method of converting videos captured of MapleStory using Fraps, into files that will be good quality on YouTube?

Currently I'm doing this (which I cribbed from some web site):

Code:

mencoder INfilename -o OUTfilename.avi -ovc x264 -x264encopts threads=3:bitrate=1500:pass=1
mencoder INfilename -o OUTfilename.avi -ovc x264 -x264encopts threads=3:bitrate=1500:pass=2

This takes a few seconds and results in a very nice and small file; it looks good when I play it before uploading, but it looks pretty bad on YouTube. I know I have seen YouTube videos of Maple where they look almost as good as the native game, when viewed at full size and/or high quality... and mine definitely do not measure up to that.

The reason I want to do this on Linux instead of the Vista machine where I'm capturing the video is that my Linux box has much more processor power and hard disk space than the laptop. I only have room for a few minutes of raw Fraps files so I transfer them to the "big" machine as soon as possible. I want to process them and upload from there.

I love mplayer as a movie player but I really am a nub when it comes to encoding. Can anyone give me a clue?

If you simply wait a few hours, the quality gets adjusted.

OK, can we assume 15 hours is sufficient time for a 30-second video?

For the highest quality, YouTube now recommends these setting for your video:

* H.264, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format
* 1280x720 resolution
* 44.1KHz Stereo MP3 or AAC audio
* Frame rate as the original video
* Up to 1GB file size and 10 min. duration

So I suspect you should have that.

Usually, the best would be to have H.264-video with 1280x720 resolution and 44.1KHz 232Kbps Stereo, as that's what HD-quality for youtube is.

For the highest quality, YouTube now recommends these setting for your video:

* H.264, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format
* 1280x720 resolution
* 44.1KHz Stereo MP3 or AAC audio
* Frame rate as the original video
* Up to 1GB file size and 10 min. duration

So I suspect you should have that.

Usually, the best would be to have H.264-video with 1280x720 resolution and 44.1KHz 232Kbps Stereo, as that's what HD-quality for youtube is.

Maple videos should be 800x600, different aspect ratio. Maybe that's why?

Also, why won't you just upload it raw?

@Sunrise, I did read the stuff you pasted in, it's in YouTube's FAQ. I'm using H.264, not changing resolution (as X said) or frame rate, and not recording audio.

As for uploading the raw video, 30 seconds of Maple capture is 375 MiB. As if that weren't bad enough, YouTube apparently can't handle the Fraps codec, so I have to convert it to something else anyway.

So, anyone have any actual technical advice about what to do here?

sorry no experience what so ever...but...mew~? : http://webupd8.blogspot.com/2009/07/linu...s-for.html

and http://www.ubuntugeek.com/pytube-best-yo...linux.html

and http://www.linuxforums.org/articles/linu...r_304.html

sorry if it is no help

Hey, thanks for the follow-up post! I'll check those out, but for now I wanted to post up what I've found that seems to work well enough for my needs.

Code:

mencoder file1.avi -o file2.mp4 -vf scale=480:360 -ovc x264 -x264encopts threads=3:bitrate=1500:pass=1
mencoder file1.avi -o file2.mp4 -ovc x264 -x264encopts threads=3:bitrate=1500:pass=2

It seems that if I reduce the size myself, to what YouTube would shrink it to anyway, the resulting quality is better. This also reduces a 350-400 MiB file down to about 5.5 MiB, obviously making uploading much more fun.