For videos recorded off TV this command works well and keeps the video scaled properly:

mencoder input_file -o output_file.mp4 -of lavf -lavfopts format=mp4 -ss 1 -vf pp=ci,scale=432:324,crop=432:320,harddup -ovc x264 -x264encopts crf=30.0:nocabac:level_idc=30:global_header:threads=2 -ofps 30000/1001 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4:object=2:br=128:raw -channels 2 -srate 44100 -af volnorm

This isn’t an elaborate HowTo, otherwise I might break down each command switch. Check the man pages on mencoder for details on each of the switches. This does work, however.

For videos ripped from DVDs you own, (generally 16:9 ratio), this command works very well (really only the scale of the video has changed):

mencoder input_file -o output_file.mp4 -of lavf -lavfopts format=mp4 -ss 1 -vf pp=ci,scale=480:270,expand=480:272,harddup -ovc x264 -x264encopts crf=30.0:nocabac:level_idc=30:global_header:threads=2 -ofps 30000/1001 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4:object=2:br=128:raw -channels 2 -srate 44100 -af volnorm

This will keep the letterbox scale without stretching the video. You can play with the scale= ratios but the numbers in the above commands work pretty well. A 90 minute video ends up transcoded to about 210-220megs, which fit pretty well on today’s micro SD’s (my G1 has an 8gig micro SD). Though I wouldn’t want to watch too many movies on such a small screen (nevermind the battery life issues).

In the case where you may have ripped the entire DVD contents to a hard disk and want to transcode from a hard disk rip to h264, replace the input_file in the above command with the following:

-dvd-device /home/john/rips/GROUNDHOG_DAY/VIDEO_TS dvd://x

Where you replace your path to the rip instead of /home/john/… and where dvd://x is the DVD title (the primary movie is usually 1, so dvd://1). This will transcode the entire move of a ripped DVD to h264. You can also do this directly off a dvd simply by inserting the dvd and in place of input_file in the above command, simply type: dvd://1.

This app supports multiple channel (and you can navigate between them simply by swiping your finger left/right) and supports multiple IRC servers.

Project page here:

If you’re looking to convert your videos from .avi or .mpeg format to the highly efficient .3gp format (natively supported by the Google Android OS, running on phones such as T-Mobile’s G1), then look no further than this application. The application runs on Windows & Linux!

Click here for their site, the links to the application are at the bottom of the page.

Click here to conveniently download the Ubuntu .deb file for the application (4.4 megs).