TVDOS Movie Encoder - Automatic Version

A simplified, user-friendly C program that automatically encodes videos into TVDOS-compatible movie files. This version internally uses FFmpeg and FFprobe to handle all video processing, making it as simple as a single command.

Features

• Automatic video analysis: Uses FFprobe to detect frame count, FPS, duration, and audio
• Built-in FFmpeg integration: No manual pipe setup required
• Automatic audio conversion: Converts audio streams to MP2 format internally
• Simple command-line interface: Just specify input and output files
• Flexible resolution: Default 560x448 optimized for TSVM, or custom resolution
• Stdout support: Can output to stdout for piping to other tools

Quick Start

Installation

# Install dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt-get install build-essential zlib1g-dev ffmpeg

# Build the encoder
make

# Test with sample video
./test.sh

Basic Usage

# Simple conversion with default settings
./tvdos_encoder input.mp4 -o output.mov

# Custom resolution
./tvdos_encoder input.avi -s 1024x768 -o output.mov

# Output to stdout (for piping)
./tvdos_encoder input.mkv > output.mov

Command Syntax

tvdos_encoder [options] input_video

Options:
  -o, --output FILE    Output TVDOS movie file (default: stdout)
  -s, --size WxH       Video resolution (default: 560x448)
  -h, --help           Show help message

What Happens Automatically

1. Video Analysis: FFprobe extracts:

   • Frame count
   • Frame rate (FPS)
   • Duration
   • Audio stream detection

2. Audio Processing: If audio is present:

   • Converts to MP2 format at 32kHz
   • Uses optimal bitrate (224k) and psychoacoustic model
   • Creates temporary file for muxing

3. Video Processing:

   • Scales and crops video to specified resolution
   • Converts to raw RGB24 format
   • Pipes directly to encoder

4. Encoding:

   • iPF Format 1-delta compression
   • Automatic keyframe detection (every 30 frames)
   • Zlib compression
   • TVDOS container format

Examples

Converting Different Video Formats

# Convert MP4 video
./tvdos_encoder movie.mp4 -o movie.mov

# Convert AVI with custom resolution
./tvdos_encoder video.avi -s 800x600 -o video.mov

# Convert MKV to stdout
./tvdos_encoder show.mkv > show.mov

Batch Processing

#!/bin/bash
# Convert all MP4 files in directory
for file in *.mp4; do
    output="${file%.mp4}.mov"
    echo "Converting $file to $output..."
    ./tvdos_encoder "$file" -o "$output"
done

Integration with Other Tools

# Download YouTube video and convert directly
yt-dlp -o - "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" | \
  ffmpeg -i pipe:0 -c copy temp.mp4 && \
  ./tvdos_encoder temp.mp4 -o youtube_video.mov

# Convert and immediately test in TSVM
./tvdos_encoder input.mp4 -o test.mov && \
  cp test.mov assets/disk0/

Technical Details

Automatic Resolution Handling

• Default: 560×448 (TSVM optimal)
• Custom: Any resolution supported by FFmpeg
• Scaling: Maintains aspect ratio with FFmpeg's scale filter

Audio Processing Pipeline

Input Video → FFmpeg → MP2 (32kHz, 224k, stereo) → TVDOS Muxer

Video Processing Pipeline

Input Video → FFmpeg → RGB24 frames → iPF1 Encoder → TVDOS Container

Delta Compression

• Keyframes: Every 30 frames or when delta > 57.6% of original
• P-frames: Only changed 4×4 blocks are encoded
• Opcodes: SKIP, PATCH, END commands for efficient delta representation

Performance

• Speed: Typically 50-100 FPS on modern hardware
• Compression: 70-90% reduction from raw RGB24
• Memory: Scales with resolution, ~10MB for 560×448

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. "Failed to analyze video metadata"

   • Check if input file exists and is a valid video
   • Ensure FFprobe is installed and accessible

2. "Failed to start video conversion"

   • Verify FFmpeg installation
   • Check if input format is supported

3. "Warning: Failed to convert audio"

   • Audio conversion failed but video will proceed
   • May indicate unsupported audio codec

Debugging

Enable verbose FFmpeg output by modifying the source:

// Change this line in start_video_conversion():
"ffmpeg -i \"%s\" -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 -vf scale=%d:%d -y - 2>/dev/null"
// To:
"ffmpeg -i \"%s\" -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 -vf scale=%d:%d -y -"

Supported Input Formats

Any format supported by your FFmpeg installation:

• MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, WMV, FLV
• WebM, OGV, 3GP, M4V
• Raw formats, image sequences

Comparison with Manual Pipeline

Feature	Manual Pipeline	Auto Encoder
Command complexity	High (3+ commands)	Low (1 command)
Error handling	Manual	Automatic
Metadata detection	Manual calculation	Automatic
Audio conversion	Separate step	Integrated
Ease of use	Expert	Beginner-friendly

Integration with TSVM

Generated .mov files are directly compatible with TSVM:

1. Copy to assets/disk0/ directory
2. Load via TVDOS file operations
3. Play using TVDOS movie player

Building from Source

Dependencies

• GCC or compatible C compiler
• zlib development headers
• FFmpeg and FFprobe executables

Compilation

make                    # Build encoder
make help              # Show build options
make test              # Show usage examples
make install-deps-ubuntu  # Install dependencies (Ubuntu)

License

Part of the TSVM project ecosystem. Refer to main TSVM license for terms of use.