SGI: Discussion

So, I'm sitting here converting a captured movie to Quicktime and wondering if there is a faster way of doing this.

It is about a six minute segment, captured at full size/frame rate with a Cosmo Compression card (which only works when using the Cosmo jpeg codec). Unfortunately I need to turn this into Quicktime at half size and 15 frames per second.

I'm currently using MediaConvert to turn the captured segment into Quicktime (same size/rate) using the photo jpeg codec. From there I can get it onto one of my Macs to get it down further with Sorenson Video 3 and reducing the size/rate at the same time.

It is going to take six hours to convert this thing (which captured in six minutes). Is there some thing I can do to cut this process down? Capturing straight to Quicktime at the size/rate I want is possible, but the quality is awful. Is there a Cosmo codec for Macs so I can work with the original captured file? I'm using IRIX 6.2, is there better Quicktime codecs included with 6.5.x (not really an option as I don't have the money for it right now)?

Just wondering as I have time to kill.

(hardware: Indy R4400sc/175, 128 MB RAM, 9.1 GB hard drive, Indy Video and Cosmo Compress boards)

It's been a while since I've used a Cosmo, but I'm pretty sure at least one of the MJPEG codecs can be read natively by Quicktime. I remember just transfering the MJPEG file over and editing/exporting on the Mac. This was last year under OS X 10.1 or 10.2; I'd double check on my Cosmo but it would require an IRIX reinstall.

Well, the Quicktime Cinepak codec requires a license and so does the MPEG-1 encoding.

I guess this gives me a reason to finally figure out how to set the name server address so I can get on the internet and see if anything at the old 6.2 shareware site helps. Besides, I need some other stuff and grabbing parts and pieces to bring over gets old fast. Specially when you get conflicts while installing something simple like AbiWord.

I'm trying it again, this time converting it to quicktime without any compression. Early estimates show this knocked off about 2 hours... it's a start. I'll try the SGI JPEG encoding on something smaller next.

I just want to get the time down a little while keeping the quality up. This is mainly just to figure out how long projects of this nature would take.

Thanks.

Oh no, I never used either of those. This was Quicktime MJPEG A which worked fine with Quicktime. I was using IRIX 6.5 so maybe this isn't something available in 6.2.

From a Usenet post:

Although the MPEG and cinepak encoder required a license (back in the pre 6.5 days) it is now free to use both of them. For IRIX 6.2 and 5.3 users, check out the link on the bottom of my post. If you 5.3 users can’t find the mpeg or cinepak codecs on your install CD, try to get the desktop special edition CD for 5.3 which should have them.

http://www.sgi.com/support/licensing/free_licenses.html

When i was walking around i had an idea. Why not make a personal video recorder (Tivo) with an SGI like an O2? O2s have video imput and output ports for video and audio capture, and if you could find a pci remote control reciever and remote, and the company that made it had open linux drivers someone could write Irix drivers for it (i dont know this for a fact because i havent programmed for irix). Someone could alse port a program like Freevo or other Linux based PVR program and you would have yourself a Irix based based Tivo with a cool looking box !

I might be crazy but it sounds like a good way to make good use of SGIs that you dont use.

Interesting idea. I imagine you could also achieve something similar with an Octane that has the Personal Video Option. But, like you mentioned, there would be some coding involved.