My response in a SPOILER so I do not take up so much page-space on a non-movie post:jpf wrote:I keep a record (a .txt file) of every movie I watched since 2007, each with a brief review & plot summary by myself (not exceeding 254 characters). This is useful at avoiding downloading stuff twice (but not fool-proof).
Spoiler: This is a VERY good idea, and the sort of the thing that appeals to me as perfectly logical. I used to take my list-making to extremes. However, I have spent the last few decades trying to CURB my obsessive tendencies, with limited success. Part of it involves not allowing myself to make lists! Fortunately, my inherent LAZINESS helps to combat my obsessiveness ... Wait ... are you able to read Chinese at all, and have a Chinese-text keyboard so you can make corrections? Or are you doing this TOTALLY dependent on the accuracy of the OCR!l?!?? If the latter, I want to KNOW what OCR software you are using that does Chinese THAT well! That is a CRAZY long period of time! Well, I can see that part of the problem is that you not just changing the codec (H265 to H264) but you are lowering the resolution (1080p down to 540p), so it should only be expected that it will not look as good. I was only doing a codec change. Ah, NOW I see. Your computer is even older than mine! Anyway, ffmpeg is a workhorse and is used as the basis for other software. Correct me if I am wrong, but it is only usable on the command line, right? This is what keeps me from using it, because I know that I will type one wrong character and get a big fat zero as a result. I need a GUI! I need to click buttons! People who are command-line proficient really impress me. Back 18 months ago I was using XMedia Recode with just standard settings. After a while I began experimenting with the many, many different choices of settings and got better results. However, eventually I had problems with it crashing, possibly because my computer was not powerful enough for all the setting options I was throwing at it. In your case, perhaps an earlier version of the program will work. Maybe. Lately I have been using Avidemux. It is partly based on ffmpeg and supposedly can be used on the command line (although I have not tried that). It gives me results I want without crashing. It was mostly trial-and-error until I found quality settings that I like without making a ridiculously large file. I am dissatisfied with my Kapsalon Romy recode because I unknowingly bit-starved the result and got a SMALLER H264 file, when H265 is more efficiently compressed and should be the smaller file for the same quality. Mine would probably look GREAT on a smaller TV, but on my big TV I can see some pixelization. Disclaimer: I kept the same personal computer from 1990 to 2007 and stayed OFFLINE until then, when I upgraded to something that would actually be effective on the WWW. I downloaded and watched videos on it and ripped DVDs with standard software, but did not try any real video processing. I did not even know how to resync subtitles!! I had to download the correct ones!! Then I upgraded again in 2014 when that computer fried. My point is that I do NOT have real experience with your era of computer, so I do not really know what to expect as far as video processing on it goes. I do not even know if my recommended software would work on it. I wish I could be more of a help. |