Video converter with directory watcher

Question

I have a windows 7 ultimate PC setup as my media server which uses media center to push video/music/tv/etc. to different extenders including dma2100, dma2200.

I was trying to find a video conversion software that has a director watcher so it automatically converts new files in a directory to the specified video format.

The closest solution I've found was the DVRMStoolbox but I found it very complicated and couldn't exactly figure out the right process to accomplish what I'm looking for. I've also used AVS Video conversion which is very user friendly but lacks the directory watcher.

Answer 1

To name three...

Mainconcept Reference supports "watch folder" for background transcoding

ProCoder 3 supports "watch folder"

Sorenson Squeeze 8 supports "watch folder"

This Thread at Videohelp.com also details a method to use Windows Media Encoder and a looping batch file to be able to do it.

use a more batch oriented method to convert via command line. Look at this page

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/AutomatingEncoding.aspx

and the section "Using the Command Line Encoder Sample"

The latest version of wmcmd.vbs is at

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123812

What you'd do is to set up a looping batch file which

1) looks for the presence of an AVI in the folder

2) runs the command line encoder

3) moves the source file to a "completed" folder so it isn't encoded again

4) loops back to step 1

In general, I find that Videohelp.com is an invaluable resource for all things encoding... or video related for that matter.

Answer 2

Watchfolder for Handbrake is a great solution on Windows -> http://videoscripts.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/watchfolder-for-handbrake/

Preferably with an older version of HandBrake which allows you to specify an output file size (version 0.9.5 or older): http://www.videohelp.com/download/HandBrake-0.9.5-Win_GUI.exe

Use it for converting 720p MKV to MP4 files (for playback on XBOX360) with the following command:

-f mp4 --strict-anamorphic -e ffmpeg -S 4000 -a 1 -E faac -6 dpl2 -R 48 -B 320 -D 4