Motion JWii
Version 0.9.6 CLI
James Madley (aka neonblue2, aka Maddles)
semaj91@bigpond.com (support, criticism, praise, ideas, new app name, etc)
Special thanks to Dana Olson for this page, which gave me a base on which I could learn how to make this.
MEncoder is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2. Both can be found in the Motion JWii download.
ffmpeg is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License. Both can be found in the Motion JWii download.
The included MEncoder binary was originally built for D-Vision.
The included FFmpeg binary was originally built for VisualHub and iSquint.
http://neonblue2.blogspot.com/
http://wiionthings.blogspot.com/
System Requirements
MEncoder (NOT MencoderOSX, use the included mencoder file)
ffmpeg (NOT ffmpegX, use the included ffmpeg file)
Mac OS 10.4 or later (If this works on earlier versions don’t be afraid to tell me)
Things to Know
Alright, so Motion JWii is a shell script command which uses the video/audio encoder MEncoder to convert video files on your computer into something the Wii can play. Unfortunately, you may not find it simple to use at first but that’s what I’m here for.
Other than the info below this section there are some other things you may want to know. Since Motion JWii is a shell script command file, it runs through the Terminal program. All information must be entered in through the Terminal and there is no visual interface. If you want a visual interface you can download the non-CLI version from MacUpdate.
If you’re getting annoyed with the Motion JPEG format and the size of the files created, I’ve found a more up-to-date version of FFmpeg can help. You can read about it here.
Resolution Settings
• Default outputs a file with the same resolution as the original
• Tiny outputs a file with a horizontal resolution of 160px and a scale vertical resolution
• Small outputs a file with a horizontal resolution of 320px and a scale vertical resolution
• Normal outputs a file with a horizontal resolution of 640px and a scale vertical resolution
• Large outputs a file with a horizontal resolution of 720px and a scale vertical resolution
• Huge outputs a file with a horizontal resolution of 848px and a scale vertical resolution
FPS Settings
• Default outputs a file with the same FPS as the original
• PAL outputs a file with a frame rate of 25fps
• NTSC outputs a file with a frame rate of 29.97fps
• NTSC_film outputs a file with a frame rate of 23.976fps
Variable Video Bitrates
• 1 gives the best quality
• 2 – 30 give mostly good quality
• 31 gives the worst quality
Encoding Passes
• 1 Pass outputs a file with a constant bitrate but larger in size
• 2 Pass outputs a file with a variable bitrate but smaller in size
Audio Codecs
• pcm_u8 (Default for ffmpeg)
• pcm_u16 (Default for MEncoder, better quality than pcm_u8)
• adpcm_ima_wav (optional MEncoder and ffmpeg codec, features audio noise)
• mulaw/μ-law (optional ffmpeg codec)
Audio Channels
• Default (same number of channels as source)
• Mono (1 channel)
• Stereo (2 channels)
• Surround (4 channels)
• 5.1 Surround (5.1 channels)
How to tell Motion JWii where the mencoder is…
Just open the Motion JWii 0.8.command file in a text editor (like TextEdit) and change the code so instead of this:
…you see this:
Where *file path here* is the path to the mencoder or ffmpeg file (you can just drag it in).
NOTES
• The largest resolution the Wii can take is 848×480, so HD video files will not work and will need to be scaled
• If you choose to use a custom resolution then you can only input numbers and not one of the predefined settings
• If errors appear in the Terminal window during encoding but the video still works, don’t worry about it. Do contact me if you encounter problems that stop the encoding process, or say things like [: =: unary operator expected after the file conversion has finished
• ffmpeg should only be used by those who know exactly what they want because it can only be configured with the advanced options
• If you use ffmpeg keep in mind that the audio will be pcm_u8 and not pcm_u16le like MEncoder (unless you choose otherwise). The difference as defined by Microsoft is: “16-bit data has more resolution, so the digital waveform sounds better. 8-bit PCM has less resolution, causing audible hiss in the waveform. It also requires less disk space.”
• If you don’t want to type the entire name of the option you want, you can just type the first letter (eg. d instead of Default)
• When you use multiple pass encoding a file called ffmpeg2pass-0.log will be created in your Home folder
