RetroPie Convert Videos

A tool for RetroPie to convert videos.

WARNING: The Raspberry Pi doesn't have that much power and converting videos is very demanding. It takes about 35 seconds to convert a video, so if you have a lot of videos... Do the math ;)

Prerequisites

At this moment this script only works with videos downloaded using:

• Steven Selph's Scraper.
• Lars Muldjord's Skyscraper.

Use the ROM folder for gamelists & images option in Steven Selph's Scraper.

Use the ROM folder for gamelists & media option in Lars Muldjord's Skyscraper.

Installation

cd /home/pi/
git clone https://github.com/hiulit/RetroPie-Convert-Videos.git
cd RetroPie-Convert-Videos/
sudo chmod +x retropie-convert-videos.sh

Update

cd /home/pi/RetroPie-Convert-Videos/
git pull

Usage

./retropie-convert-videos.sh [OPTIONS]

If no options are passed, you will be prompted with a usage example:

USAGE: ./retropie-convert-videos.sh [OPTIONS]

Use './retropie-convert-videos.sh --help' to see all the options.

Before trying to convert any videos, --to-ces and --scraper must be set.

Once the conversion is finished, a new converted-<to_ces> folder with the resulting videos will be created in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/<system>/images if you are using Steven Selph's Scraper or in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/<system>/media/videos if you are using Lars Muldjord's Skyscraper. You can then replace the old videos with these ones.

Log files are stored in logs/.

Options

• --help: Print the help message.
• --path [OPTIONS]: Set the path to the ROMs folder. (optional)
• --from-ces [OPTIONS]: Set Color Encoding System (C.E.S) to convert from. (optional)
• --to-ces [OPTIONS]: Set Color Encoding System (C.E.S) to convert to. (mandatory)
• --scraper [OPTIONS]: Set the scraper. (mandatory)
• --convert-all: Convert videos for all systems. Warning! It can take a lot of time.
• --convert-systems [OPTIONS]: Select systems to convert videos.
• --gui [OPTIONS]: Start the GUI.
• --version: Print the script version.

Examples

--help

Print the help message.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --help

--path [OPTIONS] (optional)

Set the path to the ROMs folder.

By default it's /home/pi/RetroPie/roms.

Options

• path - The path to the ROMs folder.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --path "/path/to/your/roms/folder"

--from-ces [OPTIONS] (optional)

Set Color Encoding System (C.E.S) to convert from in the config file.

Target only videos with this particular C.E.S. If left blank, it will target all videos, regardless of the C.E.S.

In most cases, you'd want to set it to yuv444p as this is the C.E.S that gives errors when using the OMX player.

Options

• C.E.S - Color Encoding System (C.E.S) to convert from.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --from-ces "yuv444p"

--to-ces [OPTIONS] (mandatory)

Set Color Encoding System (C.E.S) to convert to in the config file.

Convert videos to this particular C.E.S.

In most cases, you'd want to set it to yuv420p as this is the C.E.S that seems to work well with the OMX player.

Options

• C.E.S - Color Encoding System (C.E.S) to convert to.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --to-ces "yuv420p"

--scraper (mandatory)

Set the scraper in the config file.

Options

• sselph - Steven Selph's Scraper.
• skyscraper - Lars Muldjord's Skyscraper.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --scraper "sselph"

--convert-all

Warning! It can take a lot of time.

Convert videos for all systems.

Checks the config file to see if at least the to_ces key has a value.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --convert-all

--convert-systems [OPTIONS]

Select systems to convert videos.

If no options are passed, it displays a checklist from which one or more systems can be selected.

Checks the config file to see if at least the to_ces key has a value.

Options

• systems - Any of the system available in RetroPie's ROMS directory (e.g. nes, snes, megadrive, etc.). Systems must be quoted and comma-separated. See the example below.

Example (without options)

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --convert-systems

Example (with options)

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --convert-systems "nes, snes"

--gui [OPTIONS]

Start the GUI.

It lets you perform all the functions, but in a more friendly manner.

Options

• standalone - Launch the script without checking if RetroPie is installed, which it does by default.

Example (without options)

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --gui

Example (with options)

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --gui standalone

--version

Print the script's version.

Example

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --version

Config file

When setting the C.E.S using --from-ces or --to-ces, or when using --scraper or --path, the generated values are stored in retropie-convert-videos-settings.cfg.

# Settings for RetroPie Convert Videos.
#
# TIP: run the 'ffmpeg -pix_fmts' command to get a full list of Color Encoding Systems (C.E.S).

# From color (optional)
# Target only videos with this particular C.E.S.
# If left blank, it will target all videos, regardless of the C.E.S.
# (e.g. "yuv444p")

from_ces = ""

# To color (mandatory)
# Convert videos to this particular C.E.S.
# (e.g. "yuv420p")

to_ces = ""

# Scraper (mandatory)
# The scraper used to get the videos.
# Available scrapers:
# - "sselph" (Steven Selph's Scraper).
# - "skyscraper" (Lars Muldjord's Skyscraper).

scraper = ""

# ROMs folder path (optional)
# Set the path to the ROMs folder. By default it's "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms".
# (e.g. "/path/to/your/roms/folder")

roms_path = ""

You can edit this file directly instead of using --from-ces, --to-ces, --scraper or --path.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.

Authors

• Me 😛 @hiulit.

Credits

Thanks to:

• Clyde - For posting the code in the RetroPie forum that inspired this script.
• Dan Edwards - For helping with #3.
• furnace and mitu - For pointing out some issues on how to better support Lars Muldjord's Skyscraper.
• pruperting - For the code from which the progress bar is based on.
• Memodellocos - For fixing the Skyscraper's videos path in #5.
• Rion - For the idea of having the script work as a standalone app, without the need of RetroPie being installed.

License

MIT License.