Does anybody know what determines the speed of ffmpeg when converting a downloaded flv or ts programme file?
At what speed can you expect it to run/convert at on average?
What's the minimum conversion speed you can expect it to run at?

I ask these questions because sometimes I see the speed of a conversion on my laptop as much as x150+. But then a lot of the time I have it go as slow as about x0.125 or similar which can take an hour/s or so to finish depending on the size of the file but it can be just over 1GB in size, normally an hour long HD programme at 25fps. It never used to convert at this ridiculously slow speed. I know I've had this problem since well before Christmas but I'm sure I didn't notice it before November or the end of November. Since then I've had some personal issues to deal with which delayed my time investigating. I have tried disabling any programs that I don't need running in the background etc but without any effect.
If ffmpeg can be configured then how is that done?
As I've upgraded to GIP v2.97 recently, I understand that it comes with a modified version of ffmpeg. So what modifications are there compared to a normal version of ffmpeg?
Any help/advice etc would be appreciated, thank you.

My system is
AMD E2-1800 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.70GHz
6.00GB RAM (5.59GB usable)
64-bit Windows 8.1
677GB hard drive with 200GB free space
GIP v2.97

The ffmpeg supplied with get_iplayer is not modified in any way.

Okay Dinky. I thought I had read somewhere that it was & that's why I thought ffmpeg supplied with GIP was a modified version.

I've had a couple of ideas that may or may not work in speeding up the file conversion which is presently holding up my downloads.
Firstly, could I use a different file converter software in place of ffmpeg? And if the answer is 'Yes' then how do I go about setting that up?
I've had a little search on the Net for the fastest file converter & I'm still looking at the mo. Any suggestions on which file converter is the fastest?
Just to mention on my limited search is what was said about one called HANDBRAKE.
One reason some other people disapprove of the software
Sound - tracks out of sync / not in sync with the picture.
I'm getting this with my present setup using ffmpeg but only on HD video files.

My other idea was to use GIP to download a programme in its original file type, i.e. .ts or .flv & once it's finished downloading to leave it like that without converting to MP4 at that time & then do the file converting at a later time when no downloads are being done using whichever file converting software.
And if I did this then how do I setup GIP to just download the file & not convert it once it has downloaded?

Another idea I had to speed up the file conversion in case the standard hard drive I've got in my laptop doesn't help was to deal with that. Installing an SSD would help greatly but I don't want to go down that route because I was originally intending to get a new laptop by Christmas just gone which would've had an SSD in it but I've had some setbacks & so I've got to wait before I get one. So I don't want to purchase an SSD for my existing laptop if I'm going to get one in my new laptop when I get it. So I thought about a temporary option & that is to use a fast USB 3.0 Memory Stick for the downloads to go to. But I don't know how to redirect the downloads to that instead of the folder that it goes to at the moment. And I don't know if it will be quicker downloading to the memory stick than to the present HDD.

(29-01-2017, 08:43 AM)Just to mention on my limited search is what was said about one called HANDBRAKE.

I doubt Handbrake would be a solution. If you don't understand why, look up the difference between re-muxing (what get_iplayer does with ffmpeg) and re-encoding/transcoding (what Handbrake does);

Quote:And if I did this then how do I setup GIP to just download the file & not convert it once it has downloaded?

Recording section of Options wiki page

(29-01-2017, 09:20 AM)But I don't know how to redirect the downloads to that instead of the folder that it goes to at the moment.

FAQ list, Usage and examples wiki page, Output section of Options wiki page, TV guide

Thanks for that Dinky. I shall go & gen up it.