efficient single-pass to dual-pass conversion

[david_hadas]

The target:
"Capture a TV channel and compress it to the minimum file size while maintaining an acceptable TV standrad quality"

Therefore:
- Must use a dual pass MPEG 4 encoder to achive the reduced file size.

So:
- Use a software based dual-pass encoder (such as xdiv).

But it takes too long for my 3 GHz PC...

So I have this crazy idea - how about using a low cost, single-pass MPEG 4 hardware encoder and using software to convert the result to a dual-pass MPEG 4 file...

Is this doable using xdiv? - Can xdiv take adventage of the fact that the input is single-pass MPEG 4 encrypted already to reduce the time required in converting this file to a well compressed dual-pass file?

How much faster (if any) will the conversion be?

David

[UncasMS]

define: "too long for my 3 GHz PC.." please

and stay away from converting to A => B => C if you want to keep some quality