Transcoding AVCHD using latest FFMPEG build

Recently I found myself arguing with ffmpeg to accept the fact that my template for libx264 is in fact where I know it is. Some time ago it was pretty simple - you just had to copy the template into the current directory and use the form -vpre ./preset to make ffmpeg use it. Unfortunately after last update of ffmpeg this is not the case anymore...

After some time I've finally figured it out. Due to some incompatibility between the Linux version and Win32 binary the only place where ffmpeg is actually properly looking for those templates is

%HOME%/.ffmpeg

To that end I've created the following batch script and copied the ffmpeg's x264 templates to a subfolder .ffmpeg where my ffmpeg binary lives:

@echo off
SETLOCAL
SET HOME=%~d0/
ffmpeg.exe %*
ENDLOCAL

And that's it! Now ffmpeg thinks that the home folder is where it lives and I don't have to pollute my home folder with stuff that doesn't belong there.

You can download the latest FFMPEG binaries from here (you want the "static" version for this setup).

Have fun!