transcode-videos.sh

#!/bin/sh
if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
    echo "Please provide exactly 1 argument." >&2
    exit 1
fi
input_dir="$1"
# From: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/e4194o/comment/kfr3ama/
ffmpeg_args="-vf yadif=mode=send_field:parity=bff -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 21 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -b:a 256k -strict -2 -write_tmcd 0"
source_ext="avi"
target_ext="mkv"
echo "Input directory: $input_dir"
echo "Target extension: $target_ext"

find "$input_dir" -iname "*.$source_ext" -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d '' file; do
    filename="$(basename -- "$file")"
    directory=$(dirname -- "$file")
    target_file="$directory/${filename%.*}.$target_ext"
    if [ -f "$target_file" ]; then
        echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')] Skipping '$file' -> '$target_file' (target file exists)."
        continue
    fi
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')] Converting '$file' -> '$target_file'.."
    ffmpeg -nostdin -hide_banner -i "$file" $ffmpeg_args "$target_file"
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')] Converted '$file'." 
#        rm "$file" # Uncomment to auto delete files after conversion
    else
        echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')] Conversion failed for '$file'!"
        exit 1
    fi
done