He fixes it with:
ffprobe -v error -show_entries stream=codec_name,duration -of default=noprint_wrappers=1 young_sheldon_s02e04.mkv Result: The source has variable frame rate (VFR) due to telecine from the Blu-ray’s 1080i source. Sheldon groans. “Television engineers are the true agents of chaos.”
ffmpeg -i young_sheldon_s02e04.mkv -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4 The result: 3.2 GB. Still too large for his tablet’s remaining 12.8 GB of free space (after mandatory backups of his Nobel equations folder).
She leaves. Sheldon closes the terminal. Opens HandBrake. Selects “Fast 1080p30.” Hits Start.
He needs to put the episode on his 16 GB tablet for a long car ride to Austin. His father, George Sr., has made it clear: “No external drives. No cloud streaming. We’re not stopping for Wi-Fi.”
He whispers to himself: “Sometimes the most elegant solution… is not the most mathematically superior.” Sheldon’s terminal history that night: