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  1. Member
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    hello,

    i'm currently in the process of converting a full length movie using settings which are appropriate for burning in toast as a normal dvd ('DVD mpeg2enc' etc.). ffmpegx is now 54% of the way (it's been going for a long time) and the .m2v file is only 138mb at the moment (which seems very/too small). opening up the partial .m2v file in vlc shows it to be entirely black (at the right dvd size though). the original movie is about an 1 & 1/2 hours, codec XVID, size 640 x 480.

    the fact that ffmpeg is over 1/2 the way and the .m2v movie is only 138mb and looks like is entirely black is bad right?; i haven't examined a .m2v file during a conversion before so i suppose there's a chance that what i'm seeing is normal (as it's a partial file), but i somehow doubt it.

    can anyone confirm if this is a problem or not? and if it is, what might allow me to successfully convert the movie? vlc seems to play the original movie, the one i'm attempting to convert, fine.

    thanks.
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  2. Member
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    it's now 68% done converting a 1 & 1/2 hour movie to a dvd format, and the .m2v file is currently 173mb which i think is rediculously small at this point. i'm pretty sure it's making an entirely black throughout movie. why would that be? what's the problem? thanks.
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  3. Member
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    not a mac user but is xvid or another codec for mpeg 4 installed?
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  4. Member
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    Originally Posted by loster
    not a mac user but is xvid or another codec for mpeg 4 installed?
    not sure. i installed what ffmpegx required me to install though.

    bit more info: the movie not only plays ok in vlc but also from ffmpegx when i click the play button in the top right of ffmpegx's main window, in mplayer.

    the movie which i'm converting, ffmpegx says this about it:

    from:
    AVI
    video:
    mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x480
    audio:
    ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s

    it's not far from finished now and the .m2v file is less than 250mb.

    how do i find out if an mpeg 4 codec is installed? the fact that the two players, mplayer and vlc, plays it ok; does that indicate that there is a mpeg 4 codec installed?

    also i have in the past successfully converted, for example a .wmv file, to the dvd format i'm converting to at the moment (that's probably irrelevent but i just thought i'd mention it).

    thanks.
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  5. Member
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    it's finsished now and it is a black screen throughout the whole movie, but it does have the sound.

    any ideas how to get ffmpegx to convert the movie?

    thanks.
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  6. Explorer Case's Avatar
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    The mpeg2enc engine defaults to decoding with QuickTime. Which means, if QuickTime Player has trouble with this video, then so will ffmpegX with these settings. (Please check that.)

    Either choose to decode with mplayer or install a suitable decoder for QuickTime.
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  7. Member
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    i see. didn't realise that. i will look into that. thanks for the info.
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  8. Member
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    no, quicktime doesn't play the movie in question ok; it opens it with a black screen, which explains the, well, black screen.

    have chosen decode with mplayer (which dechecked decode with quicktime) and have set it to convert with that. i'll see how that goes.

    is there any disadvantage to using mplayer over quicktime? would it be advantageous (quicker maybe?) to get something that will allow quicktime to play the movie therefore be able to convert the movie with ffmpegx with decode with quicktime checked?

    thanks.
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  9. Explorer Case's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by jboyd
    is there any disadvantage to using mplayer over quicktime? would it be advantageous (quicker maybe?) to get something that will allow quicktime to play the movie therefore be able to convert the movie with ffmpegx with decode with quicktime checked?
    I think mplayer is a faster decoder than QuickTime, so you'll win a bit of time using that.
    QuickTime does things differently with time code, which may help in keeping sync on some problematic files.
    QuickTime will decode some legacy QuickTime codecs, which may be needed if your source file uses them.
    The decoder of choice will perform slightly different from the other (post processing, brightness), which may invoke a preference of one over the other.
    QuickTime will need the proper codec component installed to function correctly, as you have found out.
    But for XviD, the quality difference may be unnoticeable.
    Overall, I'd like to think of it has having one more tool in the toolbox to try if the others fail. If one decoder doesn't handle it as you would like, you can try another within the same app.
    If others know of more differences, do tell.
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  10. Member
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    i see. excellent, thanks very much for the info.
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