Need elegant solution - iMovie>FFMpegX> PSP (reward)

[drewson99]

Hi all. (please read the whole thing, I offer $ reward for solution at bottom)

I am trying to do this:

1--Capturing from my Sony camcorder's passthrough to iMovie.
2--iMovie "Share" to Quicktime (I have QT7 Pro)
3--Output with *WHATEVER* settings will not be lossy (usually will be: 4:3 letterboxed 720x480 source)
4--Use that file as input in FFMpegX (.9t version) so I can output to PSP h.264:

(368x208, 2 pass VBR, cropped letterboxing from the above mentioned 4:3 letterboxed 720x480 source)

(I have tried .dv, .avi and .mov) and it encodes properly (doesn't give me an error, doesn't ding a split second later etc.)

When I put it on my PSP it says incompatible data format. It also won't play the mp4 in QT.

I am willing to revert back to an earlier version of FFMpegX if that helps, I have heard some PSP complaints about the new "t" release.

I know version tracker has older versions but do I need the old binaries too?

My priorities are that I be able to use 2 pass VBR, and crop out the hard-encoded letterboxed that are in most of my source files (I am capturing from a DVD player so I can create PSP-playable movies with subtitles burned in)


The way I have been doing it up until now:

iMovie > "share" QT Pro (MPEG2 2 Pass VBR) > DVD Studio Pro > Burned DVD > Rip DVD with DVDDecrypter > Process and crop the .vob and create my PSP-ready h.264 .mp4 file with PSPVideo9.


See why I am trying to do it this new way? It will remove the MPEG2 generation, so I will have much higher quality, and I won't have to waste a blank DVD every time.

Anyone solves this problem, or tells me what I can do to not get an error, I send you $20 via Paypal. No BS.

-Andy

[major]

As said in the release notes, ffmpegX 0.0.9t supports standard MP4 H264, but does not support for now the non-standard MP4 H264 used by PSP. It is non-standard as it uses a completely Sony-specific obscure and undocumented muxing profile. Work is under way to support it soon, however.

[drewson99]

How about the previous releases? Pre "t" I mean...

I got a couple of replies where people said that they used the PSP presets and that their files worked fine. Were they using an older version of ffmpegx, or lying, or ?

-A

[major]

The PSP preset is the same in version 0.0.9s and 0.0.9t. Actually, 0.0.9t is better as it also support non-standard resolutions. However, both are not using H264.

[drewson99]

Wait, now I'm confused.

I have people telling me they are using ffmpegx for PSP video no problem. What am I missing?

Is it possible to do what I outlined above?

[garethhk]

I have people telling me they are using ffmpegx for PSP video no problem. What am I missing?

The PSP preset in ffmpegX uses MEncoder's xVid encoder to make .MP4 that PSP can read. It is not H.264.

The conversion works perfectly fine for my flow: .RMVB -> .AVI -> .MP4 (for PSP).
Yes. I use .9t version and it runs flawlessly if one follows the installation instructions by Major.

Is it possible to do what I outlined above?

I suppose the easiest flow for you may be:

Capture DV passthrough to iMovie (if it's the way you prefer ripping DVD)
Editing with iMovie (if necessary)
Export (Share) to DV stream from iMovie
Open .DV files in ffmpegX
Use standard PSP preset in ffmpegX to convert to PSP-savvy .MP4

As PSPREZ has been built into .9t, the resulting .MP4 should be playable directly after being transferred to a PSP. I assume that you know where in the MS Duo do you put the .MP4 clips.



Gareth

BTW, You did not state very clearly what the starting point and the expected end product of your project were. If you intend to Convert a featured DVD film title to PSP playable movies with subtitles, I suggest you take a good look at the well written tutorial presented by Major and get some inspirations:
http://homepage.mac.com/major4/videots_divx.html

BTW2, if you test the workflow and it's okay, please send the 20 bucks to Major. Thanks.

[warmace]

I did a little more experimenting and think I may have found a better solution for you. As I said in a previous post in your other thread, you can export an AVI from iMovie but this is slow and may be too lossy. This solution may be better for you:

Export from iMovie using Share:Expert Settings:Movie to DV Stream
Under Use pulldown select DV PAL 48 khz

This seems to be the only DV file that iMovie produces with the yuv480p color space that the xVid compressor needs. The only problem I foresee with this is that you are converting from 30fps to 25fps to 30fps. This causes some audio sync issues sometimes with AVIs. I don't know if you might run into this problem as well. My test files were fine. If you need any other help, please pm me.

As with Gareth, if this works for you, please send the $20 to major. Tell him to put it towards PSP AVC research so we can all quit using PSP Video 9.

[drewson99]

If there is a way for me to use one of those xvid/divx progs like AutoGK or Gordian Knot to create an avi with subs burned in that PSPVideo9 will accept as a source file (I would want to do it at an absurdly high bitrate so I don't lose any noticeable quality,) I would much rather stop this imovie/passthrough stuff.

The reward is valid for any solutions that way too, but I need step by step directions and it would have to somehow be feasible for movies that have subs on the movie image as well as movies where the subs are in the bottom black bar of the letterbox.

Andy

[drewson99]

To clarify what I am doing:

I play a movie with subtitles turned on and passthrough my camcorder into iMovie so I have the movie with subs burned in.

My desired end result is a PSP-compaible 368x208 file that doesn't require the added generation of burning the project to DVD and ripping/encoding. I want to output from iMovie to a non-lossy format like .dv and use that as my input to ffmpegx directly.



Ok, so it was said:

The PSP preset in ffmpegX uses MEncoder's xVid encoder to make .MP4 that PSP can read. It is not H.264.

Is this true for PSPVideo9 as well (my instinct is that this is a dumb question, because my understanding is that PSPVideo9 is just a "wrapper" around ffmpegx) ?

I will attempt the suggestions in the order that they are posted and reply with the results I got. The first poster with the solution that best solves my problem will get the bounty.

I will attempt the PAL DV idea but I am suspicious because whenever I go from one framerate file o another, I get audio sync problems. (I know you said you tried it, but did you try it on a 2 hour file? Sometimes the problem is gradual and not noticeable until the second half of the movie.)

Thanks everyone,

Andy

[garethhk]

Andy,

You did not state where you came from. I assume you are from US. If your DV Camcorder providing Firewire (IEEE1394) passthrough function is of NTSC format, please be advised to stick to NTSC in the iMovie (Export to DV stream). In other words, NTSC 29.97 fps all the way in the conversion to the final step of encoding in ffmepgX with PSP preset.

As a matter of facts, 29.97 fps is the preferred frame rate in PSP.

In case you did not realize, I mentioned a tutorial by Major in my previous message. I mentioned it to point out that one may not need a DVD player to capture the film to have subtitles. If I were to create my own workflow to go from DVD to PSP, it will be:

Rip the DVD to VIDEO_TS Folder & .VOB (MacTheRipper)
Convert VIDEO_TS Folder to DivX .AVI with Subtitles (ffmpegX)
Convert DivX .AVI to PSP .MP4 (ffmpegX)

Take a reasonable bit rate during the process. The film should look fine in PSP.


Cheers,



Gareth

[drewson99]

In case you did not realize, I mentioned a tutorial by Major in my previous message. I mentioned it to point out that one may not need a DVD player to capture the film to have subtitles. If I were to create my own workflow to go from DVD to PSP, it will be:

Rip the DVD to VIDEO_TS Folder & .VOB (MacTheRipper)
Convert VIDEO_TS Folder to DivX .AVI with Subtitles (ffmpegX)
Convert DivX .AVI to PSP .MP4 (ffmpegX)

Take a reasonable bit rate during the process. The film should look fine in PSP.


Cheers,



Gareth

Thanks, this option looks good, I will try it tonight. I also tried using AutoGK to burn in subs and got good results at the highest quality settings, but in movies where the subs are within the letterboxing they are cut off of course.

I'll be donating $20 to Major after my tests, thanks everyone for your attention to my problem.

-Andy