Ding! of Doom

[fatespawn]

I have a .mpg file that I'm trying to convert to .DV for use in iMovie. I am able to drop the file directly in iMovie, but during the import the quality seems to diminish. Attempting to convert with ffmpegx results in thee "finished..." but unusable file.

Streamclip converts the file but ffmpegx has trouble. Suggestions?

Here's the info:

Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/xxxxxx/Desktop/MOV01228.MPG':
Duration: 00:00:21.8, start: 0.070000, bitrate: 10487 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1c0]: Audio: mp2, 32000 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
Thu Apr 20 11:08:53 CDT 2006
fps: Video: mpeg1video, yuv420p, 640x480, 104857 kb/s
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.0 -> #0.0

[Case]

Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.0 -> #0.0

Enable "invert mapping" in the audio tab.

[fatespawn]

Tried that...

Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
Thu Apr 20 21:53:45 CDT 2006
Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/xxxxxx/Desktop/MOV01240.MPG':
Duration: 00:00:14.6, start: 0.070000, bitrate: 10482 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1c0]: Audio: mp2, 32000 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
Stream #0.1[0x1e0], 30.00 fps: Video: mpeg1video, yuv420p, 640x480, 104857 kb/s
Output #0, dv, to '/Users/xxxx/Desktop/MOV01240.MPG.ff.dv':
Stream #0.0, nan fps: Video: dvvideo, yuv420p, 720x480, q=2-15, 25000 kb/s
Stream #0.1: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0 [sync #0.0]
Stream #0.0 -> #0.1 [sync #0.1]
[dvvideo @ 0x444b70]Can't process DV frame #441. Insufficient audio data or severe sync problem.
video:14766kB audio:2761kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 194.868880%
bench: utime=19.912s
Encoding completed on Thu Apr 20 21:54:15 CDT 2006

[Case]

Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/xxxxxx/Desktop/MOV01240.MPG'

Different file this time?

Duration: 00:00:14.6

Quite short. Is this duration correct, or a timecode break? To fix timecode breaks, use MPEG Streamclip's Edit menu.

Can't process DV frame #441.

14.7 seconds x 30 fps = 441 frames, so the last processed frame seems consistent with the timecode.

video:14766kB

15 seconds of DV video should be around 50 MB, so there seems to be not enough video data, even for the 441 frames until the error. No idea why.

[fatespawn]

Yes, it's a different file... and a different computer....

But they're shot from the same camera and both using .9v of ffmpegx. The videos I have shot are short for testing purposes until I can get it to work consistently.

I don't mean to mix apples and oranges, but I just use what I have on hand. It yields the same results.

Streamclip converts the file seamlessly to .dv but ffmpegx seems to have troubles.

[Case]

You may want to try and change the decoder in the Options tab. If you have Decode with QT selected, turn it off, or vise versa.

[jpschuck]

Tried that...

Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
Thu Apr 20 21:53:45 CDT 2006
Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/xxxxxx/Desktop/MOV01240.MPG':
Duration: 00:00:14.6, start: 0.070000, bitrate: 10482 kb/s

10482 kb/s, this seems a bit high even for an 640*480 mpeg file. Try to open your file with Mpeg Streamclip, then choose "Save as Mpeg..." (Or is it "Convert to MPEG..." ?). This has fixed a number of files from my Sony camera which had weird bitrate and file size. I can get up to a 4 MB file size decrease on an 18 MB clip !

I guess this may come from a bad muxing method.

[fatespawn]

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess what I was hoping to do was avoid Streamclip altogether. Streamclip seems to do a fine job of handling the video and allows me to convert to any of the supported formats including .DV for my use in iMovie.

I was just hoping to avoid another video program, but I guess ffmpegX just can't handle it properly.

-Fate