Conversion of AVCHD Lite to less compression for easier editing

[freeav]

I would like to edit some AVCH Lite video files with an 'older' laptop that has only moderate CPU power, which I don't believe is up to the job of decompressing the AVCHD clips on the fly. Therefore, I would like to convert them into something more manageable, but do not want to lose any quality that I don't have to.

My belief is that space allowing, it will be best to convert them either to RAW video or as lossless as possible. I prefer to use ffmpeg to convert them as this will easily allow single or batch convertion.

I have tried using the huffyuv encoder and forcing frame rate to both 25 and 50, but the output runs at slow speed. I think this problem is linked to the fact that the clips have been recorded as 720p 25fps video contained in a 720i 50fps container file.

The output from running ffmpeg -i on one of the original clips is:

FFmpeg version 0.5-svn+3:0.svn20090303-1ubuntu6+patch~ppa3, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --extra-version=svn+3:0.svn20090303-1ubuntu6+patch~ppa3 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-stripping --disable-vhook --enable-libxvid --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-armv6t2 --disable-armvfp --disable-neon --disable-altivec --disable-vis --enable-shared --disable-static
  libavutil     49.15. 0 / 49.15. 0
  libavcodec    52.20. 0 / 52.20. 0
  libavformat   52.31. 0 / 52.31. 0
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libavfilter    0. 4. 0 /  0. 4. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Jul 11 2009 13:11:02, gcc: 4.3.3

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 100.00 (100/1) -> 25.00 (25/1)
Input #0, mpegts, from '04.mts':
  Duration: 00:00:09.85, start: 0.366667, bitrate: 15753 kb/s
  Program 1 
    Stream #0.0[0x1011]: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 100 tbc
    Stream #0.1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

This leaves me with a few questions:
1) The ffmpeg output suggests 100fps rather than 50fps. Where is this coming from?
2) Would I be better to convert to a RAW format or a 'lossless' format like huffyuv?
3) Does it matter which container format I use?
4) I know that the 'I' refers to interleaved and 'P' refers to progressive. What is the significance of 'P' video being contained in an 'I' container, or more importantly how do I make use of either frame rate/scan type?
5) I believe it would be better to use the progressive scan over the interlaced, where possible. Is this true?
6) Probably the key question (the others are more for understanding). How should I convert the original (from camera) clips to be easily able to further edit them? (I will use either Kdenlive or Cinelerra for editing). Specifically, what options should I use with ffmpeg?

Any help gratefully received.

[disturbed1]

I'd look up the file space required for a RAW video at 720P size. It is HUGE, I mean really HUGE.

As far as huffyuv, which did you use? huffyuv or ffvhuff? If one did not work, try the other.

If your laptop can not handle 720P AVCHD, it might struggle with raw/losslessly compressed 720P footage as well. When dealing with uncompressed or losslessly compressed footage, drive throughput is the main issue.

1) ffmpeg has strange fps detection. It detects many NTSC videos as double their frame rate as well.
2) depends. If your laptop can cope with the original footage - keep it that way.
3) Yes, in a way. Using the correct container format to begin with keeps things sane along the way.
4) see 1.
5) If the original is progressive, keep it progressive. If the original is interlaced - it might be wise to deinterlace it.
6) Depends on what your final target will be. If the final target is HD, keep it in it's original format, and find something else besides the laptop to edit with. If it will be SD (or small/web clips) Give dv a shot. ffmpeg -i clip.avchd -target pal-dv out.dv Of course converting to DV WILL cause some quality loss. If it fits your project routine, test to see if the quality loss is acceptable.

[poisondeathray]

Not very many software can handle avchd lite, there is a frame repeat flag that causes this and explains what you are seeing in terms of fps and dupes. Current splitters/decoders and ffmpeg do not handle it properly.

There are some workarounds using avisynth for windows, none for linux that I know of.
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic372515.html#2001159

[disturbed1]

Not very many software can handle avchd lite, there is a frame repeat flag that causes this and explains what you are seeing in terms of fps and dupes. Current splitters/decoders and ffmpeg do not handle it properly.

There are some workarounds using avisynth for windows, none for linux that I know of.
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic372515.html#2001159

Perhaps from something in January when AVCHD-Lite was commissioned by Panasonic. AVCHD-lite has been in ffmpeg since March if I recall correctly.

The software that does handle AVCHD-Lite (VoltaicHD, Handbrake) use ....... ffmpeg to convert the file


BTW, I just downloaded and converted the sample from the thread you posted -
ffmpeg -i 00001.mts -vcodec huffyuv out1.avi
Works for me

[poisondeathray]

Might be specific to some builds? The ones I tested didn't work, and you ended up with the same frame repeat issue as described in the OP

disturbed1 - what build are you using?

[disturbed1]

Could be. I edited my post above.
The sample I downloaded worked just fine for me.

Some players use their own ffmpeg library (Xine for example) Xine does not play back these clips. Mplayer does.

Here' s the info I got from the sample clip

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 119.88 (120000/1001) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, mpegts, from '00001.mts':
  Duration: 00:00:08.99, start: 0.392656, bitrate: 12730 kb/s
  Program 1
    Stream #0.0[0x1011]: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 119.88 tbc
    Stream #0.1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s

ffmpeg -version                                                                                    
FFmpeg version SVN-r19833, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.                                   
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/man --libdir=/usr/lib64 --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --disable-debug --enable-shared --disable-static --arch=x86_64 --cpu=core2 --enable-pthreads --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-gpl --enable-hwaccel=vdpau --enable-hwaccel=h263_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=mpeg2_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=mpeg4_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=vc1_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=wmv3_vaapi --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-nonfree --enable-libfaadbin --disable-altivec --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-armv6t2 --disable-armvfp                                                                                                   
  libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
  libavcodec    52.35. 0 / 52.35. 0
  libavformat   52.38. 0 / 52.38. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    0. 5. 0 /  0. 5. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Sep 13 2009 14:57:36, gcc: 4.3.3
FFmpeg SVN-r19833
libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
libavcodec    52.35. 0 / 52.35. 0
libavformat   52.38. 0 / 52.38. 0
libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libavfilter    0. 5. 0 /  0. 5. 0
libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0

[MJ Peg]

please delete this post - I can't

[poisondeathray]

Indeed! I just tried a different build (an autobuild from tripps' site) and i can confirm it does work now without the frame repeats.
http://ffmpeg.arrozcru.org/autobuilds/

That sample was NTSC, and OP is from PAL land, but I don't think it should cause any problems

avisynth is harder to use on linux, so ffmpeg would be the preferred route

anyways, carry on disturbed1 - sorry for the intrusion

[disturbed1]

anyways, carry on disturbed1 - sorry for the intrusion

What intrusion?

I found a PAL AVCHD-Lite sample, which worked for me as well.

Looking at the OP's ffmpeg output FFmpeg version 0.5-svn+3:0.svn20090303 Perhaps it's a few weeks earlier than when AVCHD-Lite was actually included in the code base. freeav, update your ffmpeg and see if everything's fixed.

[freeav]

I believe I am running the 'latest' ffmpeg available from usual repositories. I have used:
'apt-get upgrade ffmpeg' and I get the following result. I had previously used apt-get update as well.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

I have tried using both huffyuv and ffvhuff with the following:
'ffmpeg -i 01.mts -vcodec huffyuv 01.avi', and get the same 'slow' playback with mplayer.

Were you using a Linux or a Windows version of ffmpeg? The alternative compiled (autobuild) version mentioned by poisondeathray appears to be a Windows binary.

Could it be that there are conversion differences between the OS versions?

I am using Video from a Panasonic TZ7 (ZS3). I have tried converting a small clip (NTSC) from a GH1 and it works. I appreciate that the GH1 is different to the TZ7 (AVCHD vs AVCHD Lite) but could this be the problem, a difference between NTSC and PAL?

I haven't yet been able to find an NTSC file from a ZS3 to check that, but will look for one and try it.

freeav

[disturbed1]

Me use Windows ?

mplayer -demuxer lavf -vo xv huffyuv.avi


Just because Ubuntu does not keep up with the Jone's doesn't mean there is not anything newer. Your ffmpeg version was pulled from SVN on20090303 and compiled on Jul 11 2009. That's old in terms of ffmpeg.


------
Post up a sample clip and I'll see if it works with my version(s) of ffmpeg and mplayer.

[freeav]

Me use Windows ?

Very sorry, no offence intended. I'm still in the process of changing, unfortunately still need Windows and have other family members still in the 'dark ages'!

mplayer -demuxer lavf -vo xv huffyuv.avi

Have tried this - still running slow.

Just because Ubuntu does not keep up with the Jone's doesn't mean there is not anything newer. Your ffmpeg version was pulled from SVN on20090303 and compiled on Jul 11 2009. That's old in terms of ffmpeg.

I appreciate this. I just assumed/hoped that the repositories would be up to date enough.

Post up a sample clip and I'll see if it works with my version(s) of ffmpeg and mplayer.

Is there an 'easy' way of extracting a section of a clip? I have one of 41 sec - 76MB, but as this is a little large I could extract a relevant section of 13 secs from the middle.

[disturbed1]

Very sorry, no offence intended.


Is there an 'easy' way of extracting a section of a clip? I have one of 41 sec - 76MB, but as this is a little large I could extract a relevant section of 13 secs from the middle.

None taken

Try, yousendit, mediafire, or some other file hosting service.
http://www.yousendit.com/
http://www.mediafire.com/
http://www.fileden.com/

For an updated version of ffmpeg, you'll have to either build it yourself (not that hard) or find someone that has an Ubuntu PPA (personal package archive) with updated builds.

[freeav]

I have now compiled and updated my version of ffmpeg:

FFmpeg version SVN-r20230, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Oct 14 2009 22:09:10 with gcc 4.3.3
  configuration: 
  libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
  libavcodec    52.37. 0 / 52.37. 0
  libavformat   52.39. 1 / 52.39. 1
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
FFmpeg SVN-r20230
libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
libavcodec    52.37. 0 / 52.37. 0
libavformat   52.39. 1 / 52.39. 1
libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1

I have uploaded the original mts file. Hopefully you can get it from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zxtyl9v2dam

I tried re-converting a converted file to pal-dv and this played at 'full' speed. The original 'mts' file also plays at the correct speed. So the replay speed problem only occurs with the 720 HD resolution on conversion.

In case it helps the following is the output from ffmpeg -i on the 3 files:

01.mts - original file

[mpegts @ 0x9942420]MAX_READ_SIZE:5000000 reached

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 100.00 (100/1) -> 25.00 (25/1)
Input #0, mpegts, from '01.mts':
  Duration: 00:00:40.54, start: 0.366667, bitrate: 15716 kb/s
  Program 1 
    Stream #0.0[0x1011]: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 100 tbc
    Stream #0.1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

01.avi - huffyuv converted file

Input #0, avi, from '01.avi':
  Duration: 00:00:13.03, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 199391 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: huffyuv, yuv422p, 1280x720, PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 64 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

01.dv - huffyuv file converted to pal-dv

Input #0, dv, from '01.dv':
  Duration: 00:00:13.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 28800 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: dvvideo, yuv420p, 720x576, 28800 kb/s, PAR 118:81 DAR 295:162, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

I have also tried the conversion with the deinterlace flag set but this didn't make any difference to the speed. It seems to me that the problem must lay somewhere in the frame rate (or possibly) bitrate conversion.

[disturbed1]

I tried re-converting a converted file to pal-dv and this played at 'full' speed. The original 'mts' file also plays at the correct speed. So the replay speed problem only occurs with the 720 HD resolution on conversion.

Of course the first converted file you did won't work. You were using a bum version of ffmpeg.

Re-encode the original mts with your current ffmpeg to huffyuv.

[freeav]

I did rerun the conversion with the new ffmpeg version but got the same result.

I will run everything again to be sure and then see if I can split and upload my converted file to mediafire.

Getting late for me here now so I'll do this later on today.

[disturbed1]

Tested your clip, works fine. Something's wrong with your process somewhere.

bash-3.1$ ffmpeg -i 01.mts -vcodec huffyuv freeav.avi 
FFmpeg version SVN-r19833, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/man --libdir=/usr/lib64 --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --disable-debug --enable-shared --disable-static --arch=x86_64 --cpu=core2 --enable-pthreads --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-gpl --enable-hwaccel=vdpau --enable-hwaccel=h263_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=mpeg2_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=mpeg4_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=vc1_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=wmv3_vaapi --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-nonfree --enable-libfaadbin --disable-altivec --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-armv6t2 --disable-armvfp
  libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
  libavcodec    52.35. 0 / 52.35. 0
  libavformat   52.38. 0 / 52.38. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    0. 5. 0 /  0. 5. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Sep 13 2009 14:57:36, gcc: 4.3.3
Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 100.00 (100/1) -> 25.00 (25/1)
Input #0, mpegts, from '01.mts':
  Duration: 00:00:40.54, start: 0.366667, bitrate: 15716 kb/s
  Program 1 
    Stream #0.0[0x1011]: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 100 tbc
    Stream #0.1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
[huffyuv @ 0x640ba0]using huffyuv 2.2.0 or newer interlacing flag
Output #0, avi, to 'freeav.avi':
    Stream #0.0: Video: huffyuv, yuv422p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding
[h264 @ 0x641af0]missing picture in access unit40.32 bitrate=199956.5kbits/s    
frame= 1014 fps= 78 q=0.0 Lsize=  990038kB time=40.54 bitrate=199960.4kbits/s    
video:989648kB audio:317kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.007391%

Try playing it with ffplay

bash-3.1$ ffplay freeav.avi 
FFplay version SVN-r19833, Copyright (c) 2003-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/man --libdir=/usr/lib64 --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --disable-debug --enable-shared --disable-static --arch=x86_64 --cpu=core2 --enable-pthreads --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-gpl --enable-hwaccel=vdpau --enable-hwaccel=h263_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=mpeg2_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=mpeg4_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=vc1_vaapi --enable-hwaccel=wmv3_vaapi --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-nonfree --enable-libfaadbin --disable-altivec --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-armv6t2 --disable-armvfp
  libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
  libavcodec    52.35. 0 / 52.35. 0
  libavformat   52.38. 0 / 52.38. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    0. 5. 0 /  0. 5. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Sep 13 2009 14:57:36, gcc: 4.3.3
Input #0, avi, from 'freeav.avi':0KB vq=    0KB sq=    0B    
  Duration: 00:00:40.54, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 199842 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: huffyuv, yuv422p, 1280x720, PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 64 kb/s
  40.54 A-V: -5.870 aq=    0KB vq=    0KB sq=    0B    0B

Somebody putting together a tent.

[freeav]

Tested your clip, works fine. Something's wrong with your process somewhere.

Well it's certainly a little weird, but I'm not sure it's the actual process.

I re-converted again, just to be sure I had a 'clean' file with the later ffmpeg.
Same problem playing with mplayer.
Tried ffplay - same problem.
Converted a small section that would clearly show slow movement.
Used ffplay - still slow.
Checked original with ffplay - worked fine.
Ran the converted extracted section - now it ran OK!
Used ffplay on the fully converted file - now OK.

So it may well be that the conversion is OK after all. The problem actually seems to be with some kind of buffering of the file. From the command line it seems OK with ffplay or mplayer if I play the files twice or more. Using gmplayer it is less consistent and mainly with the shorter extraction.

Previously the video has been slow and behind the audio. Playing from the command line (mplayer) it seems as if the audio is behind the video on subsequent plays.

However, the real answer is probably in the output from mplayer that I wasn't seeing with gmplayer. I had previously just assumed that my ffmpeg options were wrong.

Output from time mplayer 01-cutnoi.avi (the extracted section with -deinterlace switch):

MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.3.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.86GHz (Family: 6, Model: 13, Stepping: 8)
CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing 01-cutnoi.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO:  [HFYU]  1280x720  16bpp  25.000 fps  199660.9 kbps (24372.7 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 Software: Lavf52.39.1
xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window.
GNOME screensaver disabled
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffhuffyuv] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg HuffYUV)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Forced audio codec: mad
Opening audio decoder: [libmad] libmad mpeg audio decoder

Badly interleaved AVI file detected - switching to -ni mode...
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 64.0 kbit/4.17% (ratio: 8000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mad] afm: libmad (libMAD MPEG layer 1-2-3)
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 1280 x 720 (preferred colorspace: Planar 422P)
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
VDec: using Planar 422P as output csp (no 1)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 4
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 4
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 1
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 9 -> 8
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: BICUBIC scaler, from yuv422p to yuv420p using MMX2
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: using 4-tap MMX scaler for horizontal luminance scaling
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: using 4-tap MMX scaler for horizontal chrominance scaling
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: using 1-tap MMX "scaler" for vertical scaling (YV12 like)
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: 1280x720 -> 1280x720
VO: [xv] 1280x720 => 1280x720 Planar YV12 
A:   3.6 V:   3.0 A-V:  0.552 ct:  0.005  77/ 77 96% 17%  2.0% 50 0 

           ************************************************
           **** Your system is too SLOW to play this!  ****
           ************************************************

Possible reasons, problems, workarounds:
- Most common: broken/buggy _audio_ driver
  - Try -ao sdl or use the OSS emulation of ALSA.
  - Experiment with different values for -autosync, 30 is a good start.
- Slow video output
  - Try a different -vo driver (-vo help for a list) or try -framedrop!
- Slow CPU
  - Don't try to play a big DVD/DivX on a slow CPU! Try some of the lavdopts,
    e.g. -vfm ffmpeg -lavdopts lowres=1:fast:skiploopfilter=all.
- Broken file
  - Try various combinations of -nobps -ni -forceidx -mc 0.
- Slow media (NFS/SMB mounts, DVD, VCD etc)
  - Try -cache 8192.
- Are you using -cache to play a non-interleaved AVI file?
  - Try -nocache.
Read DOCS/HTML/en/video.html for tuning/speedup tips.
If none of this helps you, read DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html.

Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.505 ct:  0.006 269/269 84% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame
Cannot sync MAD frame
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.518 ct:  0.010 270/270 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.532 ct:  0.014 271/271 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.575 ct:  0.018 272/272 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.585 ct:  0.022 273/273 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.629 ct:  0.026 274/274 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.589 ct:  0.030 275/275 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.549 ct:  0.034 276/276 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.509 ct:  0.038 277/277 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.469 ct:  0.042 278/278 85% 17%  1.7% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.429 ct:  0.046 279/279 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.389 ct:  0.050 280/280 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.349 ct:  0.054 281/281 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.309 ct:  0.058 282/282 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.269 ct:  0.062 283/283 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.229 ct:  0.066 284/284 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.189 ct:  0.070 285/285 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.149 ct:  0.074 286/286 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.109 ct:  0.078 287/287 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.069 ct:  0.082 288/288 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  1.029 ct:  0.086 289/289 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.989 ct:  0.090 290/290 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.949 ct:  0.094 291/291 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.909 ct:  0.098 292/292 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.869 ct:  0.102 293/293 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.829 ct:  0.106 294/294 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.789 ct:  0.110 295/295 85% 17%  1.6% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.749 ct:  0.114 296/296 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.709 ct:  0.118 297/297 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.669 ct:  0.122 298/298 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.629 ct:  0.126 299/299 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.589 ct:  0.130 300/300 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.549 ct:  0.134 301/301 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.509 ct:  0.138 302/302 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.469 ct:  0.142 303/303 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.429 ct:  0.146 304/304 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.389 ct:  0.150 305/305 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.349 ct:  0.154 306/306 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.309 ct:  0.158 307/307 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.269 ct:  0.162 308/308 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.229 ct:  0.166 309/309 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.189 ct:  0.170 310/310 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.149 ct:  0.174 311/311 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.109 ct:  0.174 312/312 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.069 ct:  0.170 313/313 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.029 ct:  0.166 314/314 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.011 ct:  0.162 315/315 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.051 ct:  0.158 316/316 85% 17%  1.5% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.091 ct:  0.154 317/317 85% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.131 ct:  0.150 318/318 85% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.171 ct:  0.146 319/319 85% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.211 ct:  0.142 320/320 85% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.251 ct:  0.138 321/321 85% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.291 ct:  0.134 322/322 86% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.331 ct:  0.130 323/323 86% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.371 ct:  0.126 324/324 86% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.411 ct:  0.122 325/325 86% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
A:  12.5 V:  13.0 A-V: -0.411 ct:  0.118 325/325 86% 17%  1.4% 234 0 
GNOME screensaver enabled

Exiting... (End of file)

real	0m19.473s
user	0m10.057s
sys	0m0.820s

output from second run:

MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.3.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.86GHz (Family: 6, Model: 13, Stepping: 8)
CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing 01-cutnoi.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO:  [HFYU]  1280x720  16bpp  25.000 fps  199660.9 kbps (24372.7 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 Software: Lavf52.39.1
xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window.
GNOME screensaver disabled
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffhuffyuv] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg HuffYUV)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Forced audio codec: mad
Opening audio decoder: [libmad] libmad mpeg audio decoder

Badly interleaved AVI file detected - switching to -ni mode...
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 64.0 kbit/4.17% (ratio: 8000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mad] afm: libmad (libMAD MPEG layer 1-2-3)
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 1280 x 720 (preferred colorspace: Planar 422P)
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
VDec: using Planar 422P as output csp (no 1)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 4
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 4
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 1 -> 1
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 9 -> 8
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: BICUBIC scaler, from yuv422p to yuv420p using MMX2
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: using 4-tap MMX scaler for horizontal luminance scaling
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: using 4-tap MMX scaler for horizontal chrominance scaling
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: using 1-tap MMX "scaler" for vertical scaling (YV12 like)
[swscaler @ 0x896d350]SwScaler: 1280x720 -> 1280x720
VO: [xv] 1280x720 => 1280x720 Planar YV12 
A:   7.0 V:   6.5 A-V:  0.497 ct:  0.005 163/163 84% 16%  1.1% 123 0 

           ************************************************
           **** Your system is too SLOW to play this!  ****
           ************************************************

Possible reasons, problems, workarounds:
- Most common: broken/buggy _audio_ driver
  - Try -ao sdl or use the OSS emulation of ALSA.
  - Experiment with different values for -autosync, 30 is a good start.
- Slow video output
  - Try a different -vo driver (-vo help for a list) or try -framedrop!
- Slow CPU
  - Don't try to play a big DVD/DivX on a slow CPU! Try some of the lavdopts,
    e.g. -vfm ffmpeg -lavdopts lowres=1:fast:skiploopfilter=all.
- Broken file
  - Try various combinations of -nobps -ni -forceidx -mc 0.
- Slow media (NFS/SMB mounts, DVD, VCD etc)
  - Try -cache 8192.
- Are you using -cache to play a non-interleaved AVI file?
  - Try -nocache.
Read DOCS/HTML/en/video.html for tuning/speedup tips.
If none of this helps you, read DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html.

Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.788 ct:  0.006 287/287 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame
Cannot sync MAD frame
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.799 ct:  0.010 288/288 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.807 ct:  0.014 289/289 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.816 ct:  0.018 290/290 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.824 ct:  0.022 291/291 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.834 ct:  0.026 292/292 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.872 ct:  0.030 293/293 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.832 ct:  0.034 294/294 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.792 ct:  0.038 295/295 82% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.752 ct:  0.042 296/296 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.712 ct:  0.046 297/297 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.672 ct:  0.050 298/298 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.632 ct:  0.054 299/299 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.592 ct:  0.058 300/300 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.552 ct:  0.062 301/301 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.512 ct:  0.066 302/302 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.472 ct:  0.070 303/303 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.432 ct:  0.074 304/304 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.392 ct:  0.078 305/305 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.352 ct:  0.082 306/306 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.312 ct:  0.086 307/307 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.272 ct:  0.090 308/308 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.232 ct:  0.094 309/309 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.192 ct:  0.094 310/310 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.152 ct:  0.098 311/311 83% 16%  1.0% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.112 ct:  0.102 312/312 83% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.072 ct:  0.106 313/313 83% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame:  0.032 ct:  0.107 314/314 83% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.008 ct:  0.103 315/315 83% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.048 ct:  0.099 316/316 83% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.088 ct:  0.095 317/317 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.128 ct:  0.091 318/318 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.168 ct:  0.087 319/319 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.208 ct:  0.083 320/320 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.248 ct:  0.079 321/321 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.288 ct:  0.075 322/322 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.328 ct:  0.071 323/323 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.368 ct:  0.067 324/324 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
Cannot sync MAD frame: -0.408 ct:  0.063 325/325 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
A:  12.6 V:  13.0 A-V: -0.408 ct:  0.059 325/325 84% 16%  0.9% 238 0 
GNOME screensaver enabled

Exiting... (End of file)

real	0m14.546s
user	0m9.801s
sys	0m0.724s

As I had had no problems editing video previously I had hoped it would be OK, but obviously the significant increase in HD data is going to be an issue for me it seems. This was why I was trying to reduce the decompression overhead, but maybe that's not going to be enough.

Strangely, mplayer is apparently finding a badly interleaved file and yet I used the deinterlace switch when running the conversion.

[freeav]

Actually, I'm not so sure about the conversion process now.

If I play the original file (01.mts) I don't get all the error messages that I do with the converted file (01.avi).

The converted file appears OK in Kdenlive too, so I may be able to edit after all, although I'm a little concerned about all the apparent errors being generated.

Perhaps some of the ffmpeg libraries didn't update properly when I compiled the newer ffmpeg source.