Problems converting DVD to AVI

[Stendec]

O.K. I'm running FFmpegX 0.0.9s on OS X 10.3.9 and I have been experiencing a very frustrating problem for quite a while now. Believe me when I say that posting here was a last resort because I have tried everything else I can think of.

Here's the problem, FFmpegX doesn't work. I have tried to convert a number of different DVDs (VIDEO_TS and .VOB) to DivX AVIs with no success. I've tried doing it with Mencoder and ffmpeg. I've tried different programs to decode the DVDs. I've tried changing virtually evey setting I can. I even tried converting a 6Gb .m2v that I got from OSeX. And none of them work. The encoding starts well enough, but no matter what it always freezes my whole computer, usually before it's done with the first pass. Here is an output from the terminal (as much as I could get before it froze)

Last login: Thu Aug 11 10:27:35 on ttyp2
/Users/someguy/Video_Utilities/ffmpegX.app//Contents/Resources/pbpaste | sh
Welcome to Darwin!
dualie:~ someguy$ /Users/someguy/Video_Utilities/ffmpegX.app//Contents/Resources/pbpaste | sh
Encoding started on Thu Aug 11 10:33:42 PDT 2005
MEncoder dev-CVS-050123-19:55-3.3 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
AltiVec found
CPU: PowerPC
File not found: 'frameno.avi'
Failed to open frameno.avi
libdvdread: Couldn't find device name.
Reading disc structure, please wait...
There are 5 titles on this DVD.
There are 26 chapters in this DVD title.
There are 2 angles in this DVD title.
DVD successfully opened.
success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0xdd793000
MPEG-PS file format detected.
VIDEO:  MPEG2  720x480  (aspect 3)  29.970 fps  9800.0 kbps (1225.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2  fourcc:0x10000002  size:720x480  fps:29.97  ftime:=0.0334
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
Using AltiVec optimized IMDCT transform
AC3: 5.1 (3f+2r+lfe)  48000 Hz  384.0 kbit/s
Checking for AltiVec resampler : 0x0000000a, 2
Using AltiVec optimized resampler
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 16 bit (0x8), ratio: 48000->192000 (384.0 kbit)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm:liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1  (-1=autodetect) osd: 1
Opening video filter: [scale w=608 h=400]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 480 (preferred csp: Mpeg PES)
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
VDecoder init failed :(
Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b
Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm:libmpeg2 (MPEG 1 or 2 (libmpeg2))
==========================================================================
MP3 audio selected
Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/16bit -> 48000Hz/2ch/16bit...
Writing AVI header...
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 480 (preferred csp: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 2 -> 2
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 2 -> 2
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 2 -> 2
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 2 -> 2

SwScaler: FAST_BILINEAR scaler, from Planar YV12 to Planar YV12 using AltiVec
videocodec: libavcodec (608x400 fourcc=58564944 [XVID])
High quality encoding selected (non real time)!
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.

2 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:   0.5s     11f ( 0%)   6fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.033 [0:0]
demux_mpg: 24fps progressive NTSC content detected, switching framerate.
Pos:   1.0s     24f ( 0%)   9fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.087 [2105:128]
Skipping frame!
Pos:   1.8s     44f ( 0%)  12fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.087 [1970:127]
Skipping frame!
Pos:   2.3s     58f ( 0%)  14fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.084 [1850:128]
Skipping frame!
Pos:  26.2s    632f ( 0%)  24fps Trem: 101min 797mb  A-V:0.085 [963:128]]]]
Skipping frame!
Pos:  46.5s   1121f ( 0%)  24fps Trem:  94min 556mb  A-V:0.086 [684:128]
Skipping frame!
Pos: 186.0s   4465f ( 2%)  20fps Trem: 137min 1205mb  A-V:0.066 [1286:128]
demux_mpg: 30fps NTSC content detected, switching framerate.
Warning! FPS changed 23.976 -> 29.970  (-5.994000) [4]  V:0.066 [1286:128]
Pos: 186.3s   4472f ( 2%)  20fps Trem: 138min 1205mb  A-V:0.079 [1285:128]
demux_mpg: 24fps progressive NTSC content detected, switching framerate.
Pos: 186.9s   4486f ( 2%)  20fps Trem: 138min 1204mb  A-V:0.085 [1282:128]
Skipping frame!
Pos: 187.6s   4506f ( 2%)  20fps Trem: 138min 1203mb  A-V:0.087 [1279:128]
Skipping frame!
Pos: 204.2s   4906f ( 2%)  20fps Trem: 143min 1256mb  A-V:0.084 [1313:128]
Skipping frame!

Some strange things I noticed here are that the decoder thinks that the framerate is 29.97 when the summary in FFmpegX said it was NTSC Film. I have tried encoding this movie at 29.97, but it still freezes. Also, it seems like it changes framerates a few times during encoding as well as having a lot of skipped frames.

On a side note, I have been successful encoding short videos such as one chapter from a movie or something. It's only the long ones that cause problems.

I am worried that this is a problem with OSX or (heavan forbid) a hardware problem. But before I erase my whole drive and reinstall OS X I just wanted to see if there was anything you guys could see wrong with FFmpegX.

Btw, what is Frameno.avi?

[major]

Nothing wrong with ffmpegX. If your system freezes then at best your system is bad shape. Sanitize it by backing up your data, reformatting the drive, and reinstalling OSX.

[Stendec]

Ya, I was afraid of that. Thanks for clearing all doubt, though.