PSP encoded movie going Speedy Gonzales

[Ran]

Hello everyone,

I used ffmpegX to encode a movie for my PSP with a rather puzzling result : the audio is crystal clear, so is the image but the video seems to be set on constant forward, playing the thing at roughly 4 times normal speed. The audio plays normally though.
I tried with several AVI files with the same result.
I used MP4 H.264 setting, NTSC (29.97), didn't change anything to the setting. I'm running it on a Power Mac 2x1ghz on Tiger 10.4.

I wonder if that's happened to anybody else as I didn't find a similar topic and how to sort that one out.
Any reply welcome. Many thanks in advance.

[Ran]

Hello,

I tried to add "décoder avec Quicktime" (decode with Quictime) option but it makes for an unplayable file. Initial burst of white sound, black screen. Can't make up what is speeding the video.

Cheers,
Ran

[major]

Possibly a mismatch in framerate (or something else, I would need the file to tell exactly). As a last resort, convert it to another format like DivX mencoder then encode again to PSP.

[Ran]

Thanks for replying,


I've just tried again with video set on 308X208 as the original seems to be on 640x360. Same quality, still forwarding, even faster it seems.

Here's the beginning of the log, it might help you understand the glitch :

ffmpeg version CVS, build 3277056, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Thu Apr 27 15:53:44 CEST 2006
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
configuration: --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --enable-pthreads --enable-x264
built on Dec 1 2005 03:50:24, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities Altivec
mp4 [info]: initial delay 0 (scale 30000)
Input #0, avi, from '/Volumes/Ran 1.2/Videos/Samurai Champloo/samurai_champloo_01_vostfr.avi':
Duration: 00:23:24.9, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 993 kb/s
Stream #0.0, 23.98 fps: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x360
Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 160 kb/s
Output #0, yuv4mpegpipe, to 'pipe:':
Stream #0.0, nan fps: Video: rawvideo, yuv420p, 368x208, q=2-31, 200 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
error, non monotone timestamps 0 >= 6006
error, non monotone timestamps 0 >= 6006

then more of this until :

error, non monotone timestamps 0 >= 101150049
video:0kB audio:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead inf%
x264 [info]: slice I:532 Avg QP:15.54 size: 10127 PSNR Mean Y:50.11 U:52.24 V:52.48 Avg:50.54 Global:48.48
x264 [info]: slice P:12353 Avg QP:16.87 size: 2355 PSNR Mean Y:47.68 U:50.34 V:50.56 Avg:48.33 Global:45.26
x264 [info]: mb I I16..4: 20.9% 0.0% 79.1%
x264 [info]: mb P I16..4: 5.1% 0.0% 11.5% P16..4: 54.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% skip:28.7%
x264 [info]: final ratefactor: 16.33
x264 [info]: PSNR Mean Y:47.782 U:50.423 V:50.644 Avg:48.420 Global:45.353 kb/s:641.56
encoded 12885 frames, 15.85 fps, 641.73 kb/s
ffmpeg version CVS, build 3277056, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
configuration: --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --enable-pthreads --enable-x264
built on Dec 1 2005 03:50:24, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
Seems that stream 0 comes from film source: 30000.00 (30000/1) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2, from '/Volumes/Ran 1.2/Videos/Samurai Champloo/MAQ04877.video.mp4':
Duration: 00:07:09.9, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 642 kb/s
Stream #0.0, 29.97 fps: Video: h264, yuv420p, 368x208
Input #1, avi, from '/Volumes/Ran 1.2/Videos/Samurai Champloo/samurai_champloo_01_vostfr.avi':
Duration: 00:23:24.9, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 993 kb/s
Stream #1.0, 23.98 fps: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x360
Stream #1.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 160 kb/s
Output #0, mp4, to '/Volumes/Ran 1.2/Videos/Samurai Champloo/MAQ04877.audio.mp4':
Stream #0.0: Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, stereo, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #1.1 -> #0.0 [sync #0.0]
Press [q] to stop encoding
video:0kB audio:15445kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 3.334415%

IsoMedia import - track ID 1 - Audio (SR 48000 - 2 channels)

Saving /Volumes/Ran 1.2/Videos/Samurai Champloo/MAQ04877.MP4: 0.500 secs Interleaving

Adding PSP atoms..
Encoding completed on Thu Apr 27 16:13:53 CEST 2006



Sorry for this long post.
I will try out your suggestion and will be giving some feedback on that.

Cheers,
Ran

[Ran]

Hello major,

I tried your suggestion. The first encoding (DivX mencoder) encoded about 7 minutes out of 23 but more puzzling, the MP4 format audio was still out of sync with the video although it wasn't racing at the same pace, this time. So I see this as an improvement.

I'll try to do some trials fiddling with the settings, I might step on something.

Cheers,

Ran

[Ran]

Hello,

I tried to encode to PSP another video which I knew for sure was PAL Mpeg1 and ffmpegX worked like a charm.

As frame rate may be to blame for my other AVI file which might might be NTSC, I encoded it via "AVI DivX mencoder" in PAL (changed Framerate). I obtained a nice file that I tried to encode to PSP with the same result as before : constant forward.

Now maybe I need a PAL mpeg, so I'm going to try to encode my nasty possibly-NTSC-AVI to make it more framerate convenient.

Cheers,
Ran

[major]

You should always encode to NTSC for PSP, so if you use an intermediate encoding with mencoder, you should convert to NTSC too.

[Ran]

Hello major,

I see... What I don't quite gather is why encoding to PSP works fine with PAL mpeg1 file and not with NTSC AVI files. So I thought maybe if I can encode my AVI file to make it similar to my PAL mpeg1 file, it would work. Very possibly not a very accurate method though...
And I'd really like to be able to make it work for all my video files as I'm really stunned by the quality of the ffmpeg format.

Thanks for replying,
Ran

BTW, my AVI file reads mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x360, ifever this is valuable info

[Ran]

Hi there,

Last developments : I successfully encoded a AVI Divx mpeg4 with no problem whatsoever. Great !
Then I encoded this file into H.264. Worked great for the video : no more constanc forward, the video runs at normal speed !! Yees !

On the other hand there's no more sound. I tried to modify the AUDIO setting : tried both "piste audio 0", and "piste audio 1". Not really successful.
Oh yes, I forgot to tell you : I did the H.264 encoding with "décoder avec quicktime" in the hope that it would solve the delay thing.

So now my problem is only to solve the audio problem from a nice working NTSC mpeg 4 AVI video file. At least, no more "constant forward" problem.

Any idea welcome,

Cheers,
Ran

[Icarus_1979]

I ran into this problem too and I mananged to track it down to one issue. The only time this happens to me is if Quicktime identifies the file as "Generic Mpeg 4" I don't know why this is the problem but If i re-encode the file using the default .mp4 Mpeg-4 preset, that file will work as when encoding to psp H.264

[Ran]

Hi Icarus, thanks for replying.

I tried your method :
encoded into DivX memcoder
then encoded into .mp4 mpeg-4
then encoded into H.264 (using decode with QT)

For the first time audio and video played at the same rate but only a few seconds before the video froze. The audio seemed OK up to the end.
My PSP (2.O) deemed the file completely unplayable though.

I'm still looking for a way to encode AVI seemingly NTSC files to H.264 with ffmpegX to play on a PSP.
I guess it leaves me with a few more encoding combinations to go through.

Cheers,
Ran

[major]

To encode to PSP H264, do as follows.

1. Open file
2. Select PSP H264 preset
3. Encode

If you do it in the order, 1/2/3 it will work. If you do it in the order, 2/1/3, it will not work.

[Ran]

Thanks major,

This is what I do, scrupulously, and it works fine with some PAL video files of mine but with others, probably NTSC stuff (the ones I really need to encode for my PSP), the video always get on constant forward in H264 no matter what I do.

I tried to encode first in DivX mencoder and then into H264. Works fine for the video but it kills the audio.

I've tried lots of different encoding combinations with v and w versions, no success. I'm surprised to be the only one with that issue as my files are rather common stuff (Samurai Champloo, a japanese anime) in AVI format.

I could send you one these files but 140 MO is a bit heavy. Maybe if I encode one into DivX ?

Cheers,
Ran

PS : could japanese NTSC be somewhat different than other NTSC ?

[major]

NTSC should be the same worlwide. If you have a link to download one, I can test.

[ragermac]

Major, are you gonna fix this problem or what?

[major]

I'm rebuilding a new version with a different process for PSP H.264, in order to ensure compatibility with firmware 2.70. Hopefully the new process will solve also some of the above issues.

[Ran]

Hi Major,

I'm back with a MacBook and your last version of FFmpegX installed on it. AVI files encode great on the laptop, I can play them in Quick Time with no glitch (no fastwarding audio nor video) but the PSP says Unsupported Data.
I think I'll just stay away from AVI files.

Other files encode AND play beautifully on the PSP. I will donate, apparently no other software competes with yours.

Cheers,

Ran

[tonemgub]

The PSP presets don't work for me at all. The resolution is set way too high, so the PSP will give unsupported data. After lowering it to 320 and tweaking the bitrate, it works. But it seems like it's a pain to keep doing that. Is there anyway to tweak the preset setting so I don't have to keep resetting these items?

[zerodefect]

I am having the same problem with the iPod H.264 320w. I get audio fine, but video is sped up. Getting and error about Non Monotone Timestamps. Encoding from Xvid. Have done iPod H.264 320w with 0.9w and iPod H.264 640w with 0.9x without issue. Now it seems I get this error on everything I encode.

[major]

The PSP presets don't work for me at all. The resolution is set way too high, so the PSP will give unsupported data. After lowering it to 320 and tweaking the bitrate, it works. But it seems like it's a pain to keep doing that. Is there anyway to tweak the preset setting so I don't have to keep resetting these items?

You must set the preset AFTER you open the file the encode.

[major]

I am having the same problem with the iPod H.264 320w. I get audio fine, but video is sped up. Getting and error about Non Monotone Timestamps. Encoding from Xvid. Have done iPod H.264 320w with 0.9w and iPod H.264 640w with 0.9x without issue. Now it seems I get this error on everything I encode.

Try to email me to major4@mac.com a very short clip so I'll try to encode it in the same way and will report you my results.

[zerodefect]

Did some testing and it appears that the issue is with "Decode with Quicktime". I usually disable this because I deal with xvid source files mostly. Did not have a problem disabling for VOB source, but with xvid source it must be enabled to get correct video output.

[stingerster]

Did some testing and it appears that the issue is with "Decode with Quicktime". I usually disable this because I deal with xvid source files mostly. Did not have a problem disabling for VOB source, but with xvid source it must be enabled to get correct video output.

I don't understand: you disable it because you deal with xvid but you need to enable it for correct xvid output?

[zerodefect]

Well why would I want to decode with Quicktime. In general it slows down the whole process and the only reason that Quicktime can even handle Xvid is because of a plugin, which is a bit dodgy for Mac anyway. I have never had to use decode with Quicktime for dealing with Xvid files, but it must be different for iPod conversions. Maybe Major can chime in with a cause/reason.

[zerodefect]

Just wanted to add, the source is Xvid the output is H.264. That's why I was not using Quicktime to decode.

[zerodefect]

So why is it that decode with Quicktime is required? I would think that Quicktime handles Xvid source worse than open source components and I would also assume it slows things down. Also wanted to mention that I can't get decode with Quicktime to stay on in a preset, it is always off when I load the preset.