FLV conversion problem

[CSULB71]

Some FLV video clips I've downloaded use AVC/H264 video codec and AAc audio codec, according to AVI DeMux "Info".

I can watch the whole video in MediaPlayerClassic with no problems but, for some reason, when I open them in AVI DeMux for editing and conversion to AVI, only the first few minutes of the video loads. I've tried converting the "whole" file with FLV Converter and FLV to AVI, but only the same first few minutes (and exact number of frames) that loads into AVI DeMux is converted.

The video info from GSpot says: Codec = ????, Name = Flash Video Unknown Type, and in the Proposed Solutions box, DirectShow error report says the video stream could not be rendered because it is an unsupported format.

Any ideas what might be going on?

[ricardouk]

do you get the following message when opening the flv?

H.264 found
If the file is using B-frames as reference it can lead to crash or stuttering. Avidemux can use another mode which is safe but YOU WILL LOSE FRAME ACURACY. Do you want to use that mode?
Yes or NO?

select yes and try that way

if that doesnt work i suggest avanti

[vidalien]

Demux the flv into video/audio streams using FLV extract. Get it here http://moitah.net/

Then remux the stream using YAMB. get it here http://yamb.unite-video.com/
Avi container is not good for h264 videos. Use mp4 container (file extension)

[CSULB71]

ricardouk: No difference -- I always select "Yes" for that situation, and it loaded only the first few minutes of the particular clip.

vidalien: I'll try what you suggested.
"Avi container is not good for h264 videos" -- I was attempting to convert the FLV to an XviD AVI.

[vidalien]

""Avi container is not good for h264 videos" -- I was attempting to convert the FLV to an XviD AVI. "

Once you remux your flv file to mp4 container, you can convert it to Xvid avi using Avidemux. or many other freeware programs e.g. Xmediarecode

[CSULB71]

Sorry -- now I understand what you meant.

[CSULB71]

Finally getting back to this. I downloaded FLV Extract and unzipped the files, saw no "setup" file icon so I clicked on the FLVExtract.exe file and got an error message that it didn't initialize properly. The only other 'application' file was FLVExtractCL.exe, and it gives me the same error message. Any idea what is going on here?
Thanks

[poisondeathray]

do you have .net framework 2.0 installed? It's listed as a requirement
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/FLV_Extract

[CSULB71]

I thought I did, but didn't.

After demuxing with FLVExtract and remuxing with YAMB, the end result is the same as originally stated: just the first few minutes/# of frames at the beginning of the clip! For some reason, none of the editing or demux-remux app's I've tried will read past that point of the file, even though MPC-HC will play the full clip with no problem.

[poisondeathray]

probably a glitch at that point

you could try downloading again, or try cutting the error point out, or maybe try avisynth to load and edit . If mpchc can play past that point, then maybe directshowsource() in avisynth can load the file

or you could try converting with other software, both listed above are ffmpeg based (avanti, xmediarecode)

[hech54]

I've said it many times...FLV is an "end of the road" format. Once it's in FLV there is almost no going back. For times when I MUST work with FLV files for friends...I use SUPER to convert it to uncompressed AVI(as I recall) and do whatever is necessary in AviDemux. If more work is needed I export it as HuffyUV from AviDemux to open in VDub for further processing.

[CSULB71]

I've had no problem editing and converting many FLV files in the past just using AVIDemux, but this one file is being stubborn. And, that's the problem: the whole file won't load into the editing/conversion app's, past the glitch point.

hech54: I''l try SUPER as you suggested.

[CSULB71]

Well, I tried SUPER, and no luck -- same results as everything else I've tried. I set the output as AVI with RAW (Uncompressed) video codec, no change to video size, decided on MP3 audio, and it stops encoding at the same glitch point. Odd thing though, SUPER shows the info of the input file as the correct complete time duration and file size, but it just won't read/encode past the glitch point.

poisondeathray: just to reiterate, the clip loads into AVIDemux, but shows/encodes only up to the glitch point. I'll try the other apps you suggested (avanti, xmediarecode).

Update: avanti didn't work either -- got error messages, one of which was: "You loaded a unsupported or corrupted source file."

On to xmediarecode...
No luck here, either. After setting all the output parameters that I figured were required, the "Encode" button remained grayed out, so I couldn't start the conversion (to XviD AVI) process. Then I viewed the clip in the "Preview" mode, and it stopped playing at the same glitch point! Here, again, the file info shows the complete clip time length, but it won't read past the glitch point.

[DarrellS]

fcchandler has a new FLV input plugin for Virtualdub that supports H264/AAC...

http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/~fcchandler/Plugins/FLV/

He also has an MKV plugin if you're interested...

http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/~fcchandler/Plugins/Matroska/

[CSULB71]

Tried VDub with the FLV plugin, and it won't load anything past the glitch point, just like AVIDeMux and the other converter apps I've tried. The file is corrupt, but for some reason MPC-HC can play the complete file. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, but I think I'm done messing with this.

[CobraPilot]

WinFF ?

[CSULB71]

WinFF ?

Well, it doesn't matter now. I was able to re-download the file again, and this time it loaded completely into AVIDeMux. Same exact file size as the first corrupt one, but no glitch point -- go figure.