Full rez quicktime to Mpeg4.avi conversion

[markoh7]

My question: I have an Archos jukebox and would like to convert material I have in final cut pro to mpeg4 avi so I can dump it to my archos and have it available for portable screening. I tried using FFmpeg on a full rez QT export and the result was a grossly sped up file visually ( looked like a time lapse of the clip) with normal speed audio. Any tips gretly appreciated

[thoughton]

Can you elaborate what you actually did? "Full rez qt export" doesn't mean very much to me. You can just use FCP's reference mov file in ffmpegX without exporting anything...

[markoh7]

Ok here's the work flow. I have a clip ( actually many ) in FCP that are DV ntsc resolution.
Export that clip from FCP, as a full resolution DV QT movie, take said clip and bring it into FFmpeg and convert to mpeg4.avi that will be play on my Archos av 480.

I have had success creating an mpeg4 QT movie from my DV clip using compressor. Then I bring that clip into FFmpeg and convert it to mpeg4 .avi which can then be dumped on the archos.

I could just play back video into the archos and get it on the AV480 like that, but I find the hardware compressor in the machine lacking in terms of quality when it comes to handling some of the material I am throwing at it. Taking the software compression is far better, and since some of these clips are things I might show to clients I am going for quality.

The underlying issue is I would like to make the move from DV clip to Mpeg4.avi Archos compatible file in one step in stead of two, for the convenience and time factors.

Thanks for any advice in this matter.

[thoughton]

Sorry for the delay, somehow missed the notification email.

If using the reference mov doesn't help, I would try exporting to some other intermediate format prior to ffmpegX. When in doubt I like uncompressed avi! (if I have enough space).

[markoh7]

Sort of what I did by exporting an avi which I then took into FFmpeg and made Archos friendly. As I said, I'm searching for the 1 shot conversion scheme though it may not exist. The quality from the 2 step conversion is much better than feeding video into the Archos and since the amount of material is smallI'll stick with 2 steps while I continue looking for 1 step.

[imdgp]

I was also hoping to find a one step solution to convert various types of digital still camera movie clips to a format suitable for playback on an archos device. This means several types of video - mov, mp4, mjpeg - best converted to a Divx file with mp3 audio. Handbrake does a great job converting vob files to a suitable file, but does not convert other types. The archos av700 is supposed to playback WMV files but really does not handle wmv audio correctly.

So I am hoping someone can point us in the right direction. Archos support basically point me to a website but does not give much guidance.

David

ps here is a quote from archos:-

"Dear Customer,

Try with ffmpegx.
You have a large set of choice at : http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/

Kind Regards,
Archos Technical Support"

[Case]

ffmpegX (website, forum) is a fine encoder, with excellent support and active development. Looks like you got some decent support there.

[thoughton]

I agree, ffmepgX is the best bet. Archos support was short but sweet Determine which settings produce good output for your Archos, then save that as a template. After that you can just choose your input video, choose your pre-saved setting, and you're off and running. It should work with most input files. (On rare occasions you might have to switch from one encoder to another, they each have bugbear formats they don't like)

[markoh7]

So has anyone here taken a full rez DV QT file exported say from Final cut and run it through FFmpeg and gotten a good looking, archos friendly file with one pass? I'm still looking for the the silver bullet.

[markoh7]

So I finally got a full rez QT file (DV Format ) encoded to the MP4 archos format in one pass using FFmpeg. Luck might have played a part or some other form of serendipity, but I finally got one to work!

[imdgp]

what settings did you use for ffmpeg??

cheers

David

[markoh7]

You know stupid as it may sound, I woke up about 4 this morning thinking that I should have posted this information.
I took a 14 minute QT file (DV resolution), just over 3 gig and used MPEG4 [AVI] (mencoder) 2 pass encoding selected under options . Got a great looking Mpeg4 out of it in one step, without having to export a MP4 of the DV file first, and then encode with ffmpeg. The result was the same file size and quality as the much lengthier 2 step route I used previously.

[thoughton]

And how was that different to what you originally did in your first post of this thread?

[markoh7]

my first 6 or 8 attempts to make a MP4 archos friendly file out of a DV resolution QT failed for unknown reasons usually resulting in a file that had the audio playing in real time just fine and the picture was grossly sped up as if I had done a time lapse of the visuals playing against the normal audio.


Then I discovered that I could export an MP4 of the DV file from my edit system, bring that in to FFmpeg and convert it to an archos friendly file, but that took 2 steps to get accomplish.

Now I've discovered that I can import something from tape, lets say, an edited program, using quicktime/record function get a DV resolution file, which I need for other purposes and then take that DV rez file and make it into something archos compatible in one encoding-compression step, which is what I set out to do originally.

I use my archos as a portable repository for finished projects that I have shot as it comes in very handy for demonstrating to clients. I could just paly back the DV tape into the Archos and record that, but since the type of material often involves quick cuts and lots of dynamic images the hardware compression of the archos leaves something to be desired in terms of image quality. If I compress the file with FFmpeg the image quality is excellent.