no luck with iPod h.264 conversions

[303]

i have attempted to convert various files to the iPod compatible h.264 format (ffmpegX 0.0.9w prior to r5), unfortunately with no usable success. just for the record, ffmpegX has been very useful in the last years converting to various formats but it seems as if iPod h.264 needs some tune up …

the files have been a divx and an mpeg2, here's the log and i'd be very grateful if someone can tell where the problem is:

mpeg2 file

using cpu capabilities Altivec 
mp4 [info]: initial delay 0 (scale 30000)
Tue Jul  4 14:25:30 CEST 2006
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindstr??m
All rights reserved..
x264 [info]: slice I:298   Avg QP:22.50  size: 10707  PSNR Mean Y:42.10 U:45.30 V:46.63 Avg:43.02 Global:42.51
x264 [info]: slice P:52352 Avg QP:25.46  size:  1072  PSNR Mean Y:39.45 U:43.45 V:45.07 Avg:40.51 Global:39.84
x264 [info]: mb I  I16..4: 22.4%  0.0% 77.6%
x264 [info]: mb P  I16..4:  1.9%  0.0%  0.9%  P16..4: 43.1%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:54.1%
x264 [info]: final ratefactor: 23.72
x264 [info]: PSNR Mean Y:39.464 U:43.465 V:45.081 Avg:40.519 Global:39.851 kb/s:270.02
encoded 52650 frames, 12.62 fps, 271.27 kb/s
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindstr??m
All rights reserved..
x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities Altivec 
mp4 [info]: initial delay 0 (scale 30000)
x264 [info]: slice I:298   Avg QP:23.24  size: 10010  PSNR Mean Y:41.57 U:44.96 V:46.35 Avg:42.52 Global:41.89
x264 [info]: slice P:52352 Avg QP:25.37  size:  1071  PSNR Mean Y:39.54 U:43.55 V:45.15 Avg:40.60 Global:40.04
x264 [info]: mb I  I16..4: 24.4%  0.0% 75.6%
x264 [info]: mb P  I16..4:  1.8%  0.0%  1.0%  P16..4: 43.2%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:54.0%
x264 [info]: PSNR Mean Y:39.555 U:43.553 V:45.162 Avg:40.612 Global:40.052 kb/s:269.02
encoded 52650 frames, 13.19 fps, 270.26 kb/s
Encoding audio..
error: could not convert audio track!
Computing levels...
normalize: WAV header not found
normalize: error reading /Users/p/Desktop/MIDIMusi1986.mpeg.ff.wav
FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal 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-pthreads --enable-x264 
  libavutil version: 49.0.0
  libavcodec version: 51.9.0
  libavformat version: 50.4.0
  built on Apr 15 2006 08:41:02, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Users/p/Desktop/MIDIMusi1986.mpeg.ff.video.mp4':
  Duration: 00:29:16.7, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 271 kb/s
  Stream #0.0(und), 29.97 fps(r): Video: h264, yuv420p, 320x240
/Users/p/Desktop/MIDIMusi1986.mpeg.ff.wav: Unknown format

avi file

using cpu capabilities Altivec 
mp4 [info]: initial delay 0 (scale 25000)
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindstr??m
All rights reserved..
x264 [info]: slice I:417   Avg QP:10.03  size:   272  PSNR Mean Y:100.00 U:100.00 V:100.00 Avg:100.00 Global:100.00
x264 [info]: slice P:103623 Avg QP:10.00  size:    23  PSNR Mean Y:100.00 U:100.00 V:100.00 Avg:100.00 Global:100.00
x264 [info]: mb I  I16..4: 99.3%  0.0%  0.7%
x264 [info]: mb P  I16..4:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  P16..4:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:100.0%
x264 [info]: final ratefactor: -14.86
x264 [info]: PSNR Mean Y:100.000 U:100.000 V:100.000 Avg:100.000 Global:100.000 kb/s:4.80
encoded 104040 frames, 9.24 fps, 5.83 kb/s
Encoding audio..
Computing levels...
 Permanent.Vacatio  --% done, ETA --:--:-- (batch   0% done, ETA 99:14:08) 
 Permanent.Vacatio  27% done, ETA 00:00:00 (batch  22% done, ETA 00:00:00) 
 Permanent.Vacatio  55% done, ETA 00:00:00 (batch  44% done, ETA 00:00:00) 
 Permanent.Vacatio  82% done, ETA 00:00:00 (batch  78% done, ETA 00:00:00) 
 Permanent.Vacatio 100% done, ETA 00:00:00 (batch 100% done, ETA 00:00:00) 
                                                                          
File /Volumes/F/AVI.avi.ff.wav has zero power, ignoring...
FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal 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-pthreads --enable-x264 
  libavutil version: 49.0.0
  libavcodec version: 51.9.0
  libavformat version: 50.4.0
  built on Apr 15 2006 08:41:02, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Volumes/F/AVI.avi.ff.video.mp4':
  Duration: 01:09:21.6, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 6 kb/s
  Stream #0.0(und), 25.00 fps(r): Video: h264, yuv420p, 320x240
Input #1, wav, from '/Volumes/F/AVI.avi.ff.wav':
  Duration: 00:00:00.0, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1535 kb/s
  Stream #1.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s
Output #0, mp4, to '/Volumes/F/AVI.avi.ff.audio.mp4':
  Stream #0.0: Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #1.0 -> #0.0 [sync #0.0]
Press [q] to stop encoding
video:0kB audio:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 7900.000000%
                                                 
Several tracks in MP4 - please indicate track to import
Error importing /Volumes/F/AVI.avi.ff.audio.mp4: Bad Parameter

thank you very much.
303 (registered user)

[Case]

mpeg2 file
error: could not convert audio track!

avi file
Input #1, wav, from '/Volumes/F/AVI.avi.ff.wav':
Duration: 00:00:00.0

Both files seem to have problematic audio. Please provide more info on the source files, especially the audio part. Format/codec, sampling rate, size, bitrate, things like that.

[303]

the mpeg file (can't get info via ffmpegX, see http://www.archive.org/download/MIDIMusi1986/MIDIMusi1986.mpeg it's the mpeg2. info by quicktime player):
MPEG2 muxed, 640x480
29,97 fps NTSC
1,8 GB
5263,71 kBit/s
duration 00:29:16.75

the avi file:
XVID, 528x400, 12 bpp, 25 fps, 1275.2 kbps
audiocodec: framecopy (format=55 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=0 B/s=15351 sample-0)

and another attempt, different file (also from the prelinger archive):
MPEG2 muxed, 640x480
29,97 fps NTSC
866,30 MB
5211,70 kBit/s
duration 00:23:01.36

yields:

Encoding started on Tue Jul  4 20:53:13 CEST 2006
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindstr??m
All rights reserved..
x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities Altivec 
mp4 [info]: initial delay 0 (scale 30000)
x264 [info]: slice I:231   Avg QP:21.06  size: 11415  PSNR Mean Y:43.37 U:45.87 V:46.55 Avg:44.11 Global:43.59
x264 [info]: slice P:41169 Avg QP:24.09  size:  1080  PSNR Mean Y:40.82 U:43.61 V:44.46 Avg:41.62 Global:41.10
x264 [info]: mb I  I16..4: 17.1%  0.0% 82.9%
x264 [info]: mb P  I16..4:  1.6%  0.0%  0.9%  P16..4: 47.5%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:50.0%
x264 [info]: final ratefactor: 22.99
x264 [info]: PSNR Mean Y:40.831 U:43.623 V:44.475 Avg:41.630 Global:41.109 kb/s:272.80
encoded 41400 frames, 12.16 fps, 274.05 kb/s
Encoding audio..
error: could not create save file!

i'm always using the generic iPod h.264 settings, only the aspect ratio has been changed to 4:3 because ffmpegX always chooses 16:9 as default, which seems to be a bug if ffmpegX should recognise the aspect ratio right away. oh btw, last encode was with the latest ffmpegX 0.0.9w r5. is this problem similar to the one here https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=301221 ? maybe?

thanks so far

[Case]

the mpeg file

I renamed the file to "foo.mpg" (deleted the e in the suffix), and it converted fine to a 77.5 MB MP4 file. Maybe the naming is relevant, because the start of my log looks very different, so it must have been treated in a different way.

[303]

thanks case, that's very interesting! i ran a test with the iPod TV setting (MP 4) and the files converted fine without having changed their names. as it seems, naming convention and related problems to certain encoders are a weak point and should be worked on or at least mentioned on the website!

thanks for shedding light on this, case
303

[303]

changing the extension let's ffmpegX recognise the file type right, showing the correct info and successfully encodes it. but …

oh no: it seems that at least one encoding option results in an non iPod compatible file …
but which one is know to be troublesome?

[major]

Try to disable CABAC & Trellis.

[303]

thank you very much, that's the trick. this is really important and i suggest the extension naming convention and unchecking the aforementioned boxes should be mentioned on your website. saves other people hours of fiddling around.