mp4 file problem (converting to DVD)

[danielmak]

I have an .mp4 file that I want to convert and burn to DVD and it's driving me nuts. This is the second half of a soccer match, so I have two mp4 files (one file for each half). The files will only play on my computer with VLC but I want to burn and watch on my TV (a standard/non-HD TV). I used ffmpegX 0.09W to convert the first half to DVD using the DVDffmpeg setting. Everything was fine except the image was scrunched so I used MyDVDEdit to correct the size (switching from a720X480 to 16:9). When I burned the VIDEO and AUDIO_TS files with Toast's Data (DVD-Rom) setting it worked fine on my TV. I started with all of that because both files came from the same person and have the same settings but the second file is causing problems and I'm wondering if anyone can help me out.

When I encode the second file ffmpeg runs through the process but I only get one VOB file in the VIDEO_TS folder (again this is with the DVDffmpeg setting). The file won't open with the DVD player on my computer. After doing this twice I tested the file with the play button in the upper right hand corner of ffmpeg and I only get audio. So I switched to DVDmpeg2enc and got the following message when I started to encode the file:


INFO: [yuvscaler] yuvscaler 1.9.0 (15-02-2004) is a general scaling utility for yuv frames
Tue Aug 8 11:39:21 CDT 2006
INFO: [yuvscaler] (C) 2001-2004 Xavier Biquard <xbiquard@free.fr>, yuvscaler -h for help, or man yuvscaler
MEncoder dev-CVS-051126-18:35-3.3 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
-f is not an MEncoder option
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
AltiVec found
CPU: PowerPC
Exiting... (error parsing cmdline)
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindström
All rights reserved..
ERROR: [FILE NAME AND LOCATION WERE HERE BUT I DELETED THAT INFO]
**ERROR: [yuvscaler] Could'nt read YUV4MPEG header!


Here are the general settings for the file if that helps:

Source Format from ffmpeg:
From: MP4
Video: h264, yuv420p, 960x528
aac, 48000 Hz, 5:1

From the person who recorded the file:
Quality:___X264 Rev532
2pass birate:___1500
Cap Settings:___29.97fps / 960x528 Res / 6ch AAC Audio
Size:___550 to 600meg


Again the general file type is the same as the file for the first half and the other one worked with ffmpeg. And both play with VLC.

BTW I read the discussion about Decoding with MPlayer in the following link and did that:

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1500540&highlight=error+yuvscaler+couldnt+r...header#1500540

When I do that I don't get the error listed above. Instead, I get the following error:

"Source filename error
Please remove spaces and special characters from your source filename and folders names."

I changed the file name to argentina.mp4 but still get the same error. Any recommendations for a workaround so I can re-encode the file and burn it to DVD?

Thanks.

[Case]

1/ I've seen ffmpegX create VIDEO_TS folder with just a single VOB file inside on occasion, but I haven't figured out on what conditions this happens.

2/ Try to play the VOB file in ffmpegX (mplayer) or VLC. The VIDEO_TS folder may be authored badly, but is the file content okay? Is the file size of the right order (over 1 GB, I expect)?

3/ You may try to use Toast to author from the VOB file. It will re-multiplex, but it can do without re-encoding, so this should be fairly fast. To make sure Toast won't re-encode, set the Custom Encoding to 'reencode never'. Save as Disc Image. Mount the disc image and try if Apple DVD Player will play it.

[nitosoft]

you could use our new app hawkeye to re-encode the mp4 to dvd and author both parts to the same dvd no problem.

http://www.nitosoft.com/hawkeye_1.0.8.dmg

and 1.0.9 should be out within the next day or two with some nice new features.

[danielmak]

1/ I've seen ffmpegX create VIDEO_TS folder with just a single VOB file inside on occasion, but I haven't figured out on what conditions this happens.

2/ Try to play the VOB file in ffmpegX (mplayer) or VLC. The VIDEO_TS folder may be authored badly, but is the file content okay? Is the file size of the right order (over 1 GB, I expect)?

The file is 0k--nothing is on it. I didn't save or copy the coding when I used the ffmpeg DVD setting. And didn't want to go through another 2 hours of encoding to get another error since I assumed that was inevitable given the DVDmpeg2enc message listed above. I will try Hawkeye per the suggestion by nitosoft.

Is it possible that VLC can correct the [yuvscaler] Could'nt read YUV4MPEG header! ERROR but other programs can't? (BTW I searched for this error and got a few links on this forum but nothing ever seemed to be suggested that would solve it. Hopefully Hawkeye does the trick.)

3/ You may try to use Toast to author from the VOB file. It will re-multiplex, but it can do without re-encoding, so this should be fairly fast. To make sure Toast won't re-encode, set the Custom Encoding to 'reencode never'. Save as Disc Image. Mount the disc image and try if Apple DVD Player will play it.

Again, the file has nothing on it but thanks for this tip since I can to test this with another file that is split into 3 avi files that I would like to burn (1 file on 1 DVD and 2 files on the other DVD). Take care.

[danielmak]

you could use our new app hawkeye to re-encode the mp4 to dvd and author both parts to the same dvd no problem.

http://www.nitosoft.com/hawkeye_1.0.8.dmg

and 1.0.9 should be out within the next day or two with some nice new features.

I opened the file with hawkeye and the program did something to the file--changing the file size from roughtly 550MB to 370MB. Convert playlist to DVD is available but doesn't do anything in terms of providing a file that can be burned to DVD and viewed on a DVD player. Additionally, the file won't play in hawkeye. The play button on the lower right part of the window only produces a black screen. When I select Prepare for DVD, I get the following information:

Nothing under DURATION or CODEC, 1.00 under ASPECT, 0MB under FILE SIZE or SIZE, NTSC under FORMAT, 0 under NEW SIZE, 1.50 under RV, and 0 under START and STOP.

When I try to drag the file (post conversion) into Toast I get the unsupported file error.

When I try to encode with ffmpeg with the DVDmpeg2enc I get the following error, which is a little different than the previous one:

INFO: [yuvscaler] yuvscaler 1.9.0 (15-02-2004) is a general scaling utility for yuv frames
Wed Aug 9 18:34:11 CDT 2006
INFO: [yuvscaler] (C) 2001-2004 Xavier Biquard <xbiquard@free.fr>, yuvscaler -h for help, or man yuvscaler
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING AltiVec for MOTION!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING AltiVec for TRANSFORM!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING AltiVec for PREDICTION!
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindström
All rights reserved..
ERROR: Could not open movie: /Users/FOLDERINFOHERE/world cup/argentina-serbia/WorldCup.Group.C.Argentina.vs.Serbia.Montenegro.Hi Def.X264.2nd.Half/WorldCup.Group.C.Argentina.vs.Serbia.Montenegro.Hi Def.X264.2nd.Half
**ERROR: [yuvscaler] Could'nt read YUV4MPEG header!
**ERROR: [mpeg2enc] Could not read YUV4MPEG2 header: system error (failed read/write)!

(BTW when I drag it into ffmpeg that program now thinks the file is a .mov file rather than .mp4)

In most situations I would just say I've got a bad file and that's it but the file plays perfectly on VLC.

[Case]

ERROR: Could not open movie: /Users/FOLDERINFOHERE ...

A 184-character path, edited, possibly shortened, and on the end there is no file extension(!), thus the path doesn't locate the file. I'm not sure what the path length limit is on any of the tools involved, but it wouldn't hurt to try if it acted differently if the input file was
/aaa.mp4 (root location) or
/Users/username/Desktop/aaa.mp4 (Desktop location)
Guaranteed no invalid characters or too long path to prevent the opening of the movie.

[SERBIAN]

...WorldCup.Group.C.Argentina.vs.Serbia.Montenegro .HiDef.X264.2nd.Half...

Btw I didnt like that particular game at all...

[danielmak]

ERROR: Could not open movie: /Users/FOLDERINFOHERE ...

A 184-character path, edited, possibly shortened, and on the end there is no file extension(!), thus the path doesn't locate the file. I'm not sure what the path length limit is on any of the tools involved, but it wouldn't hurt to try if it acted differently if the input file was
/aaa.mp4 (root location) or
/Users/username/Desktop/aaa.mp4 (Desktop location)
Guaranteed no invalid characters or too long path to prevent the opening of the movie.

Case,

Thanks for your patience. I put the "FOLDERINFOHERE" in place of the real locations for purposes of anonymity given the file type. The file extension (or lack-there-of) was a product of hawkeye's conversion. When I use command-I I don't get a description of the file so I don't know what extension to add for certain. When I shrink the name the size listed jumps back up to its original size.

Anyway, I shrunk this new file name to argentina.avi and put it in a folder called test on the desk top. When I dragged it back into ffmpeg it showed up as a MOV file in the From part of the program. Igot the same error as above. So I changed it to MOV and dragged it in. (BTW all the other settings of the file are the same as the ones listed at the start of this thread, so the only thing that has changed sinne the hawkeye conversion is ffmpeg reading it as MOV instead of MP4.) When I tried the DVD conversion process (again, DVDmpeg2enc) I was now able to use mplayer instead of quicktime in the decode part of option. The file has been encoding since last night around 9:45 (so almost 12 hours when other avi files only took two hours). Here's the information (I changed one path name for purposes of anonymity--signaled by CHANGED).


Encoding started on Wed Aug 9 21:36:38 CDT 2006
/Users/CHANGED/Desktop/test/argentina.mov.ff/
-f 5 -b 4000 -q 3 -B 260 -V 230 -a 3
-F 4
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING AltiVec for MOTION!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING AltiVec for TRANSFORM!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING AltiVec for PREDICTION!
INFO: [yuvscaler] yuvscaler (version 1.7.0) is a general scaling utility for yuv frames
INFO: [yuvscaler] (C) 2001-2002 Xavier Biquard <xbiquard@free.fr>
INFO: [yuvscaler] yuvscaler -h for help, or man yuvscaler
MPlayer dev-CVS-051126-18:35-3.3 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
AltiVec found
CPU: PowerPC
CommandLine: '-noframedrop' '-vo' 'yuv4mpeg' '-ao' 'pcm:waveheader' '-v' '-osdlevel' '0' '/Users/CHANGED/Desktop/test/argentina.mov' '-aid' '0'
get_path('font/font.desc') -> '/Users/CHANGED/.mplayer/font/font.desc'
font: can't open file: /Users/CHANGED/.mplayer/font/font.desc
Font /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using Unoptimized OnScreenDisplay
Using Darwin accurate timing
Terminal type `unknown' is not defined.
get_path('input.conf') -> '/Users/CHANGED/.mplayer/input.conf'
Parsing input config file /Users/CHANGED/.mplayer/input.conf
Input config file /Users/CHANGED.mplayer/input.conf parsed: 2 binds
get_path('argentina.mov.conf') -> '/Users/CHANGED/.mplayer/argentina.mov.conf'
Playing /Users/CHANGED/Desktop/test/argentina.mov.
get_path('sub/') -> '/Users/CHANGED/.mplayer/sub/'
[file] File size is 583639834 bytes
STREAM: [file] /Users/CHANGED/Desktop/test/argentina.mov
STREAM: Description: File
STREAM: Author: Albeu
STREAM: Comment: based on the code from ??? (probably Arpi)
Checking for YUV4MPEG2
ASF_check: not ASF guid!
Checking for NuppelVideo
Checking for REAL
Checking for SMJPEG
Warning! pts=-546919917 length=-1061734241
Searching demuxer type for filename /Users/CHANGED/Desktop/test/argentina.mov ext: .mov
Trying demuxer 7 based on filename extension
Checking for MOV
ISO: File Type Major Brand: ISO Base Media
ISO: File Type Minor Version: 1
ISO: File Type Compatible Brand #0: isom
Quicktime/MOV file format detected.
--------------
tkhd len=84 ver=0 flags=0x0 id=1 dur=1771071 lay=0 vol=0
ks) (ver:0,flags:0)
MOV track #0: 6319 chunks, 88465 samples
pts=-1061734241 scale=0 time= inf
==> Found video stream: 0
FPS not specified in the header or invalid, use the -fps option.
No stream found.
param sets: 1
Image size: 960 x 528 (24 bpp)
Display size: 960 x 528
Fourcc: 1cva Codec: ''
--------------
tkhd len=84 ver=0 flags=0x0 id=2 dur=1771110 lay=0 vol=256
MOV track #1: 6320 chunks, 69184 samples
pts=70844416 scale=24000 time=2951.851
==> Found audio stream: 1
Audio bits: 16 chans: 2 rate: 24000
ESDS MPEG4 version: 0 flags: 0x000000
ESDS MPEG4 ES Descriptor (25Bytes):
-> ESId: 0
-> streamPriority: 0
ESDS MPEG4 Decoder Config Descriptor (17Bytes):
-> objectTypeId: 64
-> streamType: 0x15
-> bufferSizeDB: 0x00042D
-> maxBitrate: 138.584kbit/s
-> avgBitrate: 126.680kbit/s
ESDS MPEG4 Decoder Specific Descriptor (2Bytes)
ESDS MPEG4 Sync Layer Config Descriptor (1Bytes)
-> predefined: 2
Fourcc: a4pm
--------------
VIDEO: [avc1] 960x528 24bpp 0.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:7 fourcc:0x31637661 size:960x528 fps: 0.00 ftime:= inf
Exiting... (End of file)



Does this information below let you know that it's actually working or am I still in trouble?

The information says that the encoding is done but the encoding line is still spinning. I am worried about the last few lines after VIDEO and all of the zeros that appear. Thanks again.

[Case]

ffmpegX Progress should make a sound when it's really done, with word Finished (or Failed) in the box. Until then, I would assume it's still working on something.

[danielmak]

ffmpegX Progress should make a sound when it's really done, with word Finished (or Failed) in the box. Until then, I would assume it's still working on something.

Thanks. It's still going. I've heard about 24 hour encodes but haven't dealt with that yet, but I guess I'm about to. Strange for a 500mb file.

I was doing more research on the file itself and searching these forums for more possible answers. I used command-I will playing the file on VLC and found that it runs with AVC1 codec and MP4A codec. I couldn't find either codec for the Mac.

I have the following codecs in my Quicktime library:
AC3 Codec.component
3ivx D4 4.5.1 for OSX
AppleIntermediateCodec.component
DivX Encoder.component
DivX Decoder.component
XviD_Codec v0.5.1.component

Am I missing anything that would cover AVC1 or MP4A or do I have all the freeware codecs that might address my file problem?

I notice other folks dealing with similar codec problems but never found an answer in terms of what they might do. I did find an AVC codec online but only for PC. Take care.