MPEG-2 vids to DivX

[Syro]

I'm trying to convert my MPEG-2 music videos (.m2v) to DivX (.avi) using VirtualDub-MPEG-2 (1.6.15) and the DivX 6.4.0 codec, but I get the following error:

"Cannot initialize video compression due to codec error: The source image format is not acceptable."

They're all 480x480 videos and i'm resizing them to 480x360.

Any ideas how to resolve this???

TIA

[guns1inger]

Do you get this when you try to load or try to save ?

[Syro]

when i try to save

[guns1inger]

I suspect that you have the Panasonic DV codec installed, and it has put itself in place of the Divx codec. Because it is a DV codec, it expects 720 x 480/576 only. Uninstall it and see if you have more luck. You may have to reinstall Divx to get the correct fourCC references back in the registry

[Syro]

i don't believe i have panasonic DV codec installed, it's not showing up in the add/remove programs control panel and it's not in the compression/codec list in VirtualDub. I reinstalled Divx 6.4 and it's still giving me the same error message.

any ideas?

[mats.hogberg]

Try AutoGK instead of VirtualDub directly (VD is used by AutoGK).

/Mats

[Syro]

i was able to get rid of that error (by making the resize filter last), but now i get the following error:

"Video compression error: An unknown error occurred (may be corrupt data). (error code -100)"

I tried multiple sources and get the same error

Any ideas???

[Baldrick]

are you using 2pass divx encoding? you may get that error if you try run the second pass first.

or google it, http://www.google.se/search?hs=SqP&hl=sv&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aof...S%C3%B6k&meta=

[SatStorm]

Try an old fashion trick: Re-mux your original m2v file...

[Syro]

i have no clue how to re-mux and i don't get this on the 2ndpass, i get it as soon as i save the file... the processing/status window comes up and looks like it's gonna work but then immediately spits out that error message

i've tried AutoGK and the video quality actually looks great, but i get no audio. it doesn't even show an audio track is available when loading the m2v file

any more ideas????

[mats.hogberg]

That's odd - I've never had AutoGK fail to recognize a+v from an mpg - but then - you say m2v - that's usually mpg2 video only elementary stream!?!

/Mats

[Syro]

the audio actually plays with no problems in vdub, media players, vista media center and even xbmc

how do u get autoGK to correctly read audio?

- or -

how do i resolve the current VirtualDub error message when tryin to save to divx/avi?

[manono]

What kind of audio is it, that AutoGK doesn't recognize it?

If it refuses to handle it for some reason, mux it into the video that AutoGK made. You say you don't know how to remux. Well, learn. It's kind of basic, and if you're going to mess around with audio and video, it's time you learned.

[mats.hogberg]

how do u get autoGK to correctly read audio?

That's it - I don't have to "get it" - it simply does. That's what makes me wonder. Could it be so simple that AutoGK looks at the wrong extension m2v and never even bothers to look for audio in a file that (according to the extension) only contains video? Try renaming it to .mpg and try again.

/Mats

[Syro]

weird... if i change the extension from .m2v to .mpg, AutoGK picks up the audio, which essentially solves my problem............. but VirtualDub does allow me more control (like resizing and cropping out the fuzzy black borders)... any last ideas on how to resolve my current virtualdub error???

[guns1inger]

After you change the extension, what does virtualdubmpeg2 say about it ?

[manono]

but VirtualDub does allow me more control (like resizing and cropping out the fuzzy black borders)...

AutoGK also resizes (and you can even pick the width) and crops away the black, so I don't quite understand that claim of yours. If for some reason it's not removing all of the black, then go into the Hidden Options to fine tune the autocrop, or even set the crop values yourself.

[Syro]

vdub-mpeg2 opens it and gets the audio no matter the extension. i just can't encode to divx/avi (that error).

picking the width (480) in autogk doesn't give it a 4:3 aspect. where's the hidden options so i can get the black removed and 4:3 aspect?

[manono]

If you're asking why, when you set the width for 480, the height doesn't end up at 360, the answer is that AutoGK resizes (correctly) by Mod16 (divisible by 16). 360 is Mod8. Therefore, you can't get a 480x360 result using AutoGK. Rest assured, though, that it does have the proper AR. If you insist on a 480x360 result, then, yes, you'll have to use something else.

As for cropping away the black, it's supposed to do that. Are you saying it's not cropping at all, or it's not cropping enough, or what? Are you sure your player isn't adding black back? Open the completed AVI in VDubMod and scroll around. If you don't see any black, then there is none in the AVI and AutoGK did its job right. Anyway, if you had bothered to read the included tutorial, you might have come across this:

Hidden Options
There are quite a few hidden options in AutoGK these days that can be accessed via CTRL-F9 shortcut...
- Sometimes auto crop used with default parameters by AutoGK cannot totally remove black bars or removes too much of a movie material. In this case "Tune auto crop parameters" is very handy. Threshold defines how sensitive auto crop will be: the higher the value the more cropping will be done. To completely disable audio crop you can set threshold to 0. "Number of frames to examine" is useful parameter to change if movie is a mixture of full screen/wide screen shots, so by selecting different frames that auto crop examines you can improve cropping process. "Starting frame" can help auto crop in situation when you have a full screen logo as a part of widescreen movie, in which case autocrop might decide that the whole source is full screen. By selecting a different starting frames you force auto crop not to examine irrelevant starting movie sequence. "Force cropping" option allows you to crop additional pixels after autocrop operation (if you find that you need to always crop several more pixels you can use this option). If you disable autocrop with threshold 0 then "force cropping" option becomes fully manual crop. Remember always to check how movie looks like after you set new auto crop parameters using Preview function of AutoGK.

http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=TutorialEN#6

It does seem to have a hidden option to force a 4:3 AR. As far as I know, it's still not going to give you a perfect 480x360, but I could be wrong and it's worth a try to find out for sure.

[Syro]

thanks.

but, i've found a way to get my MPEG-2 videos directly to Zune ready WMV video format (Windows Media Encoder via Windows Media Batch Encoder) instead of this long method (MPEG2/SVCD->DivX/AVI->MP4->Zune Marketplace->sync to Zune).

thanks again everyone