mpg header bytes make toast think file is playlist - Quicktime ends halfway

[llee782]

If I use ffmpegX to transcode a .mpg file of about 90 minutes in length by choosing DVD ffmpeg as the preset, passthrough audio, typical dvd video attributes and High Quality enabled but Decode with QT disabled in the Options segment tab, the resulting file seems to play fine in VLC and in QuickTime (using mpeg playback component).

My problem is quite specific, and I've determined a specific remedy, it's just that my remedy is inconvenient.

Here's the problem. When I drop the resulting file into Toast to create a DVD, Toast appears to determine that the file is a song and creates a playlist entry for it rather than a video file entry.

I can work around this problem by replacing this 4-byte hex value selection in the transcoded .mpg file starting at insertion point 2C (28, decimal):

01 BF 03 D4

with

00 00 00 00.

I arrived at that solution by comparing the input and output files and editing the output file to match the input file upon observing the difference at this early point in the file (a sort of hacker technique, I presume).

If you can't give me a way to correct the problem in the ffmpegX interface, could you please provide me with a shell script or an example of a shell script that will accomplish the precise repair in the output file?

Now for the other side of the problem. If I put a check mark next to Decode with QT, the resulting file does not have the problem of being recognized by Toast, but it does have the problem of being incomplete, because when reading the input file, QuickTime apparently believes it has reached the end of the file when in fact it has only reached the halfway point. Is there a way to make QuickTime recognize the correct duration of the source video in this scenario so I could use the Decode with QT option? The mpg file created when I do not select the Decode with QuickTime option plays successfully in its entirety, so I'm convinced that there must be something I could do to fix the input mpg file so it can be properly decoded by QuickTime. I would much prefer not to have to split the input file in order to accommodate QuickTime's error (a remedy that introduces its own problems).

Thanks.

[llee782]

Here's part of the answer (QuickTime ends halfway)

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304656

The QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component will only play the first 4 GB of an MPEG-2 file.

[Case]

When I drop the resulting file into Toast to create a DVD, Toast appears to determine that the file is a song and creates a playlist entry for it rather than a video file entry.

1. The DVD mpeg2enc preset doesn't have that issue.
2. Alternatively, you could let ffmpegX author a VIDEO_TS folder and burn that.

[llee782]

1. The DVD mpeg2enc preset doesn't have that issue.

When I try that preset, I get a long string of output (which seems to riddled with errors and warnings) which culminates in this line:

**ERROR: [mplex] Unable to open file /Users/me/Desktop/Clip.mpg.ff.mpv for reading.

Toward the beginning of the output is this:

line 207: /Library/Application Support/ffmpegX/mpeg2enc: Malformed Mach-o file

I've already tried removing, re-downloading, and reinstalling mpeg2enc.

Where else might I look for the causes of errors for mpeg2enc? Thanks.

[llee782]

Installation for mpeg2enc wasn't successful. On my system Safari tries to display the contents of the mpeg2enc.intel file available from mjpeg.sourceforge.net in a browser window, and so I tried to become creative to get a usable source file. It used to work. I finally gave up and told Interarchy to download the file, then the mach-o error went away and I can transcode using the DVD mpeg2enc preset. I'm not able to decode with mplayer, though. For some reason the duration of the video component gets lengthened disproportionately. (I don't want to decode with QuickTime, because of the MPEG-2 Playback Component's inability to read more than 4G of the input file.)
Thanks.

[Case]

then the error went away and I can transcode using the DVD mpeg2enc preset. I'm not able to decode with mplayer, though. For some reason the duration of the video component gets lengthened disproportionately.

Try unchecking both decoders, thereby reverting to the third decoder: ffmpeg.

[llee782]

Try unchecking both decoders, thereby reverting to the third decoder: ffmpeg.

Sorry I didn't make it clear that I did so, and that this was in fact the only option I was able to use successfully with the DVD mpeg2enc preset. I still have some problems with jerkiness at certain points in the output video, so I'm hoping to have as many available options as possible to try to find remedies. QuickTime is out because of the 4G input limit, so I would like to find a way to get mplayer to work, too.

[llee782]

I've settled for workarounds for the problems that I originally posted, but I still can't decode with mplayer without getting ridiculously stretched video duration, and although I've exhausted the possibilities for the DVD mpeg2enc and DVD ffmpeg presets, I still need help.

Can anyone recommend a way to use ffmpegX to convert a 59.96 fps 1280 X 720 MPEG-2 file to DVD compliant data without introducing stuttering during screen pans? Thanks.