Self Contained FCP MOV to Mencoder H.264 Error

[skywriter]

I have exported a Self Contained Final Cut Pro movie (video and audio). I would like to encode to MP4 Mencoder H.264 or x.264, but have problems with both approaches.

I have searched these forums and read all the info I can find, and none of the suggestions listed have given any different outcomes.

Details:
Convert to MP4 H.264 (mencoder) with AAC audio.
Result: DING! Immediately Finished, and no files.

Error Results:
Encoding started on Mon Feb 8 14:58:02 EST 2010
MEncoder dev-CVS-051126-18:35-3.3 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
AltiVec found
CPU: PowerPC
libdvdread: Can't open file VIDEO_TS.IFO.
Reading disc structure, please wait...
Can't open VMG info!
File not found: '1'
Failed to open dvd://1
Cannot open file/device.
Exiting...
-----------------

Why is it looking for VIDEO_TS.IFO? Can anyone help?

[Case]

libdvdread: Can't open file VIDEO_TS.IFO.
Reading disc structure, please wait...
Can't open VMG info!
File not found: '1'
Failed to open dvd://1
Cannot open file/device.
Exiting...

It may have to do with filenames that have no suffix. Apparently mencoder needs a source file filename extension to avoid this weird error.

[skywriter]

Case. Your effort to help on this forum is invaluable. I am in your debt.

FCP self contained movies don't have extensions. But by simply adding ".mov" to the end of the file name, the mencoder ate it up. Not only that, I can now use the preview option, which until now would not do anything for me. I actually figured the preview wasn't operational, but now I know the fix.

Again, thank you so much for your commitment to help on this forum.

Cheers!