Easy Frame Drops Solution?

[barron]

Hello,

I'm getting the error: [mplex] Too many frame drops -exiting
when trying to convert .VOB files to .MPG (MPEG1 ffmpeg). I'm using a PowerBook G4 17" 1GHz with 1GB RAM.

The .VOB files look fine and play correctly when viewed using the "Play" button in ffmpegX (v0.0.9e). The conversion seems to make two passes when watching the progress meter. The first one completes successfully and the second hangs about 1/4 of the way through with the failed message.

Is there an easy answer for this problem?

Here's the output:
Encoding started on Thu Apr 22 11:49:16 CDT 2004
Input #0, yuv4mpegpipe, from 'pipe:':
Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0.0: Video: rawvideo, yuv420p, 320x240, 23.98 fps
Output #0, rawvideo, to '/Users/barron/Movies/Austin Powers/AUSTIN_POWERS_16X9/test4.mpv':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg1video, 320x240, 23.98 fps, q=2-15, 251 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
bench: utime=461.370s
Seems that stream 0 comes from film source: 29.97->21428.57
Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/barron/Movies/Austin Powers/AUSTIN_POWERS_16X9/TITLE01-ANGLE1.VOB':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpegvideo, 720x480, 29.97 fps, 8001 kb/s
Stream #0.1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5:1, 384 kb/s
Output #0, mp2, to '/Users/barron/Movies/Austin Powers/AUSTIN_POWERS_16X9/test4.mp2':
Stream #0.0: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 96 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0
**ERROR: [mplex] Too many frame drops -exiting


Any solutions?

Thanks.

[major]

Why are you encoding at such a low bitrate, 251 kbps? For VCD you should use the standard bitrate of 1150.

[barron]

Why are you encoding at such a low bitrate, 251 kbps? For VCD you should use the standard bitrate of 1150.

lol, yeah, at first glance that would seem a bit strange. I'm encoding movies to run on a Palm handheld (Sony Clie UX50) and so I want small files and Palms don't have a lot of processing power to handle high bitrates. I'm using an ffmpegX template that was posted over on the ClieSource web site in a thread about using ffmpegX to convert movies for use on Palms.

Is there an easy fix for the frame drops?

Thanks.

[major]

That template applies to a previous version of ffmpegX. In the current version, you should also disable "Decode with Quicktime" and set "No profile" in the options tab to obtain the same result.

[barron]

That template applies to a previous version of ffmpegX. In the current version, you should also disable "Decode with Quicktime" and set "No profile" in the options tab to obtain the same result.

Thanks for the help. I followed your suggestions above and everything worked perfectly! I'm now watching "Austin Powers" on my Palm. Granted, it's not quite like watching it on a big screen but it is a heck of a lot more portable!

For anybody who's interested in doing the same...
1) This is for a Sony Clie PEG-UX50. It may work equally as well on other Sony branded Palms (or other non-Sony Palms), but as I don't own any, I can't try it out. The Sony Clie's come with an application called Movie Player which plays it's own format and MPEG1. So, to play movies using this app, I needed to convert them to the proper size and format.

2) I used OSEx (v. 0.0101b) to convert the dvd movie to a .VOB file.

3) I then used ffmpegX (v. 0.0.9e) with the template mentioned in a posting above (and major's changes) to convert the .VOB file to the .MPG file playable on the Clie. The .VOB file was 2.78 GB and the final .MPG file was 224.2 MB. Sounds great, looks good and easily fits on a 256 MB memory stick. The final movie plays better and smoother on the Clie than it does in QuickTime Player on the Mac.

4) For some reason, Sony requires a very specific naming convention for these files to be seen on the Clie. When putting them on a memory stick, they must be in the /MSSONY/MOML0001/ directory. Create it if you don't have it. And they must be named MOVxxxxx.MPG where xxxxx is five numerals (eg. MOV00001.MPG).

Thanks again, major, for your help. Nice program. My reg fee is on it's way!

-barron

[ronin]

barron,

Thanks for directing me to your thread from my thread "PDA MOVIES".

I had tried this template previously but also tried to tweak the settings , do the 2pass and hi quality options...and could never get it to play on my Clie' NX80...

So I gave it another shot and used the template as is, with Major's tweaks of turning off "decode w/ QT" and to set "no profile". I used a 4GB VOB of Kill Bill....ffmpeg spit out a 277MB mpg file...and...

To my utter joy it works!!!! Video plays great with better quality and sound than using Kinoma and Kinoma Player..(as I heard it would from numerous other posts). I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it play on my machine!!!! I put mine on a compact flash card that my Clie' supports..renamed the file in the MOV0000x.MPG format and placed in /DCIM/101MSDCF/ directory.

Now off to tweak the setting a bit more...would like to get the pixel dimensions a bit higher...since my Clie' NX80 has a native full screen of 480 x 320 (the template settings are 320x240).

Thanks again for your help

Rick