AVI help

[Swanick]

No, it actually does work in VLC, and I got the AC3 audio codec, so it works in Quicktime. I just need advice for converting it using ffmegX. I've been trying to convert it to MPEG 2, but none of the audio formats work. Should I try DV? MPEG 1? What's best?

[rumplestiltskin]

If you can demux it, you should be able to run the audio through something like MPEG2Works. Then ffmpegx might do the conversion.

Alternatively, would a DVD player that plays AVI (DivX) help? There's the Philips DVP-642 which sells for about $60-$80. It seems to play everything.

If you can get QuickTime player to play the file (now), perhaps you can simply drop it into iDVD and let it do the conversion. Alternatively, if can convert it to DV-Stream, iDVD -will- definitely do the rest of the conversion for you.

[Swanick]

Nope. AVI isn't supported by iDVD. And I haven't registered ffmpegX, so I can't demux it. Anyway, I've pretty much given up on using MPEG 2 (unless I'm doing something wrong), so I've decided to move on to other video formats. So could someone please tell me which is best for preparing an AVI with AC3 sound for DVD authoring, without any loss in picture or sound quality? DV? MPEG 1? MPEG 4?

And which audio codec is best? (I still want to preserve the surround-sound capabilities)

[Swanick]

Well, I've decided to try DV with PCM sound. If anyone can suggest anything better, please do tell.

[Swanick]

And now I've got another problem. I can't make sense of the whole bitrate or aspect thing. Whenever I press "Auto", the bitrate is so high that the whole thing craps out in less than a second. And if I leave it as it is, I can't encode the video in wide screen. If anyone has any suggestions, please post them. I really need help!

[Lucky8]

Can I burn .avi files to DVD with Nero?

[thoughton]

Can I burn .avi files to DVD with Nero?

Wrong forum.

[thoughton]

I did not ask for warez. There are free third party MPEG 2 codecs (some of them open source) that work with quicktime, and I'd like to know which ones are any good. Now, if I asked for a serial or crack to unlock Quicktime Pro, which would enable the built-in MPEG 2 support, then yes, I would be asking for warez. But right now I am not, I am simply asking for an alternative. Using that logic, asking for Open Office would be considered a warez request, since it's similar to Microsoft Office.

With all that said, can anyone give me a link?

Could you please enlighten us with the names of these third party quicktime mpeg2 codecs? I've never heard of any.

[thoughton]

Nope. AVI isn't supported by iDVD. And I haven't registered ffmpegX, so I can't demux it. Anyway, I've pretty much given up on using MPEG 2 (unless I'm doing something wrong), so I've decided to move on to other video formats. So could someone please tell me which is best for preparing an AVI with AC3 sound for DVD authoring, without any loss in picture or sound quality? DV? MPEG 1? MPEG 4?

And which audio codec is best? (I still want to preserve the surround-sound capabilities)

A few other points here:

1. You can demux without registering ffmpegX. The problem you are encountering is that it is virtually impossible (on a Mac anyway) to demux an AVI.

2. If you are planning on turning this AVi into a DVD you MUST, eventually, convert it to mpeg2. There's no point messing around converting it to DV. It'll take ages, reduce the quality of your video, and serve no purpose.

3. PCM is probably the worst audio codec for DVD. It is totally uncompressed (i.e. it is gigantic) and will leave less room for your video.

4. Does your AVI have 5.1 channel sound (i.e. surround sound) already? If it does you should try to preserve it. Converting it to DV + PCM is going to turn it into stereo, and you'll never be able to get the surround sound back again. Similarly, if your AVI doesnt have surround sound now, you're never going to get surround sound on your DVD.

[thoughton]

Oh yes, before you ask any more questions, please tell us what format is the video inside your AVI.

And tell us again what you want to do. In some posts you seem to want to make a DVD, in others you seem to want to watch it in QT Player.

[Swanick]

1. You can demux without registering ffmpegX. The problem you are encountering is that it is virtually impossible (on a Mac anyway) to demux an AVI.

Thanks.

2. If you are planning on turning this AVi into a DVD you MUST, eventually, convert it to mpeg2. There's no point messing around converting it to DV. It'll take ages, reduce the quality of your video, and serve no purpose.

Okay, but when I try to convert it to MPEG2, I try to watch it in VLC, and the sound gets all messed up.

4. Does your AVI have 5.1 channel sound (i.e. surround sound) already? If it does you should try to preserve it. Converting it to DV + PCM is going to turn it into stereo, and you'll never be able to get the surround sound back again. Similarly, if your AVI doesnt have surround sound now, you're never going to get surround sound on your DVD.

I think it does. It's a little thin, but I'm pretty sure it has surround capabilities.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's a DivX file. I originally wanted to watch it on Quicktime, so I could then use Toast to burn a DVD. I got the AC3 audio codec, but when I tried to burn, it was more than 4.7 GB, so I need to convert it to a VIDEO_TS folder with ffmegX first. But when I try to do that using MPEG 2 with AC3 audio, the video plays back fine, but the sound is so fast that it sounds like a bunch of chipmunks.

[live4ever]

Open the .avi in VLC and press command+I. Post the properties window.

Like this:

[terryj]

umm, live please edit your window before you get this thread locked. You are violating the rules by posting
about movies not yet released.....

[BJ_M]

no warez

[BJ_M]

edit - that screen shot is a trailer upon investigation i believe ...

[Case]

Or maybe, it’s a publicly available trailer.

[BJ_M]

Or maybe, it’s a publicly available trailer.

see above - i already mentioned that , but it was reported as warez in the "report this thread"

[thoughton]

If this avi is truly divx video + ac3 audio then ffmepgX should be able to deal with it easily. Drop it onto ffmpegX's icon, choose the DVD(ffmpeg) preset, enable 'keep elementary streams', click encode. When it's finished you should end up with a .m2v file, a .ac3 file, an .mpg file, and a video_ts folder. Do not delete anything yet. Launch DVD player (with no DVD in drive), choose the 'open' menu, choose the video_ts folder, play.

If DVD Player plays the movie OK then use Toast DVD-UDF mode to burn it (along with an empty audio_ts folder, see tutorial on this site). If it doesnt play come back here (remember, do not delete the m2v ac3 or mpg)

[Swanick]

Well, I did the thing with VLC, and get this:

It's an XVid video, with a52 stereo (not surround) audio, at 192 kbps, which is probably why I had trouble converting.

And how do I upload an image?

[BJ_M]

Well, I did the thing with VLC, and get this:

It's an XVid video, with a52 stereo (not surround) audio, at 192 kbps, which is probably why I had trouble converting.

And how do I upload an image?

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=271697

[Swanick]

Cool, thanks.

[thoughton]

Xvid is a divx variant and a52 is another name for ac3. ffmpegX should be fine.

[Swanick]

Then why is it not working? What do I need to do to keep the audio from going too fast?

[thoughton]

Too fast? I didn't see any mention of speed problems in your earlier posts

In your screenshot above, if you scroll downwards a bit it will give you some info about the audio. What does it say?

[Swanick]

Codec: a52
Channels: 2
Sample Rate: 48 kHz
Bitrate: 192 kbps

Anyway, I thought I had made it clear that it was going too fast, but in hindsight, it may have been too vague. It starts playing at an uncontrollable speed, like fastforwarding a tape. Or, as I put it earlier, chipmunks on speed.

[thoughton]

I can't see why ffmpegX isn't working. You are 1:dropping the avi onto ffmpegX's icon and 2:choosing DVD(ffmpeg) preset correct?

If you open the resulting .mpg file in VLC, do a 'Get Info' and post the specs please.

[Swanick]

Alright, I think it's going to work. It probably didn't work before, because I had "Decode with Quicktime" selected, but since I don't have Quicktime Pro, it doesn't support MPEG 2. So now I have "Decode with mplayer" selected, and I think it knows what it's doing.

Another point for open-source software!

[BJ_M]

mpeg2 ? you said you have a divx file

[Swanick]

Yes, but in order to convert it to a VIDEO_TS folder, I have to encode it in MPEG 2 first using ffmpegX. Now, since Quicktime doesn't support MPEG 2 (unless I cough up the extra cash for Quicktime Pro), the encoding won't work if I use the "Decode with Quicktime" option. So I'm using mplayer instead. It worked the first time, but the video and sound tracks weren't in sync, because the first few seconds of the video track were mysteriously cut off, and the encoding crashed. So I've given it another shot, but at least I know it can be done, and I know what I have to do.

[terryj]

Could you post the first thirteen lines of of the
ffmpegx process report
( it will look like a Terminal produced report)?

methinks that if you are getting mysterious video cut offs,
it is more than likely dumping frames it is having problems with.....

you can also then find out why it crashed as well....