Problem converting to .mov

[LeChuck]

Hello,

I am having an issue trying to convert an HD movie that is coded in AVI/XviD to an MPEG4/Mov file that I could play with Quicktime.

I am also converting the audio to AAC. I have done many tries in order to find the right settings and then each trial of conversion has worked. I would click encode, wait a few minutes in order to have a couple minutes of movie to try, cancel it to test the result and it worked each time. The file could be read and would play nicely in Quicktime or VLC. But the final encoding with same settings on the whole file (result is about 5GB) just doesn't work. Quiktime says file is not playable (-2048) and VLC says "mp4: MP4 plugin discarded (no moov box)".

What could be the problem? Is the resulting file too long and what would the limit be if that's the case?

Thanks!

[major]

Are you using 0.0.9u?

[LeChuck]

Yes, latest version.

[LeChuck]

Well, now I tried to activate the option to split the file in 2 chunks, and after spending about 4 hours encoding the whole movie, it just started overwriting the file to encode the whole movie again over it instead of splitting the file or making 2 of them. There's a bit of mistery as to how some of those functions work...

[LeChuck]

I guess I'm not too bid on how this works and when it actually started encoding again it was probably the second pass. Oh well, will try it again overnight...When you ask the program to do 2 chunks, does split the file after it has been fully produced or does it first save one chunk and then the other one? The concern is that when the large file is produced it is just not working (even ffmpegx can't read the produced file and tell what kind of video it is).

[major]

The split in 2 chunks is meant for MPEG-2 files which are then burned to VCD or SVCD disks. For AVI MOV or MP4, it has no effect. You can split AVI with the Split tool in the Filters tab (set a split point in min/sec then split). You can split MP4 and MOV with Quicktime.

[LeChuck]

Unfortunately after another try I still get a final file that is actually not even seen as a movie by any program. Quicktime doesn't want to open it nor VLC. I guess I'll try splitting the original AVI and encode that.

When an option has no effect, it should be disabled or not there at all...

It would be nice to know though why the final mov file cannot be read while smaller ones can...

[LeChuck]

Well, I'm still unable to convert that file. This time I have split the AVI into 2 files and ran the conversion again on each file. They are both unreadable, as it did with the whole file.

This is really unnerving. If I launch the same conversion, stop it, then play the resukting file it plays perfectly with picture and sound. If I let it run its whole course, the files are unplayable. I also tried with another movie from AVI to MOV and that failed in the same way.

I've tried the full conversion about 5 times now to test different things.

Any idea before I give up?

[major]

Convert to AVI then use DivX Doctor II to change the container from AVI to MOV?

[LeChuck]

The file I want to convert is already an AVI.

Does this mean ffmpegx cannot convert an AVI/XviD to an Mov/mpeg4 file?

[major]

It should be able to convert it. However if you think you found a bug and want to report it, send an email to major4@mac.com with the following:
- information about your source file and your destination format (which preset was used, did you change any options from the preset, etc).
- a copy of your process output (blue "i" icon in the Progress window),
- and eventually send your source clip as well by using yousendit.com if it is a big file, so as I can test it, spot the problem, fix the problem.

Finally if you have an AVI DivX and want to turn it into a MOV, it may not be needed to re-encode, you may use DivX Doctor II which just changes the container and keeps unchanged the video/audio streams.

[LeChuck]

My original file is an XviD, not a Divx, and I would like to convert it to MPEG4/Mov, not keep it in XviD. I want something that will be read by Quicktime (and without having to install another codec). I also want to convert the AC3 track within the file to AAC. Divx Doctor can't even do anything with those. I thought it would be a simple thing and the only changes I made from the .MOV preset are the audio bitrate (AAC 192) and I clicked on the "2 pass" option as well as the qmax value to 15 (but that didn't make any difference in the result).

The info shows no error:

Input #0, avi, from 'video.avi':
Duration: 01:11:00.0, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 4751 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, 1280x720, 23.98 fps
Stream #0.1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 384 kb/s
Output #0, mov, to 'converted.mov':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, 1280x720, 23.98 fps, q=2-15, pass 2, 4963 kb/s
Stream #0.1: Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
video:2580894kB audio:96416kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead -156.571573%
bench: utime=4381.762s
Encoding completed on Mon Dec 5 11:56:59 MST 2005

Once again, it works perfectly if I stop the process after a few minutes and try the file, but not on the full result. The original file and the converted one are around 5GB in size.

The first error to appear in the VLC message window is:

mp4 debug: file type box missing (assuming ISO Media file)
mp4 error: MP4 plugin discarded (no moov box)
ps warning: this does not look like an MPEG PS stream, continuing anyway

It happens with another movie, also an AVI/XviD, and they are both HD, in 1280x720 and 1280x544.

So there you have the info for what it's worth. I think I've spent enough time on this...

[major]

The process output seems correct. If the full file doesn't work, this could be linked to the file size itself, which at 5GB is quite big. Unfortunately the movies I have are small and do not show this problem. I can try to find an HD clip to test.

Otherwise, what about using MP4 H264? As it does not use the same engine as MOV MPEG-4, it could be unaffected by the above problem.

[LeChuck]

I wanted to try the H264 codec but the resulting films are not playable at all (still doing the encoding start then stop method to try). Actually I didn't find information anywhere that says the H264 that are produced are readable by Quicktime. Gonna try and let the whole H264 go through while I'm at work and we'll see.

[LeChuck]

It is definitely a size problem. I did a split on the original huge file to get the first 5 minutes of the movie then did the same encoding to .mov with same parameters on that smaller AVI, with a resulting size of about 200MB and it worked very well. I'd love to find out what the maximum size is on those files. Splitting in 2 didn't work. Will see the result of the H264 encoding when I go home but I have the feeling Quicktime won't want it...

[major]

The MP4 H264 preset makes files compatible with QT7. Perhaps there could be a size limit but I don't know exactly which it would be.

[LeChuck]

Alright, I finally managed to convert to MP4 Mov after splitting the original file into 3 chunks. It created files that are between 1.3 and 1.6GB and they worked fine, so the problem is definitely in the size. Maybe the limit is 2GB.

I have tried to run a convert to H264 but unfortunately when I came back from the office after 8 hours it was just barely reaching 40% on a 2-pass encoding, so I gave up on that.