Help converting to FLV?

[jase98]

Hey all,

I've been struggling to convert to FLV files with FFMPEGX.
I followed all the instructions on the FFMPEGX site and tried suggestions from posts in VideoHelp and other sites but it still doesn't work.
The original file is a Quicktime MOV file. It is unrecognized by FFMPEGX. FFMPEGX still converts to FLV but it is converted into a blank file with zero KB.
I tried changing the suffix from .mov to .mpg, which FFMPEGX then recognized. However, the conversion was still a blank file with zero KB.
The blank file is unreadable. I can't read it in VLC or Quicktime.
I know that Flash 8 and Sorensen Squeeze can solve my conversion woes. But I don't have $400 to $700 to blow to convert my cheezy movies to flash files.
Can anyone offer suggestions to get this freeware to work?
Thank you!!
John Sents
Mac OSX, version 10.4.7

[major]

Can you email me a short clip of yours (less than 5MB please) to major4@mac.com and I will test it.

[tbluewater]

I know that Flash 8 and Sorensen Squeeze can solve my conversion woes. But I don't have $400 to $700 to blow to convert my cheezy movies to flash files.

QuickTime Pro upgrade is way much cheaper, and QuickTime Pro converts MOV or whatever into FLV.

[Bradamante]

The original file is a Quicktime MOV file. It is unrecognized by FFMPEGX. FFMPEGX still converts to FLV but it is converted into a blank file with zero KB.
I tried changing the suffix from .mov to .mpg, which FFMPEGX then recognized. However, the conversion was still a blank file with zero KB.

I've got the exact same problem.
my source movie is a SnapzProX2 capture in Animation codec 640x480. I then worked on it in Final Cut Pro and export it in 320x240 using the QuickTime Conversion. I tried both QT Animation codec movie and QT Motion JPEG A. The video format is somewhat recognized by FFMpegX, I chose the FLV Preset, hit Go, immediatly comes the >PLING< in Progress and the 0 KB .flv file is unusable.

and how can I use QT Pro for .flv exporting?

[major]

Please copy/paste your process output here (blue "i" icon in the Progress window).

[Bradamante]

Quick Time Animation piece:

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Sun Oct 8 22:34:55 CEST 2006
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Volumes/Macintosh 250 HD/ed07_pala_anim.mov':
Duration: 00:04:41.2, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 35237 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Audio: pcm_s16be, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s
Stream #0.1(eng), 24.00 fps(r): Video: qtrle, rgb24, 320x240
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.0 -> #0.0

Quick Time Motion JPEG A piece:

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Sun Oct 8 22:35:23 CEST 2006
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Volumes/Macintosh 250 HD/med07_pal_mjpega.mov':
Duration: 00:04:41.2, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 9445 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Audio: pcm_s16be, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s
Stream #0.1(eng), 24.00 fps(r): Video: mjpeg, yuvj422p, 320x240
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.0 -> #0.0

[major]

In both cases, the audio track seem coming before the video track. In such cases, use the "Invert mapping" option in the audio tab.

[lookgti]

Thanks, major! I had the exact same issue with "codec type mismatch" and using "invert mapping" did the trick!

However, the video and audio are very out-of-sync. The audio part is continuous, but the video plays in quick "steps" if you know what I mean. Here's my process output:

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Thu Nov 2 16:21:55 PST 2006
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'input.mov':
Duration: 00:02:28.0, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 685 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Audio: adpcm_ima_qt, 44100 Hz, stereo
Stream #0.1(eng), 14.98 fps(r): Video: h263, yuv420p, 320x230
Output #0, flv, to 'output.mov.ff.flv':
Stream #0.0, 12.00 fps(c): Video: flv, yuv420p, 320x240, q=2-15, 200 kb/s
Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, stereo, 56 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0 [sync #0.0]
Stream #0.0 -> #0.1 [sync #0.1]
bench: utime=19.420s
video:1750kB audio:954kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 76.885871%
Encoding completed on Thu Nov 2 16:22:19 PST 2006

Is there something I can tweak in ffmpegX?

[major]

Maybe try to use 14.98 as framerate, in order to match your source framerate.

[lookgti]

Turns out it depends on the source video codec. If it's .avi (mjpeg or cinepak), the output .flv looks fine.

Originally, I had the source video in h.263 and no matter what framerate, kbps or size I try, the output is always choppy. Then I downloaded Riva FLV Encoder and it flat out refused to take the h.263 movie as source. That's how I found codec makes a difference.

On a related note, while the quality of the output from Riva and ffmpegX are about the same (both are based on ffmpeg I think), there's a small but crucial difference: movie encoded with ffmpegX does not have the proper duration and screensize meta tags metadata so that SWF container fails to display the progress bar correctly. Movie encoded with Riva works. Is this a known bug?

[allergie]

Well well... I've got the same problem.

with FFmpegX last version.
I select a .mov file and convert it in .avi => it works
The same .mov to .flv give me a zero ko file in output.

I tried to do as you say : audio tab > invert mapping

An I still have the problem, the "i" give me that :

"FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
Tue Nov 7 15:44:29 CET 2006
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Users/philippe/Movies/Enita2006.mov':
Duration: 00:06:05.5, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 149 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng), 24.00 fps(r): Video: svq3, yuv420p, 720x540
Number of stream maps must match number of output streams "

Do you have an idea of what's going wrong?
Thanks

[Case]

"Number of stream maps must match number of output streams"
Do you have an idea of what's going wrong?

Could it be that your source file is not two streams (1 video stream + 1 audio stream only), while your target specifies exactly two streams?
You could check the number of streams in QuickTime Player, Window>Show Movie Properties (Cmd-J). In that window, the first line is about the file, the others are the streams (with ID number).

[allergie]

Arf...what a dummy am I
pasting and not reading, sorry...

Well, then it works but no at all.

I have now a file (1.4Mo of mov beacming 2.4Mo of flv) but I can't read it with flashplayer (but should it be red by it?).

I can read it with Quictktime with the perian plugin, is all that "normal"?

Sorry to be so dummy today