ffmpegX 0.0.9x released (iPod 640x480 support)

[major]

v0.0.9x - Sep 22, 2006
http://ffmpegX.com/download.html

- Added "iPod H.264 w640" preset to support new high-resolution 640x480 h.264 in updated 5G iPods.

Tutorial : http://ffmpegx.com/ipodh264hires.html

[Mildew]

Major,

You rock! Good work.

[MacinJosh]

Thanks for the quick update Major.

There's one thing I'd like to point out though. The iPod does support higher resolutions than 640x* in H.264. I've succesfully encoded a few test clips with quicktime and VisualHub (demo) @ 720x400 (for 16:9 DVDs) and 720x304 (2.35:1 DVDs)

However, when I try to change the resolution in FFMPEGX the output works fine Quicktime and iTunes but refuses to transfer to the iPod. Can we get a quick fix there or is it a complicated issue? Thanks again.

Joshua.

[rumplestiltskin]

For the earlier 320x240 and 480x480 resolutions, it was actually the pixel count (76800 & 230400, respectively). One might assume this is still the case but...

MacinJosh: I'm assuming you have an HD set so widths larger than 640 pixels would be useful to you?

[MacinJosh]

Yes, it's a combination of pixel count and macroblocks.

I have a widescreen SDTV (quite common in Europe unlike US and Canada) that basically does 1024x576 (or 1024x640 including overscan) although analog TVs are measured by lines rather than resolution.

But yes, I watch movies/videos on my iMac/TV/iPod so I would appreciate the highest possible resolution I can achieve for the iPod.

[ahmontgo]

Actually, it wasn't pixel count for the earlier resolutions, it was macroblocks (300 and 900 16x16 macroblocks for H.264 and MPEG4 respectively).

Presumably this is the same now, except 1200 macroblocks instead of 300/900. I was wondering about the 720x400/304 options myself, although VisualHub doesn't work at all for me due to a strange AppleScript error, so I haven't been able to test this.

Major, were there other tweaks apart from using AVC level 3.0 instead of 1.2 that are involved in making it work? I ask because sometimes I use batch command line files instead of ffmpegX.

[thefiddler]

Has anyone tried synching a 640 res h.264 video created with the latest version of ffmpegX to an iPod through iTunes running on a Windows machine? Just curious, because the one posted on the site for the VisualHub software: http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/seeit.php doesn't. It will synch through iTunes on a Mac, but not a PC. They say the latest version of their software will create video output that will synch on a PC. For those of us who are more interested in the distribution aspects of h.264 video, this is important. I would be willing to test it out if anyone wants to shoot a video my way (please don't shun me because I'm not a mac user, I love my iPod and iTunes combination =) .

[ssj2_goha]

no the new version of ffmpegx doesn't make files that can be put on an iPod on a windows machine

[thefiddler]

hmmm... is this in the plans? You'd think that idealy it would make files the people could distribute for playback on all video ipods, not just ones being synched with a mac. At least for people who are making and distributing their own videos, you'd assume that they'd want the best penetration possible. I know I do. And though I'm not a Mac user at my own box, I often use them at school and recomend software purchases based on the needs of myself and other video people.

[ahmontgo]

The latest version of VisualHub has iTunes for Windows compatibility:

"Improvements to iPod H.264 encoding, reliability, and compatibility. 640x480 iPod files now compatible with iTunes for Windows."

[thefiddler]

Thanks ahmontgo, but I think I said that. I'm wanting to know if ffmpegX is going to make the same kind of update?

[major]

If you're interested, I'll check what is needed and will add it.

[MacinJosh]

If you're interested, I'll check what is needed and will add it.

Any chance of looking into the resolution I meantioned earlier in the thread?

[thefiddler]

I'm definitely interested. Penetration is very important when you're in the media creation business. I'm guessing that a lot of people who use your software just want to rip their DVD's to their iPod, so they don't care if it'll synch with anyone else's iPod. For people like myself, we want max compatibility. If we can post one video on a website and it can be downloaded and viewed by millions of iTunes/Quicktime users, and can also be synched to iPods (whether on a PC or Mac), that's very ideal. And h.264 is a very well done codec that allows for quality and small filesize.

As I said before, I'll be willing to test the output videos for you if you need some one to verify if you've got it. (I am an iPod on PC user).

[major]

Thank you, please email to major4@mac.com and I'll start making some test files.

[peter321]

Actually I'm having problems on Mac as well - but it's sporadic, sometime all converted files will sync sometimes it says that some files where not synced because they are not playable by the iPod - the next time I try they may be synced and then some other files are suddenly "not playable" - it's very strange.

[major]

OK, the issue with Windows iTunes seem now fixed. I'll update ffmpegX very soon.

[major]

ffmpegX 0.0.9x r2 released. It brings support of 640x480 h264 iPod syncing on iTunes for Windows.

[thefiddler]

Sweet stuff. Good working with you major. Will recomend ffmpegX to the video/advertisement people that I work with from time to time on campus.

[liampage]

v0.0.9x - Sep 22, 2006 -- Added "iPod H.264 w640" preset to support new high-resolution 640x480 h.264 in updated 5G iPods.

I'm having difficulty with both iPod H.264 presets (in ffmpegX 0.0.9x r2) -- attempting to convert a recording made with EyeTV either fails immediately (but works fine with the iPod mpeg-4 480 preset).

This is a sample of the output I receive:

movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindstr??m
All rights reserved..
Tue Oct 10 00:50:47 EST 2006
x264 [info]: using SAR=1000/1001
x264 [info]: using cpu capabilities Altivec 
mp4 [info]: initial delay 0 (scale 25000)
ERROR: Could not open movie: /Users/user/Documents/EyeTV Archive/SE3.eyetv/000000000ad3de94.mpg
x264 [info]: final ratefactor: 52.05
FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
  configuration:  --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-pthreads --enable-x264 
  libavutil version: 49.0.0
  libavcodec version: 51.9.0
  libavformat version: 50.4.0
  built on Apr 15 2006 08:41:02, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x4701fc]Could not find codec parameters (Video: h264, 640x352)
/Users/user/Documents/EyeTV Archive/SE3.video.mp4: could not find codec parameters

Anyone know if this is 'normal'?

~ Liam

[rumplestiltskin]

I have to export my EyeTV recordings first before ffmpegX can deal with them. I use the export (no encoding) option which, IIRC, provides whatever format you used to record it. I use mpeg2 to record on EyeTV in order to keep the best quality before I then present it to ffmpegX to do the conversion to H264.

[liampage]

Yes, I tried exporting it in "MPEG Program Stream" (which is not re-encoded) but the results are the same. I should have mentioned that I'm recording digital terrestrial television off an "EyeTV for DTT"...

[rumplestiltskin]

Can you open & play the exported video with QT Player? If so, display the "info" window (Cmd-i), capture a screen shot of it, and post it.

If you can't view the video in QT Player, you need the MPEG2 playback component.

[liampage]

Ahh... I hadn't realised the MPEG2 playback component was required (as these source files, although I can't open them in QT Player, convert to other formats without problem in ffmpegX). Does ffmpegX rely on QT when it converts to h.264?

[rumplestiltskin]

If you look at the Options tab, there's a checkbox for "Decode with QuickTime". If that is checked, I believe you'll need the MPEG2 component for this task (as your source is MPEG2). Try unchecking that box and see what happens. (I have the MPEG2 component so I always have the box checked.)

Advise your results at your convenience.

[major]

For H264 iPod encoding Quicktime is always used to decode, as x264 does not have its own decoder.

[rumplestiltskin]

For H264 iPod encoding Quicktime is always used to decode, as x264 does not have its own decoder.

So this means that MPEG2 source material must always have Apple's MPEG2 Playback component installed in order to encode directly to H264?

However, would an acceptable alternative be to transcode to (for example) XviD AVI using ffmpeg, and then complete the process by transcoding that file to H264 with the QuickTime box checked? (If a different intermediate format would be better, please advise.)

Thanks as always,
Barry

[major]

Yes, Quicktime Player must be enabled to play your source. You can also transcode first if you like, eg to DivX mencoder (the fastest) at same resolution than the source and a generous bitrate, this will make the process a little longer but practically no quality will be lost.

[rumplestiltskin]

Thanks, major. Good information and most helpful for skinning that cat in alternative ways.