wmv to avi (divx/xvid) conversion jumpy output file

[famine99]

Hi
Tried posting this in the newbie forum but received no replies.
Thought I would try here.

I am attempting my first video conversion using ffmpeg on Ubuntu Feisty.
Tried converting a wmv to avi in the hopes of producing a divx/xvid file.
I converted but the output video is very jumpy. Input video was fine.

I am very new to video formats and the technical language of it all so simple suggestions would help me.
This is the command and output of what I tried.

ffmpeg -i inputfile.wmv -ab 128 -b 1200 outputfile.avi

FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-pthreads --enable-vorbis --enable-libogg --enable-a52 --enable-dts --enable-libgsm --enable-dc1394 --disable-debug --enable-shared --prefix=/usr
libavutil version: 0d.49.0.0
libavcodec version: 0d.51.11.0
libavformat version: 0d.50.5.0
built on Jan 28 2007 22:48:38, gcc: 4.1.2 20070106 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.1-21ubuntu7)
[wmv3 @ 0xb7ec2508]Header: 4D291A01

Seems that stream 0 comes from film source: 1000.00 (1000/1) -> 1.17 (7/6)
Input #0, asf, from 'inputfile.wmv':
Duration: 01:38:43.6, start: 5.000000, bitrate: 1262 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: wmv3, yuv420p, 320x240, 1.17 fps(r)
Stream #0.1: Audio: wmav2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Output #0, avi, to 'outputfile.avi':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 320x240, q=2-31, 1200 kb/s, 1.17 fps(c)
Stream #0.1: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
[wmv3 @ 0xb7ec2508]Header: 4D291A01
Press [q] to stop encoding
frame= 6912 q=2.0 Lsize= 139226kB time=5923.7 bitrate= 192.5kbits/s
video:40709kB audio:92558kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 4.472184%

Any assistance/explanations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Famine99

[Soopafresh]

Your output file isn't going to be divx/xvid with that syntax. Look up the "-vcodec" parameter to specify the compression to use.

[guns1inger]

Also be aware that WMV can have a variable framerate, which can complicate encoding to a different format.

[45tripp]

yes framerate.
1.17 fps doesn't sound right.
ffmpeg often can't detect framerate with certain containers,
and you'll need to determine it yourself and set with -r

You might want to update your ffmpeg build first as what you are using is ancient.

with output set to .avi,
video encoding defaults to mpeg4, which is fine.
just slap a

-vtag DX50

on for compatibillity.

i wouldn't think mp2 audio is what you want.
probably want mp3

-acodec libmp3lame

(recent build syntax, old builds are -acodec mp3)

Speaking of syntax,
newer builds require bitrate be set like so:

-b 1200k -ab 128k

also default mpeg4 settings are crap.
at least add

-mbd 2 -flags trell

gl

[famine99]

Thank you all for the replies.
The ffmpeg package was updated right before I did this so the Ubuntu/Debian package must be old. I will download and install the latest from the project page.

I will research and try all of the settings that have been suggested but I have one further question.
How do I determine the correct frame rate of the input file? If ffmpeg can't seem to accurately detect it is there another tool I should use?

Once again thanks for your help.

Famine

[Soopafresh]

I will research and try all of the settings that have been suggested but I have one further question.
How do I determine the correct frame rate of the input file? If ffmpeg can't seem to accurately detect it is there another tool I should use?


Not really. You can try ffmpeg's first cousin, Mencoder, but as mentioned above, a more recent version of ffmpeg will work for your purposes.