Converting MOV -> MPEG-2 (or AVI or...)

[Sean-PH]

I have an MOV file (which I believe is an mp4 encoding). I am trying to convert it into MPEG-2 to make it a little more universally playable. However, I constantly get a separate output of a video file and an audio file.

After some playing around with options (AVI, XVID, even MOV again), ffmpegx consistently generates separate audio and video files instead of a single file. I've never had another application do this before and I cannot for the life of me figure out why.

I searched around this forum without finding an explanation that made sense to me or a solution that worked for me.

Just to be clear, it does not seem to matter what settings I use. AAC, MP3, MP2, doesn't matter. MPEG2 ffmpeg, MPEG2 mpeg2enc, XVID AVI ffmpeg, XVID AVI mencode, doesn't matter. Consistently, time after time, test after test, it always separates and never produces just the single converted file I had expected.

Your help in understanding why is appreciated.

[Case]

Please provide some details on your source file, such as video codec, audio codec, etc., as well as a copy the the process information log (click the blue "i" in the progress window).
If one of your your output files is unusually small, like 4K or so, that might be worth mentioning, as it could point to conversion failure.

[Sean-PH]

Here's what the Summary display says:

video -> mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x480
audio -> pcm_mulaw, 22050 Hz, mono, 176 kb/s

When I convert to several different formats, the file sizes for both video and audio seem reasonable. Just separated instead of combined. (There were one or two failures, but I forget which combinations produced these anomalies.)

--Edit --

Now, I see the blue "I" so here is a dump from one particular conversion.

output video -> ffmpeg xvid, 640x352, 454 kbps, 29.97 fps, no crop
output audio -> mp3, 48000 Hz, 128 kbps

Encoding started on Wed Jan 9 15:18:58 CST 2008
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
movtoy4m
Copyright 2002-2006 Johan Lindström
All rights reserved..
2008-01-09 15:18:58.444 movtoy4m[1216] CFLog (15): Could not generate XML data for property list
2008-01-09 15:18:58.444 movtoy4m[1216] CFLog (15): Could not generate XML data for property list
2008-01-09 15:18:58.444 movtoy4m[1216] CFLog (15): Could not generate XML data for property list
2008-01-09 15:18:58.445 movtoy4m[1216] CFLog (15): Could not generate XML data for property list
2008-01-09 15:18:58.445 movtoy4m[1216] CFLog (15): Could not generate XML data for property list
2008-01-09 15:18:58.445 movtoy4m[1216] CFLog (15): Could not generate XML data for property list
Input #0, yuv4mpegpipe, from 'pipe:':
Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0.0, 29.97 fps(r): Video: rawvideo, yuv420p, 640x352
Output #0, avi, to '/Users/Sean/Desktop/Sequence 1c.mov.ff.avi.e.avi':
Stream #0.0, 29.97 fps(c): Video: xvid, yuv420p, 640x352, q=2-9, 454 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
bench: utime=31.579s
video:10327kB audio:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 1.403768%
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
Seems that stream 1 comes from film source: 1000.00 (1000/1) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Users/Sean/Desktop/Sequence 1c.mov':
Duration: 00:03:15.8, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1501 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Audio: pcm_mulaw, 22050 Hz, mono, 176 kb/s
Stream #0.1(eng), 29.97 fps(r): Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x480
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.1 -> #0.0

[Case]

Input from 'Sequence 1c.mov':
Duration: 00:03:15.8, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1501 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Audio: pcm_mulaw, 22050 Hz, mono, 176 kb/s
Stream #0.1(eng), 29.97 fps(r): Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x480
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.1 -> #0.0

The audio stream is listed before the video stream. ffmpegX wants that reversed.
I checked if that can be adjusted by using the "Invert mapping" checkbox, but it seems to have no effect for my test MOV source file with the same codecs.
Maybe developer major can comment on that?

[Case]

You can reverse the stream order manually with QuickTime Pro.
Open the .mov in QuickTime Player. Show Movie Properties on the .mov (Cmd-J). Extract the Sound Track. Extract the Video Track. New untitled windows will be opened for these streams. Go to the Sound Track window. Select all. Copy to the clipboard. Switch to Video Track window. Select all. Add to Movie. Show Movie Properties and check: video is listed before audio. Save as self-contained movie.
ffmpegX should now convert both video and audio and combine in one output file.

[Sean-PH]

Thank you very much for seeing what ffmpegX apprently does not like.

I don't currently have QuickTime Pro and am leery of their frequent upgrade purchases required.

I'm not exactly sure what alternative there may be for me, but perhaps ffmpegX just is not the right solution and I'm better off with commercial software which can get this done for me.

I'll hang in a little longer before pulling the plug. I appreciate your help.