FLVtool2 installation problem

[linea]

Trying to install FLVtool2 on my Mac G4 OS 10.4.11 using the terminal as stated

1/ decompress the folder
2/ open terminal.app
3/ cd [drop folder here]
4/ ruby setup.rb config
ruby setup.rb setup
sudo ruby setup.rb install [will require that you enter your login password]

the terminal message returned is

Power-Mac-G4:~ myusername$ cd/Users/myusernamer/Desktop/flvtool2-1.0.6/
-bash: cd/Users/myusername/Desktop/flvtool2-1.0.6/: No such file or directory

[vicejha]

remember to leave a space after cd before you drop the file. Once you type CD (then hit the space bar then drop the file. It should work after that.

[linea]

Thanks vicejha for your help it worked
I'm not that familiar with the terminal app

[Aylam]

hello there,

i have been having the same problem, and your advice as to add the space after 'cd' helped ! but then on the next step, typing: ruby setup.rb config , i got this error message:

ruby: No such file or directory -- setup.rb (LoadError)

do you know what that means and what i should do ?

thanks a lot !!

[Case]

ruby: No such file or directory -- setup.rb (LoadError)

After downloading flvtool2-1.0.6.tgz and decompressing that, you should have a folder 'flvtool2-1.0.6' with 9 items (at that folder level), among them 'setup.rb'. Please verify if that file is in your folder.
When you change the working directory in Terminal
cd [drop the folder here]
then Terminal should interpret the drag-and-drop to make it look something like:
cd /Users/username/Desktop/flvtool2-1.0.6/
Then ruby should be able to find the setup file in the next step.

[Aylam]

great ! it worked ! i got all this:

rm -f InstalledFiles
---> bin
mkdir -p /usr/bin
install flvtool2 /usr/bin/
<--- bin
---> lib
mkdir -p /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8
install flv.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
install flvtool2.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
install mixml.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
install miyaml.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
---> lib/flv
mkdir -p /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install amf_string_buffer.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install audio_tag.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install core_extensions.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install meta_tag.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install stream.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install tag.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
install video_tag.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv
<--- lib/flv
---> lib/flvtool2
mkdir -p /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2
install base.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2
install version.rb /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2
<--- lib/flvtool2
<--- lib
Username-ibook-g4:~/Desktop/flvtool2-1.0.6 Username$

is this good ? now how do i add the missing metadata to my flv file ?

thanks a lot !

[Case]

now how do i add the missing metadata to my flv file ?

ffmpegX will invoke flvtool2 the next time you convert a media file to FLV, as (the last) part of the process.
Have a look at the Process Information log (after a conversion) to confirm that it did so. Between the log lines
bench: utime=19.313s
video:1040kB audio:281kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 2.446732% (the numbers may be different on your encode)
and
Encoding completed on Fri Sep 26 07:53:41 BST 2008
there should be some ~41 lines where flvtool2 does its thing.

[Aylam]

hmm... not there yet... this is what i got:

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Thu Sep 25 23:43:21 PDT 2008
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/Aylam-back up disk/Autumn Dawn-test':
Duration: 00:01:20.3, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 30313 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng), 29.97 fps(r): Video: dvvideo, yuv411p, 720x480
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: pcm_s16be, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s
Output #0, flv, to '/Volumes/Aylam-back up disk/Autumn Dawn-test3.flv':
Stream #0.0, 29.97 fps(c): Video: flv, yuv420p, 432x324, q=2-15, 900 kb/s
Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, stereo, 96 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
bench: utime=60.734s
video:8718kB audio:942kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.887154%
/bin/sh: /Applications/ffmpegX_0.0.9y/ffmpegX.app//Contents/Resources/flvtool2: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

[Case]

/bin/sh: /Applications/ffmpegX_0.0.9y/ffmpegX.app//Contents/Resources/flvtool2: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

A problem with (the location of) 'Ruby' may prevent the flvtool2 to include meta data in the output file.
Here's a how-to for fixing that: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic345126.html#1807644

[Aylam]

you are the best ! FLVtool2 seems to have worked this time ! (waiting to see how the clip embeds on my website..).

thanks a lot for all your help !

aylam

[Aylam]

oh boy... its a never ending saga... so now the flash clip plays on my website, with the 'time bar' underneath, and it all looks allright, but then the clip stops in the middle ! it doesn't play till the end. which i guess means that flvtool2 didnt insert all the necessary metadata aagain ?

[Case]

No. The timer gets the information it needs from the metadata, but playback all the way through shouldn't have to do with metadata, afaik.
Do local players play the file until the end?

[Aylam]

yes, the clip plays all the way to the end on Quicktime player (with perian) and on the SWF & FLV player. when i gave it to my webdesigner to embed it using the JW flash player, it plays only like 10 seconds, and then stops...

[Aylam]

by the way, what it says now in my flvtool file, inside 'resources', inside 'contents', inside ffmpegx is:

#! /usr/bin/ruby
require 'flvtool2'

[Case]

Very weird. Has this playback trouble been confirmed on several computers with several browsers? Do you get the gray line in the controlbar, indicating the loading of the file, going from left to right? Does it load completely? If it loads completely, there should be a reverse timer on the right side, counting down, replacing the loading percentage. The reverse timer needs to know the total runtime, which it gets from the metadata. Does the reverse timer appear after loading?

Can you pm me a web address?

I am hesitant to 'blame' an unknown third person, but what you describe could happen if the upload of the FLV file to the website wasn't complete. Re-uploading and waiting for a confirmation from the FTP client that the upload is finished could fix that.

The flvtool2 resource file from the ffmpegX package looks fine. If the flvtool2 lines show up in the Process Information log, then the resource file did what it is supposed to do.

[Aylam]

yes, it acted the same on my mac, and on my pc at work... i get the gray line in the control bar, and it seems to load completely, and the little cursor advances to the right as it plays, and the timer on the left moves ahead. but, the reverse timer on the right doesnt change... it just shows the total runtime: 1.20
check it out: (it's the clip under "Autumn Dawn". it also plays quite choppy on the mac..)
http://www.aylamorian.com/acting_filmtvtheatre.html

thanks !!!

[Case]

The file on the webserver is 2.14 MB in size and plays only 17 seconds. The metadata says it should be 00:01:20 in length.
I would expect an FLV file of 80 seconds at your resolution and framerate to be at least 8.6 MB (perhaps 10 MB). Given the good visual quality of the clip, I'm pretty sure that the 2.14 MB is just the 17 seconds that played.
It seems that the file on the webserver is just a fraction of the converted output file on your Mac.

Not sure about the choppiness. It behaves differently than other choppy FLV files that have been reported about.

[Aylam]

yes, i guess you are right. i sent a new flv file to the webdesigner, and this time she uploaded it right and it plays till the end (even though the reverse timer on the right still doesn't react..) - you can check the link again and see: http://www.aylamorian.com/acting_filmtvtheatre.html

but on my mac - it still stutters or kinda strobes or plays choppily. is it just that my mac is not big enough in memory, or is it something in the bitrate (960) and frame rate (29.7) which i chose in the ffmpegx settings ?

[Case]

960 kbps is a lot for streaming video. It may saturate the connection pipe, making the video stop and buffer every so often. It looks like a buffering issue to me. Maybe the embedding in the webpage allows tweaks to optimize that?
There is a good reason why video sites default to 320x240 videos: it keeps the bitrate down enough for smooth playback for most users.

[Aylam]

yes, you are right, it seems like a buffering issue - i get this revolving circle in the middle, with percentage, indicating that it's constantly buffering..

i chose 960 kbps because that is what ffmpegx "told" me to (they have the color system to tell you if the rate it too low or high), but i guess it calculates it for the image size ? what about sites like youtube ? their video size is 425x318 and it still plays smoothly..

[Case]

i chose 960 kbps because that is what ffmpegx "told" me to, but i guess it calculates it for the image size?

It calculates based on codec, frame size and framerate.

what about sites like youtube ? their video size is 425x318 and it still plays smoothly..

I don't know where you get that number. I only see 320x240 videos scaled up on-the-fly to 480x360.

[Aylam]

i think i googled it and found it somewhere (the 425x318 size). so you say it's actually 320x240 ? but still the frame size of their videos looks bigger than the one i have !

[swychien]

hey i'm having a bit of trouble installing flvtool2 - 1.0.6 on my Mac OS X 10.5.5. i've followed the steps,
1/ decompress the folder
2/ open terminal.app
3/ cd [drop folder here]
4/ ruby setup.rb config
ruby setup.rb setup
sudo ruby setup.rb install [will require that you enter your login password]

however, after the 4th step it says

apple:flvtool2-1.0.6 sammi__$ sudo ruby setup.rb install
Password:
rm -f InstalledFiles
---> bin
mkdir -p /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin
install flvtool2 /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/
<--- bin
---> lib
mkdir -p /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8
install flv.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/
install flvtool2.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/
install mixml.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/
install miyaml.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/
---> lib/flv
mkdir -p /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install amf_string_buffer.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install audio_tag.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install core_extensions.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install meta_tag.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install stream.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install tag.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
install video_tag.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flv
<--- lib/flv
---> lib/flvtool2
mkdir -p /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flvtool2
install base.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flvtool2
install version.rb /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/flvtool2
<--- lib/flvtool2
<--- lib
apple:flvtool2-1.0.6 sammi__$

i noticed that thats exactly the same response as what Aylam had except for the last line.
does anyone have any tips or suggestions to help me please ?

[Case]

hey i'm having a bit of trouble installing flvtool2 - 1.0.6 on my Mac OS X 10.5.5.
...
i noticed that thats exactly the same response as what Aylam had except for the last line.
does anyone have any tips or suggestions to help me please ?

It seems to me like you installed flvtool2 correctly. Why do you think you're having trouble?
If you convert a (small) media file to FLV, does it get the metadata? Does the Process Information log show that flvtool2 is invoked and executed during conversion?

[swychien]

hey i'm having a bit of trouble installing flvtool2 - 1.0.6 on my Mac OS X 10.5.5.
...
i noticed that thats exactly the same response as what Aylam had except for the last line.
does anyone have any tips or suggestions to help me please ?

It seems to me like you installed flvtool2 correctly. Why do you think you're having trouble?
If you convert a (small) media file to FLV, does it get the metadata? Does the Process Information log show that flvtool2 is invoked and executed during conversion?

my ffmpegX doesnt recognise my FLV file that i want to convert into an AVI DivX.
What is considered a small media file? and where do i find the Process Information log?
sorry, i'm new to this whole ffmegX thing. thank you !

[Case]

my ffmpegX doesnt recognise my FLV file that i want to convert into an AVI DivX.

flvtool2 wouldn't fix that. First things first: what does the left side of the Summary window say about your FLV file?

What is considered a small media file?

I suggest small files (less than 2 minutes in duration) for testing purposes, so you do not have to wait very long for conversion results. Big files will take a bit longer. That's all.

where do i find the Process Information log?

Clicking the blue "i" in the ffmpegX Progress window will show a new window called Process Information, which holds a log of what ffmpegX is/was doing. It could help diagnose why conversions fail, and what to do to fix that.

[swychien]

the left side of my summary window says;
from: unrecognised
video: no video
audio: no audio

[Case]

Not all FLV files are created equal. It is possible that this FLV file has video and audio streams that ffmpeg doesn't recognize (specifically to FLV or perhaps any container).
Try and see if MediaInfo Mac can get video and audio details on this FLV file, so we know what we're dealing with.

[nessen]

Hi all together,
also have difficulties to install FLVtool2. I could follow the steps to the terminal.app; but than when it says "drop folder here" what does that mean?

[Case]

when it says "drop folder here" what does that mean?

It means to drag-and-drop the folder icon (of flvtool2-1.0.6) from the Finder to the Terminal window. This action gets interpreted as filling in the full path to that folder in the Terminal window. It saves a lot of typing, it is error-free, and it works (almost) regardless of where the folder is.