I get ac3, mpg, mpg.s.mpg, .xml & .mpv instead of VIDEO_TS/DVD

[emanmb]

In trying to make a DVD, ffmpeg leaves me with the following files: .ac3 (283 MB)
mpg (2.81 GB)
mpg.s.mpg (0 MB)
.xml (4K)
.mpv (2.47 GB)

These are generated from a 700 MB avi and a 12 MB .sub file.

I get no error message and this happens a lot.
Settings were DVD ffmpeg, NTSC film (as is the original) with MPEG2 [.MPG] (ffmpeg) chosen as the video codec.
Audio codec is AC3.
I've had this happen with and without Decode with Quicktime chosen as I want letterbox.

So what am I doing wrong?

[Levina]

Seems like all is well (all the files are there), but that you end the process prematurely. In the Progress window, when the bar is all blue and it says '100%', ffmpegX is not finished yet. It may actually take quite a bit of time before it is. It is only finished when it says 'finished' (and a bell rings). You can check the goings on by clicking on the info button in the Progress window.

[emanmb]

Thanks.
There have been times that I thought the process was over but it wasn't. I use MenuMeters to watch the processor activity to see if things are still "cooking". Also, sometimes the progress bar doesn't stop at 100% and keeps going to 124% or whatever.

This last time though, I did hear the bell so I assumed it was done. I can't always hang around to listen for it given that it takes hours at times to go through the process. I've ended up with the same kind of files after letting it process overnight as well. ffmpeg had finished, but it wasn't "done". :wink:

[tomlee59]

Give this a shot: Just go ahead and try to author that mpeg as a DVD and see if ffmpegx then does the right thing.

If you encounter problems, click on the "i" in the progress pane and see if there's a clue to the source of trouble in there. Post its contents here if you can't figure it out, and someone here will likely have some more suggestions for you.

[Case]

mpg.s.mpg (0 MB)

This is the encoded subtitle stream. As it has size zero, it failed to encode your subtitles.

These are generated from a 700 MB avi and a 12 MB .sub file.

A 12 MB .sub file is not the required text based subtitle file (Subrip .srt or SubViewer .sub), but an image based subtitle file (VobSub .idx+.sub). The encoder wants to encode text into an MPEG stream, but fails as it can't find plain text in your .sub file.

As I see it, you have two options: Take a detour (the hard way) by using an intermediate MKV container and 'burn' the subs onto the video;
or find a matching .srt file on one of the many subtitle sites (less complex), which allows selectable subs on DVD.

P.S. The selectable subtitles are 'off' by default; you'll have to turn them on using the subtitle button on your remote or the similar feature on the console of a software player. To turn the subs 'on' by default requires tinkering with MyDVDEdit or similar.

[emanmb]

Heh, I was about to post the info on the process which just confirms Case's post.

I wish there was a functioning .sub to .srt converter out there. Sub2Srt gives a NilObjectException error when converting the .sub I have.

Your suggestion of finding a good .srt file for the movie is a good one thanks! Strange that in ffmpeg's preview the subtitles looked and acted just fine!

Thanks for the links and I'll give the new .srt file a try.