Audio problem when converting a MPEG file to AVI

[Kareng]

Hi, does someone know what I have to do with the settings to get the audio on the video when converting a MPEG file to an AVI file with ffmpegX? Every time I try - I manage to convert the video but there is no sound? Please help me if you can. Thanx

[tomlee59]

There really needs to be a sticky on "how to maximize chances of a useful response to a request for help."

1) What are the characteristics of the source file? "MPEG" is not specific enough. MPEG1/2/4? What codecs? Bitrates?
2) What are the characteristics of the target file? "AVI" tells us almost nothing. Again, what codecs, bitrates are you using?
3) What error messages do you get, if any?
4) What does the ffmpegx logfile say about the conversion attempt? (Click on the blue "i" in the Progress pane.)
5) What playback software are you using in determining that there's no sound? What does the software think are the characteristics of the file you're playing?

The more information you give, the better we'll be able to help!

[Kareng]

Hi!

It is ffmpegx 0.0.9y

1) It is a MPEG-film, that is all it says- I think it is 4.
2) I am trying to convert it using the MPEG4 (.AVI) (mencoder)
3) I don`t get any error message, only the converted video without sound.
4) What does the ffmpegx logfile say about the conversion attempt? (Click on the blue "i" in the Progress pane.)
I don´t understand here, but when I click on info I get "Mpeg 2 Program Stream File (Video/Audio) Video format: PAL, Audio: Mpeg 1 layer 3" etc.
5) What playback software are you using in determining that there's no sound? What does the software think are the characteristics of the file you're playing? I am wathing the clips in Quicktime Player after the convertion. Some other files that I converted has sound, but not these I am working with now.

Thank you so much for taking your time!

[Case]

1) It is a MPEG-film, that is all it says- I think it is 4.

If the Info says "Mpeg 2 Program Stream File", then it is MPEG-2. Also notice the left side of the Summary window, which gives information on the video and audio of the source file.

2) I am trying to convert it using the MPEG4 (.AVI) (mencoder)

That would be the DivX mencoder preset, which happens to be the default.

4) I don´t understand here, but when I click [something else]

After you click Encode, an ffmpegX Progress window should pop up, showing the progress of the conversion. Notice the blue "i" on the right side. It is actually a button to access the Process Information log. That log tells what ffmpegX is/was doing. If you post that log here, that might help troubleshoot, including what happened with the audio.

[Kareng]

Thanks for the help.

1) It is Mpeg 2
2) And I am using DivX mencoder
4) This is the info that shows up after the encoding:

Encoding started on Sun Jul 6 14:07:48 EDT 2008
MEncoder dev-CVS-051126-18:35-3.3 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
AltiVec found
CPU: PowerPC
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x3208000
MPEG-PS file format detected.
Too many video packets in the buffer: (4096 in 8269077 bytes).
Maybe you are playing a non-interleaved stream/file or the codec failed?
For AVI files, try to force non-interleaved mode with the -ni option.
MPEG: No audio stream found -> no sound.
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 2) 25.000 fps 9100.0 kbps (1137.5 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x576 fps:25.00 ftime:=0.0400
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [scale w=640 h=480]
================================================== ========================
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Also try adding the scale filter, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES)
VDecoder init failed
Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b
Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm: libmpeg2 (MPEG-1 or 2 (libmpeg2))
================================================== ========================
Forcing output fourcc to 58564944 [XVID]
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
SwScaler: FAST_BILINEAR scaler, from Planar YV12 to Planar YV12 using AltiVec
videocodec: libavcodec (640x480 fourcc=58564944 [XVID])
1 duplicate frame(s)!
Writing AVI header...
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.
1 duplicate frame(s)!
Flushing video frames
Writing AVI index...
Fixing AVI header...
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.
Video stream: 1267.127 kbit/s (158390 B/s) size: 11777947 bytes 74.360 secs 1859 frames
Encoding completed on Sun Jul 6 14:09:03 EDT 2008

Please let me know what to do to also get the audio. Thanx

[Case]

MPEG: No audio stream found -> no sound.

It doesn't seem to be able to find an audio stream. Does the audio field in the Source section of the Summary tab say that too?

If you play the .mpg file in VLC, does it play audio? If you select in VLC: Window > Information > Advanced Information, and 'open' the stream toggle arrows, one stream should be of type Audio; what codec is listed with it?

[LudwigLeichhardt]

I guess Kareng either solved the problem or gave up.

However, all is not lost. I have the same symptom - no audio going from MPEG to XVID, both from the FFMPEGX "Play" button, and from the DVD player that I try to play it on. Overall, it is a bit of a fizzer.

Software version is 0.0.9y. Helpers are as requested by the installer. OS is Leopard 10.5.4. Machine has a 200GB 7200 RPM drive and 4GB of ram. Processor is 2.5GHz Duo, of whatever variant they were shipping from Shanghai two weeks ago.

I have a file which I pulled from a topfield machine. They record MPEG 2 with a proprietary header. There is a small utility called rec2ts which replaces the header with a bunch of null blocks and changes the suffix to .ts.

The resulting file plays in VLC with sound. Its "advanced information" dialog says that stream 1 in mpga English Audio, stream 2 is tlx subtitles, and stream 3 is mpgv video. VLC is able to transcode it to MPEG-4, once again with sound, which in turn was played correctly with Quicktime. However, the target device only understands DVI.

When I drop the file into ffmpegX, the summary tab says:
From MPEG-TS
Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x576, 15000 kb/s
Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 256 kb/s
The Info button adds:
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 3) 25.000 fps 15000.0 kbps (1875.0 kbyte/s)
audiocodec: framecopy (format=50 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=16 B/s=32000 sample-1)

When I select AVI XVID, which is what my DVD player would like to see, it proposes:
mencoder xvid, 640x352, 940 kbps, 25 fps, no crop
mp3, 48000 Hz, 128 kbps

When I click Play to get a sample, I get a nice picture, but no sound. Encode does the same.

The conversion log makes the disturbing claim that there is no audio.
The log also says "The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec."
Any ideas?

Thanks for your help,
LL.

----------------------------------8<----------------------------------
Encoding started on Sun Jul 13 23:37:06 EST 2008
FIXME:Hardenabling SSE and SSE2 without detection
MEncoder dev-CVS-060307-04:23-4.0.1 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
CPU: Intel Pentium III Katmai/Pentium III Xeon Tanner (Family: 6, Stepping: 6)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0xb22ef800
TS file format detected.
DEMUX OPEN, AUDIO_ID: 0, VIDEO_ID: -1, SUBTITLE_ID: -2,
PROBING UP TO 2000000, PROG: 0

VIDEO MPEG2(pid=513)NO AUDIO! NO SUBS (yet)! PROGRAM N. 0

Opened TS demuxer, audio: ffffffff(pid 0), video: 10000002(pid 513)...POS=0, PROBE=2000000
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 3) 25.000 fps 15000.0 kbps (1875.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:29 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x576 fps:25.00 ftime:=0.0400
xvid: using library version 1.2.-127 (build xvid-1.2.0-dev)
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]

The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.

Try adding the scale filter, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [scale w=640 h=352]
----------------------------------8<----------------------------------

[Case]

What happens if you try the XviD ffmpeg preset? A different encoder engine might handle it different (better).

Or else try opening the .ts in MPEG Streamclip and saving as a proper MPEG file. It might give it a more proper header that can be processed better by ffmpegX (mencoder or ffmpeg).

[Kareng]

Hi,

The clip plays with audio in VCL, and the stream info says: stream 0, codec a52, type audio.

How do I open the .ts (?) in MPEG streamclip etc.?

Thanks for your time,

Karen

[Kareng]

Thank you it worked out for me!! I converted the problem files with MPEG streamclip to MPEG with MP2 Audio, and then converted that file to AVI with ffmpegX- now the clips have sound! THANKS, and have a nice weekend