GUI for DVDauthor - error opening MMbackg.mv2 file

[PCH]

Reading through this forum, most people like GUI for dvdauthor, however I can't get it to work.

Just trying to create a basic DVD with a static menu creates the following error:

[this is the full log]

C:\_stuff\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 15/07/2008 17:30:51

(shrink and) mux video and audio files

C:\_stuff\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 15/07/2008 17:30:51
*creating MMback.m2v

C:\_stuff\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 15/07/2008 17:30:51
*mux to MMback.mpg
INFO: [???] mplex version 2.0.0 (2.2.3 $Date: 2004/01/13 20:45:26 $)
**ERROR: [???] Unable to open file C:\_stuff\GFDOutDir\Temp\MMBackg.m2v for reading.
*creating menufile MMMenu.mpg
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\_stuff\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 15/07/2008 17:30:51


It can't open the file MMBackg.m2v because it isn't there. Anyone know why it isn't being created?

Apart from the program installation path, everything is in default setting.

[PCH]

OK, having struggled with this for a few days I used another gui package - dvdauthorgui, but I didn't get on with this (I couldn't preview my m2v files & set chapter marks).

Delving further in GUI for dvdauthor I ran the single batch file that should create MMBackg.m2v on its own. This runs png2yuv.exe and reported a missing dll. I did a search for this & found it in the ...\dvdauthorgui\bin\ folder, copied it to ...\GUI for dvdauthor\ folder and the batch file started to work.

In all I had to copy the following dlls:

cygfreetype-6.dll
cygiconv-2.dll
cygpng12.dll
cygwin1.dll
cygxml2-2.dll
cygz.dll

Why these weren't included in the GUI for dvdauthor installation I don't know.

[borax]

Which version (install or update?) did you use?
The new Gfd 1.05 should not need this dll files. If it does, then I need to update the install routine
Could you post the full log file (zipped)?

[dani96]

Hi, i tried transitions in GFD 1.05, but i've this error with 'create dvd':

D:\Documents and Settings\A424565\Documenti\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 16/07/2008 16.33.00

(shrink and) mux video and audio files

D:\Documents and Settings\A424565\Documenti\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 16/07/2008 16.33.00
*creating MMback.m2v
**ERROR: [mpeg2enc] Could not read YUV4MPEG2 header: system error (failed read/write)!

D:\Documents and Settings\A424565\Documenti\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 16/07/2008 16.33.01

what is ?

Best regards

[borax]

Sorry, but my install script used the wrong (old) dvdauthor version. Please download the new 1.06 version and retry.

[PCH]

Version 1.06 is worse for me.

Running the first batch file MMBrun1.bat results in both png2yuv.exe and mpeg2enc.exe crashing.

I'm using WinXP Pro and I get the 'Please tell Microsoft about this problem' error messages for both programs. I can't find any useful error logs in text format.

[borax]

Sorry. So the mingw version is not stable. I had no problems with it yet. So maybe I need to create a cygwin version of the new code too. For the time beeing, you can only uninstall version 1.06, reinstall version 1.04 (it can still be downloaded) and only use the 'Update to version 1.06 package'. The function 'ForceSCR' for dvdauthor will not work, but the rest should be ok.

[ssbssa]

@PCH
would you please post the MMBrun1.bat?

[borax]

Hi ssbssa!
Welcome and thanks for joining the videohelp forum!

The content of the MMBrun1.bat is not that important. It looks pretty similar like this (just with other file/path names):

@echo off
echo *creating MM1back.m2v
"C:\Programme\dvdauthor\png2yuv.exe" -n 1 -I p -L 0 -f 25 -j "C:\Filme\Temp\MM1Backg.png" | "C:\Programme\dvdauthor\mpeg2enc.exe" -f 8 -I 0 -q 1 -b 7000 -a 2 -n p -o "C:\Filme\Temp\MM1Backg.m2v"

@PCH
Could you open a command prompt and just try to run the png2yuv itself?
Use this command:
png2yuv -h

[PCH]

ssbssa, my batch file is essentially the same as borax's above.

borax, the results of png2yuv -h are:


C:\Program Files\AV\GUI for dvdauthor>png2yuv -h
usage: png2yuv [ options ]

where options are ([] shows the defaults):
-v num verbosity (0,1,2) [1]
-b framenum starting frame number [0]
-f framerate framerate for output stream (fps)
-n numframes number of frames to process [-1 = all]
-j {1}%{2}d{3} Read PNG frames with the name components as follows:
{1} PNG filename prefix (e g rendered_ )
{2} Counting placeholder (like in C, printf, eg 06 ))
-I x interlacing mode: p = none/progressive
t = top-field-first
b = bottom-field-first
-L x interleaving mode: 0 = non-interleaved (two successive
fields per PNG file)
1 = interleaved fields
-S mode chroma subsampling mode [420jpeg]

png2yuv pipes a sequence of PNG files to stdout,
making the direct encoding of MPEG files possible under mpeg2enc.
Any 8bit PNG format supported by libpng can be read.
stdout will be filled with the YUV4MPEG movie data stream,
so be prepared to pipe it on to mpeg2enc or to write it into a file.


examples:
png2yuv -j in_%06d.png -f 25 -I p -b 100000 > result.yuv
| combines all the available PNGs that match
in_??????.png, starting with 100000 (in_100000.png,
in_100001.png, etc...) into the uncompressed YUV4MPEG videofile result.yuv
The videofile has 25 frames per second and does not use any interlacing.
png2yuv -Ip -L0 -j abc_%04d.png | mpeg2enc -f3 -o out.m2v
| combines all the available PNGs that match
abc_??????.png, starting with 0000 (abc_0000.png,
abc_0001.png, etc...) and pipes it to mpeg2enc which encodes
an MPEG2-file called out.m2v out of it



The results of running the batch file command is

C:\Program Files\AV\GUI for dvdauthor>png2yuv.exe -n 1 -I p -L 0 -f 25 -j "C:\Program Files\AV\GUI for dvdauthor\GFDOutD
ir\Temp\MMBackg.png" > test.bin
INFO: [png2yuv.exe] Parsing & checking input files.
INFO: [png2yuv.exe] Image dimensions are 720x576
INFO: [png2yuv.exe] Movie frame rate is: 25.000000 frames/second
INFO: [png2yuv.exe] Non-interlaced/progressive frames.
INFO: [png2yuv.exe] Frame size: 720 x 576
INFO: [png2yuv.exe] Now generating YUV4MPEG stream.

...then the program crashes (This png2yuv.exe is timestamped 27/06/2008 18:24 162KB)

The version of png2yuv.exe from 1.05 installation (24/05/2004 09:32 118KB) works with the cyg dlls

[ssbssa]

@PCH
i just tried with your command line and it worked on my side.
would it be possible to send me the png you used?

[PCH]

Using this forum's upload function. Not sure where the file will end up. File name is MMBackg.png

[PCH]

That didn't seem to work so I've posted the file here: http://www.5bc.org.uk/Files/MMBackg.png

[ssbssa]

now that's bad, this one works on my side too.
that's much harder to track down now.
does it happen with other png's too?
what kind of cpu do you have?

[PCH]

Processor is an AMD Athlon XP 2500+

I made up a new png using PaintShopPro and the result was the same.

C:\Program Files\AV\GUI for dvdauthor>png2yuv106.exe -v 2 -n 1 -I p -L 0 -f 25 -j "C:\Program Files\AV\GUI for dvdautho
r\GFDOutDir\Temp\PSPtest.png" > test.yuv
INFO: [png2yuv106.exe] Parsing & checking input files.
--DEBUG: [png2yuv106.exe] Analyzing C:\Program Files\AV\GUI for dvdauthor\GFDOutDir\Temp\PSPtest.png to get the right pi
c params
INFO: [png2yuv106.exe] Image dimensions are 720x576
INFO: [png2yuv106.exe] Movie frame rate is: 25.000000 frames/second
INFO: [png2yuv106.exe] Non-interlaced/progressive frames.
INFO: [png2yuv106.exe] Frame size: 720 x 576
INFO: [png2yuv106.exe] Now generating YUV4MPEG stream.
--DEBUG: [png2yuv106.exe] Converting frame to YUV format.

Source file was http://www.5bc.org.uk/Files/PSPtest.png

[ssbssa]

it might have to to something with your AMD processor.
the mjpegtools configure-script is checking the cpu-type before compiling.
i'll try to recompile without any processor-specific configuration and we'll have to see if it works any better.

[borax]

THX!

P.S. I use an AMD Athlon 64 (3200+) without problems...

[PCH]

You'll notice above that I changed the filename of the png2yuv.exe version that came with GFD 1.06 to png2yuv106.exe so that I could easily run old & new versions.

This is going to be a problem isn't it? I've just run png2yuv106.exe on my laptop (Pentium 4 desktop CPU, 2.4GHz) and that worked fine off a USB memory stick.

On my desktop PC (AMD Athlon XP) it crashes.

The command line is the same in both cases:
"R:\GUI for dvdauthor106\png2yuv106.exe" -v 2 -n 1 -I p -L 0 -f 25 -j "R:\GUI for dvdauthor106\GFDOutDir\Temp\MMBackg.png" > "R:\GUI for dvdauthor106\test.yuv"

[borax]

Ok. So we know at least that the problem is probably CPU related (as ssbssa already suggested).
Have you tested the other (mingw) programs (dvdauthor, spumux) on the 'crashing' computer already? Just to know if only the Mjpegtools are affected...

[PCH]

Going through the batch files one by one and replacing crashing programmes with the older versions, I have a process running successfully.

I've replaced png2yuv, mpeg2enc and mplex. No doubt jpg2yuv will also crash as it's nearly the same timestamp as the first three.

spumux & dvdauthor have run successfully - these files are timestamped 30/06/2008 18:00. So it looks like it's just the mpegtools that have the problem.

[ssbssa]

@PCH
could you try with the new files i compiled at http://www.savefile.com/files/1633207

[PCH]

Yes, the new versions have worked.

If you want to see the command window log it is here.

Thanks

[ssbssa]

that's great

@borax
i think it would be better if you use this version from now on.
i'll add an option in my compilation script which disables the automatic detection of the cpu (in my case pentium4), so i won't forget it again.

[borax]

THX! I will update the binaries in the install packages asap (probably next week).

[AlanHK]

THX! I will update the binaries in the install packages asap (probably next week).

I got the alert to upgrade to 106 and just ran it, it crashed as above.

You really should replace or revert the files to an old version immediately, not everyone will be able to find this thread.

I just got the file ssbssa uploaded and replaced
jpeg2yuv.exe
mpeg2enc.exe
mplex.exe
png2yuv.exe

But again, I suspect a lot of people could not deal with a tar.bz2 file.

[borax]

Done. New Version 1.07

[AlanHK]

Done. New Version 1.07

Thanks -- that's working.

One small point, when installing it creates two help folders, one English (Help), one German (Hilfe).
I just delete the German one, but it would be preferable if it asked you which one you want.

[borax]

Ok. I hope I remember it when I assemble the next version...