Problem converting 1080i MP4 to avi

[bmwracer]

Hi all,

I downloaded an HD video from a web site and I'm having problems converting it to avi.

Here are details of the original video from Media Player Classic:
Video Size: 1440x1080 (AR16:9)
Video: MPEG4 (H264) 1440x536 29.97fps

One oddity that I noticed is that the video size (1440x1080) is different from the MPEG4 video info (1440x536)... Is it because it's interlaced?

When I try to convert it/scale it down to avi using either XviD4PSP or AviDemux the resultant video is cut in half... Is this also a result of it being interlaced?

What do I need to do to get the conversion to work correctly and not cut the video in half?

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[poisondeathray]

Try deinterlacing it first

[bmwracer]

Try deinterlacing it first

Using what tool?

[poisondeathray]

Both xvid4psp and avidemux have deinterlace filters, as do many of the other video converters.

In xvid4psp it would be under video=>interlace/framerate

It maybe the auto generated script is incorrect or it's not auto detecting the interlace correctly, in which case you can do it manually in the script (in xvid4psp it would be avisynth=>edit filtering script)

If it's still giving you difficulties, maybe you can post a sample and we can give you more detailed instructions

[bmwracer]

Still no luck, but I'm a novice with those two tools, so I'm flailing a bit....

Oddly, when I view the video, it's 1440x1080, but both xvid4psp and avidemux read the file as 1440x536.

These are the properties of the file from MediaInfo:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General
Complete name : C:\temp\Ueno Juri [2009.09.10].mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 1.04 GiB
Duration : 23mn 10s
Overall bit rate : 6 443 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-09-10 20:31:57
Tagged date : UTC 2009-09-10 20:31:57

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.2
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 23mn 9s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 6 323 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 16.4 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 3.582
Original display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : MBAFF
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.136
Stream size : 1.02 GiB (98%)
Writing library : x264 core 68 r1183M f21daff
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=2 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=1 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / mbaff=1 / bframes=2 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=0 / b_bias=0 / direct=0 / wpredb=0 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=0 / rc=crf / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2009-09-10 20:31:57
Tagged date : UTC 2009-09-10 20:33:27

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 67
Duration : 23mn 10s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 116 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 198 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 19.2 MiB (2%)
Encoded date : UTC 2009-09-10 20:33:23
Tagged date : UTC 2009-09-10 20:33:27
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[poisondeathray]

Can you post a small sample? You can use yamb to cut one and post it on a free hosting site e.g. mediafire.com , megaupload.com

What are you trying to convert to and why?
HD square pixel xvid AVI 1920x1080?
or resize to SD for an xvid standalone player (e.g. 720x400) ?

[bmwracer]

resize to SD for an xvid standalone player (e.g. 720x400) ?

Exactly.

Here's a clip of the file: http://www.sendspace.com/file/673bfs

[poisondeathray]

Interlaced h.264 in .mp4 container isn't standard and that's what is causing problems here. Theoretically you could just re-wrap into transport stream (.ts, .m2ts) using tsmuxer and then use your usual method, but there were some bad frames doing that (might have been because your sample too small - it might have worked on a larger sample)

But one way that works for sure is to use avisynth script and feed into any encoder that accepts avs scripts and can encode to xvid/mp3/avi (e.g. xvid4psp , megui , vdub)

Install avisynth, put yadif.dll in your avisynth plugins folder, and the ffmpegsource2 package into the plugins folder (especially ffms2.avsi, and ffms2.dll) (you can get it from here http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127037)

Change the paths/filenames to match, copy the following into a text file in notepad, save it and then rename extension to .avs from .txt. Open that .avs file in xvid4psp or other converter

Load_Stdcall_Plugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\yadif.dll")
FFMpegSource2("Ueno Juri [2009.09.10]_003.mp4",atrack=-1)
Yadif(order=1) #TFF
LanczosResize(720,400)

Here is your video encoded by that method in vdub using xvid q=3

ffms2.avi

Cheers

[bmwracer]

Interlaced h.264 in .mp4 container isn't standard and that's what is causing problems here.

I figured as much...

Don't know why the author did that... Maybe to discourage video hackers like me. :P

Theoretically you could just re-wrap into transport stream (.ts, .m2ts) using tsmuxer and then use your usual method, but there were some bad frames doing that (might have been because your sample too small - it might have worked on a larger sample)

But one way that works for sure is to use avisynth script and feed into any encoder that accepts avs scripts and can encode to xvid/mp3/avi (e.g. xvid4psp , megui , vdub)

Install avisynth, put yadif.dll in your avisynth plugins folder, and the ffmpegsource2 package into the plugins folder (especially ffms2.avsi, and ffms2.dll) (you can get it from here http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127037)

Change the paths/filenames to match, copy the following into a text file in notepad, save it and then rename extension to .avs from .txt. Open that .avs file in xvid4psp or other converter

Load_Stdcall_Plugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\yadif.dll")
FFMpegSource2("Ueno Juri [2009.09.10]_003.mp4",atrack=-1)
Yadif(order=1) #TFF
LanczosResize(720,400)

Here is your video encoded by that method in vdub using xvid q=3

ffms2.avi

Cheers

Thanks... A bit convoluted, but if it works, I'm not going to complain.

[bmwracer]

tsmuxer did the trick: both xvid4psp and avidemux recognize the video size correctly now.

And both programs resized and xvid-encoded the video as expected.

Thanks for all your help!