Avidemux shows only quarter of screen

[Shadowmistress]

Normally avidemux works fine with anything sized 720 x 480 and under, but recently I've encountered flash files with a resolution of 1280 x 720. Right when I load a file it only shows me the top left quarter of the screen and the Avidemux information tab says the frame size is 320 x 240. Mediainfo, virtualdub and media player classic all say 1280 x 720. If I try to encode it with Avidemux, the resulting file shows only the top left quarter of the screen and no matter what I try I can't get it to recognize the rest of the picture. Has this happend to anyone else? Anyone know why?

When I load these files into virtualdub ((H264/AVC with AAC audio in flash container) they work just fine, so now I'm re-encoding to 720 x 480 just so I can use avidemux to edit and then output an mp4.

So I'm left wondering could this be a graphics card issue? A limitation of Avidemux? An new codec I'm missing? A wrong ffdshow setting? I don't want to downsize forever.

What uses 1280 x 720 as a standard anyway? I've been away for a while so there are gaps in my knowledge. Thanks in advance.

[hech54]

flash files

In my opinion....that is the problem. Anything "flash" throws a wrench in the works....for me anyway.

[Shadowmistress]

In my opinion....that is the problem. Anything "flash" throws a wrench in the works....for me anyway.

Thank you for your opionion, but I would appreciate some constructive input on the subject.



UPDATE:

Over time I have tweaked my workaround process with virtualdub and discovered that if I only disable the aspect ratio but keep all other settings including framesize the same, the resulting avi would be read correctly by Avidemux, but, I'm having to do a full re-encode to accomplish this and that's counterproductive. (Use virtualdub resize filter, keep size but disable aspect ratio.)

I recently ran into an flv file that did the same thing but was 624x352. This irked me and I did some more digging.

Using mediainfo sheet view I compared a sampling of files and found that anything labelled "inlet media FLVTool2 v1.0.6" will not open correctly in Avidemux.

Format : Flash Video
File size : 109 MiB
Duration : 41mn 55s
Overall bit rate : 365 Kbps
Tagged date : UTC 2011-09-12 08:09:17
Tagging application : inlet media FLVTool2 v1.0.6 - http://www.inlet-media.de/flvtool2

Those labelled "Yet Another Metadata Injector for FLV - Version 1.5" or "MEGA" or "flvmeta 1.0.11" or are blank, Avidemux has no problem with and opens just fine.

Now I don't know what this "inlet media FLVTool2 v1.0.6" does to files, but I'm guessing it tells the player to play the file using different specs than how it was originally encoded. Makes sense that Avidemux is tripping up over this info. But now I'm thinking that the only reason my workaround with virtualdub is successfull is because a new encode has none of this after the fact junk, and has nothing to do with the aspect ratio.

So my next question to those familiar with this tool is can whatever this tool does to files be undone? I suspect if I can "reset" the file back to its original form I can get it to work right in Avidemux.

(By the way, I have over 50 files like this.)

Anyone?

[poisondeathray]

Are you using avidemux 2.6 ?

Since vdub opens them properly, why don' t you use vdub?

[Shadowmistress]

Yes I am using 2.5.6.7716 to be exact, downloaded and fresh installed, July 22, 2012.

I need to edfit and join videos together. Virtualdub is way too picky about what it wil join, plus I'm working with flv files and I have to extract the AAC audio for vdub to pick it up. And I'd rather output to something other than avi.

[poisondeathray]

The avidemux 2.6.x branch handles AVC/h.264 much better (this is NOT the 2.5.x branch you are using). You won't get warning messages or blah blah b-frames etc...

You can output other formats than AVI using vdub external encoder feature, or x264vfw using commandline to other containers
http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=18789&

Another option is to use avisynth to edit & join

[Shadowmistress]

You can output other formats than AVI using vdub external encoder feature, or x264vfw using commandline to other containers
http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=18789&

If you look at the picture in that link, they are using virtualdub 1.9.9. Where do you get this? The newest version listed on the tools section is 1.9.11. which is what I have and there is no external encoder feature.


The thing about Avidemux is that it looks and feels like Tmpgenc did back in the day. You can use sliders to pick the exact frame you want to cut out, preview what things will look like, see and hear what mistakes you made in the setup before you actually make them. This is good.

The thing about Avisynth and some of the similar alternatives I previously considered is that it uses scripting language - of which I know nothing about, and know enough to know I'd spend the next few years of my life outputting garbage and then running back here crying about it - and limits my control over the output. This is bad.

If virtuadub was as forgiving about joining as avidemux is, or if I found another encoder like tmpgenc was (and free), most of my problems would be solved. Until then, I need to get Avidemux to work properly.

[poisondeathray]

did you try avidemux 2.6 yet ? (they are labelled "beta" builds)
http://avidemux.razorbyte.com.au/

vdub external encoder is only featured in those builds that have "experimental" label . Another option is to use vdub frameserver (as you know, many vdub plugins have sliders and buttons as well)

For avisynth, there is sort of a gui called avspmod - it has programmable sliders

If avidemux 2.6 still has import problems, You might be able to re-wrap the flv's to "fix" them e.g using ffmpeg . Do you have a small flv sample you can upload

[Shadowmistress]

did you try avidemux 2.6 yet ? (they are labelled "beta" builds)
http://avidemux.razorbyte.com.au/

Yes, sorry. Just installed 2.6.0.8121 and it still only shows me the top left quarter of the screen.

vdub external encoder is only featured in those builds that have "experimental" label . Another option is to use vdub frameserver (as you know, many vdub plugins have sliders and buttons as well)

I can't get it to work. Vdub is frameserving just fine but Avidemux says "Could not open the file". I don't wish to persue this because 1, can't join multiple files this way anyway and 2, I can always just rewrap vdubs avi into something else using avidemux later.

For avisynth, there is sort of a gui called avspmod - it has programmable sliders

Good to know, will put this course of action on the shelf for now until I get my bearings.

If avidemux 2.6 still has import problems, You might be able to re-wrap the flv's to "fix" them e.g using ffmpeg . Do you have a small flv sample you can upload

Yes this sounds along the lines of what I was initially thinking. I have a program called WinFF I've tinkered with. (Has batching feature.) Because it uses command line, I couldn't figure out how to set up a custom preset that would only change the wrapper and not re-encode the whole thing. If you could help me set something up I'd greatly appreciate it.

In searching for a "small" video to upload I discovered that the mediainfo tagging application was different. Avidemux still only shows me a quarter of the screen but this one is "Yet Another Metadata Injector for FLV - Version 1.2" whereas I have no problems with the 1.5 version. Grrrr....

Anyway here's the upload

[poisondeathray]

Rewrapping that FLV with ffmpeg into mp4 container works fine in avidemux

If you want to do a batch re-wrap (e.g. process a directory of FLV's) , place a copy of ffmpeg into the same directory, open a text file in notepad, copy & paste the following, save it, rename extension from .txt to .bat and double click the .bat file

for %%a in ("*.flv") do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -vcodec copy -acodec copy "%%~na.mp4"
pause

[Shadowmistress]

Oh Joy!

Here's what happend: Using Avidemux to mux the flv into an mp4 didnt work because the resulting mp4 still only showed a quarter of the screen. So I opened WinFF (I've never used raw FFmpeg) and modded your code into a preset,

 -f flv -vcodec copy -acodec copy

converted, and the resulting flv opens perfectly using Avidemux! Then I ran some other files I had problems with (inlet media tag) and they now work in Avidemux too!. Even in version 2.5.6. It took less than 4 seconds to wash them through and I didnt have to fuss with vdub or anything else.


I AM SO HAPPY!

Thank you for your expertise. Your instincts were right in spite of my limited skills.