Cannot convert wmv

[correx]

Hello,

could someone please help me convert to mp4 some files encoded with video codec :wmv3x and audio codec: wma9 .

I have used every software I have for converting them to mp4, but each one finishes the conversion in about 2 seconds and the result file is obviously so small that it doesn't work. Can you please help me for cnoverting them to mp4 ?

I have two files of this type, for which I put the mediainfo information below:

File number 1:

Complete name : F:\mov\2014-07-23 14.17 New Meeting.wmv
Format : Windows Media
File size : 194 MiB
Duration : 1h 0mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 450 Kbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 580 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-07-23 06:17:33.745
Writing application : 6.3.1 Build 1468 / 㙉䜴呯䵯敥楴杮
BitRateFrom the writer : 446025
Audio samples : 36147
Video samples : 24991
recording time : Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:55:43 W. Australia Standard Time

Video
ID : 3
Format : G2M4
Codec ID : G2M4
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 398 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Nominal frame rate : 29.970 fps
Bit depth : 8 bits

Audio
ID : 1
Format : WMA
Format version : Version 2
Codec ID : 161
Codec ID/Info : Windows Media Audio
Description of the codec : Windows Media Audio 9.2 - 48 kbps, 44 kHz, mono 1-pass CBR
Duration : 1h 0mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 48.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 20.7 MiB (11%)

File number 2:

General
Complete name : F:\mov\2014-07-29 16.18 New Meeting.wmv
Format : Windows Media
File size : 167 MiB
Duration : 51mn 42s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 451 Kbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 582 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-07-29 08:18:01.390
Writing application : 6.3.1 Build 1468 / 㙉䜴呯䵯敥楴杮
BitRateFrom the writer : 447525
Audio samples : 31022
Video samples : 22573
recording time : Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:25:50 W. Australia Standard Time

Video
ID : 3
Format : G2M4
Codec ID : G2M4
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 400 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Nominal frame rate : 29.970 fps
Bit depth : 8 bits

Audio
ID : 1
Format : WMA
Format version : Version 2
Codec ID : 161
Codec ID/Info : Windows Media Audio
Description of the codec : Windows Media Audio 9.2 - 48 kbps, 44 kHz, mono 1-pass CBR
Duration : 51mn 42s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 48.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 17.8 MiB (11%)

Thank you !

[Baldrick]

Can you play the video in VLC media player?

[El Heggunte]

G2M4 is not a "flavor" of Windows Media Video.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/codec?Portal=www.gotomeeting.com

Micro$oft, in their infinite lack of wisdom, unfortunately make many people believe there is no difference between their video codecs (WMV) and their glorified AVI container (Active Streaming Format).

[correx]

Yes, I can play it with VLC, but I cannot play it in windows media player classic nor with Smplayer .

@ElHeggunte . You're trying to say that just installing the codec from gotomeeting will solve this ?

[correx]

@ElHeggunte I installed the Gotomeeting codec you sent me, but I still cannot convert them to mp4 ..

[poisondeathray]

Since VLC can play it, it should be able to convert it.

Or use ffmpeg, or some GUI for ffmpeg like winff, tencoder etc... to convert it. VLC uses the same libraries as ffmpeg

[correx]

I tried to convert with VLC as you said, but the sound was broken. Then I changed some parameters for the sound to be similar with input file parameters and [ut the aac audio codec, but the result had no sound at all .
Conversion is pretty long, so don't know if it's worth it to also try ffmpeg .. which I understand uses the same libraries ..

[El Heggunte]

Any "converter" that supports DirectShow or Avisynth inputs should have no problem in dealing with those ASF files...

I could play four G2M4 sample files in both MPlayer and MPC-HC (this latter, through LAV Video).

EDIT:

FFMS2 supports G2M4, and I could open "labor.wmv" in VirtualDub.

LoadCPlugin("F:\AVSplugins\FFMS2\C\ffms2.dll")
FFVideoSource("labor.wmv", fpsnum=30000, fpsden=1001)

[El Heggunte]

It's also possible that the files you have are broken (muxed incorrectly).
Could you upload them to this forum

VLC is well-known for playing (some) broken files as if they had no problem at all.

Other players and conversion software normally are not that "smart".

[Selur]

mencoder when extended with the codec pack should be able to convert it

[correx]

I tried with WinFF (ffmpeg) , but the result only plays on VLC correct. Video doesn't work in other players, just audio.
I have Tencoder that uses Mencoder . I tried with just Mencoder from Tencoder, but it doesn't work( it says it cannot find .h2a4 and .m4a files if I remember correctly).
I tried AV Splitter ( directshow ) but at its settings at input there is no .wmv!
How do I extend Mencoder with the codec pack ?

Or is there some simpler way ?

[El Heggunte]

I tried with WinFF (ffmpeg) , but the result only plays on VLC correct. Video doesn't work in other players, just audio.
I have Tencoder that uses Mencoder . I tried with just Mencoder from Tencoder, but it doesn't work( it says it cannot find .h2a4 and .m4a files if I remember correctly).
I tried AV Splitter ( directshow ) but at its settings at input there is no .wmv!

Yep, those files really appear to be b0rked.

This time, first remux with ffmpeg, and then (try to) convert the remuxed files:

ffmpeg -i ORIGINAL.wmv -r 29.9700 -vcodec copy -acodec copy NEW.wmv

[Selur]

How do I extend Mencoder with the codec pack ?

If you download the 'binary codec pack' from http://mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/ extract it next to your mencoder/mplayer binary and rename the extracted folder to 'codecs' mplayer&mencoder should then be able to use the included codecs to decode the content.
No clue if Tencoder support it, if you post a small sample I can check here if using the codecs helps in you case.

[correx]

It did not work with remuxing with ffmpeg and then reconverting. The same happened, the g2m codec was still there after remux, so the following conversion lasted again about two seconds and the output file was empty.

I couldn't find binary codecs at : http://mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/

I uploaded the second file.

Could someone please tell me what free tool I could use to convert it ?

[El Heggunte]

I don't use MeGUI, but if you can convince it to use a hand-made script like this:

LoadPlugin("Path-To\ffms2.dll")
video=FFVideoSource("file2.wmv", fpsnum=30000, fpsden=1001).ConvertToYV12(matrix="Rec709")
audio=FFAudioSource("file2.wmv")
AudioDub(video, audio)

then (probably/hopefully) you'll get what you're looking for.

VirtualDub with its external encoder feature is a better option for the ones who don't like things to be simpler than they actually are

[El Heggunte]

Additional info:

1) according to Graphstudio, the pesky WMV contains *script commands*, which might be confusing the video convertOrs

2) Lord Mulder's wma2wav is unable to decode the audio from the original WMV file, probably because of 1)

Below is a short re-encode (26 seconds, resized to 1280x720).

[Selur]

I couldn't find binary codecs at : http://mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/

all-20110131.tar.bz2 is compressed file which contains the codecs,..
Just checked, ffplay can handle the file without a problem -> lavfilter can handle it, so ffmpeg/ffmpegsource/libavsource should all be able to handle the content. (at least the first half)

[correx]

@ El Heggunte : . Yes, the short sample plays well with at least three players: media player classic, smplayer an vlc.
Could you please tell me how it has been done ?
Also, do you know if it would run on an apple computer ? The people I have this from, just told me it should run on apple computer.

Thank you!

[El Heggunte]

@ El Heggunte : . Yes, the short sample plays well with at least three players: media player classic, smplayer an vlc.
Could you please tell me how it has been done ?

But I already told you

I don't use MeGUI, but if you can convince it to use a hand-made script like this:

LoadPlugin("Path-To\ffms2.dll")
video=FFVideoSource("file2.wmv", fpsnum=30000, fpsden=1001).ConvertToYV12(matrix="Rec709")
audio=FFAudioSource("file2.wmv")
AudioDub(video, audio)

then (probably/hopefully) you'll get what you're looking for.

VirtualDub with its external encoder feature is a better option for the ones who don't like things to be simpler than they actually are

I used VirtualDub + the DivX VfW codec, then remuxed to MP4 with MP4Box.
Also, I re-encoded the audio separately.
But you could do it all in one step through ffmpeg, for example --- and yes, ffmpeg does understand AVS files
For better video compression, just use libx264 instead of Xvid; for audio, you can choose AAC or MP3.

[correx]

Ok, the thing is I have't used these tools before, so I'm alittle new at this.
I'll try the method with virtual dub. Is there anything special I should do if I have 64 bit CPU and 64 bit windows 7 ?

[correx]

I've installed Komisar's x264VfW codec, but still, virtual dub does not recognise the wmv file. Do I have to specifically tell Virtual Dub to use x264Vfw ?

I also wanted to download the offical x264Vfw codec from : http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/ but it only downloads a .tmp file , which I don't know what to do with.

[correx]

I installed Divx Pro 6.8.0 Vfw , and also found the External Encoder option menu in VirtualDub, but as I understand I need the vdprof file to import. Could someone provide this file please ?

[correx]

@ El Heggunte : I also tried to use ffmpeg as an external encoder for virtual dub, using this : https://encodingtalk.com/threads/virtualdub-save-direct-to-mp4-fraps-to-youtube-with-e...e-2#post-13731 , but still VirtualDub doesn't recognise the wmv file.
Also, as I was saying above, the remux with ffmpeg did not work, so are you sure using ffmpeg is a good idea ?

[Selur]

Did a quick vfr m4v, not sure if quicktime on mac supports it. (works fine on Quicktime on Windows)

Cu Selur

Ps.: @admins: how about allowing m4v as extension for attachments?

---

Update: checked, works fine on Quicktime with OS X Mavericks
Also at least here mencoder has no problem decoding the wmv.

[correx]

@Selur : Ok seems like it works with several players, could you tell me what tool you used ?
Also, do you know what I could use to make it mp4 ?

Thank you!

[Selur]

@correx:
a. it's an mp4, the extension is just changed to .m4v, since iTunes and some other tools on Mac otherwise won't support it properly.
b. used a modified version of Hybrid. The currently publicly available version (2014.10.13.1) of Hybrid can't handle vfr wmv properly, since it's lacking time code extraction through ffmpeg.

Cu Selur

[correx]

Ok, thank you! Could you tell me where I could get this modified version of Hybrid please ?

[Selur]

It's not publicly available atm., it's a development build I made. (I'm the author of Hybrid )
If you tell me the OS you use I can send you a development build of Hybrid. (you would still need to install Hybrid normally and replace the Hybrid.exe with the new binary)
With that version I did the following:

1. Start Hybrid
2. Set default input/output/temp path under Config->Path
3. Save the defaults Config->Defaults->Save All + Save selected
4. Enabled iTunes compatibility for mp4 output (Config->Output->Container Settings->Mp4 Settings->iTunes compatibility)
5. loaded the source
6. configured x264:
   1. selected "x264->Main->General Settings->Encoding mode->Constant rate factor (1-pass)"
   2. set "x264->Main->General Settings->Quantizer factor" to 22
   3. set "x264->Main->Restrictions Settings->Preset" to 'slow' and applied it ('Apply'-button next to the selection)
   4. set "x264->Main->Restrictions Settings->Tune" to 'stillimage' and applied it ('Apply'-button next to the selection)
7. configured the audio:
   1. enabled audio by setting "Main->Handling->Audio handling" to "custom"
   2. enabled audio reencoding "Audio->Main->Reencode"
   3. since aac is the default output codec I only need to adjust it's bit rate to 48kBit/s (Audio->Main->Audio Encoding Options->Bitrate kbit/s)" to 48)
   4. added the current audio configuration to the Audio Queue by pressing the 'Add current'-button (on the right side or the Audio Queue)
8. Configured the output name, by simply enabling Main->Generate
9. Added the job to the job queue and started the job by pressing Main->Start Queue. Alternatively one could first add a job to the job queue and then start the job queue later.

Cu Selur

Ps.: there are tons of additional options and tweaks that could be applied, but since you are clearly not that used to video encoding, the settings above should provide a good basis.

[correx]

Thank you very much for all the info!
My OS is windows 7 , 64 bit. Could you please send the development version ?

Thank you again!

[correx]

I found hybrid ( http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/hybrid.html ) . As I understood, I would only have to replace Hybrid.exe, so if that's the case then you could probably only send me the modified Hybrid.exe. Just thought it would be easier.