VLC - problem converting from FRAPS

[terrypin]

I've only just started using VLC's handy conversion feature, so this issue might have an obvious cause.

I captured tour videos from Google Earth using FRAPS, something I've been doing for years. Although they played back smoothly in MPC-HC and VLC, they played much less smoothly in my editor, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 2014 Premium, than during the last similar project a few months ago.

In parallel with investigating why (ongoing) I decided to convert these AVI-contained files to MP4 with VLC. That apparently worked well and the resulting much smaller MP4s play in all my players - but disappointingly not in MEP. A solid green is all I get in that.

I'd appreciate suggestions on the likely cause and possible fix please. Are there perhaps some technical limitations of the VLC converter?

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Baldrick]

PLease give more information.

Post the avi details and mp4 details. Use mediainfo or mediainfoxp.

[terrypin]

OK, pleased to have you on the case, as I'm stumped. I've shown more detail below and hope it will help to isolate the problem. It seems to be connected to the frame rate in some way?

The Original AVI (a FRAPS capture), which plays smoothly in various players, was 25 fps, correctly reported by MediaInfo and GSpot:





And by VLC itself:



That was converted to MP4 with VLC, with fps set to same as source



But MediaInfo reports 8.898 fps. (And that seems to square with the fact that the MP4 plays jerkily.)



MPC-HC reports 25 fps under its 'Details' tab ... but its 'MediaInfo' tab shows 8.898 fps.

And, to add even further to the inconsistency, GSpot reports yet another framerate, 6.250 fps!




In case anyone wants to experiment, I've uploaded the 27 MB MP4:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q4mm63k9nl7dnai/Botanic-Retio-1-VLCconvert.mp4?dl=0

I won't upload the original 736 MB AVI unless asked.



--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

No one with any ideas please?

If it helps, I've now made a 2 second 'tour' to keep file sizes down

47 MB FRAPS AVI here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/alf7yf9bxgid8ch/FRAPS-Capture-1.avi?dl=0

I don't understand the Resolution settings. Why doesn't VLC simply default to the original dimensions? And having entered a number in Height or Width, how do you get it back to Auto again? But I've tried various different settings and the result remains the same as I described. It won't play in MEP, giving a solid green preview.

Here's a typical result (270 KB):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v6u73g3xuv8i9qt/FRAPS-Capture-1-Result1.mp4?dl=0

[poisondeathray]

You should be using a proper conversion software. VLC is mainly for playing and streaming

But you should be able to add --force-cfr to the custom options box to get rid of the VFR result

--force-cfr

Not sure what is going on with the dimensions issues, but using other proper software is certainly an option

[terrypin]

Thanks, but made no difference. Output still unusable in MEP. (I've also posted to the MEP forum.)

I like the convenience of VLC's conversion tool (especially directly after playing the file in VLC) but it sounds like you're saying it's not a serious converter?

I just tried converting with SUPER and MEP was happy with that MP4.

BTW, I got a request to update SUPER on running it. There was no Cancel so I had to click OK to proceed. While I worked in SUPER, about every 10 mins I had an alert (I think from Avira Free Antivirus) asking if I wanted to run an eright.org file or something like that. Anyone seen similar?

Anyway, I've made progress getting my AVI files running more smoothly in MEP now. For one thing, it seems that somehow my ffdshow setting for FRAPS had been changed to Disabled. I switched it back to libavcodec. I also found that the MEP executable, videodeluxe.exe, was on the exclusion list. So while I had this mightily complex ffdshow configurator open I removed that exclusion too. Not sure if one of those or both did the trick; maybe I'll test methodically sometime. Therefore my pursuit of VLC conversion is now a matter of intellectual curiosity. And because I hate unsolved puzzles like this.

[poisondeathray]

VLC is not a dedicated tool for conversion - as you can see it has problems, you're not the only one

Be careful about super - it's loaded with malware. You can see many other threads dedicated to that topic

Its better that you got FRAPS working natively in the program

[terrypin]

A possibly interesting footnote which might offer a further clue to the puzzle. A friend who does does not have FRAPS installed converted my latest small AVI in VLC and the MP4 did work properly in MEP.