Hi,

im trying to convert an AVI movie to MPEG but I get the following error:

$ mencoder movie.avi -of mpeg -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg1video -oac copy other_options -o name.mpg
MEncoder 2:1.0~rc2-0ubuntu19 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 11)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x2bc09000
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO: [XVID] 512x368 24bpp 23.976 fps 831.1 kbps (101.5 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:3 fourcc:0x44495658 size:512x368 fps:23.98 ftime:=0.0417
PACKET SIZE: 2048 bytes, deltascr: 245760
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
audiocodec: framecopy (format=55 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=0 B/s=16149 sample-0)
Limiting audio preload to 0.4s.
Increasing audio density to 4.
VDec: vo config request - 512 x 368 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.39:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
videocodec: libavcodec (512x368 fourcc=3167706d [mpg1])
[mpeg1video @ 0x88423b0]MPEG1/2 does not support 2997/125 fps
Could not open codec.
FATAL: Cannot initialize video driver.


advice? thanks! :=)

That's a lot of code for the newbie section. Perhaps using tovid (and tovidgui) would help.

[later edit] Seems the sourceforge page is currently defunct. Anyway, there is a deb here at this site.

Sometimes you have to read behind the error to see how it arises:
... have you tried transcoding at a frame rate which mpeg does support? Or using a format which supports that framerate?

... have you considered converting to free/open formats instead of patent encumbered ones?

thanks for your answers! this is what im trying to do: I have a DVD player which doesn't play files like *.avi, *.mp3, etc so I want to create a VCD using K3B so when I select the movie.avi it says that it only supports MPEG-1 & 2 formats to creat VCDs therefore im trying to convert it. what Framerates does MPEG support? also, what kind of free/open formats could I convert the movie.avi to be able to create a VCD?
thanks for your help! :=)

Technically, you are trying to encode the video as mpeg1. AVI is not really a video format, but a container. AVI files can contain mpeg1 video as well. I tell you that because some of your AVI's might already have the desired format. So check before re-encoding them because there's a data loss on each conversion, which means quality loss.


It's not only about mpeg, it's also about the video cd specifications. A video cd player might not be able to reproduce your video unless you respect the video cd standards. This means:

• 29.97 or 23.976 frames per second for ntsc
• 25 frames per second for pal

None. VCD is by definition encoded with mpeg1, for both audio and video, with a contant bitrate and a given resolution. So, if you want to stick to the standard (and you should if you plan to use a video cd player) then you don't have many options.

Details about the format can be found on the wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_CD



However, most dvd players today can play xvid without any problem and other free formats like theora or ogg/ogv.

What he said...

@i92guboj: you've seen a hw dvd player which supports free formats?! Cool! It's hard to tell when you buy the thing - the salesperson dosn't know anh the vendor almost never puts it on the package or the label (or the instructions). All you can do is put the media in and hope. An amazing no of cheap media players play vorbis without telling you for eg.

Yep, there are some. But in the case of xvid, there's no need, most players supporting divx decoding will be able to play xvid just fine. And nowadays, all the dvd players can play xvid, even the cheapest ones that I've found.

Vorbis support is not that famous, hopeless that will change in the future. Just as a curiosity, I am the proud owner of a blu:sens portable device that fits in like 4x7x1cm and can play ogg and ogv in addition to the tipical audio formats that all the devices support.

Well - I have an iRiver T10, but I also have a generic (S&V brand from Dick Smith) which will actually play vorbis. A surprisingly wide range do. Just not advertised. It is even possible that the manufacturer doesn't know - they just buy the roms for their mp3 support.

These days, when I get one, I check.

Of course - none of this helps OP.

ok guys! I got it! I will buy a HD DVD Player-Recorder which plays many formats! I was able to convert *.avi to MPEG using tovid however the process was long and I think it would be cheaper and less time consuming buying a new DVD player! Thanks for all your answers!

It seems that wasn't entirely true hehe

Nowadays, these toys are that cheap that counting both the time and electricity that you would waste to convert your collection would be probably be more expensive than simply buying a capable player. Not to speak about the quality loss that all your movies would suffer in the re-encoding process.

Sometimes digressions help.

Point of fact though: I have overseen converion of mp3 to ogg/vorbis on many machines. There is a loss of quality from this - unavoidable. So early on, I decided to test how bad it was.

On double-blind trials - nobody who claimed to be able to tell the difference was in fact able to. The attenuation is in high frequencies which adults cannot hear (I wouldn't be too surprised if some children can tell, but generally for bad recordings... they'd get better). The claims are usually around lower frequency artifacts (clicks and so on which end up "heard" in all recordings on double-blind - including the original) or subliminal effects (you don't hear it but it's absence is noticed.)

Whats really interesting is how many people can tell which I'm playing when it's only single-blind.

For audio it takes a trained ear.

But for video artifacts can be clearly visible depending on the movie and the concrete frames. It also depends on how bad it already is. Some of the media might have been reencoded two or three times already, which makes another one like a drop in the middle of the ocean.

and a professional sound studio - the trained ears I tested could not tell double-blind.Well - never tested video.

I've so far only ripped and converted video which won't play otherwise so I've only experienced improvement. The only thing I get is audio out of sync - which will be my sloppy configuration.

But I can well imagine.