ffmpeg, "error opening filters" - how to solve this problem?

When running ffmpeg, I can extract audio from a video file fine with the few sample files that I tried it on. When running ffmpeg to convert video from one format to another, or to extract the video only, I get the following error:

> Error opening filters

It does create the output file, but it has no data in it when opened in Totem. There did not seem to be any useful information or error messages in:

# dmesg | tail

and taking a look at the man pages

man ffmpeg

gave me something to try, but it gave no more information on the error or what is causing it.

ffmpeg -loglevel debug
ffmpeg -loglevel verbose

Here is the configuration for ffmpeg:

FFmpeg version UNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers built on Jul 19 2010 08:32:47 with gcc 4.5.0 20100604 [gcc-4_5-branch revision 160292] configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --shlibdir=/usr/lib --enable-pthreads --enable-shared --enable-avfilter --disable-static --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-postproc --enable-shared --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libtheora --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libvpx --enable-gpl --enable-version3 WARNING: library configuration mismatch libavutil configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libavcodec configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libavformat configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libavdevice configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libavfilter configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libswscale configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libpostproc configuration: --shlibdir=/usr/lib --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libspeex --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab --extra-cflags='-fomit-frame-pointer -fmessage-length=0 -O2 -Wall -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gsm' --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-avfilter --enable-libvpx --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-pthreads libavutil 50.22. 0 / 50.15. 1 libavcodec 52.84. 0 / 52.72. 2 libavformat 52.75. 0 / 52.64. 2 libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0 libavfilter 1.25. 1 / 1.19. 0 libswscale 0.11. 0 / 0.11. 0 libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0 Hyper fast Audio and Video encoder usage: ffmpeg [options] [[infile options] -i infile]... {[outfile options] outfile}... Use -h to get full help or, even better, run 'man ffmpeg'

A Google search on it gave no results other than a few links for mplayer. An LQ search gave two results on ffmpeg, but did not help.

Did you install the essential codecs? You can grab them from mplayerhq.hu
Also try 'ldd /pat/to/ffmpeg |grep found' without the quotes