[SOLVED] Coverting rmvb to avi using ffmpeg

sylye · 12-04-2011, 11:17 AM

hi guys,

Not sure whether should this thread in here, but since I'm using Slackware package to do all these stuff, I think may be it's good to ask it here as other distro might have different situation.

I tried using ffmpeg to convert my .rmvb file to avi, but it's all ending with a choppy video. Here are some of the command options I tried:

Code:

ffmpeg -i sample.rmvb -qscale 5 -vcodec msmpeg4 -acodec libmp3lame -f avi sample1.avi
result:
frame=  419 fps=  4 q=5.0 Lsize=    1681kB time=00:00:59.42 bitrate= 231.8kbits/s dup=0 drop=892 
video:1135kB audio:464kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 5.149266%


ffmpeg -i sample.rmvb -qscale 5 -vcodec msmpeg4 -b 2M -acodec libmp3lame -ar 48000 -ab 128k -ac 2 -f avi sample2.avi
result:
frame=  419 fps= 16 q=5.0 Lsize=    2148kB time=00:00:59.42 bitrate= 296.1kbits/s dup=0 drop=892    
video:1135kB audio:928kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 4.113530%


ffmpeg -i sample.rmvb -qscale 5 -vcodec msmpeg4 -b 2M -r 23.97 -acodec libmp3lame -ar 48000 -ab 128k -ac 2 -f avi sample3.avi
result:
frame=  410 fps= 19 q=5.0 Lsize=    2145kB time=00:00:59.42 bitrate= 295.7kbits/s dup=0 drop=901    
video:1115kB audio:928kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 4.975215%

ffmpeg -i sample.rmvb -qscale 5 -vcodec libxvid -acodec libmp3lame -f avi sample5.avi
frame=  419 fps= 21 q=5.0 Lsize=    1670kB time=00:00:59.42 bitrate= 230.2kbits/s dup=0 drop=892    
video:1123kB audio:464kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 5.186475%

I'm using the latest ffmpeg from alien bob:

Code:

ffmpeg version 0.8.7, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Dec  4 2011 22:38:12 with gcc 4.5.2
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --shlibdir=/usr/lib --mandir=/usr/man --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --enable-memalign-hack --enable-pthreads --enable-x11grab --enable-bzlib --enable-zlib --enable-shared --enable-static --disable-debug --extra-cflags='-I/tmp/build/tmp-ffmpeg/ffmpegdeps/usr/include -DRUNTIME_CPUDETECT' --extra-ldflags='-L/tmp/build/tmp-ffmpeg/ffmpegdeps/usr/lib -lssl -lcrypto -lz -lusb'
  libavutil    51.  9. 1 / 51.  9. 1
  libavcodec   53.  8. 0 / 53.  8. 0
  libavformat  53.  5. 0 / 53.  5. 0
  libavdevice  53.  1. 1 / 53.  1. 1
  libavfilter   2. 23. 0 /  2. 23. 0
  libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
  libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0

I did notice a very high 'drop' frame showed by the result. And I'm getting the same scenario as describe here:

http://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-u...il/000493.html

as I'm also getting the error:

Code:

[NULL @ 0x806ede0] Unsupported video codec
[rm @ 0x80693a0] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5014000

The reason I'm converting it to msmpeg4 is because that's the format supported by my Pioneer DVD player. I did recompile the source again to make it output the video as libxvid codec but sadly the result is still choppy.

I could use menconder to produce the video without this choppy issue, but I'm wondering whether ffmpeg could achieve the same good result or not. The mencoder command I use is as followed:

Quote:

mencoder -oac mp3lame -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=msmpeg4 -o sample.avi sample.rmvb

Thanks and appreciate for any successful sharing converting rmvb to avi using ffmpeg.

Keith Hedger · 12-04-2011, 01:05 PM

Could you post a link to the sample file you are using ( if it's not TOO big ), have you tried a different video if you do and don't get the choppiness you may have a corrupt file

andrew.46 · 12-04-2011, 03:31 PM

Is the avi container necessary for your device? An mp4 container might be worth a try....

sylye · 12-04-2011, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Hedger

Could you post a link to the sample file you are using ( if it's not TOO big ), have you tried a different video if you do and don't get the choppiness you may have a corrupt file

hi keith,

Thanks for the reply

About whether the file is corrupted or not, no worries, this is the first thing all IT personnel should check before they debug further. I have tried with other rmvb files, they are returning the same choppiness. And as you can see, I have no problem converting that using menconder

I'm in the office now, all my files are back home, so I will post up the sample rmvb tonight (I think it should be less than 2MB)

But have you able to successfully converted a rmvb file before to avi using ffmpeg ?

sylye · 12-04-2011, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrew.46

Is the avi container necessary for your device? An mp4 container might be worth a try....

hi andrew.46,

I would love to, but sadly my Pioneer DVD player is only able to take avi container. I know I could just buy a new media player available now in the market, but I would like to try from a linux engineer point in solving this

jschiwal · 12-04-2011, 09:29 PM

The unsupported codec message is most likely for a data stream.

Look at an *.rmvb file with ffprobe or MediaInfo.
For example, what is the frame rate of the input. What looks good for the output on your player.

Determine the options, such as frame rate, size, codec, bitrate that you prefer for your player, and then explicitly use them for the output parameters.

When you don't specify the bitrate in ffmpeg, directly or indirectly, the default will be too slow. Maybe you do want a low bitrate preview. For other options, such as screen size, aspect ratio and frame rate, the input values may be carried over to the output. These values may cause problems with your dvd player.

andrew.46 · 12-04-2011, 10:32 PM

I have used a small variation of your commandline with the latest git FFmpeg and the following test file:

Code:

wget http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/real/AC-cook/cook_5.1/hotel_california_ra5.1_640x480_30s.rmvb

which transcodes as follows:

Code:

andrew@skamandros~/media$ ffmpeg -i hotel_california_ra5.1_640x480_30s.rmvb \
>       -vcodec msmpeg4 -qscale 5 \
>       -acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -ab 128k \
>       test.avi
ffmpeg version N-35365-g7b0b10c, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Dec  2 2011 11:52:20 with gcc 4.5.3
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/man --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-pthreads --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffserver --disable-avconv --enable-libvorbis --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-libfaac --enable-libvpx --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libspeex --enable-zlib --enable-libxvid --enable-libfreetype --enable-x11grab --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl --enable-version3
  libavutil    51. 29. 1 / 51. 29. 1
  libavcodec   53. 39. 1 / 53. 39. 1
  libavformat  53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0
  libavdevice  53.  4. 0 / 53.  4. 0
  libavfilter   2. 50. 0 /  2. 50. 0
  libswscale    2.  1. 0 /  2.  1. 0
  libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0
[rm @ 0x806aaa0] Unsupported stream type 0000010a

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 1000.00 (1000/1) -> 30.00 (30/1)
Input #0, rm, from 'hotel_california_ra5.1_640x480_30s.rmvb':
  Metadata:
    title           : 
    author          : 
    copyright       : 
    comment         : 
  Duration: 00:00:30.18, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1240 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: rv40 (RV40 / 0x30345652), yuv420p, 640x480, 1054 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: cook (cook / 0x6B6F6F63), 44100 Hz, 5.1, flt, 183 kb/s
    Stream #0:2: Data: none
[buffer @ 0x8072f80] w:640 h:480 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/1000000 sar:0/1 sws_param:
Incompatible sample format 'flt' for codec 'libmp3lame', auto-selecting format 's16'
Output #0, avi, to 'test.avi':
  Metadata:
    INAM            : 
    author          : 
    ICOP            : 
    ICMT            : 
    ISFT            : Lavf53.24.0
    Stream #0:0: Video: msmpeg4 (MP43 / 0x3334504D), yuv420p, 640x480, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 30 tbn, 30 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 44100 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rv40 -> msmpeg4)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (cook -> libmp3lame)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  899 fps= 76 q=5.0 Lsize=    3484kB time=00:00:30.00 bitrate= 951.3kbits/s    
video:3030kB audio:395kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 1.732814

This plays back very smoothly, I would be interested to hear how this goes on your system?

sylye · 12-05-2011, 11:52 AM

hi andrew.46,

Appreciated a lot for the trying, this give more clue to the problem. I downloaded that video and gave it a try and still getting a choppy video. Here is what I got:

Code:

sylye@silverphoenix:~/test/ffmpeg$ ffmpeg -i hotel.rmvb -vcodec msmpeg4 -qscale 5 -acodec libmp3lame -ar 48000 -ab 128k -ac 2  sample7.avi


ffmpeg version 0.8.7, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Dec  4 2011 22:38:12 with gcc 4.5.2
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --shlibdir=/usr/lib --mandir=/usr/man --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-nonfree --enable-libxvid --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --enable-memalign-hack --enable-pthreads --enable-x11grab --enable-bzlib --enable-zlib --enable-shared --enable-static --disable-debug --extra-cflags='-I/tmp/build/tmp-ffmpeg/ffmpegdeps/usr/include -DRUNTIME_CPUDETECT' --extra-ldflags='-L/tmp/build/tmp-ffmpeg/ffmpegdeps/usr/lib -lssl -lcrypto -lz -lusb'
  libavutil    51.  9. 1 / 51.  9. 1
  libavcodec   53.  8. 0 / 53.  8. 0
  libavformat  53.  5. 0 / 53.  5. 0
  libavdevice  53.  1. 1 / 53.  1. 1
  libavfilter   2. 23. 0 /  2. 23. 0
  libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
  libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0
[NULL @ 0x80799a0] Unsupported video codec
[rm @ 0x80693a0] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5063000                                                                                                                    
Input #0, rm, from 'hotel.rmvb':                                                                                                                                                    
  Metadata:
    title           : 
    author          : 
    copyright       : 
    comment         : 
  Duration: 00:00:30.18, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1240 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: rv40, yuv420p, 640x480, 1054 kb/s, 12.05 fps, 12 tbr, 1k tbn, 12 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: cook, 44100 Hz, 5.1, s16, 183 kb/s
    Stream #0.2: Data: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000
[buffer @ 0x80e04e0] w:640 h:480 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/1000000 sar:0/1 sws_param:
Output #0, avi, to 'sample7.avi':
  Metadata:
    INAM            : 
    author          : 
    ICOP            : 
    ICMT            : 
    ISFT            : Lavf53.5.0
    Stream #0.0: Video: msmpeg4, yuv420p, 640x480, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 12 tbn, 12 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: libmp3lame, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  317 fps= 30 q=5.0 Lsize=    2129kB time=00:00:30.16 bitrate= 578.1kbits/s dup=0 drop=582    
video:1610kB audio:471kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 2.295916%

I think it's quite obvious the problem happen at when ffmpeg read my input file as this:

Code:

    Stream #0.0: Video: rv40, yuv420p, 640x480, 1054 kb/s, 12.05 fps, 12 tbr, 1k tbn, 12 tbc

and yours is this:

Code:

    Stream #0:0: Video: rv40 (RV40 / 0x30345652), yuv420p, 640x480, 1054 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc

and my output has a serious frame drop:

Code:

frame=  317 fps= 30 q=5.0 Lsize=    2129kB time=00:00:30.16 bitrate= 578.1kbits/s dup=0 drop=582

while yours doesn't have that:

Code:

frame=  899 fps= 76 q=5.0 Lsize=    3484kB time=00:00:30.00 bitrate= 951.3kbits/s

My output has been dropped 582 unit of frame, so apparently it will be choppy. Now the question is why does it dropping the frame ? There must be something lack in my system that causing ffmpeg not able to read the input stream correctly, especially when it complaint [NULL @ 0x80799a0] Unsupported video codec Do I need to install something to make ffmpeg recognize RMVB codec ?

andrew.46 · 12-05-2011, 11:02 PM

Perhaps it might be worth your while to use the latest git FFmpeg as I do? You can grab this from git or a snapshot if you wish.

sylye · 12-06-2011, 10:12 AM

andrew.64,

Good idea. Let me try compile that during the weekend and see how it goes.

By the mean time, if anyone using alien bob's build could produce the AVI from the RMVB without the choppy problem, please share with us and we will see which part of my compiled binaries went wrong. Appreciated for the sharing.

ponce · 12-06-2011, 11:44 AM

sorry, have you tried if you got the problem also with alien bob's prebuilt static packages?

aocab · 12-06-2011, 04:56 PM

I tested it with alien bob's build and the video is not choppy.

Code:

$ ffmpeg -i hotel.rmvb -vcodec msmpeg4 -qscale 5 -acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -ab 128k  test.avi
ffmpeg version 0.8.7, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Nov 23 2011 00:48:45 with gcc 4.5.2
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --shlibdir=/usr/lib --mandir=/usr/man --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --enable-memalign-hack --enable-pthreads --enable-x11grab --enable-bzlib --enable-zlib --enable-shared --enable-static --disable-debug --extra-cflags='-I/tmp/build/tmp-ffmpeg/ffmpegdeps/usr/include -DRUNTIME_CPUDETECT' --extra-ldflags='-L/tmp/build/tmp-ffmpeg/ffmpegdeps/usr/lib -lssl -lcrypto -lz -lusb'
  libavutil    51.  9. 1 / 51.  9. 1
  libavcodec   53.  8. 0 / 53.  8. 0
  libavformat  53.  5. 0 / 53.  5. 0
  libavdevice  53.  1. 1 / 53.  1. 1
  libavfilter   2. 23. 0 /  2. 23. 0
  libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
  libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0
[NULL @ 0x80799a0] Unsupported video codec
[rm @ 0x80693a0] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5063000                
Input #0, rm, from 'hotel.rmvb':                                                
  Metadata:
    title           : 
    author          : 
    copyright       : 
    comment         : 
  Duration: 00:00:30.18, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1240 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: rv40, yuv420p, 640x480, 1054 kb/s, 12.05 fps, 12 tbr, 1k tbn, 12 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: cook, 44100 Hz, 5.1, s16, 183 kb/s
    Stream #0.2: Data: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000
File 'test.avi' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
[buffer @ 0x80e04e0] w:640 h:480 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/1000000 sar:0/1 sws_param:
Output #0, avi, to 'test.avi':
  Metadata:
    INAM            : 
    author          : 
    ICOP            : 
    ICMT            : 
    ISFT            : Lavf53.5.0
    Stream #0.0: Video: msmpeg4, yuv420p, 640x480, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 12 tbn, 12 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: libmp3lame, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=   15 fps=  0 q=5.0 size=      58kB time=00:00:01.04 bitrate= 453.1kbits/sframe=   25 fps= 25 q=5.0 size=     145kB time=00:00:02.19 bitrate= 542.8kbits/sframe=   35 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=     228kB time=00:00:03.21 bitrate= 581.7kbits/sframe=   45 fps= 22 q=5.0 size=     320kB time=00:00:04.49 bitrate= 583.2kbits/sframe=   56 fps= 22 q=5.0 size=     392kB time=00:00:05.48 bitrate= 585.1kbits/sframe=   70 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=     482kB time=00:00:07.28 bitrate= 542.2kbits/sframe=   86 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=     557kB time=00:00:08.93 bitrate= 510.6kbits/sframe=  100 fps= 25 q=5.0 size=     628kB time=00:00:10.55 bitrate= 487.2kbits/sframe=  111 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=     691kB time=00:00:11.54 bitrate= 490.4kbits/sframe=  120 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=     761kB time=00:00:12.85 bitrate= 485.2kbits/sframe=  133 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=     842kB time=00:00:14.26 bitrate= 483.7kbits/sframe=  147 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=     896kB time=00:00:15.41 bitrate= 476.5kbits/sframe=  160 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=     937kB time=00:00:16.58 bitrate= 462.8kbits/sframe=  171 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=    1010kB time=00:00:17.50 bitrate= 472.7kbits/sframe=  181 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=    1120kB time=00:00:18.44 bitrate= 497.7kbits/sframe=  192 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=    1214kB time=00:00:19.35 bitrate= 513.6kbits/sframe=  203 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=    1280kB time=00:00:20.29 bitrate= 516.7kbits/sframe=  214 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    1355kB time=00:00:21.21 bitrate= 523.3kbits/sframe=  224 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    1426kB time=00:00:22.15 bitrate= 527.2kbits/sframe=  235 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    1518kB time=00:00:23.09 bitrate= 538.6kbits/sframe=  249 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    1590kB time=00:00:24.00 bitrate= 542.7kbits/sframe=  265 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=    1640kB time=00:00:25.39 bitrate= 529.1kbits/sframe=  275 fps= 24 q=5.0 size=    1716kB time=00:00:26.33 bitrate= 533.7kbits/sframe=  285 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    1815kB time=00:00:27.27 bitrate= 545.2kbits/sframe=  296 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    1913kB time=00:00:28.18 bitrate= 555.9kbits/sframe=  306 fps= 23 q=5.0 size=    2006kB time=00:00:29.12 bitrate= 564.3kbits/sframe=  317 fps= 23 q=5.0 Lsize=    2127kB time=00:00:30.16 bitrate= 577.5kbits/s dup=0 drop=582    
video:1610kB audio:471kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 2.183240%

sylye · 12-06-2011, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponce

sorry, have you tried if you got the problem also with alien bob's prebuilt static packages?

ponce,

I have tried. Alien bob's prebuilt package is not having libmp3lame included. So we definitely need to change the Slackbuild option and compile ourselves to have mp3 supported

sylye · 12-07-2011, 12:05 AM

hi aocab,

Thanks for the extra effort taken to test that

I can see your result is having this:

Code:

frame=  317 fps= 23 q=5.0 Lsize=    2127kB time=00:00:30.16 bitrate= 577.5kbits/s dup=0 drop=582

The total frame should be 899 as what achieved by andrew.64, so yours is same with me, only got the end result with 317 frame and 582 is dropped, in which 65% of your original frame has been dropped. How can your result not choppy ? Have you tried the original RMVB and compare the difference ? Do you mind to try another more obvious sample: Sample.Made.of.honor.2008.Sub.R5.rmvb ? This one will have a obvious choppiness if it's having a lot less frame than the original.

ponce · 12-07-2011, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sylye

Alien bob's prebuilt package is not having libmp3lame included. So we definitely need to change the Slackbuild option and compile ourselves to have mp3 supported

In his standard packages the mp3 format is not supported for encoding but they actually decode it.
BTW, I think you missed this folder, in which Eric puts packages without these restrictions

EDIT: I tried the sample above: it seems during conversion to mp4 the fps are set to 12 (the original got 23 fps) and that can be related to the dropping of frames.
You can try forcing the encoder an higher framerate with the '-r' option (I suggest 25 or 30) to see if it's related to the percieved choppiness.