Playing avi and wmv files on the MVP

[rscheller]

I'm not sure why but I can no longer play avi and wmv files on my MVP. This function worked fine at the GBPVR version just prior to 98.8. I'm not sure I ever checked playing these files types with 98.8 but I'm pretty sure I did. Anyhow, with 98.13 they don't play. note, they play fine on my PC under GBPVR.

All I get on the MVP is a brief black screen on my TV OSD showing the progress bar with 0 on the left and 1 second on the right and the title box at the bottom. Then it kicks back to the list of videos I'd selected from.

On my PC, I get an error box showing the following info on several sequentially selected screens,

------------------------------
ffmpeg.exe has encountered a problem and needs to
close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

szAppName : ffmpeg.exe szAppVer : 0.0.0.0 szModName : ffmpeg.exe
szModVer : 0.0.0.0 offset : 00068860

C:\DOCUME~1\Rick\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERced1.dir00\ffmpeg.exe.mdmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Rick\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERced1.dir00\appcompat.txt
-------------------------------

I'm sure I've changed nothing in my config over the last three versions because things are working well.

I'm sure it's probably something I've done or something already addressed but for the life of me, I'm stumped.

I've attached a partial log file for perusal.

Thanks in advance

[rscheller]

Can anyone help here, please?

[sub]

It sounds like ffmpeg doesnt like something about the specific files its trying to convert to MPEG2.

You could try either tweaking the <MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC> settings in config.xml and hope you find the combination that works, or try downloading a different version of ffmpeg to see if it fairs any better.

[rscheller]

The following are the subject lines from two different config.xml files. They are identical as far as I can see.

current config.xml line
<MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC>-y -i "{SOURCE_FILE}" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 29.97 -s 352x240 -f svcd "{DEST_FILE}"</MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC>

August 6, 2006 config.xml line
<MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC>-y -i "{SOURCE_FILE}" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 29.97 -s 352x240 -f svcd "{DEST_FILE}"</MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC>

The one from August 6 I believe was with a version of GBPVR that was able to play avi and wmv on my MVP. The only thing possibly changed was the version of ffmpeg distributed with GBPVR 98.13 (or 98.08) since August 6?

Sub, would you know the history of the included versions of ffmpeg?

And where may I download 'other versions' of ffmpeg?

[sub]

The one from August 6 I believe was with a version of GBPVR that was able to play avi and wmv on my MVP. The only thing possibly changed was the version of ffmpeg distributed with GBPVR 98.13 (or 98.08) since August 6?

I cant remember whether it changed or not, but the error above seems pretty clear to me.

Try playing the same command from the command line and see what happens:

"c:\program files\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "C:\Documents and Settings\Rick\My Documents\My Videos\Home Movies\San_Diego\2003_11_22_Aliya.wmv" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 29.97 -s 352x240 -f svcd "C:\MyVideos\MVP000DFE077E851.mpg"

Sub, would you know the history of the included versions of ffmpeg?

I've been a lax on this front, and dont have list of versions I can provide you.

And where may I download 'other versions' of ffmpeg?

Google will find you a million sources of different versions built by different people on different days.

[rscheller]

Sub, I ran ffmpeg from a command line as you suggested and here's a screen picture of the results. Note I included the ffmpeg error window that pops up too.

Hopefully it'll give you a clue.

[sub]

Ok, so that confirms our suspicion that ffmpeg doesnt like the specific encoding features of that file. You may find that changing versions of ffmpeg will cope with this file better.

Its really something you're going to need to experiment with yourself - I dont have any ready made answers for you.

[jksmurf]

And where may I download 'other versions' of ffmpeg?

I use celtic druids latest (updated celtic_druid ffmpeg builds are available from http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/ffmpeg/ .. You MUST use Firefox or another Browser, IE7 is banned) with GUI4FFMPEG. Celtic druid seems to be one of the main compilers of ffmpeg builds.

The ffmpeg build that came with GUI4FFMPEG couldn't "do" H264 to MPEG2 without crashing. Mr GUI4FFMPEG recommended using it with "-sameq" replacing the autogenerated "-qmin 2".

k.

[rscheller]

OK, before I saw jksmurf's post, I stumbled across the same URL for downloading ffmpeg.exe. Long story short, I tried this version and it transcodes my avi and wmv files on the MVP just fine except... they are very pixelated after transcoding with this version of ffmpeg.

Can someone suggest what in this command line would lower the pixelation problem?

ffmpeg.exe -y -i "C:\Documents and Settings\Rick\My Documents\My Videos\Home Movies\San_Diego\2003_11_22_Aliya.wmv" -b 2400 -ac 2 -ab 128 -r 29.97 -s 352x240 -f svcd "C:\MyVideos\MVP000DFE077E854.mpg

[sub]

You could try bumping up the bitrate. Its "-b 2400" with your current settings.