In Step 2 Example 1, instead of
Code:
ffmpeg -i output.mkv -acodec libfaac -ab 128k -ac 2 -vcodec libx264 -vpre slow -crf 22 -threads 0 our-final-product.mp4
I had to use
Code:
ffmpeg -i output.mkv -acodec libfaac -ab 128k -ac 2 -vcodec libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -threads 0 our-final-product.mp4
Not sure if the recent updates are the reason. Quoting from http://ffmpeg.org/index.html
FFmpeg now accesses x264 presets via libx264. This extends functionality by introducing several new libx264 options including -preset, -tune, and -profile. You can read more detailed information about these options with "x264 --fullhelp".

The syntax has changed so be sure to update your commands. Example:
ffmpeg -i input -vcodec libx264 -preset fast -tune film -profile main -crf 22 -threads 0 output
Thanks.