Problems converting to mp4 with mencoder and ffmpeg

[FakeOutdoorsman]

The 'deprecated' message was yet another arrow fired in a highly regrettable war .

The misleading 'not being developed anymore' and 'deprecated' messages probably caused more user confusion than anything else resulting from the fork. So much time has been dedicated to explaining the situation by various users, contributors, and developers of ffmpeg. Instead of working on a certain new guide for the FFmpeg Wiki my FFmpeg time today has been distracted by discussing this yet again...and this is the second third instance today.

For anyone looking for more info:

• Who can tell me the difference and relation between ffmpeg, libav, and avconv
• The FFmpeg/Libav situation

[Paddy Landau]

FakeOutdoorsman, I've just read your post and the links you referred to.

Wow. It seems surreal!

Something that confused me: is the ffmpeg on Ubuntu actually ffmpeg, or is it something else that has been renamed as ffmpeg? Why would Ubuntu take sides and add the "deprecated" message, or have I misunderstood?

I presume that it is actually OK to continue to use ffmpeg, and ignore the "deprecated" message?

Bearing in mind my errors with avconv, I presume that I should cease to use avconv. Or should I rather raise a bug against it to the avconv team?

What about bug #939863: it seems to me that this message should be removed altogether?

[Johann-1.0]

Perhaps if you are using Lucid Lynx 10.04 you could run the following:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-52

and then run your conversion as previously but copy and paste the entire terminal output into a forum post. This will give a few hints as to what is going on...

Thank you...I had already done that but again, no success

Here is the error message if anyone finds it useful:

Forzadeldestino1-1.avi

FFmpeg version SVN-r0.5.9-4:0.5.9-0ubuntu0.10.04.3, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --extra-version=4:0.5.9-0ubuntu0.10.04.3 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --disable-stripping --disable-vhook --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  libavutil     49.15. 0 / 49.15. 0
  libavcodec    52.20. 1 / 52.20. 1
  libavformat   52.31. 0 / 52.31. 0
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libavfilter    0. 4. 0 /  0. 4. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Jan 24 2013 19:42:59, gcc: 4.4.3

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 30000.00 (30000/1) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, avi, from 'Forzadeldestino1-1.avi':
  Duration: 00:26:17.59, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2364 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 480x360 [PAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 30k tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 112 kb/s
File 'Forzadeldestino1-1.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
Output #0, mp4, to 'Forzadeldestino1-1.mp4':
    Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 480x360 [PAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Unsupported codec for output stream #0.1

[Paddy Landau]

Shot in the dark here, but have you installed the ubuntu-restricted-extras package?

[Johann-1.0]

Shot in the dark here, but have you installed the ubuntu-restricted-extras package?

Yes Paddy, I have already installed that package

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
ubuntu-restricted-extras is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.

[SeijiSensei]

Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 64 kb/s
Unsupported codec for output stream #0.1

The problem is the audio codec. Why not just use mp3 which is what the original is encoded with? I believe you just use "-acodec libmp3lame", but since I don't use ffmpeg, I may be wrong.

[andrew.46]

Here is the error message if anyone finds it useful:

Forzadeldestino1-1.avi

FFmpeg version SVN-r0.5.9-4:0.5.9-0ubuntu0.10.04.3, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --extra-version=4:0.5.9-0ubuntu0.10.04.3 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --disable-stripping --disable-vhook --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  libavutil     49.15. 0 / 49.15. 0
  libavcodec    52.20. 1 / 52.20. 1
  libavformat   52.31. 0 / 52.31. 0
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libavfilter    0. 4. 0 /  0. 4. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Jan 24 2013 19:42:59, gcc: 4.4.3

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 30000.00 (30000/1) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, avi, from 'Forzadeldestino1-1.avi':
  Duration: 00:26:17.59, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2364 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 480x360 [PAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 30k tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 112 kb/s
File 'Forzadeldestino1-1.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
Output #0, mp4, to 'Forzadeldestino1-1.mp4':
    Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 480x360 [PAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Unsupported codec for output stream #0.1

For this particular stream you can simply copy both video and audio codecs into a new container. This is an old version of FFmpeg so I am not entirely sure of the syntax but try:

ffmpeg -i Forzadeldestino1-1.avi \
          -acodec copy -vcodec copy \
          Forzadeldestino1-1.mp4

The error suggests that you do not have the capability to encode with libmp3lame but you can still copy...

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Something that confused me: is the ffmpeg on Ubuntu actually ffmpeg, or is it something else that has been renamed as ffmpeg?

It is not ffmpeg (the program) from FFmpeg (the project). It is a remnant from the libav fork before they renamed their temporary ffmpeg to avconv.

Why would Ubuntu take sides and add the "deprecated" message, or have I misunderstood?

The Debian/Ubuntu ffmpeg maintainer took sides with the fork and decided to switch Ubuntu to libav. The misleading "deprecated" message was added to silence Ubuntu users who didn't like the original "This program is not developed anymore" message, but the ambiguity was allowed to stay.

I presume that it is actually OK to continue to use ffmpeg, and ignore the "deprecated" message?

libav users should use avconv instead of the libav version of ffmpeg.

What about bug #939863: it seems to me that this message should be removed altogether?

The "fix" to this bug was unsatisfactory and reasoning behind it makes me feel that, for this distro, a good user experience is less important than petty politics.

[Johann-1.0]

For this particular stream you can simply copy both video and audio codecs into a new container. This is an old version of FFmpeg so I am not entirely sure of the syntax but try:

ffmpeg -i Forzadeldestino1-1.avi \
          -acodec copy -vcodec copy \
          Forzadeldestino1-1.mp4

The error suggests that you do not have the capability to encode with libmp3lame but you can still copy...

Thank you very much for your answer, it was very helpful. At first, it appears to work, because now I can play those generated mp4 files on my desktop (let me expain again, I could play every mp4 file but not those I created with ffmpeg). Now, I can play it on my desktop but still I'm not able to play it on my cell phone. Again, my cell phone only has problems with these mp4 files, but it can play other mp4files. Any other suggestion?
Anothe question: does anybody know the command to convert the files to 3gp? You know, if mp4 is giving me problems, let's give 3gp a try.
How can I be able to encode with libmp3lame?

Thank you very much for your time guys.

[andrew.46]

Now, I can play it on my desktop but still I'm not able to play it on my cell phone. Again, my cell phone only has problems with these mp4 files, but it can play other mp4files. Any other suggestion?

Mobile phones can be a little picky about codecs unfortunately. Grab one or two of the files that work and run FFmpeg across them:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4

and post the terminal output here. Of course replace the name 'input.mp4' with the name of your own file.