Won’t transcode movie

[Anonymous]

I’m trying to get iTunes to play my AVI files. Looking through the documentation, this forum and the comments in the config file, I concluded that this should be possible by transcoding the AVI…

web_root = /usr/share/mt-daapd/admin-root

port = 3689

admin_pw = 

db_type = sqlite3

db_parms = /var/cache/mt-daapd

mp3_dir = /share/Music/,/share/Movies/,/share/TV_Series/

servername = iTunes on %h

runas = mt-daapd

extensions = .mp3,.MP3,.ogg,.flac,.mov,.m4v,.avi,.wav,.mp4

ssc_codectypes = avi,ogg

ssc_prog = /usr/local/bin/mt-daapd-ssc.pl

logfile = /var/log/mt-daapd.log

scan_type = 2

plugin_dir = /usr/lib/mt-daapd/plugins

plugins = rsp.so,ssc-ffmpeg.so,ssc-script.so

Rebuilding the DB and connect with iTunes 7.5 on my MacOSX 10.4.11, I can find my movies.
Trying to play one of the AVI’s gives (in firefly debug log (-d9)):

Entering config_set_status

Exiting config_set_status

Session 0: Streaming file 'Filename.avi' to 192.168.1.1 (offset 0)

Write error: Broken pipe

Finished streaming file to remote: 274432 bytes

Entering config_set_status

Exiting config_set_status

Executing: update songs set play_count=play_count + 1, time_played=1196428118 where id=1493

Rows: 1

Thread 0: Terminating

Thread 0: Freeing request headers

Thread 0: Freeing response headers

Thread 0: Freeing request vars

Thread 0: Closing fd

With thread 0 exiting, 0 are still running

File shows:

Filename.avi: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 640 x 240, 25.00 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)

Transcoding it manually (with ffmpeg) to a MOV with extension .m4v works like a charm (sound and picture).

The bad thing is that it don’t seem to call the ssc_prog script (it works like a charm in the shell). And the Write error: Broken pipe is also a little worrying…
In no attempts, I’ve been able to get the ssc_prog script called. I’ve manually transcoded the file into a number of different formats with a number of different prefixes:

Filename (avi-avi).avi: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 640 x 240, 25.00 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)

Filename (avi-m4v).m4v: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 640 x 240, 25.00 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)

Filename (m4v-m4v).m4v: MPEG sequence, v4, video, simple @ L1

Filename (mov-m4v).m4v: ISO Media, Apple QuickTime movie

Filename (mov-mov).mov: ISO Media, Apple QuickTime movie

Filename (mpg-mp4).mp4: ISO Media, MPEG v4 system, version 1

Filename (ogg-m4v).m4v: Ogg data, Vorbis audio, stereo, 48000 Hz, ~64000 bps, created by: Xiph.Org libVorbis I

Filename (ogg-ogg).ogg: Ogg data, Vorbis audio, stereo, 48000 Hz, ~64000 bps, created by: Xiph.Org libVorbis I

Filename (wav-m4v).m4v: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 16 bit, stereo 48000 Hz

Filename (wav-wav).wav: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 16 bit, stereo 48000 Hz

The first part (in the example mov-m4v) is the actual file format and the second the extension for this specific file (so that I know which file is which when I also try in XBMC).

[Anonymous]

@turbo wrote:

I’m trying to get iTunes to play my AVI files.

Adding some debugging to plugin.c reveals that pi_ssc_should_transcode() get’s an unknown (unkn) codec for the AVI file, hence returns FALSE (don’t transcode)…

[Anonymous]

Querying the DB directly shows:

sqlite> select id,path,codectype from songs where path like '%Filename%' and codectype='unkn';

1490|/share/Movies/Filename.avi|unkn

1492|/share/Movies/tmp/Filename (mov-mov).mov|unkn

1493|/share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-avi).avi|unkn

Changing the unkn with avi works. Kinda… iTunes won’t start the playback.

I added the undocumented option always_transcode = avi and then pi_ssc_should_transcode() returns TRUE.

New log:

....

Entering config_set_status

Exiting config_set_status

Session 0: Streaming file 'Filename (avi-avi).avi' to 192.168.1.1 (offset 0)

Transcoding /share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-avi).avi with ssc-script/svn-1586

Executing /usr/local/bin/mt-daapd-ssc.pl "/share/Movies/tmp/Filename "'('"avi-avi"')'".avi" 0 600.000 "avi"

Updating Content-Type from application/x-dmap-tagged to audio/wav

Updating Connection from close to Close

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Entering ws_emitheaders

Emitting reponse header Expires: -1

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Cache-Control: no-cache

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header DAAP-Server: firefly/svn-1586

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Accept-Ranges: bytes

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Content-Language: en_us

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Content-Type: audio/wav

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Server: mt-daapd/svn-1586

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Connection: Close

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Emitting reponse header Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:58:45 GMT

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Entering ws_writefd

Exiting ws_writefd

Exitin ws_emitheaders

FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard

configuration:  --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-pthreads --enable-vorbis --enable-libogg --enable-a52 --enable-dts --enable-libgsm --enable-dc1394 --disable-debug --enable-mp3lame --enable-faadbin --enable-faad --enable-faac --enable-xvid --enable-shared --prefix=/usr

libavutil version: 0d.49.0.0

libavcodec version: 0d.51.11.0

libavformat version: 0d.50.5.0

built on Nov 29 2007 07:09:53, gcc: 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-21)

Input #0, avi, from '/share/Movies/tmp/The Kingdom (avi-avi).avi':

Duration: 01:43:19.4, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 946 kb/s

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x240, 25.00 fps(r)

Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 112 kb/s

Output #0, wav, to 'pipe:':

Stream #0.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s

Stream mapping:

Stream #0.1 -> #0.0

Press [q] to stop encoding

Write failed.

....

The first problem (not considering that iTunes doesn’t play anything) is that there’s only one output stream (the video) – the audio stream is missing. WAV problem?

[Anonymous]

Oki, for some reason it now works (I’ve restarted the server, that’s the only thing I know I did). Works in the way that I hear the sound, but don’t see the video…

This is true both in the .avi and the AVI file with .m4v extension (I set all .m4v files to avi in the DB). For some reason, there’s now (?) no video stream in the output:

Input #0, avi, from '/share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-avi).avi':

Duration: 01:43:19.4, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 946 kb/s

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x240, 25.00 fps(r)

Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 112 kb/s

Output #0, wav, to 'pipe:':

Stream #0.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s

Stream mapping:

Stream #0.1 -> #0.0

When playing Filename (avi-m4v).m4v mplayer is run like this:

mplayer -quiet -really-quiet -vo null -nomouseinput -nojoystick -nolirc -noconsolecontrols -nortc -ao pcm:file=/tmp/t-967.wav /share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-m4v).m4v

and there’s still no video. When playing the Filename (avi-avi).avi the script is using ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -vn -i /share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-avi).avi -f wav -

In both cases, iTunes Get Info say that it’s a WAV audio file. On the .avi file, the Video tab is grayed out.

Hacking the script to call ffmpeg for .m4v files don’t help either. Only one (audio) stream as above…

So… Conclution: If we can get ffmpeg/mplayer (or perhaps mencoder?) to write a WAV stream with both audio and audio, perhaps we can get this working… ?
It would however be nice if FireFly could ‘fake’ the extension (show .avi files as .m4v or whatever) so I don’t have to rename all my files… AVI files don’t show up as video files in iTunes, hence the ‘fake’…

[rpedde]

@turbo wrote:

Oki, for some reason it now works (I’ve restarted the server, that’s the only thing I know I did). Works in the way that I hear the sound, but don’t see the video…

This is true both in the .avi and the AVI file with .m4v extension (I set all .m4v files to avi in the DB). For some reason, there’s now (?) no video stream in the output:

Try updating the file in the db so that has_video is 1.

— Ron

[Anonymous]

@rpedde wrote:

Try updating the file in the db so that has_video is 1.

Tried that, didn’t work. Can’t even get ffmpeg to include the video if I run it manually in the shell

[celia.pts/5]$ ffmpeg -y -i "/share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-avi).avi" -f wav /tmp/y

FFmpeg version SVN-r11114, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-liba52 --enable-libgsm --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-libdc1394 --disable-debug --enable-shared --prefix=/usr

libavutil version: 49.5.0

libavcodec version: 51.48.0

libavformat version: 52.1.0

built on Nov 30 2007 22:29:07, gcc: 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-21)

Input #0, avi, from '/share/Movies/tmp/Filename (avi-avi).avi':

Duration: 01:43:19.4, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 946 kb/s

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 640x240 [PAR 1:1 DAR 8:3], 25.00 tb(r)

Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 112 kb/s

Output #0, wav, to '/tmp/y':

Stream #0.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s

Stream mapping:

Stream #0.1 -> #0.0

Press [q] to stop encoding

This is latest SVN version of ffmpeg built this weekend.

I’ve also tried to transcode it to MOV and ASF (with following params: ‘-vcodec msmpeg4 -acodec libmp3lame’). But in both cases, iTunes ‘hangs up’ for some reason (because it doesn’t understand the format?).

I’m starting to wonder if it’s something wrong with my ffmpeg installation. I’ve been fiddeling with this all weekend, hacking the script and ssc-ffmpeg.so etc, but I just can’t get it to include the video. I’ve asked on the ffmpeg list, but so far no answer.

[Anonymous]

@turbo wrote:

I’m starting to wonder if it’s something wrong with my ffmpeg installation. I’ve been fiddeling with this all weekend, hacking the script and ssc-ffmpeg.so etc, but I just can’t get it to include the video. I’ve asked on the ffmpeg list, but so far no answer.

Just got it verified – I have not been doing something wrong. WAV is a sound format only, so no wonder that the video is filtered out…

But why is iTunes ‘hanging up’ the connection if I send it a MOV, MP4, ASF or MPEG stream!? It receives 45×4096 bytes, and then I get Broken pipe…

[rpedde]

@turbo wrote:

@turbo wrote:

I’m starting to wonder if it’s something wrong with my ffmpeg installation. I’ve been fiddeling with this all weekend, hacking the script and ssc-ffmpeg.so etc, but I just can’t get it to include the video. I’ve asked on the ffmpeg list, but so far no answer.

Just got it verified – I have not been doing something wrong. WAV is a sound format only, so no wonder that the video is filtered out…

But why is iTunes ‘hanging up’ the connection if I send it a MOV, MP4, ASF or MPEG stream!? It receives 45×4096 bytes, and then I get Broken pipe…

if you didn’t care about transcoding audio, you could change ff-plugins.c to change the content-type from audio/wav to video/mpeg. that might do it.

As far as itunes closing the connection, it does that when it doesn’t understand the header that it received, or it isn’t a streamable format (either because the qt component won’t work with a streaming file, or because the m4v/mov/mp4 metadata isn’t optimized for fast-start).

[Anonymous]

@rpedde wrote:

If you didn’t care about transcoding audio, you could change ff-plugins.c to change the content-type from audio/wav to video/mpeg. that might do it.

Did that a couple of days ago, didn’t work either. @rpedde wrote:

As far as itunes closing the connection, it does that when it doesn’t understand the header that it received, or it isn’t a streamable format (either because the qt component won’t work with a streaming file, or because the m4v/mov/mp4 metadata isn’t optimized for fast-start).

I’m trying to figure out how to do this now. Seems I can’t use ffmpeg because that will require me to use qt-faststart to – leading to a to long delay – ~38 minutes to convert it to a MOV then an additional ~38 minutes to fix the header with qt-faststart.

[rpedde]

@turbo wrote:

@rpedde wrote:

If you didn’t care about transcoding audio, you could change ff-plugins.c to change the content-type from audio/wav to video/mpeg. that might do it.

Did that a couple of days ago, didn’t work either. @rpedde wrote:

As far as itunes closing the connection, it does that when it doesn’t understand the header that it received, or it isn’t a streamable format (either because the qt component won’t work with a streaming file, or because the m4v/mov/mp4 metadata isn’t optimized for fast-start).

I’m trying to figure out how to do this now. Seems I can’t use ffmpeg because that will require me to use qt-faststart to – leading to a to long delay – ~38 minutes to convert it to a MOV then an additional ~38 minutes to fix the header with qt-faststart.

Which I think is probably par for the course on any converter. Until it’s done transcoding, it doesn’t know for sure exactly how many frames there will be, or what the ultimate file size is going to be in bytes. I think you’ll end up having to write something like wavstreamer only for aac — something to dummy up the headers with “best guess” info based on bitrate or file duration and manually wrap the data.

— Ron

[Author]

Posts