Mpeg Player walkthrough please

[jvhc]

Hey,

I've read the wiki page about the mpeg player, and various threads on this forum, but I still don't really understand how to play videos.

I have a gigabeat, and i'm using a pretty recent build.

So, I downloaded WinFF, and installed that fine. I then downloaded a video of youtube using 'kissyoutube'.

http://www.kissyoutube.com/watch?v=vthpdqtOXeM

It downloaded into an .flv file.

I then went on WinFF and added that file and pressed 'convert'. I selected to convert to Rockbox, Toshiba Gigabeat F/X 4.3, and didn't change any other options.

It then came up with an error, saying..

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 1000.00 (1000
/1) -> 25.00 (25/1)
Input #0, flv, from 'C:\Stuff\bif.flv':
  Duration: 00:04:37.68, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 64 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: flv, yuv420p, 320x262, 25.00 tb(r)
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
WARNING: The bitrate parameter is set too low. It takes bits/s as argument, not
kbits/s
Could not open 'C:\Stuff\Vids\bif.mpg'

However, it said 'Could not open 'C:\Stuff\Vids\bif.mpg'', but the file I downloaded was in .flv format.

...Which makes me think that i've missed out a step??

[Llorean]

This is a problem with WinFF, not software we write or provide support for.

You should see if WinFF has help channels (or in this case, probably you'll get redirected to ffmpeg support, which is the program that does the actual conversion).

[jvhc]

Ah right okay. I thought it was something that I missed out.

So basically, all I have to do is download the video from youtube as a .flv file,
then convert it into mpeg? Then it'll play on the mp3 player?

Thanks.

[LambdaCalculus]

That's pretty much it, although I have had better success using VLC to convert FLV files to MPEG2 videos for Rockbox.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

[jvhc]

Okay, tried using VLC, using the info on the wiki.

I downloaded the VCL-transcode.bat file, and drag&dropped a video onto that, but the command prompt just flashed up once and went, and I don't think anything happened.

[Chronon]

Did you install VLC?  The batch file won't do anything unless VLC is installed on your computer.

[jvhc]

Yeah, downloaded VLC, installed it, then downloaded the batch and unzipped it into extensions..

[Chronon]

And the path to VLC at the end of the batch file is correct?

[jvhc]

Oohh okay!

So I think i've edited it so it has the right path...

I've now dragged the video onto the batch file.. Don't think anything's hapenned... The VLC player opened.. and that's about it.

"C:\Stuff\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" %1 --sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=%VIDBR%,width=%WIDTH%,height=%HEIGHT%,acodec=mp3,ab=%AUDBR%,samplerate=44100,audio-sync}:std{access=file,mux=ps,url=%1.mpg}

That's what I have at the bottom, when I went on 'edit' the batch file.



Page stretch, my bad.

[Chronon]

I don't know what the issue is, since it looks like you removed the "vlc:quit" as suggested for such behavior in the batch file.  As with WinFF/ffmpeg, you can take up further issues with the maintainers of the program.

(And I assume that you set the dimensions and video bitrate in the file.)

[cool_walking_]

I've had issues (mostly sync issues, but sometimes the program would flat-out crash) with FLV in all of VLC, mplayer, and ffmpeg.  I think you should try downloading the Youtube video as MP4 instead of FLV.  The MP4 file still needs to be converted, but hopefully WinFF will play nicer with it.

[jvhc]

(And I assume that you set the dimensions and video bitrate in the file.)

No.. How would I go about doing that? Do I change the batch file?

[Chronon]

jvhc: Yes.  Though, the batch file probably has default values in it already.  If that's the case it won't explain VLC exiting instantly.  I don't have any more advice as I am only a casual user of these programs, myself.  You should follow the support channels for these programs if you want to resolve this.  In the meantime, cool_walking_ offered a good workaround for your particular problem here. 

[jvhc]

Ah ha! I found a program called Super, and it is awesome! Reallly easy to use, no errors, worked perfectly.

It looked a bit iffy when I went to the website, (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) probably because the website looks naff. But the program is great!

[cool_walking_]

SUPER is just a frontend to ffmpeg and mencoder.  It's also in our bad books because it violates the GPL.