Conversion settings issues (Input File Mismatch) + Source RE-downloading

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Conversion settings issues (Input File Mismatch) + Source RE-downloading

(5 posts) (3 voices)

Started 7 months ago by boxcarwrapper
Latest reply from Jean

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boxcarwrapper
Member

Hi There, just read the Conversion error post, decided to stop using "Deinterlace".
However, I wanted to use this because I thought that since my video input file was @ 480p, I should de-interlace it. Does this function only apply if the input is already "interlaced"? So it was giving the conversion error b/c there was no matching source data to delinterlace?

Preface to my problems:
Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSOzN0eihsE
(then of course click on full screen in videobox so it senses the higher quality stream).
MacBook Pro Late 2009 15-inch 2.53Ghz C2Duo 4GB Ram, OS 10.6.8 (all patches) + VideoBox 3.7 clean install.
Goal: highest quality output possible that can be shared among iTunes, and iOS devices.

I am extremely disappointed with the output of my file to an .mp4 (using h264) with all the settings set to "match input file"... which as far as I can tell is incorrect! First off I can tell the audio is WAY lower quality (it tries to "match" it with 96kbps. The raw FLash (.flv) conversion I made, I used as a source in HandBrake and it said the file was 160kbps. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, and it's a lot less, but I know it's not 96... Also, the Video itself is coming out with the mpeg4 tag instead of h264 (if you get info from within QuickTime X). what gives? it's ignoring the setting? or is that an incompatible setting? I don't get it. Also it reads in the bit rate as 600 for default. Fine, I guess, and the output is 647 kbps. This file is horribly blocky and not a reasonable representation of the file I wanted at all.

Now if I use the convert to format of FLV and put that on 2-pass, or if I just use RAW SOURCE download, then the files are identical, here is the output:
data rate: 1139.95kbps, H.264(perian), 854x480, millions, AAC... file size is identical.
This video looks great! But... I really want to use devices to be able to run it! Like my friend's iPad, or my iPhone4. Etc, or just store it in my iTunes library and use homesharing. Unfortunately, I can't get my iPhon4 to even COPY the video files over (yes, .mp4 files!). Supposedly files can be of any resolution with iPhone 4 and iPad and at least up to 3mbps... is this not the case? But if I try to use the iPod - iPhone profile then make the settings 2-pass, I get a conversion error again, even though I leave the resolution scaled down to 480x320! The problem seems to be that for some reason the codec is reverting to mpeg4 even though it says h264 on a lot of my attempted conversions... don't know why this is... i wasn't aware of a max resolution or bit rate (that could be achieved in Videobox at least) for the h264 codec. Am I mistaken?
**
EDIT:: it seems that if the "2-pass" box is checked then it reverts to MPEG-4 instead of h264, even though it still says h264... is this intentional? a bug? However it would seem this accounts for why the syncing was failing in iTunes (b/c it won't take it if it's not in h264!!!)
**

I can get good looking .movs and .mp4s with them on highest settings (leaving alone resolution to match the source), with only 5MB of overhead on files size (and I think the video probably looks 90-95% the same, I think diagonals/close-ups that aren't the best in the source are a tiny bit worse in these outputs.

Finally: WHY does it have to RE-download the file EVERY time I want to make a new conversion with different settings... It saves the file in ~/Library/Application Support/Videobox... can't it at LEAST save it until the program quits? Shoot, I'd like it to keep working with the same DL as long as I keep it in my queue!

Posted 7 months ago #
Jean
Key Master

Wow - that's a lot of info and problems...

First, let me say it again: we are not, by any stretch of the imagination, video experts. We designed an application that could grab videos automatically, and then use ffmpeg to convert them. A lot of settings like deinterlace and 2-pass conversion are advanced settings that, in my opinion, shouldn't be there. But they were put in there in v1, and have been kept around for historical reasons. I do not know when a good case would be to use any of these two settings: so I always recommend turning them off. If anyone knows when they should be used, please let us know.

That being said, the 2-pass conversion, as far as I know, should not switch codecs on teh second pass -but I might be wrong. Again, all we do here is pass the info to ffmpeg, and it does it's thing. So if that's what happens, I would think it's a ffmpeg issue (or feature).

The best quality you can get, always, is to use "Use Input file's" for all settings. However, converting will cause, well, a conversion - so ffmpeg will use some default settings in those cases. The good news here is, HD videos on YouTube are already mp4 - so all you need to do is use the "Download only" output format, and you'll get the original mp4 file - can't get better quality than this. I suspect right now you are forcing a conversion from mp4 to mp4 - and again, ffmpeg will then use some defualt settings and actually convert the file. And that is, believe it or not, a feature, as you *might* want to convert a mp4 to a mp4 - to reduce it's size or whatever. So the "Download only" is probably your best bet in this case.

As for re-downloading every time, indeed, we are aware of this and are working on a fix.

Thanks!

Posted 7 months ago #
boxcarwrapper
Member

Ah, I see what you're saying, I think, about HD vids on youtube... even though it says ".flv" when I say "Download Only", yes, the codec says h264. However, what is the next course of action to put the file on my iOS device? I am pretty sure it won't sync a .flv. (not trying to be a smart-azz, just wondering if you have a suggestion, other than what I'm doing which is putting it at the highest quality possible h264/mp4 format). And yes, I def agree with you that having the original file is very useful, b/c then you can do whatever you want with it later (just not sure I have enough space to start keeping 2 copies of everything!). And yes, I was aware of and do consider it a "feature" of the program, as well as being able to drop off my own files in there and start converting away!

One last thing: what do you make of the sound bitrate being read in wrong? Why does it come out at 96, when very clearly it's much higher? It just means I use a higher setting, but using the "input file" matching clearly has a problem here, I mean anyone can run that test and see that the audio is way better in the source than 96. (You can see above that I had video issues with this too...). So I guess the issue is with ffmpg if that's what is doing the "matching" suggestions? Sorry still not clear on this point, is this what you're saying, or are you just saying that ffmpg chooses its own settings, not necessarily attempting to match the source file's? At least the useful part of it is getting the true resolution of the source, which is GREAT!

Right, so what I've learned in playing with just two vids, one of them was what I gave in the previous post, the other was the same format/channel, etc., is that indeed, clicking "2-pass" has some fidgety behavior, and it would seem that just setting things to "High Quality" is all you need to do to get good results. Well, I gave you the link, and you can verify the behavior I described above, which is: in SOME cases, selecting "2-pass" causes that posted source video to come out in MPEG-4 instead of h264.

Thanks again Jean!
And, btw, I love the product, and as a user I have no qualms with you not being video experts, please don't think I'm attacking, and there's no need to defend yourself, just looking for information.

Posted 7 months ago #
adelaide887
Member

That being said, the 2-pass conversion,iPhone 4s Case, as far as I know, should not switch codecs on teh second pass -but I might be wrong. Again, all we do here is pass the info to ffmpeg, and it does it's thing,ipad 2 case. So if that's what happens, I would think it's a ffmpeg issue (or feature). And yes, I def agree with you that having the original file is very useful, b/c then you can do whatever you want with it later (just not sure I have enough space to start keeping 2 copies of everything!). And yes, I was aware of and do consider it a "feature" of the program, as well as being able to drop off my own files in there and start converting away!

Posted 7 months ago #
Jean
Key Master

Hi!

Sure - all good: wasn't defending myself, just saying you need to take my ideas/suggestions with a grain of salt... ; )

So, if you truly have the HD version of a YouTube video in the Videobox queue, "Download only" will output a mp4 file - not a flv one. The difficulty is in getting the HD version: I suspect you are queuing the non-HD version. When you use the Safari button, or drag and drop, Videobox will reload the page internally - so it will see the default resolution, not necessarily the one you were watching. So what you need to do is open-up the mini-browser, load the YouTube page in there and switch to HD *in there* - that should queue-up one or more versions of the video in the queue (depending if the lower rez had time to load). You can spot the HD one by file size. So download that one, and I guarantee it will produce a mp4 file that you can then safely load to your iOS device.

As for audio bit rate - it might be a bug, we will have to check that out.

Thanks!

Posted 7 months ago #

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