Some mpeg2 files run while others do not

[SteveP55419]

DLNA TV: Panasonic P50GT50
ffmpeg build: 5/12/2012
Current Mezzmo v: 4.1.2.0
Mezzmo Device Profile: Panasonic Viera (2012 models)

Hi Gang:

First of all, I love Mezzmo. It does a great job for not much money.

The issue: I ran v. 2.7 for a long time because the newer versions seemed to have problems but I recently upgraded to v. 4.1.2.0 and it works so much better now (buffering is gone) but there is one problem: I converted a bunch of DVDs to mpeg2 on an old Pinnacle editing program and a bunch more on a cheap USB dongle. Until I switched to the new Mezzmo version, all of these files ran but now only the ones I converted using the USB dongle work while the Pinnacle-created files end up looking like static horizontal color bars in my Panasonic DLNA screen. I opened a sample of each type of file in GSpot and am attaching screen shots labeled 'Bad File' and "Good File'. To my untrained eye, they don't look that much different, both have the same codec.

Anyway, I got Handbrake and converted one of the bad files to Mp4 and it works fine but I'm looking down a long road here and I thought I would run this thing past you in case there is some quick and easy tweak I can make to Mezzmo. Thanks. Steve ( :cool: )

760761

[Paul]

Hi Steve,

Please post the FFmpeg information for the MPEG-2 files that work and don't work. Right-click on the video(s) in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'. And, let us know what device profile is assigned to your TV in the Media Devices dialog.

Your FFmpeg build is not the one that ships with Mezzmo v4.1.2.0. Any reason for this? Have you tried the one that we ship? We recommend using it. It's located in the "ffmpeg32" and "ffmpeg64" sub-folders in your Mezzmo program folder. Change it using the Transcoding Settings dialog in Mezzmo.

[SteveP55419]

Hi Paul,

FFMPEG info --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BAD file:

ffmpeg version N-40693-gc457a29 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on May 15 2012 12:57:14 with gcc 4.6.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads
libavutil 51. 51.100 / 51. 51.100
libavcodec 54. 21.101 / 54. 21.101
libavformat 54. 5.100 / 54. 5.100
libavdevice 53. 4.100 / 53. 4.100
libavfilter 2. 73.100 / 2. 73.100
libswscale 2. 1.100 / 2. 1.100
libswresample 0. 11.100 / 0. 11.100
[mpeg @ 002ebfe0] max_analyze_duration 0 reached at 0
Input #0, mpeg, from 'H:\Video\Movies\America\Adventure\Back to the Future\Back to the Future.mpg':
Duration: 01:56:49.73, start: 0.651156, bitrate: 2671 kb/s
Stream #0:0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 480x480 [SAR 4:3 DAR 4:3], 2500 kb/s, 1 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x1c0]: Audio: mp2, 0 channels
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 8, 4
---> Frame rate: 29.97
---> Aspect ratio: 4:3 PAR=4:3
---> Duration: 01:56:49

GOOD File:

ffmpeg version N-40693-gc457a29 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on May 15 2012 12:57:14 with gcc 4.6.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads
libavutil 51. 51.100 / 51. 51.100
libavcodec 54. 21.101 / 54. 21.101
libavformat 54. 5.100 / 54. 5.100
libavdevice 53. 4.100 / 53. 4.100
libavfilter 2. 73.100 / 2. 73.100
libswscale 2. 1.100 / 2. 1.100
libswresample 0. 11.100 / 0. 11.100
[mpeg @ 003fbf80] max_analyze_duration 0 reached at 0
Input #0, mpeg, from 'H:\Video\Movies\America\Coen Brothers\Miller's Crossing.mpg':
Duration: 01:54:24.05, start: 0.213367, bitrate: 4111 kb/s
Stream #0:0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 640x480 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 4000 kb/s, 1 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x1c0]: Audio: mp2, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 64 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 8, 4
---> Frame rate: 29.97
---> Aspect ratio: 4:3 PAR=1:1
---> Duration: 01:54:24

Device Profile -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Panasonic Viera (2012 models)

ffmpeg file ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mezzmo was pointing to that old (2012 build) ffmpeg file after set up so I figured I'd just leave it. But I changed it to that new file you recommended (in the 32-bit folder) and it did not fix anything. I'll restart my computer now and if it then works, I'll post here otherwise thanks for your help and any further ideas you might have. Steve

[Paul]

The BAD file has an audio stream with 0 channels, which is not correct so that could certainly cause problems. Now that you changed Mezzmo to point to the updated ffmpeg.exe, try getting FFmpeg information for the BAD file again. If the audio stream has channels now, then right-click on the BAD file in Mezzmo and click 'Maintain Files'. On the Maintain Files dialog, click the "Update all attributes" radio button and "Update media properties" checkbox. Click Maintain Now and when maintenance has completed, then try streaming the video again.

[SteveP55419]

Hi Paul,

I ran your instructions on a couple of files without success. With the new version of ffmpeg, the properties page did show audio channels ( Stream #0:1[0x1c0]: Audio: mp2, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16p, 224 kb/s ) but it availed nothing. The bad files were compiled using a Pinnacle PCI video capture card with the accompanying Pinnacle software (By the way, a rare Amazon one-star product -- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000B7TF6C/ref=pdp_new_dp_review. ) and most of them had audio sync problems. Although the bad files do run on our D-Link DSM-520, sometimes, in addition to sync, there are audio problems such as extremely low volume. In a nutshell, I think the files themselves -- and not Mezzmo -- need work. Fortunately I didn't throw the disks out. Thanks for your excellent support.

[Paul]

I think you are right - the video files' encoding is the source of the problem.

[SteveP55419]

I thought I would add a footnote here. I decided to do the obvious (always the last, desperate step) and just pre-transcode some of the files that would not run. It turns out that, so far at least, the transcode files are something less than half the size of the original files and they run so it looks like this will be a good, practical solution. I was running v. 2.7 before this and it looks like a whole lot of work was done to Mezzmo between 2.7 and this version. Wonderful software!

[Paul]

Thanks for sharing your solution! Glad you are up and running now :).