16 replies to this topic

[rgr]

This is the list of things I've been able to do to get this to work:

1) download virtualbox (from virtualbox.org)
2) download ubuntu 10.10 for virtualbox (from virtualboxes.org)
3) run ubuntu in a VM on the mac
4) install wine on ubuntu (sudo apt-get install wine)
5) download a windows based transcoder (I used AnyVideo as recommended by Skratchmasta) available here http://download.cnet...4-10661456.html
6) use wine to run the windows transcoder (I'm actually using mencoder from the AnyVideo download -- AnyVideo itself is not fully wine compatible) and transcode to a .wmv file

NB: there are many ways to do this, but I'm using:

wine ./mencoder.exe sourcefile.mov -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vbitrate=3000000 -o foo.wmv

which generates a wmv file called foo.wmv from sourcefile.mov, which will then be playable in a prim (but will not contain sound, which I couldn't get to work so I just disabled it).

It would be really great though if we could actually play videos we could create natively on a mac. I don't understand why MS can't do this. Decoding is typically much more liberally licensed than encoding, and they are already using one of the most restricted encodings available (albeit a nearly ubiquitous one). It would be great if, say, any h.264 encoded avi or mov file could be played, or even an mp4 file (which should always be mpeg4 encoded in an mp4 container). These are all becoming very much more available than wmv's even are.

[rgr]

This is the list of things I've been able to do to get this to work:

1) download virtualbox (from virtualbox.org)
2) download ubuntu 10.10 for virtualbox (from virtualboxes.org)
3) run ubuntu in a VM on the mac
4) install wine on ubuntu (sudo apt-get install wine)
5) download a windows based transcoder (I used AnyVideo as recommended by Skratchmasta) available here http://download.cnet...4-10661456.html
6) use wine to run the windows transcoder (I'm actually using mencoder from the AnyVideo download -- AnyVideo itself is not fully wine compatible) and transcode to a .wmv file

NB: there are many ways to do this, but I'm using:

wine ./mencoder.exe sourcefile.mov -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vbitrate=3000000 -o foo.wmv

which generates a wmv file called foo.wmv from sourcefile.mov, which will then be playable in a prim (but will not contain sound, which I couldn't get to work so I just disabled it).

It would be really great though if we could actually play videos we could create natively on a mac. I don't understand why MS can't do this. Decoding is typically much more liberally licensed than encoding, and they are already using one of the most restricted encodings available (albeit a nearly ubiquitous one). It would be great if, say, any h.264 encoded avi or mov file could be played, or even an mp4 file (which should always be mpeg4 encoded in an mp4 container). These are all becoming very much more available than wmv's even are.

This procedure was a bit ridiculous to begin with, and now no longer works (or maybe it only works under certain circumstances).

I'm back to not being able to produce video that I can play back on a prim. I'm sure this must be possible, because Moviestorm is just using ffmpeg to encode the video in the first place, and that plays back on a prim. Can anybody at Moviestorm help out here? Can somebody there try to create video -- i.e. import a Moviestorm video into iMovie, add some effects, then render the film as a quicktime video -- and get it to play insode a prim in Moviestorm? If you can do that, I will be very interested in knowing how. If you can't, I'd be very interested in helping to find out why so we can get it to work.

I'm not actually using iMovie, but I think that should suffice to reproduce my problem.

Thanks in advance,

rgr

[rgr]

updated the subject to see if this gets any response

[Ben_S]

I tried using a mac for a while yesterday. The mouse acceleration curve makes doing anything deeply frustrating, and the combination of the crappy mouse and it being a laptop mean I cant use it for more than about 30 min at a time.
The one video encoder I tried using seemed to be at best semi functional - it's user interface failed to update when I tried to change any of the parameters for the encoding (including the output filename and file type).
If I have another go, it will be with a different encoder.

Ironically, iMovie doesnt import avi's, so I was unable to produce any output from it as a starting point.
It wasnt the most successful of 1/2 hours.

EDIT: Having talked to Dave (our lead engineer and the person in the office who uses a mac regularly), the sugestions are:
Wait till he sorts out codecs (might be a long wait though).
Experiment with mac video converters based on ffmpeg. The codec being used is an ffmpeg version of mpeg 4v2.
My list of things to try would thus include:
http://ffmpegx.en.softonic.com/mac
http://www.macupdate...video-converter

[ArthurVKuhrmeier]

Hi rgr,

maybe I can help out. I've been working with Mac for years -- and only Mac. I've never tried to import a movie into Moviestorm, but if you tell me exactly what you need, I can try to export a movie.

Which compression for video, which for audio, and which container (avi, wmv, etc.)? Give as many details as possible.

[Ben_S]

For putting video on props, I believe you need an avi with video that is mpeg 4 layer 2, and I dont think audio is required (as no audio is played back even if there is some in the video file).

At the moment, video outputted directly from Moviestorm will play, and very little else will. So from that point of view, if you can examine one of the output videos and any of the other details that I'm not aware of, that might provide clues.

[rgr]

Hi rgr,

maybe I can help out. I've been working with Mac for years -- and only Mac. I've never tried to import a movie into Moviestorm, but if you tell me exactly what you need, I can try to export a movie.

Which compression for video, which for audio, and which container (avi, wmv, etc.)? Give as many details as possible.

Thanks Arthur. I think for me, I have no preferences as to how this gets done, so any compression for video would do, any or no audio, and any container (though I believe it needs to be an avi).

There are several threads about this already, this one being a recent thread I was on:

http://www.moviestor...p...c=10393&hl=

Any help would be appreciated. As I said earlier, Moviestorm uses ffmpeg to output proper MSmpeg4v2 in an avi container on a mac, so the theory is that so can anybody else. In practice, not so much.

Ben: waiting for the codecs to get sorted out is always an option but I'll also look to solve this problem for each film I need use this approach. I can use green screens, but it limits the camera angles I can use for such shots. Not a big deal in the end though.

rgr

[ArthurVKuhrmeier]

Don't worry, rgr, I figured it out already.

Here's how to convert a video so you can import it in Moviestorm, e.g. to let it run on a flat TV.

You need to download ffmpegX here!. Start the app. It will tell you to download 3 more components. Simply follow the instructions on ffmpegX's homepage.

1. Now you are ready to go. Drag you source video on the "From" box in the "Source format" box in the "Summary" tab.

2. Now click the "Video" Tab. Make sure "Encode Video" is ticked. Choose the "MsMPEG4v2" Video Coded:

The bitrate you need depends on the size of your movie, and the framerate. Select your output size and the framerate first. Then click in the "Video Bitrate" box, enter a value, and press [TAB]. The color of the value may change: If the value is RED it is too low. If it is GREEN, it's perfect. If it is BLUE, it's too high.

3. Now click the "Audio" tab. You actually NEED an audio track, even if it's not used in Moviestorm. When I ran my test, a video without audio track didn't playback.

I tried the ".MP3" Audio Codec, and it worked fine. As you don't need the audio, it doesn't matter anyway. Make sure "Encode Audio" is ticked.

4. Finally click "Encode" and your movie will be saved as an avi video file that Moviestorm can read.

To proof that it worked, I converted my opening logo which was mp4 to avi and imported it into Moviestorm. Here is the result.

Now, rgr, it's your turn. Try it out. If you have any questions, come back, and leave a post.

Love and success,
Arthur

[peet]

Don't worry, rgr, I figured it out already.

Here's how to convert a video so you can import it in Moviestorm, e.g. to let it run on a flat TV.

You need to download ffmpegX here!. Start the app. It will tell you to download 3 more components. Simply follow the instructions on ffmpegX's homepage.

1. Now you are ready to go. Drag you source video on the "From" box in the "Source format" box in the "Summary" tab.

2. Now click the "Video" Tab. Make sure "Encode Video" is ticked. Choose the "MsMPEG4v2" Video Coded:

The bitrate you need depends on the size of your movie, and the framerate. Select your output size and the framerate first. Then click in the "Video Bitrate" box, enter a value, and press [TAB]. The color of the value may change: If the value is RED it is too low. If it is GREEN, it's perfect. If it is BLUE, it's too high.

3. Now click the "Audio" tab. You actually NEED an audio track, even if it's not used in Moviestorm. When I ran my test, a video without audio track didn't playback.

I tried the ".MP3" Audio Codec, and it worked fine. As you don't need the audio, it doesn't matter anyway. Make sure "Encode Audio" is ticked.

4. Finally click "Encode" and your movie will be saved as an avi video file that Moviestorm can read.

To proof that it worked, I converted my opening logo which was mp4 to avi and imported it into Moviestorm. Here is the result.

Now, rgr, it's your turn. Try it out. If you have any questions, come back, and leave a post.

Love and success,
Arthur

I did this. Imported the converted video into Moviestorm and ended up w/a still image on the prim, not a video.

[ArthurVKuhrmeier]

Hi peet,

when I tested it, the only movies that appeared as a still image had no audio, or the wrong encoding. To make sure, just check:

Did you choose the video in Director's View? (I don't know if you can set a video in Workshop View.)
Do you have Perian installed on your Mac?
Make sure you have "MsMPEG4v2" to encode the video, NOT "MsMPEG4v1"!
Did you encoded the audio with mp3? (I only tested mp3, and it worked.)

If you still have trouble, send me your avi video file, and I can have a look at it.

[peet]

Hi peet,

when I tested it, the only movies that appeared as a still image had no audio, or the wrong encoding. To make sure, just check:

Did you choose the video in Director's View? (I don't know if you can set a video in Workshop View.)
Do you have Perian installed on your Mac?
Make sure you have "MsMPEG4v2" to encode the video, NOT "MsMPEG4v1"!
Did you encoded the audio with mp3? (I only tested mp3, and it worked.)

If you still have trouble, send me your avi video file, and I can have a look at it.

[peet]

I installed Perian, encoded an mov file to msmpeg4v2 and added an audio file and encoded it mp3. Still no video ...just a still pic on prim.

I get this error when trying to attach the video to this post:
Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file

[ArthurVKuhrmeier]

Meanwhile peet has sent me his video vie e-mail.

The problem was, that ffmpegX stopped encoding due to a (probably) corrupt audio track. The only way I could ffmpegX make convert the video was to import it in iMovie, make a project with just that clip, export it, and now conversion worked.

I just checked the different video files and found something very interesting:
The original video has the audio track first, then the video track second, which is unusual. These files failed.
The export from iMovie has video track first, audio track second. That's how it should be. These files work well with ffmpwegX.

However, we are glad we finally found a solution.

[peet]

Meanwhile peet has sent me his video vie e-mail.

The problem was, that ffmpegX stopped encoding due to a (probably) corrupt audio track. The only way I could ffmpegX make convert the video was to import it in iMovie, make a project with just that clip, export it, and now conversion worked.

I just checked the different video files and found something very interesting:
The original video has the audio track first, then the video track second, which is unusual. These files failed.
The export from iMovie has video track first, audio track second. That's how it should be. These files work well with ffmpwegX.

However, we are glad we finally found a solution.

Combine the video and audio in iMovie, export it as a movie, convert w/ffmpeg, import into Moviestorm.

[rgr]

Don't worry, rgr, I figured it out already.

Here's how to convert a video so you can import it in Moviestorm, e.g. to let it run on a flat TV.

You need to download ffmpegX here!. Start the app. It will tell you to download 3 more components. Simply follow the instructions on ffmpegX's homepage.

1. Now you are ready to go. Drag you source video on the "From" box in the "Source format" box in the "Summary" tab.

2. Now click the "Video" Tab. Make sure "Encode Video" is ticked. Choose the "MsMPEG4v2" Video Coded:

The bitrate you need depends on the size of your movie, and the framerate. Select your output size and the framerate first. Then click in the "Video Bitrate" box, enter a value, and press [TAB]. The color of the value may change: If the value is RED it is too low. If it is GREEN, it's perfect. If it is BLUE, it's too high.

3. Now click the "Audio" tab. You actually NEED an audio track, even if it's not used in Moviestorm. When I ran my test, a video without audio track didn't playback.

I tried the ".MP3" Audio Codec, and it worked fine. As you don't need the audio, it doesn't matter anyway. Make sure "Encode Audio" is ticked.

4. Finally click "Encode" and your movie will be saved as an avi video file that Moviestorm can read.

To proof that it worked, I converted my opening logo which was mp4 to avi and imported it into Moviestorm. Here is the result.

Now, rgr, it's your turn. Try it out. If you have any questions, come back, and leave a post.

Love and success,
Arthur

I could swear I tried this, but for some reason it didn't work. I obviously didn't do all the steps correctly, because this time it worked perfectly. One question though -- ffmpegX seems to forget where mencoder, mplayer, and mpeg2enc live every time I start it. Is there anyway to get it to remember those?

My thanks for sorting this out!

rgr

[ArthurVKuhrmeier]

Hi rgr,

I'm glad you made it work! I didn't have the problem you described. I'm sorry I can't help you with this. But I suggest you check out ffmpegX's website for help. They also have a forum. I'm sure someone there can help you.

Keep on moviestorming...
Arthur

[peet]

Combine the video and audio in iMovie, export it as a movie, convert w/ffmpeg, import into Moviestorm.

I had to take the extra step of adding audio to the video since Moviestorm will only play videos with an audio track. Combining the two in, and then exporting from FCP didn't work-only iMovie yielded the export capable of being converted in ffmpeg.