Videora 2.06 files not syncing to iPod.

[MrZebra]

As I mentionned in the Speed Diff between 2.05 and 2.06 thread, the files I made with 2.06 won't sync to my iPod whereas the ones did in 2.05 sync without a problem. I figured I should start a new thread since the old thread was more about the speed issue and did not want to derive it into a different problem.

Here's a concole log dump of running a very short test video (A Dolby Digital Intro) maybe someone can tell me where I've gone wrong in my Profile settings.

I've tried changing the Level to 3 and the console log shows the same thing, only difference is the time it takes to encode.

------------- Begin Log ---------------

EXEC: E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\MediaInfo\mediainfobatch.bat "E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\MediaInfo\MediaInfo.exe" "E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\MediaInfo\parameters.txt" "E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.VOB"

PlayTime=00:00:34.001

Width=720

Height=480

AspectRatio=1.778

FrameRate=29.970
MediaInfo Command line, MediaInfoLib - v0.7.4.5
MSG - Converter - Version: 2.06
MSG - Converter - Profile: _H264 640x352 768+128k 300%
MSG - MediaInfo - Length: 34s
MSG - MediaInfo - Width: 720 pixels
MSG - MediaInfo - Height: 480 pixels
MSG - MediaInfo - Aspect Ratio: 1.778
MSG - MediaInfo - Framerate: 29.97 fps
MSG - Converter - Automatically Generating Framerate
EXEC: E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\FFmpeg\ffmpeg.exe -y -i "E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.VOB" -an -pass 1 -f mp4 -title "Dolby Digital - City" -timestamp "2007-03-07 10:21:10" -vcodec h264 -s 640x360 -r 30000/1001 -b 768k -bt 768k -flags +loop -cmp +chroma -partitions 0 -me umh -subq 1 -trellis 0 -refs 1 -coder 0 -me_range 16 -g 250 -keyint_min 25 -sc_threshold 40 -i_qfactor 0.71 -maxrate 768k -bufsize 2M -rc_eq "blurCplx^(1-qComp)" -qcomp 0.6 -qmin 10 -qmax 51 -qdiff 4 -level 13 "E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.mp4"

FFmpeg version SVN-r8047, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-pthreads --enable-liba52 --enable-avisynth --enable-libdts --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libnut --enable-libogg --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-x264 --enable-xvid --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --cpu=i686 --enable-memalign-hack --extra-ldflags=-static
libavutil version: 49.3.0
libavcodec version: 51.34.0
libavformat version: 51.10.0
built on Feb 21 2007 23:20:24, gcc: 4.3.0 20070126 (experimental)
Input #0, mpeg, from 'E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.VOB':
Duration: 00:00:33.9, start: 0.060000, bitrate: 6580 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x480, 6000 kb/s, 29.97 fps(r)
Stream #0.1[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5 channels, 448 kb/s
Output #0, mp4, to 'E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.mp4':
Stream #0.0: Video: h264, yuv420p, 640x360, q=10-51, pass 1, 768 kb/s, 29.97 fps(c)
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[h264 @ 009C3820]width or height not divisible by 16 (640x360), compression will suffer.
[h264 @ 009C3820]using SAR=4/3
[h264 @ 009C3820]frame MB size (40x23) > level limit (396)
[h264 @ 009C3820]MB rate (27572) > level limit (11880)
[h264 @ 009C3820]using cpu capabilities MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 3DNow!
Press [q] to stop encoding
frame= 29 q=10.0 size= 1kB time=1.0 bitrate= 9.4kbits/s
frame= 42 q=27.0 size= 201kB time=1.4 bitrate=1174.1kbits/s
[...]

------------- End Log ---------------

This is the beginning of a 2-Pass encoding log stopped right at the beginning. If you need the output of the 2nd pass, I can provide it.

Also I am forcing the resolution in all my profiles to either 640x480 (Non-Anamorphic DVD) or 640x352 (Anamorphic DVD) so that the image is not disproportioned.

[Sketch]

Well the converter is trying to output the video at 640x360, which IIRC is frowned upon by H.264. Is auto-resize turned on, perchance?
[h264 @ 009C3820]width or height not divisible by 16 (640x360), compression will suffer.

The other thing I notice here is that you have no audio output listed. Are you getting sound when you play the output file in Quicktime/iTunes?

[MrZebra]

Well the converter is trying to output the video at 640x360, which IIRC is frowned upon by H.264. Is auto-resize turned on, perchance?

No, I turn off AutoResize, because whenever I turn autoresize on, all vids end up in 720x480 and are distorted. I could have sworn that the resolution drop-downs did not let me write the resolution I want and that 352 was not a choice for height so 360 was the closest. Just went into my profile settings and I was able to manually set it to 352. Ran the encode, did not any Not devided by 16 warning... As for the iPod... Let me check... Nope, still did not sync. Will try with level 3... It still looks like it will take 8 times the length of the movie instead of 3 but will it snyc to the iPod... No. Ok, I will post the console log with those last settings I tried.

The other thing I notice here is that you have no audio output listed. Are you getting sound when you play the output file in Quicktime/iTunes?

That's because I use 2-Pass encoding, and the 1st pass just ignores the sound, sound related flags are passed properly on the 2nd Pass. Noticed that when I was troubleshooting the Volume Boost bug from 2.05

New console log with res at 640x352 and chose Level 3 from the dropdown (Which took 8x the length of the movie to encode)

-------------
EXEC: E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\MediaInfo\mediainfobatch.bat "E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\MediaInfo\MediaInfo.exe" "E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\MediaInfo\parameters.txt" "E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.VOB"

PlayTime=00:00:34.001

Width=720

Height=480

AspectRatio=1.778

FrameRate=29.970
MediaInfo Command line, MediaInfoLib - v0.7.4.5
MSG - Converter - Version: 2.06
MSG - Converter - Profile: _H264 640x352 768+128k 300%
MSG - MediaInfo - Length: 34s
MSG - MediaInfo - Width: 720 pixels
MSG - MediaInfo - Height: 480 pixels
MSG - MediaInfo - Aspect Ratio: 1.778
MSG - MediaInfo - Framerate: 29.97 fps
MSG - Converter - Automatically Generating Framerate
EXEC: E:\Program Files\Red Kawa\Video Converter\Tools\FFmpeg\ffmpeg.exe -y -i "E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.VOB" -an -pass 1 -f mp4 -title "Dolby Digital - City" -timestamp "2007-03-08 06:11:14" -vcodec h264 -s 640x352 -r 30000/1001 -b 768k -bt 768k -flags +loop -cmp +chroma -partitions +parti4x4+partp4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8 -flags2 +mixed_refs -me umh -subq 7 -trellis 2 -refs 5 -coder 0 -me_range 16 -g 250 -keyint_min 25 -sc_threshold 40 -i_qfactor 0.71 -maxrate 768k -bufsize 2M -rc_eq "blurCplx^(1-qComp)" -qcomp 0.6 -qmin 10 -qmax 51 -qdiff 4 -level 13 "E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.mp4-1"

FFmpeg version SVN-r8047, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-pthreads --enable-liba52 --enable-avisynth --enable-libdts --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libnut --enable-libogg --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-x264 --enable-xvid --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --cpu=i686 --enable-memalign-hack --extra-ldflags=-static
libavutil version: 49.3.0
libavcodec version: 51.34.0
libavformat version: 51.10.0
built on Feb 21 2007 23:20:24, gcc: 4.3.0 20070126 (experimental)
Input #0, mpeg, from 'E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.VOB':
Duration: 00:00:33.9, start: 0.060000, bitrate: 6580 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x480, 6000 kb/s, 29.97 fps(r)
Stream #0.1[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5 channels, 448 kb/s
Output #0, mp4, to 'E:\DVD Images\Dolby Digital - City.mp4-1':
Stream #0.0: Video: h264, yuv420p, 640x352, q=10-51, pass 1, 768 kb/s, 29.97 fps(c)
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[h264 @ 009C3820]using SAR=176/135
[h264 @ 009C3820]frame MB size (40x22) > level limit (396)
[h264 @ 009C3820]DPB size (1689600) > level limit (912384)
[h264 @ 009C3820]MB rate (26373) > level limit (11880)
[h264 @ 009C3820]using cpu capabilities MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 3DNow!
Press [q] to stop encoding
frame= 20 q=10.0 size= 1kB time=0.7 bitrate= 11.7kbits/s
frame= 32 q=10.0 size= 33kB time=1.1 bitrate= 250.3kbits/s
------------

Again, this is the 1st Pass, so no audio related opts in here.

Anything else I should try to make them iPod Compatible?

[Sketch]

-level 13
Doesn't look like your level change worked. Maybe try it from a VGA profile?

[MrZebra]

Ok, problem solved... I think, my 2 test videos (The Dolby Digital Chopper in the City intro which runs 34s and the Scrat Gone Nutty video which runs 4m46s) both encoded and synced fine to my iPod. I'm currently reencoding a couple of full length movies and will find out when they are done but if the shorter test videos work, that looks promising.

My solution was a little too manual for my taste and reveals some bugs in Videora in terms of configuration of profile settings.

I did as sketch suggested, run the same video with the default VGA Profile, I chose the 2-Pass 768kbps H.264 VGA Profile that comes with Videora. And my file worked. Was distorted due to the Auto-Resize option and had too low audio because of a lack of volume boost but other than that, it worked and confirmed the theory something was wrong with my profile.

So I did an edit profile for the 2-Pass 768k VGA Profile and noticed that other than the auto-resize option, all options were identical. And like my logs showed, changing the level from 1.3 to 3, saving the profile and reencoding still had -level 13 on the command line. So this is a bug with editing profiles in Videora.

So how can I fix my profile then? By manually editing the XML file where all the profiles are stored using notepad! So I did that, changed all the options in the command line except for those I knew I needed to retain (Like the resolution and volume) and made all the other ones identical to the default VGA profile the -level 30 being a given, there are some exotic parameters in there that I think might have been to blame too so copy pasted them all.

And then I tested and not only it worked, but it takes about 2.5x the length of the movie to convert as opposed to 3.5x or 7+x as before and they sync to the iPod which is a big improvement all around.

[fairytale]

Thanks Mr.Zebra for posting how to fix your syncinc problem.
I think I will try this later, too.

[migrena]

afaik in 2.06 changeing level in profile settings only affected the metadata stored in mp4 file with no effect on used encoder options, i reported this before

[Red Kawa]

Actually, pre-2.07, changing the video level profile wouldn't even change the metadata field since we put those flags in the CLI section.

Now, as of 2.07, changing the video level profile will change this metadata field properly without needing to edit the CLI section.

What migerna says still holds, changing this field has no effect on the encoding options. There is no error checking to make sure your profiles are within the proper requirements for that specific level. If you create videos outside of these requirements it is possible they will not import, snyc or play on the iPod.

As we stated below, each level has a maximum resolution (and framerate and other things) which you must adhere to.
For more details read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
And for all the details, read the ISO spec.