Canon 5D conversion for xiphmont's git

As Monty has been working hard to make Cinelerra more input friendly with his FFmpeg loader fixes, I've been trying to help out as a QA resource. One of my main concerns has been getting my Canon 5D video into Cinelerra. As documented in the IRC log, my custom Canon conversion (ffmpeg stream -> mpeg2enc (output: .m2v/.m2a) -> mplex (output MPEG-PS) -> ffmpeg (output MPEG-TS) was full of invalid timestamps.

In addition, with some recent security updates to my Fedora system just today, it looks like my previous Canon conversion script had broken. I get the dread error:

**ERROR: [mpeg2enc] display_horizontal_size must be in range 0...16383

So I was doubly screwed. Back to the drawing board..er, mailing list. Following up on mjpegtools' Bernhard Prachinger's advice here, I first try to play a test file using a pipe from ffmpeg, like so:
ffmpeg -i mvi_2655.mov -threads 7 -s 1920x1088 -f yuv4mpegpipe - | yuvplay

The video stream plays back with no visible errors, outside of a warning about the video stream frame rate differing from the container frame rate. Here are the top few lines of the output:
Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 48000.00 (48000/1) -> 23.98 (24000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'mvi_2655.mov':
Duration: 00:00:06.92, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 45836 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1088, 44296 kb/s, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 48k tbc
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
Metadata
major_brand : qt
minor_version : 537331968
compatible_brands: qt CAEP
Output #0, yuv4mpegpipe, to 'pipe:':
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: rawvideo, yuv420p, 920x108, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 23.98 tbc
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0000 - 0:00:00.00
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0001 - 0:00:00.01
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0002 - 0:00:00.02
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0003 - 0:00:00.03
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0004 - 0:00:00.04
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0005 - 0:00:00.05
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0006 - 0:00:00.06
INFO: [yuvplay] Playing frame 0007 - 0:00:00.077 bitrate=752028.9kbits/s

So, streaming from FFmpeg to a y4m stream works. I then take that y4m stream and convert it to an mpeg2video for use in Cinelerra, again using Bernhard's simplified mpeg2enc pipe adjusted for aspect ratio and higher bitrate:
ffmpeg -i mvi_2655.mov -threads 7 -s 1920x1088 -f yuv4mpegpipe - | mpeg2enc --verbose 2 --format 3 --aspect 3 --video-bitrate 24000 --no-constraints --video-buffer 448 -o mvi_2655.m2v

Looking at the output (--verbose 2), there don't seem to be any major errors here:
Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 48000.00 (48000/1) -> 23.98 (24000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'mvi_2655.mov':
Duration: 00:00:06.92, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 45836 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1088, 44296 kb/s, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 48k tbc
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
Metadata
major_brand : qt
minor_version : 537331968
compatible_brands: qt CAEP
Output #0, yuv4mpegpipe, to 'pipe:':
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: rawvideo, yuv420p, 920x108, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 23.98 tbc
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Selecting Generic MPEG2 output profile
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Assuming norm NTSC
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Progressive input - selecting progressive encoding.
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Encoding MPEG-2 video to mvi_2655.m2v
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Horizontal size: 920 pel
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Vertical size: 108 pel
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Aspect ratio code: 3 = 16:9 display
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Frame rate code: 1 = 24000.0/1001.0 (NTSC 3:2 pulldown converted FILM)
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Bitrate: 24000 KBit/s
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Quality factor: 8 (Quantisation = 9) (1=best, 31=worst)
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Field order for input: none/progressive
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Sequence unlimited length
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Search radius: 16
INFO: [mpeg2enc] DualPrime: no
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Using one-pass rate controller
INFO: [mpeg2enc] GOP SIZE RANGE 7 TO 15
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Setting colour/gamma parameters to "NTSC"
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Progressive format frames = 1
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Using default unmodified quantization matrices
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING MMX and MMX for QUANTIZER!
--DEBUG: [mpeg2enc] PAR = 7


I then take the output of the audio conversion:
ffmpeg -i mvi_2655.mov -acodec mp2 -ab 384k -ar 48000 -ac 2 test.m2a

Output:
Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 48000.00 (48000/1) -> 23.98 (24000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'mvi_2655.mov':
Duration: 00:00:06.92, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 45836 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1088, 44296 kb/s, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 48k tbc
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
Metadata
major_brand : qt
minor_version : 537331968
compatible_brands: qt CAEP
Output #0, mp2, to 'mvi_2655.m2a':
Stream #0.0(eng): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 384 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
size= 325kB time=6.94 bitrate= 384.0kbits/s
video:0kB audio:325kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.000000%

and mux both the video and audio streams to an MPEG-PS in mplex:
mplex -f 3 -b 2000 mvi_2655.m2a mvi_2655.m2v -o mvi_2655.ps

Output:
INFO: [mplex] mplex version 1.9.0 (2.2.7 $Date: 2006/02/01 22:23:01 $)
INFO: [mplex] File mvi_2655.m2a looks like an MPEG Audio stream.
INFO: [mplex] File mvi_2655.m2v looks like an MPEG Video stream.
INFO: [mplex] Found 1 audio streams and 1 video streams
INFO: [mplex] Selecting generic MPEG2 output profile
INFO: [mplex] Multiplexing video program stream!
INFO: [mplex] Scanning for header info: Audio stream c0 (mvi_2655.m2a)
INFO: [mplex] MPEG AUDIO STREAM: c0
INFO: [mplex] Audio version : 1.0
INFO: [mplex] Layer : 2
INFO: [mplex] CRC checksums : no
INFO: [mplex] Bit rate : 49152 bytes/sec (384 kbit/sec)
INFO: [mplex] Frequency : 48000 Hz
INFO: [mplex] Mode : 0 stereo
INFO: [mplex] Mode extension : 0
INFO: [mplex] Copyright bit : 0 no copyright
INFO: [mplex] Original/Copy : 1 original
INFO: [mplex] Emphasis : 0 none
INFO: [mplex] Scanning for header info: Video stream e0 (mvi_2655.m2v)
INFO: [mplex] VIDEO STREAM: e0
INFO: [mplex] Frame width : 1920
INFO: [mplex] Frame height : 1088
INFO: [mplex] Aspect ratio : 16:9 display
INFO: [mplex] Picture rate : 23.976 frames/sec
INFO: [mplex] Bit rate : 24000000 bits/sec
INFO: [mplex] Vbv buffer size : 229376 bytes
INFO: [mplex] CSPF : 0
INFO: [mplex] SYSTEMS/PROGRAM stream:
INFO: [mplex] rough-guess multiplexed stream data rate : 24894496
INFO: [mplex] Setting best-guess data rate.
INFO: [mplex] Run-in delay = 30030 Video delay = 30030 Audio delay = 33783
INFO: [mplex] New sequence commences...
INFO: [mplex] Audio c0: buf= 0 frame=000000 sector=00000000
INFO: [mplex] Video e0: buf= 0 frame=000000 sector=00000000
INFO: [mplex] Scanned to end AU 165
INFO: [mplex] STREAM e0 completed
INFO: [mplex] STREAM c0 completed
INFO: [mplex] Multiplex completion at SCR=653806.
INFO: [mplex] Audio c0: completed
INFO: [mplex] Video e0: completed
INFO: [mplex] AUDIO_STATISTICS: c0
INFO: [mplex] Audio stream length 332928 bytes.
INFO: [mplex] Syncwords : 289
INFO: [mplex] Frames : 289 padded
INFO: [mplex] Frames : 0 unpadded
INFO: [mplex] BUFFERING min 189 Buf max 1162
INFO: [mplex] VIDEO_STATISTICS: e0
INFO: [mplex] Video Stream length: 13871991 bytes
INFO: [mplex] Sequence headers: 1
INFO: [mplex] Sequence ends : 1
INFO: [mplex] No. Pictures : 166
INFO: [mplex] No. Groups : 12
INFO: [mplex] No. I Frames : 12 avg. size162167 bytes
INFO: [mplex] No. P Frames : 154 avg. size 77441 bytes
INFO: [mplex] No. B Frames : 0 avg. size 0 bytes
INFO: [mplex] Average bit-rate : 16028800 bits/sec
INFO: [mplex] Peak bit-rate : 21470400 bits/sec
INFO: [mplex] BUFFERING min 85 Buf max 1944774
INFO: [mplex] MUX STATUS: no under-runs detected

This gives me a good program stream file that is suitable for editing in Cinelerra using Monty's changes. Update 2010/09/13: Florian Cramer advised me that the video render string does not give the highest quality output. I'm still working on improvements to the string that will render at a higher quality.

Moral of the story: never update your system.
;)
the mule

Reference
http://man-wiki.net/index.php/1:mplex
Minor headache with nvidia drivers after kernel upgrade resolved
Plus another pulseaudio fuck job.."pulseaudio module-alsa-card file not found"
- had to reinstall pulseaudio and then execute "alsamixer -c0" to fix

ffmpeg pipe to mpeg2enc

Occasionally, I'll need to send a video stream into mpeg2enc. Mpeg2enc doesn't take an input file; it only accepts a yuv4mpeg stream. In order to send a yuv4mpeg stream to mpeg2enc, I do this using ffmpeg and the -f yuv4mpegpipe command line switch. Also, for best quality, I will send the stream using the FFMPEG variant of the Huffyuv lossless compression algorithm. ffyhuff is an enhanced version of Huffyuv that compresses better than Huffyuv.

Update 2009/05/19As per Dan Dennedy's comment below, ffmpeg's yuv4mpegpipe command will ignore the -vcodec option and pipe the video stream to mpeg2enc using an uncompressed C420jpeg stream, which is an uncompressed YUV format. Certainly good enough for the likes of me!
*** end update ***

Here is a sample command to reencode a 720P video stream as a yuv4mpeg pipe to mpeg2enc:
ffmpeg -threads 4 -i INPUT.M2V -f yuv4mpegpipe - ¦ mpeg2enc --verbose 0 --multi-thread 4 --aspect 3 --format 3 --frame-rate 4 --video-bitrate 18300 --nonvideo-bitrate 384 --interlace-mode 0 --force-b-b-p --video-buffer 448 --video-norm n --keep-hf --no-constraints --sequence-header-every-gop --min-gop-size 6 --max-gop-size 6 -o OUTPUT.M2V

Note that I am taking advantage of the eight processors in my dual quad core using the multithread switches in the commands to both ffmpeg and mpeg2enc. Note that the eight threads have been split evenly, four to each encoder, to avoid CPU context switching. (Thanks again, Dan!)

Here's another trick: to see the header information of a YUV4MPEG stream, pipe the FFmpeg conversion stream to head -1 like so:
ffmpeg -i intermediate.mov -vcodec mpeg2video -f yuv4mpegpipe - | head -1
ffmpeg -i intermediate.mov -pix_fmt yuv420p -f yuv4mpegpipe - | head -1

The FFmpeg output should show you some very important information, bolded below:
the output format: YUV4MPEG2 stream
height and width: 1280x720
framerate: 30001:1001 (or 29.97fps)
colorspace: C420JPEG
not sure what IP: 1 or XYSCSS is

Duration: 01:19:46.74, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 110301 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 108762 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn, 30k tbc
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: pcm_s16be, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
Output #0, yuv4mpegpipe, to 'pipe:':
Metadata:
encoder : Lavf52.64.2
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 29.97 tbc
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
YUV4MPEG2 W1280 H720 F30000:1001 Ip A1:1 C420jpeg XYSCSS=420JPEG
Sweet, eh?

As a final note, I am a bit confused on the differences between FFMPEG compression algorithms: ffyhuff and ffv1. If someone has pointers to the documentation on these, I'd be interested in finding out more. A google search just added to my confusion.

the mule

References
mpeg2enc man page
mpeg2enc manual
ffmpeg vs mpeg2enc
Huffyuv
FFV1
FFMPEG How To

related posts
http://crazedmuleproductions.blogspot.com/2010/01/batch-render-redux.html
/2010/01/compile-times-performance-improved.html
FFMPEG HowTo

hard work is paying off / HDV workflow

OK! I've got the latest video up on iTunes and now I just need to edit the XML for it. Editing the damn XML always takes too long. And of course, I want to get the track list right with the correct track times and witty comments. Ufff. OK! So the track list is done and now to send the boys the email for the latest video! Hurrah!

More for my benefit than anyone elses, here is my HDV workflow using Cinelerra:
1) import video
2) edit video
3) for multiple segments, make sure you set "align to frames" and audio and video segments end at the exact same time.
4) for HD output, render using mpeg2enc settings
5) for DVD output, render using ffmpeg -target DVD from Cinelerra, something like this:
ffmpeg -f yuv4mpegpipe -i - -y -i /mnt/videos/20050721/20050721.wav -target dvd %
6) for iPod output, render using ffmpeg -target DVD, then output to mpeg4 video/aac audio mov container:
ffmpeg -i inputdvd.mpg -f mov -vcodec mpeg4 -qscale 7 -s 320x180 -r 29.97 -aspect 16:9 -acodec aac -ac 2 -ab 128 output.mov
7) import .mov to XP iTunes
8) upload .mov to website
9) edit RSS XML
10) final test in iTunes

exporting HD content to the cam: IT IS ALIIIIVE!! ALIVE!!

After a month of testing and experimentation with many inter-OS softwares, exporting HD content to my camera is working! YAHOO!! The greatest part is..I am Microsoft FREE!

Most of my work was based off of this original thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/archive/index.php/t-19007.html

But a number of steps (ffmpeg/DVHSCap) did not work for me.

Here are the steps I used to get HD content from Cinelerra back to my cam in full resolution, HD 720P format:

1) install the latest 2.6.18 kernel according to specs on http://www.linux1394.org
2) you'll need the latest libiec61883 and libraw1394 libraries from the same place . I needed to manually tweak the ./configure procedure for libiec61883 with the following environment variable:
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkconfig
Another caveat to this step is that I needed to remove libraw1394 first, which was a nightmare because of all its dependencies. I created a yum install script to reinstall everything after this was complete.
3) you'll need to make a change to tsbuffer.c and recompile libiec61883 (don't have it now..email me if you need it).
4) you'll need to recompile mpeg2enc to allow for bitrates larger than 14000. This is referenced in the thread from way back when:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/archive/index.php/t-19007.html
--------------------
A kludgy hack allowed me to get bit rates higher than 15Mbs in mpeg2enc

I removed the following lines from conform.cc
if (bit_rate> 1.0e6 * maxval->bit_rate)
mjpeg_error_exit1("Bit rate is greater than permitted in specified Level");
---------------------
5) here are the mpeg2enc switches that were successful for me:
mpeg2enc --verbose 0 --aspect 3 --format 3 --frame-rate 4 --video-bitrate 18300 --nonvideo-bitrate 384 --interlace-mode 0 --force-b-b-p --video-buffer 448 --video-norm n --keep-hf --no-constraints --sequence-header-every-gop --min-gop-size 6 --max-gop-size 6 -o mpeg2.mpv
6) mplex params:
mplex -f 3 -b 2000 -o programstream.ps audio.mp2 mpeg2.mpv
7) Use VLC to convert the file to a transport stream. By the way, the VLC is a hellish snake pit of install dependencies. Go to http://www.videolan.org to download the latest source.

Here are the instructions for VLC from Paul St. Denis' original steps (http://www.celt.sunysb.edu/paul/mpeg2enc_HDTV.zip):
------------------
Start VLC, from the "file" menu select "open file", click on the "Browse..." button and find "programstream.ps", check on the "advanced output" check box and then click on the "Settings.." button. Make sure the "file" radio button is picked click on the "Browse..." button save the file on your desktop as "transport.ts".

Make sure that the "Encapsulation Method" is MPEG TS, leave everything else blank. Click OK, which brings you back to the other screen click OK again.
------------------

Yes, it's a lot of work. But to be Microsoft free is a great feeling.

Update: as of this writing (10/17), I'm only able to upload less than 2GB of video. For my 720P video cam, this is about 19.7 minutes of video. I am working with the linux1394 community to resolve this.