Sean Meighan

Welcome => Do You Need Help? Post it here => Topic started by: Charles Belcher on September 04, 2015, 06:04:58 PM

Title: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 04, 2015, 06:04:58 PM
I have xLights v4.2.5 on virtual window 7 via Parallels on my MacbookPro
Reading the manual on inserting a movie file on a mega tree via the "Picture" effect and following the instructions to ffmpeg at the command prompt.

The first movie file I tried returned "Unable to parse option value "-1" as pixel format"  Error setting option pix_fmt to value -1 and
Error applying options to the filter.  Error opening filters.

I tried another movie and placed it in the same Temp folder on C drive root and it failed also.  It was a 21.4meg mp4 file.

It returned "filterSize 256 is too large, try less extreme scaling or increase Max_Filter_Sixe and recompile and also Error opening filters.

Where do I go from here?

Charles
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: gerry on September 05, 2015, 06:17:09 AM
Hi,
Can u copy and paste the commands you used or a screen shot in case there is a syntax error.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 08:59:06 AM
Attachment
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 09:02:12 AM
To everyone, if you could describe the steps when you have an issue with as much detail as possible.

Even better, make a movie. Either use screencastomatic or jing to record your windows session as you duplicate what you did OR use your phone and record a movie.

It makes it so much easier for us to understand.

you should be using ffmpeg to create thousands of files

ffmpeg -i frozen.mp4 -r 20 -s 50x50 f-%d.png

will take frozen4.mp4 as an input
-r 20 says to resample the movie to 20 fps from whatever it is currently running at (normally 30fps)
-s 50x50 resizes the movie to 50x50 pixels
output files created will be
f-1.png
f-2.png
...
f-9999.png

be sure to put in the dash as i think i look for this pattern to start "something"-1.png

go to the pictures effect and give the first frame picture, f-1.png

xlights should start flipping frames
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 09:03:47 AM
how big is stars.mp4? Can you post it someplace where i can try the conversion?
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 09:34:13 AM
Sean,

mp4 was under 3meg.  I just sent you a dropbox link.

Charles
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: flyinverted on September 05, 2015, 12:26:31 PM
I have made a big use of FFMPEG this year to play videos on the 18 panel P10 matrix.
Most of the videos I have used have been 1024 resolution or greater.
Many of the videos are more than an hour long and I only want a specific 30 seconds worth.  You can capture specific points of time with ffmpeg. Any errors I have received have been due to my own typing mistakes.

Here is a great reference for FFMPEG and all that you can do with it.

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html (https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html)
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 12:42:22 PM
I have made a big use of FFMPEG this year to play videos on the 18 panel P10 matrix.
Most of the videos I have used have been 1024 resolution or greater.
Many of the videos are more than an hour long and I only want a specific 30 seconds worth.  You can capture specific points of time with ffmpeg. Any errors I have received have been due to my own typing mistakes.

Here is a great reference for FFMPEG and all that you can do with it.

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html (https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html)

Yes, I have that site bookmarked already.  Did you look at my screen capture.  I typed the commands exactly like the manual says to. 

Charles
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: flyinverted on September 05, 2015, 02:09:02 PM
Hi Charles, send me the link to your file.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 02:36:38 PM
Charles; your mp4 converted fine on windows

I dont know what error you are getting,. i have not seen it before.

Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 03:10:42 PM
the command i used was

ffmpeg -i "2015 Stars.mp4" -r 20 -s 50x40 s-%d.png

Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 03:25:46 PM
Sean's command works which is

ffmpeg -i "2015 Stars.mp4" -r 20 -s 50x40 s-%d.png

The command on page 76 in the manual does not work, which is

ffmpeg -i yourmovie.mp4 -s 30x50 f-%d.png

Mystery solved.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 03:28:55 PM
Sean's command works which is

ffmpeg -i "2015 Stars.mp4" -r 20 -s 50x40 s-%d.png

The command on page 76 in the manual does not work, which is

ffmpeg -i yourmovie.mp4 -s 30x50 f-%d.png

Mystery solved.  Thanks.

Both commands work. The issue is your mp4 file has spaces in the filename. You need to include filename in quotes

These work

ffmpeg -i "2015 Stars.mp4" -r 20 -s 50x40 s-%d.png
ffmpeg -i "2015 Stars.mp4"          -s 50x40 s-%d.png

This does not work because it looks like you are giving an output file called Stars.mp4 and an input file called 2015

ffmpeg -i 2015 Stars.mp4 -r 20 -s 50x40 s-%d.png


Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 03:34:00 PM
the manual I downloaded has the following:

ffmpeg -i yourmovie.mp4 -s 30x50 f-%d.png

It does not show quotes on the movie file and it has a f after 30x50 rather than the s

Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Gilrock on September 05, 2015, 04:05:52 PM
Charles you can use an "f" or you can use an "s" or you can use "whateverfilenameyouwant".  The important part is  the -%d.png.  Plus having to put quotes around a filename with spaces in it is something everyone learns at one point or another when you do command line operations on windows.  If you don't use spaces you don't need the quotes.  I hope that was clear.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 04:25:23 PM
Thanks Gil, that explains it.  I wish the manual would have included the quotes around the file name.  I just copied the format in the manual and didn't know any better.

Beware; the newbies are coming.

Charles
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: gerry on September 05, 2015, 05:08:34 PM
hello Charles,

That's why I asked for a screen print as quite often the issue is quite simple. Its not feasible for the xl manual to cover every combination , else it then become unreadable.

ffmpeg has a lot of documentation online on the website.

Having said that I will update the manual  to add the quotes.. :)

Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 06:33:06 PM
The problem of passing file names with spaces is why i never create a file with a space, i use underscores. Old habit from decades ago.

ffmpeg -i "2015 Stars.mp4"
ffmpeg -i "2015_Stars.mp4"
ffmpeg -i 2015_Stars.mp4

all will work without errors. Note the last entry doesn't need quotes

If you have spaces, always wrap with quotes. It is a standard thing in DOS cmd windows, but most people are not typing CMD commands.

sorry that it was confusing.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 05, 2015, 06:47:53 PM
Sean and all,

Sorry to have wasted everyone's time today, but I just don't know these things.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Charles
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on September 05, 2015, 06:55:04 PM
Charles; my philosophy is if it is confusing to the users, we have not documented it enough. There is a limit to how much we can try and cover (current document is 150 pages).

You bringing this up is great! I never ran into this because i dont use spaces in file names. We have now highlighted a fact that will probably help others. Thanks for being a good tester.

and there is nothing to be sorry for

thanks
sean

Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: gerry on September 06, 2015, 01:17:59 AM
I agree with Sean,

You read the manual ( :)  :) ) and you tried and it did not work . But hopefully you are up and running now !

Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Charles Belcher on September 06, 2015, 07:30:37 AM
I agree with Sean,

You read the manual ( :)  :) ) and you tried and it did not work . But hopefully you are up and running now !

Gerry,

Yep, up and running and it is great.  I now also have a cheat sheet of other ffmpeg command scripts I found on the internet to do all sorts of things, like make an mp3 from an mp4, turning a group of images into a movie (without having to open power director), converting all my wav files into mp3 files, etc. 

And it saves so much time.  This journey down xLights Lane is going to be fun!

Charles
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: uzelessknowledge on October 28, 2015, 07:41:27 PM
Thank you all for this post. I was able to convert a piece of video. This was after spending about an hour trying to figure out how to use ffmpeg on the Mac. I found some sites that said how to install it, but since I'm used to using applications I had no idea what to do after installed.
Maybe a short section on how to install and then access would be usefull.

Now I can't wait to get my P10's and see what I can do. #excited
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Gilrock on October 29, 2015, 08:19:33 AM
Yeah pretty soon our manual will give you help with installing operating systems and guidance for PC purchases.  We are gonna be a one stop shop. :)
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: gerry on October 29, 2015, 08:04:18 PM
Thank you all for this post. I was able to convert a piece of video. This was after spending about an hour trying to figure out how to use ffmpeg on the Mac. I found some sites that said how to install it, but since I'm used to using applications I had no idea what to do after installed.

Maybe a short section on how to install and then access would be usefull.


If you are able to either do a small writeup of what you did (or send me the links that u used) , I can include in the manual. I don't have a MAC , so wont be able to validate the steps.
 
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: kevinp on October 29, 2015, 08:35:14 PM
I'd be interested in the Mac side of this too.  I poked around a bit but wasn't able to wrap my brain around it at the time.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: uzelessknowledge on October 29, 2015, 09:30:25 PM
Sure thing. I'd love to contribute and help.


Travis
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: uzelessknowledge on October 31, 2015, 08:09:55 PM
Ok, I took my other Mac and went through the process since it didn't have ffmpeg on it yet. I documented what I did along the way. Hope this helps. Let me know if I need to clarify anything.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: kevinp on November 01, 2015, 09:54:46 AM
Ok, I took my other Mac and went through the process since it didn't have ffmpeg on it yet. I documented what I did along the way. Hope this helps. Let me know if I need to clarify anything.

This is great information!  I'll give your instructions a whirl and see if it works for me.  Not too sure when I'll get around to it though as I have a lot going on in the next two weeks and not much time to sequence right now.

Thanks for doing this and I'm sure it will make its way into the user manual for us fellow Mac users.  We'll see if Steve, Gerry or I beat one another to placing it in the manual.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: drlucas on November 01, 2015, 10:03:20 AM
The -r 20 command for me seems to be acting strange in v4 of xlights. I have to set the one variable in picture mode to be 1.5 regardless of if I use the 20 frame per second or leave that command option off all together. 

Not sure  if anyone else experienced this or not.


Sent from my iPhone
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: uzelessknowledge on November 01, 2015, 10:09:17 AM
What is your sequence timing. I've talked to another user that didn't match the frame rate to sequence timing and it caused issues.


Travis
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: sean on November 01, 2015, 10:17:21 AM
 Mp4's are normally 29.97 fps . If you dont change the frame rate we will play the 30 frames per sec back at 20 fps. This means they appear 50% slowed down. To fix this u ay them back at 1.5 speed. If u use the -r option the 29.97fps movie is changed to 20fps. Now playback should be at 1.0 in xl4. It seems your "-r 20" did not work. Be sure u specify it before the "-i". Ffmpeg -r 20 -i frozen.mp4 -s 30x30 fff-%d.png


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: drlucas on November 01, 2015, 07:39:15 PM
. Now playback should be at 1.0 in xl4. It seems your "-r 20" did not work. Be sure u specify it before the "-i". Ffmpeg -r 20 -i frozen.mp4 -s 30x30 fff-%d.png

/quote]

This is the command I used...

 ../../Desktop/ffmpeg -r 20 -i thriller.mp4 -s 128x96 thrill-%d.png

The version of ffmpeg i'm using is list below. Maybe I need a different version? 
fmpeg version 2.4.3-tessus Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the FFmpeg developers
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Gilrock on November 01, 2015, 07:39:23 PM
I just created 5 videos for my P10 panel that I played last night for Halloween and the -r 20 was working fine.  You need to create a 50ms sequence to use the -r 20 frames and it works fine with 1.0 speed.

Sean why do you think -r needs to come first....I don't do it that way and it works fine.  This is the command line I used for all mine:
ffmpeg -i ItsHalloween.mp4 -r 20 -s 128x80 fr-%d.png
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: drlucas on November 09, 2015, 08:15:50 PM
So I grabbed the latest ffmpeg and tried again with another video file. Once again I need to set the frame adjust rate to 1.5 for it to play correctly. I attached my xml files if anyone wants to look at the files. Not a huge issue, but just I'm not seeing the same things you guys are seeing.
Code: [Select]
MacBook:bells-muppets ryanlucas$ ffmpeg -r 20 -i TheMuppets_converted.mp4 -s 128x96 mupp-%d.png
ffmpeg version 2.8.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with llvm-gcc 4.2.1 (LLVM build 2336.11.00)
  configuration: --prefix=/Volumes/Ramdisk/sw --enable-gpl --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --enable-libspeex --enable-libvpx --disable-decoder=libvpx --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-avfilter --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-filters --enable-libgsm --enable-libvidstab --enable-libx265 --disable-doc --arch=x86_64 --enable-runtime-cpudetect
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
[mpeg4 @ 0x7fefe400e200] looks like this file was encoded with (divx4/(old)xvid/opendivx) -> forcing low_delay flag
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'TheMuppets_converted.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: mp42
    creation_time   : 2015-11-10 02:24:11
    media_type      : 9
    season_number   : 1
    episode_sort    : 1
    hd_video        : 0
    iTunMOVI        : <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"  "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"><plist version="1.0"><dict><key>studio</key><string>studio</string><key>cast</key><array><dict><key>name<
  Duration: 00:01:09.10, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 5179 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: mpeg4 (Simple Scalable Profile) (mp4v / 0x7634706D), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 5048 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 90k tbn, 30 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2015-11-10 02:24:11
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
      encoder         : xvid
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 128 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2015-11-10 02:24:11
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
Output #0, image2, to 'mupp-%d.png':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: mp42
    iTunMOVI        : <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"  "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"><plist version="1.0"><dict><key>studio</key><string>studio</string><key>cast</key><array><dict><key>name<
    media_type      : 9
    season_number   : 1
    episode_sort    : 1
    hd_video        : 0
    encoder         : Lavf56.40.101
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: png, rgb24, 128x96 [SAR 4:3 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 20 fps, 20 tbn, 20 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2015-11-10 02:24:11
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
      encoder         : Lavc56.60.100 png
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (mpeg4 (native) -> png (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[mpeg4 @ 0x7fefe4836800] looks like this file was encoded with (divx4/(old)xvid/opendivx) -> forcing low_delay flag
frame= 2072 fps=566 q=-0.0 Lsize=N/A time=00:01:43.60 bitrate=N/A   
video:62134kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: JonB256 on January 15, 2016, 11:14:02 AM
So I grabbed the latest ffmpeg and tried again with another video file. Once again I need to set the frame adjust rate to 1.5 for it to play correctly. ...

I know this is "older" and too late for Christmas, but saw it while looking for something else.

I had the same "adjust rate to 1.5" problem and it was because my source video was 30 fps. You converted it to 20 fps.  20 * 1.5 = 30

That was what I convinced myself of, anyway
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Gilrock on January 15, 2016, 03:11:39 PM
The whole idea of telling ffmpeg to do -r 20 is to create images that can be flipped at that rate to produce the original video.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: JonB256 on January 15, 2016, 06:37:54 PM
The video I converted looked fine but wouldn't sync with the audio without the 1.5 rate.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: Gilrock on January 15, 2016, 07:02:09 PM
I would say ffmpeg didn't work right then.
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: JonB256 on January 15, 2016, 10:22:42 PM
I will get plenty of opportunity to try again.
2016 will (if I get it all built) will have a LOT of pixel/matrix space.

1 40x30 bullet pixel panel
1 3x3 P10 panel
2 48x192 P10 panels
1 pixel mega tree, 270degree, 36 strands, 100 per strand

(over 60,000 channels - time to get busy with xLights)
Title: Re: Using a movie file
Post by: mararunr on January 16, 2016, 06:27:49 AM
I will get plenty of opportunity to try again.
2016 will (if I get it all built) will have a LOT of pixel/matrix space.

1 40x30 bullet pixel panel
1 3x3 P10 panel
2 48x192 P10 panels
1 pixel mega tree, 270degree, 36 strands, 100 per strand

(over 60,000 channels - time to get busy with xLights)


And I'm sure there will be something new this year that we haven't even heard about yet that we will all want to add to our displays as well - don't forget to add time for building that  :D