AVI from digital camera to video editor

Message

Jim 232777 · Post by **Jim 232777** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:50 pm

Let's go back to the perennial favorite--converting between video types!

I have an AVI from my digital (still) camera. It's MJPEG video with PCM audio, and I'd like to convert it into a format I can get into Kino or Cinelerra for some simple editting/splicing before creating DVD/(S)VCD. I've tried ffmpeg, transcode, and mencoder using large numbers of parameter combinations, but either get error messages, or an encoded file that still won't import into either editor.

Does anybody have a successful conversion of this type?

thanks,
Jim

ajaygautam · Post by **ajaygautam** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:29 am

This reminded me to convert my camera captured avi to divx. Used

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mencoder -oac mp3lame -srate 8000 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 mvi_3033.avi -o test.divx.avi

mencoder is by far the best convertor available. What problems were you having with mencoder ?
Advice for mencoder: use the least amount of options possible

Ajay

Jim 232777 · Post by **Jim 232777** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:44 pm

Seems like no matter what AVI I create with mencoder (mjpeg, huffyuv, mpeg4 . . .) when I open it in Cinelerra, all it recognizes is the audio track. Ironically, transcode usually gives me something cinelerra sees as video, with an audio track of noise.

I tried putting the two together, but the camera actually captures a fraction of a second more audio than video, so trimming/syncing could be a problem that I didn't want to mess with.

Kino won't even open anything, even though I've tried to make a DV file.

more to come . . .

mean · Post by **mean** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:40 pm

avidemux ?

Jim 232777 · Post by **Jim 232777** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:10 am

avidemux? yep. Same story--even if I can play it with mplayer, cinelerra or kino still won't open it.

Although I haven't solved the original question, I have found a work-around: use an mpeg2 format, which cinelerra opens easily (after generating a table of contents file).

Code: Select all

mencoder -o 127lavc.mpg -oac lavc -noskip -of mpeg -ovc lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp3:vcodec=mpeg2video:abitrate=128:vbitrate=8000 vid-0127.avi

This kind of changes the thread, though, as it brings up the issue of best formats for editing vs final copy. Previous work I've done (limited amount, in MS windows a few years ago) taught me that it's better to use a low-compression frame-based AVI (high quality mjpeg, huffyuv, or uncompressed if you have the hard drive) for all intermediate work, then only convert to a time-compressed mpeg at the final step.

In this case, I used a high bitrate mpeg2, and quality looked pretty good. Anyone have philosophical thoughts on AVI vs MPEG? Is mpeg2 at a high bitrate acceptable?

mean · Post by **mean** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 6:15 pm

Do you have a small sample of these avi files ?
I'm surprised avidemux can't load them

Jim 232777 · Post by **Jim 232777** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:52 pm

avidemux can load them (although during playback, the video is not updated until you pause--is this normal?). I just can't get avidemux to convert the files to anything that cinelerra or kino will open.

At this point, I'm sure the problem is with cinelerra and kino--they just don't open AVIs very well. The challenge is to convert to an AVI that one of the editors will understand.