Extreme noob. Please help!

[deanis]

So I've been using VLC for years, but only to play videos.

What I'm wanting to do know is three things:

1) Convert itunes music (m4a) to mp3
2) Convert wma to mp3
3) Convert various video formats (mostly avi) to whatever my iphone plays (mp4, m4v, mov, I think)
4) Rip some music off of video

So can I do any or all of these? If so, how?

I tried converting via 1), 2), 3) using VLC 0.9.6 but to no avail. I used the save/convert option via the Media tab. I've also tried right clicking on the file I want in the VLC playlist and trying to save (and stream). It hasn't worked yet.

The closest I've come to converting anything is trying to convert an episode of scrubs to ipod format and having it play sound (only in VLC though). Though I get the error

"Streaming / Transcoding failed:
VLC could not open the encoder."

I really do not know much or anything technical about streaming or whatever, but any direction would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Deanis

[Arite]

When you do a "Convert / Save...", after select your media/source file, you should be brought to a "Stream Output" window where you can select the output format etc.

Try some of the preset profiles and be sure to enable "File" with an appropriate destination name (including file extension).

At the bottom of the window you should see the generated stream output (sout) string. You can edit that manually as well.

For example the sout string:

Code: Select all

:sout=#transcode{acodec="mp3",ab="128",channels="2"}:std{access="file",mux="raw",dst="C:\Temp\OUT.mp3"}

Should output a stereo MP3 file with a bitrate of 128kbps to "C:\Temp\OUT.mp3".

For more information:
http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo

Cheers, Arite.

[deanis]

Thanks.

I actually tried to do what you explained already and it hasn't worked yet. I also already checked out the link you posted, but it seems to describe the process for an earlier version of VLC (since I can't seem to find any transcode wizard...)

[Arite]

Yes the wizard was in the wxWidgets interface (0.8.x).

What format/codecs are you encoding to etc.?

Arite.

[deanis]

For audio files I want to encode into mp3 (from both m4a and wma)

For video files I want to encode into mp4 for iphone (from avi)

[deanis]

Anyone? I was assuming this would be a simple thing. Am I wrong? Should I buy a program that converts formats instead?

[Arite]

OK to convert a WMA file to MP3 try this:

Go to:
Media >> Convert / Save...

Select your WMA file and press "Convert / Save". In the new window for the Profile select "MP3". Tick the "File" tickbox, press "Browse" and navigate to where you want to save your MP3 file. Enter the MP3 filename, including ".mp3" into the File name section. Press "Save" and "Save" again to start the conversion.

For example your Stream output window might look like this:



If you want to change the bitrate (default is 128kbps) enter it into the sout sting at the bottom of the window (e.g. change ab="128" to ab="192" for 192kbps).

For an iPod video do pretty much the same thing except select a video, the "iPod" profile, and use ".mp4" for the filename extension.

If you want a simple drag-and drop convertor look at e.g. something like MediaCoder or some FFmpeg-based GUI/Frontend.

Arite.

[deanis]

Thanks Arite.

I had already tried that before I posted. I guess it just isn't working for me

Thanks for helping though. I appreciate it.

Dean

[Arite]

Try re-downloading VLC 0.9.6 (as there were a couple of issues in the first builds):
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

If that doesn't help you can get e.g. 0.8.6i binaries here (use *.zip if you want to keep 0.9.6 as main VLC - can just extract into a folder and run vlc.exe):
http://download.videolan.org/pub/vlc/0.8.6i/win32/

Which uses the old wxWidgets interface (docs should be more accessible using that). This is assuming you're using Windows.

Arite.

[pricemc]

I have had some problems ripping an avi or dvd to mp4. I can get the video to play in itunes and on my ipod, but no sound. I'm using 0.9.8, I select the mpeg 4 AAC in the audio settings and h264 in video and mp4 for encapsulation. Any ideas?

[gr8gary]

please help i have downloaded the newest version and i have no idea how to convert my avi films into mp4s for my ipod can someone help please

[Arite]

please help i have downloaded the newest version and i have no idea how to convert my avi films into mp4s for my ipod can someone help please

See here:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=52707#p172096

Select for the "Profile" "iPod" when in the "Stream output" windows.

Arite.

[gr8gary]

i do this but all i get is a PS file that only VLC can play and i cant then put it on to my ipod

[sugardaddy]

So it seems that when you hit Media -> Convert/Save.... that is independent of the song playing. It took me a minute to figure that out.

I just did it and had to switch the Profile to "MP3" and everything seemed okay. But the file was huge even though BR was only 128. So I listened and that was because it got transcoded at half the speed. I sped it up 2x while playing and it was perfect.

Is there some kind of option I need to use to set the speed? Here's my string....

:sout=#transcode{acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=raw,dst=C:\XXXXXX\song.mp3}}

Again, I'm coming from mp4/Hi-AAC to mp3.

VLC: 0.9.8a
Win: XP Pro SP2

[Arite]

Have you tried transcoding with "Play locally" ticked as well?

Arite.

[sugardaddy]

I just tried it with "Play Locally" checked and the same thing happened. You could hear it all garbled and slowed down (though it was a bit choppy) as it was transcoding.

The result MP3 file was just as before: slowed down to half speed, taking up about twice as much disc space as needed. Speeding it up 2x... and it sounds great.

[sugardaddy]

My issues were related to the issues this original post was about, but the subject line really doesn't help other users to know what the post is about.

I'm going to move my part of the discussion to a new thread...

Transcoding from MP4(HE-AAC) to MP3 - Getting Half Speed!

[sugardaddy]

Incidentally, as I posted on my other thread, I added samplerate=44100 to the transcode section of the parameter string and it works fine now.