about a few days ago I came across a problem in VLC which I have not been able to work myself around, and I am in dire need of help. Although having previously worked fine, about two or three days ago VLC stopped transcoding FLV files - any FLV files. The files have originated from a wide range of websites, including YouTube, obtained with Orbit Downloader, and up until now transcoding them to MP4 with VLC has worked (mostly) seamlessly, and I have not encountered this problem before. I have successfully converted maybe 60, 70 files.
Now, however, when I attempt at transcoding an FLV file to MP4 through the Transcoding Wizard (per usual), although it seems to be transcoding as normal, I get the following error message:
Once the transcoding process is complete, when opening the resulting MP4 file in QuickTime, it either refuses to open the file because "it contains some invalid data" or it opens the file, but it only seems to have audio - there is no video screen. At times, it has also given me an error saying the MP4 file "is not a movie file", but the aforementioned two are the most common errors I get, with the 'audio-only' file being the most common result.main: cannot add a new stream (unsupported while muxing to this format)
stream_out_transcode: cannot add this stream
VLC is installed on Macbook Pro with Mac OS X 10.4.11. The problem was first encountered in VLC 0.8.6c, but I have also tested transcoding in the following versions: 0.8.6d, 0.9.0 Nov 2 nightly version, and 0.8.6b (all of which I downloaded and installed after the problem surfaced), and to no avail. When transcoding the FLV file in the nightly version, VLC said it "could not open the encoder." I did not make any changes in the VLC preferences prior to the problem surfacing. I did install a Mac OS X update on Nov 24, but with certainty I can say that transcoding FLV to MP4 still worked in VLC on Nov 26, after which it has refused to transcode properly.
I searched the forum, FAQ and other documentation but was unable find a working solution (or at least one which I could understand). I deleted or reset the VLC preferences at least three times, but nothing changed.
It is always the video that is missing from the resulting MP4 file (if it works at all). I have tested it with numerous FLV files, and none work. Although VLC does play the files properly, it no longer transcodes them. I am not an expert on VLC or computers/computer language, but if there is additional information you need, I will try to provide it, and I would be most grateful for any help! Thank you.
I think it was to burn FLVs to DVD for some older, non-computer-using people. I never did complete that project, so I'm glad your message reminded me of it.