mpeg2 video encoding - apparently not working

[tkapela]

Forum friends,

Posting this here as well - perhaps non-developers may have some insight to share...

I've recently switched several OSX and winXP systems to version 0.9.6
of the vlc package. I've noticed that since moving to this version,
mpeg2 video encoding seems to not work. Interestingly, mpeg2 audio
encoding does work (though it's unclear to me where support this
compressor comes from or what module it's packaged within).

I tested a previous version of VLC (0.8.6i, in my test case) and
observed mpeg2 video encoding does indeed work.

I've placed -vvv output from two invocations (one using xvid .avi
source file on disk, the other receiving a udp multicast stream via
the network) of vlc command lines in the following pastebin url:

http://pastebin.com/m2ab7db36

In short, when I do "vcodec=mp2v" I get "cannot find video encoder"
..but only while using 0.9.6 (didn't test previous versions of
0.9...). The interesting part: I don't get this error when using
0.8.6i.

I did notice that (in the win32 version) 0.9.6i doesn't include
libffmpeg_plugin.dll, persuant the 0.9-series release notes (in
NEWS.txt - "The ffmpeg module has been removed and replaced by the new
avcodec, avformat, swscale (or imgresample if you use a swscale-less
ffmpeg build) and postproc modules.").

What has me stumped is trying to determine where mpeg2 video encoding
support is supposed to come from, if not libavcodec. However, when I
use a right 'out of the box' copy of 0.9.6, which definitely is
packaged with libavcodec (as h264, mp4v, and mp2a all seem to work
fine), somehow I'm missing mpeg2 video encoding. Of course, mpeg2
video decoding works.

I've searched the vlc user list archive and the vlc forum to no avail.
If, in fact, mpeg2 video encoding should work, I'd appreciate any
pointers or advice in the correct use or invocation of said codec. I'm
hopeful the only issue is my sheer ignorance of vlc.

[wmcbrine]

Same problem for me. I've tried 0.9.2 on Windows and 0.9.4 on Ubuntu, with the same result:

stream_out_transcode stream out error: cannot find video encoder (module:any fourcc:mp1v)

(That's MPEG-1... MPEG-2 doesn't work, either.) The identical command line works fine with 0.8.6i.

[Halliday]

I'm using VLC 0.9.6 Grishenko, on Windows XP Professional w/ Service Pack 2. I have had the same

avcodec error: cannot open encoder
stream_out_transcode error: cannot find video encoder (module:any fourcc:mp2v)

using MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (w/ mp4v sustituted for mp2v, of course). When I try H264, VLC dies within libx264_plugin.dll at offset 000a0098, with exception code 0xc0000005.

I've even tried reinstalling VLC, to no avail (though I think it used to terminate when using MPEG-4, at least with some settings, sometimes).

Are we just out of luck? I really haven't fount any video encodings that work for me, though the audio appears to do just fine.

David

[drspockwa]

I'm experiencing the same problem in this thread as well. I'll give 0.8.6i a try. Thanks for your posts, I thought I was doing something wrong.

[drspockwa]

0.8.6i for Windows is only transcoding audio. Even if I only choose to transcode only video, it still does audio, and no video.
I'm using the PS mux and the mpeg2 video codec, and mpeg audio.

[wmcbrine]

And now add 0.9.6 for Mac (PowerPC) to the list of versions that give me the "cannot find video encoder" error. As with the Windows version, I downloaded it straight from videolan.org.

drspockwa: I'd suggest posting the exact command line you're using... in another thread, because it's a different problem. I can only say that 0.8.6i works for me.

Speaking of exact command lines, here's how I'm trying to use it:

vlc whatever.foo -I dummy -V dummy --sout #transcode{vcodec=mp1v,vb=2048,acodec=mpga,ab=256,audio-sync,samplerate=44100,fps=29.97}:std{access=http,dst=:9044,mux=ps}

On the Mac version, BTW, this brought up a new error -- it complained about a missing parameter to sout, and suggested using '--sout=options' instead of '--sout options'. (No such problem in 0.8.6i, nor on other platforms.) So, I did that, but then got the same old error about the encoder.