[FFmpeg-user] ffmpeg stalls/freezes

[Jim Worrall]

My attempt to convert a video causes ffmpeg to freeze.  It creates the output file (very small) then stalls before doing any transcoding.  I can't even quit, have to close the terminal window to get out of it.

I suppose it might be the "experimental"  aac codec.  When I didn't specify the output audio bitrate, I was getting the error "[aac @ 0x7fbbfa845200] Too many bits per frame requested", even though the source audio is only 96k.  I had to put it down to 72k to stop that error.

The problem does not seem to be with any video options because I was able to get a completed output file with these settings, except using the alac audio encoder (problem is that won't work for the destination device).

Jim

Command line with complete, uncut output:

Jims-MacBook-Pro:Desktop jim$ ffmpeg -i baby.avi -c:v libx264 -vprofile main -preset veryslow -c:a aac -strict experimental -b:a 72k -x264opts level=3.1:ref=8 -y output.m4v
ffmpeg version 0.8.7.git-1fd6924, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Dec  2 2011 07:27:16 with clang 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.12)
  configuration: --prefix=/Volumes/Ramdisk/sw --cc=clang --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 --arch=x86_64 --enable-runtime-cpudetect
  libavutil    51. 29. 1 / 51. 29. 1
  libavcodec   53. 39. 1 / 53. 39. 1
  libavformat  53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0
  libavdevice  53.  4. 0 / 53.  4. 0
  libavfilter   2. 50. 0 /  2. 50. 0
  libswscale    2.  1. 0 /  2.  1. 0
  libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0
[avi @ 0x7fdbdc01ae00] parser not found for codec pcm_u8, packets or times may be invalid.
Input #0, avi, from 'baby.avi':
  Metadata:
    creation_time   : 2011-11-28 20:15:12
    encoder         : CanonMVI06
  Duration: 00:01:00.99, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 15004 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: mjpeg (MJPG / 0x47504A4D), yuvj422p, 640x480, 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_u8 ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 12000 Hz, 1 channels, u8, 96 kb/s
Incompatible pixel format 'yuvj422p' for codec 'libx264', auto-selecting format 'yuv420p'
[buffer @ 0x7fdbdbc156e0] w:640 h:480 pixfmt:yuvj422p tb:1/1000000 sar:0/1 sws_param:
[buffersink @ 0x7fdbdbc15560] auto-inserting filter 'auto-inserted scale 0' between the filter 'src' and the filter 'out'
[scale @ 0x7fdbdbc16500] w:640 h:480 fmt:yuvj422p -> w:640 h:480 fmt:yuv420p flags:0x4
Incompatible sample format 'u8' for codec 'aac', auto-selecting format 's16'
[libx264 @ 0x7fdbdc02a800] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 FastShuffle SSE4.2
[libx264 @ 0x7fdbdc02a800] profile Main, level 3.1
[libx264 @ 0x7fdbdc02a800] 264 - core 119 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2011 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=8 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x1:0x131 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=0 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=8 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=60 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, ipod, to 'output.m4v':
  Metadata:
    creation_time   : 2011-11-28 20:15:12
    encoder         : Lavf53.24.0
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 640x480, q=-1--1, 30k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 12000 Hz, 1 channels, s16, 72 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (mjpeg -> libx264)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (pcm_u8 -> aac)
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