[FFmpeg-user] Transcoding for the Roku with recent ffmpeg

[Yan Seiner]

I'm having trouble transcoding into h264 with recent (1.0) ffmpeg.

Older versions (0.8?) did fine using this command line:

ffmpeg -i input.vob -acodec libfaac -ab 128k -vcodec libx264 -vpre 
normal -s 854x480 -crf 22 -threads 0 -f mp4 output.mp4

the newer versions fail with:

Undefined constant or missing '(' in 'wpred'
[NULL @ 0x177ca80] Unable to parse option value 
"wpred+dct8x8+fastpskip+mbtree"
[NULL @ 0x177ca80] Error setting option flags2 to value 
+wpred+dct8x8+fastpskip+mbtree.

Based on the little bit of research I did, I should replace -vpre normal 
with something like

-vcodec libx264 -c:v libx264 -preset fast -profile:v baseline

which results in this command line:

ffmpeg -i input.vob -acodec libfaac -ab 128k -vcodec libx264 -c:v 
libx264 -preset fast -profile:v baseline -s 854x480 -crf 22 -threads 0 
-f mp4 output.mp4

the video transcodes fine, but will not play on the Roku.  It plays 
about 30 seconds, then stops and the Roku starts buffering 
indefinitely.  It also shows lower quality connection, and my apache 
logs fill up with:

(104)Connection reset by peer: core_output_filter: writing data to the 
network

Indicating that the Roku is resetting the connection.

Anyone transcoding for the Roku?  Any suggestions?