[MEncoder-users] Empty output file when copying ac3, wide screen option added for mpeg2

[Laine Lee]

I don't get any "too many packets" messages or any other kind of error.
Encoding appears to proceed normally, except that the output file remains
empty (0 k in size).

The problem is present only for the current release (31097) and at least one
release prior to that. After reverting to my previous build without success,
I recompiled and installed the release I was using around the first of April
(30945), and that did solve it. My configure files for both 31097 and 30945
are identical, and when I tested by building and installing each version
today, the failure only and always occurred while using 31097.

With either version the output file is created. The problem is that in the
case of the failure, the output file size remains 0. The command that
triggers the failure involves a conversion to mpeg2 using the mpeg2video
codec and occurs only with -oac copy -audiofile $file.ac3. If I replace that
with -nosound, response from the application remains the same, and output is
generated successfully considering the specified change. I'm using Mac OS X
10.6.3, but because execution occurs successfully while using a fairly
recent version, that may or may not be a contributing factor. If you're
interested in more information, I'll be happy to comply. I seem to remember
that a problem either similar or identical to this existed for me for a span
of several releases some time ago. Thanks.

On a tangential note, It also appears that at some point fairly recently an
mpeg2video option for 2.35/1 aspect ratio was added. I'm pretty sure I have
previously tried doing that without success, so that's why I'm mentioning
it. I'm adding aspect=2.35/1 to lavcopts and crop and scale filters to the
chain, typically crop=1904:800:4:138 and scale=720:304 to convert AVCHD
captures. I'm assuming that I don't need multiples of 16 or 32 for the last
two crop coordinates because they just specify the position where the
rectangle starts, right?

Laine Lee