mpeg problems

[ddalton]

I have turned on ffmpeg I have installed everything from the zm yum distributionon fc3, I also have ffmpeg installed and correctly pointed to in my options, no errors appear in my log, I have video in jpeg format , but black in mpeg format? I am using the browser (firefox 1.0.4) and zm 1.21.2? Any ideas why this is occuring or how I can trouble shoot the issue?

[krzys31337]

Turn on in syslog.conf (or sth similar in newsyslogd) *.* /var/log/all

Then tail -f /var/log/all /var/log/zm/*

When doing mpeg encoding, invocation and output of "ffmpeg" command is appended to the logfiles.

You could also try to add some "-v -v" as verbose options to ffmpeg invocation in options of zm console.

[cordel]

Firefox does not support mpeg natively. Do you have mplayer or equiv installed?
Also if using WMP, WMP buffers 10 to 15 seconds of video before it shows up.
Regards,
Cordel

[ddalton]

In zmvideo.log I am getting the error:

Creating video file Event-852.mpg for event 852
/usr/bin/ffmpeg -y -hq -intra -r 4.93 -s 640x480 -i %03d-capture.jpg Event-852.mpg > mpeg.log
ffmpeg version 0.4.9-pre1, build 4753, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
configuration: --build=i686-redhat-linux-gnu --host=i686-redhat-linux-gnu --target=i386-redhat-linux-gnu --program-prefix= --prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --sbindir=/usr/sbin --sysconfdir=/etc --datadir=/usr/share --includedir=/usr/include --libdir=/usr/lib --libexecdir=/usr/libexec --localstatedir=/var --sharedstatedir=/usr/com --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-mp3lame --enable-libogg --enable-vorbis --enable-faad --enable-faac --enable-xvid --enable-a52 --enable-a52bin --enable-pp --enable-shared-pp --enable-shared --enable-gpl --disable-opts --disable-strip
built on May 5 2005 07:44:24, gcc: 3.4.3 20050227 (Red Hat 3.4.3-22.fc3)
Input #0, image2, from '%03d-capture.jpg':
Duration: 00:10:01.8, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0.0: Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p, 640x480, 4.93 fps
Output #0, mpeg, to 'Event-852.mpg':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg1video (hq), yuv420p, 640x480, 5.00 fps, q=2-31, 200 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[mpeg1video @ 0x5077330]MPEG1/2 does not support 5/1 fps
Error while opening codec for output stream #0.0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height

Error: 1 at /usr/lib/zm/bin/zmvideo.pl line 274.

[cordel]

See this thread.
http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4384
Regards,
Cordel

[ddalton]

with -strict -1 it does work but I only get 2-3 frames not the entire 2977 frames?

Is this a setting I am missing?

[cordel]

It could also be the fact that I build zm against ffmpeg 0.4.8 not 0.4.9 CVS. I am considering building on the CVS in the coming weeks. How ever 0.4.8 is the last release.
Regards,
Cordel

[SyRenity]

Hi Cordel.

Was there any progress with streaming a Live/Recorded video via MPEG, with the latest ZM/FFMPEG?

The point is, that since I discovered ZM, I was never able to view a stream, while I did seen reports of others successfully doing it - which kinda puts me down.

It would be great if there was some clear steps defined of how to do this, or which versions of ZM/FFMPEG to use.

If you like, we could split the work between us, as I as well have a spare workstation which I can make some experimenting on.

[cordel]

I have had no problems getting any of the versions to stream thus far but I also have not tried the latest cvs in the last couple months. I'll try building with a more recent version of ffmpeg and see how it goes. I have been making the RPMs against 0.4.8. I will package strait from cvs when I have a chance and see how it goes.
Regards,
Cordel

[SyRenity]

Hi Cordel.

Do you mean that the present version (0.4.8 ) streams fine? I don't mean the MPEG generation, but rather actually live stream. I always had some issues with it, as only seeing the first frame, or even nothing at all (and the zms pointed to a relative URL, without the machine address within it).

I have the latest version from your YUM, pulled by yum update, and the 0.4.8 version of FFMPEG (was installed automatically by yum dependency requirements, while installing the ZM from your YUM). I get a black screen, and even copying/pasting the stream to the windows media player manually doesn't help. I'm using Windows XP/WMP 10.

[cordel]

Yes, I get streaming video. This is on my video server installed via my YUM repo. Just in case your not aware WMP requires buffering the stream and this can take upto 30 seconds depending on your connection with the server. I have gone into WPM's settting and told it to only buffer 10 seconds of video so the first 10 seconds all I see is the black screen until the buffering is done, then I can see the video. I'm also using WMP 10
Regards,
Cordel

[SyRenity]

Hi.

Very strange - even after I changed the WMP buffering to 10 seconds, I'm still getting nothing. I'm trying to view a pre-recorded event, but the WMP doesn't even shows the playback controls (should it?), or the "Buffering..." word.

All of your versions are compiled against the FFMPEG 0.4.8, right? If I have FFMPEG 0.4.9 devel installed, should it cause any problems?

[ddalton]

4.9 ffmpeg doesnt appear to work with Zoneminder

[cordel]

I'll be working on packaging ffmpeg 0.4.9 with just the bare needs for ZM over the next couple of weeks. My work has just let go 5 people so now my working zone is over 350 square miles so looks like I'll be on the road alot more till I can find a new job (Hopefully something working with linux so I can broaden my knowledge [fingers crossed] but I highly dought it since I don't have anything to really show for it). So looks like I'll be really busy mean time and on the road alot. This is my last weekend with just my zone then I'll be covering two states I guess it's good that my peers have that much confidence in me but I like to be able to spend some time at home I'll do my best to to get this done and keep up with everything.
Regards,
Cordel