Videos causing crashes on a Mac :(

gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
edited June 29, 2006 in SmugMug Support
Hi all. I'm new to the community, did a search first but was unable to find anything on this topic, so hopefully someone can lend a hand.

I recently got a Casio EX-S500 and while I thought I'd never shoot videos with it, it's literally all I have been doing. When I found out smugmug could host videos of mine, I upgraded almost immediately. I've had to convert my videos using ffmpegx, which is a bit tedious but ultimately no big deal. There is one slightly major problem, though. When I go to view the page with my first newly uploaded video with Safari or Internet Explorer, the video plays, with a crackling sound instead of the actual sound about 3/4 of the way through, then the browsers quit unexpectedly. With Firefox, the same thing happens, except I get a kernel panic which almost never happens to me (I don't get the little message, mind you, but the seconds stop ticking in the clock in the top right hand corner of the screen and nothing happens for minutes upon minutes).

If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it immensely. Perhaps I'm not using the right settings in ffmpegx? I believe I am, but if anyone knows exactly what those should be (ffmpeg vs mpeg2enc, for example), perhaps that would help.

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: I just realised that the video crashes Quicktime when I play it on my Desktop, but not VLC. Grr. This is so confusing...

Comments

  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2006
    Yeah, Casio cameras for some reason dont support Macs right outta the box, you have to download & install a plug-in for quicktime. You can get it here.

    Let me know if you have any more trouble. :):
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 28, 2006
    peestandingup wrote:
    Yeah, Casio cameras for some reason dont support Macs right outta the box, you have to download & install a plug-in for quicktime. You can get it here.

    Let me know if you have any more trouble. :):
    Okay, I'll do that right now...although if I converted the video with ffmpegx, I don't really see how that should affect it, right? Hmm. It couldn't hurt, so I'll do it.

    UPDATE: Just did. Same thing still happens :(
  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2006
    gcgc wrote:
    Okay, I'll do that right now...although if I converted the video with ffmpegx, I don't really see how that should affect it, right? Hmm. It couldn't hurt, so I'll do it.

    UPDATE: Just did. Same thing still happens :(
    Hmm, make sure its installed in the correct place.

    Look in "Macintosh HD (or whatever you call your hard drive)", then go to "Library" then "QuickTime". Look inside that folder to make sure the Casio plugin is there. If its not, put it there. If it is, make sure you restarted your Mac, then try it again.
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 28, 2006
    peestandingup wrote:
    Hmm, make sure its installed in the correct place.

    Look in "Macintosh HD (or whatever you call your hard drive)", then go to "Library" then "QuickTime". Look inside that folder to make sure the Casio plugin is there. If its not, put it there. If it is, make sure you restarted your Mac, then try it again.

    It's there. It's not working :-( I restarted to make sure and it still isn't.

    I'm almost sure it's a ffmpegx issue - is there a tutorial here about exactly what settings I should use?
  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 29, 2006
    gcgc wrote:
    It's there. It's not working :-( I restarted to make sure and it still isn't.

    I'm almost sure it's a ffmpegx issue - is there a tutorial here about exactly what settings I should use?
    Does the avi video play in QT before you convert it? Whats your SM site address??
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 29, 2006
    peestandingup wrote:
    Does the avi video play in QT before you convert it? Whats your SM site address??

    It does play in Quicktime just fine. I've actually taken down the offending video because my friends were unable to visit as well because of the crashing, but I can re-up if you want and let you know the addy.
  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 29, 2006
    I cant recommend ffmpegX for converting video to mpeg1. I have used it for years now & think it sucks for that. Other things its OK at converting, but not for mpeg1.

    Download & try iVCD here. Its not free but there is a trial version. Its the only thing I have found on a Mac that does good mpeg1.
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 29, 2006
    peestandingup wrote:
    I cant recommend ffmpegX for converting video to mpeg1. I have used it for years now & think it sucks for that. Other things its OK at converting, but not for mpeg1.

    Download & try iVCD here. Its not free but there is a trial version. Its the only thing I have found on a Mac that does good mpeg1.

    I tried iVCD...but I'm terribly confused by it and I can't find a readme file. Is there some nice tutorial somewhere? :-)
  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 29, 2006
    gcgc wrote:
    I tried iVCD...but I'm terribly confused by it and I can't find a readme file. Is there some nice tutorial somewhere? :-)
    Its pretty simple. First, create & name a new project. This is just the folder where all your converted vids go afterwards. Then, drag the video file you want to convert into the iVCD window. Next, set the options like I did here:

    First Window:
    window1.jpg

    Second Window:
    window2.jpg

    The last step is to click the "Convert" button where my cursor is. If you're a Power Smugmug user, you want to make the video 8MB or less. If you're a Pro User, make it 16MB or less. To do that, increase or decrease those numbers where I circled in red. But try to get the file as close to your accounts size limit as possible, or else it will look like crap in the end. You may need to convert the same video a few times to get the size just right. Also, dont try to convert videos that are too long. Mpeg1 is pretty terrible & the longer your video is, the worse it will look.
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 29, 2006
    Thanks, you're awesome! iloveyou.gif
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 29, 2006
    Oh no :-( I did everything you said and the resulting project folder has a bunch of files:

    iVCD.invalidimages
    iVCD.menu
    iVCD.settings
    iVCD.sizecache
    iVCD.tree
    Dave dancing (the name of the original movie)

    I tried adding .mpeg to the movie file and opening it with Quicktime, but it wouldn't :-( Any ideas?
  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 29, 2006
    What Mac are you using exactly? Is it Intel or Power PC??
  • gcgcgcgc Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited June 29, 2006
    peestandingup wrote:
    What Mac are you using exactly? Is it Intel or Power PC??

    Power PC.
  • peestandinguppeestandingup Registered Users Posts: 489 Major grins
    edited June 29, 2006
    gcgc wrote:
    Power PC.
    I honestly dont know why its not working for you then. Its hard for me to know whats going on since there are so many things the problem could be stemming from & I cant be there in person to see.

    If you wanna send me an actual avi video file from your camera, I can see what happens on my end. You can just make a small video (like a few seconds long). It doesnt have to be big, its just for testing.

    If you want, upload it to www.yousendit.com then pm me the download link & I will check it out for you. But, its up to you.
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