x264 problem?

[Delicate]

Hi

I aim to use hundreds of image processed fullHD size pictures in a fast sequence (timelapse), making MP4 videos with PTE.

But when I make tests with around 300 pictures, the video crashes halfway.

I like to combinate fast sequence pictures with more slow ones, and have made this successfully before.

But now when I'm using hullHD size pictures I get problem.

Or I'm actually using even larger size pictures, like 2160x1440, but force PTE to show only 1920x1080 of them by using original size pictures.

("the size of slide" is definied to 1920x1080 in "Project options").

I have tried with PTE versions 6.5.8 and 7-beta-12.

I have used a interval of about 250ms for slides, and used about 200ms fade transitions between slides, or turned the fade off.

When the rendering crash, there is an error report saying that "x264.exe has encountered a problem"?

Whats wrong?

- something with x264.exe?

- do I need a new version of x264, if so, where is it located?

- something with the computer?

- something with PTE?

Thankfull for some help.

Jan

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jan,

It's difficult to be certain, but it "sounds" like a resource issue on the computer. As an executable does this play smoothly all the way through? Which video card are you using and how much RAM do you have available?

Is this crash on "playback" or while compiling the video? Try using Ctrl Alt Del to pull up the Task Manager. Click on the "Performance" tab and see what is happening when the "crash" happens..... just some suggestions...

Best regards,

Lin

[xahu34]

...

Whats wrong?

- something with x264.exe?

- do I need a new version of x264, if so, where is it located?

- something with the computer?

- something with PTE?

...

X264 is an open source library for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format (www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html). There are several sources from which one can obtain executables for Windows, but it is not clear which build is used by PTE, as there is no appropriate link in the PTE program folder (which should be there!). I don't think that it will make sense to download some x264.exe from the Internet, and replace the one contained in PTE.

Regards,

Xaver

[Delicate]

Thank you Lin and Xaver for your care.

The problems accure when compiling the video.

There are no problem when playing the MP4 file, if it's succesfully made.

Here are environmental info about my computer when trying to compile the MP4 (H.264) video:

PC Model; Fujitsu Siemens Celsius Mobile H270 (laptop)

Intel Pentium III Xeon processor, speed 2793 MHz

System; XP Professional 5.1.2600 with Service pack 3.0 and other updated moduls

2,99 GB of RAM

Plenty of free space on the hard disc, which has been defragmented resently.

Virtual memory is set to 4599 MB (I think suggested maximum would be 9198 MB)

NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M (this sounds like the video card)

(I use an additional display with the same view as the laptop display)

I haven’t been connected to internet while compiling the video

In my latest test I used PTE7 beta12 with the following settings,

(which created a x264 error crash when compiling):

- slide duration 0.25s

- no transition (fade) between slides

- aspect ratio 16:9, size of slide 1920x1080

- fixed size of slide

- no use of unsharp mask

(Just wonder, does the "use hardware acceleration" setting have any influence while compiling a MP4 file?)

When trying to compile the MP4 file (H.264) I used the following settings:

- width 1920, height 1080, 25fps

- one pass-bitrade, bitrade 5000

- (I used no audio, but the settings were; bitrade 320, samplerate 44100, channels auto)

When I looked at the computers "Performance" curves while compiling the CPU usage was on top, and just dropped down when the compiling crashed.

I strongly want to belive that there is nothing wrong with PTE and that the source of my problems are on my computer.

I remember having some similar problems when rendering videos with Abobe Premiere Elements last year, and haven't tried since.

This problem really bothers me now, because I have many projects I have planed to do.

A visit to the computers store is a must in a near future, but for the moment I would like to solve this problem.

Jan

[fh1805]

Jan,

From the information in the above post I get the impression you are choosing your own video parameters in order to produce this MP4 file. Have you tried letting PTE choose them by doing a "Create...HD Video for PC and Mac" and taking a set of defaults? Does this also crash?

regards,

Peter

[Delicate]

Peter

I now also tried with output presets HD (1920 x 1080) and "Low quality" (under "Creating HD video for PC and Mac"), resulting in the same failure.

Jan

[Igor]

Hello Jan,

Please try following two experiements which will help us more exactly determine reason of this problem:

1. Set "SD 800x600" mode in video output window and start encoding. Will it cause this problem?

2. Do you have same problem with other projects? Please try to produce video file for another project.

If problem occurs only with a particular project, please could you send me source files of this project in ZIP archive? You can use www.mediafire.com free service to upload file and then send me link for download via personal message.

Thanks in advance!

Xaver,

There is "GPL and LGPL components.txt" text file in the main folder of PicturesToExe with a list of used GPL and LGPL utilities and components. For x264 we provide the following information in this file:

"X264 http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html

It is released under the terms of the GPL license."

Usually companies don't point exact version which they're using. I didn't find this

requirement, but probably I was wrong.

Almost all slideshow sofware products use x264 GPL library for a long time. We honestly declare that we're using x264 library, we keep original filename of x264 library.

[xahu34]

...

There is "GPL and LGPL components.txt" text file in the main folder of PicturesToExe with a list of used GPL and LGPL utilities and components. For x264 we provide the following information

...

Usually companies don't point exact version which they're using

...

Igor,

I know this declaration, but you should take into consideration that the GPL asks for the so-called "Corresponding Source". There are several ways to provide it in a compliant way, as described in the well-known compliance guide by Kuhn, Williamson, and Sandler. You are right that there are many (typically small) companies who do not provide the corresponding sources of the open source components that they use, but this does not mean that this behavior is legal

Best regards,

Xaver

[Delicate]

Hi Igor, and thanks for giving this a thought.

1. I now have more than 800 pictures in this project, all of 2160 x 1440 size (but "size of slide" is set to 1920 x 1080).

And for the "slide duration" I now used 0,15s

When I encoded a "SD 800x600 high quality" video everything worked perfectly.

I yesterday also tried with "HD 1280x720" and it worked perfectly even then.

It is with the fullHD 1920x1080 encoding I meet the problem.

Unprofessionally said I feel that when encoding a fullHD video, it first start to encode nicely, but then for some reason "things get heavier" for the computer, and the encoding crashes.

2. Springtime I had, what I think a similar problem with one totally different project (I used PTE 6.5.8 version).

But in this project I also used a lot of pictures, ordinary slide show mixed with stop motion sequenses.

This worked really nicely as an executable show, but when I tried to publish it to a MP4 file it also crashed.

I will try tonight again and let you know.

I think I will also try the following; a test by using a longer duration for slides (which will cause a bigger MP4 file).

But I expect the same problem...

Regards,

Jan