thumbnails failure

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Been trying to get tovid-0.33 to create thumbnails properly but it's only 
generating a thumbnail for every other file within the project. 

EG:

Menu title: "LotR Ext. Ed."
(adjust with -menu-title)
Including the following files:
  "FotR1" (/sda3/backup/hdc1/downloads/temp/fotr1.avi)
  "FotR2" (/sda3/backup/hdc1/downloads/temp/fotr2.avi)
Current font settings: 
-menu-font Helvetica
-menu-fontsize 30
-titles-font Helvetica
-titles-fontsize 20
Current menu settings: 
-menu-length 20 seconds
Video 1:  -seek 107 second(s)  -chapters 1
Video 2:  -seek 107 second(s)  -chapters 1
============================================

**** NOTE ****

Doing all work in directory /home/todisc-work.3
/tmp/todisc-work.0 will be a symlink pointing to this directory

**************

Creating a menu title image
[2 of 2] Seeking to 107 seconds in fotr2.avi

---------------------

It never generates the thumbnail image for fotr1.  I tried making a disk with 6 
avi's and then it only generated an image for 2, 4 and 6 (1, 3 and 5 were 
blank).

I tried specifying a -seek option but that didn't help.

Perhaps as a feature request, an option dialog could be added to specify image 
files to use for each movie item, instead of having no choice but to use 
tovid's generated thumbnails? 

Original issue reported on code.google.com by rosc2112@yahoo.com on 30 Jan 2011 at 5:03

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Sorry I didn't respond earlier, google code seems to no longer forward issues 
to my personal mail as it once did and I just noticed this when browsing issues 
on the site.

todisc uses a fast seek ( -ss before the -i FILE) now, which in recent ffmpegs 
and certain files seems to create gray frames for thumbnails.  Try using the 
"-slow-seek" option to todisc (svn head) for now.  I will probably revert to 
using the slower seeking method as default if the problems persist.

thanks,
grepper

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 3 Mar 2011 at 1:22

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Did using -slow-seek fix the issue for you ?
I have added a note about the -slow-seek option
to the information printed to user after a cancelled
preview.

grepper

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 3 Jul 2011 at 3:44

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 3 Jul 2011 at 3:46

• Changed state: Questions

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Just pulled the latest svn and tried, and it still does not produce a thumbnail 
image for file1 (only tried with 2 videos.) 

Original comment by rosc2112@yahoo.com on 3 Jul 2011 at 2:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Sorry, is that in answer to my question ?  You tried -slow-seek and it didn't 
work for you ?

thanks,
grepper

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 3 Jul 2011 at 10:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yep. Still not working. Tried with -slow-seek and -slow-seek -seek 127, still 
just getting a blank image on file1.

Original comment by rosc2112@yahoo.com on 4 Jul 2011 at 12:11

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Please attach todisc.log.  BTW, are both the preview and the final product with 
blank frame(s)?  Possibly there is something about the way the files were 
encoded (perhaps badly) that is causing ffmpeg to fail, dunno.
grepper

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 4 Jul 2011 at 2:36

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Looks like it never generates an image1 thumb:

Original comment by rosc2112@yahoo.com on 4 Jul 2011 at 2:12

Attachments:

• todisc.log

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Okay, that is the avi, which is fair enough and still an issue of course.  But 
could you try it on the final mpg ?  I'd be interested if it is just because of 
a dodgy encode (the avi) or something else.  As well the final encode uses 
transcode (yuv) piped to ffmpeg so could you let it run through?  In any case I 
think I will go back to using slow seek as the fast seek seems dodgy. (it 
wasn't when I tested it)

I think allowing user thumbnail selection is a good idea that I have thought of 
implementing in the past, but I am largely retired from the project now and 
just jumping in for bugs. (If you are a coder, a quick hack might be just 
having todisc replace the generated image with the provided one after it is 
created.)

A better, workable idea might be to use the existing get_largest() function in 
todisc which is used for -showcase-framestyle glass.  It would involve 
outputting 10 frames, then picking the largest.  The corrupt frames are much 
smaller and should be avoided this way.  Only problem is that the seek might be 
off by as much as .344 sec (ntsc) or .416 sec (pal).

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 4 Jul 2011 at 11:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Running it all the way through didn't help. Wish I was a programmer so I could 
be more help.

Original comment by rosc2112@yahoo.com on 5 Jul 2011 at 2:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Wow, it failed with using both a tovid encoded mpeg AND -slow-seek?  I've never 
had that happen that I can remember...
Could you try the attached script on both the avi and the encoded mpeg ?
It will create 10 pngs in the current directory (000001.png to 000010.png), 
then print the name of the largest image and display it.
Run with "sh get_largest.sh "Path to video file" "seek"
ex.
sh get_largest.sh /home/robert/foo.mpg 127

Thanks for testing,
grepper

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 6 Jul 2011 at 3:43

Attachments:

• get_largest.sh

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Okay, I decided to do some hacking on todisc as I had some free time.  I added 
-user-thumbs for allowing user to specify using his/her own images for the menu 
buttons.  It
will also affect the -switched-menu (-static only of course).  There is also a 
-frame-safe option that will output 9 frames instead of just one for previews 
and static thumbs, and take the largest. Both options are in the just released 
tovid-0.34.
Unfortunately they did not make it into the gui, but you can still use the 
'Custom todisc options' control (under 'Behavior' tab) to use them.
Example:  "tovid disc -files a.mpg b.mpg c.mpg ... ... -user-thumbs 1.png 2.png 
3.png -out mydvd"

Please test and report if it works okay for you.
grepper

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 24 Jul 2011 at 4:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am going to retire this issue because of a lack of response and the fact that 
a work-around for troublesome videos is now in place.

Original comment by grepper@gmail.com on 18 Aug 2011 at 1:36

• Changed state: Fixed