What do

"Error starting external program specified in the command line"

errors mean?

I'm trying to transcode a vob to xvid+lame in a matroska container...

First of all,this really seems to be a really cool and promising software:
Optimus,thanks for all of your effort and time spent coding...
(wish i could code too...gonna learn Python as soon as i finish with my military duties,
after using so many open sourced software,
i feel i have to get something back the community...)

"Error starting external program specified in the command line":
unfortunately,i get the same exactly message,
but with any kind of video i'm trying to transcode...
As soon as it finishes the audio encoding part,
it flames out this message and doesn't continue in video encoding...
XP sp1,english,Intel,MEnc 0.2.5+powerpack,if that helps...
has it got maybe to do with the specific mencoder build?
To be honest,i didn't try replacing it with a different "build"...

(P.S.:Yourtallness,yet another Greek in this topic!:-)

@xaros2000: Ti xamparia man? Welcome sto forum!

For the record, I'm using the latest build (26), and as
xaros2000 mentioned, the procedure fails after encoding
the audio.

Please change the value of "Preference" -> "Overall" -> "Utilities" -> "Matroska Toolskit Directory" to "mkvtools\". This is because in the latest update, I changed its default value from "mkvtools\" to "tools\" (as I'm adding support for mp4box and decided to put it in the "tools" folder) but in the powerpack the matroska toolkit is still in the "mkvtools" folder. Will fix it in next powerpack release.

I expect this error should come out after video encoding. Which video codec did u choose for encoding?

Error persists after changing path to mkvtools\
Also occurs for avi container.

After checking, I found this prompt is given during encoding video. This occured when it mencoder cannot be started, would please check the path of mencoder (whether it correctly points to mencoder) and maybe better paste here the command line generated.
Is everything okay when not applying the build26 update?

mencoder path is correct

The command line is:

mencoder E:\SHARK_TALE\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1.VOB -o nul -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1 -nosound

During encoding it turns into:

codecs\lame.exe -r -x -k --priority 1 -q 1 -s 48000 --vbr-new -V 7 - E:\Downloadsmenctemp.mp3
mencoder $(SourceFile) -o nul -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1 -nosound
mencoder $(SourceFile) -o $(DestFile) -ovc xvid -xvidencopts me_quality=6:quant_type=h263:vhq=4:gmc:trellis:chroma_me:chroma_opt:hq_ac:pass=2:bitrate=500 -oac copy -mc 0 -noskip -audiofile $(AudioFiles)

I changed back to 2.5 and the same error occurs, with
the exception that the audio file is not deleted after the
encoding error.

Multichannel support would be a great improvement.

I have MEnc Powerpack 2.5 and also get the error. Yes, it appears only during an attempt of video encoding. When encoding audio only, it is ok.

Changing the path to full path for either Mplayer and Mencoder does not help here. When I moved both files to the same folder as Menc.exe it ran Mplayer & Mencoder but for both gave errors (in the console):
File not found: 'frameno.avi"
Failed to open: framno.avi

However, now, on pressing Play it outputs 'Mplayer not found' but plays video files fine when MPlayer is back in default place .

In previous versions video encoding worked.

Optimus,sorry for being late in my reply...
it happened with xvid codec selected-checked the paths,they were ok...
Also tried the build26 with no luck,either with .mkv or .avi,
no matter what video codec selected...
I'll try later to move mencoder in the same path with menc.exe,
as Jetpower suggested,
also gonna try a different mencoder build to see what happens...

Hi, Menc looks very nice... but, emh, can you upload program to another site/server? download is veeeeeery slow, 0.5 kbyte /sec, drop down and does'nt support resume

I've released a new PowerPack with MEnc 0.2.6, with support for MP4Box, some bugfixes and small improvements. I hope this can solve your problems above. Wait for your feedback! And I've made a mirror download at my SourceForge web space, I think their server should be closer to most of u than my home server. Download at top.

Next step is the attempt to implement this. But not all encoders supports multi-channel.

The source code from now on can be accessed via CVS. I simply wish this would help to locate bugs. As I'm a full-time software engineer and the development of this software is totally done in my leisure time, and as it's going to grow bigger, sometimes, I feel a kind of difficult to keep all functions working all the time (I'm not yet very satisfied with the code structure). And any suggestions and improvements on the code are warmly welcomed.

Not work under Windows 98?

No it doesn't, at least for any operations relying on mplayer (which is used as audio decoder), as named pipe is used during the decoding process. I will later implement using Winamp input plugin as decoder, at that time, Windows 98 will be suppported.

Still no video encoding with version 2.6...

I've tested with all kinds of combinations (audio/video codecs and containers) before I released. Can u provide me more detail of your situation. I really wanna find out what's happening.

Well,here's the situation...testin' done with MEnc 0.26+PowerPack:

1)Tried 2 different mencoder builds on two different PCs,
one athlon-based and one intel-based-video encoding didn't start.
But got both of them working by trying Jetpower's simple 'hack':
moving mencoder.exe in the same dir as menc.exe...
then changing the MEncoder Path from it's default:"mplayer\mencoder.exe" into "C:\Documents and Settings\***\Desktop\MEnc 0.2.6\mencoder.exe"...
this worked like a charm,for both .avi or .mkv-Thanks,Jetpower!
Note:I had previously tried changing the default path into
"C:\Documents and Settings\***\Desktop\MEnc 0.2.6\mplayer\mencoder.exe",
but that didn't work either...

2)I didn't manage to get mp4Box working,maybe i did something wrong...
tried transcoding an .avi containing xvid/ac3 to .mp4(xvid+mp3),
then to .mp4(xvid+aac)...audio encoded well,video said ok...
and right at the moment when the whole data should be piped out to mp4box,
it crashed with this message:
Error signature,AppName: mencoder.exe,AppVer: 0.0.0.0,
ModName: mencoder.exe,ModVer: 0.0.0.0,Offset: 0057f02f
All temp files deleted and an empty(zero bytes) .mp4 file left.
I've uploaded a .zip containing a printscreen of the console during the crash,
also included the appcompat.txt:
http://rapidshare.de/files/5444770/mp4boxcrash.zip.html

Hope i was helpful!

Well, as I said, I'm trying to transcode a vob file
into an avi or mkv, using xvid and lame. I haven't
changed anything from the standard configuration...

Audio encoding starts normally, an mp3 is generated
but when the error occurs, the process is terminated
and the mp3 is deleted.

That's all there is to it, really...

Is it by any chance unable to locate xvid?

Ok thanks

Could u please try following:

1. put mencoder.exe in the Windows folder (or any folder PATH included) and change the path to mencoder from "mplayer\mencoder.exe" to "mencoder.exe".

2. try AVI container to see if it works.

3. try putting MEnc at the root folder, e.g "d:\menc" to see if it works.

4. delete menc.dat revert to the default settings

btw: what OS r u using?

I think I know how to fix it. Could u tell me how do u start menc.exe? I think it's a problem caused by relative path, maybe menc.exe isn't started in it's folder.



Thanks! I think this is a bug in mencoder ;-) I tried a previous cvs build of mencoder and it did not crash but the current build does. A workaround is to use an older version of mencoder. This problem won't occur when generating audio-only mp4. (e.g. generating mp4 file with Winamp AAC+ encoder)

Xvid is a built-in module within mencoder.

I've made some modifications. Please try this build (mirror) to see if it works.

Just tried MEnc 0.26-build 11:no luck,either with mencoder or mp4box...
at least,jetpower 's trick did the job again...
Gonna get a sleep now,it's 05:40 in the morning here...more beta testing tomorrow

The annoying mencoder path bug is finally fixed, after I debugged the program on another PC. Get the update here.
The mp4 bug, I tried an 1-month ago version of mencoder, it works fine. I'm trying to find out a workaround.

Great news!

Tested - no problems with running Mencoder

Could you also make MPEG-2 encoding work? It's seems to be very good in Mencoder lib.

Now I noticed that the slider for Fixed Quantizer is misleading as lower quantitizer values in Xvid mean better quality. The slider in xvid options suggests otherwise.

Anyway, a very nice app. Also I finally got an up-to-date mplayer build with OSD .

Edit: Spelling

Yep, works now.

Thanx optimus!

1)...just woke up(oh boy,it's noon!)...
MEnc 0.26-build 16:should be codenamed "Optimus Rocks"!!!
Tried it on an Athlon,mencoder works perfectly!Thanks again,man!

2)"The mp4 bug,I tried an 1-month ago version of mencoder,it works fine."
I tried with the old "official" mencoder 1.0-pre6,mingw build,dated 23-Dec-2004:
got "Unknown suboption lavf",then i saw this in MPlayer's manual,Chapter 8.1.11:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/menc-...-dvd-mpeg4.html
Optimus,sorry for my ignorance,
is the libavformat library also responsible for exporting out to .mp4?

No problem I will add MPEG encoding soon.


Yes, larger quantitizer results in higher compression and lower quality. It's the same with Lame.



I remember I have built mplayer with OSD...
And the included mplayer is applied with a patch by me, to support using Winamp DSP plugins as audio filter. (and there is an option for this in MEnc in "audio filters" )

I think you are using a too old mencoder. At that time, lavc may not support mp4 container yet. Anyway, I don't suggest to go back to any old version of mencoder, as x264 support and some other functions (like support for flac) have just got usable and stable recently.

The procedures I used to produce mp4 file is like following:

1. use audio encoder to generate audio file (because mencoder only has internal supports for a few audio encoders like lame and faac)
2. use mencoder to generate a video-only file in mp4 container (problems occurs in this step)
3. inject the audio file into the video-only mp4 with mp4box

This is the working way I found up-to-now. If anyone knows an alternative, please tell me.

Thanks!


Previously, I got an optimized mplayer build from here but it did not have OSD somehow .
DSP plugins can be very useful indeed! Later processed audio will be played in all media players, not only in your special mplayer .

Yes, it should be useful. Tons of Winamp DSP plugins can be picked up and used again. I've posted the patch in mplayer's developers' mail-list. But they don't like it ... so no hope to get it into mplayer official code.

0.2.6 Build 38 released, with support of MPEG1/2 encoding (and almost all libavcodecs formats)

0.2.6 build 41 released, with an interesting function, Winamp decoder can now be used as audio decoder, combining with any encoder, to perform a transcoding job.
Simply put your needed Winamp input plugins (e.g. in_mp3.dll) in MEnc's "codecs" folder and set "Decoder" in "Audio Options" from "MPlayer" (which is the default) to "Winamp Input Plugins", and it's ready to roll.
A typical use of this function is using in_cdda.dll (by adding .cda files into the list) to do direct CD ripping (to flac for example). Winamp plugins will be packaged in next PowerPack release.

How about bundling Menc with the latest popular LAME version, 3.97b1?

And might I suggest the aoTuVb4-libVorbis1.1.1-merged Oggenc....? it should perform better on typical bitrates used for movies, to judge from listening tests performed around here.

Released MEnc 0.2.7 PowerPack, bundled with MEnc 0.2.7 (better support for winamp input plugins), Lame 3.98 alpha 2, oggenc aoTuVb4 1.1.1, and Winamp input plugins (mostly taken from Winamp 5.1). Helix producer is now an optional download and is no longer bundled (as it's big). CD ripping is now also possible with Winamp's in_cdda.dll (adding .cda files in the list to do CD ripping). Download at top.

Nice, but are you sure you want to go for LAME 3.98a2?

nice work! but 2 minor problems:

winamp input plugins are scanned, mp3 support detected, but i get "no matching input plugin found" when encoding mp3's

subdir structure again:
c:\Test 7inch\Test-7_Inch_one\
c:\Test 7inch\Test-7_Inch_two\

selecting "c:\Test 7inch" as input folder gets <out>\one\ and <out>\two\

also when theres just one file c:\1\2\test.mp3 and selecting c:\1 as input folder it doesnt write to <out>\2\test.acc but <out>\test.aac

regards

This is a bug I found right after I packaged and uploaded the powerpack. And I fixed it and uploaded again right after that. You are just downloading during that 3 minutes... Please take trouble to download again.

I simply update the lame source tree with CVS and build it. What's wrong with 3.98a2?

haha that much for my luck

and yourtallness prolly meant to go for the 3.97 beta branch, not the 3.98 alpha

any news on the m4a tagging? shouldnt it be possible to do the whole thing (aac in mp4 + tags) with the winamp plugin?

EDIT:
redownloaded and its the same, so got the latest pack on my first download. both bugs are there. notice how the folderstring gets cutted from "Test-7_Inch_one" to "one"

regards

Well, newer isn't always better.

That's not to say that the 3.98 alphas don't yield
better quality (or worse), just that it is further away
from a final state than the latest 3.97 betas, and
probably less tested. Besides, they are "alphas"...

3.97b1 is the at centre of interest at this moment,
and I guess it's more likely to become a recommended
version, or at least, a recommended post-3.90.3
LAME version.

For now alphas and betas are pretty close, as John33 said in this post: Lame 3.98a1 was/is the same as Lame 3.97b1.
And Guruboolez mentioned here that main difference of Lame 3.98a2 is --athaa-sensivity switch.

In that case, I stand corrected.

The algorithm I used, is to find out the common part of all filenames in the list and strip it out, plus the output folder name at the beginning, forms the final output paths. As your case indicate, it's not proper to strip out all the common parts, which will break the last folder name if they have the same prefix.
This should not relate with winamp input plugins' operation however. Is the latest release still unable to find a matching input plugin, or anything else? Could you paste me the console output if it differs from the last release.