Does ProjectX work on Mac OS X? -Newbie needs help!

[Get Go]

Hi. Let me just say I am a Mac newbie and a ProjectX newbie, so please be patient with me. I have tried searching with very little success.

(1) Does ProjectX work on OSX Leopard/Snow Leopard? AFAIK I thought Java apps were 'operating system neutral' -that was the beauty of Java?
Yet on videohelp.com it lists ProjectX as Windows only

(2)I don't have a hope in hell of compilling it myself so I had to rely on a pre-compiled version.I have downloaded it from a couple of sources and managed to get the doom9 'jar' (from 'ProjectX_0.90.4.zip') running (up to a point) on OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard.

The program interfaces opens up but when I load a .ts file the image is utterly distorted: a couple of horizontal stripes of colour and the rest just black.

If I drag the 'timeline' (?) control to forward through the .ts file the image is distorted through out.

If I hit 'Quick Start' it works for a bit then stops. The ProjectX window says " summary of created media files:
"=> 0 bytes written...
-> we have 15156 warnings/errors."

I have used the windows version on the same .ts file and it demuxs it fine.

I went to Apps/Utilities and opened Java Preferences and I got this info
Java Preferences V 13.0.0
Java Platform Standard Edition 6

Any help is appreciated

[netmask]

I'm using it on a G4 running OSX but an early version. The file I downloaded was called.

MAC_projectx-v0900400b30.zip sorry I don't have the download site but it would have been either
http://www.watchersnet.de/
or
http://www.oozoon.de/main_en.html

and I have the latest version of java installed. It all works quite nicely.

[Get Go]

Thanks netmask, at least that clears up that ProjectX does work on OS X.

What is vidoehelp.com doing incorrectly stating its for Windows only?

Now to try and figure out why its not working properly on my Mac. Perhaps its Leopard/Snow Leopard is the problem?

[Get Go]

Issue solved

I downloaded ProjectX-v0.90.04.00.b31 from oozoon and it works ! The program interface also looks much better in this version. All the text from the menus now "fit" in their places in the interface.

Thanks netmask, for the link to oozoon.

Sorry for filling the forum with this is basic stuff, but
I had tried another version of ProjectX without success. And the viedohelp.com web site led me to question if ProjectX worked on OS X at all.


For the record I also downloaded v0.90.04.00 (from 30-3-2006) from oozoon and it didn't work. It had the same problems as the Doom9 version.
Also, for the record, I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on intel iMac
Java 1.6.0_15


Any recommendations for a free muxer (like Imago-MPEG) for OSX? BitVice Helper looked promising but it only muxes AIFF or WAV

[nm]

Originally Posted by Get Go

Any recommendations for a free muxer (like Imago-MPEG) for OSX? BitVice Helper looked promising but it only muxes AIFF or WAV

What is your target format exactly? MPEG-TS, MPEG-PS, DVD? Are you re-encoding audio or video?

[netmask]

Originally Posted by Get Go

Thanks netmask, at least that clears up that ProjectX does work on OS X.

What is vidoehelp.com doing incorrectly stating its for Windows only?

Now to try and figure out why its not working properly on my Mac. Perhaps its Leopard/Snow Leopard is the problem?

It also works in LINUX

[Get Go]

Originally Posted by nm

What is your target format exactly? MPEG-TS, MPEG-PS, DVD? Are you re-encoding audio or video?

I would like to 'put' the video (and the audio from the video) from the .ts file on to a DVD disc to watch in a domestic stand-alone DVD player. Ideally I'd like to do it without having to re-encode it, if that was possible.

What I am after is speed and convenience (aren't we all). Initially I presumed as the .ts file was MPEG2 based that it would be relatively simple to get it to DVD disc. However the more I try to do this, the more difficult it gets

To add to my situation I am a Mac newbie and finding open source/free programs for the Mac isn't as easy either.

[nm]

GUIs: MPEG Streamclip for muxing and SmallDVD for authoring. There are lots of commercial authoring tools (including Apple's iDVD) if SmallDVD isn't enough.

CLIs: mplex and dvdauthor.

If I recall correctly, ProjectX can also output MPEG-PS directly?

[Get Go]

Originally Posted by nm

GUIs: MPEG Streamclip for muxing and SmallDVD for authoring. There are lots of commercial authoring tools (including Apple's iDVD) if SmallDVD isn't enough.

CLIs: mplex and dvdauthor.

If I recall correctly, ProjectX can also output MPEG-PS directly?

Yeah I had looked at MPEG Streamclip, but unfortunately it requires the Qiuicktime MPEG plugin, so that's out for me.

When you say Projectx outputs MPEG-PS directly I am gusseing that would that be the M2P option (The other options are to VDR, PVA, TS, PIDFilter and 1:1 binary copy.) It produces an .mpeg file. I think that is an MPEG-PS file? If I am correct on that my next issue is getting that .mpeg file into DVD video format (preferably without re-encoding it)

I have tried with iDVD but i get an error "Unsupported File Type : Unknown format Macintosh HD/.../TESTFILE[remux].mpg"

I would definitely be a GUI person! So unfortunately CLIs: mplex and dvdauthor are out for me.

Thanks for posting the above links.

[nm]

Originally Posted by Get Go

When you say Projectx outputs MPEG-PS directly I am gusseing that would that be the M2P option (The other options are to VDR, PVA, TS, PIDFilter and 1:1 binary copy.) It produces an .mpeg file. I think that is an MPEG-PS file?

Yes, and any decent authoring tool should be able to import it. SmallDVD remuxes the input with ffmpeg (or re-encodes if the input is not MPEG-2), so it should work in any case.

[netmask]

The advantage of using the demux mode in ProjectX is it cleans up many transmission errors - if you can then mux the 2 streams back into a mpeg2 file using a suitable MAC program that file will be ready for most authoring programs. Some authoring programs will accept an audio and video stream.
Regarding ProjectX yes the option to PS strips some of the additional data (if any) from the TS file and is a mpeg2 file.

[Get Go]

Originally Posted by nm

Yes, and any decent authoring tool should be able to import it. SmallDVD remuxes the input with ffmpeg (or re-encodes if the input is not MPEG-2), so it should work in any case.

I have downloaded SmallDVD and it looks like it just may be the ticket.

Originally Posted by netmask

The advantage of using the demux mode in ProjectX is it cleans up many transmission errors - if you can then mux the 2 streams back into a mpeg2 file using a suitable MAC program that file will be ready for most authoring programs

Yeah, from the research I have done, there seemed to be the need for a 2 part process regarding the demuxing/muxing. 1st demux by projectX cleaned up any transmission errors in the .ts file and then there was the 2nd re-mux. That's why I asked for a Mac version or similar of Imago-MPEG to try to re-mux the error free output from ProjectX

But as I learned ProjectX outputs to .mpg in one step, I am wondering is the de-mux/re-mux process necessary at all. In other words does ProjectX clean up the .ts file transmission errors when outputting to M2P (.mpg) and thereby eliminate the need for the de-mux/re-mux step?

Re: iDVD error from my previous post: as a Mac newbie I think iDVD only imports Quicktime .mov files.

[nm]

Originally Posted by Get Go

But as I learned ProjectX outputs to .mpg in one step, I am wondering is the de-mux/re-mux process necessary at all. In other words does ProjectX clean up the .ts file transmission errors when outputting to M2P (.mpg) and thereby eliminate the need for the de-mux/re-mux step?

Apparently not, so you should demux to be safe.

Some alternative options:
- Use mplex. It is pretty simple and easily scriptable for batch processing of many files
- Avidemux: open the .m2v video and add an external audio track (Audio->Main Track). Select MPEG-PS as output format.
- Try muxing to MKV with mkvmerge gui (mmg). SmallDVD might support importing such files without re-encoding.
- Buy the Quicktime MPEG2 component and use MPEG Streamclip.

Re: iDVD error from my previous post: as a Mac newbie I think iDVD only imports Quicktime .mov files.

So it seems, and it probably always re-encodes both video and audio. DVD Studio Pro supports direct importing of MPEG files.

[Get Go]

Originally Posted by nm

Apparently not, so you should demux to be safe.

That makes sense, from what I've seen the standard way seems to be to de-mux with ProjectX and then re-mux with another app.

Originally Posted by nm

Some alternative options:
- Use mplex. It is pretty simple and easily scriptable for batch processing of many files

I'll take a look at mplex. I am real Mac newbie so I don't have a clue about Unix "console" or CLI type apps but I'll take a look.

Originally Posted by nm

- Avidemux: open the .m2v video and add an external audio track (Audio->Main Track). Select MPEG-PS as output format.

Sounds good. I'll have to take a look at Avidemux

Originally Posted by nm

Apparently not, so you should demux to be safe.
- Buy the Quicktime MPEG2 component and use MPEG Streamclip.

Sorry, it's probably the easiest solution but unfortunately I can't/won't buy the plug-in for Quicktime.

I have my Mac about 2 months now and I am slowly starting to get the impression that the open source/free selection for OS X is not nearly as big as for Windows. There's a little part of me that's saying "Damn!"


Thanks for those tips

[nm]

Originally Posted by Get Go

I have my Mac about 2 months now and I am slowly starting to get the impression that the open source/free selection for OS X is not nearly as big as for Windows. There's a little part of me that's saying "Damn!"

Well, almost all useful video/audio tools that work on Linux have been or can be ported to OS X, so there's lots of Free software around. What is missing concerning video encoding are AviSynth-based tools and the numerous GUI frontends to CLI tools. However, some of the nicest video encoding GUIs (like Handbrake and Avidemux) work on all three platforms.

[Get Go]

Originally Posted by nm

Well, almost all useful video/audio tools that work on Linux have been or can be ported to OS X, so there's lots of Free software around.

That's great to hear you confirm that.

I had some notion in the back of my mind that Linux and OS X both being Unix based should have a lot of overlap. But my little adventure to convert .ts files to DVD Video led me to despair. From my posts you can easily guess I'm not a real techie. Or more precisely not a competent techie.

But that is great to know. Cheers.

[netmask]

Just to clarify what ProjectX does in the 2 modes "Demux" and "To M2P"

Demux as the name implies separates out from a TS file
the component parts as indicated by the preferences ticked in Presettings --> output http://www.openwiz.org/wiki/Image:ProjectX_Output.jpg

Importantly it cleans up transmission errors and it only does this in Demux mode.

"To M2P" mode ProjectX only processes the video and primary audio track to produce a standard MPEG2 file.

No transmission errors are corrected.

So to be safe it's best to Demux for consistent results IMO.

[Get Go]

Originally Posted by netmask

Just to clarify what ProjectX does in the 2 modes "Demux" and "To M2P"

Importantly it cleans up transmission errors and it only does this in Demux mode.

"To M2P" mode ProjectX only processes the video and primary audio track to produce a standard MPEG2 file.

No transmission errors are corrected.

So to be safe it's best to Demux for consistent results IMO.

Netmask, thanks for clarifying that The last thing I want is a DVD with the audio 5 or 10 seconds out of sync. Thanks.

You don't happen to know of a small open source/free GUI re-muxer for OS X?

Actually when I think about it I am quite surprised that ProjectX does't have the ability to re-mux. I wonder has it been delibritly 'hamstrung' by the developer to protect himself from copyright court cases?

[nm]

Originally Posted by Get Go

Actually when I think about it I am quite surprised that ProjectX does't have the ability to re-mux. I wonder has it been delibritly 'hamstrung' by the developer to protect himself from copyright court cases?

More likely a program design/architecture issue.

[Get Go]

I posted a bit of a tutorial from what I learned here.

Thanks again fro the help.