Decoding 4:2:2 MPEG-2 in QuickTime

[Blue_MiSfit]

Hi guys,

The Apple MPEG-2 decoder component doesn't support 4:2:2 MPEG-2...

I know there are plenty of awesome open-source ways to handle MPEG-2, but for the sake of building a Compressor-centric workflow, does anyone know of a third party component that (maybe) wraps libmpeg2 or parts of libavcodec?

Thanks
~MiSfit

[SynchronousArts]

Try Perian, http://www.perian.org

I've found it to work with FCP, Compressor, Episode Pro etc.

SA

[Blue_MiSfit]

Thanks for the suggestion..

Unfortunately, perian didn't work with the 4:2:2 samples I had available.

Have you had any luck using 4:2:2 specifically?

[SynchronousArts]

Thanks for the suggestion..

Unfortunately, perian didn't work with the 4:2:2 samples I had available.

Have you had any luck using 4:2:2 specifically?

Actually No! :o

Sorry for that. We use Perian for reading Hufy AVI files and I thought that we had used it with MPEGs from 50 mb XDCAM. But when I looked to see on my servers what we did in the past, the files had been wrapped into MOVs with the Sony tools or converted into Hufy AVIs with ffmpeg->DGIndex->AVISynth...

From the Perian Website:

"The term MPEG covers more than just a file type; it also defines audio and video compression methods. Perian allows playback of these audio and video compression techniques, but it does not allow the ability to open the MPEG file format. This is due to limitations within QuickTime itself, and we cannot solve it until Apple designs a better interface."

Another thing that made it seem like this was working is Episode Pro does seem to work with 4:2:2 MPVs. But I'm guessing Telestream uses their own importer instead of Quicktime.

SA

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed. Oh well, no stress :)

~MiSfit

[von_Runkel]

Can you describe your workflow?

I guess it has to be a Quicktime component to support Compressor?

[Blue_MiSfit]

MPEG Program Stream containing MPEG-2 @ 4:2:2 and MP2 audio --> QuickTime MOV containing H.264, plus an elementary AC3 file.

Correct, I need a QuickTime component to make Compressor happy.

It's all a theoretical workflow. Nothing production ready yet, obviously :)

~MiSfit

[von_Runkel]

If command line tools is an option for you, I think this can be done quickly with ffmpeg from a terminal window in Mac OS X

[Blue_MiSfit]

Oh yes, indeed it can :)

The idea is to build the entire thing using compressor droplets to leverage QMaster, which will let us distribute large batches of encodes across multiple machines.