MediaExpress 10.9.10 captures incompatible mjpeg avi's +FIX?

Update: MediaExpress from DesktopVideo 10.9.10/11.4.1 on both Ubuntu Linux 16.04/18.04.3/19.04 and Windows 10 Pro 64 are affected!

Using a Decklink 4K SDI for capturing 720p50 as a MJPEG AVI with 2 enabled channels(24bit audio) in MediaExpress 10.9.7 / 10.9.10 on Ubuntu Linux 16.04 amd64 results in avi's that are partly incompatible with "Final Cut X" and or "Adobe Premiere CC" on Mac OS X 10.11.6. Only VIDEO gets imported with no AUDIO track detected!

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -i 720p50MJPEGvideocapturedwithmediaexpress.avi -vcodec copy -acodec copy output.avi

However rewrapping the avi container to... avi with codec copy for both video and audio in ffmpeg results in compatible avi's for both Final Cut X and Adobe Premiere CS (both audio and video track are detected). Rewrapping to quicktime mov gives audio but black screen for video in Final Cut X, or the other way around for premiere.

Rewrapping not only consumes "Time" but also duplicates the needed "Diskspace", both of these assets are very valuable to a lot of us.

Anyone from BMD (?

Try changing audio from being 1x 8 (or 16) channels track into 8x (or 16x) separate mono tracks.

For 16 channels:
ffmpeg -guess_layout_max 0 -i "sure.mov" -filter_complex channelsplit=hexadecagonal -c:v copy -c:a pcm_s24le "out.mov"

For 8 channels:
ffmpeg -guess_layout_max 0 -i "sure.mov" -filter_complex channelsplit=octagonal -c:v copy -c:a pcm_s24le "out.mov"

If you can't use MOV, try AVI. It may work or not depending on the app. If it doesn't just reduce number of channels (most likely you need just first 2 or 4):

first 4 channels:
ffmpeg -guess_layout_max 0 -i "source.mov" -filter_complex 'channelmap=0|1|2|3' -c:v copy -c:a pcm_s24le "out.avi"

first 2 channels:
ffmpeg -guess_layout_max 0 -i "source.mov" -filter_complex 'channelmap=0|1' -c:v copy -c:a pcm_s24le "out.avi"

You can also always re-transcode to e.g. ProRes:

ffmpeg -guess_layout_max 0 -i "source.mov" -filter_complex channelsplit=octagonal -c:v prores -profile:v 3 -movflags write_colr -c:a pcm_s24le "out.mov"
(file wil be marked as progressive).

Time for BM to abandon MJPEG and use something current like DNxHR.

Thanks for sharing your ffmpeg commands, however the audio was not a problem when wrapping to mov container it was the video that kept black, will "-guess_layout_max 0" affect this since I cannot find a description about that parameter?

Isn't it strange that the avi rewrapped by ffmpeg just works in both Premiere CC and FCX on Mac OS?

Maybe a little bit offtopic, but as a personal preference in codecs, I'd rather see BMD having a MJPEG (8bit still 422) AVI compatible with most of the main stream NLE software packages on most platforms as a simple fallback codec, not efficient but compatible as in license terms or other claims.

Second I would like to see recent opensourced GoPRo Cineform 10/12bit 422/444 yuv/rgb interlaced/progressive lossy codec support (which is already part of DavinciResolve), and have most NLE's and portable monitor/recorders support that codec (wishful thinking).

And finally having it record to proprietary avid dnxhd or apple prores codecs in selectable containers.

-guess_layout_max 0 just stops ffmpeg trying to guess audio layout e.g. that 6 channels= 5.1 audio, 8 channels=7.1 etc.

AVI is old and very simple container. It doesn't have defined way of storing timecode, field order, aspect ratio etc. It's not a good choice for post usage.

Haven't tested if this is fixed yet (BMD support says 10.9.11) but I forgot to post the difference I have found with 'ffprobe' between the MediaExpress captured mjpeg and ffmpeg rewrapped mjpeg avi.

*BMD MediaExpress captured mjpeg avi incompatible audio
Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s24le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s32 (24 bit), 2304 kb/s

*ffmpeg rewrapped mjpeg avi compatible both video and audio with mac and windows
Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s24le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s32 (24 bit), 2304 kb/s

You notice the difference "2 channels > stereo" ?

Tested again with the 11.4.1/11.4 Desktop Video revisions and the outcome is still the same. When mjpeg avi is captured with BlackMagic Media Express in Windows or Ubuntu Linux and imported into Premiere CC 2020 (Windows) it will import video only.

However when installing the Desktop Video driver/software package on the machine with Premiere CC 2020 (Windows 10)editing software itself, Premiere will play video and audio with the Media Express recorded clips... Tested 720p50 and 1080p50.

So the MJPEG avi files recorded with Media Express are a somewhat blackmagic flavour of the audio-codec/avi container instead of more general compatible format?