theora - Aug 2008 - transcoding to theora from quicktime using xiphqt

Hi,

I'm trying to convert some quicktime files into Ogg/Theora using the
Xiph QuickTime Components version 1.8.

The end goal is to stream these files using apache httpd and the cortado
applet (and hopefully the embedded players that will be in Firefox
soon).

Using iMovie DV on OS X 10.4.11 (intel) I'm able to export as an ogg
movie, however the resultant file has problems with audio on certain
platforms.

On cortado in Firefox (RHEL5, Fedora 9 and OS X), I just see what I
think is the first frame of the video and "Could not open audio
device."
where the progress bar usually is. The video refuses to play.

On RHEL5's Movie Player, the video plays, but there is no audio at all.

On Fedora 9's Movie Player, I get a popup saying "Totem could not play
'/home/nik/rdob.ogg'. The audio device is busy. Is another application
using it?'

The file plays fine in VLC on OS X and Fedora 9.

How can I go about debugging this?

Regards,

Nik Lam

Unix System Administrator

Library IT Services

University of Sydney

Hey Nik,

The audio problem is mostly a linux system problem. I am not an expert on that 
issue, but my experience is that in some cases, the sound card is blocked by 
another application or maybe a soundserver. The java engine seems not to be 
as flexible as VLC or mplayer, which can connect to a wide variaty of 
different sound systems (alsa, oss, jack, arts etc). 

Another point is the new skeleton, which is now used in the ogg media 
container, which should make the container more flexible. A number of players 
(e.g. the cortado player? and totem?) are not able to play these files. 

An easy workaround would be to use the OggVideoTools to split and rejoin the 
file:

oggSplit myfile.ogg
oggJoin mynewfile.ogg theora_*.ogg vorbis_*.ogg 
rm theora_*.ogg vorbis_*.ogg unknown_*.ogg

Regards - Yorn

Am Freitag 08 August 2008 07:17:30 schrieb Nikolas Lam:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to convert some quicktime files into Ogg/Theora using the
> Xiph QuickTime Components version 1.8.
>
> The end goal is to stream these files using apache httpd and the cortado
> applet (and hopefully the embedded players that will be in Firefox
> soon).
>
> Using iMovie DV on OS X 10.4.11 (intel) I'm able to export as an ogg
> movie, however the resultant file has problems with audio on certain
> platforms.
>
> On cortado in Firefox (RHEL5, Fedora 9 and OS X), I just see what I
> think is the first frame of the video and "Could not open audio
device."
> where the progress bar usually is. The video refuses to play.
>
> On RHEL5's Movie Player, the video plays, but there is no audio at all.
>
> On Fedora 9's Movie Player, I get a popup saying "Totem could not
play
> '/home/nik/rdob.ogg'. The audio device is busy. Is another
application
> using it?'
>
> The file plays fine in VLC on OS X and Fedora 9.
>
> How can I go about debugging this?
>
> Regards,
>
> Nik Lam
>
> Unix System Administrator
>
> Library IT Services
>
> University of Sydney
>
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