[Jim Sustacek]

Unfortunately, last I checked this is a known limitation of Media Express. Basically, Blackmagic only allows files that have been recorded by Media Express to be imported into Media Express. I tried doing all kinds of conversions with FFMPEG and other programs to replicate the format exactly but could not get past the message you are receiving.

Which is silly, because the Blackmagic hardware can clearly handle other files. If you need a solution to play back other files on the Blackmagic’s output, you can use the command line tool bmdplay from the bmdtools suite (plus FFMPEG if the file needs conversion):

https://github.com/lu-zero/bmdtools

[Jim Sustacek]

I think that video bitrate specification is just a rough target, and it can vary depending on what is needed for the source. To get it more precise, I think you can specify min and max bitrates and bufsize (sorry I don’t have the exact syntax handy,).

Audio bitrate is usually more accurate — not sure what is happening there… I’d just try doing the audio part alone in its own mp4 file, testing different bitrate levels and options, and see if it is consistently off, or if it works correctly at, say, 128k.

[Jim Sustacek]

I had a video card do this to a computer recently, so I suspect it could be a bad card. Could try it in another slot or another computer to be sure.

The only bad Intensity Pro card I’ve had simply failed to be detected, but otherwise did not prevent the computer from booting when installed.

[Jim Sustacek]

Probably going to need the full ffmpeg command and console output, if not a link to a sample file too.

[Jim Sustacek]

Longer sound, like the whole thing is stretched? Or longer, like it starts late?

Probably going to need the full ffmpeg console output, if not a link to a sample file too.

[Jim Sustacek]

Notice the experimental AAC encoder warning? I’d try satisfying that first as described, by adding “-strict -2” to your command:

ffmpeg -i credit_app_1.flv -b 1088k -ab 33k -strict -2 credit_app_1_.mp4

Probably also worth heeding the “-b”/”-ab” ambiguous warnings too, and updating those options to “-b:v” and “-b:a” respectively, although it shouldn’t be causing the blank file:

ffmpeg -i credit_app_1.flv -b:v 1088k -b:a 33k -strict -2 credit_app_1_.mp4

Also your blank file was created by the “root” user — are you running ffmpeg as root? Normally you should get warnings about overwriting and permission errors, but just to be sure, delete the mp4 file before running the command, and maybe add a “-y” option to your command so it overwrites without prompting too.

[Jim Sustacek]

I just tried your command and it worked fine for me. Maybe it is something about your FFMPEG installation? I am using version 2.4 on a Mac (tessus build).

I know other/older versions used “librtmp” for rtmp connections, which required some extra options behind the stream URL. See ffmpeg docs here:
https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-protocols.html#librtmp-rtmp_002c-rtmpe_002c-rtmps_002c-rtmpt_002c-rtmpte

And librtmp docs here:
https://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/librtmp.3.html

For an unprotected live stream, you may want to try quoting the stream URL and appending ” live=1″ within the quotes:
ffmpeg -i "rtmp://antena3fms35livefs.fplive.net/antena3fms35live-live/stream-antena3_1 live=1" -f image2 -vf fps=fps=1 out%d.png

[Jim Sustacek]

I think any number of Blackmagic products can do this (SDI or HDMI to Thunderbolt for streaming). We use the Blackmagic Intensity Extreme Thunderbolt box to stream HDMI. Under Mac OS, the Blackmagic Thunderbolt device should be a selectable input device in most modern video streaming programs — we’ve used Wirecast, but others on this forum have used the Intensity Extreme directly with DaCast too:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/124/882386#882502

[Jim Sustacek]

Add “setsar” filter(s), perhaps?

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#setdar_002c-setsar

[Jim Sustacek]

It shouldn’t need to be an analog video source — you can use HDMI video + Analog RCA audio too.

So, if your computer’s video card can output HDMI, you could send that into the Intensity Pro (might have to adjust the resolution to get it to work). You might have to use another output on your video card if you want to have a monitor connected (VGA? DVI?). Or if you have another Blackmagic device with an unused HDMI output, or any other HDMI output device, you could route that into the Intensity Pro too.