No Video from CloneDVD Mobile 720x480

[FairUse User]

I've been having all sorts of problems generating videos from CloneDVD Mobile for my PSP in 720x480 resolution.

Its totally hit or miss. Some mp4 files only have audio, the video portion of the mp4 appears as just a black screen upon playback in Quicktime on my PC. I'm converting these files for use on my PSP, and I can always watch the videos I create for my PSP via CloneMobile DVD on my PC by using Quicktime. However, these 720x480 files that don't have Video, won't even play on my PSP. My PSP says "The Video can not be played."

If I select the 480x272 resolution I've never had a problem with the video of the mp4 not working. What's frustrating is that the 720x480 conversion is so processor intensive that generating a 800MB file sometimes takes six to eight hours, only to find out I've got nothing but audio and a black screen for video.

To repeat, I can always get the same disc to generate a working mp4 in 480x272 resolution for my PSP. I can play the mp4 in quicktime on my PC as well. However, when I select the 720x480 resolution it seems that it only intermittently works. Again if I use 480x272 resolution I always get working mp4 (video and audio).

What is causing the mp4 files to have nothing for video, or to just have a black screen when I attempt to play 'em back in Quicktime once the conversion is finished? This seems to have only started occurring since the latest upgrade to CloneDVD Mobile. I don't remember this happening ever before. Then again I very rarely make my videos in 720x480. Its really just for stuff I really want to enjoy...

I've reprocessed the same task three times now and no video, nothing but a black screen.

I've never had any type of problems with CloneDVD Mobile before. Is there a problem with the current release of CloneDVD Mobile for 720x480 file creation?

 

[josh22]

I think the psp can ONLY support 480x272 rez.......not sure though since there is a setting for a higher rez in clone dvd mobile

 

[FairUse User]

The max resolution for the PSP is 480x272 but using CloneDVD Mobile and using the 720x480 PSP setting produces a much higher quality video than the 480x272 choice. It must use a much higher bit rate.

The 720x480 PSP choice is one that a lot of us use because it produces a vividly better movie when played on the PSP, but its still watchable on the PC. The 480x272 movies are pretty tough to watch on the PC.

Other users are reporting ongoing problems with the 720x480 setting and I've directed them to this thread, so we don't have eight open threads on for this ongoing issue of no video, black screen, audio only videos when using the 720x480 setting.

I have had luck getting the 720x480 to work. However, I've had to redo the encoding five or six times to get it to finally work. For a encoding task that takes six hours and almost always produces a black screen, that's a problem...

 

[Mr. Burnz]

I've had the same problem, but oddly enough, it's only with certain movies, like "The Messengers" region1.

 

[Clone Me]

It would be nice to sticky this thread. I missed it during in initial search.

All my results mirrors yours.

One poster said PSPVid9 works fine..hmm.

We should all e-mail Slysoft tech support to bring this thread to attention.

 

[Clone Me]

Yep, I bought my PSP used, I was told the native rez was 720x480. LOL so much FUD going around, I started doing my home work.

If you keep the quality slider high for max bitrate, I see no advantage to wasting space for a higher than native 480x272 rez. The klutzy psp9 software let me do a 720x480 that I tested with QT and on the PSP. I could not see any improvement in PQ. What bit rate are you guys seeing?

 

[FairUse User]

I see a huge difference using 720x480, especially when playing the file in Quicktime on the PC. For about $20 you can buy cables for your PSP Slim to play videos on your TV.

Trust me, you'll want to encode at 720x480, not the lower resolution. the 720x480 file may be bigger, but its more useful. You can play it on the PSP and get a better picture, on the TV, and on the PC.

The only problem is that CloneDVD Mobile creates a black screen on 720x480 for PSP almost every time. I've had luck running the same process over and over again. About once every five times I can get CloneDVD Mobile to produce audio and video.

Any updates on what the problem is, or when it will be fixed?

 

[Clone Me]

OK, I heard back from Sheep Support.

The higher Rez is supposeed to be for the FW modded PSP's.

No problems here, I used high bitrate DVD's for the big screen. For the PSP I average about 600-800mb files for the 480x270 rez which is OK for the time I want to spend encoding this. I use a $60, 4 gig card from CC.

I really like the PSP, but Sony has made some really bad decisions with it. UMD movies are a flop, they keep fighting the modding hackers who make some really cool mods, and not supplying a video conversion program in each box along with better video format support.

 

[Clone Me]

Another link : http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=6773

I would think that the 720x480 settings would be fixed or removed from the program. At least update the near worthless documentation on usesage with coverage on custom settings and such. I have wasted about 18 hours dinking with settings with nothing to show and I see the same questions over and over.

How about it SlySoft?

 

[KnoWei]

I've had a similar problem with DIVX (.avi) format back-ups that won't play once they get to a certain file size. For comparison I've used identical settings on the full movie and then just 4 chapters of the same movie. The full version doesn't play and the 4-chapter version does.

One thing I've observed is that the .avi files that won't play also don't have any file properties for Video and Audio. I'm doing some testing by incrementally raising the quality on the full movie conversion starting about 3/4 of the way to the right.

Cloneme & Fairuse User,
Can you check to see if the file properties (right click on the file in Windows Explorer) show the Video and Audio properties? They are on the "Summary" tab if you are using XP and the "Details" tab if you are using Vista.

There seems to be some relationship to the file size and the properties disappearing. Peer's much earlier post that Cloneme references above, http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=6773, indicates that there may be problems when the quality slider is maxed out to the right on the higher resolutions. Of course higher resolution + max quality = bigger file.

I'm *not* trying to play these conversions on a PSP so my settings are somewhat different than yours. However I think the common thread may be output file size is exceeding some threshold or as Peer has suggested; stay away from the far right of the slider. This seems to be especially true once you hit file sizes over 800MB as I can go "full right" on the Quality Slider for shorter conversions or conversions with lower resolutions, i.e. smaller output files.

My CloneDVD Mobile settings are:
Letterbox Zoom = half
Resolution = 720x472
Video Quality = max right (the number varies depending on long or short source file)
Estimated Size = 404 MB (4-chapter)/2+GB (full movie), ~2900kbps
Pass Dropdown = 2 Pass
DeInterlace = not checked
Chapters = not checked

While I was writing this the conversion of the full movie finished with the Video Quality slider about 3/4 to the right. This gave me an Estimated Size of 1.5GB, 1991kbps. Guess what - that file shows its properties and I'm streaming it to my media server now and it looks great.

Next test is another conversion of the same full movie [Looney_Toons_Back_In_Action] with the quality slider one notch back from far right (almost highest quality). I'll repost in the morning with those results -- got to get some sleep. My conversion time on this 90min movie is running about 90-100 minutes.

12.24.07 Update
The final test on Looney_Toons is good. The movie plays and the Video & Audio file properties are present. The final file output size (not the estimate) was 1.98GB.

However, I tried converting a 2nd DVD this morning [The_Three_Amigos] and set the VQ Slider one notch back from the right. Estimated Size was 2.45GB and final size was 2.26GB. Conversion completes but the movie doesn't play and the file has no Video or Audio properties listed. This movie is bigger than Looney_Toons so I'm going to play with backing it off one VQ Slider notch at a time until it gives me a good result. This DVD is in 4:3 format so there is no LB Zoom setting and I selected Res = 720x480 (NTSC TV) - otherwise I used the same settings as the Looney_Toons test. I'm taking odds that the tipping point is 2GB final output size...

No further updates planned until after Christmas otherwise "Mrs. Claus" may start throwing lumps of coal at me.

12.26.07 Final Planned Update
Using DVD The_Three_Amigos as a test DVD there is conclusive evidence that any DIVX (.avi) file with a finished size in excess of 2GB, i.e. not estimated size before conversion, will not play. I tested several other movies as well including Looney_Tunes_Back_In_Action and A_Night_At_The_Museum. Any conversion that exceeds a final file size of 2GB exhibits the same symptoms.

1) Conversion completes successfully (according to CloneDVDMobile)
2) The file's Video and Audio properties are blank when viewed via Windows Explorer.
3) The file will not play on Windows Media Center or Quicktime or my exploited PS2 SMS player (which is very forgiving).

So regardless of target platform I encourage anyone converting to Generic DIVX and who is using higher resolutions and higher quality settings to review the estimated file size in CloneDVDMobile before you start converting. You can push the resolution and quality up until the estimated file size is just a hair over 2GB since CloneDVDMobile tends to slightly overestimate the file size at least in 2-pass mode.

Settings I've been using in CloneDVDMobile after selecting Generic DiVX and the main movie title are:
Letter Box Zoom = None
Resolution = 720x480 (NTSC)
Video Quality = Push to the right until you are no higher than 2.1GB. For a movie with a lot of action keep it below 2.0GB
DeInterlacing = Off (not checked)
Pass Dropdown = 2
Chapters = No

~KnoWei

 

[Shanghaidilly]

Interesting, because running PSP FW v3.95, I can't get any videos created with CDVDmobile to work at the 480x272 resolution ("unsupported data"). Better yet, all videos created at 720x480 work fine.

Anyone know what the heck's going on here? Is it the firmware that's constantly messing with what works and what doesn't?

 

[twfjim]

I have the same problem but with encoding videos to iTouch. It doesn't seem to make a difference what settings I use, certain movies play back in quicktime with only audio and a black screen after encoding. On one DVD, one episode encoded fine, the other three came out with no video. They don't work on my iPod either.