Hello folks.

I can't wait to get Kdenlive running and modify MTS-files.
As far as my research goes Kdenlive should support these files in combination with ffmpeg.

I'm running:
Kubuntu 11.04 in a VirtualBox (single CPU, 1,5GB Ram, 3D acceleration enabled)
Kdenlive 0.8, installed according to the Ubuntu instructions (using Sunab's alternative repository)
ffmpeg 4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 installed with kpackage kit

If I try to play the MTS-file both audio and video just judder.
I don't know where to go from here.
Anybody any input?


Thanks.
WorstCases

AVCHD-Files are highly compressed, so it needs more power, to edit them.
It's not the problem of kdenlive, ffmpeg and others.

You can need proxy-function just to edit them, and rendering with original-files.

Further to Tikaey's comments, I have KDE & Gnome Desktop Managers on the same machine, only installed KDE for Digikam as it was struggling to build video thumbnails correctly under Gnome and still does with KDE unfortuneatley, both KDE & Gnome on the same machine running Ubuntu Natty Narwal 64bit.

I was appalled at the poor performance trying to use Kdenlive on KDE 4.2 Desktop (no effects activated) compared to far better performance with Gnome with the same Kdenlive project, proxies were still needed for realtime playback on Gnome, but there was substantial difference in performance between desktops, Kdenlive under KDE just juddered even with proxies. I've also tried KDE on a Laptop and it ground it to a halt, where Gnome had and continues to perform just fine.

Both machines are NVidia Graphics based and I believe it may be an issue with KDE + NVidia. I'm sure there's many users happily using KDE at high performance and I put it down to graphics hardware issues with NVidia.

If your NVidia based, try using Gnome as a test.

Yes, my System is Nvidia based.

I have a Kubuntu and Ubuntu test system setup for kdenlife (both in VirtualBox).

I have a few things which I'd appreciate some clarification on:

1. How do I know if my kdenlife is using the proper codec for my mts-files? Please see the attachment with the file info in kdenlive.

2. I did enable proxy for 1000+px Video.
When is kdenlive rendering the proxy files? I can't tell a difference and if I right click on my clip there is a proxy line, but it's grey.

3. Transcode. If I right click on Transcode the mts file it's doing so, but the mov-file is not working. Something is going wrong there. Still wondering if it's because the wrong codec is used for the mts files in general...

I really wish I can get this program to work. Did try Power Director in the meantime on my host system. Working flawless and smooth with the same files... But I don't like the user interface as much and after spending so much time trying to setup kdenlife I really don't want to buy this program any more if I can avoid it...

1. FFMPEG has identified your source as mpeg4 type, 59.9401 fps so it's almost certainly interlaced or Progressive in an interlaced flagged container? :-) and it's 4:2:0. All looks correct. Have you tried just playing a clip with ffplay which comes with an FFMPEG install to see how FFMPEG thinks it should handle it. What Project Settings are you using? 1080P @ 30 or 1080i @ 59.9401 or 1080P @ 59.0401

2. Is Proxys ticked in your default project settings under Settings -> Configure Kdenlive? Your screen grab would have a bit more info on the Video tab like Proxy Size in Mb's and a Button to Delete Proxy, also you'll see a Creating Proxy bar come up against each clip in the Project Tree and the word Proxy next to a clip, so believe me you'll know when it's using Proxies. ;-)

3. I wouldn't use Transcode, it's kind of historical, there before Proxies were implemented. No doubt useful for some tasks but I'd just figure out proxies. :-)

Yes. Proxy is enabled in the settings.

OK. I have double checked the settings and did reinstall kdenlive.
If I add a clip I see that proxy is enabled, but it says "proxy crashed" (both Kubuntu and Ubuntu).
Since I'd prefer Kubuntu I did attach a Kubuntu screenshot here. Maybe this can clarify something.

Ho can I play a Video with ffmpeg?
Sorry for the noob question, but all Linux is pretty new for me.

Thanks.
WorstCases

Ok, proxy crashed.

If you go into the configure kdenlive menu again, you can create Proxy Encoding Profiles, since audio decoding hasn't been an issue for me I created a profile as follows:

-f avi -acodec copy -vcodec mjpeg -s 480x270 -b 4000k

Which works well for me, you could try that to get you up and running. Create the profile, name it, and then choose it in your project settings with a new project, load in some files and see if it helps.

To play a file with ffplay, open a terminal, cd to your file and type ffplay whatever your file is called. It plays full resolution in a maximised window or at least tries to, so unmaximise the window and click into the frame and you can play and replay the file as many times as you like. In the terminal ffmpeg will give you some info on the file.

Interesting. ffmplay is NOT playing the file correctly either.

The window opens as you say, but it's just green where you can barely see something or it is totally black (screenshot)

If I type in ffmpeg + filename I get some output - does this information help?
Maybe my problem is here. Did not type in your proxy config line yet, because I think my problem might be here with ffmpeg. I would install it manual (download from ffmpeg), but there are so many steps involved that I think I can not handle this properly with my Linux knowledge.
Output ffmpeg:

Videos$ ffmpeg 00041.MTS
FFmpeg version 0.6.2-4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the Libav developers
built on Mar 22 2011 15:35:22 with gcc 4.5.2
configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
WARNING: library configuration mismatch
libavutil configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libavcodec configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libavformat configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libavdevice configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libavfilter configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libswscale configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libpostproc configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
libavutil 50.15. 1 / 50.15. 1
libavcodec 52.72. 2 / 52.72. 2
libavformat 52.64. 2 / 52.64. 2
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libavfilter 1.19. 0 / 1.19. 0
libswscale 0.11. 0 / 0.11. 0
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
Unable to find a suitable output format for '00041.MTS'

Looks like a query for kdenlive developer. I notice there's another recent thread with .MTS problems too. Maybe a bug report or check the bug tracker for similar.

Thank you.

Guess I'll have to wait.

ffmpeg reports "WARNING: library configuration mismatch" + green when playing = bad install

Not sure what went wrong when using sunab's PPA.