ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

Gen2ly · 2012-05-19 14:42:58

If I try to use the command in the script directly from the command line on a filename with a colon in it, there are no problems; however, if I try to use the script to do it the filename isn't being read correctly. ffmpeg is throwing at me:

/run/media/todd/PSP/VIDEO/Taylor Wilson: 2012-480p-PSP.mp4: Invalid argument

In the script recently I had to add IFS so that filenames with spaces were handling correctly. I know that bash can use the ":" as a command (forget which) so I'm figuring it's being interpreted as such. Is IFS doing this... what do I need to do? Here's the script:

#!/bin/bash

# To handle spaces in filenames correctly
SAVEIFS=$IFS
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")

# Convert, save to PSP video directory
# Xvid version
for v in "$@"; do ffmpeg -i "$v" -b:v 512k -s 320x240 -vcodec libxvid -ab 64k -ar 24000 -strict -2 $vid_dir/${v%.*}-PSP.mp4; done

IFS=$SAVEIFS

Last edited by Gen2ly (2012-05-21 01:59:49)

falconindy · 2012-05-19 15:01:39

I'm guessing that ffmpeg is throwing this error, not the shell. You should simply quote the filename, rather than mess with the IFS. To avoid the ffmpeg error, perhaps you may need to pass the end-of-options marker?

for v; do
    ffmpeg -i "$v" -b:v 512k -s 320x240 -vcodec libxvid -ab 64k -ar 24000 -strict -2 -- "$vid_dir/${v%.*}-PSP.mp4"
done

Gen2ly · 2012-05-20 09:29:32

Ah, baah, didn't catch that I failed to quote that. Ughh . Thanks falcon.

Gen2ly · 2012-05-20 14:02:26

Ok, just found out that this has to do with ffmpeg parsing colons for uri's. I learned though that ffmpeg can be passed the file type by using 'file:':

for v in "$@"; do ffmpeg -i file:"$v" -b:v 512k -s 320x240 -vcodec mpeg4 -vtag xvid -ab 64k -ar 24000 -strict -2 "$vid_dir"/"${v%.*}"-PSP.mp4; done

Last edited by Gen2ly (2012-05-21 02:08:50)

Gen2ly · 2012-05-21 02:07:47

Ok, I spoke too soon . This has turned out to be a problem with the path. When I used the above command successfully I was testing it with home "vid_dir=~/" and the path and filename got accepted correctly. However, when I changed it back to:

vid_dir=/run/media/todd/PSP/VIDEO

I'm getting the:

/run/media/todd/PSP/VIDEO/Sex Determination: More Complicated Than You Thought-PSP.mp4: Invalid argument

Anybody have any thoughts?

frostyfrog · 2012-05-21 04:23:30

Since the filename ends with PSP.mp4, what if you had this instead?

file:"$vid_dir"/"${v%.*}"-PSP.mp4

Also, the way I would do it personally would be this, but I'm not too sure if this would cause any more errors or not.

for v in "$@"; do 
  ffmpeg -i "file:$v" -b:v 512k -s 320x240 -vcodec mpeg4 -vtag xvid -ab 64k -ar 24000 -strict -2 "file:$vid_dir/${v%.*}-PSP.mp4"; 
done

Last edited by frostyfrog (2012-05-21 04:24:04)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-19 14:42:58

ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

#2 2012-05-19 15:01:39

Re: ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

#3 2012-05-20 09:29:32

Re: ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

#4 2012-05-20 14:02:26

Re: ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

#5 2012-05-21 02:07:47

Re: ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

#6 2012-05-21 04:23:30

Re: ffmpeg: unable to pass filename correctly with colon in it

Board footer