Hey there,

I am really sorry for the delay of this reply as it is a weekend for us here. It looks like you have set the ffmpeg path to "/opt/local/bin/ffmpeg" and I believe this is actually the incorrect path. You need to check with your hosting provider for the correct absolute path to ffmpeg.

Hello,
the absolute path to ffmpeg is /usr/bin/ffmpeg but even if i change this path in easysocial config the error still remains.
My provider has also placed a symbolic link to /opt/local/bin/ffmpeg which also not eliminates the error.
please help.

Hey there,

I just added a debug code to test if the file /usr/bin/ffmpeg exists but it is reporting that the file doesn't exist. When accessing http://efleeting.de/cms/index.php?option=com_easysocial&debug=1 this should return "true" if the file /usr/bin/ffmpeg exists on the site.

It is reporting as "false" which means the file does not exist or not accessible by apache

Hello again,
sorry but there is something strange...
as you can see in the listing there is the missing file.

to test the functionality of the tool i try to convert the uploaded file manually:
I have managed to convert the temporary uploaded file in directory /home/mitsch/efleeting/cms/media/com_easysocial
ffmpeg -i ae3b89354466c634b8f32071d49f2e4a no.mpg
and this works fine

root@aytech:/usr/bin# ls -l f*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31584 Apr 28 2010 factor
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11491 Jul 26 2014 fail2ban-client
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10700 Jul 26 2014 fail2ban-regex
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4220 Jul 26 2014 fail2ban-server
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15368 Feb 15 2011 faillog
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19336 Nov 15 2009 faked-sysv
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23456 Nov 15 2009 faked-tcp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 May 4 2012 fakeroot -> /etc/alternatives/fakeroot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3614 Nov 15 2009 fakeroot-sysv
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3610 Nov 15 2009 fakeroot-tcp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7960 Jan 25 2011 fallocate
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 44024 Jun 10 2010 fastjar
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13568 Apr 26 2010 fc-cache
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11808 Apr 26 2010 fc-cat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9288 Apr 26 2010 fc-list
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11144 Apr 26 2010 fc-match
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7984 Apr 26 2010 fc-query
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8248 Apr 26 2010 fc-scan
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 105128 Mar 12 2015 ffmpeg
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 71056 Mar 12 2015 ffplay
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34576 Mar 12 2015 ffprobe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 93760 Mar 12 2015 ffserver
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 102000 Sep 5 2010 fiascotopnm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16120 Apr 20 2015 file
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 226256 Oct 26 2010 find
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23599 Mar 6 2013 find2perl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11752 Sep 5 2010 fitstopnm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10920 Jan 25 2011 flock
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35696 Apr 28 2010 fmt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31600 Apr 28 2010 fold
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 354 Jul 25 13:08 font2c
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 32744 Dec 25 2009 fonttosfnt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35848 Sep 4 2014 formail
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8648 Feb 16 2012 free
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3825 Sep 29 23:28 freetype-config
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 158104 May 29 2015 freshclam
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 May 4 2012 from -> /etc/alternatives/from
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7432 Sep 5 2010 fstopgm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 May 4 2012 ftp -> /etc/alternatives/ftp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16488 Sep 28 2013 ftpcount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 57360 Sep 28 2013 ftpdctl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20456 Sep 28 2013 ftptop
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20744 Sep 28 2013 ftpwho
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19208 Oct 22 10:54 funzip

In the error.log of the Hosting i found this entrys:

[Mon Dec 14 16:00:47 2015] [error] [client 94.79.176.26] File does not exist: /home/mitsch/efleeting/plugins, referer: http://efleeting.de/cms/index.php/community/videos/15-noyan-2015/process.html
[Mon Dec 14 16:22:29 2015] [warn] [client 94.79.176.26] mod_fcgid: read data timeout in 40 seconds, referer: http://efleeting.de/cms/index.php/community/videos.html
[Mon Dec 14 16:22:29 2015] [error] [client 94.79.176.26] Premature end of script headers: index.php, referer: http://efleeting.de/cms/index.php/community/videos.html

The owner and group of the ffmpeg binary belongs to the root user and root group Since the web server is most likely running as apache, it won't be able to execute this file

Hello,
all Tools in this directory belong to root user and group but there are rights to execute the tools for all including apache.

I have one more question: where is the target directory for the encoded file? and what would be the filename of that file?

Hi there,

I am really sorry for the delay of this reply.

You can find the path of your encoded video from your backend > easysocial > settings > videos > general > storage page as well as the filename there.

Hello,
in that path of the videos (/media/com_easysocial/videos) there are nubered directorys 1, 2, 3, ...19
In these directorys there is the uploaded file: expamle: (/home/mitsch/efleeting/cms/media/com_easysocial/videos/15/ae3b89354466c634b8f32071d49f2e4a )
this means the upload finishes, but there is no transcoded whatever file.
What should be the filename of the converted file? ae3b89354466c634b8f32071d49f2e4a.mp4 oer 15.mpg?

I told you, in my posting before, that i can use the ffmpeg tool in the shell, and it works well - but your script does not. what else can be the reason?
my provider sets the owner and group of ffmpeg to apche owner and group but this does not work also!

What must be in the Field [Path to FFMpeg] in easysocial:
a) /usr/bin/ffmpeg
b) /usr/bin/
Both are not working.

I just find out that name required (e93df5a6.mp4) in the database table - now i have created the mp4 file manually and upload it to the directory with a jpg for the thumb (3080dc52e12fb3f61ea1dc76f8358a29.jpg).
Now i can see the thumb and can klick to view it, now there is a blank page with a link, and if i click on the link in the blank area it playes the video.

Please help! the upload does not work!

Hey there,

EasySocial executes the command using php's "passthru" which in turn I believe runs on the web server's user. Since your ffmpeg library is owned by the user and group of "root", PHP wouldn't be able to execute the ffmpeg command.

If you want, you can run the php code below to test it,

P/S: The encoding happens after the video file has been uploaded. There is no way to encode a video file while the upload is in progress. During the encoding, the script would tell ffmpeg to generate a log file in each of the folders.

Hello,
the hint that u use the php passthru was good. This function was deactivated because it is a security risk.
this seems to bring us one step forward but not finaly the solution:

Now i have one empty .mpg file in the video directory and a .log file with error:

ffmpeg version 0.7.17, Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
built on Mar 12 2015 07:12:27 with gcc 4.4.5
configuration: --enable-libdc1394 --prefix=/usr --extra-cflags='-Wall -g ' --cc='ccache cc' --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libspeex --enable-nonfree --disable-stripping --enable-avfilter --enable-libdirac --disable-decoder=libdirac --enable-libfreetype --enable-libschroedinger --disable-encoder=libschroedinger --enable-version3 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libvpx --enable-librtmp --extra-libs=-lgcrypt --disable-altivec --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-vis
libavutil 50. 43. 0 / 50. 43. 0
libavcodec 52.123. 0 / 52.123. 0
libavformat 52.111. 0 / 52.111. 0
libavdevice 52. 5. 0 / 52. 5. 0
libavfilter 1. 80. 0 / 1. 80. 0
libswscale 0. 14. 1 / 0. 14. 1
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/home/mitsch/efleeting/cms/media/com_easysocial/videos/43/ae3b89354466c634b8f32071d49f2e4a':
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: isommp42
creation_time : 2015-12-06 17:11:44
Duration: 00:00:14.34, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2350 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 2155 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: aac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
Metadata:
creation_time : 2015-12-06 17:11:44
[buffer @ 0x1a0bfa0] w:1280 h:720 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/1000000 sar:1/1 sws_param:
[scale @ 0x1a01ee0] Size values less than -1 are not acceptable.
Error opening filters!

Which Filter are you using? what is missing here?

Hey there,

I am sorry for the delay of this reply. This is the code that is used to convert videos when a video is uploaded on the site:

Hello,
what can i do with that information?

I think that there is a bug in your code: [scale @ 0x1a01ee0] Size values less than -1 are not acceptable.
In your command there is: $command .= '-vf "scale=\'if(gt(a,16/10),1920,-1)\':\'if(gt(a,16/10),-1,1080)\', pad=w=1920:h=1080:x=(ow-iw)/2:y=(oh-ih)/2:color=black" ';

I think that the tool can't use the result of your calculation of the scale - because the result is less than -1!

As you can see my video is 1280x720.

I'm getting frustrating with this new feature which does not work as advertised. But my customer really wants to use this feature, so how can we bring this to a accetable finish?

Hello again,
my provider ask me if there is a documentation of the ffmpeg configuration that your tool needs?
something like requirements for installing and using easysocial with that video uploadfeature.

Do you have SSH access to the server? I would like to run the command that is executed by EasySocial on the terminal

i only can post you the root ssh account, but be patient
can i write it here to the forum?

Hey there,

Yes, just edit your original post at the top and include it under the "Site Details" section

ok, done!
please be carefully.

Hm, it looks like you are using a much older version of FFMpeg. Is it possible for you to upgrade ffmpeg to the latest or at least 2.6.x ?

The currently installed version is 0.7.x which is a pretty ancient build.

Hello,
ok, it would be great to have the info which version of ffmpeg is supported and which not.
This would have saved us a lot of time.

Now the Version off ffmpeg is updated to Version 2.8.4 and also i have updated the PHP to V 5.6.16

The Tool is working now but after finishing the encoding the diplay is blank or the created thumbnail isnt displayed.
The URL for my Last Video does not display the thumb but the link to play the video is there and if you click the video plays well.

Have you a hint how i can show the thumb?

Hello again,
i find out that my Edge and Internet Explorer shows the thumb but my Firefox-Browser dosnt.

For some reasons, the thumbnail isn't being generated. Can I have the video file that you uploaded so that I can try it on my end?

Hello,
the thumb is created well, but it is not shown in Firefox and Chrome Browsers.
Internet Explorer and Edge Browser show it very well.

My Test MP4 Videofile is uploaded to http://efleeting.de/Noyan2015.mp4

In My videos there you can see the thumb but if you click on the thumb to play the video there the thumb is not shown in some browsers.

Hey there,

I just uploaded this video on your site and the screen shot seems to appear for me on both Firefox and Chrome. Please take a look at my screen shot here, http://screencast.com/t/CVpfh0iqX

Am I missing anything?

Hello,
yes this is the overview that shows the thumb as i described.

But click on the thumb to play the video results on a blank or white screen with a link to play.

View: http://screencast.com/t/O9VHi6hpnuW

Yes, that was it.
The integrated HTML 5 Video Feature in the Template from yootheme was making the trouble. After deactivating it it works well.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for updating, glad that your issues are resolved now I will lock this thread since this is already resolved but if you still need any further assistance, please start a new ticket.