[SCRIPT] RetroPie Convert Videos

[Rion]

@hiulit said in [SCRIPT] RetroPie Convert Videos:

@mitu @Rion Yes, that 'standalone' script I could do. It would just be a matter of removing all chechkings about RetroPie being installed. I will look into that once I've done the change from libav-tools to ffmpeg .

Yes that's exactly what i meant. Sorry for being so vague :)

[hiulit]

@davidonabus It should be fixed in the new version. Could you try it?

[hiulit]

@Rion No worries! I'll have a look and see what I can do :)

[toimas]

@hiulit Thank for the update... 'sadly' I can't test it right now, I've trancoded my few videos 'by hand' meanwhile... and since I've also switched to Debian Buster I also had to use ffmpeg-tools anyway...

[hiulit]

@Rion When you think about that "standalone" script, what do you have in mind? How would it work?
I took a look at the code and it super dependant of RetroPie, hehe! :) All the video paths, the scraper paths...
I'm trying to figure out how could I make it work, that's why I'm asking for suggestions. Happy new year!

[hiulit]

@toimas That's ok, no worries! I'll be updating again the script. I changed libav-tools for ffmpeg.

[kdeman]

@hiulit I am trying out your tool but get the message "woops! the 'libav-tools' package is not installed!". Trying to install it doesn't work (the package has been obsoleted, and replaced by ffmpeg). You mention you changed from libav-tools to ffmpeg - I did a latest pull from github, still I get this message. Is there another place where I should get the ffmpeg enabled version? Many thanks in advance!

[Clyde]

@kdeman How did you try to install the transitional package libav-tools? It should a) install the package ffmpeg if it's not already installed, and b) create these links for backwards compatibility:

avconv  -> ffmpeg
avplay  -> ffplay
avprobe -> ffprobe

You can install libav-tools with this command:

sudo apt install libav-tools

And you can read its description with its dependency ffmpeg and the link list above with this command:

apt show libav-tools

(No sudo required for the latter one.)

edit: Are you using the normal Retropie image that's based on Debian Stretch or another Linux distribution?

[kdeman]

@Clyde

Using Buster (10) on a Pi 4. I installed Retropie manually, quite some time ago now, all working really well, haven't had any real issues so far, except this one.

I tried to install it exactly as you say. Message coming back in the order of "package not available, but is referred to by another package. The following packages replace it: ffmpeg"

ffmpeg in indeed installed and working fine. However, as I mentioned, when I try to run the video conversion script, it states I need to have "libav-tools" installed...

However, I don't think the backward compatibility works - as when I type avconv or avplay or avprobe it states "command not found".

[kdeman]

@Clyde

Solved it. I ended up installing the libav-tools by downloading them manually from the debian.org site and this fixed the problem. Thanks for the prompt reply!

[Clyde]

Ah, so they have removed the transitional package in Buster. Good to hear that you've solved it nonetheless.

To get rid of the message without having to manually install libav-tools, just delete line #33 of the script that says readonly DEPENDENCIES=("libav-tools" "bc"). An update of the script may restore it, though, if @hiulit doesn't change it in the repo.

[hiulit]

@kdeman Hey, sorry for the late reply! I have the changes on the develop branch, which I'm currently working on. I'll release a new version with ffmpeg and some other stuff pretty soon :)

[Clyde]

@hiulit Thanks, I have taken this for a reason to update my own script accordingly. 👍

[hiulit]

Hi there!

I've just released RetroPie Convert Videos v3.0.0! :D

---

Changelog

NOTE: This release may contain breaking changes!

Deprecated

• libav-tools for ffmpeg.

Added

• New option --gui to start the GUI. It lets you perform all the functions, but in a more friendly manner. If standalone is passed as a parameter, the script doesn't check if RetroPie is installed, which it does by default.

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@kdeman Could you give it a try and see if you have any issues now?
@Rion I've added an option to use the script as a standalone app. Check the docs, but basically now you can execute the script like this ./retropie-convert-videos.sh --gui standalone and it will open a nice GUI and it won't check if RetroPie is installed. I don't know if that's what you meant, but there, I've done it :)

EDIT:
I've updated the first post with the new documentation.

[Rion]

@hiulit Thanks! This is really a big QOL improvement and speeds up the process of converting video snaps from the desktop.

[hiulit]

@Rion You're welcome! Let me know if it works for you the way you thought it would work :)

[kdeman]

@hiulit Excellent! thank you very much...

[KarateInSpace]

I just can't seem to get this to work on any of my videos. Keep running into this error for all my videos:

daphne
------
Converting -> "ace.mp4" ... (1/4)
(standard_in) 1: syntax error
ERROR: 'ace.mp4' has 0 frames!

This happens with every emulator. I'm using v3.0.0 and I set the scraper to

./retropie-convert-videos.sh --scraper "skyscraper"

and all my videos are in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/<system>/media/videos/

[hiulit]

@KarateInSpace I think I might know what is causing the issue :/ I'll release a new version asap.

[hiulit]

I've just released RetroPie Convert Videos v3.1.0!

---

Changelog

Fixed

• Replaced legacy libav-tools (avprobe) commands for the new ffmpeg's equivalents (ffprobe).

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@KarateInSpace Could you try it now and see if it works? :)