[SCRIPT] RetroPie Convert Videos

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.

@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).

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

KarateInSpace

@hiulit Yes! Working great now! Thank You!

hiulit

@KarateInSpace glad to hear that :)

roslof

@hiulit I'm still using this tool. It's still very valuable. I, of course, wish the MAME videos on screenscraper.fr were consistent, but since they aren't, this script's ability to scan videos first and only select files in a particular encoding format is invaluable.

Love it, and thanks!
-Ros