These codecs were quite common for web & CD-ROM video in the late '90s and early '00s. Seeking replacements for this ephemeral content is nigh on impossible. Nobody made higher quality copies (or in some cases, they did, but for most, it is illegal for me to obtain them).
The "Unknown video codec" warning was the relevant line from the debug log. Where do you think I got it from?
Here's a fresh log, created by copying some of the troublesome videos to a new folder:
- Code:
2018-05-25 19:45:42,702 DEBUG [PipeManager] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi' to the delta queue (file added)
2018-05-25 19:45:42,703 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] Found file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi', checking if it's already in the Library
2018-05-25 19:45:42,703 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Checking if DB already contains media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi
2018-05-25 19:45:42,703 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Looking up a media item for file path: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi, ignore case: true
2018-05-25 19:45:42,704 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi doesn't exist in DB yet
2018-05-25 19:45:42,704 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] File not in Library, will add it
2018-05-25 19:45:42,704 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file lock
2018-05-25 19:45:42,832 DEBUG [PipeManager] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov' to the delta queue (file added)
2018-05-25 19:45:42,892 DEBUG [PipeManager] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi' to the delta queue (file added)
2018-05-25 19:45:43,004 DEBUG [VideoExtractionStrategy] Extracting metadata of video file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi
2018-05-25 19:45:43,005 DEBUG [FFMPEGWrapper] Invoking FFMPEG to retrieve media information for file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi
2018-05-25 19:45:43,005 DEBUG [ProcessExecutor] Starting C:\Program Files\Serviio\bin\\..\lib\ffmpeg.exe -i Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi
2018-05-25 19:45:43,139 WARN [MetadataExtractionCoordinator] Skipping processing metadata for an unsupported file (Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi). Message: Unknown video codec.
2018-05-25 19:45:43,139 DEBUG [PendingFilesCache] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Dsico - Love Will Freak Us [Joy Division & Missy Elliott mash-up].avi' for the pending files cache
2018-05-25 19:45:43,140 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] Found file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov', checking if it's already in the Library
2018-05-25 19:45:43,140 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Checking if DB already contains media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:43,140 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Looking up a media item for file path: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov, ignore case: true
2018-05-25 19:45:43,141 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov doesn't exist in DB yet
2018-05-25 19:45:43,141 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] File not in Library, will add it
2018-05-25 19:45:43,141 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file lock
2018-05-25 19:45:43,141 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file size
2018-05-25 19:45:43,255 DEBUG [PipeManager] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov' to the delta queue (file added)
2018-05-25 19:45:43,891 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] File is complete with size 7306947
2018-05-25 19:45:43,891 DEBUG [VideoExtractionStrategy] Extracting metadata of video file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:43,891 DEBUG [FFMPEGWrapper] Invoking FFMPEG to retrieve media information for file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:43,891 DEBUG [ProcessExecutor] Starting C:\Program Files\Serviio\bin\\..\lib\ffmpeg.exe -i Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:44,007 WARN [MetadataExtractionCoordinator] Skipping processing metadata for an unsupported file (Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov). Message: Unknown video codec.
2018-05-25 19:45:44,007 DEBUG [PendingFilesCache] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Golden Shower - Video Computer System.mov' for the pending files cache
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] Found file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi', checking if it's already in the Library
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Checking if DB already contains media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Looking up a media item for file path: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi, ignore case: true
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi doesn't exist in DB yet
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] File not in Library, will add it
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file lock
2018-05-25 19:45:44,008 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file size
2018-05-25 19:45:44,758 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] File is complete with size 40115870
2018-05-25 19:45:44,758 DEBUG [VideoExtractionStrategy] Extracting metadata of video file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi
2018-05-25 19:45:44,758 DEBUG [FFMPEGWrapper] Invoking FFMPEG to retrieve media information for file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi
2018-05-25 19:45:44,758 DEBUG [ProcessExecutor] Starting C:\Program Files\Serviio\bin\\..\lib\ffmpeg.exe -i Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi
2018-05-25 19:45:44,902 WARN [MetadataExtractionCoordinator] Skipping processing metadata for an unsupported file (Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi). Message: Unknown video codec.
2018-05-25 19:45:44,902 DEBUG [PendingFilesCache] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Komeda - B.L.O.S.S.O.M..avi' for the pending files cache
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] Found file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov', checking if it's already in the Library
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Checking if DB already contains media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Looking up a media item for file path: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov, ignore case: true
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [MediaItemDAOImpl] Media item Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov doesn't exist in DB yet
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [MediaFileIndexer] File not in Library, will add it
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file lock
2018-05-25 19:45:44,903 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] Checking if the file is complete using file size
2018-05-25 19:45:45,653 DEBUG [LibraryHelper] File is complete with size 42187242
2018-05-25 19:45:45,653 DEBUG [VideoExtractionStrategy] Extracting metadata of video file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:45,653 DEBUG [FFMPEGWrapper] Invoking FFMPEG to retrieve media information for file: Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:45,653 DEBUG [ProcessExecutor] Starting C:\Program Files\Serviio\bin\\..\lib\ffmpeg.exe -i Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov
2018-05-25 19:45:45,766 WARN [MetadataExtractionCoordinator] Skipping processing metadata for an unsupported file (Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov). Message: Unknown video codec.
2018-05-25 19:45:45,767 DEBUG [PendingFilesCache] Adding file 'Z:\video\music\songs, low quality, logo-free [HIGHER QUALITY WANTED]\test_2018-05-25\Salaryman - Rather.mov' for the pending files cache
I don't think you guys are actually trying to help. Stop blaming the user. I asked an honest question: how can I get these files to transcode. In response, you are trying to tell me maybe the files are corrupt, maybe I shouldn't even be wanting to play them at all, or maybe I didn't give you the info you needed. Listen to yourselves.
I followed the troubleshooting instructions, including generating debug logs, and seeing if the files show up in MediaBrowser—the fact that they do not should have confirmed for you that this was a problem with the file not being accepted in the library. Then I confirmed in the
debug log that they were not being added to the library. I would think that you would know that "Unknown video codec" is a Serviio-generated message from the debug log. But no, apparently you are still thinking maybe it is user error, or bad files or something.
If it is user error, I'm happy to admit my mistake, and I will try to help others in the future, but this is ridiculous. Reporting an issue like this should not generate so much pushback. What did I do wrong here? I thought I did everything right, but still you are acting like it is my fault.
Since it is closed-source, I don't understand the inner workings of Serviio, but it seems like it since it is using FFmpeg, it should be able to transcode from any format that FFmpeg supports. I don't see why it would reject some. Perhaps someone can explain why it does not support all the input formats that Serviio's build of FFmpeg does?