[FFmpeg-user] retain timecode stream when transcoding v210 to FFV1/MKV

[Christian Sievers]

Thanks!

@BloodMan Yes I had seen that hint.

@John Curtis

Both commands throw up the same error message: 

[matroska @ 0x7fdaabf0a2c0] Only audio, video, and subtitles are supported for Matroska.
[out#0/matroska @ 0x7fdaabf07340] Could not write header (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument
[af#0:1 @ 0x7fdaabf0fec0] Error sending frames to consumers: Invalid argument
[af#0:1 @ 0x7fdaabf0fec0] Task finished with error code: -22 (Invalid argument)
[af#0:1 @ 0x7fdaabf0fec0] Terminating thread with return code -22 (Invalid argument)
[out#0/matroska @ 0x7fdaabf07340] Nothing was written into output file, because at least one of its streams received no packets.

I can’t post a link to an example file here because I don’t have the rights to do that, and I can’t make an excerpt that still has the timecode track … it’s a catch 22 :)




> On 2. May 2025, at 19:11, john curtis <john.curtis at curtisdigital.com> wrote:
> 
> Hey can you give this a try 
> 
> ffmpeg -i input_file.mov \
> -map 0 \
> -c:v ffv1 -level 3 -g 1 -slicecrc 1 -slices 16 \
> -c:a copy \
> -c:d copy \
> -c:s copy \
> output_file.mkv
> 
> I think the issue is around the -dn flag . 
> 
> Good luck!
> John 
> 
>> On May 2, 2025, at 10:58 AM, Christian Sievers via ffmpeg-user <ffmpeg-user at ffmpeg.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello world and hello ffmpeg-user list!
>> 
>> We have roughly 30TB of v210 (uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 PAL) Quicktime mov video files, created when digitizing tape. We would like to transcode these to FFV1/MKV for archival purposes.
>> 
>> However, when I’m doing a transcode like this:
>> ffmpeg -i input_file -map 0 -dn -c:v ffv1 -level 3 -g 1 -slicecrc 1 -slices 16 -c:a copy output_file.mkv
>> …. I lose the time code stream (and from what I understand, it’s better not to). How can I retain it?
>> 
>> * the command is from https://amiaopensource.github.io/ffmprovisr/#create_FFV1_mkv
>> 
>> * below is the output of ffmpeg -i input_file.mov
>> 
>> Stream #0:0[0x1](eng): Video: rawvideo (2vuy / 0x79757632), uyvy422(smpte170m/bt470bg/bt709, top coded first (swapped)), 720x576, 165888 kb/s, SAR 16:15 DAR 4:3, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25 tbn (default)
>>     Metadata:
>>       creation_time   : 2023-08-03T15:09:19.000000Z
>>       handler_name    : ?Apple Video Media Handler
>>       vendor_id       : KeyG
>>       encoder         : Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2
>>       timecode        : 10:43:59:02
>>     Side data:
>>       Frame cropping: 8/9/0/0
>> Stream #0:1[0x2](eng): Audio: pcm_s16le (sowt / 0x74776F73), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s (default)
>>     Metadata:
>>       creation_time   : 2023-08-03T15:09:19.000000Z
>>       handler_name    : ?Apple Sound Media Handler
>>       vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
>>       timecode        : 10:43:59:02
>> Stream #0:2[0x3](eng): Data: none (tmcd / 0x64636D74), 0 kb/s (default)
>>     Metadata:
>>       creation_time   : 2023-08-03T15:09:19.000000Z
>>       handler_name    : Time Code Media Handler
>>       reel_name       : 696_komp_fits_komp_52_betasp
>>       timecode        : 10:43:59:02
>> Stream #0:3[0x4](eng): Subtitle: eia_608 (cc_dec) (c608 / 0x38303663) (default)
>>     Metadata:
>>       creation_time   : 2023-08-03T15:09:19.000000Z
>>       handler_name    : ?Closed Caption Media Handler