ISSUE SUMMARY:

New install of Joomla 3.4.1 and JomSocial 3.2.1.6 with cron jobs and ffmpeg installed and configured properly.

No error messages on frontend, videos remain pending ...

Solution ?

Hi GinA,

your installed FFMPEG version is too old. FFmpeg version 0.5
please make sure you using latest version:
ffmpeg.org/

you can contact your server support to upgrade it.

Regards

i forwarded your response to my webhost LunarPages and they responded:

Upgrading ffmpeg on the current server is not possible, what we can do is to migrate you on a server with newer ffmpeg, which is the only latest I found so far is running version 0.6.1.:
FFmpeg version 0.6.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
built on May 5 2011 01:28:37 with gcc 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-50)
configuration: --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-shared --disable-ffserver --enable-pthreads --disable-demuxer=v4l --disable-demuxer=v4l2

I have checked with both LunarPages and Arvixe about their ffmpeg version and they both say they are using 0.6.1 and 0.6.5, respectively, even though they acknolwedge 2.5 is available.

from Arvixe:

Hello

Thank you for the update. We are usnig versions which are supported by cpanel. On your server FFMPEG version is :: 0.6.5

We are able to provide higher version on VPS by making it compatible with VPS. Hoewever we can not modify such kind of modifications on shared server.

Please check and get back to us if you need any further assistance.

Thanks,

Yatin Thakur
Jr. Technical Operations Officer,
General Toll-Free: 1-888-927-8493 (9-ARVIXE)
General Local: 1-707-304-5520 x864
Fax: 707-324-8333

Arvixe, LLC - www.arvixe.com

Hi,

for video converting need at least ffmpeg 2.2.x
if you using shared server, its hard if you want upgrade it.

no other way, you must upgrade the ffmpeg.

Regards

I have received replies from both LunarPages and Arvixe regarding their ffmpeg versions.

LunarPages says:

Hello,
Please note that I checked further into the issue with the version of FFmpeg on server Traian. See the information below regarding the version of FFmpeg:
===========
FFmpeg version 0.5, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --shlibdir=/usr/lib --mandir=/usr/share/man --incdir=/usr/include --enable-libamr-nb --enable-libamr-wb --enable-libdirac --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-shared --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab
libavutil 49.15. 0 / 49.15. 0
libavcodec 52.20. 0 / 52.20. 0
libavformat 52.31. 0 / 52.31. 0
libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
built on Oct 18 2013 08:29:37, gcc: 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-3)
FFmpeg 0.5
libavutil 49.15. 0 / 49.15. 0
libavcodec 52.20. 0 / 52.20. 0
libavformat 52.31. 0 / 52.31. 0
libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
===========
Checking further noticed that version 0.5 is available on this server. The ffmpeg-php version is 0.6.0-svn as we informed until now.
Unfortunately we cannot upgrade this Version of FFmpeg on the server where you are hosted now. Usually this update will be implemented when a bunch of updates will be performed on the server. For now we cannot upgrade only the FFmpeg version.
Also I checked other servers where we are using other FFmpeg version. As an example here is the version of FFmpeg on a cPanel server:
===========================
FFmpeg version 0.6.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
built on Dec 25 2012 00:28:13 with gcc 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-52)
configuration: --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-shared --disable-ffserver --enable-pthreads --disable-demuxer=v4l --disable-demuxer=v4l2
libavutil 50.15. 1 / 50.15. 1
libavcodec 52.72. 2 / 52.72. 2
libavformat 52.64. 2 / 52.64. 2
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale 0.11. 0 / 0.11. 0
FFmpeg 0.6.1
libavutil 50.15. 1 / 50.15. 1
libavcodec 52.72. 2 / 52.72. 2
libavformat 52.64. 2 / 52.64. 2
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale 0.11. 0 / 0.11. 0
===========================
On that server the is available FFmpeg version 0.6.1. Because of that we can move the account on a cPanel server with a higher FFmpeg version(0.6.1).

###

From Arvixe tech support:

Hello,

Thank you for the update.

We have an alternate version available with executable on path " /usr/local/ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg " which is a ffmpeg version git-2014-01-31-dce9321 . Please try with same for conversion at your end and let us know if you see any issues with conversions further.




Sumesh Aravindakshan
Jr. Technical Operations Officer

###

I found cron-job.org/en/ and created a free account and a new cronjob with the statement:

mainetenants.org/index.php?option=com_community&task=cron

I set the execution for every 2min, * * * * *, and received the following response from the server:

Date: Tue, 19 May 2015 19:44:03 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS)
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.14
Set-Cookie: 7de527ed7f832c977fb1e9cbe9a9cb02=f22fe1492f014ff555cae0e44c7afb2f; path=/; HttpOnly
Cache-Control: max-age=60
Expires: Tue, 19 May 2015 19:45:03 GMT
Connection: close
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><messages><message>Could not convert video</message><message>No temporary videos to delete.</message><message>No files to transfer.</message><message>No Videos to transfer.</message><message>No avatars or cover of users needed to be transferred</message><message>No avatars or cover of groups needed to be transferred</message><message>Removed Pending Invitation for Past Event</message></messages>

this is my analysis of the problem:

I have used previous versions of JomSocial 2.x.x on my current LunarPages server and was able to successfully upload and process videos.

I upgraded to Joomla 3 and JomSocial 3 on the same LunarPages server and I am no longer able to process uploaded videos with ffmpeg because JomSocial requires ffmpeg 2.x.x. and my webhost claims they are "unable" to upgrade from v.0.5 (which makes absolutely no sense to me)

Evidently, it is not always possible for a webhost to upgrade ffmpeg, the reasons unbeknownst and illogical to me, which leaves thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of customers without the ability to perform a simple task with a popular program (JomSocial video processing) ...

I created an account with a 3rd party cron job service and used the proper statement: mainetenants.org/index.php?option=com_community&task=cron

The unsuccessful results of the 3rd party cron is the same as my local server:

<messages>
<message>Could not convert video</message>
<message>No temporary videos to delete.</message>
<message>No files to transfer.</message>
<message>No Videos to transfer.</message>
<message>
No avatars or cover of users needed to be transferred
</message>
<message>
No avatars or cover of groups needed to be transferred
</message>
<message>Removed Pending Invitation for Past Event</message>
</messages>

Hi GinA,

FFMPEG version 0.x at your server is not support for mp4 video converting. you need to upgrade it at least to version 2.1
but your server cant upgrade it. the only way to fixing this issue only need to upgrading FFMPEG version.

jomsocial code only executing ffmpeg code, and the rest of converting process has handling by ffmpeg it self.

and I just have a look this cron:
mainetenants.org/index.php?option=com_community&task=cron

here the error message:
/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg: No such file or directory

the correct path must be (regarding your server):
/usr/bin/ffmpeg

and /usr/local/bin/flvtool2 is not exist, so I remove it.

and the ffmpeg version still FFmpeg version 0.5, Copyright (c) 2000-2009


Regards

i had the proper path to ffmpeg (usr/bin/ffmpeg) in all previous attempts to process videos... and they all failed, presumably because of the obsolete 0.5.x version of ffmpeg...

just today i tried to use the alternate path (/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg) to see if Lunarpages had an alternate version of ffmpeg installed somewhere else, evidently unsuccessfully ...

Also, why would the 3rd party cronjob at cron-job.org/en/ also fail when executing: "mainetenants.org/index.php?option=com_community&task=cron ??"

I may be asking for a REFUND since JomSocial has not been able to get my videos processed like their guarantee explicitly promises ...

and the common denominator is JomSocial's MANDATE that ffmpeg v.2.x.x is used, which is not a popular version with shared servers for home and small business users...

What am i missing ?? If Lunarpages, Arvixe and cron-job.org cannot process JomSocial videos, what are my options ???

Hi, Gina.

External cron job will use your server FFMPEG library. So cron job has nothing to do with converting videos... it just fires conversion but file processing is made by your server FFMPEG library.

So your issue is NOT caused by JomSocial or external cron. Your server just don't meet our system requirements. So I'm sorry but this can't be foundation for refund request.

FFmpeg 0.6.7 is just 2 years old. The same situation is with PHP... but in this case hosting providers rather don't hestitate to upgrade... FFMPEG library is not used often on shared hosting, that's why they don't care about it so much.

Your options are:

1. You urge your hosting provider to upgrade to newer version
2. You change your hosting that has better approach for version care
3. You subscribe to ZenCoder or use any other external conversion library.

i find your response, and JomSocial's inability (refusal??) to play nice with older versions of ffmpeg for us poor people to be a huge insult and slap in my face as a customer.

Now what am I supposed to do?? spend $100++ per MONTH on a dedicated or enterprise web package just so i can use your software??

I am beyond pissed off at JomSocial, Lunarpages and this entire culture of selfish, greedy corporatism.

Hi, Gina.

All information techniques are going forward... why older versions are deprecated or discontinued? Because they are obsolete. They just don't keep up the changes. This is very common practice and doesn't have anything to do with business model.

I'm really sorry but on one hand you want our product to be stable, have new features working fast and reliable... but at other hand you want us to use old and outdated techniques and libraries.

Let's say that you want to install Windows 7 on PC from year 2005. Will you complain to Microsoft that they software doesn't support old machines? Every system has it requirements... they can't be just jumped off. You can't install system/framework/app on ANY environment but the only one that meets certain system requirements.

I'm really sorry that your hosting company refuse to use newer version of FFMPEG library. Latest version of this library is FFMPEG 2.6.1 but your hosting company uses ... 0.6.1 that is about 5 years old version.

The only thing I could advise here is to change hosting company to one that care about their server environment more. There is no fault in JomSocial - I repeat - your server just doesn't meed our system requirements.

I understand what you're saying about obsolete versions of software, and I personally always upgrade to the latest version after it has been thoroughly bug-tested. But I have no control over Lunarpages corporate decisions ...

This entire situation boils down to one simple statement: Everybody wants our money but nobody wants to provide all services offered and everyone makes excuses when the customer complains about the lack of support putting the responsibility for a resolution on everyone except themselves.

I honestly cannot understand or accept Lunarpages decision to maintain a 5 yr old obsolete piece of popular software which is used by thousands of customers when they know the obsolete software will in fact interfere with their customers' paid activities.

So now I am trying to establish a home server with the latest and greatest versions of php and ffmpeg and the other applications required so I can use my JomSocial application the way I intended.

To put it simply, I am flabbergasted.