FFmpeg creates emtpy (black) frames

Question

I have a set of images from a timelapse shot (172 JPG files) that I want to convert into a movie. I tried several parameters with FFmpeg, but all I get is a video with black frames (though it has the expected length).

ffmpeg -f image2 -vcodec mjpeg -y -i img_%03d.jpg timelapse2.mpg

The command above creates this video: http://sdm-net.org/data/timelapse2.mpg

What I'm expecting is something like this (created with Time Lapse Assembler.app): https://vimeo.com/39038362 - This is my fallback option, but I'd really like to create timelapse movies from a script.

I'm on OSX Lion (10.7.3) with FFmpeg version (0.10) installed via Homebrew.

I also tried to find a proper version of mencoder for OSX, but this doesn't seem to be an easy task. Also, ImageMagick's convert doesn't seem to work nicely, it creates really bad output and it seems there's not much I can do about it...

Edit:

With libx264 and an mp4 container:

ffmpeg -f image2 -y -i img_%03d.jpg -vcodec libx264 timelapse4.mp4

Output:

ffmpeg version 0.10 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Mar 26 2012 13:47:02 with clang 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.12)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/0.10 --enable-shared --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-libfreetype --cc=/usr/bin/clang --enable-libx264 --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libxvid --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libass --disable-ffplay
  libavutil      51. 34.101 / 51. 34.101
  libavcodec     53. 60.100 / 53. 60.100
  libavformat    53. 31.100 / 53. 31.100
  libavdevice    53.  4.100 / 53.  4.100
  libavfilter     2. 60.100 /  2. 60.100
  libswscale      2.  1.100 /  2.  1.100
  libswresample   0.  6.100 /  0.  6.100
  libpostproc    52.  0.100 / 52.  0.100
Input #0, image2, from 'img_%03d.jpg':
  Duration: 00:00:06.88, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p, 3888x2592 [SAR 72:72 DAR 3:2], 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
[buffer @ 0x7f8ec9415f20] w:3888 h:2592 pixfmt:yuvj420p tb:1/1000000 sar:72/72 sws_param:
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] using SAR=1/1
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] frame MB size (243x162) > level limit (36864)
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] MB rate (984150) > level limit (983040)
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 FastShuffle SSE4.2 AVX
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] profile High, level 5.1
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] 264 - core 120 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2011 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=12 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to 'timelapse4.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf53.31.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (![0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuvj420p, 3888x2592 [SAR 72:72 DAR 3:2], q=-1--1, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (mjpeg -> libx264)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  172 fps= 18 q=-1.0 Lsize=     259kB time=00:00:06.80 bitrate= 312.3kbits/s    
video:256kB audio:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 1.089647%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] frame I:1     Avg QP: 9.60  size:212820
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] frame P:43    Avg QP:30.50  size:   291
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] frame B:128   Avg QP:31.00  size:   285
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] consecutive B-frames:  0.6%  0.0%  1.7% 97.7%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] mb I  I16..4: 22.5% 77.2%  0.3%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] mb P  I16..4:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  P16..4:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:100.0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] mb B  I16..4:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  B16..8:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  direct: 0.0%  skip:100.0%  L0: 1.2% L1:98.8% BI: 0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] 8x8 transform intra:77.2% inter:100.0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 41.2% 23.4% 0.6% inter: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] i16 v,h,dc,p: 40% 25% 35%  1%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 36% 32% 30%  1%  0%  0%  0%  0%  0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 51% 40%  6%  1%  1%  0%  1%  0%  1%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] i8c dc,h,v,p: 60% 21% 19%  0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] ref P L0: 92.3%  0.0%  0.0%  7.7%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] ref B L0: 50.0%  0.0% 50.0%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] ref B L1: 99.4%  0.6%
[libx264 @ 0x7f8ec981d800] kb/s:304.49

Output timelapse4.mp4: http://sdm-net.org/data/timelapse4.mp4

Answer 1

Well, this is embarassing. Something happened to the source images, somehow they were all overwritten by black images - that's why the resulting video was all black. My apologies for keeping you from solving real problems. And thanks for trying to help me out on that!