title: How can I make ffmpeg open my raw video file?
body: <p>I'm trying to convert a raw video-only file to some other formats but all I'm getting ffmpeg to produce is a black video.
  There are no error messages displayed and this is what ffprobe shows when analyzing the file:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>ffprobe version 3.2.2 Copyright (c) 2007-2016 the FFmpeg developers<br>
    built with Apple LLVM version 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.42.1)<br>
    configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/3.2.2 --enable-shared
    --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-opencl --disable-lzma --enable-vda   libavutil      55. 34.100 / 55. 34.100   libavcodec     57. 64.101 /
    57. 64.101   libavformat    57. 56.100 / 57. 56.100   libavdevice    57.  1.100 / 57.  1.100   libavfilter     6. 65.100 /  6. 65.100   libavresample   3.  1.  0 /  3.  1.  0   libswscale      4.  2.100 / 
    4.  2.100   libswresample   2.  3.100 /  2.  3.100   libpostproc    54.  1.100 / 54.  1.100 Input #0, avi, from '1.avi':   Metadata:
        encoder         : Lavf54.20.4   Duration: 00:00:57.43, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 83196 kb/s
        Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo, pal8, 720x480, 83238 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 30 tbn, 30 tbc</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Other input files can be transcoded to a playable outfile file with the same ffmpeg convert command:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>ffmpeg -i 1.avi -vcodec h264 output.avi</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I know the input video is not corrupted because VLC plays it successfully and can even convert it to other formats, but I want to preserve the original one when trying different configurations using ffmpeg.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance for helping!</p>