diff --git a/transcoders/video_ffmpeg_php.inc b/transcoders/video_ffmpeg_php.inc
index 478c333..41e0558 100644
--- a/transcoders/video_ffmpeg_php.inc
+++ b/transcoders/video_ffmpeg_php.inc
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ class video_ffmpeg_php extends video_ffmpeg implements transcoder_interface {
     //get the playtime from the current transcoder
     $duration = $this->get_playtime($videopath);
 
-    $files = NULL;
+    $files = array();
     for ($i = 1; $i <= $total_thumbs; $i++) {
       $seek = ($duration / $total_thumbs) * $i - 1;  //adding minus one to prevent seek times equaling the last second of the video
       $filename = file_munge_filename("video-thumb-" . $video['fid'] . "-$i.jpg", '', TRUE);
@@ -63,12 +63,15 @@ class video_ffmpeg_php extends video_ffmpeg implements transcoder_interface {
 
         // Get the frame and create thumb file
         $frame = $movie->getFrame($framenumber);
-        $thumb = $frame->toGDImage();
-        imagejpeg($thumb, drupal_realpath($thumbfile));
+
+        if ($frame) {
+          $thumb = $frame->toGDImage();
+          imagejpeg($thumb, drupal_realpath($thumbfile));
+        }
 
         if (!file_exists(drupal_realpath($thumbfile))) {
-          $error_param = array('%file' => $thumbfile, '%cmd' => $command, '%out' => $command_output);
-          $error_msg = t("Error generating thumbnail for video: generated file %file does not exist.<br />Command Executed:<br />%cmd<br />Command Output:<br />%out", $error_param);
+          $error_param = array('%file' => $thumbfile);
+          $error_msg = t("Error generating thumbnail for video: generated file %file does not exist.", $error_param);
           // Log the error message.
           watchdog('transcoder', $error_msg, array(), WATCHDOG_ERROR);
           continue;