HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[qyot27]

Thanks for the reply

Yes you are right , but I'm following exactly what it says in the tutorial given here (using git). And also I can't even make it to the ffmpeg step due to this problem occurring in make x264 . I did however got past this step in my previous attempts , then only ffmpeg was causing problems , but now I could not even reach there

Try

sudo apt-get purge ffmpeg

and then attempt to build x264 again. I have a feeling that there may have been a copy of FFmpeg 0.6 installed previously, and the 'remove' step didn't flush all of it out. Also, if any part of a make process fails, it tends to be a good idea to run 'make distclean' before running ./configure again. Otherwise you could get remnants from previous failed build attempts.





From a different angle, I would hope I'm wrong, but it could be due to the 'bulk' of the FFmpeg build that x264 is trying to link against. Some git commits from this past April mention an opt.h, but I don't know if it's related to this issue. You could try to build a stripped-down version of FFmpeg *first*, then build x264 (which will detect FFmpeg), then uninstall FFmpeg and install a proper, full version. For cleanliness reasons, you can install the minimal FFmpeg to a custom area, which won't mess with the system.

This is what I do since none of the encoders or muxers in FFmpeg are necessary for x264's lavf support to function (along with inflating FFMS2 the same way, and needing to link even more stuff in the process).

If you want to try the minimal FFmpeg->x264->full FFmpeg option, then see if this works:

basic FFmpeg:

cd ffmpeg
./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffms2_build --enable-gpl --enable-version3 \
--enable-postproc --disable-encoders --disable-muxers --disable-debug \
--disable-network --disable-hwaccels --disable-indevs --disable-outdevs
make
make install

FFMS2 (as optional as the lavf support in x264 is, and I think the sudo part covers everything needed):

sudo apt-get install subversion automake autoconf libtool
svn checkout http://ffmpegsource.googlecode.com/svn/trunk ffms2
cd ffms2
./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffms2_build PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffms2_build/lib/pkgconfig
make
make install

x264 (which is just changes to the ./configure step):

cd x264
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffms2_build/lib/pkgconfig ./configure --enable-static \
--extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffms2_build/include" --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffms2_build/lib"

Cleanup before building full FFmpeg:

cd ffmpeg
make uninstall
make distclean

[OKComputerQ]

Try

sudo apt-get purge ffmpeg

and then attempt to build x264 again. I have a feeling that there may have been a copy of FFmpeg 0.6 installed previously, and the 'remove' step didn't flush all of it out. Also, if any part of a make process fails, it tends to be a good idea to run 'make distclean' before running ./configure again. Otherwise you could get remnants from previous failed build attempts.





From a different angle, I would hope I'm wrong, but it could be due to the 'bulk' of the FFmpeg build that x264 is trying to link against. Some git commits from this past April mention an opt.h, but I don't know if it's related to this issue. You could try to build a stripped-down version of FFmpeg *first*, then build x264 (which will detect FFmpeg), then uninstall FFmpeg and install a proper, full version. For cleanliness reasons, you can install the minimal FFmpeg to a custom area, which won't mess with the system.

This is what I do since none of the encoders or muxers in FFmpeg are necessary for x264's lavf support to function (along with inflating FFMS2 the same way, and needing to link even more stuff in the process).

If you want to try the minimal FFmpeg->x264->full FFmpeg option, then see if this works:

basic FFmpeg:

cd ffmpeg
./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffms2_build --enable-gpl --enable-version3 \
--enable-postproc --disable-encoders --disable-muxers --disable-debug \
--disable-network --disable-hwaccels --disable-indevs --disable-outdevs
make
make install

FFMS2 (as optional as the lavf support in x264 is, and I think the sudo part covers everything needed):

sudo apt-get install subversion automake autoconf libtool
svn checkout http://ffmpegsource.googlecode.com/svn/trunk ffms2
cd ffms2
./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffms2_build PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffms2_build/lib/pkgconfig
make
make install

x264 (which is just changes to the ./configure step):

cd x264
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffms2_build/lib/pkgconfig ./configure --enable-static \
--extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffms2_build/include" --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffms2_build/lib"

Cleanup before building full FFmpeg:

cd ffmpeg
make uninstall
make distclean

Thank you very much qyot27!!! You just resolved my issue . I did the minimum install and followed your instructions and it worked! Now I just need to setup OpenCV to get my development working ! You rock man

[vagrale13]

Indeed I did not notice that presets-libavcodec52-v6.xml is packaged in /usr/share/winff/ . You will not need the sed command though as this change is already present in the preset. So to modify your command slightly:

mv -v ~/.winff/presets.xml ~/.winff/presets.xml_bak && \
cp -v /usr/share/winff/presets-libavcodec52-v6.xml ~/.winff/presets.xml

should be enough to get started with the git FFmpeg. To alter the ogg preset I would suggest:

sed -i_oggchange 's/-acodec vorbis/-acodec libvorbis/g' ~/.winff/presets.xml

and then possible more changes, I have only just started looking at the newer presets. Thanks for pointing out that the newer presets were already installed .

After a couple of days, i try to convert a video with winff without command

sed -i 's/kb /k /g' ~/.winff/presets.xml

and doesn' t work.
After run the command, where change kb to k, works fine!

[wrightjmf]

Thanks. This was incredibly helpful.

[budgierless]

Hi, i am using ubuntu 9.10, i am trying to get mp4box to support x264 for ipad mp4 files, but i dont have a clue what im doing, can someone give me a step by step tutorial to config this via the terminal of ubuntu 9.10.

i dont know if this help but their is an example of my current output:


FFmpeg version SVN-r25924, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
built on Dec 9 2010 20:10:38 with gcc 4.4.1
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
libavutil 50.34. 0 / 50.34. 0
libavcore 0.16. 0 / 0.16. 0
libavcodec 52.99. 1 / 52.99. 1
libavformat 52.88. 0 / 52.88. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 2 / 52. 2. 2
libavfilter 1.68. 1 / 1.68. 1
libswscale 0.12. 0 / 0.12. 0
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
[flv @ 0x2eb5510] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 59.94 (2997/50) -> 29.92 (359/12)
Input #0, flv, from '/var/www/vhosts/xxxxxxxx/mydomain.com/httpdocs/vdata/videoclip.flv':
Metadata:
metadatacreator : Yet Another Metadata Injector for FLV - Version 1.5
hasKeyframes : true
hasVideo : true
hasAudio : true
hasMetadata : true
canSeekToEnd : false
duration : 138
datasize : 6524496
videosize : 5791258
videocodecid : 7
width : 640
height : 360
framerate : 30
videodatarate : 325
audiosize : 703690
audiocodecid : 10
audiosamplerate : 44100
audiosamplesize : 16
stereo : true
audiodatarate : 38
filesize : 6525667
lasttimestamp : 138
lastkeyframetimestamp: 135
lastkeyframelocation: 6341071
Duration: 00:02:18.32, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 370 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: h264, yuv420p, 640x360 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 332 kb/s, 29.92 tbr, 1k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0.1: Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, mono, s16, 38 kb/s
File for preset 'hq' not found

no idea if that helps at all.

[bflag]

I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 and was having difficulty encoding in x264 format from Handbrake using the AppleTV 2 preset. I kept getting a Segmentation Fault about 10% into the encode. I followed FakeOutdoorsman's instructions and attempted to encode the video directly from ffmpeg :
ffmpeg -i input.mpg -acodec libfaac -aq 100 -vcodec libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -threads 0 output.mp4

But, I kept getting a Segmentation Fault.

So, I performed a new install of Ubuntu 11.04... updated the system, and refollowed FakeOutdoorsman's instructions.

Segmentation Fault.

Unistalled everything. Installed ffmpeg, then x264, removed ffmpeg, then reinstalled ffmpeg.

Segmentation Fault.

I've been encoding the same input videos on another Ubuntu 11.04 system, using the AppleTV2 preset from Handbrake wiithout issues.

Anyone have any ideas?

PS : I'm using a new AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Processor and the 64 Bit version of Ubuntu 11.04

[bflag]

Attached is the output from an attempted encode. Does anyone have any ideas?

---

frank@Ubuntu-1:~$ ffmpeg -i test_input.mpg -acodec libfaac -aq 100 -vcodec libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -threads 0 output.mp4
ffmpeg version N-31629-g9e4ed29, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jul 24 2011 15:27:06 with gcc 4.5.2
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-version3 --enable-x11grab
libavutil 51. 11. 0 / 51. 11. 0
libavcodec 53. 9. 0 / 53. 9. 0
libavformat 53. 6. 0 / 53. 6. 0
libavdevice 53. 2. 0 / 53. 2. 0
libavfilter 2. 27. 3 / 2. 27. 3
libswscale 2. 0. 0 / 2. 0. 0
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
Input #0, mpeg, from 'test_input.mpg':
Duration: 00:30:00.09, start: 0.402556, bitrate: 11928 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 19392 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0.1[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 384 kb/s
[buffer @ 0x18f8380] w:1920 h:1080 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/1000000 sar:1/1 sws_param:
[libx264 @ 0x18f8440] using SAR=1/1
[libx264 @ 0x18f8440] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast FastShuffle SSEMisalign LZCNT
[libx264 @ 0x18f8440] profile High, level 5.0
[libx264 @ 0x18f8440] 264 - core 116 r2037 f8ebd4a - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2011 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=8 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=9 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=50 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=22.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to 'output.mp4':
Metadata:
encoder : Lavf53.6.0
Stream #0.0: Video: libx264, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 30k tbn, 29.97 tbc
Stream #0.1: Audio: libfaac, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Segmentation fault0 q=28.0 size= 71288kB time=00:01:36.39 bitrate=6058.2kbits/s dup=20 drop=0

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 and was having difficulty encoding in x264 format from Handbrake using the AppleTV 2 preset. I kept getting a Segmentation Fault about 10% into the encode. I followed FakeOutdoorsman's instructions and attempted to encode the video directly from ffmpeg...But, I kept getting a Segmentation Fault.

Handbreak and FFmpeg (that you compiled from this guide) are both giving you a seg fault? Does FFmpeg from the repository give you a seg fault too?

sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg x264
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-52
hash ffmpeg
ffmpeg -i test_input.mpg -an -vcodec libx264 -vpre slow -crf 22 -threads 0 output.mp4

[bflag]

Another Segmentation Fault... I installed Ubuntu 11.04 Minimum install, implemented your original instructions, followed by your most recent instructions...

frank@encoder-1-host:~$ ffmpeg -i "The Office - The Cover-Up.mpg" -an -vcodec libx264 -vpre slow -crf 22 -threads 0 output.mp4
FFmpeg version 0.6.2-4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the Libav developers
built on Mar 22 2011 15:55:04 with gcc 4.5.2
configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
WARNING: library configuration mismatch
libavutil configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu2 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libdirac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
libavcodec configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6.2-1ubuntu2 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libdirac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
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
libavfilter 1.19. 0 / 1.19. 0
libswscale 0.11. 0 / 0.11. 0
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x15a2a50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
Last message repeated 12 times
[mpeg @ 0x1551640]max_analyze_duration reached
Input #0, mpeg, from 'The Office - The Cover-Up.mpg':
Duration: 00:30:02.39, start: 1.000000, bitrate: 13391 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 448 kb/s
Stream #0.1[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 20000 kb/s, 32.72 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
[libx264 @ 0x16b1770]using SAR=1/1
[libx264 @ 0x16b1770]using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast FastShuffle SSEMisalign LZCNT
[libx264 @ 0x16b1770]profile High, level 5.0
[libx264 @ 0x16b1770]264 - core 106 Ubuntu_2:0.106.1741-3 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2010 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=8 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=9 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=50 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=22.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.41 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to 'output.mp4':
Metadata:
encoder : Lavf52.64.2
Stream #0.0: Video: libx264, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=10-51, 200 kb/s, 30k tbn, 29.97 tbc
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
[mpeg2video @ 0x15a2a50]warning: first frame is no keyframe
Segmentation fault1 q=27.0 size= 64256kB time=71.07 bitrate=7406.4kbits/s its/s

[Mr.Goose]

@Jose Catre-Vandis, WRT your post a few weeks ago:-
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...postcount=1753

After a lot of digging around, I think I found a fix for the issue of ffmpeg-x264 *.mp4 files playing with the wrong aspect ratio in MPlayer - whilst playing perfectly OK in VLC, Kaffeine, Totem etc.

Seems it is a bug with MPlayer - though I don't understand why ffmpeg-x264 *.mp4 files I encoded last year seem to play fine.

Anyway, an updated MPlayer is available in PPA:-
https://launchpad.net/~motumedia/+archive/mplayer-daily

This updated version fixes the aspect ratio issue. To install it, open a terminal window and type in each of the three lines (remembering to hit your return key at the end of each line of course):-

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:motumedia/mplayer-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

I just did it and I'm delighted to report that all my recently-encoded ffmpeg-x264 encoded mp4's now play perfectly in Mplayer. All the old ones play fine too.

FWIW, I'm actually using Ricardo Villalba's SMPlayer, an excellent QT-based front end for Mplayer. IMHO, it's probably one of the finest (and easiest to use) media players for this type of file - especially now I've figured out how to fix the aspect ratio issue. lol.

Anyway Jose, I'd be very interested to know if this fixes the issue for you too?

Best wishes, G.

Followed guide successfully on Xubuntu 11.04. Everything works fine. Have an odd problem with mp4 playback using mplayer (no-gui).

If I encode a bit of recorded tv (.ts file, PAR 64:45, DAR 16/9) using the first crf example, the encode works fine and retains the PAR and DAR, but when I go to playback in mplayer (nothing in config file) mplayer seems to think the video has an aspect ratio of 2.53:1, making a wide thin video.

If I encode using the same command line but replace with mkv instead of mp4, mplayer plays back at the correct aspect of 16/9.

mplayer plays back avi/xvid (encoding the same piece of recorded tv) at the correct aspect ratio.

Screen is a 1920x1080 24". No similar problems on 10.04 LTS

I can fix this with a profile in mplayer's config:

[extension.mp4]
profile-desc="Profile for HD mp4 files"
aspect="16/9"

but this will affect all mp4 extensions.

If I use parole, I have to use the "none" setting in Aspect menu to get the correct resolution.

Can anyone shed any light on this issue? I have tried encoding with all sorts of different parameters but with no success.