HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[rulet]

what about the quality at full screen size, the same, better,worse ?

Well, looking at the video, the quality seems like the same.

qyot27, I don't care which operating system to use, I use both -- linux and windows. So there is no problem for me to use avisynth on windows. Have you used avisynth? I've read a little about avisynth but never used it before. If I understand right, to use avisynth for recoding in another file format or compression in the same file format I just need a script for avisynth and a player which plays that videofile?

[qyot27]

I've been using AviSynth since 2004.

First, you'd install AviSynth, and put any external plugins you wish to use in its 'plugins' folder (AviSynth has internal functions for many types of filtering operations as well). You write a script, it treats the script as it would treat any other type of video file. Any filtering done in the script appears in the output as though it was always there. The media player software isn't necessary, but it helps for the task of previewing the changes in the script (VirtualDub works for that purpose too).

For instance, you might have the following script (let's say, test.avs):

AVISource("test.avi") #for example's sake, let's say test.avi's resolution is 1920x1080
BilinearResize(848,480)
FlipVertical()

The first line loads test.avi, the second line resizes it to 848x480, the third line flips the video upside-down. As far as any program you give that script to is concerned, the video has always been 848x480 and upside down.

[rulet]

I see, thanks. Looks like many options possible to use in script, anyway I need to read documentation and examples.
Does avisynth support any file format(mp4, mkv, flv e.t.) and codecs? By the way, do I need to install codec-packs to use it for any file format?

[popper]

I've been using AviSynth since 2004.

...
For instance, you might have the following script (let's say, test.avs):

AVISource("test.avi") #for example's sake, let's say test.avi's resolution is 1920x1080
BilinearResize(848,480)
FlipVertical()

The first line loads test.avi, the second line resizes it to 848x480, the third line flips the video upside-down. As far as any program you give that script to is concerned, the video has always been 848x480 and upside down.

Eek , you gave him a re-scaling example ,just encouraging them to do it even more LOL

[qyot27]

Does avisynth support any file format(mp4, mkv, flv e.t.) and codecs? By the way, do I need to install codec-packs to use it for any file format?

The file format support is determined by what source filter you use and how that source filter works. For instance, AVISource opens AVI files, but it does so using the Video for Windows framework. So if you can open and play the .avi file in a program that uses VfW to do its loading (for instance, VirtualDub) then AVISource will work fine. But if it can't be loaded with VfW, then AVISource can't load it either.

DirectShowSource works the same way - if the video doesn't work in Windows Media Player (or WMP6.4, or Media Player Classic, if MPC isn't using internal decoding), it won't work in DirectShowSource. A combination of ffdshow and Haali's Media Splitter can cover this for almost anything you'd run across. If you have to go with a codec pack, the only one I would ever recommend is the Combined Community Codec Pack. But like I said, DirectShowSource won't work on Linux by virtue of Wine not supporting DirectShow, so this only applies to Windows. DirectShowSource is technically an external plugin, but it comes with AviSynth by default.

MPEG2Source opens MPEG-2 (and MPEG-1) files. Or well, it actually opens .d2v files that you create with DGIndex - the .d2v is an index that DGIndex creates for MPEG-1 or -2 files. This would more than likely be what you'd use for stuff sourced from DVD, or some types of captures from cable or capture cards or camcorders. It's self-contained, so all you need to do is have DGDecode.dll in AviSynth's plugins folder.

FFmpegSource and FFmpegSource2 open the file using the FFmpeg libraries (libavcodec and libavformat, etc.). Like mplayer or VLC, they're self-contained, so you don't need anything else but ffmpegsource.dll and/or FFMS2.dll in AviSynth's plugins folder. These source filters can open anything that FFmpeg can, so this would be what you'd use for MKV, FLV, MOV, MP4, or so on.

AVISource is an internal function. MPEG2Source and the FFmpegSource functions are external plugins, and you need to download and unzip them and place them in AviSynth's plugins folder first.

Eek , you gave him a re-scaling example ,just encouraging them to do it even more LOL

It would have happened sooner or later.

[rulet]

FFmpegSource and FFmpegSource2 open the file using the FFmpeg libraries (libavcodec and libavformat, etc.). Like mplayer or VLC, they're self-contained, so you don't need anything else but ffmpegsource.dll and/or FFMS2.dll in AviSynth's plugins folder. These source filters can open anything that FFmpeg can, so this would be what you'd use for MKV, FLV, MOV, MP4, or so on.

Ok, that is more clear now. Saying more specific, if I will use ffmpegsource.dll and/or FFMS2.dll for decoding or compession, I don't need to install any additional system codecs for MKV, FLV, MOV, MP4, WMV f.e.?

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I just need recoding for compession for now, in other words, the most smallest file with the best quality. Maybe you have any ideas how to compress it better then in that command which I've wrote.

I can't give you an exact command because I know nothing of your input and "best quality" is subjective. A typical procedure to find a good balance between quality, file size, and encoding time for just about any input:

1. Use the highest crf value that still gives you an acceptable quality. A good starting number is 24.
2. Use the slowest preset you have patience for (see x264 --help for a list of presets).
3. Use these settings for the rest of your video set you are encoding.

Ignore the placebo preset. It's a waste of time and probably gives about a ~1% improvement over veryslow at a huge time cost. You don't have to encode the whole input when testing your crf/preset combinations. Just choose random sections with the -ss and -t options.

" -flags2 -bpyramid -wpredp 0" are there for the older [B]VLC browser plugin to be able to play

The option "-flags2 -bpyramid" is probably being ignored. See the FFmpeg output that includes the x264 settings being applied during encoding.

internal ffmpeg jaggy "yadif" de-interlace filter

What do you mean by "jaggy"? Is the jagginess visible on a single frame, or is it more of a temporal jerkiness?

[qyot27]

Ok, that is more clear now. Saying more specific, if I will use ffmpegsource.dll and/or FFMS2.dll for decoding or compession, I don't need to install any additional system codecs for MKV, FLV, MOV, MP4, WMV f.e.?

Correct (except that AviSynth doesn't do compression - you'd still need to give the script to x264 or FFmpeg to do that). Both versions of FFmpegSource use an index to ensure frame accuracy, but have differences in other areas (ffmpegsource.dll, which is version 1.21, is a couple of years outdated, although it still decodes various items just fine; FFMS2 is in active development).

For FFMS2, the process would look something like this:

ffmsindex -t -1 filename.flv

This would create the index. The plugin itself will create an index if one isn't already present, but since it takes the time to do that the first time you load the script, it can give the impression of hanging. It's generally easier to take care of any indexing beforehand, so there's no extra time spent. And, ffmsindex gives you a nice progress meter.

The script would look like this (the FFmpegSource2 function is provided by the FFMS2.avsi file, which fuses the FFVideoSource and FFAudioSource functions that FFMS2 provides into a single function that's more familiar to old 1.x users):

FFmpegSource2("filename.flv",atrack=-1)

or, if you don't want audio,

FFVideoSource("filename.flv")

FFMS2 also has the advantage of being able to convert variable frame rate video to constant frame rate, using the fpsnum and fpsden parameters, like this:

FFmpegSource2("filename.flv",atrack=-1,fpsnum=30000,fpsden=1001)

which will ensure the framerate is at 29.97fps. This can be important in order to maintain audio sync for some formats that can be of questionable framerate (WMV, most notoriously, but MKV, MP4, etc. can show it at times too, depending on one's files).

[rulet]

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[rulet]

Correct (except that AviSynth doesn't do compression - you'd still need to give the script to x264 or FFmpeg to do that).

So with avisynth it's not possible to do compression at all, or possible with some filters? If it's possible, can you give an example(for that mp4 file f.e.)?
By the way, that functions that can do avisynth, isn't that that can do kdenlive also? Or avisynth can do it faster?