HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[eichenkranz]

sorry for my bad english

hello ..... Today I have a new problem

My first server had Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx + a
Videoprotal ... I have installed FFMPEG na this guide
...... http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9 ... & postcount = 1289


The user has uploaded a video and in the admin area where I must specify only which can be found ffmpeg (Flash
video mode configuration / Path to ffmpeg: / usr / local / bin / ffmpeg) ....
The video has been converted to. Flv + preview


now


I am moved by the video portal ... The new server 10.04.4 LTS ... So I reinstalled the FFMEPG according to the instructions .... and specify the path .... The video is converted but without the preview pics ..... but the image is necessary for the Protal .... one can help me?

[AlexOnVinyl]

Compiling ffmpeg and x264 should not do anything to gconf, and without detailed information about the issue and how to duplicate it I can not provide any useful suggestions.


The guide for Oneiric and Precise are the same.


If the repository version works for you then you probably don't need to compile. Medibuntu does not provide x264, but it does provide libavcodec-extra-53 which can enable the libx264 encoder in the repository ffmpeg.


Again, I'm unsure what the issue is, but see How To Compile FFmpeg and x264 on Ubuntu for a guide suitable for 12.04. If there is anything wrong with it then let me know and I (or possibly someone else because it is a wiki) will try to fix it.

You're very polite good sir, thank you for understanding my ails.

[robdocmagic]

Hi all,

I am interested in converting some files to mp4.

In some examples I find on the web they reference using the baseline profile with the "slow" preset (or ipod640 preset), but I can't seem to find the slow preset.

Is there a specific "Configure" option I need to do that installs all of the presets? I followed the latest instructions for installing ffmpeg.

Thanks a lot!

[~ffmpeg/presets]$ ls
libvpx-1080p50_60.ffpreset libvpx-360p.ffpreset libvpx-720p.ffpreset libx264-ipod640.ffpreset
libvpx-1080p.ffpreset libvpx-720p50_60.ffpreset libx264-ipod320.ffpreset

[FakeOutdoorsman]

one can help me?

Sorry, but I do not know what "portal" you are using. I guess that the portal does not work with recent FFmpeg due to syntax differences and you should use ffmpeg from the repository.

In some examples I find on the web they reference using the baseline profile with the "slow" preset (or ipod640 preset), but I can't seem to find the slow preset.

FFmpeg now directly uses the x264 presets instead of emulating them with a text file (the ipod presets are an exception because they are non-standard). This is a good thing because the text files could not 100% duplicate the x264 presets. The downside is that the syntax is different, so many examples on the web will not work for you. A current example using the slow preset, animation tune, and baseline profile (you probably won't need to use a tune or profile but I just wanted to show how to use them if you want to):

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -crf 24 -preset slow -tune animation -profile baseline output.mkv

It might be hard to tell what resources on the web are outdated or just plain wrong, so if you tell us more details of what you want to do and how you plan on using your outputs we can provide more specific examples.

[robdocmagic]

FFmpeg now directly uses the x264 presets instead of emulating them with a text file (the ipod presets are an exception because they are non-standard). This is a good thing because the text files could not 100% duplicate the x264 presets. The downside is that the syntax is different, so many examples on the web will not work for you. A current example using the slow preset, animation tune, and baseline profile (you probably won't need to use a tune or profile but I just wanted to show how to use them if you want to):

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -crf 24 -preset slow -tune animation -profile baseline output.mkv

It might be hard to tell what resources on the web are outdated or just plain wrong, so if you tell us more details of what you want to do and how you plan on using your outputs we can provide more specific examples.

Thanks for your quick response. I am looking to convert files to MP4 (h264) that can be viewed in Android and iOS devices.

I came across this "cheat sheet":

https://develop.participatoryculture...nversionMatrix

And if references the slow preset.

Do you by chance have the syntax that I can use to convert to MP4 for iOS and Andriod? It would be much appreciated.

Thanks again for keeping these boards up-to-date. We all really appreciate it.

-Rob

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I came across this "cheat sheet":

https://develop.participatoryculture...nversionMatrix

The author must not have tested some of the Android examples. The preset names should be case sensitive so "-vpre iPod640" should not work. Also, the ipod preset is meant to be used after a standard preset because it is supposed to overwrite the settings from the standard preset. Placement is important and using it before "-vpre slow" may not allow it to work as expected. I can't remember the details of the old ipod preset so it may not be an issue.

Do you by chance have the syntax that I can use to convert to MP4 for iOS and Andriod? It would be much appreciated.

I don't own any of these devices but you can try one of these:

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -crf 24 -preset slow -vpre libx264-ipod640 -c:a libfaac -q:a 100 output.mp4

or

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -crf 24 -preset slow -profile:v baseline -level 30 -c:a libfaac -q:a 100 output.mp4

Both examples are very similar. The only difference is that the ipod preset just sets the additional bufsize and maxrate options that are probably not really needed. The only thing you may need to adjust is the crf value. Choose the highest value that still gives you an acceptable quality. You can add "-t 60" if you just want to test the first 60 seconds so you don't have to encode the whole thing to get a rough idea of what the rest of the movie could look like (of course it depends on the complexity of the various scenes) and to quickly see if it even works on your device.

You don't need to only use "slow" either. The general method is to use the slowest preset you have patience for. If "slow" is too slow ("slow" is unsurprisingly slow) then use a faster preset. See x264 --fullhelp for a list of presets and ignore the "placebo" preset as it is a joke and a waste of time.

You may want to resize your video for your device. If that is the case then add:

-filter:v scale="640:-1"

What this does it tell FFmpeg to use the scale filter to resize the video to 640 pixels wide. The -1 means to make the height whatever value it needs to be to preserve the aspect ratio. Unfortunately, depending on the size of your input, the -1 can often provide an odd numbered value which is not acceptable for libx264. Therefore I usually recommend using:

-filter:v scale="640:trunc(ow/a/2)*2"

It's basically similar to -1 but should return an even value. Alternatively, if you know a specific height instead, such as 360, you can use:

-filter:v scale="trunc(oh*a*2)/2:360"

So in the end your command may look like:

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -crf 24 -preset slow -profile:v baseline -level 30 -filter:v scale="640:trunc(ow/a/2)*2" -c:a libfaac -q:a 100 output.mp4

[Redwol]

Hi FakeOutdoorsman,

I have followed the guide on the wiki for my ubuntu 12.04 LTS and successfully installed ffmpeg with optional components. However, I noticed that adobe flash plugin on youtube(seems to be only site with this issue) with firefox 12 seems to have distorted hue levels and the videos are blue (everyone looks like a smurf).

Is there a way for me to fix this hue setting? I have seen 2 working workarounds, first is to revert changes made by your tutorial or disable hardware acceleration.

Does anyone else have the same problem?

Thanks

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

Hi FakeOutdoorsman,

I have followed the guide on the wiki for my ubuntu 12.04 LTS and successfully installed ffmpeg with optional components. However, I noticed that adobe flash plugin on youtube(seems to be only site with this issue) with firefox 12 seems to have distorted hue levels and the videos are blue (everyone looks like a smurf).

Is there a way for me to fix this hue setting? I have seen 2 working workarounds, first is to revert changes made by your tutorial or disable hardware acceleration.

Does anyone else have the same problem?

Thanks

Install the Flash Aid extension in Firefox, then run it to update/change your flash plugin. This fixed it for me.

[AlexOnVinyl]

Hi FakeOutdoorsman,

I have followed the guide on the wiki for my ubuntu 12.04 LTS and successfully installed ffmpeg with optional components. However, I noticed that adobe flash plugin on youtube(seems to be only site with this issue) with firefox 12 seems to have distorted hue levels and the videos are blue (everyone looks like a smurf).

Is there a way for me to fix this hue setting? I have seen 2 working workarounds, first is to revert changes made by your tutorial or disable hardware acceleration.

Does anyone else have the same problem?

Thanks

Actually, I can help with this. The reason why everything looks all Orange and Blue is due more to the fact that Adobe dropped Linux support - the best work around - in my experience has been to open the video in full screen, then open the options and disable the Hardware Acceleration from there, assuming that it wasn't functional when you tried it at normal youtube video resolution.

Try this and let me know if it works.

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

Just carried out installation on headless server. Required reboot to enable functionality (e.g. didn't recognise "c:v libx264" option). After reboot all worked as expected