HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[Ralob]

This guide is the best I have seen yet.

I have one question though. Should the pkgversion be 5:0 now?

[erotavlas]

Hi all,

I'm using Ubuntu 9.10. I read this post and after I have installed ffmpeg +h264 from source.

Now I would like to use VLC whose transcoding capabilities are based on ffmpeg.

I have installed VLC from source (1.0.4) e repository (1.0.2) with the same result.

I would like to use the following command that work with h.263 and h.263p

vlc image.jpg --rtsp-caching=12000 --fake-duration 60000 --sout  '#transcode{vcodec=H264,vb=800,width=352,height=288}:duplicate{dst=rtp{sdp=rtsp://192.168.0.4:8080/test.sdp}}'  vlc://quit

I can't understand if the problem is in ffmpeg transcoding capabilities or in VLC

before installing ffmpeg with h.264 support i got this error

avcodec encoder error: cannot find encoder H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10)
*** Your FFMPEG installation is crippled.   ***
*** Please check with your FFMPEG packager. ***
*** This is NOT a VLC media player issue.   ***
[0x970fa90] stream_out_transcode stream out error: cannot find video encoder (module:any fourcc:H264)
[0x970fa90] stream_out_transcode stream out error: cannot create video chain
[0x9974b80] main packetizer error: cannot create packetizer output (fake)

after installation

[0x893ff20] stream_out_rtp stream out error: cannot add this stream (unsupported codec: H264)
[0x86f0910] stream_out_transcode stream out error: cannot add this stream

I think that the problem is in VLC...

thank you

[andrew.46]

Hi erotavlas,

I also build my own vlc but I am not very familiar with the vlc commandline syntax. What are the results of:

andrew@skamandros~$ vlc -l | grep 264
VLC media player 1.1.0-git The Luggage
  x264                   H.264/MPEG4 AVC encoder (x264)
  h264                   H264 video demuxer
  packetizer_h264        H.264 video packetizer

I believe, and feel free to contradict me here, that vlc uses x264 directly for encoding but decoding depends on an appropriately configured libavcodec at compile time. I am not completely sure of this though and would welcome correction...

Andrew

[Henrikx]

vlc -l | grep 264
VLC media player 1.0.4 Goldeneye
  h264                H264-Videodemuxer
  x264                  H.264/MPEG4 AVC encoder (x264)
  packetizer_h264       H.264-Videopacketizer

[erotavlas]

Hi,

VLC

tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania/vlc-1.0.4$ vlc -l | grep 264 
VLC media player 1.0.2 Goldeneye
  h264                  Demuxer video H264
  packetizer_h264       Pacchettizatore video H.264
  x264                  Codificatore H.264/MPEG4 AVC (x264)

FFmpeg

tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania$ ffmpeg  -codecs  | grep 264
FFmpeg version SVN-r21462, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Jan 26 2010 18:39:51 with gcc 4.4.1
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.48. 0 / 52.48. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 9. 0 /  0. 9. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
 D V D  h264            H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10
  EV    libx264         libx264 H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10

tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania$ ffmpeg  -formats  | grep 264
FFmpeg version SVN-r21462, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Jan 26 2010 18:39:51 with gcc 4.4.1
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.48. 0 / 52.48. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 9. 0 /  0. 9. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
 DE h264            raw H.264 video format
  E ipod            iPod H.264 MP4 format
tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania/vlc-1.0.4$

[erotavlas]

Hi,

VLC

tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania/vlc-1.0.4$ vlc -l | grep 264 
VLC media player 1.0.2 Goldeneye
  h264                  Demuxer video H264
  packetizer_h264       Pacchettizatore video H.264
  x264                  Codificatore H.264/MPEG4 AVC (x264)

FFmpeg

tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania$ ffmpeg  -codecs  | grep 264
FFmpeg version SVN-r21462, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Jan 26 2010 18:39:51 with gcc 4.4.1
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.48. 0 / 52.48. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 9. 0 /  0. 9. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
 D V D  h264            H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10
  EV    libx264         libx264 H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10

tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania$ ffmpeg  -formats  | grep 264
FFmpeg version SVN-r21462, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Jan 26 2010 18:39:51 with gcc 4.4.1
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.48. 0 / 52.48. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 9. 0 /  0. 9. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
 DE h264            raw H.264 video format
  E ipod            iPod H.264 MP4 format
tore@tore-desktop:~/Scrivania/vlc-1.0.4$

What do you think? Where is the problem?

Thank you

[Henrikx]

@erotavlas
Why without libavfilter?

ffmpeg  -codecs  | grep 264
FFmpeg version SVN-r21500, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Jan 28 2010 09:49:28 with gcc 4.4.1
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-libdirac --enable-libschroedinger --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-avfilter --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libspeex
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.48. 0 / 52.48. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    1.17. 0 /  1.17. 0
  libswscale     0. 9. 0 /  0. 9. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
 D V D  h264            H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10
  EV    libx264         libx264 H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10

ffmpeg  -formats  | grep 264
FFmpeg version SVN-r21500, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  built on Jan 28 2010 09:49:28 with gcc 4.4.1
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-libdirac --enable-libschroedinger --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-avfilter --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libspeex
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.48. 0 / 52.48. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    1.17. 0 /  1.17. 0
  libswscale     0. 9. 0 /  0. 9. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
 DE h264            raw H.264 video format
  E ipod            iPod H.264 MP4 format

[erotavlas]

I have followed this post for installation http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786095

What do you think about the problem?

[FakeOutdoorsman]

This guide is the best I have seen yet.

I have one question though. Should the pkgversion be 5:0 now?

I'm glad you like the guide. Are you referring to the epoch? According to the Ubuntu Policy Manual, the format is: [epoch:]upstream_version[-debian_revision] and the epoch is "provided to allow mistakes in the version numbers of older versions of a package, and also a package's previous version numbering schemes, to be left behind".

I had to look this up because I can't seem to make myself learn the proper way of versioning my self-compiled packages. I simply edit the pkgversion to properly reflect the build date which conincidentaly is always higher than the official repository version and therefore makes apt not suggest an upgrade with the official, and older, version.

[brianwc]

I'm trying to follow this HOWTO on a Debian Lenny installation and I get an error (undefined reference to `x264_encoder_open_84') when I try to make ffmpeg:

ffmpeg.c: In function ‘do_video_out’:
ffmpeg.c:1023: warning: passing argument 2 of ‘sws_scale’ from incompatible pointer type
ffmpeg.c: In function ‘output_packet’:
ffmpeg.c:1317: warning: suggest parentheses around && within ||
gcc -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavformat -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavutil -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -L"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,--warn-common -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavformat -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg"/libavutil -Wl,-Bsymbolic -o ffmpeg_g ffmpeg.o cmdutils.o -lavdevice -lavformat -lavcodec -lpostproc -lswscale -lavutil -lz -lbz2 -pthread -lm -lfaac -lfaad -lmp3lame -lm -lopencore-amrnb -lm -lopencore-amrwb -lm -ltheoraenc -ltheoradec -logg -lx264 -lm -lxvidcore -lasound -ljack -ldl -lasound -ljack -lX11 -lXext -lXfixes -lasound
/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(libx264.o): In function `X264_init':
/home/brian/Videos/ffmpeg/libavcodec/libx264.c:286: undefined reference to `x264_encoder_open_84'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [ffmpeg_g] Error 1
rm ffmpeg.o

I've tried to follow the steps very closely (with the exception of building all this in my /home partition as I worried my / partition would run out of space.) Any thoughts?