HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[avollmerhaus]

Hello folks.

At first, a big thank to FakeOutdoorsman for the excellent guide.
Compiling and installing worked flawless.

However, i have to call ffmpeg trough transcode, which in turn gets called by dvd::rip.

I´m getting this when i try to encode something:

export_ffmpeg.so Using FFMPEG codec 'h264' (FourCC 'h264', H264 (avc)).
export_ffmpeg.so No profile selected
export_ffmpeg.sowarning: Error opening configuration file ./ffmpeg.cfg: No such file or directory
export_ffmpeg.so Starting 1 thread(s)
export_ffmpeg.so Set display aspect ratio to input
[libx264 @ 0x230d940]broken ffmpeg default settings detected
[libx264 @ 0x230d940]use an encoding preset (vpre)
export_ffmpeg.so warning: could not open FFMPEG codec
encoder.cwarning video export module error: init failed
transcode critical: failed to init encoder

I´m really stuck on this. Would writing an ffmpeg.cfg help?
If so, what to put in there?

[verb3k]

Hi FakeOutdoorsman,

I've been meaning to ask this for some time. Why doesn't the guide build with libvorbis?

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Hi FakeOutdoorsman,

I've been meaning to ask this for some time. Why doesn't the guide build with libvorbis?

Good question. I don't remember why I removed it (or if I even had it there previously), but I put it back for the Lucid guide. I'll add it for the older releases in a few days probably. My test run worked fine:

ffmpeg -i IronMan.mkv -vn -acodec libvorbis -aq 5 ironman.ogg

The FFmpeg devs usually recommend using -acodec libvorbis instead of the native -acodec vorbis encoder due to output quality differences, but I've never tested the difference myself.

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I'm planning on making a FFmpeg version of andrew.46's Top 10 Tricks and Tips for the svn MPlayer. I just need to organize my ~/ffmpegjunk file into something useful for a general audience. I would also like submissions from other forum members. Some tips I have include: changing the speed of a video, trimming, looking at the FFmpeg svn log, checking out a specific FFmpeg revision, piping to or from FFmpeg, and several others.

Could be an interesting guide.

[nicolargo]

Hi all,

i write a simple shell script to install (ffmpeginstall.sh) and update (ffmpegupdate.sh) all the stuffs: FFMPEG, X264...

Tested on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid.

Waiting for feedbacks...

[wingnux]

Your script works great! Thanks for sharing it.

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Hi all,

i write a simple shell script to install (ffmpeginstall.sh) and update (ffmpegupdate.sh) all the stuffs: FFMPEG, X264...

Tested on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid.

Waiting for feedbacks...

You could add -y to the apt-get install commands to have fewer prompts for the user, but that my not be desired by everyone.

Because your script is for Lucid, I recommend adding something that will make sure the script runs only on Lucid. Maybe something like:

if [ "echo lsb_release -cs" != "lucid" ]; then
        echo "You are not using Ubuntu Lucid 10.04. Exiting."
	exit
fi

Adding set -e as the first command could be useful allowing the script to exit upon any errors instead of continuing blindly. However, running make distclean in an already clean directory when using set -e may cause the script to exit. I'm not sure how to deal with that.

[Jart44]

Greetings,
Re: Uninstall Instructions

In Synaptic Manager when I try to uninstall current ffmpeg I notice that it warns that all other video such as Avidemux, SMPlayer and other devices will be disabled. Does this mean I will have to recompile these also? Or is it done automatically when I enter the new script?

Thanks

[mc4man]

when I try to uninstall current ffmpeg I notice that it warns that all other video such as Avidemux, SMPlayer and other devices will be disabled

That's very atypical, the list of apps that depend on ffmpeg itself is very short and none you've mentioned.

you could run this and post (answer no if a lot is to be removed

sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg

[Jart44]

Thanks,
Terminal input> sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg
did the trick. Now I'll move on to the install.
Kudos