HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Frei0r filters integration has also been added. To enable it, you need to install the packages frei0r-plugins and frei0r-plugins-dev and build ffmpeg with --enable-frei0r.

Anyone wanting to use the frei0r filters can just follow verbek's instructions to get it working. Unfortunately figuring out the right parameters seem somewhat cryptic to me after reading the frei0r section of man ffmpeg. Perhaps there is an easier way, but I looked at the source code of a few frei0r filters:

glow filter:

switch ( param_index ) {
        case 0:
                info->name = "Blur";
                info->type = F0R_PARAM_DOUBLE;
                info->explanation = "Blur of the glow";
                break;
}

So it appears to take a double as a value:

ffmpeg -i input.foo -an -vcodec libx264 -vpre medium -crf 22 -threads 0 \
-vf scale=640:-1,frei0r=glow:0.5 output.mp4

I added scale to show that there can be multiple filters. The order matters and the first filter will be applied first.

You can see your available filters in /usr/lib/frei0r-1.

[qyot27]

Yes, that's the exact package I'm trying to get installed/compiled. I'd like to be able to transcode on-the-fly 1080p video. 720p works fine, but 1080p doesn't work so well - and I found that it only maxes out one core at a time, so I know that it's not setup correctly.

You just made such a complete guide, I was hoping you could add what needs to be changed to get multi-threaded decoding working, but I understand if you've never done it before that you can't really document it... Just struggling with it myself. Not sure why this isn't the default!

Can you show an example command and the complete FFmpeg output? Perhaps you should ask the #ffmpeg IRC channel (have your command and output ready with pastebin.com). There are some people there who are more familiar with CPU capabilities and limitations and will know if your hardware can handle what you are attempting to do.

Yeah, posting the command will help. Do be aware that ffmpeg organizes the options for any input or output video before the actual video itself is called. In other words,

ffmpeg [input options] -i [input video] [output options] [output video]




There was nothing in ffmpeg-mt's configure to make it 'different' to compile than standard ffmpeg. So more than likely the issue being seen is perhaps a lack of using the -threads X parameter (where X is the # of cores) prior to the input. Of course, I would think that it should be intelligent enough to automatically use the proper number of threads for the detected cores, but since the -threads parameter still - AFAIK - needs to be used on the encoder side to work, it probably needs it on the decoding side as well, like so:

ffmpeg -threads 4 -i example_h264_1080p.mkv -vcodec ffvhuff -context 1 -strict -1 -pred 2 -threads 4 output.avi

Notes:
I used ffvhuff in the example because I don't bother encoding with libx264 through ffmpeg, and I remember those commands offhand. Neither do I know for sure if ffvhuff is a multithreaded encoder, but whatever.

And furthermore, I have nearly zero experience with ffmpeg-mt because the only time I've ever used it is through ffdshow on my mom's laptop (in which case, it seems to handle 1080p just fine) - I'm just guessing at what seems to be the most logical syntactical reason for it restricting itself to a single core.

[cthlhu1987]

All goes well until step 7:

baruch@baruch-laptop:~/progs/webm/ffmpeg$ sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "4:SVN-r`LANG=C svn info | \
>     grep Revision | awk '{ print $NF }'`" --backup=no --deldoc=yes --fstrans=no \
>     --default


checkinstall 1.6.1, Copyright 2002 Felipe Eduardo Sanchez Diaz Duran
           This software is released under the GNU GPL.



*****************************************
**** Debian package creation selected ***
*****************************************

This package will be built according to these values: 

0 -  Maintainer: [ root@baruch-laptop ]
1 -  Summary: [ Package created with checkinstall 1.6.1 ]
2 -  Name:    [ ffmpeg ]
3 -  Version: [ 4:SVN-r25249 ]
4 -  Release: [ 1 ]
5 -  License: [ GPL ]
6 -  Group:   [ checkinstall ]
7 -  Architecture: [ i386 ]
8 -  Source location: [ ffmpeg ]
9 -  Alternate source location: [  ]
10 - Requires: [  ]
11 - Provides: [ ffmpeg ]

Enter a number to change any of them or press ENTER to continue: 

Installing with make...Installing with install...

========================= Installation results ===========================
INSTALL    libavdevice/libavdevice.a
INSTALL    libavfilter/libavfilter.a
INSTALL    libavformat/libavformat.a
INSTALL    libavcodec/libavcodec.a
INSTALL    libpostproc/libpostproc.a
INSTALL    libswscale/libswscale.a
INSTALL    libavcore/libavcore.a
INSTALL    libavutil/libavutil.a
INSTALL    libavdevice/avdevice.h
INSTALL    libavdevice/libavdevice.pc
INSTALL    libavfilter/avfilter.h
INSTALL    libavfilter/libavfilter.pc
INSTALL    libavformat/avformat.h
INSTALL    libavformat/avio.h
INSTALL    libavformat/libavformat.pc
INSTALL    libavcodec/avcodec.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/avfft.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/dxva2.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/opt.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/vaapi.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/vdpau.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/xvmc.h
INSTALL    libavcodec/libavcodec.pc
INSTALL    libpostproc/postprocess.h
INSTALL    libpostproc/libpostproc.pc
INSTALL    libswscale/swscale.h
INSTALL    libswscale/libswscale.pc
INSTALL    libavcore/avcore.h
INSTALL    libavcore/imgutils.h
INSTALL    libavcore/parseutils.h
INSTALL    libavcore/libavcore.pc
INSTALL    libavutil/adler32.h
INSTALL    libavutil/attributes.h
INSTALL    libavutil/avstring.h
INSTALL    libavutil/avutil.h
INSTALL    libavutil/base64.h
INSTALL    libavutil/bswap.h
INSTALL    libavutil/common.h
INSTALL    libavutil/cpu.h
INSTALL    libavutil/crc.h
INSTALL    libavutil/error.h
INSTALL    libavutil/eval.h
INSTALL    libavutil/fifo.h
INSTALL    libavutil/intfloat_readwrite.h
INSTALL    libavutil/intreadwrite.h
INSTALL    libavutil/lfg.h
INSTALL    libavutil/log.h
INSTALL    libavutil/lzo.h
INSTALL    libavutil/mathematics.h
INSTALL    libavutil/md5.h
INSTALL    libavutil/mem.h
INSTALL    libavutil/pixdesc.h
INSTALL    libavutil/pixfmt.h
INSTALL    libavutil/random_seed.h
INSTALL    libavutil/rational.h
INSTALL    libavutil/sha1.h
INSTALL    libavutil/avconfig.h
INSTALL    libavutil/libavutil.pc
INSTALL    ffmpeg
INSTALL    ffplay
INSTALL    ffprobe
INSTALL    ffserver
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-baseline.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-faster.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-faster_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-fast.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-fast_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-ipod320.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-ipod640.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-lossless_fast.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-lossless_max.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-lossless_medium.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-lossless_slower.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-lossless_slow.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-lossless_ultrafast.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-main.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-medium.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-medium_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-placebo.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-placebo_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-slower.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-slower_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-slow.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-slow_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-superfast.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-superfast_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-ultrafast.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-ultrafast_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-veryfast.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-veryfast_firstpass.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-veryslow.ffpreset
INSTALL    ffpresets/libx264-veryslow_firstpass.ffpreset
mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/share/man/man1': File exists
make: *** [install-man] Error 1

****  Installation failed. Aborting package creation.

Cleaning up...OK

Bye.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

[dannyboy79]

well the error stats, "mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/share/man/man1': File exists"
i would say temporarily rename that man1 file located where it says and see if you can compile it then. not sure why that file is already there but if it's on for a man entry can't imagine is super important. good luck

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

I've never experienced this issue before and have been unsuccessful in attempting to duplicate it in Ubuntu Lucid Lynx. What version of Ubuntu are you using? Can you show the output of:

ls -alh /usr/local/share/man/man1

[cthlhu1987]

I've never experienced this issue before and have been unsuccessful in attempting to duplicate it in Ubuntu Lucid Lynx. What version of Ubuntu are you using?

baruch@baruch-laptop:~$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.32-25-generic (buildd@rothera) (gcc version 4.4.3 (Ubuntu 4.4.3-4ubuntu5) ) #44-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 17 20:26:08 UTC 2010
baruch@baruch-laptop:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS
Release:	10.04
Codename:	lucid

Can you show the output of:

ls -alh /usr/local/share/man/man1

baruch@baruch-laptop:~$ ls -alh /usr/local/share/man/man1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.7K 2010-05-23 23:09 /usr/local/share/man/man1

Thx in advance

[FakeOutdoorsman]

It appears that /usr/local/share/man/man1 is a file instead of a directory. Mine shows:

$ ls -alh /usr/local/share/man/man1
total 84K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K 2010-09-28 10:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K 2010-09-13 10:02 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.2K 2010-09-13 10:02 faac.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  23K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffmpeg.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  14K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffplay.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.3K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffprobe.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.9K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffserver.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.5K 2010-09-24 10:07 lame.1.gz

Let's see what package claims ownership to this oddball:

dpkg -S /usr/local/share/man/man1

Mine shows:

$ dpkg -S /usr/local/share/man/man1
faac, ffmpeg, lame-ffmpeg: /usr/local/share/man/man1

If nothing useful comes from that command, then I would probably rename the file as dannyboy79 has suggessted and then re-run the FFmpeg checkinstall command.

[cthlhu1987]

It appears that /usr/local/share/man/man1 is a file instead of a directory. Mine shows:

$ ls -alh /usr/local/share/man/man1
total 84K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K 2010-09-28 10:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K 2010-09-13 10:02 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.2K 2010-09-13 10:02 faac.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  23K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffmpeg.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  14K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffplay.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.3K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffprobe.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.9K 2010-09-28 10:28 ffserver.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.5K 2010-09-24 10:07 lame.1.gz

Let's see what package claims ownership to this oddball:

dpkg -S /usr/local/share/man/man1

Mine shows:

$ dpkg -S /usr/local/share/man/man1
faac, ffmpeg, lame-ffmpeg: /usr/local/share/man/man1

If nothing useful comes from that command, then I would probably rename the file as dannyboy79 has suggessted and then re-run the FFmpeg checkinstall command.

Holy skit, IT WORKED!!!1 THANKS FakeOutdoorsman and THANKS dannyboy79!!!!

[omkrasu]

Thanks for all the infos.

Well, the PPA's name was siretart which i used. Had to remove that one, because that one had problems with the frei0r stuff.

The orginal idea was to get h264 and frei0r working in kdenlive, and the steps i took - thanks for the explanation - at the end sorted the whole thing out.

After i wrote to the forum, still things were broken, and was patching it up, clean installing multimedia applications, like kdenlive, blender, frei0r (now working from the repos straight away).

So it works.

In Kdenlive i had to run the config wizard a few times to get everything in order.

Bye!

[excetara2]

Differences between lossless_medium and medium in the profile settings??

I had previously never really had to convert videos but most people have issues with .mts and the interlacing is really bad from my Canon HG-21. I was testing different parameters to check which format I think is better.

I'm trying to figure out what is the difference between the preset lossless and medium codecs. I notice from mediainfo that when the lossless codec is run that it uses the Main instead of high profile. Also, the reframes is only 1. Otherwise appears to be very similar so before converting heaps of videos I want to find out so I make the right selection. I'm assuming it turns off some sort of compression schemes in the high profile and then doesn't reframe multiple times to try for further compression.

Cheers,
Jeff