HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[andrew.46]

Thanks for keeping up with the upstream changes, everyone. I was able to borrow a laptop in Norway to update the guides.

That could be the opening lines in a great novel: "I was able to borrow a laptop in Norway.....". Have a great time up there!!!

[umechanism]

Wow! Great thread...all 170 pages of it. This thread was started in 2008 so before I dive in and read it from end-to-end I want to be sure it is necessary to do so.

I simply want to install the latest cinelerra-cv which uses ffmpeg. I am using Ubuntu 10.10. Can't I just install ffmpeg and cinelerra from the repositories now assuming that enough time has elapsed and the repositories are up-to-date?

Thanks for the effort and time you put into this.

[wim.glenn]

thanks all.. for a couple of days my build script wasn't working but it worked again after adding --enable-static as someone mentioned here.

just a dumb question , if i follow the guide as in the first step, and then i use ffmpeg with -vcodec libx264 , will i be using the same build of libx264 as if i were to call the x264 cli directly? i am comfortable with the x264 parameters and tunings but now i require some of the rtmp stuff that ffmpeg can do, and i would like to be using the latest libx264 builds (because i want all the newer low-latency stuff). i'm also a bit confused about how to pass the familiar flags from x264 cli , using ffmpeg. at the moment i'm using -fpre and specifying the path of a config file , and it seems to set parameters correctly, but what is the differences (if any) between -vpre and -fpre ?

[qyot27]

thanks all.. for a couple of days my build script wasn't working but it worked again after adding --enable-static as someone mentioned here.

just a dumb question , if i follow the guide as in the first step, and then i use ffmpeg with -vcodec libx264 , will i be using the same build of libx264 as if i were to call the x264 cli directly? i am comfortable with the x264 parameters and tunings but now i require some of the rtmp stuff that ffmpeg can do, and i would like to be using the latest libx264 builds (because i want all the newer low-latency stuff). i'm also a bit confused about how to pass the familiar flags from x264 cli , using ffmpeg. at the moment i'm using -fpre and specifying the path of a config file , and it seems to set parameters correctly, but what is the differences (if any) between -vpre and -fpre ?

If x264 was built as static and ffmpeg was built as static, then yes, ffmpeg is using the same version as x264 CLI.

Someone else will have to tackle the preset usage changes, though. I thought that was already in the first post?

[andrew.46]

i'm also a bit confused about how to pass the familiar flags from x264 cli , using ffmpeg. at the moment i'm using -fpre and specifying the path of a config file , and it seems to set parameters correctly, but what is the differences (if any) between -vpre and -fpre ?

I am ready to be corrected here, even from Norway if Fakeoutdoorsman gets online again!! The state of play at the moment (current git) is that now FFmpeg can use x264 presets, and to do this the -preset option is used. Details of these options can be seen with x264 --fullhelp and are illustrated quite nicely in Fakeoutdoorsman's guide. There are also a few of the old presets remaining:

root@skamandros/home/andrew# find /usr -iname '*ffpreset'
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libvpx-720p50_60.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-lossless_slow.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libvpx-720p.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libvpx-1080p.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libvpx-1080p50_60.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-baseline.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-lossless_slower.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libvpx-360p.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-lossless_fast.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-lossless_max.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-lossless_ultrafast.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-ipod320.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-ipod640.ffpreset
/usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-lossless_medium.ffpreset

Just ignore the libvpx ones! These can be utilised with the old -vpre option. The final option is to create your own presets and load them, with their path, using the -fpre option. Hopefully that is a clear description, anybody feel free to correct me!

Edit: I can correct myself, I saw this link elsewhere in the Forums:

3.10 Preset files
http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC13

which explains some of the differences in methods of calling the presets vs -fpre / -apre / -vpre etc..

[WhatEverMD]

Thank you very much
Was away for the weekend, and could not respond.

./configure --enable-static has helped. Everything went fine!

[wim.glenn]

thankyou , i will continue to use the -fpre arg then

[fruttosio]

i can rename the folders x264, ffmpeg, libpvx in: .x264, .ffmpeg and .libpvx? it's possibile that there are problem about find something?

[sailor420]

Thanks for keeping up with the upstream changes, everyone. I was able to borrow a laptop in Norway to update the guides.

Now that's dedication.

[vagrale13]

i can rename the folders x264, ffmpeg, libpvx in: .x264, .ffmpeg and .libpvx? it's possibile that there are problem about find something?

Yes, you can do that.
The only change you must do, replace all names (x264, libpvx & ffmpeg) with new names (.x264, .libpvx & .ffmpeg) of commands to your path folder.
e.g.

cd ~/x264

to

cd ~/.x264