ffmpeg can encode to mpeg2

unixfs · 26th August 2003, 08:56

From one of the last patches committed:

Update of /cvsroot/ffmpeg/ffmpeg/libavcodec
In directory sc8-pr-cvs1:/tmp/cvs-serv21233

Modified Files:
mpegvideo.c mpegvideo.h mpeg12.c avcodec.h allcodecs.c
motion_est.c
Log Message:
mpeg2 encoding

tiki4 · 4th September 2003, 17:04

Did you test it?

unixfs · 5th September 2003, 16:01

yes, it's very fast (28 fps on my athlon xp 1500) and generally very good, but it still has many blocks on large black areas.
I was told to tune the value of scplx_mask, but I still haven't tested it

tiki4 · 8th September 2003, 07:19

Actually I wanted to to a little investigation into video transcoding in Linux. As ffmpeg comes from the *NIX world, do you know how people usually encode mpeg2 with Linux tools? I should seriously do a little searching the net, but I never had time for that.

tiki4

unixfs · 8th September 2003, 08:44

Usually mpeg2enc (from mjpegtools) and transcode (which uses mpeg2enc), but with the last mencoder (from mplayer cvs) you have a new option, which is both very fast (as opposed to the others) and very good (with the right settings).

tiki4 · 8th September 2003, 10:17

I just read in the Linux forum that mencoder also uses the ffmpeg mpeg2 encoder module. I guess I should seriously do some testing. The problem with MPEG2 is that SVCD bitrates really need a high quality encoder otherwise you just get crap. I'm doing TV captures and transcode to MPEG2 (I also keep them interlaced). At the moment I use TMPGEnc as it seems to me performing a little better on interlaced material than CCE... It's a shame that video editing and encoding came so late to Linux.

Cheers,

tiki4

unixfs · 8th September 2003, 10:27

Yesterday I used this command:

mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vhq:vrc_maxrate=9000:keyint=25:vbitrate=1500:scplx_mask=0.2:vpass=1 -o /dev/null -vf scale=480:400,expand=480:576 orig.mpg

mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vhq:vrc_maxrate=9000:keyint=25:vbitrate=1500:scplx_mask=0.2:vpass=2 -o dest.avi -vf scale=480:400,expand=480:576 orig.mpg

and was quite satisfied with the result.

You should experiment a bit with vrc_maxrate and scplx_mask (man mencoder will help), and if you want you can add vmax_b_frames=<N> (I never use bframes).

Yes, it's a pity that video editing came so late to linux, especially considering that few days ago I was burning a dvd and at the same time encoding a movie and developing/compiling mplayer without a heavy loss of interactivity; evidently the platform shows to be much better at multitasking than a supposedly multimedia OS such as windows. And my pc is only an Athlon xp 1500, not a P4 3.2 !

tiki4 · 8th September 2003, 12:00

I use Linux at work for quantum dynamics calculations. Unbeatable price: dual Athlon MP + Linux + Intel compilers

tiki4

LigH · 23rd March 2004, 13:16

Someone said that ffmpeg can encode MPEG-2 video... Well, I tried that with the version 0.4.8 included in the package of "ffmpegGUI beta 0.3" (this GUI version is only able to encode AC-3 audio with a fixed source, but a full ffmpeg.exe was also included).

No matter which kind of values I enter for the desired bitrate (the help says I have to tell it in kbps), ffmpeg always assumes "2 kbps". I really doubt that I made a mistake with the command line parameters; but if you would like to check, here for the first pass:

Quote:

ffmpeg.exe -i source -y -target dvd -hq -b 6000 -r 25 -aspect 16:9 -vcodec mpeg2video -pass 1 -passlogfile logfile -g 12 -bf 2 target

unixfs · 23rd March 2004, 13:24

04.8 is very old; you should upgrade to the latest cvs version.
I could make an encode with 2500 kb/s, so I'm sure it can use
higher bitrates.

LigH · 23rd March 2004, 13:37

If I knew where to download current Win32 builds, I would download one. But without any C compiler, the sources from the SourceForge project are not useful for me.

celtic_druid · 23rd March 2004, 13:41

You could just use Nic's QuEnc instead.

LigH · 23rd March 2004, 13:49

Yes, I know - I already tried that, and it works fine with AviSynth 2.5 sources in YV12. But ... I started experiencing the world of video conversion, when there were only CLI tools (do you remember MPEG2AVI 1.2c?), so I'm still curious to use CLI tools even today, when almost no one needs to use a command line anymore.

celtic_druid · 23rd March 2004, 13:55

Latest version:
Beta Build 3 (February 26, 2004)

Other info:
ffmpegGUI Beta Build 3 contains latest ffmpeg CVS 2004-02-26 where the ac3 bug has been fixed(hopefully, report how it works here ).

26 of Feb ain't that long ago.

Could probably post a current CVS build if you want though? Last compile I did was I think on the 5th.

Nic · 23rd March 2004, 14:21

@Ligh: You can still use QuEnc as CLI....type QuEnc /? to get a list of options

...But, here's a ffmpeg for you:
http://nic.dnsalias.com/ffmpeg.exe

-Nic

Amnon82 · 24th March 2004, 19:21

Is there a way to add AVS or ffvfw-fakeAVI support to the newest CVS of ffmpeg?

LigH · 24th March 2004, 20:16

It seems that ffmpeg really wants to be platform-independent, and therefore needs to be able to decode any input with own routines. Besides the Windows platform, AviSynth will probably not exist anywhere else - or how important do you think is the AVI file format in Linux or MacOS?

Amnon82 · 24th March 2004, 21:53

Zero! ...

tickey · 30th March 2004, 15:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Nic
@Ligh: You can still use QuEnc as CLI....type QuEnc /? to get a list of options

...But, here's a ffmpeg for you:
http://nic.dnsalias.com/ffmpeg.exe

-Nic

Is ac3 decoding enabled on this build?
From: http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/faq.html

Quote:

1.7 Why Audio is not decoded in VOB files ?
AC3 decoding is optional as the codec is currently released under the GPL. Enable it with ./configure --enable-a52. Take care: by enabling AC3, you automatically change the license of libavcodec from LGPL to GPL

Amnon82 · 30th March 2004, 17:55

tickey my friend, I did it.

FFMPEG CVS 30.03.04 AC3 Decoding Enabled (767 KB)

26th August 2003, 08:56	#1 \| Link
unixfs Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 308	ffmpeg can encode to mpeg2 From one of the last patches committed: Update of /cvsroot/ffmpeg/ffmpeg/libavcodec In directory sc8-pr-cvs1:/tmp/cvs-serv21233 Modified Files: mpegvideo.c mpegvideo.h mpeg12.c avcodec.h allcodecs.c motion_est.c Log Message: mpeg2 encoding

24th March 2004, 19:21	#16 \| Link
Amnon82 Paldo-GNU/LinuxMaintainer Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 1,580	Is there a way to add AVS or ffvfw-fakeAVI support to the newest CVS of ffmpeg? __________________ Paldo GNU/Linux Homepage Paldo GNU/Linux Wiki Download of Installer-LiveCD Installation guide for the Installer-LiveCD Need fast help? Talk with me

24th March 2004, 21:53	#18 \| Link
Amnon82 Paldo-GNU/LinuxMaintainer Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 1,580	Zero! ... __________________ Paldo GNU/Linux Homepage Paldo GNU/Linux Wiki Download of Installer-LiveCD Installation guide for the Installer-LiveCD Need fast help? Talk with me

30th March 2004, 17:55	#20 \| Link
Amnon82 Paldo-GNU/LinuxMaintainer Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 1,580	tickey my friend, I did it. FFMPEG CVS 30.03.04 AC3 Decoding Enabled (767 KB) __________________ Paldo GNU/Linux Homepage Paldo GNU/Linux Wiki Download of Installer-LiveCD Installation guide for the Installer-LiveCD Need fast help? Talk with me Last edited by Amnon82; 30th March 2004 at 18:04.

4th September 2003, 17:04	#2 \| Link
tiki4 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Who Knows? Posts: 929	Did you test it?

5th September 2003, 16:01	#3 \| Link
unixfs Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 308	yes, it's very fast (28 fps on my athlon xp 1500) and generally very good, but it still has many blocks on large black areas. I was told to tune the value of scplx_mask, but I still haven't tested it

8th September 2003, 07:19	#4 \| Link
tiki4 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Who Knows? Posts: 929	Actually I wanted to to a little investigation into video transcoding in Linux. As ffmpeg comes from the *NIX world, do you know how people usually encode mpeg2 with Linux tools? I should seriously do a little searching the net, but I never had time for that. tiki4

8th September 2003, 08:44	#5 \| Link
unixfs Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 308	Usually mpeg2enc (from mjpegtools) and transcode (which uses mpeg2enc), but with the last mencoder (from mplayer cvs) you have a new option, which is both very fast (as opposed to the others) and very good (with the right settings).

8th September 2003, 10:17	#6 \| Link
tiki4 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Who Knows? Posts: 929	I just read in the Linux forum that mencoder also uses the ffmpeg mpeg2 encoder module. I guess I should seriously do some testing. The problem with MPEG2 is that SVCD bitrates really need a high quality encoder otherwise you just get crap. I'm doing TV captures and transcode to MPEG2 (I also keep them interlaced). At the moment I use TMPGEnc as it seems to me performing a little better on interlaced material than CCE... It's a shame that video editing and encoding came so late to Linux. Cheers, tiki4

8th September 2003, 10:27	#7 \| Link
unixfs Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 308	Yesterday I used this command: mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vhq:vrc_maxrate=9000:keyint=25:vbitrate=1500:scplx_mask=0.2:vpass=1 -o /dev/null -vf scale=480:400,expand=480:576 orig.mpg mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vhq:vrc_maxrate=9000:keyint=25:vbitrate=1500:scplx_mask=0.2:vpass=2 -o dest.avi -vf scale=480:400,expand=480:576 orig.mpg and was quite satisfied with the result. You should experiment a bit with vrc_maxrate and scplx_mask (man mencoder will help), and if you want you can add vmax_b_frames=<N> (I never use bframes). Yes, it's a pity that video editing came so late to linux, especially considering that few days ago I was burning a dvd and at the same time encoding a movie and developing/compiling mplayer without a heavy loss of interactivity; evidently the platform shows to be much better at multitasking than a supposedly multimedia OS such as windows. And my pc is only an Athlon xp 1500, not a P4 3.2 !

8th September 2003, 12:00	#8 \| Link
tiki4 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Who Knows? Posts: 929	I use Linux at work for quantum dynamics calculations. Unbeatable price: dual Athlon MP + Linux + Intel compilers tiki4

23rd March 2004, 13:24	#10 \| Link
unixfs Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 308	04.8 is very old; you should upgrade to the latest cvs version. I could make an encode with 2500 kb/s, so I'm sure it can use higher bitrates.

23rd March 2004, 13:37	#11 \| Link
LigH German doom9/Gleitz SuMo Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Germany, rural Altmark Posts: 6,784	If I knew where to download current Win32 builds, I would download one. But without any C compiler, the sources from the SourceForge project are not useful for me.

23rd March 2004, 13:41	#12 \| Link
celtic_druid Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,171	You could just use Nic's QuEnc instead.

23rd March 2004, 13:49	#13 \| Link
LigH German doom9/Gleitz SuMo Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Germany, rural Altmark Posts: 6,784	Yes, I know - I already tried that, and it works fine with AviSynth 2.5 sources in YV12. But ... I started experiencing the world of video conversion, when there were only CLI tools (do you remember MPEG2AVI 1.2c?), so I'm still curious to use CLI tools even today, when almost no one needs to use a command line anymore.

23rd March 2004, 13:55	#14 \| Link
celtic_druid Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,171	Latest version: Beta Build 3 (February 26, 2004) Other info: ffmpegGUI Beta Build 3 contains latest ffmpeg CVS 2004-02-26 where the ac3 bug has been fixed(hopefully, report how it works here ). 26 of Feb ain't that long ago. Could probably post a current CVS build if you want though? Last compile I did was I think on the 5th.

23rd March 2004, 14:21	#15 \| Link
Nic Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: England Posts: 3,285	@Ligh: You can still use QuEnc as CLI....type QuEnc /? to get a list of options ...But, here's a ffmpeg for you: http://nic.dnsalias.com/ffmpeg.exe -Nic

24th March 2004, 20:16	#17 \| Link
LigH German doom9/Gleitz SuMo Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Germany, rural Altmark Posts: 6,784	It seems that ffmpeg really wants to be platform-independent, and therefore needs to be able to decode any input with own routines. Besides the Windows platform, AviSynth will probably not exist anywhere else - or how important do you think is the AVI file format in Linux or MacOS?