problem with ffmpeg and xvid

[Dani]

Binary package hint: ffmpeg

I have installed ubuntu 8.10.
I installed the repositories of ffmpeg and
libavcodec-unstripped-51 libavdevice-unstripped-52
libavformat-unstripped-52 libavutil-unstripped-49
libpostproc-unstripped-51 libswscale-unstripped-0

but when I execute:

ffmpeg -i /home/dani/prueba.mpg -vcodec xvid -acodec mp3 /home/dani/prueba.avi

return:

FFmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-x11grab --prefix=/usr --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-strip --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaadbin --enable-liba52 --enable-liba52bin --enable-libdc1394 --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-altivec --disable-vis --enable-shared --disable-static
  libavutil version: 49.6.0
  libavcodec version: 51.50.0
  libavformat version: 52.7.0
  libavdevice version: 52.0.0
  built on Oct 3 2008 22:40:31, gcc: 4.3.2
Input #0, mpegts, from '/home/dani/prueba.mpg':
  Duration: 00:00:21.2, start: 64443.155356, bitrate: 4458 kb/s
  Program 1000
    Stream #0.0[0x5dd]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x576 [PAR 16:15 DAR 4:3], 15000 kb/s, 25.00 tb(r)
    Stream #0.1[0x5df](spa): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, mono, 96 kb/s
    Stream #0.2[0x5e0](cat): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, mono, 96 kb/s
    Stream #0.3[0x5e1](eus): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, mono, 96 kb/s
    Stream #0.4[0x5e2](gal): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, mono, 96 kb/s
Unknown encoder 'xvid'

[Reinhard Tartler (siretart)]

that's correct. the ubuntu ffmpeg package does not enable xvid. The
libraries aren't available in debian, and AFAIUI they are more or less
obsolete.

Can you perhaps explain why xvid is useful/necessary to you considering
that ffmpeg has h263/h264 encoding support via x264?

--
Gruesse/greetings,
Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4

[John Dong (jdong)]

Marillat's repository has xvid, and I think while we continue to sync that it's in our best interest to enable xvid support.

While ffmpeg does have a built in MPEG-4 ASP encoder that is the same codec as "xvid", the general experience is that:

(1) By default the encoding quality is significantly worse than xvid's default [doom9 codec shootouts]
(2) Once you configure ffmpeg mpeg4 to match xvid's quality, the encode time shoots up dramatically.

There's also silly things here and there like cartoon mode for encoding more statically colored content, etc.

[Lionel Le Folgoc (mrpouit)]

Xvid support should be enabled in the unstripped variant, but the correct vcodec option to pass is 'libxvid', not 'xvid'.

[Dani (dmiliand)]

Ok, in 8.04 I use to install the packages of medibuntu
ffmpeg with support for xdiv, but in the actual version their not availabe.

So the only way to have support for these formates is to compile ffmeg.

Why does ubuntu don't support the offical packages (or medibuntu) to these formates?

[Lionel Le Folgoc (mrpouit)]

As I said above, it looks like the problem comes from your command line. This one should work (if you installed the unstripped packages):
ffmpeg -i /home/dani/prueba.mpg -vcodec libxvid -acodec libmp3lame /home/dani/prueba.avi

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

ffmpeg changed the names of a lot of codecs internally around their version 9500 or 10,000 (haven't found the exact revision yet). Therefore, the problem which is mentioned in this bug is really that the user uses the old codec name instead of the new one. I would say this is a regression issue, but ffmpeg is not going to fix this. Can we set the status of this bug to "Won't fix" (I certainly can't)?