[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] ffmpeg: raise level for message printed in case of auto-select pixel format

Stefano Sabatini stefasab at gmail.com
Wed Jul 31 14:46:22 CEST 2013


On date Tuesday 2013-07-30 23:06:05 +0200, Michael Niedermayer encoded:
[...]
> i think that 90% of the users dont know if they want 420 or
> 444 h264.
> IMO software (and hardware) should just work, not _require_
> complicated manual tweaking for the common use cases.
> 

> Educating users is a great idea as long as its just one case
> and one product. But honestly i dont think i would want every product
> i use from a toothbrush to a potato peeler to _force_ me to have to
> read the manual and google some problem to get it working.

This claim is IMHO delusional. Even using a club requires a lot of
implicit knowledge (about physical and kinetic "intuitive" laws, for
example about how your hand and your arm can handle the club, hit and
still keep your balance, and where to hit your enemy to maximize
damage and avoid that he will chase you thereafter). This knowledge is
mostly hardcoded into our brain paths or implicitly acquired during
childhood.

In general, the more specialized the tool, the less you can rely on
your "intuitive" knowledge, and you need more and more specialized
knowledge to deal with that. So there are different levels of
specialistic knowledge involved for example with "operating" a stone,
a club, a boat, an atomic bomb, a spaceship.

Operating ffmpeg requires a varying level of sofistication depending
on the performed task. When interoperability is involved, you need to
know what are the target device requirements, and there is no way
ffmpeg can magically understand what they are but it is duty of the
user to specify them.

> and IMHO ffmpeg isnt different for other people
> ffmpeg -i inputfile outputfile
> should just work

You just need an IA who asks questions to the users about what they
want, and who is able to interpret their answers (as alternative, a
knowledgeable human operator).
-- 
FFmpeg = Fantastic & Fundamentalist Moronic Ponderous Enchanting Goblin


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