[FFmpeg-user] ffmpeg input, output and config

[Zac Harvey]

On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 1:42 PM, Carl Eugen Hoyos <cehoyos at ag.or.at> wrote:

> Zac Harvey <zachary.harvey <at> gmail.com> writes:
>
> > > I should probably add that streaming mp4 in realtime
> > > (via udp or other means) seems impossible...
> >
> > Can you (or anybody else) elaborate on this some more?
>
> (At least in the common case) The mp4 file is unusable
> before the end of the encoding, ie you cannot stream it
> because some information needed in the beginning of the
> file is only written when encoding ends.
> (There may be an option to circumvent this, but usually
> mpegts is the chosen format for udp streaming.)
>
> Please do not top-post here, it is (still) considered rude!
>
> Carl Eugen
>
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I hope this qualifies as bottom-posting, and sorry for my earlier
top-posts. I'm using gmail and wasn't paying attention.

Carl, I'd like to consider both possibilities here: (1) that MP4 truly
can't be streamed, because the beginning of the file requires information
that we don't get until the end of the file is written; and (2) perhaps
there's some exceptions to this or ways to hack/force FFmpeg to stream MP4
anyways.

For the former, can you point me towards some documentation that confirms
this (that you can't stream MP4)? For the latter, can you or anybody else
suggest a comparable-quality format that can be streamed? My only
constraints are: (a) has to work with FFmpeg, (b) has to be able to encode,
compress and contain both an audio and video bitstream, and (c) has to be
able to stream to UDP/IP. Thanks for any pointers and suggestions.

If this is still top-posting please tell me what I'm doing wrong - I don't
want to be the "rude new guy!"