[MEncoder-users] ffmpeg vs. mencoder with libavcodec

[Loren Merritt]

On Sat, 17 Dec 2005, Gary Steele wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Dec 2005, Oded Shimon wrote:
>
>> Uhh, that can't be right...
>> 
>> $ mencoder tv:// -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4v2:vbitrate=50
>> ...
>> Cannot find codec 'mpeg4v2' in libavcodec...
>> 
>> Either way, you should use 'mpeg4', I find it very odd that the ffmpeg site
>> reccommends otherwise. 'msmpeg4' and 'msmpeg4v2' are crippled, lower
>> quality versions of mpeg4. You should never use them.
>
> To clarify the issue a bit, I'm stating that this is _not_ a codec issue: if 
> I use the _same_ codec with the same settings with mencoder and ffmpeg, I get 
> vastly different outputs. This is not particular to a given codec: it happens 
> at least with both the mpeg4 and msmpeg4v2 codecs.

mencoder and ffmpeg have very different defaults. ffmpeg's are appropriate 
only for mpeg2, and any decent mpeg4 encode will need lots of settings 
specified.

--Loren Merritt