On Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:57:42 -0700
Phil Ehrens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

In order to make things clear, let me explain what I mean with 'ffmpeg'
module:
while import_mplayer uses an external binary (mplayer!) to do it's work,
import_ffmpeg uses ffmpeg libraries (libavcodec/libaformat/libavutil) and not
depends from any external program.

In other words, import_mplayer uses mplayer program, but
import_ffmpeg DOES NOT uses ffmpeg program :)

> > - mplayer can digest/probe even more (or sometimes more reliably)
> > formats/codecs than ffmpeg, but ffmpeg has a much better integration
> > (no fifos, no external processes, no external dependencies...)
> > So, IMHO ffmpeg should be always preferred on mplayer. Mplayer
> > should be used as very last resort or just ignored unless user
> > selects it explicitely.
> And, of course, mplayer is a wrapper around ffmpeg for most things,
> so if transcode wraps ffmpeg more completely the need for mplayer
> is naturally lessened.

Yes. I never liked so much import_mplayer ;P
No technical reasons (benchmark or stuff), it's kust my taste, I don't like
too much to spawn fifos or processes around.

> > - it's probable that ffmpeg always does a better job than our code
> > in probing and/or demuxing and/or decoding, but I still like to prefer
> > specific modules (import_mpeg2/mp3 and stuff)
> > - same as above for probing routines
> Maybe. But aren't the export modules where the real vaue added
> comes in, with things like lame?

In transcode? Yes. The import layer is definitively the part of transcode
that I like less.
Neverthless I don't want to weaken too much import layer, in order to let
transcode still to be a complete solution, not just an encoder, i.e. not
depending from other *programs* for decoding. Libraries are a different story.

> I couldn't live without the ability to add '-vf eq2=...' to the
> mplayer import module. The filters that are available via mplayer
> are at least as important as the probing magic.

adding a transcode filter that in turn accesses mplayer (some of) filters
could be a funny (and pretty hard I guess) task :)

> As I have said before, the wonderful thing about transcode is it's
> miraculous automatic geometry management. The ability to be able
> to batch process mixed codec/geometry/container into a single
> target format without having to calculate any geometry is a huge
> win. The degree to which import modules can help with that task
> via accurate probing is the measure of their utility to transcode,

That's an interesting point of view.
The advantage in import_mplayer was outlined before, it eats happily an huge
amount of formats/codecs and it has the filters bonus. Except for this (!!)
it doesn't help transcode too much (!!!), or no more than other modules.

Best regards,

-- 
Francesco Romani - Ikitt ['people always complain, no matther what you do']
IM contact    : (email first, Antispam default deny!) icq://27-83-87-867
known bugs    : http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?Bug_Showcase
tiny homepage : http://fromani.exit1.org (see IDEAS if you want send code!)

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