I have a folder with about 150 images named IMG_####.JPG with the numbers ranging from 1798 to 1946 and I want to compile them into a high quality video using ffmpeg. I have done this sort of thing before, but I think I'm having issues with my formats. This command, along with many variants, I have tried, but to no avail..

I ran the command above with a sequence of images that look like this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9n...ew?usp=sharing

The output, when played through Ubuntu's default video player, looks like this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9n...ew?usp=sharing

But the same file played using the VLC player looked like a super stretched out and pixlized version of the video I was trying to produce, but no that I go to take a screen shot, it just shows an empty frame..... super annoying, I don't understand what is changing here...

I'm not sure why there is such a difference, or why the quality is really bad.... Does anyone know some tips on using ffmpeg in this situation to achieve high quality video?

Here is the output from VLC I was talking about earlier.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9n...ew?usp=sharing

I'm far (very far) from an expert with "ffmpeg" but I use it from time to time and appreciate the range of functionality if offers. The trouble for me is figure out which of the gazillions options to tweak to get what I want. And I use it do infrequently that I have to struggle and re-learn every time. Well the long time between video projects is one thing. The other is that the software is evolving, and even split into separate "ffmpeg" and "avconf" projects for awhile. Yikes... User confusion launch to new level with that change.

But I can give you general advice and link to a page that has specific info that should help get you started in the right direction. It's all about saving yourself the headache of listing all the options on the commandline by pull in a "preset" file with the appropriate encoding choices.

Where do you get those magical "preset" files. I don't remember where I got them all... Some were in the source package for the "avidemux" tool. Those are for encoding H.264 format only. I somehow found (or created?) presets files to make "webm" format video.

Anyway here are two decent links that might keep you rolling. I just can't remember all the details at the moment.

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264
http://blog.julien.org/2009/01/howto...4-presets.html

I'll be reading the replies from people who know "ffmpeg" better than I do to try and (finally?) drill the stuff into my head so I don't have to re-learn from near zero the next time I need to render video from a stream of images.

http://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/201508/page01.html

The code for ffmpeg in the article doesn't mention this, you can add -q:v num to the ffmpeg code to set the video quality. Eg, -q:v 0 will give best quality. 3 is good, 5 is OK. The higher you go, the lower the video quality.

You can also use -crf num for h264 videos. 0 is lossless, and 28 is the lowest quality. I believe 23 or 25 is the default.

The article also shows you how to do this with mencoder. The article uses a bitrate of 1200 which is pretty good quality. But if you want it higher, just use a higher number.

I suggest running both ffmpeg and mencoder and compare the results.

PS: Read the Summary at the bottom of the article. It will have additional information when using ffmpeg and mencoder with the images.

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Here is another resource for images to video slideshow using ffmpeg.

This one is much better and has more details and fixes like if the first image is skipped or something.

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Create%...0from%20images

put it together with that command.
now your stuff is 25 fps. if you want 12 thats low quality stuff. 25 fps is good. now make the video. after that you can edit it
with kdenlive if you need timelaps slow things down or speed it up.

by default ffmpeg outputs at 25 fps, you must override this if you do not want that. Also the -aspect value is by default not set, so you must also specify that if you want players to handle the video consistently. I tend to create symlinks starting with 0001 for whatever sequence I want to convert. I find that simpler than trying to remember obscure parameters that might change week to week.