MG 1.1 Transcoding & FFMPEG

[Mr Lucky]

Is there a guide anywhere on how to use transcoding.

Am I right in thinking this will allow people to upload large videos and have them compressed down to the allowed maximum file size?


I'm not quite sure what these are for: FFMPEG Binary Path and PHP Binary path

 

[Chris D]

Am I right in thinking this will allow people to upload large videos and have them compressed down to the allowed maximum file size?

Not quite.

It will quite simply allow your users to upload videos in any format they wish, then if necessary, they will be transcoded to a format which will allow them to be played on any device. For example if your users upload a WMV file, this likely won't play on anything but Windows machines, so it will be transcoded into an MP4 format using h264 and aac encoders. This format can then be played on near enough every modern device.

The "FFmpeg Binary Path" is the path on your server to the FFmpeg executable, e.g. /usr/bin/ffmpeg
The "PHP Binary Path" is the path on your server to the PHP executable, e.g. /usr/bin/php

If you're unsure of the paths to these on your server you will need to ask the person/people who manage your server or arrange for someone to help with that.

With regards to compression, the transcoding process may well make the videos slightly smaller in size, but the original video file must be lower than the allowed maximum file size. It is rejected if it isn't (rather than resized).

 

[Walkman Archive]

I'd like to try FFMPEG too but not sure what to do.
I contacted support team at VPS Bluehost (I have a shared server there) and they told me I cannot install it unless I upgrade to an own server. But I'm not sure they are right. Maybe they are thinking in installing it in the server, rather that simply copy it in a folder as you suggest, right?
Also, they told me they use linux servers, but I don't know what to download exactly. There are lots of different versions for linux...
can you put a bit of light, please?
Thanks!

 

[Nicky Vermeersch]

I'd like to try FFMPEG too but not sure what to do.
I contacted support team at VPS Bluehost (I have a shared server there) and they told me I cannot install it unless I upgrade to an own server. But I'm not sure they are right. Maybe they are thinking in installing it in the server, rather that simply copy it in a folder as you suggest, right?
Also, they told me they use linux servers, but I don't know what to download exactly. There are lots of different versions for linux...
can you put a bit of light, please?
Thanks!

To be honest, Bluehost is terrible. I once asked them if it was possible to install a opcode cacher like APC or upgrade php. Neither of it was possible "Due to performance reasons". Ofcourse cramping 100s of users on the same cluster is far better performance without any optimisation *cough*. I'm afraid you will have to work with the tools they give you. You could try install ffmpeg to a location where your php has access to, but you'd also need the proper libraries for ogg, vorbis, H264 codec and stuff like that, which may not be easy to install on shared hosting.

 

[Walkman Archive]

Sorry to not reply yet. I missed your reply.
I'm still stuck with that, no progress.
You mean installing it requires special work from these guys? (Bluehost)