user1091: I have a .MOV video -created with Final Cut Pro 7 - which I'm converting to .flv using FFMPEG. I'm very happy about the quality and the size of the output file, but whenever I have fade in/out transitions in the input video, I get a pixelate effect on the output file. Any advice on how to solve this, without increase too much the output file size?
FRAME_SIZE=720x576
BIT_RATE=1200k

ffmpeg -s $FRAME_SIZE -i $1 -g 250 -ar 44100 -deinterlace -b $BIT_RATE -minrate $BIT_RATE -maxrate $BIT_RATE -bufsize 10000k -qblur 0.3 $2

Where $1 and $2 are, respectively, the input and output file.

user1082: Try converting the file using [MPEG Streamclip], MPEG Streamclip is a good free file converter. Export the project from Final Cut Pro 7 and use MPEG Streamclip to convert the file.
(http://www.squared5.com/)

user1017: You should explicitly specify a video codec using -vcodec as well as quality settings.
The problem is that ffmpeg's defaults aren't very sensible when you only specify a container format for the output, often choosing a sub-standard video format by default.
If you want H.264 output, try using the presets, e.g. -vcodec libx264 -vpre max. (To see what presets are available, try ls /usr/share/ffmpeg/*.ffpreset.)

1091: <p>I have a .MOV video -created with Final Cut Pro 7 - which I'm converting to .flv using FFMPEG. I'm very happy about the quality and the size of the output file, but whenever I have fade in/out transitions in the input video, I get a pixelate effect on the output file. Any advice on how to solve this, without increase too much the output file size?</p>

<pre><code>FRAME_SIZE=720x576
BIT_RATE=1200k

ffmpeg -s $FRAME_SIZE -i $1 -g 250 -ar 44100 -deinterlace -b $BIT_RATE -minrate $BIT_RATE -maxrate $BIT_RATE -bufsize 10000k -qblur 0.3 $2
</code></pre>

<p>Where $1 and $2 are, respectively, the input and output file.</p>
 1082: <p>Try converting the file using [MPEG Streamclip], MPEG Streamclip is a good free file converter. Export the project from Final Cut Pro 7 and use MPEG Streamclip to convert the file.</p>

<p>(http://www.squared5.com/)</p>
 1017: <p>You should explicitly specify a video codec using <code>-vcodec</code> as well as quality settings.</p>

<p>The problem is that <code>ffmpeg</code>'s defaults aren't very sensible when you only specify a container format for the output, often choosing a sub-standard video format by default.</p>

<p>If you want H.264 output, try using the <a href="http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC13" rel="nofollow">presets</a>, e.g. <code>-vcodec libx264 -vpre max</code>. (To see what presets are available, try <code>ls /usr/share/ffmpeg/*.ffpreset</code>.)</p>
