[MPlayer-dev-eng] Not so clever: using new fourcc code for lavc encodings

[Guillaume Poirier]

Hi,

On 4/22/05, Peter Niemayer <niemayer at isg.de> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I just noticed that 1.0pre7 does not use the fourcc code "DIVX"
> for -ovc lavc encodings anymore. This causes other players -
> like mplayer1.0pre6 and many more - to declare themselves unable
> to play the file because of an "unknown codec".
> 
> Yes, I know, there's the "-ofourcc" option - but isn't it
> a bad idea anyway to change the default?
> 
> At least as long as no features are used that are known to be
> incompatible with "DIVX" decoders, the old default should be used...

If I recall correctly, this was decided by the ffmpeg dev team to
address the problem of people complaining that videos produced by
libavcodec were not displayed correctly on some broken players, which
is just because lavc supports more advanced features that does players
are able to deal with, and get fooled by the "DIVX" fourcc.
So now, lavc has its own fourcc, just like XviD does.

So now, if you want to to want to compress a video with lavc that
might play on hardware players, you not only need to overwrite the
fourcc, but also make sure you don't use advanced options.

My opinion about this is that this fourcc change hasn't improved the
situation as now people complain they can't playback their encodes at
all.
Well, so it goes...


> Peter Niemayer

Hey, with a name like this, I nearly though you were the brother of a
coding wizard! :-)

Guillaume