FFMPEG now officially supports Magic Lantern Video

[g3gg0]

two days ago a patch was committed to ffmpeg official source code database that
adds support for our Magic Lantern Video (MLV) format produced by mlv_rec.

how it came to this?
the FFMPEG team applied for Google Summer of Code (GSoC) for raw bayer support in their libraries.
i talked to peter and suggested him to look at our video format as some open source raw video format that is free of any royalities.
so they could continue to improve their raw support with already existing footage in this simple video file format.

peter then started to implement the format reader within only a few days
the nightly build of ffmpeg already can play .mlv videos using ffplay, just the coloring isnt finished yet.

the commit is here

a big thank you to Peter Ross and Michael Niedermayer for making this happen

[chmee]

what great news!!! OMG! so, in the next time all fmpeg-based-players (fi vlc..) will play MLV - this is so freaky. converting will be easy as well. omg omg omg.

[painya]

what great news!!! OMG! so, in the next time all fmpeg-based-players (fi vlc..) will play MLV - this is so freaky. converting will be easy as well. omg omg omg.

Sorry I'm not as technically advanced as all y'all. What does this mean for converting? A better and faster debayer program? Thanks.

[dmilligan]

very awesome! 

Sorry I'm not as technically advanced as all y'all. What does this mean for converting? A better and faster debayer program? Thanks.

It means that a library that is widely used by a number of programs that do video will have native support for MLV. Which means any of the programs that use that library will defacto have support for MLV. Which means that you will be able to playback MLV files with any of these already existing programs. Almost all open source video applications use this library (called ffmpeg).

It doesn't really say anything about speed or performance (it could be better or could be worse, that's not the point), it just means that there will be widespread, generic support for the MLV file format amongst open source software applications.

[ItsMeLenny]

What algorithm does it use to debayer? Or would that be then left up to the program using ffmpeg to debayer it?

Also, does this work with the .raw format?

[painya]

very awesome! 

It means that a library that is widely used by a number of programs that do video will have native support for MLV. Which means any of the programs that use that library will defacto have support for MLV. Which means that you will be able to playback MLV files with any of these already existing programs. Almost all open source video applications use this library (called ffmpeg).

It doesn't really say anything about speed or performance (it could be better or could be worse, that's not the point), it just means that there will be widespread, generic support for the MLV file format amongst open source software applications.

That's great news! Will this possibly lead to MLV being supported by adobe down the road? Or would this development not pressure Adobe enough to do that due to the ties between canon and adobe?

[Audionut]

Excellent news.

[baldand]

That's really great news. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

I tried a static nightly build of ffmpeg on Linux (http://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/builds/ffmpeg-git-20140421-64bit-static.tar.bz2) but it didn't quite work for me in conversion mode.

./ffmpeg -i M12-1630.MLV test.mp4
...
(all metadata shown correctly)
...
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (BIT[16] / 0x10544942), bayer_rggb16le, 1728x972, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
[swscaler @ 0x40470c0] unsupported bayer conversion
Assertion 0 failed at libswscale/swscale_unscaled.c:1655
Aborted (core dumped)

[tin2tin]

@g3gg0 - I'm so happy for you, that your efforts with the MLV format now are paying off. This will be the major push of MLV into all opensource editors and converters out there. Congrats!!!

[ItsMeLenny]

That's really great news. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

I tried a static nightly build of ffmpeg on Linux (http://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/builds/ffmpeg-git-20140421-64bit-static.tar.bz2) but it didn't quite work for me in conversion mode.

./ffmpeg -i M12-1630.MLV test.mp4
...
(all metadata shown correctly)
...
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (BIT[16] / 0x10544942), bayer_rggb16le, 1728x972, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
[swscaler @ 0x40470c0] unsupported bayer conversion
Assertion 0 failed at libswscale/swscale_unscaled.c:1655
Aborted (core dumped)

I got the same with some .MLV files, but not with other .MLV files

[tonybeccar]

WOW!!!!! I want to scream!! No, I already did!!! 

[DavidSh]

Great News!

[nachordez]

Absolutely great!

[EXIV]

That's great!

[g3gg0]

if you have some misbehavior, please upload the .mlv somewhere and help the ffmpeg guys fixing that.

[Jakobmen]

  amazing!

[andy kh]

great

[premini]

Can i now convert MLV to Prores 4444 in a less painfull way and IN Windows? This is CRAYZEEEE

[g3gg0]

Can i now convert MLV to Prores 4444 in a less painfull way and IN Windows? This is CRAYZEEEE

no, not yet. but ffmpeg is developing towards a raw-video compatible library.
if it will end in some ready-to-publish raw converter, of if it will get a simple and effective converter for proxy files,
or just a good footage viewer - time will show.

yet this is a good sign and we all hope it will result in helpful tools

[budafilms]

work on mac?

[tin2tin]

I tried a static nightly build of ffmpeg on Linux (http://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/builds/ffmpeg-git-20140421-64bit-static.tar.bz2) but it didn't quite work for me in conversion mode.

./ffmpeg -i M12-1630.MLV test.mp4
...
(all metadata shown correctly)
...
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (BIT[16] / 0x10544942), bayer_rggb16le, 1728x972, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
[swscaler @ 0x40470c0] unsupported bayer conversion
Assertion 0 failed at libswscale/swscale_unscaled.c:1655
Aborted (core dumped)

I'm getting the same error/behaviour with this file on Windows with ffmpeg 32-bit(static 21/4 & 23/4): http://we.tl/k21F8TAVEc

Great to see ffplay actually playing the mlv tough the colors are off and dead-pixels are visible. 

[meditant]

Fantastic the MLV RAW video format begin to be implemented on many tools, it's just the beginning...

Very good work !

[jose_ugs]

Damn! Been away for a few days and now this one! Hell of a "Welcome back"! You guys rock, recognition right there!!!

[rainless]

Deliriously happy about this.

Great job!

[pilgrim]

Big and happy news 
Lightworks (one of the very good editing program and free, and use by many Hollywood movies like Mission Impossible 4, King's Speech, etc) use ffmpeg also, which make them possible to edit many format directly without necessary MPEG Intra. I try to edit directly H264 from the camera or ProRes nicely.
So maybe soon we will edit MLV file on timeline. Of course, the hardware will be very demanding but with the mode OFFLINE first editing and switch to ONLINE on final editing that will be sweet.
A big leap 

[piloui]

Yeah, MLV and ML are becoming a reference !
Does this mean native support in software like adobe suite ? No dng extraction and no intermediate conversion would be a huge time gain !

[Malex]

Bravo! Nice move! Playing .mlv with vlc sounds cool, can't wait.

Does this mean native support in software like adobe suite ?

Nope it doesn't mean that, we all are considered a little group of hackers by Canon and Adobe, there will be no support for mlv in Adobe's softwares, except from 3th party plugin maker maybe. If one day they do support .mlv I'll give away my 5DIII!
My only hope is better Cdng support for Premiere & Speedgrade in the next update.

[painya]

Bravo! Nice move! Playing .mlv with vlc sounds cool, can't wait.
Nope it doesn't mean that, we all are considered a little group of hackers by Canon and Adobe, there will be no support for mlv in Adobe's softwares, except from 3th party plugin maker maybe. If one day they do support .mlv I'll give away my 5DIII!
My only hope is better Cdng support for Premiere & Speedgrade in the next update.

Makes sense, I'd love to see an ffmpeg powered plug in.

[chmee]

ffmpeg is called in german a "eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (jack of all trades device?!) - but its not that fast, it can provide a importer/wrapper for premiere. No, i dont see any real advantages for the adobe-world, the next update will give us some prove, if adobe does a good job in cdng-things. (i believe in that)

[Toffifee]

Awesome news!

[PTRush]

Imagine a converter that would transcode to R3D. Now that would be golden!!!

[Toffifee]

I thought R3D is copy right protected by Red?

[Midphase]

R3D is a variant of JPEG2000, but yes, it is protected and RED is notoriously litigious.

[meditant]

Where can i find a compiled version for mac os x with mlv support, i try somes ffmpeg for mac os x but none can decode mlv ?

Best regards

[ch_d]

Where can i find a compiled version for mac os x with mlv support, i try somes ffmpeg for mac os x but none can decode mlv ?

Best regards

+1

[g3gg0]

the nightly build of ffmpeg already can play .mlv videos using ffplay

if there are no nightlies for osx, then you should either compile it yourself or wait.
as it isnt finished yet, its just for developers/experienced users anyway.

[Toffifee]

This will eventually creep it's way into VLC, correct?

[budafilms]

Creep is a song of Radiohead.

[tin2tin]

Any news on the MLV implementation in ffmpeg?

[tin2tin]

Apparently not much has happened since the initial implementation back in April:
https://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git&a=search&h=HEAD&st=commit&s=mlv

[AWPStar]

Got APPCRASH in ffmpeg. win 7 64. Any builds with any date, 64 and 32 bits. FFPlay is working fine.

[escho]

Just for info:
I updated the ffmpeg-version to 2.3.3. and tried it with MLV.
- ffplay plays the MLV
- ffmpeg decodes MLV to avi (for example)
Both, ffmpeg and ffplay- output is very dark, maybe I must try to use the EQ-filter.
Edgar

[gnarr]

it's the same for me, but it only outputs the first few frames and then loops them. The sound sometimes plays on, but usually it loops with the video. It's all dark and clearly not working right.

[AWPStar]

Did ffmpeg guys some steps to improve quality? i remember it was pretty cheep.

[domasa]

How can I play *.raw video from 5D2 (not *.mlv)?

This does not work:

Code Select Expand

ffplay.exe -f rawvideo -video_size 1792x1008 -framerate 25 video.raw
(Source: https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-formats.html#rawvideo)

[g3gg0]

it only has rudimentary support for MLV

[ChristianEOS]

A few days I am playing with Ubuntu and Kubuntu. MLV App works brillant. Faster than windows 10. Just Fix Bad Pixel (Map) doesn't register the wrong pixel dots. But it should also be possible to play MLV's with the VLC player.
I tried:
sudo apt-get install vlc-plugin-libde265
I didn't find an obvious solution?

[masc]

A few days I am playing with Ubuntu and Kubuntu. MLV App works brillant. Faster than windows 10. Just Fix Bad Pixel (Map) doesn't register the wrong pixel dots.

It works also on Linux, but not if you use (readonly) AppImage (did you?). If you extract the image it works like on any Win/macOS.