I have ffmpeg install from apt (version 4:0.5.1-1ubuntu1). I have a video that is up-side-down, so I want to flip it vertically. The ffmpeg documentation says to use the -vf option (which I see was recently renamed from -vfilters). However that just doesn't work for me. I get an error like: ffmpeg: unrecognized option '-vf'.
I know there are all kinds of legal reasons why ffmpeg is not the full options, but surely flipping a video should be OK? There are many guides for ubuntu and ffmpeg which advise to recompile it yourself. e.g. the number 2 hit for "ubuntu ffmpeg" is a guide on ubuntu forums on recompiling ffmpeg yourself.
I don't want to recompile it myself. I am a fan of package managers and "doing things the right way". There should be a way to get this functionality in the packaged version, otherwise there is a bug in the packaged version.
How can I get the -vf/-vfilter option in ffmpeg? (If I can't get it, why not?)
You are right, the ffmpeg packages in Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 do not support video filters. If you use Ubuntu 10.10, you can add unofficial packages from the Debian Multimedia Project and install their ffmpeg version (you should not do this if you use Ubuntu 10.04, there are too many conflicts with older packages. Also do not combine those packages with ubuntu-restriced-extras). Then the following works
An easier option ̣- if all you want to do is flip videos - is to use the mencoder package instead of ffmpeg. After installing the package, the following works (copying the audio, encoding the video with libavcodecs):
If you don't want to compile it yourself, you should just grab a static build from the ffmpeg Downloads page (scroll down to 'FFmpeg Linux Builds').
you could try avconv
https://superuser.com/questions/507386/libav-vs-ffmpeg-better-to-use-libav-avconv-today
looks to me like libav is thought to become a successor of ffmpeg