[Matplotlib-devel] switch default to h264

[Benjamin Root]

As I stated in my book:

"While I will not claim to possess anything more than a passing familiarity
with movie formats, I recognize that neither do many other people. For
those who have had experience editing and creating movies and understand
these concepts far more extensively, you can skip this section; be assured
that I could not possibly add any new knowledge. For those reading on,
there are likely to be some over-simplifications. As such, this section is
only intended to provide enough information to successfully render
animations and avoid pitfalls and should not be considered authoritative."

My quick research at the time found that while mpeg4 and h.264 weren't
strictly equivalent, for all intents and purposes they could be considered
as such. And it is my understanding that avconv and such were treating it
as the same (unless explicitly told not to). If I am wrong in this regard,
please refer to the previous paragraph and kindly file an errata for my
book.

Cheers!
Ben Root


On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 1:23 PM, Chris Barker <chris.barker at noaa.gov> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 6:21 AM, Benjamin Root <ben.v.root at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> In my research for the animation chapter of my book, I also came to the
>> conclusion that the `mpeg4` codec in a .mp4 container was the best bet for
>> out-of-the-box compatibility across platforms.
>>
>
> Ben -- is that H.264? It seem "mpeg 4" is not well defined. from Wikipedia:
>>
>
>
> "MPEG-4 is still an evolving standard and is divided into a number of
> parts. Companies promoting MPEG-4 compatibility do not always clearly state
> which "part" level compatibility they are referring to."
>
> Sigh.
>
>
>
>>  The one place where that format didn't work was MS PowerPoint on Windows
>> (but, oddly enough, it worked on PowerPoint on MacOSX).
>>
>
> That's because PPT punts to the "system" for decoding -- it has little if
> any built-in support. A freakin' nightmare.
>
>
>> Note, I did that test a couple of years ago on a Windows 7 machine, so I
>> don't know if that limitation is still valid.
>>
>
> I think H.264 is getting better and better supported.
>
> Question: how is MPL planning to support it? Is there a
> not-too-hard-to-install cross platform lib???
>
> -CHB
>
>
>
> --
>
> Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
> Oceanographer
>
> Emergency Response Division
> NOAA/NOS/OR&R            (206) 526-6959   voice
> 7600 Sand Point Way NE   (206) 526-6329   fax
> Seattle, WA  98115       (206) 526-6317   main reception
>
> Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
>
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