.AMV video encoder/converter?

Question

I'm looking for a converter that can encode input files to amv format output.

I've found this project, but it looks somewhat outdated and not maintained. And the problem of that is that it supports a very limited variety of input file types.

Do you know of a solid and reliable amv encoder (any API or tool that can be invoked from .NET), or can you recommend on the one I mentioned?

UPDATE

I use FFmpeg for my application for all other types, the problem is that the .AMV format which is a key output file in my app, is not supported by FFmpeg at all.

UPDATE

Anyone has any idea if and how I can merge the outdated amv-codec suggested above with the official FFmpeg?

Update

Are you a C developer willing to contribute?
Please refer to this ticket, it looks like an easy task for a decent C developer.

Answer 1

Finally!!!

AMV is now officially a part of the new FFmpeg version 9.0 (Harmony), go ahead and download it if you're here looking for it:

http://ffmpeg.org

Answer 2

As stated in the comment above there is no production-quality library for this out there...

You will need to implement it on top of some low-level functions available in some commercial libraries...

To do that you will need a format description... there is no official one... AMV is used as a term for two formats (based on AVI as a container, called MTV and ALIAVI etc.) - the following link should give you a good starting point:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMV_video_format
• http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=AMV
• http://code.google.com/p/amv-codec-tools/wiki/AmvDocumentation
• http://code.google.com/p/amv-codec-tools/
• http://blog.rot13.org/2007/08/amv_free_decoder_works.html
• http://www.mathematik.uni-tuebingen.de/~kremer/aliavi.html
• http://groups.google.com/group/amv-codec-tools/browse_thread/thread/3afc2809797c1109
• http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Microsoft_IMA_ADPCM

Based on the above links and as many sample files you can get you should be able to create a rather good description of the format(s).

Then you can use one or more of the following libraries to develop a codec for it/them:

• http://www.leadtools.com/sdk/multimedia-suite.htm?linkid=top (can help with the MJPEG part)
• http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Category:IMA_ADPCM_Audio_Codecs
• http://alvas.net/alvas.audio.aspx
• http://www.visioforge.com/video-edit-sdk.html and/or http://www.visioforge.com/video-capture-sdk.html

The libraries I mentioned are all accessible from .NET although you should think about implementing the "heavy lifting" in native code (for performance reasons)...

Answer 3

.AMV is a proprietary video format that seems to be used for some Chinese MP4 and S1 MP3 players. There doesn't seem to be any alternative, atleast not for FFmpeg, other than amv-codec-tools which you have already linked yourself.

Are there any issues with using the amv-codec-tools besides their age? If they work for you and suit your purposes, why not use them or contribute to them?

Edit: Regarding updating the outdated code with the latest FFmpeg, you could checkout the FFmpeg revision which they used as a base (this one I believe), patch their changes in, then update your checked out copy to the latest and greatest FFmpeg revision.