Video Codecs
From CasparCG Wiki
Please note: This page currently only has information about version 1.8.
Please see Category:CasparCG_Server_2.0_pre-release for info about the CasparCG Server 2.0 alpha version.
Pre-rendered video and audio is normally played via the FFmpeg Producer directly from the file system.
An alternative is to embed audio and/or video in an FT and play with the Flash Producer.
Contents |
Video Codecs Tested for CasparCG Server 1.8 Playback
| Codec | Wrapper | Four CC Code | Quality Setting | Variant | Key/Alpha Channel | Audio | Recommended | Works | Doesn't Work | Note | Approx. CPU Load |
| QuickTime PNG | .mov | "png " | 100% | "None" | 8-bit | Stereo 48 kHz | x | 3-4% | |||
| QuickTime PNG | .mov | "png " | 100% | "Best" | 8-bit | Stereo 48 kHz | x | 4-5% | |||
| QuickTime Animation | .mov | "rle " | 100% | 8-bit | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | Lossless compression with alpha/key support. Good performance. | 2-3% | |||
| QuickTime Animation | .mov | "rle " | 75% | 8-bit | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | Lossy compression with alpha/key support. Works, but compression artifacts may become visible as horizontal lines. | 2-3% | |||
| QuickTime None | .mov | "raw " | 100% | 8-bit | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | Uncompressed with alpha/key support. Large files but good performance. Current version cannot play None codec without alpha. | 2-3% | |||
| DVCPRO25 Stream | .dv | "dvpp" | 100% | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | No alpha/key support. Note that the DV stream has the audio and video tracks muxed to a single track and has to have the ".dv" extension (you can just rename a ".mov" file rendered with this codec to make it playable.) | 4-5% | |||
| DVCPRO50 Stream | .dv | - | 100% | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | No alpha/key support. Note that the DV stream has the audio and video tracks muxed to a single track and has to have the ".dv" extension (you can just rename a ".mov" file rendered with this codec to make it playable.) | 5-6% | |||
| DVCPRO25 | .mov | "dvpp" | 100% | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | No alpha/key support. | 4-5% | |||
| DVCPRO50 | .mov | "dv5p" | 100% | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | No alpha/key support. | ||||
| DVCPROHD | .mov | 100% | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | No alpha/key support. Requires fast disks due to larger file size. | |||||
| Avid 1:1x | .mov | "AV1x" | 100% | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | - | ||||
| Avid DV 411 | .mov | "AVdv" | 100% | PAL 411 | No | x | The codec does support an alpha channel, but the alpha cannot be played by CasparCG Server. | 4-5% | |||
| Avid DV 420 | .mov | "AVdv" | 100% | PAL 420 | No | x | The codec does support an alpha channel, but the alpha cannot be played by CasparCG Server. | 3-4% | |||
| Avid DV50 PAL | .mov | "AVdv" | 100% | PAL | No | Stereo 48 kHz | x | The codec does support an alpha channel, but the alpha cannot be played by CasparCG Server. | 5-6% | ||
| Avid Meridien | .mov | "AVDJ" | Compressed 2:1 | PAL p | 8-bit | Stereo 48 kHz | x | Not recommended, due to color level shifts. The codec does support an alpha channel, but the alpha cannot be played by CasparCG Server. | 5-6% | ||
| QuickTime PJPEG | .mov | ||||||||||
| QuickTime PJPEG | .mov | ||||||||||
| Microsoft DV | .avi | "AVIV" | - | No | Stereo, 48 kHz | x | |||||
| QuickTime JPEG2000 | .mov | "mjp2" | 100% | Yes | Stereo 48 kHz | x |
* When played to Bluefish DeepBlueLT set to PAL 720x576, on a Dell R5400 (2x4-core Xeon @ 3 GHz, 4 GB RAM running Windows XP. Values are for comparison only.
Test Matrix
Other codecs may work, but have not been tested. Some interesting ones are:
- Avid DNxHD (does not support alpha channel decoding in FFmpeg)
- P2, .mxf "dvp7"
- 5DmkII .mov H.264 "avc1"
- MPEG4 .mp4 "MPEG"
- MPEG2 .mpeg
Please report your findings here or in the forum.
DV
The DV family of codecs can almost all be played by the current version of CasparCG Server.
DV Videos Are Always Shifted 1 Pixel Up
The current version of CasparCG Server assumes that interlaced output should be made with the PAL-centric upper/odd field dominance. Therefore the FFmpeg Producer has a DV field dominance switcher function that is automatically used on all DV files, whereby the first row of the image is discarded. The result is that all DV files (both interlaced and progressive) will be shifted 1 pixel upwards.
If you render to a DV codec with upper/odd field dominance, this automatic field dominance switcher function will result in an incorrect output with a jumpy result. Note that DV should always be progressive or lower/even field dominance, so this should not cause any real-world problems.
The DV field dominance switcher function cannot be controlled or turned off in the current version.
Samples
The CasparCG Download page has links to several packages with sample video files.
