We checked the Ffmpeg versions, and on local we have SVN-r15451 while the server have SVN-r14991. So we upgraded our Ffmpeg on the server to the latest (at this time SVN-r19313) and this solved our problem. I’m not sure what version of ffmpeg have this fix but atleast it should be SVN-r15451 and up.

You can tell the difference from the sample videos (first 5 seconds) below – both were encoded using the same parameters.

Using Ffmpeg SVN-r14991:

Using Ffmpeg SVN-r15451 and SVN-r19313:

The slashodot peculated this ffmpeg related post to the top of its news today:

After many years of release-free development, FFmpeg, the most widely used audio and video codec library, has finally returned to a regular release schedule with the long-awaited version 0.5

Here is a very abbreviated list of some of the improvements to the converter from the official ffmpeg site:

Significant work to support at least decoding of all widespread mainstream proprietary codecs, such as:

• decoders and encoders
  • ALAC
  • Flash Screen Video
  • WMAv2 decoder fixed, WMAv1/v2 encoder
• decoders

• Atrac3
• MLP/TrueHD
• On2 VP3 improvements and VP5/VP6 support
• RealAudio Cooker and fixes for 14.4 and 28.8
• RealVideo RV30/40
• WMV3/WMV9/VC-1 and IntraX8 frame support for WMV2/VC-1

We sysadmins at promet have used ffmpeg in several of our projects and find it a great tool. Our recent implementations include a video distance learning tool and its also used in some of our work for sites of members of the house of representatives using this video platform.