Output video configuration

The output page gives you control over the output formats used by ffdshow. The top half gives you control over the allowed output colorspaces, while the lower half is used for miscellaneous output settings.

This page allows you to set the default output colorspace and format used by ffdshow. There are two general colorspaces that can be used, and a number of formats within each colorspace.

The default output colorspace. Read more about YUV on this and this wikipedia article. As the YUV colorspace (and YV12 in particular) is the colorspace of choice for video compression, setting ffdshow to output YV12 saves it from having to do any colorspace conversion on the decoded image, speeding up decoding. There is a number of different YUV output formats supported by ffdshow:

• I420/IYUV: Do not use. Similar to YV12 described below, but less hardware support.
• YV12: Almost always the fastest output mode (video codecs usually use YV12 for storage). The recommended output format for most system setups. Although some older/onboard video cards do not support it - if this is the case for you, try YUY2. Windows Media Player sometimes has trouble with YV12 output.
• YUY2: Used by MJPEG and some MPEG2 video streams, and has more color definition than YV12. Slightly slower to output than YV12, but generally not by much. If your input video is YUY2, or your video card doesn't support YV12, this is the recommended output.
• YVYU & UYVY: Rare and unused, avoid.
• NV12: Another rare output format, not even supported by many cards.

RGB output is slower, but possibly more accurate than YUV output. Read more about RGB on wikipedia. Videos not using ITU-R BT.601 and studio range (16-235) can be displayed correctly by using RGB conversion options. Subtitles are rendered in better quality if RGB is used. To use RGB colorspaces, uncheck all YUV colorspaces. The following RGB formats are supported:

• RGB32 & RGB24: These modes will give you the same picture output, the only difference is that RGB32 is faster to manipulate. Use RGB32 if possible.
• RGB16 & RGB15: Do not use.
• High Quality YV12 to RGB Conversion: This checkbox will instruct ffdshow to use a high quality conversion method. If you have a dual core CPU, you can do so without performance penalty. If you have quad core CPU, check this, it's faster with higher quality.

• Checked: The closest colorspace to that of the input stream will be selected automatically.
• Unchecked: The colorspaces will be tried in the order that is listed in the dialog.

• Unchecked: Uses classic connection method.
• Checked: Uses an advanced connection method that includes pixel aspect ratio (SAR) and interlacing information when connecting with the next filter (usually a video renderer).
• Indeterminate/grayed: Tries advanced connection method first and falls back to classic connection method if it fails. This is the default and should not be touched unless you have some special purpose.

• Sends interlacing related information obtained from the input stream or ffdshow's internal decoders to the next filter.
• Some filters (like video renderers) will use this information to deinterlace the video if necessary.
• This is just for informing the downstream filters - the actual result will depend purely on the implementation of these filters.
• Unchecked by default. DVDs may be flagged as interlaced, but in most cases they were originally film (progressive) and just soft telecined. For such video, it is recommended to keep it unchecked.

• You can select more than one output format, ffdshow will try to use the closest output format to the input. Generally this means YV12, but not always.
• The other settings on the page shouldn't be touched unless you know what they are. The author recommends using the default settings (see screenshot above). Flip video is occasionally useful for broken or old streams.

This page was kindly provided by checkers from the MeGUI wiki.