Is there some way to limit the memory usage of ffmpeg?

im using mencoder to convert the videos
but im also converting video to mp4 wich seems to be using ffmpeg
and thumbnails are also used by ffmpeg and dynamic thumbnails also.

and when i upload a 15mb wmv file to be converted. mencoder converts it in 10sek
but ffmpeg takes alot longer time, wich is understandable but very high memory usage on my server wich has other accounts on it also.. its linux centos with cpanel etc etc.

and the mem% in ssh "TOP"command shows way over 1.0%
sometime i even saw 7.0 wich is cracy high.

so is there some way to limit memory usage of ffmpeg to a fixed top.
or perhaps use mencoder for evetyrhing?

thank you,.

/Rick

PS: i think a good idea for next release would be to add an option for external converting server.

zeeme wrote:


Short answer no. You can reduce its size slightly by removing support for some codecs, but I don't think it worths it, and I guess different presets may have different memory usage patterns, but beyond of that the memory usage is what it is.



That's comparing apples and oranges. mencoder is generating a low quality flv file while ffmpeg performs H.264 conversion, that is much more resource intensive, both in CPU and memory usage.


Mencoder doesn't come near ffmpeg in terms of features. It can't even create mp4 files on its own (you can create a H.264 video stream but would need to use a tool like MP4box to mux it into a mp4 file), so that's a big no go. When the hwdVideoShare project started in 2008 flv was the most popular format, so mencoder was a valid alternative, but unfortnuantely it didn't keep up with the new codecs and containers.

Just wanted to add that Mencoder will not even be supported in the new product. The product is geared towards HTML5 standards, and there is little point maintaining support for Mencoder based on this.