CakePHP Video Encoder Component 1

This is a component to convert and encode videos in your CakePHP application. This was extracted from a live project.

Requirements

CakePHP 1.2+
ffmpeg
flvtool2

How to install FFmpeg in Linux

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

for more info http://linuxers.org/tutorial/how-install-ffmpeg-linux

Installing FLVTool2 :
Open the terminal and type following command to install FLVTool2:

sudo apt-get install flvtool2

How to use

Place the component in your components directory and then include it inside of any controller that you want to encode videos.

Here is a basic example of how to use the component inside of an action.

how to convert video using ffmpeg

Component Class:

<?php
/*
* Video Encoder CakePHP Component
* Copyright (c) 2009 Andrew Weir
* http://andrw.new
*
*
* @author      Andrew Weir <andru.weir@gmail.com>
* @version     1.0
* @license     MIT
*/
class VideoEncoderComponent extends Object {

    /**
     * Everything in this method can be placed into a global configuration
     * file that is called at bootstrap/runtime.
     **/
    function __construct () {
        // ffmpeg path
        Configure::write(‘Video.ffmpeg_path’, ‘/usr/bin/ffmpeg’);

// flvtool2 path
Configure::write(‘Video.flvtool2_path’, ‘/bin/flvtool2’);

// Bitrate of audio (valid vaues are 16,32,64)
Configure::write(‘Video.bitrate’, 64);

        // Sampling rate (valid values are 11025, 22050, 44100)
        Configure::write(‘Video.samprate’, 44100);
    }

    function convert_video ($in, $out, $width = 480, $height = 360, $optimized = false) {
        if ($optimized == false) {
            $command = Configure::read(‘Video.ffmpeg_path’) . ” -i {$in} -y -s

{$width}x{$height} -r 30 -b 500 -ar ” . Configure::read(‘Video.samprate’) . ” -ab ” . Configure::read(‘Video.bitrate’) . ” {$out}”;
        } else {
            $command = Configure::read(‘Video.ffmpeg_path’) . ” -i {$in} -b 256k -ac 1 -ar 44100 {$out}”;
        }
        echo exec($command);
    }

    function set_buffering ($in) {
        $command = Configure::read(‘Video.flvtool2_path’) . ” -U {$in}”;
        shell_exec($command);
    }

    function grab_image ($in, $out) {
        $command = Configure::read(‘Video.ffmpeg_path’) . ” -y -i {$in} -f mjpeg -t 0.003 {$out}”;
        shell_exec($command);
    }

    function get_duration ($in) {
        $command = Configure::read(‘Video.ffmpeg_path’) . ” -i {$in} 2>&1 | grep \”Duration\” | cut -d ‘ ‘ -f 4 | sed s/,//”;
        return shell_exec($command);
    }

    function get_filesize ($in) {
        return filesize($in);
    }

    function remove_uploaded_video ($in) {
        unlink($in);
    }
}
?>

Controller Class:

<?php
function add () {
    // You probably will upload the video from a form

    // Let’s say all of that is said and done and you have your video
    // uploaded and have it’s path stored in the variable $path

    // Let’s also say that you have a variable set with the output path
    // that the converted video will be stored named $out_path

    // The first this we need to do is convert the video
    $this->VideoEncoder->convert_video($path, $out_path, 480, 360);

    // Then we need to set the buffer on the converted video
    $this->VideoEncoder->set_buffering($out_path);

    // We can now get some information back about the converted video that
    // can be stored in a database for further use
    $duration = $this->VideoEncoder->get_duration($out_path);
    $filesize = $this->VideoEncoder->get_filesize($out_path);

    // We can also grab a screenshot from the video as a jpeg
    // and store it for future use.
    $this->VideoEncoder->grab_image($out_path, $path_to_save_image);
}
?>

If the convert_video’s final parameter $optimized is set to ‘true’ I find that it delivers better quality and a smaller file size than manually setting the sample and bit rates.