Jtdylktuy

Is there an "easy" way to know the output format from a part of the ffmpeg "processing chain"? What I mean is: if I use, for example, a video decoder of h264_cuvid, it can have troubles being the input to a filter like yadif (vs. yadif_cuda).

Just trying to understand the pieces in the chain better, so I know determine what parts play together better.

No, the "processing chain" consists of various stages, e.g. transport protocol negotiation, filtering, encoding, to name a random few. For each stage, there are multiple choices, sometimes numbering in the dozens, for which module carries out the task. And all choices aren't determined based on the content of the input, but can also be the byproduct of a choice the user makes, like your manual choice of decoder, or a choice of a filter, which only accepts certain pixel formats. So, there isn't an easy way for a user, with a bird's eye view, to predict conflicts. The user has to dive into the details.

Have you tried the "file" command?

$ file something.avi 

something.avi: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 720 x 528, 23.98 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)

If "file" doesn't tell you enough, or if you're one of those annoying people like me who like to know all the details, there's a command that comes with ffmpeg called "ffprobe":

$ ffprobe something.avi

ffprobe version 4.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2018 the FFmpeg developers

  built with Apple LLVM version 10.0.0 (clang-1000.10.44.4)

  configuration: --prefix=/opt/local --enable-swscale --enable-avfilter --enable-avresample --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libopus --enable-librsvg --enable-libtheora --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libmodplug --enable-libvpx --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-lzma --enable-gnutls --enable-fontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --disable-libjack --disable-libopencore-amrnb --disable-libopencore-amrwb --disable-indev=jack --enable-opencl --disable-outdev=xv --enable-audiotoolbox --enable-videotoolbox --enable-sdl2 --disable-securetransport --mandir=/opt/local/share/man --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --cc=/usr/bin/cc --arch=x86_64 --enable-x86asm --enable-libx265 --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid

  libavutil      56. 22.100 / 56. 22.100

  libavcodec     58. 35.100 / 58. 35.100

  libavformat    58. 20.100 / 58. 20.100

  libavdevice    58.  5.100 / 58.  5.100

  libavfilter     7. 40.101 /  7. 40.101

  libavresample   4.  0.  0 /  4.  0.  0

  libswscale      5.  3.100 /  5.  3.100

  libswresample   3.  3.100 /  3.  3.100

  libpostproc    55.  3.100 / 55.  3.100

Input #0, avi, from 'something.avi':

  Duration: 01:30:05.91, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 760 kb/s

    Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 720x528 [SAR 1:1 DAR 15:11], 665 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 23.98 tbn, 23.98 tbc

    Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 81 kb/s