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README.md

Media File Generator

Convert MP4 video files to raw media formats compatible with SMPTE ST 2110-20 Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks: Uncompressed Active Video.

Overview

This tool converts standard MP4 video files into raw packed formats suitable for use with NVIDIA Rivermax SDK and SMPTE ST 2110 video streaming workflows.

⚠️ Note: This tool is in early development and has not been thoroughly tested across all format combinations.

Supported Output Formats

Format Description Bit Depths Resolutions
ycbcr422 YCbCr 4:2:2 chroma subsampling 10-bit, 12-bit FHD, UHD
ycbcr420 YCbCr 4:2:0 chroma subsampling 10-bit only FHD, UHD
rgb RGB color space 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit FHD, UHD

Valid Combinations

Format FHD/8 FHD/10 FHD/12 UHD/8 UHD/10 UHD/12
ycbcr422 ✗ ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$ ✗ ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$
ycbcr420 ✗ ${\color{green}✓}$ ✗ ✗ ${\color{green}✓}$ ✗
rgb ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$ ${\color{green}✓}$

Quick Start

Prerequisites: Make sure ffmpeg and build tools (make, g++) are installed (see Installation section below).

# Build the converter first (one-time setup)
./generate_media_file.sh --build

# Basic YCbCr 4:2:2 conversion
./generate_media_file.sh -i input.mp4 -o output.ycbcr -f ycbcr422

# RGB 8-bit (fast - no converter needed)
./generate_media_file.sh -i input.mp4 -o output.rgb -f rgb -b 8

# UHD 12-bit with custom duration
./generate_media_file.sh -i input.mp4 -o output.ycbcr -f ycbcr422 -r UHD -b 12 -d 10

Installation

Prerequisites

You need to install these dependencies manually:

  • ffmpeg - Video processing tool for decoding MP4 files and converting them to raw formats
  • make, g++ - Build tools required to compile the media_converter

Installing Dependencies

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg build-essential

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:

# RHEL/CentOS
sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install ffmpeg
sudo yum groupinstall "Development Tools"

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ffmpeg
sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"

Building media_converter

After installing the dependencies, build the media_converter binary:

# Option 1: Use the built-in build command
./generate_media_file.sh --build

# Option 2: Build manually
cd src && make media_converter

The --build flag checks build dependencies (make, g++) and builds media_converter if it's missing.

Usage

./generate_media_file.sh -i <MP4_FILE> -o <OUTPUT_FILE> -f <FORMAT> [OPTIONS]

Required Parameters

Flag Parameter Description
-i <MP4_FILE> Input MP4 file to convert
-o <OUTPUT_FILE> Output file name (e.g., output.ycbcr)
-f <FORMAT> Pixel format: ycbcr422, ycbcr420, or rgb

Optional Parameters

Flag Parameter Default Description
-r <RESOLUTION> FHD Resolution: FHD (1920×1080) or UHD (3840×2160)
-b <BIT_DEPTH> 10 Bit depth: 8, 10, or 12 (8 only for rgb)
-p <FPS> 50 Frame rate in frames per second
-d <DURATION> 3 Duration in seconds to extract
-s <START_TIME> 0 Start time offset in seconds

Help

# Quick help
./generate_media_file.sh -h

# Full documentation
./generate_media_file.sh --help

Examples

YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit FHD

./generate_media_file.sh -i video.mp4 -o video.ycbcr -f ycbcr422 -r FHD -b 10

YCbCr 4:2:0 10-bit UHD (starting at 30 seconds)

./generate_media_file.sh -i video.mp4 -o video.ycbcr -f ycbcr420 -r UHD -s 30

RGB 12-bit at 60fps

./generate_media_file.sh -i video.mp4 -o video.rgb -f rgb -b 12 -p 60

RGB 8-bit (fast conversion)

./generate_media_file.sh -i video.mp4 -o video.rgb -f rgb -b 8

Note: RGB 8-bit uses direct ffmpeg output and skips the converter step.

Extract 5 seconds starting at 1 minute

./generate_media_file.sh -i video.mp4 -o clip.ycbcr -f ycbcr422 -d 5 -s 60

Conversion Process

Format Transformation

ffmpeg outputs video in planar format, where each color component (Y, Cb, Cr or R, G, B) is stored in a separate continuous plane:

Planar:  YYYY... CbCbCb... CrCrCr...  (separate planes)

SMPTE ST 2110-20 requires packed format, where color components are interleaved per pixel group:

Packed:  Cb Y Cr Y Cb Y Cr Y...       (interleaved samples)

The media_converter performs this planar-to-packed conversion and handles bit-packing.

For YCbCr and RGB 10/12-bit

  1. ffmpeg extracts raw video from MP4 in planar format
  2. media_converter transforms planar to packed format
  3. Output file is ready for SMPTE ST 2110-20 streaming

For RGB 8-bit

  1. ffmpeg converts MP4 directly to RGB24 packed format
  2. No additional conversion needed (faster)

File Structure

├── generate_media_file.sh   # Main conversion script
├── README.md                # This file
└── src/                     # Backend implementation
    ├── media_converter.cpp  # C++ converter source
    └── Makefile             # Build configuration

Supported Platforms

  • Linux only (This tool was developed on Ubuntu)
  • Requires bash installed on the system