ffprobe doesn't show the maximum number of reference frames

[julian]

some formats (h264) support a variable number of maximum reference frames.

knowing this information is important to determine video compatibility because some devices (PS3) only support a limited number.

mediainfo easily shows this information

$ mediainfo test.mkv 
[…]

Video
[…]
Format settings, ReFrames                : 9 frames

i've found no way to determine this using ffprobe, so either the feature is missing or the documentation (website, help-section) is lacking.

[Michael Niedermayer]

Fixed in eee9b7a673de597b04de5df9ef837815e879938c

[julian]

thanks very much, while adding more useful information, could anyone have a look at #3153?

[julian]

can the reference frame count information also be added to the normal stream output information printed by ffmpeg? or are there any plans to unite ffprobe and ffmpeg?

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

Replying to julian:

can the reference frame count information also be added to the normal stream output information printed by ffmpeg?

It is shown now for -loglevel verbose.

or are there any plans to unite ffprobe and ffmpeg?

This seems very unlikely to me.

[julian]

thanks great to know

i've added the ref frame output myself, if anyone else is interested the patch is

--- new/ffmpeg-2.5.3/libavformat/dump.c	2015-03-10 14:57:38.000000000 +0100
+++ old/ffmpeg-2.5.3/libavformat/dump.c	2015-01-10 05:21:06.000000000 +0100
@@ -418,8 +418,6 @@
         av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_INFO, " (visual impaired)");
     if (st->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_CLEAN_EFFECTS)
         av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_INFO, " (clean effects)");
+
+    av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_INFO, " |refs: %d|", st->codec->refs);
     av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_INFO, "\n");
 
     dump_metadata(NULL, st->metadata, "    ");