[FFmpeg-user] Encoding h264 with 4:4:4 chroma

[Nathan Vegdahl]

I am attempting to encode video using ffmpeg's libx264 support, and I
wish to do it with 4:4:4 chroma sampling.  Unfortunately, I cannot for
the life of me seem to find any setting or option that will let me do
this.

Using pix_fmt, which is what I would have assumed I am supposed to
use, gives me this message:
    "Incompatible pixel format 'yuv444p' for codec 'libx264',
auto-selecting format 'yuv420p'"
...for anything other than yuv420p.

There does not appear to be any direct access to x264's '--output-csp' option.

I can do this 444 encoding just fine using x264 directly, but I want
to encode directly in ffmpeg because I am using ffmpeg to do
screen-captures.

So am I missing something, or is this currently unsupported in ffmpeg?

Here is my ffmpeg info:

ffmpeg version 0.7.2-4:0.7.2-1ubuntu1, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the
Libav developers
  built on Oct  2 2011 15:13:26 with gcc 4.6.1
  configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.2-1ubuntu1' --arch=amd64
--prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm
--enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora
--enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx
--enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl
--enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394
--enable-shared --disable-static
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  avutil      configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.2.1ubuntu1'
--arch=amd64 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib
--enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex
--enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib
--enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi
--enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale
--enable-x11grab --enable-libdirac --enable-libmp3lame
--enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
--enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-version3 --enable-libvo-amrwbenc
--enable-version3 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  avcodec     configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.2.1ubuntu1'
--arch=amd64 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib
--enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex
--enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib
--enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi
--enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale
--enable-x11grab --enable-libdirac --enable-libmp3lame
--enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
--enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-version3 --enable-libvo-amrwbenc
--enable-version3 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  avformat    configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.2.1ubuntu1'
--arch=amd64 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib
--enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex
--enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib
--enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi
--enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale
--enable-x11grab --enable-libdirac --enable-libmp3lame
--enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
--enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-version3 --enable-libvo-amrwbenc
--enable-version3 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  libavutil    51.  7. 0 / 51.  7. 0
  libavcodec   53.  5. 0 / 53.  5. 0
  libavformat  53.  2. 0 / 53.  2. 0
  libavdevice  53.  0. 0 / 53.  0. 0
  libavfilter   2.  4. 0 /  2.  4. 0
  libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
  libpostproc  52.  0. 0 / 52.  0. 0


Thanks!

--Nathan