How can I use the custom DIVX codec with AVIFILE and ADDFRAME in MATLAB 7.1 (R14SP3)?

I would like to create an AVI-file using the DIVX codec. However when I add a frame, I receive an error message.

In MATLAB 7.4 (R2007a), I receive this error

ERROR: ??? Failed to set stream format. Try specifying a different codec.

Error in ==> avifile.addframe at 226
      avi('addframe',rot90(frame,-1), aviobj.Bitmapheader, ...

With MATLAB 7.3 (R2006b), I receive this error

ERROR: ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Segmentation violation detected at Mon Mar 19 15:34:04 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Configuration:
  MATLAB Version:   7.3.0.267 (R2006b)

<SNIP>

Stack Trace:
  [0] AVIFIL32.dll:0x73b5608a(0, 1, 1, 0x171d9420)
  [1] avi.mexw32:0x11001a0f(1, 0x1099ba80 "tmpmpg.avi", 1, 0x171d9420)
  [2] avi.mexw32:0x11001429(0, 0x00d1e008, 9, 0x00d1e068)
  [3] avi.mexw32:0x11001602(0, 0x00d1e008, 9, 0x00d1e068)
  [4] libmex.dll:_mexRunMexFile(0, 0x00d1e008, 9, 0x00d1e068) + 119 bytes
  [5] libmex.dll:private: void __thiscall Mfh_mex::runMexFileWithSignalProtection(int,struct mxArray_tag * *,int,struct mxArray_tag * *)(0, 0x00d1e008, 9, 0x00d1e068) + 73 bytes
  [6] libmex.dll:public: virtual void __thiscall Mfh_mex::dispatch_file(int,struct mxArray_tag * *,int,struct mxArray_tag * *)(0, 0x00d1e008, 9, 1) + 213 bytes

<SNIP>

Error in ==> avifile.addframe at 226
      avi('addframe',rot90(frame,-1), aviobj.Bitmapheader, ...

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This feature has been added in MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b) with the new MMREADER object.

The ability to write to a DIVX file is not available in previous versions of MATLAB.

You can work around this by specifying a custom compression format and ensuring that the input to the codec conforms to the standard.

The errors listed above are caused by the frame input not being of the size required by the codec.

In order to log the acquired data using the DivX codec you will needed to do the following.

1. Install the DIVX codec on your computer. This is a 3rd party codec which is available at

https://www.divx.com/

2. Modify "addframe.m" to recognize the DIVX codec as an MPEG-4 codec. This is required in order to resize any images to the proper size.

a. First make a backup of the ADDFRAME file. This can be done with the command:

copyfile([matlabroot,'\toolbox\matlab\audiovideo\@avifile\addframe.m'],[matlabroot,'\toolbox\matlab\audiovideo\@avifile\addframe.bak'])

b. Next open the file for editing with the command

edit addframe

c. Finally, modify the line

isMPG4 = any(strncmpi(codec, {'M4S2', 'MP43', 'MP42', 'MP4S', 'MP4V'}, 4));

to

isMPG4 = any(strncmpi(codec, {'M4S2', 'MP43', 'MP42', 'MP4S', 'MP4V','DIVX'}, 4));

3. Specify the compression property to be 'DIVX' when creating the AVIFILE object

aviobj = avifile('example.avi','compression','DIVX')