ffmpeg vs mediainfo for getting thumbnail and metadata
I need to extract the metadata information from a video file as well as a thumbnail for that file. For this I have tried ffmpeg and the metadata (such as duration, resolution, codecs, creation_time etc) is seen on the stdout. If I need to use these I should parse the stdout and extract the metadata I need.
I've also read about the MediaInfo utility which also delivers metadata. I'm not sure if it can deliver thumbnails. What I also know is that MediaInfo does not use ffmpeg under the hood.
I was wondering if anyone has a working knowledge of both ffmpeg and MediaInfo and with respect to the requirement I mentioned above, whether someone could suggest which of the two is a better suited.
Memory footprint comparison of the two would also be great.
Answer
You should use the underlying libraries directly as indicated in other answers.
However, for sake of completeness should you persist in using a separate shell process instead, don't parse FFmpeg's output. Instead, use FFprobe which is the little-known tool specifically designed to complement FFmpeg and ease metadata extraction.
Also, generating thumbnails can be done with FFmpeg more or less like so:
ffmpeg [-ss 10] -i input.avi -vframes 1 -s 320x240 thumbnail.png
Adjust size to taste and use the optional -ss parameter to grab an image from some point other than the very beginning of the video.