Anyone know how to install the real, current ffmpeg (not the older version by avconv that comes w/ Ubuntu) without having the problems mentioned here? Reasons: Everything works (or so many have written), Use the new syntax, and After some research -- and without getting into the controversy -- I simply believe the packagers made a mistake going with avconv. This is a fix. Apparently this isn't as easy as it should be due to versioning conflicts, and that avconv and ffmpeg can't coexist on the same machine (noted in the above post). Though at least one guide mentions installing ffmpeg locally (~) to achieve coexistence. My release is Precise 12.04.3 LTS, but it appears this would apply to newer ones also.