FFmpeg

# ffmpeg is a command line tool to convert one video file format to another. It can also grab and encode in real time from a TV card.
# ffserver is an HTTP and RTSP multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts. It can also time shift live broadcast.
# ffplay is a simple media player based on SDL and on the FFmpeg libraries.
# ffprobe is a command line tool to show media information.

X264

x264 is a free software library for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

x264 itself provides a command line interface as well as a library-level interface.

x264 is used to encode video files in mp4, m4v, h.264 (HD) output format.

Install x264
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*  Download the latest snapshot(tarball) here:
# wget ftp://ftp.videolan.org/pub/videolan/x264/snapshots/x264-snapshot-20090113-2245.tar.bz2

* Extract tarball
# bzip2 -cd x264-snapshot-20090113-2245.tar.bz2 | tar xvf -
# cd x264-snapshot-20090113-2245

* Build and install
# ./configure
# make
# make install

Some problems with mplayer & x264

Install/compile mplayer with x264 support

-x264encopts is not an MEncoder option
Checking for x264 ... no (in libavcodec: no)   (./configure)

# svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer

# cd /usr/local/src/mplayer

# svn update

# ./configure

After configure make sure you got

Checking for x264 ... yes (in libavcodec: yes)

# make && make install

Try latest version of video tools ffmpeg, mplayer, mencoder, flvtool2, mediainfo 

Find correct path where you installed these components try …..

# locate command

“make sure you are using /usr/bin/mencode and NOT /usr/lib/bin/mencode”