how to create thumbnail image from video url

Question

I'm trying to get a thumbnail of a video url.
i want it to put in player.

<div id="myElement">Loading the player...</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
jwplayer("myElement").setup({
    file: "/uploads/example.mp4",
    image: "/uploads/example.jpg",
});

1. Is there an easy way to do it?
2. What about codecs? Will I have to deal with it?
3. Any video type is suported?

Answer 1

1. No, there's no easy way to do it just using jwplayer.
2. I would instead use ffmpeg to generate the thumbnail. It works with lots of codecs.
3. Not all, but most are supported.

See this question about how to call ffmpeg from PHP: Video thumbnail