Is there image degradation when you apply the same chroma subsampling iteratively? I have digitalized a set of old family VHS tapes. As you know, VHS relied on chroma subsampling. And the capture device creates files with the 4:2:2 tag. Now, when I encode again with ffmpeg to get smaller files but for archival purposes, should I specify '-pix_fmt yuv444p' to make sure the chroma images do not get further degradation, or by using the same subsampling scheme as the source (i.e. yuv422p) the chroma images are not difuminated further due to subsampling?

I am looking for a technical, objective answer. I don't mind if the degradation is subjectively small or something.

To better explain the question, let's say we are transcoding video A into B, where A was done originalyy with a 4:2:2 subsampling and we specify the same 4:2:2 scheme to create B. Then, which one of the following possibilities is true?

Ffmpeg reads some tags inside video A and "knows" it was done using a 4:2:2 subsampling. Then, since the destination image has the same 4:2:2 scheme, it translates directly the chroma images into the destination video without performing any subsampling.
Ffmpeg reads the original chroma image blindly and applies a 4:2:2 subsampling, no matter where the original material comes from.

The first option seems more logical but in that case, what would happen if the subsampling scheme we ask for in the destination video is different than the original? How do you "translate" consistently from, say, 4:2:0 to 4:2:2?

Edit: From my own tests, the accepted answer, and a little bit of thinking about it, it seems clear that using the same chroma scheme does not produce degradation, as long as the resolution and size of the image is kept unchanged. It's difficult to explain without doing some drawings, but there is an analog working with audio. A signal sampled at 44.1 kHz for instance, can be resampled at the same frequency without losing information. If, e.g. a square cluster of 4 luma pixels corresponds to one unique color value (4:2:0), then resampling that image will assign the same color value to that 4 pixels.

If the target chroma subsampling is the same as the source subsampling, then any ffmpeg scaling will be a no-op in that regard, so it's not subsampling 'further'.

FFmpeg does not determine chroma sampling scheme from a tag. It is a basic property of the decoded bitstream. If it's 4:2:0, then the decoder will emit chroma planes of half-width and height with respect to the luma plane; for 4:2:2, half-width and full-height. A scaling operation will be carried out if the input and output schemes are different. A scaler will resize each row of the chroma plane to the target width of the output chroma plane and then rescale the resized rows to obtain the target height of the chroma planes. The "translation" is done as per the choice of scaling algorithm - see list at https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-scaler.html#Scaler-Options


Premiere Pro - Change indeterminate Media Time-base to custom value (say 12 fps) Is it possible to change the indeterminate time-base in Adobe Primeiere Pro to something small like 12 fps (the figure below shows only a few pre-fixed values) ?

If not, how do I render a 5 second video with 60 images at 12 fps ? I do NOT want to use time-remapping as an effect since I am worried that will try to interpolate frame, whereas I have 60 frames, which is required for 5 second at 12 fps.

Any help would be appreciated.

When you create a new project, on the 'Settings' page, select 'Custom' from the 'Editing Mode' drop-down, then you can select '12fps' as the 'Intermediate Media Timebase'.

If you already have a project, you can create a new sequence and select 'Custom' and '12fps' as above in the 'Sequence Settings' menu.


how to put background or solid block of color on a video I'm currently producing a top ten highlight video. It includes the names and stats of the players on it and I'm wondering how do I give the text some background so it looks more professional I'm trying to do something similar to this video

I'm currently using windows movie maker live so will I have to switch editor thank you

I've not used Window Movie Maker, so I don't know it's abilities. However, the area where the text shows up is called a "lower third" because it's in the lower 3rd of the screen. If Movie Maker has the ability to add titles, it might have some named something like "Lower 3rd".

If it doesn't have such a title option already, you can easily create something like the one shown in the video above. Simply make an image in your favorite image editor that has the color bar you want in the lower 3rd area, and is transparent everywhere else. You'll need to save it with transparency, so a format like .png or .tif is best. Formats like .jpg don't save transparency.

Once you have the color bar with transparency around it, you can layer it over your video. (I assume Movie Maker has some way to layer video?) Then put your text over the color bar. Or, if you don't have that ability, you can bake the text into it in your image editing app.


Editing involving several backup drives: how to assemble a project with minimal clip duplication? This question might be a little complex, but here's the situation:

We are a small team and we shoot almost every day, we do correspondence-type shooting. We are backing up our footage to external encrypted drives, there are three now. When I edit, I pull the folders that I want in the edit from the backup drive onto my Editing SSD drive. Because we shoot in MXF and MTS, I usually then transcode everything to ProRes. After that, I delete the original MXFs and MTS' to conserve space.

With this, I end up with duplicated clips on my editing drive. When I edit in Final Cut Pro X, I choose several clips from these folders to be in the final edit from inside the FCPX, and after I render, there are unused, but linked files left behind. I have no way to automatically delete what was not used, and I don't want to delete the folders with transcoded footage if I were to revise the project at a later date.

Is there any way to delete files not used in the timeline? How do I conserve on space? Is there anything in my workflow that could be optimized?

I am not sure why you end up with duplicates. However you might be interested in having a look at the proxy workflow from Felipe. It probably can help you to get rid of duplicates and conserve space.


Resize a live stream and overlay over another live stream for broadcasting I'm working with ATEM Production Studio 4K from Blackmagic to switch between several video feeds that are broadcast using Wirecast onto Youtube from a Mac. Our ATEM product is not one of the switchers that comes with DVE (aka the ability to resize video input). I want to find a way to resize a video input and combine it with another input so I can broadcast the video to Youtube.

There are two video feeds I want to combine, a feed from presentation software and a feed from a camera filming a presenter, in a way that the presentation is smaller than full screen and moved to a corner.

I've considered ffmpeg, but I don't know how to use ffmpeg on a video stream in a way that we can combine it with another stream and send it into Wirecast, if that's possible.

An ideal solution would take a feed from our switcher and another feed from our presentation software, resize the presentation, combine it with the switcher feed, and send the result to Wirecast or Youtube. Is this possible to do for less than the cost of a new switcher? Is there a way to do this using OBS in place of Wirecast?

You can do this with OBS. I do it all the time.

The Mac, can with OBS take the feed(s) and arrange/resize them and then stream it to Wirecast(?, but not necessary) or directly to Youtube.

OBS handles both input from streams and from video cards, so you can have several inputs and combine them, very easily.


How to create a simple DVD with menu and a set of scenes (on a mac)? I want to create a DVD form a dancing show.

There are about 30 scenes
I want to separate the scenes with some black space
add a title before each of the scenes
create a DVD menu with each scene
have a menu with at least 12 tracks per page

I used to do this with Ulead Viedeo Studio 11 (on a really slow XP-PC). Now I have ACVD material, a Mac and the old hardware and software cannot handle it anymore.

What software would you use?
Is this possible with Adobe elements 11?
Does final cut provide custom menus?

iDVD should have come with your mac. Give it a try.

iDVD is a very basic DVD authoring tool (a category that is distinct from video editing, though authoring tools may be bundled with some editing packages). I've only used it a handful of times, but I'm fairly sure that it does everything that is requested here.

One thing to keep in mind is that DVD authoring is very much an art. I can't offer much specific advice other than the observation that different DVD players react to different Codecs in their own ways. Single-layer DVDs are relatively easy to author, but if you get into making dual-layer DVDs then you need to do extensive testing to ensure that your discs will actually be playable.


What hardware do I need? Multiple audio input devices + BMCC video to Media Express I'm a non-professional user with a Black Magic Cinema Camera 2.5k (BMCC). I have a number of separate audio outputs that I want to record with the video in Black Magic Media Express so I use multiple audio channels that I can edit in post-production.

The audio outputs are:

Microphone 1 via XLR or 1/4" balanced
Microphone 2 via XLR or 1/4" balanced
SDI audio from the BMCC embedded in video via SDI
line out or S/PDIF from PC

I'm trying to find a product I can use to record these audio channels separately in Media Express. I don't want to mix them in one stereo channel before they go into the camera and embed with the video via Thunderbolt to my PC/Mac, because I want to adjust the audio channels in post-production while not having to sync.

I have found the following products (from expensive to less expensive) via which I can do this, I think:
1. HyperDeck Studio Pro. Can record to SSD and/or via Thunderbolt to Mac/PC, sufficient inputs to maintain the audio channels.
2. UltraStudio 4k. Can record via Thunderbolt to Mac/PC and has inputs needed to maintain all the audio channels + more.
3. DeckLink Studio 4k. Has inputs I need. Can I use inputs at the same time and record with Media Express with multiple audio channels?
4. UltraStudio Express. Can record via Thunderbolt to Mac/PC. Does it have the necessary inputs? Can I use inputs at the same time and record with Media Express with multiple audio channels?

Can anyone answer my questions or tell me if I'm missing something? If there are other solutions for my situation, please let me know. Non Black Magic options are also welcome.

Greets,

The page you want to look at is the "Capture and Playback" page of the Blackmagic Products page.  Any device on that page that says "four analog audio inputs" is a good bet.  Media Express does indeed have the ability to record audio and video from an SDI input, and also audio-only from audio-only inputs, giving you a multichannel media file that you can then edit in post.

However...I strongly suspect that the analog inputs of most (if not all) of these devices are line-level and don't supply phantom power.  Depending on what sorts of microphones you have, that could be one or two reasons per channel you will not get a satisfactory result.  Not to worry...you can buy a pair of microphone preamps that take mic-level inputs, possibly provide phantom power (if your mics require it), and deliver line-level signal to your audio inputs.

However, again...many of the products you listed above are OK for use in a post environment where computers (and their noise) can be sequestered from the operator, but they could be a real nuisance when used on location.  Not only is it an ergonomic pain to try to use a computer along side a camera, but when the computer's noise is recorded via the microphones, it adds injury to insult.  There are good reasons that people buy external recording devices and then marry the sound in post: they have mic-level inputs, they support recording multiple inputs to multiple tracks, they usually have long battery life, so can be used on location easily.

If you absolutely must use your computer with your camera, the BMD products will do a good job (provided you have the right signal levels, which you can get with a preamp).  Otherwise, I suggest looking at the ZOOM field recording devices.

Finally, if you plan to use the audio from the BMCC camera, be advised that it's really only good for sync.  The camera's built-in microphone picks up mostly fan noise, and its audio preamps are terrible.  But for scratch audio, it will tell you where the clapper is, and that's a help.  The headphone out jack can feed audio to the ZOOM, and you can plug your headphones into the ZOOM.

If you go with the external recording device, then you pretty much leave behind the world of Media Express.


FFMPEG - Crop and Chromakey not working together? Having an issue with the chromakey portion not working after the scale. Any ideas?

ffmpeg -i background1080.png -i file.mp4 -filter_complex "[1]scale=1612:906[inner];[0][inner]overlay=154:170; [1:v]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout];[0:v][ckout]overlay[out]" -map "[out]" -map 1:a -c:a copy -y -b:v 2000k -b:a 192k -vcodec libx264 -x264-params keyint=20:scenecut=0 -acodec copy file_FINAL.mp4

The issue is, that you reference the input file two times.

[1]scale=1612:906[inner];[0][inner]overlay=154:170;[1:v]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout]

what you actually want is to use the scaled version. so:

[1]scale=1612:906[inner];[0][inner]overlay=154:170[ovout]; [ovout]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout];[0:v][ckout]overlay[out]

But I don't really understand why you overlay the image twice...
wouldn't this work?

[1]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout];[ckout]scale=1612:906[scaleout];[0][scaleout]overlay=154:170[out];

colorkey, 2. scale, 3. overlay

You should almost always colorkey first and then scale to reduce colorkey artifacts

Greetings


How to 2-pass h264 with CRF and maximum bitrate with ffmpeg? Based on CRF Guide (Constant Rate Factor in x264, x265 and libvpx), quoting:

  Streaming nowadays is done a little more cleverly. YouTube or Netflix
  are using 2-pass or even 3-pass algorithms, where in the latter, a CRF
  encode for a given source determines the best bitrate at which to
  2-pass encode your stream. They can make sure that enough bitrate is
  reserved for complex scenes while not exceeding your bandwidth.

also the article Saving on Encoding and Streaming: Deploy Capped CRF also claims that "Capped CRF" is the highest quality while also making sure bitrate does not go above X but they propose a single pass with:

ffmpeg -i input_file -crf 23 -maxrate 6750k -bufsize 6750k output_file

What's the correct way to generate the highest quality possible file inside a bitrate constraint using ffmpeg with x264?

What's the correct way to generate the highest quality possible file
  inside a bitrate constraint using ffmpeg with x264?

There is no "correct" way. This is still an evolving area of research, and about half the articles you have read on the subject are more marketing that they are science. The "correct" way may also be different for every video. Netflix for example just encodes the video a couple dozen ways, and keeps the one it thinks is best and throws the rest away.

The closest thing to a "best" single answer, would be 2 pass placebo capped CRF.


FFMPEG Video loop from images files I am trying to make a video from a bundle of image files and then apply a an overlay on top of it.Another requirement is to make the video loop 3x. It is simply not working.
The requirement is to produce a video of 3 seconds looped 3x. The below script does npt allow to do it.

This is my script.

ffmpeg
-start_number 1 -framerate 3/1
-i "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\xxx\xxx\xxx\xxx\xxx\xxx\xxx\963d9d9b8e1\DSC%04d_0013.jpg"

-"C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\xxx\xxx\projects\xxx\xxx\xxx\xxx\963d9d9b8e1\DSC%04d_0013.jpg"

-i "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\xxx\xxx\projects\1237\1138\pictures\bundle\963d9d9b8e1\DSC%04d_0013.jpg"

-i "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\xxx\xxx\projects\1237\1138\overlay.png"
-i "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\xxx\xxx\projects\1237\1138\overlay.png"
-i "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\xxx\xxx\projects\1237\1138\overlay.png"
-filter_complex " [0:v]scale=600x900[scaled1]; [1:v]scale=600x900[scaled2]; [2:v]scale=600x900[scaled3]; [scaled1][3:v]overlay[tmp1]; [scaled2][4:v]overlay[tmp2]; [scaled3][5:v]overlay[tmp3]; [tmp1][tmp2][tmp3]concat=n=3[scaled] "
-map [scaled] -r 10 -vcodec libx264  -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 23  "C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Projets\2020\xxx\video test ffmpeg\test.mp4"

The "solution" that you gave to your own question confuses me because it seems to be somewhat unrelated to your initial question.

What I understood from your question:

You have a Sequence of Images in 3 directories.
Make a movie from each Image Sequence.
Length is 1s each.
Overlay an image for each 1s movie.
concatenate the movies -> 3s movie
Loop 3 times -> 9s movie

I've added the fllowing to your code in your question:

Add -start_number 1 before every input
Add loop=loop=2:size=30 after concat

Notice loop=2 loops 3 times.

Furthermore it needs a size (the total number of frames to loop over).

This depends on how many images you had.

I had 10 images in the 3 directories. 10 x 3 = 30

ffmpeg \
-start_number 1 -framerate 12 \
-i "imgSequ1/img-%d.png" \
-start_number 1 -framerate 12 \
-i "imgSequ2/img-%d.png" \
-start_number 1 -framerate 12 \
-i "imgSequ3/img-%d.png" \
-i "overlay1.png" \
-i "overlay2.png" \
-i "overlay3.png" \
-filter_complex "\
[0:v]scale=600x900[scaled1];\
[1:v]scale=600x900[scaled2];\
[2:v]scale=600x900[scaled3];\
[scaled1][3:v]overlay[tmp1];\
[scaled2][4:v]overlay[tmp2];\
[scaled3][5:v]overlay[tmp3];\
[tmp1][tmp2][tmp3]concat=n=3,loop=loop=2:size=30[scaled]" \
-map "[scaled]" -r 10 -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 23 "result.mp4"


How can I create proxy videos from Ursa Mini CinemaDNG sequences? I am currently working on a web series where we are shooting in RAW image sequences with a Black Magic Design Ursa Mini 4k.  We have a mixed post production environment where the editor is working in Premiere CC on a Mac and I'm doing the final color pass on a PC with Resolve 14, using a Final Cut XML as our intermediary timeline format.

Since the editor's disk space and processing power is limited and he is working in Premiere, working with the native RAW image sequence is not an option.  I need to output a proxy that he can use for editing that I can then import back into Resolve.  We'd previously been using a manual process with Resolve 12.5 on his computer to convert to a ProRes video, but this process was very slow and inefficient, both in terms of manual effort and in terms of the processing power I have on my systems vs his.

I need to determine a workflow to encode the RAW sequences in to a good proxy option.  I'm currently leaning towards DNxHD for the proxy format, but I'm open to any good option for NLE use.  Preferably I'm also down-converting to 1080p for editing to give the editor an easier time working with the footage.  I'm able to modify the Final Cut XML as necessary to account for format changes even if Resolve can't natively handle the adjustment.

Apparently I was just missing the setting.  While Optimize Media has been changed in such a way it will not work, there is now a Media Management function that will handle this perfectly.  It is available under the File menu I believe it was.

Media Management allows moving, copying and transcoding of all footage in the project, all footage in a timeline or particular clips.  You can also choose to work on only the footage in the project that is actually used (useful for discarding unused clips after final editing is done).  You also have the option to relink or not to the newly created files.

Scaling it to another resolution is also an option.

In my case, I through all new clips that needed to be transcoded in a timeline, selected to export all clips from that timeline and setup the output settings and ran the transcode.  It pushed through 2.5 TB of footage in about 4-5 hours and produced 130GB or so of proxies.


video editing software recommendation I'm new in the field of video editing and I'm looking for software which can zoom any portion of video (Magnifying  glass zoom) as below.

Suggest me some video editing software which is capable of doing that except Corel video.
I use 32 bit window 10

The way this is usually done is either by recording the screen at full resolution and zooming out the footage until you want a close-up, or by using a screen recorder which allows you to zoom in as you're recording.

But if you already have footage, any decent editor should allow you to zoom in. Just know that zoomed-in footage will be at a lower quality than recording at the full resolution and cropping.

If you're on Windows, you can try Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas. There are probably others, but those 2 are fairly popular.


ffmpeg - horizontal align of multiple drawtext let you have a phrase where there is a word ( or a list of words ) that you want to underline, with a different color.

Apparently, you have to "split" your phrase into 3 different drawtext ( with different colors, but how can you set the exact "x" position for the second and third drawtext?

On the ffmpeg site , there is this example:

drawtext=fontfile=FreeSans.ttf:text=DOG:fontsize=24:x=10:y=20+24-max_glyph_a,
drawtext=fontfile=FreeSans.ttf:text=cow:fontsize=24:x=80:y=20+24-max_glyph_a

but I don't understand how to calculare the exact position of second element: "80" ? how "80" is calculated?

And finally, is there another graceful option to draw a word inside a phrase with a different color? ( best would be to use a single drawtext )

Make ASS (Advanced SubStation Alpha) subtitles and use the subtitles filter:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -filter_complex "subtitles=your_subtitles.ass" -c:a copy output.mp4

You can make the subtitles manually or with Aegisub.
SRT (Subrip) subtitles are much simpler than ASS and would be easier to make manually, but they will lack features that ASS can support. SRT will suffice for simple styling however (underline, bold, italics, etc), but not individual per-word color changing as far as I know.


How to colorise black and white movies? What techniques are used to colorise old black and white movies? Are there different techniques? How to choose the right technique?

Convert movie to pictures (1 second = 24 pictures ; so 1 hour = 86,400 pictures ; average 90 min. movie = 129,600 pictures). Colorize every individual picture using the DeepLearning API which gives decent results comparable to the hand-colorized movies of the late 20th century. The Solomon Society uses this to convert old newsreel footage and other curiosities with impressive results.
It sounds like a lot of work, and it is (actually the work is simple but repetitive & massive), but a modern PC with an upper class video card, maximal RAM and a ton of free disk space should be able to pull it off fine given some time.


How do I log footage correctly? I have a shoebox full of minidv tapes and I need to start capturing and logging them. Of course I want to get it right from the start. How should I log the footage? I'm talking more about technique and strategy as opposed to technical equipment. (I"m planning on using my Sony HDR A1e to capture the footage onto my PC with Adobe Premiere). But I want to capture the story and events at the same time into a paper log.

There isn't an easy answer here. It depends on a lot of factors. If you have constant timecode on each tape then you can batch log. Batch logging allows you to go through abs document clips prior to capture and the run captures simply by running tapes.

If you don't have consistent time code then that option goes out the window as batch capture gets confused on broken timecode.
At that point you will want to just capture the tapes manually and possibly use scene detection if your log tool provides it.

Even when manually logging, you can record details in the file meta data. Make sure to record the tape number or name and which piece of time code it is from.


Video format can't be played or converted My customer gave me a series of videos, recorded from CC Cam. The extension is .dad. I couldn't play them on any player. (Obviously changed the extension for testing) and I wasn't able to convert them into a more common video format.
I've tried Miro, HandBrake, VLC and some other apps on Mac to convert them with no success.
Can anyone help me how can I convert them into a more common format that can be played and used in production.
I can give more info about the video format if anyone asks and tells me how to get that info :)

MediaInfo Text View Output:

General
Complete name : /Users/hadi/Public/20151105-175532.dad
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
File size : 227 MiB

Video
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=50
Width : 704 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.222
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive

Use this ffmpeg* command:

ffmpeg -i "20151105-175532.dad" -c:v copy "20151105-175532.mp4"

*get 32-bit static build.


What is the name of that color test in video production with the beep? What is the name of those colour test screens at the beginning of videos? I've used it before in Final Cut Pro but I forget what it's called.

Thanks.

Never mind. Found the answer. It's called "Color Bars".

To be precise...

SMPTE Color Bars
SMPTE Bars are "split field" bars composed of:
**Frame Height (Approx)**       **Type of Bars**
Top 67%                     Standard EIA 75% amplitude white bars
Next 8%                     Reverse blue bars
Lower 25%                       Pluge signal

source


Video effects over the live webcam stream for a party The idea is to stream a webcam video from one party location to a projector in the main area. It would be cool if I can find a way to add "fun cat faces" effects or something similar on the fly to the video. There are plenty "face booth" phone apps for selfies, but I'm looking for using a stationary webcam connected to my computer and more faces at a time that on a usual phone. Any suggestions? Thank you

I think you are going to need something out of your price range to complete such a task. Video, is far more complex to process in real time, than say a photo, that only analyzes a single frame and looks for simple objects like eyes, nose, mouthlines, as anchors.

The NewTek Tricaster ($20,000) line would be an option for this, but you'd need a company to come in to do it, and with a workflow pre-established to make this work.

In short. No, there is no easy way.


how to get vdpau hardware acceleration using ffmpeg? I am developing a multimedia player using ffmpeg. I am trying hard to get hardware acceleration through ffmpeg using vdpau hardware accelerator. I didn't get any success so far. Below I have mentioned details of my system specs, software and the error of the ffmpeg command line tool. Please feel free to comment if you need further information. Any quick suggestions will be greatly helpful.

Here is my system hardware specification:
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz × 4
Graphis: GeForce GTX 750 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
Os: Ubuntu-14.04 64bit
Memory: 8GiB

Software:
ffmpeg-2.8.1

other useful logs:
1. Find enable hw accelerator in ffmpeg

./ffmpeg -hwaccels

ffmpeg version 2.8.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3)
  configuration: --enable-shared
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
Hardware acceleration methods:
vdpau

2. Hw accel decoding using ffmpeg

./ffmpeg -hwaccel vdpau -i /tmp/test.mp4 /tmp/test.ts

Error log:

libva info: VA-API version 0.35.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/nvidia_drv_video.so
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1

3.Command: lspci -vnn | grep -i VGA -A 12

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] [10de:1380] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: ZOTAC International (MCO) Ltd. Device [19da:288a]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 48
    Memory at f6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
    Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
    I/O ports at e000 [size=128]
    [virtual] Expansion ROM at f7000000 [disabled] [size=512K]
    Capabilities:
    Kernel driver in use: nvidia

01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0fbc] (rev a1)
    Subsystem: ZOTAC International (MCO) Ltd. Device [19da:288a]

I am able to get the hw-acceleration working through ffmpeg using Nvidia graphics card. I just thoroughly followed the steps described here.

Hw Acceleratoin guide


How can different deinterlacing algo make shots look more like movie or like video? I've noticed that many scenes in Vidocq look very cheap, like a cheap TV series.
Wikipedia article on Vidocq says:

  As the final PAL DVD release shows, the film was shot 25i
  (interlaced), and only special effects shots were deinterlaced by
  means of smart field blending (imitating a progressive-type amount of
  motion blur due to a different shutter speed of progressive modes)
  during post-production, as the special effects crew obviously was in
  demand of progressive frames which are easier to process for special
  effects, before for the final release all normal shots were
  deinterlaced by means of simple line interpolation instead. The result
  are video-like appearance of motions in normal shots, and distinctive
  film-like motions for all effect shots due to the different amount of
  motion blur resulting from the different deinterlacing methods.

I've read How to get the Cinematic look and why movie video is different from other videos (sports, news, or other), but they don't discuss motion blur.

Why different deinterlacing algorithms make such a difference? Is it really just the sharpness of video picture vs blurred picture for a movie or, in fact, Vidocq has just been filmed cheaply with poor lighting, for example?

The complete answer to your question, which definitely includes motion blur, but also more than motion blur, is found in this article in The Accidental Scientist.  To summarize:

The human vision system has at least two major components that work together in a counter-intuitive way.  Persistence of Vision makes it possible for a sequence of images playing at only 16 frames per second to create the illusion of motion.  It is not a super high-quality illusion of motion, but the eye sees it as actual motion, not a sequence of images being flashed in rapid succession.  Ocular microtremor is a phenomenon that explains why the acuity of the eye is more than 4 times the Rayleigh limit.  And its oscillation frequency ranges from 70-105 Hz, and it averages around 84 Hz.  A playback frequency 16fps or faster, but 42 fps or less means that the eye both perceives motion and can super-sample the image.  Frame rates that are greater than 1/2 the microtremor rate (which for some mean 35 fps-70 fps and for others 53 fps-105 fps), the eye does not get to super-sample the image, and thus feeds the brain an image that fools persistence of vision, but doesn't satisfy the ocular microtremor system.  Once the frame rate exceeds the frequency of the microtremor system (120 fps easily does this), the eye sees that as "actual reality".  The article argues that the "uncanny valley", between 35fps and 105fps, is why 48 fps movies are not perceived to be 2x better than 24 fps movies, but actually worse.

Where motion blur comes in is that it softens the edges of objects in motion, letting the brain, not the eye, fill in the details.  Evidence suggests that the standard formula that shutter speed should be 1/2 of the frame rate (1/48th of a second for 24 fps playback) provides the ideal balance between the brain-based system and the eye-based system to work together.

When a shutter is open for 1/2 the frame rate, it's called a 180 degree shutter (in part because that's how it was created mechanically back in the day).  One can shoot with a more open shutter (up to 360 degrees) and one can shoot with a more constrained shutter (144 degrees, 120, 90, 60, 45, etc).  Different shutter angles create very different looks in part because it plays with the balance between these two visual systems.  The D-Day invasion footage from "Saving Private Ryan" was shot with a narrow shutter angle specifically to set the eye on edge.

All this to say--shutter angle and motion blur are very much a part of the perception of "smoothness" or "sharpness" of the motion.  Interlacing is an artifact that mostly just messes things up in the progressive video world in which we now live.  The small details on how people get around interlacing artifacts has little to do with understanding the "Cinematic look".  The Cinematic look is really based on the deeper principles of shutter angle, frame rate, and of course lighting, lensing, atmospherics, etc.  Interlacing either degrades things a lot, or not too much, and while it's strange that somebody would choose two different approaches to interlacing artifacts in a single production, that's less to do with explaining anything deep about the Cinematic look and perhaps more about the discipline (or lack thereof) of the production team.


How to Merge Multiple MP4 videofiles using concat of ffmpeg while transposing 180 degrees two MP4 videofiles How to Merge Multiple MP4 videofiles using concat while transposing 180o two MP4 videofiles?

Currently, i am using the following ffmpeg (concat) command:

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i VIDEOFILES.txt -r 32 -crf 14  -vcodec libx264 -vb 20M -vf "scale=1280:720,setpts=0.25*PTS" -fflags +genpts  -an   video_output_01.avi

How can I, in the same time, transpose two MP4 files 180 degrees?

Note that i used the following HEX code hack HERE "True lossless rotation of MP4:
" to rotate MP4 video files 180 degrees but ffmpeg ignored that information during encoding time!

What I can do?

I finally found out how to do it!

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i VIDEOFILES.txt -filter_complex  \
 "[0:v] fps=32, scale=1920:1080, vflip, hflip, setpts=0.25*PTS, fifo [v0]; \
  [0:v] fps=32, scale=1920:1080, vflip, hflip, setpts=0.25*PTS, fifo [v1];
  [v0][v1]concat=n=2:v=1[out]" -map "[out]" -crf 14  -vcodec libx264  -vb 20M  -loglevel error  video_out_01.avi

concat: concetrate files
VIDEOFILES.txt: video files with path
included, eg. file '/path/a.mp4' (including file)
fps=32, scale=1920:1080: drop to 32 frames, and reducing video resolution
vflip, hflip: 180 degrees rotation of the video
setpts=0.25*PTS: Four times speeder
fifo: a ffmpeg filter that it says to wait frame
to be fully processed before it is given to the next process --- due
to some filter process frame quicker than others e.g. due to frame
drop (?)
crf 14: High quality ensured (0 = uncompressed)
vcodec libx264: codec to compress the video file
vb 20M: video bitrate (a high one)
loglevel error: ffmpeg output information only errors will be displayed

BIG Questions:

A) I tried to reverse the order of filters eg.
[0:v] setpts=0.25*PTS, fps=32, scale=1920:1080, vflip, hflip,  fifo [v0]
However, it was extremely low.
The commands are executed seriasly? Then, why I must recode every frame, when only 1/4 of them will be kept? How can I do that in order to gain recoding speed?

B) Why I need FIFO eventually. This must be not the default behavior? All frames that are kept must be processed from all filters! Right? Why then ffmpeg drop frames without being processed? this is the meaning of FIFO? Right?

UPDATE: ffmpeg 4.2.3 freezes when multiple video files exist e.g. >5


Batch splitting ProRes into equal-length segments I routinely have to take ProRes footage and break it up into twenty minute segments of both ProRes and h.264. The computer I'm currently using to do this does has Premiere but not FCP. Any ideas on how to automate this as much as possible?

It's important that the edits are exact down to the frame; I've had problems in the past using Compressor 3.5 for this process where consecutive clips would not play seamlessly from one to the next.

I would use ffmpeg. Just write a sript in any scripting language you prefer and tell ffmpeg to encode new files depending on the total duration of the source file and let it only encode a certain amount of time.
You can completely automate this sort of workflow with ffmpeg.


YouTube Upload Gamma Shift I've just finished a music video in Resolve and exported it as Mov/Prores422HQ. It looks correct when played back in Quicktime and in VLC, however when I upload to YouTube, there is a huge gamma shift and the blacks look washed out.

YouTube on the left, Quicktime on the right:

What can I do to mitigate this gamma shift?

I managed to get an acceptable result by exporting as Mov/Prores 4444 and a Timeline Colorspace of Rec 709 Gamma 2.2.


Converting 4k to mkv I need to send a short video clip (30 seconds) to a client of mine, the video is 3840 × 2160 resolution.
The client is using some cheap, 4k TV and he is using a USB to play the video which only supports JPEG, MP3, MKV.

Is there any way to export/convert the video (.mov) to .mkv while keeping the same resolution? (3840x2160), I tried some softwares but they reduced the resoultion to Full HD.

I have all of Adobe CC programs if that helps.

Thank you.

Is there any way to export/convert the video (.mov) to .mkv while keeping the same resolution?

Yes. It's called ffmpeg. It's an advanced high level command line tool for basically all your video conversion needs.

Download the tool from here. You'll need to unpack it to any desired location. You can either add the bin folder to path or copy your .mov video file into the bin folder itself.

Then open the command prompt and type in the following code.

ffmpeg -i "filename.mov" "filename.mkv"

The video should now convert to .mkv format preserving the resolution.

Note:

.mkv is a container format. Which means the video file can have any codec, including those not supported by TV. So its useful to know which codecs the TV supports. By default, ffmpeg uses libx264, which should work in most devices.

Also check this question, about a similar problem I had with my TV. It should make things a lot more clear to you.

PS: As mentioned in the other answer, Handbrake should also work. Its the graphical tool based on ffmpeg.


Is 8k UHD or even 4k UHD actually necessary? Hello I'm new to StackExchange so I apologize if I'm asking this in the wrong place.

My question though, at what point does the resolution of a tablet, monitor, television etc. make no difference to the human eye? Will the standards ever stop or will companies keep on milking our wallets forever (silly question really)?

It all depends, of course, on what you are watching and where you are watching it. For instance, if you are showing something on a huge screen in a movie theater, you could definitely perceive a difference between 1080p and 4K. If you are looking at your phone, perhaps not as much. For standard computer monitor sizes, it's still fairly easy for many to see a difference at 4K, purely because we sit so damn close to our monitors.

Also keep in mind that there are scenarios in which you need to shoot in 4K in order to distribute in 2K or 1080p. You may need to zoom into one part of your shot and crop most of it out, which you can get away with if the footage you shot was a higher resolution than what you need to output at. This also applies to any footage that you may need to stabilize (i.e. windy drone footage) since stabilization requires cropping your frame. So in these situations, we not only need cameras to shoot in 4K+, but also monitors and devices that can play them back in their full resolutions.

While there are certainly diminishing returns on ever-increasing resolution on small consumer devices, there are people who absolutely perceive the differences between 4K and lower resolutions. Up to 8K and beyond, I'm not so sure, but for the moment, we have not actually crossed that threshold.


Wireless HDMI from camera to mixer? I would like to stream video from a camera through its HDMI output to a mixer.
Extensive googling has only turned up solutions for streaming from PC's and phones onto a screen.

What I need is a dongle that plugs into the HDMI output of the camera, and transmits the video to a reciever.

The transmitter will need to be fairly small and not need mains power, as the point of having the wireless link is to be able to move the camera anywhere within a 30 meter range. The reciever can be any size and run off any power source.

Does such a product exist? Can anyone suggest one that is no more than £200?

EDIT:
Based on the answers I've recieved, I'd like to add a few points to explain why I want this particular solution;

The venue is more or less circular, with a stage at the front, and
about 400 seats, with four aisles between them. One camera is mounted
to the wall on the right (when facing the stage), on the left of the
far right aisle. The other is at the back, also mounted to the wall,
and the third sits on a tripod on the right side of the room.
Usually this is fine, but the angles of the cameras are far from
perfect, and usually microphone stands or peoples heads get in the
way. Also, we often want to get much closer to the stage and show
things up close.
We can't move a camera to the front of the venue near the stage as it
would HAVE to be in the front row of seats (reasons are complicated,
but boil down to stubborn organisers who absolutely cannot be
reasoned with), and then it would be too low to get enough good shots
to be worthwhile.
The cameraman can't trail a long cable, not because of length
limitations of HDMI (the cameras have SDI out) but because people are
coming and going during events and it would present a trip hazard,
not to mention only being able to move up and down the four aisles
makes trailing a long cable annoying for the cameraman.
The footage is being mixed and streamed online in realtime, so having
a camera recording and then doing post production doesn't really
help.

Streaming from the camera to the mixer is the best solution I've been able to come up with, but perhaps I've missed a much simpler option.

Yes, they exist. They are called HDMI wireless extenders. Sometimes they are called transmitters/receivers. No, the good ones are not cheap. Further, I don't know of any where the receiver does not need external power.

Here's two examples, a better one and a not so better one:

IOGear Matrix pro (Here's a different offering)
Gefan Long Range Extender

I have no experience with either product and practically none with wireless HDMI as a whole. Personally, I would always use a wire for something like video. If you're only going 30 feet, it's really not a big deal to have a wire, and HDMI can go 30 feet just fine. If you need more distance, there's extenders of various wired variety that I would prefer over wireless options.

From your comment below, it sounds like you are wanting to move throughout the event, therefore making a wireless solution optimal, allowing you to move about on your whim.

If you do not have to stream the feed to the internet, I suggest that instead of running your video wirelessly, run the audio only. Get yourself a wireless audio transmitter and receiver, then carry the receiver around with you and the camera, plugging in the audio receiver to your camera. There are literally thousands of options and should be easy to find with google. Alternatively, get a standalone audio recorder and then mix the audio and video together in post.

The downside of these methods is that you must record to the camera's internal media and it may increase your post production time. The upside is that you're mobile while recording.


Video format to play on Samsung HMX-F90 I have video files recorded on an unknown digital camera, that I need to play through a Samsung HMX-F90 digital camcorder. When I copy to files to the memory card, they do not appear on the camera. I have converted the video files to H.264 encoding and the resolution matches those recorded by the F90 camera. Any other suggestions?

I have video files recorded on an unknown digital camera, that I need to play through a Samsung HMX-F90 digital camcorder

... why? Can't you view the files on a computer?

Copying your older files to a camcorder to view them is a very strange idea and it will most likely not work, because camcorders aren't built to do that. A camcorder (or really, any digital camera) is not like a computer that reads a card, shows you all folders and files and allows you to watch them. Most cameras have a standard path where they store their files that can't be changed. Many cameras also create accompanying files that hold metadata and the camera uses those to create the file overview in their media browser. If those files are deleted (or don't exist in the first place), the camera might not know that the files are present at all. Also, the camera will most likely only be able to read files that use exactly the same format and codec (and maybe other things, like certain metadata tags), so even if you converted your files they probably wouldn't match the output format of the camera.

  I have converted the video files to H.264 encoding and the resolution matches those recorded by the F90 camera.

That is also a bad idea, as reencoding the files will reduce their quality and is totally unnecessary just to view the files.

tl;dr: Use the appropriate tool for the appropriate task. I.e. use a camera to record videos, and use a computer to watch them.

Edit: How to do it the hard way

If for some reason you absolutely have to do it in this convoluted way, you will have to find out how the camera records and stores videos on the memory cards. Three steps/considerations for you to make your camera recognise your videos:

Correct location. All cameras store videos in a specific directory on the memory card. For example, my Canon EOS 80D stores all photos on /DCIM/100CANON/ (it creates multiple folders with incremential numbers if necessary). Your camera might allow you to change this directory (or at least define a subdirectory) in the settings. This will also allow you to find out what the default directory is. If there is no such setting in the menu, check your camera's manual for that info.
Correct format & codec. If you have put your files in the correct folder and the camera doesn't show them, they might be in a format that the camera doesn't recognise. You said you converted your videos to H.264, but have you used the correct container format and audio codec as well? (More information on that in my answer here.) I suggest you record a test video with the camera and check it's metadata and file parameters using MediaInfo, then use that info to convert your video files to exactly the same format with the same parameters the camera uses. Also, note the naming pattern of the file created by the camera and rename your files following that pattern.
Keep in mind that converting your videos will likely degrade the video quality. This won't make much of a difference on a tiny camcorder screen, but do remember to backup your original files.
Cataloging files. Some cameras create catalog files alongside the actual video files that are used for the internal media catalog of the camera. If it isn't present or doesn't contain information on the videos you copied to the memory card, the camera might not be able to display them. For example, my 80D creates a .CTG file in /DCIM/EOSMISC/ for every set of images shot with the camera. However, there are also cameras that use one sidecar file per video file that may fulfil the same function. After you've recorded a test video with the camera, search the memory card for such a file and open it in a texteditor. If you are lucky, it's a plaintext file that uses a reproducible pattern that you can use to manually create the necessary files/entries for your own videos. If not, you're pretty much out of luck. You can try to look for some technical documentation on how the internal camcorder catalog works, but I doubt you would find any or that it would be any use for your situation.


Are these beginner's paid-for programs comparable? I've found these low-end but non-free programs and can't decide with which to go. They all seem to be around $50-$80 (One time. Not subscription). My question - are they all comparable, or are some very different than others (such as Adobe After Effects being different than Adobe Premiere Pro)?

Sony Movie Studio
Adobe Premiere Elements
Cyberlink PowerDirector Deluxe
Corel VideoStudio Pro
MAGIX Movie Edit Pro

Also, I'm assuming an amateur video can be created with all of these. If I'm wrong, or if there are any other serious drawback I should be aware of, I'd like to know. This is - other than being more limited than the more expensive version, of course. I mean something like not being able to export the finished video to h.264 for example. (As far as I know, this is not the case. I'm bringing this to show what I mean by a serious limitation.)

With consumer targeted software, there is less of a standard of how to do things.  For professional software, there are pretty standardized workflows that editors follow and so tools are pretty similar.  For beginner software, while the basic concepts are still similar, the way in which they simplify them is not.  The end results that are possible are still pretty similar, but the way you get there is not necessarily.

The best bet when comparing entry level beginner video editing is to try trials of them and fine the one that relates best to the way you think about video editing.  Don't forget to look at some of the free options out there like Lightworks or Resolve too if you want something that is more professional oriented, but without the price tag.


Help needed in choosing video production device for use with Matterhorn Capture Agent In our institution we need to record every class hours and upload it to our Matterhorn server with schedule recording, so i need a good video capture card which need to support a fixed camera and input device for mic and projector and a VGA option, If i'am i scheduled for a class it will automatically record the content and send to Matterhorn server and it will produce the video to other user interface to get watch could any one there to help me out to find a good capture card, asking here because you experts are in video production and you all sure know which card will provide the above requirements.   Thank you..

One of the best resources you will find for this is probably the Matterhorn documentation itself. The Capture Agent Hardware page has samples of hardware that was used at a number of schools that have implemented capture agents for Matterhorn.  It appears that the Epiphan VGA2USB is the near universal standard for VGA capture.  There seems to be a wider range of video capture devices.

Personally, I'd probably take a look at seeing if the Black Magic Intensity or Matrox MXO2 works with the capture agent, but there are also other listed devices there such as capture devices from Hauppauge or Bluecherry which have actually been used successfully already.


Same filter in different chains I want to split input video, scale each stream using different parameters and add subtitles to each output, using the same parameters. I can do it repeating subtitles filter in each chain, can I avoid this duplication?

ffmpeg \
    -i input.mp4
    -filter_complex "[v:0]split=2[v480][v720];
[v480]scale=858x480,subtitles=sub.srt:force_style='Fontsize=18,MarginV=15'[o480];
[v720]scale=1280x720,subtitles=sub.srt:force_style='Fontsize=18,MarginV=15'[o720]" \
    -map [o480] -c:v libx264 -b:v 2000k -bufsize:v 3000k -map 0:a -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 480.mp4 \
    -map [o720] -c:v libx264 -b:v 4000k -bufsize:v 5000k -map 0:a -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 720.mp4

I this example I want to avoid repeating subtitles=sub.srt:force_style='Fontsize=18,MarginV=15', is it possible?

Apply the subtitles filter before the split. Note that subtitles will be, proportionally, the same size in each output stream.

-filter_complex "[0:v]subtitles=sub.srt:force_style='Fontsize=18,MarginV=15',split=2[v480][v720];
[v480]scale=858x480[o480];[v720]scale=1280x720[o720]"


Stream using HLS as source fails So my problem is this:

I have a main process that is using as source bmdcapture, that process is creating a set of 4 different streams using HLS, so the command is something like this (showing only one to simplify):

ffmpeg -i /data/pipe0 hls_time 10 /data/input0/out.m3u8

That works awesome! No problem at all. Now, if I se that output as input for another stream, it works ok. So, if I do:

ffmpeg -i /data/input0/out.m3u8 hls_time 10 /data/input1/out.m3u8

It works ok, no problem at all. I can play it and it works ok.

However, the problem is if I want to use that first HLS to do RTMP streaming... the video gets corrupted, it jumps, sometimes it does not play at all... etc. Is worth to mention, I'm using Akamai to sent the package, but if I use wowza, the same thing happens.

But, I have the solution. Use 2 seconds segments, like this:

ffmpeg -i /data/input0/out.m3u8 hls_time 2 rtmp://akamai.end.point/file

And just by doing that change, the stream works flawlessly without problems. However, the main process I have (ffmpeg -i /data/pipe0 hls_time 10 /data/input0/out.m3u8) I need it to be 10 seconds, instead of 2, so I cannot change it... one solution could be create something else in the middle, but that adds complexity specially because this system runs 24/7, so that is not an option...

The question is: why I cannot stream using 10s segments as the source?

The reason is because HLS as a source is really just a static file (a bunch of .TS packets).  This requires you feed the new ffmpeg process (in your case RTMP) at x1 speed, or real time.  You can do this with the -re flag before the input.


Separate all layers every "X" interval of time in After Effects I dropped +100 images in After Effects, I would like to make a simple slideshow, and for this I have to separate/slice each layer sequentially every 5 seconds (that is the duration I want for each image/transition).

Please see the image below to understand better what I mean:

So, I wonder if exists a simple technique to do this programatically with all the layers, instead of manually dragging one per one. Maybe a simple hotkey combination to move the start of the layer to the current position in the timeline, or better a built-in feature like "Expressions" or maybe a external script or plugin for AE?.

UPDATE:

I found a expression example that I think it could be helpful for what I want, however, I can't find the way to adapt it for the simple task that I require. (my After Effects knowledges are very basics)

Expression example: Create a trail of images

No scripting or expressions are needed, it's built-in to After Effects:

Drop all your frames into a comp…
go to the 5 second mark…
with all layers selected, hit alt] or option] to trim the end of the layer to the current time…
still with all the layers selected either right-click or go to the top menu and choose Animation>Keyframe Assitant>Sequence Layers…
in the dialog that comes up you can choose to overlap the layers and to add dissolves. Usually for a slideshow you will choose to dissolve the top layer only. Dissolving top and bottom layers mean that the background shows through in the middle of the dissolve.


Have to reduce the video size with losing the quality I have a mov file with the size of 74 MB. because of the size it is getting slow to load in my webpages. i would like to reduce my video size. But if i do that by using online compressor the video quality become low. i am not bother about reducing the resolution and changing the video format. Can anyone please help for doing this more efficiently

By nature, reducing the size of the video (either by bitrate, by resolution or both) will reduce the quality of the video.  You can minimize the loss by using good compression algorithms from high quality sources with proper settings, but there will always be quality loss with additional compression, even if minimal.

Without knowing more about the type, length and resolution of your video, it isn't possible to give the best advice, but using 2 pass VBR H.264 video is a fairly standard compression algorithm to use.  2 pass VBR will adjust the rate of data use to help account for differences in complexity of the video and make better use of the data you allocate to it, but it is still necessary to allocate sufficient data rate or the quality will deteriorate.

If the video is HD, then it would have to be pretty short (under one minute) to stay under 74mb without pretty significant quality loss.  Dropping the resolution will similarly greatly reduce the quality, though depending on the level of compression, it may be less blocky.


FFMPEG expand limited range to full range I am working on a recipe to convert Avid DNxHD files which are rec.709 "legal" range (15-235 in 8bpc) to .png files which are "full" range (0-255). In looking around it seems that "colorspace" could do this, but I am quite new to FFMPEG filters and I can't seem to get it to work... I've looked all over the place but not found a solution to this simple question

-i video.mov -fv yadif=0:0:0,colorspace=srgb transcode_%04d.png just throws an error, and I assume I just don't know the proper syntax (no real example for this in the manual, that I could find).

Separately i thought this might work: -i video.mov -vf yadif=0:0:0,scale=in_range=tv:out_range=full transcode_%04d.png. This runs without complaining, but the output .png's are still in legal range.

Whelp finally figured this one out when I stumbled across the answer in another forum. Pretty simple really, just needed to study  up on filtergraphs. And for the record bwdif deinterlacing is FAR better than yadif! Not sure why anyone even recommends yadif anymore with bwdif out there...

-i inputfile -vf bwdif=0:0:0,scale=in_range=tv outputfile.mov


Trimming MLV or CDNG Footage I need to edit some mlv footage that consists of a number of lengthy takes. Due to the nature of the subject matter, a lot of the footage is effectively unneeded and given the size of mlv files, I want to trim away as much as possible, leaving only relevant footage to work with. I'm not talking about editing the footage. I'm talking about trimming down the original footage, leaving much less source material to then edit.

How can I trim this footage down?

If necessary, I can convert the mlv files to cdng files for trimming, though this is far from ideal.

MLRawViewer has functionality that allows a range of an MLV file to be exported as a CNG. There is no ui for it, but when scrubbed to the desired start-point, i will set the in-point and when scrubbed to the desired end-point, 'o' will set the out-point.


Adobe Premiere Bit Rate (Vimeo) I just published a video on Vimeo and got this message:

"This video’s bit rate is only 5568 kbit/s, which is lower than what we recommend for H.264 video. Your video might not look as nice as it should. For 1920x1080 video, we recommend a data rate of at least 10000 kbit/s."

It isn't clear to me exactly what I need to change. I exported my video with these settings:

VRB, 2 Pass
Target Bitrate: 8
Maximum bitrate (62.5)

Since I've maxed out the maximum bitrate, I assume they're asking me to change the target bitrate. It it as simple as changing the target bit rate to 16, doubling it from 5568 kbit/s to 11,000 kb?

I haven't yet figured out what the "standard" bit rate settings are. The video actually looks fine to me, so I'm reluctant to increase the file size with a higher bit rate setting. Then again, I guess it doesn't matter since Vimeo's hosting the video on their site.

Assuming you're using H.264 for exporting, the bitrate is the main setting concerning the quality of your video. Increase it to raise the video quality and reduce compression artifacts at the cost of a larger file. Using VBR 2-Pass will yield better quality at the cost of longer rendering times compared to exporting with the same bitrate with VBR 1-Pass.

There is no standard per se (at least for internet video, there is for other media such as DVDs), but here are a few things to consider. First, raising the video bitrate higher than the original bitrate of the video that came out of your camera won't yield you any quality improvement. Personally, I haven't been able to notice any perceivable difference above about 6 Mbit/s for Full HD video at 25fps. Of course, that value has to be adjusted depending on your resolution and framerate (see Does raising the framerate while not changing the bitrate result in quality loss?). So if your video is e.g. shot at 50fps, I would recommend about 12 Mbit/s. However, this is only my personal experience. Another example is Youtube, their Full HD video is compressed using a bitrate of less than 1 Mbit/s (so that even people with slow connections can watch their videos without stuttering), but that does look pretty poor on a large monitor. I would suggest you experiment with by exporting a small portion of your video with consecutively higher bitrates until you don't see any compression artifacts and use the last value for your full export.

Now for the settings in Premiere Pro, maxing out the Maximum Bitrate won't do much as the primary controller for the video bitrate is the Target Bitrate setting. With VBR (1- or 2-Pass), the encoder will increase and decrease the bitrate over the running time of the video as needed while trying to achieve an avarage bitrate that equates the Target Bitrate setting. The Maxium Bitrate is the ceiling for that margin, i.e. the Maximum Bitrate you set will never be exceeded.

If you don't see any problems with your video after uploading it to Vimeo, you can safely ignore the warning. If it still bothers you, just export it again using a Target Bitrate above their suggested setting.


Keying + Tracking onto Tablet/Smartphone with Green Screen Display in Adobe Premiere or After Effects I shot a commercial and in the commercial we have people holding an ipad or iphone and the screen of the devices were green like the pics below. Now I have to overlay some UI/UX from apps and web platforms onto the devices. I've never done this before and need a tutorial on how to do it. I know it involves keying, tracking and Adobe After Effects. There isn't much movement besides slight hand shaking and a tiny movement.
Also, I never know when to use tracking markers on the ipad/iphone green screen. We use an app that allows you to have a pure green screen or little tracking markers like the pics below. I've been told by some vfx people that they prefer just a green screen, but others say they need tracking markers because it will take super long if there are no tracking markers. They would have to do it frame by frame. So what I think I've gathered is that - if the green screen is completely still it can be a pure green screen, and if there is movement involved you need tracking markers?

http://bit.ly/1fHFnob

http://bit.ly/1IqDGlP

Trackers never hurt and there's almost no reason not to use them, but there's no substitute for pre-production and field testing. The only failure is failure to plan.

Ideally your markers would be high contrast, however you can place darker green markers on a green screen which can be entirely keyed out if the artist doesn't need them, but will still be useful if they are needed.

Since you've already shot this without markers, your best hope is a three-point tracker that can find and hold the screen edges. Since you say you have minimal motion, this shouldn't be too hard.


What Is That Misty, Glowing, Saturated Look 2000s Music and Pro Videos Have? Is it just to do with the image sensor tech of the time or is it a deliberate effect? What is it called?

A lot of music and pro videos shot during the 00s have that misty, glowing, saturated and grainless look throughout the entire videos, which you don't see any more.

Just a few prominent examples:

Usher - U Don't Have To Call -

Professional ad for a facial workout DVD -

Outkast - Hey Ya! -

Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha -

I don't know how much of this contributes to the effect,
but it seems that they are applying a blurred copy of the footage with very low opacity.
Similar to this: http://digital-photography-school.com/4-easy-photoshop-techniques-to-make-your-pictures-pop


Can't see differences between videos? I back up my data to pairs of external hard drives, and recently (in the process of transferring the contents to larger external hard drives) found that some of the data between them has diverged. Several of them are video files.
I used this answer to use ffmpeg's ssim and psnr filters to find the differences between the two videos. Once I had a location, I loaded the tracks into kdenlive, applied the "difference" transition, and seeked to the area where the difference was.
However, no difference was to be seen! I even extracted the audio, and used audacity to compare differences, and still nothing.
The files are clearly different; ffmpeg shows that. But if I can't see any differences, I don't know which file to copy over the other file.
Any idea what I could be doing wrong? This seems too simple to fail.

Use a vector scope and waveform monitor to judge the difference, not your eyes.  Even if you're doing an XOR comparison, there are cases where your eye isn't enough.
Here, for example, I've taken this sample footage from BMD's SDK (available here):
 The original is 12bit RAW.  I then transcoded it to H.265, using these settings:

If I then superimpose the transcoded version over the original, like this:

... and set the blending mode to "difference," a.k.a., "XOR"

and then use the scopes to analyze the result, you can clearly see that the files are different.

The top half of the above image shows the timeline viewer, and the result of the "difference" comparison.  To the naked eye, it looks black, as if there is no difference.  The bottom half of the above image shows Resolve's waveform monitor.  Here's a detail of that same image:

There's clearly noise at the bottom end of the signal.  Other types of scopes will tell you different information about the comparison.  For instance, you can use a parade to examine Y'CbCr, and see that the transcode operation has affected the image's chroma more than its luma.
I know that you're trying to examine the difference between files that you've copied and not necessarily transcoded, but this example is meant to demonstrate that scopes can give you insight into the type of difference between the files, when that difference is invisible to the naked eye.


FFMPEG how do i remove png and blur from this code how do i remove the 55.png code and blur.

ffmpeg -y -i 55.mp4 -i "55.png" -i "intro.mp4" -filter_complex "[0:a]atempo=1.15,volume=1.6,pan=stereo|c0<c0+0*c1|c1<c0+0*c1,aeval=val(0)|-val(1) [amain]; [0:v]setpts=PTS/1.15,crop=iw/1.2:ih/1.2,boxblur=1:2,scale=1280:720,setdar=16/9 [v1]; [v1][1:v]overlay=0:0 [vmain]; [2:v]scale=1280:720,setdar=16/9 [vintro]; [vintro][2:a][vmain][amain]concat=n=2:v=1:a=1" -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 30 -g 60 -b:v 1400k -profile:v main -level 3.1 -acodec libmp3lame -b:a 128k -ar 44100 -metadata title="" -metadata artist="" -metadata album_artist="" -metadata album="" -metadata date="" -metadata track="" -metadata genre="" -metadata publisher="" -metadata encoded_by="" -metadata copyright="" -metadata composer="" -metadata performer="" -metadata TIT1="" -metadata TIT3="" -metadata disc="" -metadata TKEY="" -metadata TBPM="" -metadata language="eng" -metadata encoder="" -bufsize 500000k -threads 0 -preset superfast out2222.mp4

will really appreciate it if you can show me how to remove the Blur and 55.png Code Overlay

Your command with 55.png, overlay, and boxblur removed:

ffmpeg -y -i 55.mp4 -i "intro.mp4" -filter_complex "[0:a]atempo=1.15,volume=1.6,pan=stereo|c0<c0+0*c1|c1<c0+0*c1,aeval=val(0)|-val(1) [amain]; [0:v]setpts=PTS/1.15,crop=iw/1.2:ih/1.2,scale=1280:720,setdar=16/9 [vmain]; [1:v]scale=1280:720,setdar=16/9 [vintro]; [vintro][1:a][vmain][amain]concat=n=2:v=1:a=1" -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 30 -g 60 -b:v 1400k -profile:v main -level 3.1 -acodec libmp3lame -b:a 128k -ar 44100 -metadata title="" -metadata artist="" -metadata album_artist="" -metadata album="" -metadata date="" -metadata track="" -metadata genre="" -metadata publisher="" -metadata encoded_by="" -metadata copyright="" -metadata composer="" -metadata performer="" -metadata TIT1="" -metadata TIT3="" -metadata disc="" -metadata TKEY="" -metadata TBPM="" -metadata language="eng" -metadata encoder="" -bufsize 500000k -threads 0 -preset superfast out2222.mp4


VSDC No audio when editing tracks? In VSDC, when making a PIP effect, it doesn't play any sound.  It has sound on the preview, but not while editing.  This makes it very challenging to make the PIP at the correct point.  Is there a way to fix this and get audio while editing rather than just previewing?

Open your Projects Explorer Panel and Properties Panel
Click on the Project that you are working on
Make sure that the Audio settings for the project is set to Mono or Stero

I have been struggling with this for a day now and just stumbled across my own mistake. When I initially started the project I set the sound to "No Audio." I did not want the sound in the videos that I was merging.

VSDC gives you independent control over video audio in each of the property windows of the specific video. The Project audio settings is a global sound control. Of course, if you set it to No Audio that's exactly what you get.


What equipment can I use to record presenter's computer screen? I need to record a live presentation. I can have a camera to record the slides on projection but usually it comes out washed out. I need a way to have some kind of splitter that goes between the presenter computer and the projection. This was I can record everything I see on the presenter computer screen. Is there a such device?

Yes. In the old days, we would use a scan converter which took a computer video signal and output it as S-Video.

You have a few options. The least intrusive is to continue to use your existing method of recording the screen, but to request the slides from the presenters.  Then, using the video recording of the screen for timing, you overlay the slides at the appropriate times. If you save the presentation as a website in Microsoft PowerPoint, it will generate a series of JPEG images which are handy for your video editing.

Other methods require you to have access to the computer or the connection to the projector. If you can install software on the presentation computer, you could do a video screen capture.

If you need to capture animations or video, you'll need to capture the actual video signal from the computer. You could send the computer output to a distribution amplifier, and send one of those outputs to a recorder, or you could install an SDI video card, and send the output to a recorder. This is the highest quality solution, but probably exceeds your budget.


Importing miniDV using passthrough on Elura 85 not working First, I have an old VHS unit that I confirmed working by outputting tape to our current TV.

I then connected the VHS unit to the Canon Elura 85 using the provided cables. I switch it to playback, AV>DV to ON and played the tape.

I see nothing on the viewfinder of the Elura. Well, nothing except some black lines jumping here and there.

I think the Elura isn't sensing full video playback, that it's a blank tape perhaps? Not sure if there's a setting that would tell it to ignore whatever it thinks as blank tape and just play the noise?

Update #1

I'm assuming the Elura is thinking that the VHS is spewing ghost signal...
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/24448/Canon-Elura-80.html?page=84

Update #2

I also tried other various home video tapes and got the same results.

It was the cable (STV-250?) linking the VHS to my camera that was the problem. After borrowing one from a friend, it worked and I'm now capturing video.


Bit rate reduction when converting 60fps footage into 30fps? I'm shooting at 60fps, the result is video playing back normal speed but displaying 60fps.

I then have stretched the clip so that i get 30fps playback speed with a slow motion clip twice as long as the original.

The camera is recording the original video at 50mbps bit rate, my question is this.

If both clips have the same number of total frames, yet one is serving half as many of them for every second, will the bitrate have reduced roughly by half as well?

I ask this because i have rendered both version of the clip. one technically twice as long but with the same number of frames, i rendered them both with the same bit rate as the original source, one of course turned out twice the size of the other.

I would like the slow motion version to be roughly the same file-size as the original, i figure with the same number of frames it should be more or less the same size.

But because i encoded them both at the source files bit rate one is twice as large.

Can i reduce the bit rate for the slow motion one without losing quality?

Many thanks for your time and expertise should you answer!

P.S
i'm new (as a user) to stack exchange i first posted this in the superuser section, since exploring i found this dedicated area so thought it best to put it here!

Regards, Cal

In theory, if the number of keyframes and their placement were about the same, as decided by the encoder, then yes, you can reduce the bitrate to half and retain the same quality. In practice, the encoder may be configured to place a keyframe every N seconds, in which case, you should use a bitrate a bit higher than half the original bitrate, say, around 55%.


Filesystem that records longer than 4 GiB, or one hour without interruption I would like to record footage at high resolution for one hour without interruption. I have a DSLR camera that, with 1080 pixels of vertical resolution and 50 frames per second, stops recording at 10 minutes and I have to press the record button again. Another hand-held camera can record for an hour but breaks it into chunks that, when concatenated, skip a fraction of a second.
I understand that this time limitation is because DSLR cameras use the FAT32
standard
for reading and writing files from disks, and FAT32 has a limitation of 4 GB:

  The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GiB minus 1 byte
  or 4,294,967,295 (2^32 − 1) bytes. This limit is a consequence of the file length entry in the directory table

Does another filesystem allow recordings without interruption for longer than 4 GiB or 10 minutes? And did cameras adopt such a filesystem?

Update: @Michael Liebman's suggested this Quora link that mentions "file chaining". I could solve the problem if the split files from a camera could be seamlessly joined and produce the same output as if I had been recording continuously. Does a format or camera standard allow this seamless juxtaposition?

Second update: I understand from the comments and questions that the file size limitation serves for DSLR's to avoid the EU's 5.6% import duty on cam-corders. One Sony camcorder can record continuously in AVCHD format but chops the clip into multiple files with around half a second missed in between files. Can another filesystem or video format record for camcorders footage for one hour without interruption?

In my experience, that's a indicator of the line between consumer, pro-sumer and professional cameras. At a previous workplace, it was problematic enough to justify investing in a better camera for the situation that could handle longer video lengths.

Additionally, standard FPS for video are 24 or 30 fps.

You might be able to save some time on the card by recording at 24 fps, but not enough to record for an hour by my calculations.


Greenscreen recommendations I'm suffering with Greenscreen already several months. So I would appreciate any recommendations.
As you can see on the right side there is a spill on the head and arm.
My setup:

2 daylight bulbs (45 W CFL-Daylight) with umbrellas for subject 45 degree left and right.
I also tried with and without 2 softboxes (45w CLF-Daylight) to light greenscreen. From what I see the greenscreen is not perfectly lit.
Greenscreen is 2 meters behind the subject
I key it in Final cut pro
My camera is Sony 5100 f1.4, iso 100, 25 fps, shutter 1/50, 1080p

The main problem is that I don't know what I need to adjust. Is it the greenscreen than should be lit better or something else? Do I need more light or should it be dimmable?
Video with background:

Raw video with greenscreen:

Greenscreen image:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KZdV6WTNAfeuzzjkMhnL9iOdWnfFtKDw/view?usp=sharing
Greenscreen Problems image:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x0IBozaoU2gDFQAEjZrIu8tVWpi03fBz/view?usp=sharing
Greenscreen Problems image 2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nh647wrV_kERR3y4bW6GSNcog8mG5yiA/view?usp=sharing
Keyed out image:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jSKZrsVYpdE3i1dxLuJRz81eD2_G_N3F/view?usp=sharing
Keyed out with sample color removal:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mTYnjIKM1dLBTb5gmfaI42EG-lcF5Fx0/view?usp=sharing
White/black image:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ptEZh4vhIYX9SRQgbEROqfkybv4TD7GD/view?usp=sharing
While/black with sample color removal:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dk9yFot721I2bY8lz90wJmZcp0evjLF5/view?usp=sharing
Also I tried adding 2 softboxes on the bottom. It helped with colors on the bottom of the screen but not with spill.

Image of my lamps setup:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbaEKtbYzrkyiCIDsgt7fbNSsOBMZKGY/view?usp=sharing
I'm open for any suggestions. Thanks for your time.

Nice explanation of your problem.
I would simply move the two softboxes higher.

To minimize the falloff put the lights about the center of the framing of the camera. If your camera is targeting the green fabric at 1mt (I see the camera is pointing down a bit) put the lights at 1m.
Probably the softboxes have less power than the umbrellas. Try to add a stronger light on them. Just watch they do not overheat. Safety first.

I do not know if this would help, but If you do not use the window I would put the green screen there because it seems the room is longer in that direction, which will help you have a less green spill on you, and use a longer focal length.


Set corners when cropping video I took a video of a TV, and I want to crop it so that only the TV is in the video. My problem is that since my phone wasn't facing the TV at a perfect 90 degree angle, I can't simply crop it like a rectangle. Is there any way I can crop it so that I can set the corners?
This is similar to how scanner apps on smartphones work. You set the corners and it makes it look like you are directly looking at it. Sorry for my mediocre explanation. The app Genius Scan utilizes what I'm talking about.

Yes, you can. If you're in Final Cut Pro X you can use the "Distort" section of the inspector, or in Motion, you can use the "Four Corner" function in the Inspector when your video is selected. (In Motion it will be in the Properties tab.) The same functionality is available via the on-screen controls, which are easier to use than entering values by hand.

I believe that After Effects and Premiere have similar functionality, though I don't remember the details off the top of my head as it's been a few years since I used them regularly.


After Effects render on AWS EC2 I want to render my After Effects projects on an EC2 Windows AMI for better performance, but they only allow Windows Server editions which are no supported by Adobe. Will it work if I install After Effects on Windows Server 2008? Thanks!

Windows Server is very much the same as the Desktop Windows regarding the core of the OS, there is just some stuff missing and other stuff added that is usefull for webservers.

You shouldn't have any problems installing an After Effects render node, I used Windows Server 2008 R2 myself for an After Effects CS5 network render node.
Shouldn't have changed with newer versions of After Effects.


Export Composition Background in After Effects I made a lower third for someone else. Of course it needs an alpha channel, but rendering RGB+Alpha results in humongous filesizes. Now I was wondering if you can export the whole thing using a chroma key?

Now the Thing is, I could of course export it while putting a green solid behind the whole thing, but I thought, maybe if I change the composition background to green I would not have to fit such a green solid but everything that is transparent would be green by default. However every time I render it, the background defaults to black.

Is there a way to tell AME or AE to use the composition background colour for the rendered output instead of black?

Thanks in advance!

I hope the person receiving your 'green screen' lower third doesn't ever find you in a dark alley. If it was me I'd be looking to bring the hurt. Really, this is not the way to do it.

Firstly there are more space efficient codecs with alpha channels than the default Apple Animation, try proRes 4444 or the newer Cineform

If you really can't afford the bandwidth to send the video with alpha, render out the alpha channel as a separate movie and send them both. I'm old enough to remember that's the way things were done in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and when sending a Betacam SP videotape by courier was the highest bandwidth way of sending material. There's no such thing as an alpha channel on analogue tape.

You can achieve that by adding an output module to the render (right click the output module in the render queue and choose add output module). Change the Channels dropdown to Alpha instead of RGB or RGB+. If you want, you can use a compressed codec to save space (or compress after the render, which is what I'd recommend). Just don't compress too much or you'll end up with blockiness in your alpha channel.


HD PVR 2 GE, worth it, thoughts? I am really trying to record/stream some footage from both computers and video consoles. The best solution wold be to use an Aver Media Capture Card, but seeing as that is out of reach financially, I was looking at the HD PVR 2. This allows for component and hdmi in with no delay pass through to a computer. Has anyone used this before, have any reviews or experience? How easy is it to get older systems on a 4:3 aspect ratio to work on it? I wouldn't think it would be too bad with the right adapter? Thanks for your thoughts.

There are a plethora of capture cards on the market in that general price range from numerous manufacturers.  There are two main things to worry about with these devices.

First, for analog inputs, such as component video, you need to consider the quality of the analog to digital converters as well as what capabilities they have for scaling and format.  Not all converters can handle arbitrary analog resolutions (or digital for that matter).  You want the highest quality converters to digital you can get for the resolution you need.  For SD feeds, that may actually mean getting an older, cheaper device that has good converters, but doesn't support HD (and doesn't need as advanced of a hardware encoder.)

Second, once you have a digital signal, the quality of the hardware encoder matters greatly.  HD video is very, very large in raw data, so heavy compression has to be applied to store it and make it playable.  This compression is generally a complex and time-consuming process, but specialized hardware can allow for real-time encoding that can keep up with a live feed.  The quality of the encoder will directly impact the quality and size of the end video.

As far as comparing between one device and another, looking for reviews or video samples from each is probably your best bet.  As there are many devices out there, you are unlikely to find people who have used both and can compare them directly for you.  You might have more luck with finding people with first hand experience of popular devices like Matrox's MXO2 or BlackMagic Design's Intensity, but those are (slightly) more expensive professional devices.


Which scene transitions are commonly used? Video editing software offers many scene transition effects, but which ones are commonly used in movies and tv shows?

Probably fade and cut. But, I must say every transition effect have a a point in terms of story telling. 'Cut' transition tells us the next scene might be in another place and time and so on.


How is laserdisc information physically stored on the disc? I know that Laserdiscs store video in an analog composite format.

I also know that CDs and DVDs store audio data as a digitally-encoded bitstream with the bits stored as pits and islands in the disc surface, which is simply read by the laser.

How is the analog data physically stored on the laserdisc surface? If it's pits-and-islands, then the data is surely digital and not really "analog", but if it's analog then it must be some kind of surface that has a continuous "reflectivity" which can store multiple channels of data (composite video in some kind of carrier and audio channels) in a single stream, how is this possible? Stereo vinyl discs store stereo information in different dimensions, but you can't do that with a reflective surface.

Just about everything you'd like to know about LaserVision disks can be found in this Wikipedia page, including the details of how the composite analog video is stored in a series of pits and lands.

Of course it's not strictly analog because it's sampled and later re-integrated, but there is no digitization of the video as we think of it today with Blu-Ray etc.


AWB and Auto ISO in fast moving scenes I have recently asked about Auto ISO for video, and got great responses. I would like to have further clarifications in these regards.

I am planning to film an event in a public place. The scene will be fairly dynamic, and I won't have much of a control over what will be going on. I believe I won't have much time for settings either.

For these reasons, I was planning to use AWB and Auto ISO. Specifically, I was thinking about setting the ND filter and aperture such that the correct exposure would correspond to ISO 200. That way, the camera should be able to go up and down when needed.

Now, considering that each clip will be no more than 4 seconds, will I run into any issues with the above strategy?

PS: I will be using a 5DMIII (no Magic Lantern).

It's a toss up either way.  On the one hand AWB may help you get better footage without needing manual correction later, but on the down side, if you end up needing any correction, it will change uncontrolled on you and will complicate the process of color correction in post.  If you don't plan to color correct in post and don't have time to adjust white balance on the fly, then AWB is really your only choice.

Auto ISO has similar problems.  It should generally do a decent job, particularly if you set good edge boundaries for the ISO (which the 5d3 does nicely), but it will shift on you and make adjusting for brightness and contrast in post more difficult.

Ultimately the shot you get is better than the shot you don't though, so if you can't operate it manually fast enough to get the shots, then use Auto for what it is there for, getting the shot you wouldn't otherwise be able to get.


YouTube Season/Episode presentation I found the following for a YouTube video, that I had never seen before:

As you can see, it say's the name of the channel followed by the season and the episode. I was wondering how this was done and whether I could set that up on my channel (it would make a lot of sense for me).

What you are referring to is called a series playlist. A series playlist is used to display videos in that manner.

What you have misunderstood is that it's actually the name of the show that is displayed before the "S11 E80", although I understand that it is confusing when the show has the same name as the channel.

This feature is easily utilized, it is however required that you have a verified channel. If you do, you should easily be able to add a series playlist from the playlist menu in the Youtube studio.

Best of luck


What is the maximum 2D video quality on Oculus Quest? If you want to create a 2D video to display on an Oculus Quest VR Headset, what is the highest video resolution the Oculus Quest is capable of displaying?

720p or 1080p or 4K or what?  Do the technical specifications shed any light on this?

2560x2560 per eye

The maximum recommended video resolutions for Oculus Quest and Go are as follows:

3840x3840 30fps H264 H265

4096x4096 30fps ---- H265

5760x2880 30fps H264 ----

2880x5760 30fps ---- H265 (* see below)

2880x2880 60fps H264 H265

4096x2048 60fps H264 H265

taken from here


Display Contents Outside of Composition Boundary? I have an icon I'm animating within it's own composition. I want the comp size to be comparable to the final size of the icon, so when I lay it down in other projects, I have a good understanding of where the icon will end up.

As the icon animates in, it extends beyond the size of its composition. Can I set the composition to render display elements outside of its boundary box?

Thanks,
Andy.

Make the layers in the initial composition 3D layers. Then nest it in the other comp and make the layer it creates 3D, and turn on continuous rasterisation (the sun icon) for that layer. Now elements protruding beyond the edge of the nested comp will appear.

This will not create any problems if your comp is 2D, but it might create problems if you're using 3D layers in either the nested comp or the final one. The other problem is that the bounding box shown in the comp window is dynamic for a continuously rasterised layer, so it will grow to suit the size of all the visible layers.

A less kludgy way of achieving this result would be to make the nested comp big enough to fit all the action, and to add a layer to act as guide to show the size of the final frame. You could create a solid, or a shape layer with an outline or whatever you want. Unfortunately you could not use a proper guide layer, as they do not show up in nested compositions, only in the composition in which they reside. So you'd have to turn off the pseudo-guide layer before rendering.


No audio during footage preview I'm using AfterEffects CS6 on Windows 7. During footage preview/playback, I never get any audio. I have the Mute Audio option in the Preview panel turned off (audio is not muted). I checked the Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware settings and found that 1) the only device listed in the Default Device list is "After Effects WDM Sound", and 2) clicking the Settings button and checking all of my audio devices (with and without the Device 32-bit Playback option selected) does nothing.

Am I missing something here? I have to preview my clips in Windows Media Player and then go back to AfterEffects to do the trimming - it's annoying!

If you want to Preview Audio you need to use RAM Preview... Press Numpad 0 on the number pad (shortcut key for Ram Preview), then you can hear the audio.

Press Numpad 0 on the Numberpad.


GIF/SVG kind of compression for Video I am looking for a solution to compress screen recording. Imagine a coding tutorial involving mostly text and windows and almost no graphics other than icons and occasional view of the wallpaper.
Since the content on the screen is mostly static and contains large patches of the same color, I suppose there is a very good scope compression if the codec is optimized of this kind of use case. GIF (still image) is very good at compressing large rectangular areas of single color. SVG is very good at compressing images that really vectors. For certain types of content, these formats far outperform JPEG in size while delivering superior or equivalent image quality.  I am looking for a similar technology for video. It has to compress the content described above really well in terms of output size as compared to a general purpose video codec. It need not be very good at capturing motion other than mouse/cursor movement and occasional window movement.

I wonder if the original Citrix ICA or for that effect Nomachine's NX, Microsoft RDP or even VNC would be of your interest. From what I understand of ICA and NX that idea was really to be in between of window manager calls, giving it an ultimate access to 'small updates' opposed to complete framebuffers. By a bit of searching I found VNCREC. The biggest problem with the to 'vector' format is that most font rendering is very far from the original text, so you would need something very in between, maybe such as GTK Broadway which goes into HTML5.


How to select multiple keyframes in Premiere? I had accidentally created numerous wrong keyframes, trying to tune volume. Now I would like to delete them. Unfortunately, I can't select multiple keyframes by mouse:

When I release mouse, all keyrames remain not selected.

You can do it in the Effects Control window:

Even if keyframes were added on the timeline, it will work.

Good luck!


Multi Projector Setup Has anybody had experience with Multi Projector setups? I've been looking around and run across several options:

Watchout
Wings
Millumin
Pandoras Box
Christie Projectors

The only type of presenting I've done is with a single Panasonic PT-D6000US, we want to branchout and do a really wide screen show. It will not be for a live performance (it seems like that is a big feature with most of those applications).
There isn't a need for 3D mapping, the projectors will be mounted above the screen, so we'll need to correct for distortion. We'll have a curved screen, and will need some sort of triggering system, whether it is a motion sensor, sound or light sensor or just a button that can be pushed. So the question is, what is the most cost effective simple multi-projector setup.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Depending on your needs, it might be as simple as using the drivers that come with your system.  I know that certain NVidia cards can make multiple video outputs appear as one single screen to Windows.  In a case like that, it would simply be a matter or properly aligning the projectors (if they can handle the key-stoning themselves)  A lens might be able to handle correcting for the curve.


How to record a slide presentation efficiently with video/audio I am making some video slide presentations (~15-30 minutes) which consists of a lot of animated slides and my voice. I made a test video to see where problems occur when doing such a project. It was a really hard work as I had to sync my video with my prerecorded voice.

How did I do it: I used Apple Keynote to make the presentation, exported it as a video with fixed animated timing, recorded my voice into an audio file, synced the material in Apple Final Cut Pro with manually pausing the video where it would get out of sync with the voice over.

Do you have any instructional sources on doing such a project in a more efficient manner with Mac OS X or have useful experience which you could share with me on this topic?

Using one of these solutions will be more efficient. That's what you've asked for. It saves you time, because there's no more need to manually sync the presentation and the voiceover.

Free Solution

Keynote can record a running presentation with the mic-audio.
QuickTime X has also a screenrecord-feature incl. audio.

Low Cost Solution

Specialized screenrecording software like ScreenFlow, Camtasia, Screenflick, Screenium, etc.

Pro Solution

Capture hardware like Ninja Atomos, HyperDeck Shuttle, Intensity Pro, Aja IO, etc., can record directly with ProRes-codec.

A professional solution with capture hardware can record directly in Final Cut Pro X (and other NLE) native codecs/formats like ProRes422. This saves a lot of time and discspace. The picture and the audio will be always in sync, and in addition you'll get a recording with smtpe-conform timecode. – There are even more advantages, but they will be more important if you record live presentations.


Best way to create closed captions in Premiere CS6? No 3rd party software! First let me get this out of the way: I can not use any third party software to load captions into my videos. With that said, what is the best way to get Closed Captions into my videos (it's about 5mins long) with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6?

IF I must type it in, that's fine...but tell me how. I'm a newbie. Thanks.

To answer your question, you can't create Closed Captions in PP CS6. It's a new feature only available CC onwards.

Source: From Adobe forum
You have a few choices -- there are two commercial products that I have used and know about, to create sidecar closed captioning files that are usable in PPRO and follow industry standarads for CC: CPC (www.cpcweb.com) makes a authoring program called 'MacCaption' for MAC and 'Caption Maker' for WIN. Also, a German company (www.zeitanker.com) makes a program called 'Annotation Edit'.


Is there an equivalent to Vegas' "select to end" feature in DaVinci Resolve? Vegas had an option in the context menu after right clicking on a track to select all clips to the end of that track. Does Resolve have the same feature?

It's called "Select Clips Forward On This Track", and it's activated by placing the playhead (the tall orange marker) over the first clip you want to select and doing one of the following:

Select Clips Forward On This Track: Y
Select Clips Forward On All Tracks: Alt/Option+Y

There are more of these available in the Timeline menu ("Select Clips Backward", "Select Clips Forward").


How to archieve similar particle effect While wathcing the trailer to the upcoming plugin "Stardust", at 00:13 mark of the video, there can be seen a particle effect that resembles a orb of power;

Since this plugin is not out yet, does anyone know how to archieve a similar effect as shown in the picture? To see it in motion click here.

It goes by pretty quickly! It looks to me like they've taken a frame of something that is white at the bottom and producing purple particles upwards, and then applied a rectangular to polar distortion to it, or possibly wrapped it into a 3D sphere.