Windows Live Movie Maker Output Video Quality Low I'm using Windows Live Movie Maker on Windows 7.

I made a screen capture video with a third party app which produces .avi files. Its quality is perfect. Its properties:

Resolution: 1280 * 720 (720p)
Frame Rate: 15
Kbps: ~10.000
Video Size: ~23 MB

I imported it to Movie Maker. And without any modification I just exported it with these settings:

The resulting video was 1.5 MB and of course in .wmv format.

The quality drastically lower.

Than I tried increasing frame rate (till 30), bit rate (til 60.000), resolution (till 1080p). No change!

I don't care about the size (in MB), I want a big high quality video.

I'll add lots of videos and do lots of editing and Windows Movie Maker is a very practical tool for an amateur like me.

So is there a way to get a very high quality video from Movie Maker?

You can't do much about it. Movie Maker can only export in WMV format - and WMV is created for small video sizes (at the cost of quality).

You will need another software package to export in other formats than WMV. Check out Pinnacle products for alternative - they target amateur producers.


Final Cut Pro 10.1: How to move clip framewise in timeline? in Final Cut Pro X 10.08 I have been able to move a clip frame wise with the arrow key. In 10.1 this moves the cursor, not the clip. Is there a way to move the clip?

Kind regards,

Nils

Use the comma and period keys to nudge the clip left and right, respectively.


Linux - looking for a way to produce analog effects for video I am looking for a way to make analog video effects like those:

You may want to turn the volume down a bit:

If there's no convinient way to do it i can head to electronics stackexchange for instructions on how to make some effect adding PCB's

Have you tried compositing it with Blender? I think you can achieve pretty much what you want with it.

Look for tutorials but here is an example. This is a tutorial for creating a hologram, but you can take the part on how to create the horizontal lines from the cathodic ray TVs.


How to assign roto to another layer in After Effects I'm rather new to AE but I have to do some complicated things for school since we came up with such a hard concept.

I have rotoscoped a part of the main footage, now how can I apply this roto mask (at least that's how I understand roto's function) to a solid layer?

My solid layer is something I painted on and I want it to stay within the bounds of the rotoscoped object.

Any help on this would be great!

Thanks.

Put a layer underneath it and set the lower layer's "TrakMat" to "Alpha Matte".  If you don't see the "TrkMat" dropdown menu to the right of the source name, click the "Toggle Switches/Modes" button at the bottom of the screen.


Use of you tube videos in a church service How can I find out whether or not it's permissible to use a you tube video in a church service?

There are two sides to this question:

1. Does the owner grant permission to use it in the church service?

Before using a video in a church service, message the owner. Usually they will be happy to let you use it, and on occasion they will direct you to a higher quality download without ads. In general, YouTube is free to play.

2. Is the church okay with the ads that are likely to come along with it?

Youtubers make their money off of advertising, and they have no control over the ads that are likely to be presented. I recall a time when a children's church program (tee-totalling denomination) started with a beer advertisement because that what was shown with the video we had selected.

Further Considerations

If you are live-streaming or recording services for later playback on youtube, you have to pay extra attention to permissions on copyrighted material. Your CCLI license does not cover streaming, but the CSLP license does. Hillsong blocks re-streaming of their content, as do major networks (nbc, etc).


Is it possible that the actual video resolution of the t2i/550d is not 1920x1080 I don't know if i'm doing something wrong or this is the way my camera (550d/t2i) works.

It seems to me that the video is softer than it should be.

To test this I made a picture and video using the same settings (iso, f-stop, shutter speed and picture style) at the same distance and without moving the focus.

I cropped and resized the picture to match the resolution of the video (1920x1088) and then I compared the results.

Detail from movie frame

Detail from picture (appropriately scaled)

here is an archive of the originals 550dTest.zip

The sensor in your camera has about 18 megapixels, and all those MP are used to record pictures and movies. What's different is how the sensor data was processed on the picture and the movie.

Scaling

For the picture you scaled down the original 18MP picture using Photoshop, GIMP or similar. This was probably a high quality scaling operation, so the resulting 2MP image still looks pretty good, since it was generated from the whole 18MP of data.

For the movie, it is the camera that did the scale down operation. The camera has to scale down images at a rate of 24 per second, so it can't use as good scaling as you get from an image editing app. I'm not sure what the algorithm is, but I'm certain its main goal is performance and not quality.

Compression

For the image you took a raw or a lightly compressed jpeg (not sure which one you used). If you went with the jpeg, it's got 4.7MB worth of data. The raw is way more than that.

For the movie the camera compressed all the frames using H.264 encoding and you took a random frame from the middle of the movie. Your movie has 58 frames and is 20.3MB big, so on average, there are just 360KB for each frame if we consider the audio and metadata in the noise. H.264 makes an amazingly efficient use of the limited bitrate by encoding differences between frames, so it isn't as bad as it looks.

So based on the above reasons, I think the picture vs. movie quality cannot be expected to match.


Encoding Problems in 2019 Premiere, AfterEffects and Media Encoder I know this question was asked before, and I've read pretty much all of them and I have no solution to this. Until recently, I could render everything just fine but when I am rendering a 2 minute 1080p video, it is taking ridiculously long (see the image for details). Last time I checked, it was showing around 8 hours or so and it keeps increasing. I've tried encoding in Adobe Media Encoder 2019, Premiere and After Effects and the result is all the same. Normally it would take me only a couple of minutes to render such short video on my system.

Ryzen 5 2600X 6 core CPU
32GB 3200mhz DDR4 memory
RTX 2060 GPU
All of the project files are on Samsung 970 evo plus M.2 drives
I've tried encoding with CUDA supported and software only encoder
I've tried different presets as well as my desired export settings and it's all the same
All of my drivers are up to date (including GPU).

I'm about to lose my head because I have to deliver this within 3 days and now this is happening. Anyone experienced this before? Please help if you know anything about this, I'm desperate.

I have had lots of weirdness with Dynamic Link recently with the latest versions of creative cloud 2019.
Sometimes it goes really slowly when you have projects that include linked AE comps in Premiere.
I would try exporting any comps from AE as proRes files, into premiere. Then exporting your videos directly in Premiere without using Media Encoder, and see if that makes it any quicker.


Easier Way To Narrate Over Paused Frame? In order to add commentary to a fast moving video I've been pausing the frame by taking a snapshot, saving to a file, recording narration, saving to a file, then manually adjusting the snapshot time. But the process feels clumsy in Windows Movie Maker. That software is also no longer supported by Microsoft.

Ideally I'd prefer to use a simple GUI editor like Movie Maker (ideally with keyboard shortcuts and/or voice control) since I don't have a lot of free time to master an advanced tool. Though if more involved tools are the only way to streamline the process then please share your experience.

There is a simple Video editing suite called Camtasia.It is not free but you can try out the trial,If you like it you can purchase it.
It has an "Extend Frame" feature (also available in 7th version) that will allow you to extend a particular frame of video on the timeline as long as you want so that audio narration can continue.

That should achieve the same effect as pausing the video during recording, as in either case you will end up with a static image on the screen while the audio finishes playing out.

Then come in afterwards, play this pre-recorded screen video back... and lay down audio on top *WHILE being able to hit pause on the video, and continue talking, to whichever points in the video require more explanation.You can just simply check it out.


Re-encoding Lossy formats with Lossless formats I was re-encoding videos downloaded from YouTube with Lossless H.264 (using FFmpeg) because I'm experimenting with CRF=0.

I found that resulting videos are much bigger (1 gigabyte) than the original video (100 megabyte).

However, from my knowledge of lossy compression, it is basically like lossless compression (plus, it's the same codec) except it throws away lots of minor details that won't be noticed but take up lots of space. Hence, shouldn't I achieve a similar file size if I encode the decoded file using CRF=0 because lots of data are already thrown away? I don't quite understand this.

I use the following command:

ffmpeg -i 'file' -an -c:v libx264 -crf 0 'out file'

When data “thrown away” by the encoder, the decoder must still render a full image. The image is just not faithful to the original image, but it is a full image. When you reencode with CRF 0 you are telling the encoder, “I want the output to be identical to the input” and the encoder doesn’t know information was lost on a previous encode. so it must spend bits to encode the “new” image losslessly.


Exchange project files between different versions of Premiere Pro? Is there a way to work collaboratively on a Premiere Project when one person has e.g. Premiere Pro CC and the other one CS6?
If I open a Premiere Pro CS6 project file, I have to copy and convert it. If I do this, the person working with Premiere CS6 won't be able to open the project file I created. Of course I could use EDL files, but this isn't really effective when using effects and stuff in Premiere ... so, is there a way to make the projects backwards compatible? (In InDesign for example, you can save project files as IDML rather than INDD, allowing for other people working with CS4 or newer to open the project file)

Basically what @Amer said plus for a shortcut there's an app that can 'downgrade' your project online - http://joshcluderay.com/downgrade-premiere-project-converter/
the trade off is, it always sets the version to 1 so 'some' effects and attributes might be lost in the process. I found that for your everyday editing this doesn't affect anything unless you're using titles (type).


syncing slideshow with music So im currently creating a music oriented slideshow with a bundle of images that needs to be changed each beat of the music. Problem is, the music is 129 bpm which results in 2.15 beats per second. Having the image change each beat would take me approximately 27.9069767442 frames for each image to show up before changing to another one in a 60 fps sequence. knowing the capabilities of my software, i can only go 27 or 28 frames per image which resulted the slide show being not precise to the beat, it slows down in certain parts of the music when im using 28 frames per image and it speeds up when im using 27 frames per second.

Is there any easy and time saving way to sync up my images before i resort to brute force (adjusting the frames manually)? Perhaps is there a way to change the frame rate im working on to a desired number?

Just some ideas.

1. Do not sync everything.

Define what out of sync is acceptable to you. Let's say 1/10 sec. (I would be way less "picky" and go for let's say 1/5)

Then calculate how many images you need to accumulate that out of sync, and only adjust that. This will be now adjusting only let's say one of every 10 clips.

2. Choose a "multiple" framerate

To reduce even more the out of sync, and retime later. Let's say you choose a framerate of 10x faster, then the out of framing could be rounded a bit more accurately. 279 frames. Then retime.


FFMPEG stop converting from TrueHD to PCM I'm trying to convert a TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack to PCM format but ffmpeg give me an error and stopped. Here's the output of ffmpeg:

user:~$ ffmpeg -i source.thd -c:a pcm_s24le -ar 48000 output.wav
ffmpeg version 2.8.11-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
      built with gcc 5.4.0 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 20160609
      configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv
      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
      libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
      libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
      libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
      libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
    Input #0, truehd, from 'source.thd':
      Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
        Stream #0:0: Audio: truehd, 48000 Hz, 7.1, s32 (24 bit)
    Output #0, wav, to 'output.wav':
      Metadata:
        ISFT            : Lavf56.40.101
        Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_s24le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, 7.1, s32 (24 bit), 9216 kb/s
        Metadata:
          encoder         : Lavc56.60.100 pcm_s24le
    Stream mapping:
      Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (truehd (native) -> pcm_s24le (native))
    Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
    [wav @ 0x206a2e0] Filesize 9129246822 invalid for wav, output file will be broken
    size= 8915280kB time=02:12:04.69 bitrate=9216.0kbits/s
    video:0kB audio:8915280kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.000001%

How can I make to conversion successful?

The WAV header is typically 32-bits. Your output will need 64 bits.

ffmpeg -i source.thd -c:a pcm_s24le -ar 48000 -rf64 auto output.wav


Remove files from a folder not used in Premiere Pro I have a folder in which I save all my video recordings, I used some video files in Premiere Pro but I would like to delete those that I haven't used.

The problem is that I have over 3100 files which weight over 1.5 TB and many Premiere Pro projects, it would take me a very long time to open each project and see which files I've used. When I used Vegas Pro I remember that each video I opened, the program made a .bak file with the same name, so I knew that I was using that file, but not Premiere.

I hope I've been clear enough, if you know a way to delete the footage that I've never used in any Premiere project, please help me. :D

Thanks

Do you want to delete footages, which you didn't use in Premiere or you even didn't import them in Premiere?

In first case I don't know how to delete them.

In second case I think that you can look at the names of cache files, which premiere have created, then open program like “Beyond Compare”, compare “video folder” with “cache folder” by names. And then you should get, which names don't have in cache folder.

This names will be not used. If your cache are full, you will have full list.

Maybe this idea will be useful for you, but I am not sure.


Choosing a frame-rate for an animation project How do you choose a framerate for an animation project? In this case I know the exact context where the video will be displayed (company's head office, on a 51" HD TV) and it needs to look  really slick.

You have specified the output device, a 51" HDTV but I don't know what camera, animation software, or video editing gear you plan to use.

Here are the standard video frame rates for HDTV as quoted from this WIKI page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

Standard frame or field rates

ATSC table 3 defines the following frame rates for digital high-definition television.[24]

23.976 Hz (film-looking frame rate compatible with NTSC clock speed standards)
24 Hz (international film and ATSC high-definition material)
25 Hz (PAL, SECAM film, standard-definition, and high-definition material)
29.97 Hz (NTSC standard-definition material)
59.94 Hz (ATSC high-definition material)
60 Hz (ATSC high-definition material)

The optimum format for a broadcast depends upon the type of videographic recording medium used and the image's characteristics. For best fidelity to the source the transmitted field ratio, lines, and frame rate should match those of the source.

Although PAL, SECAM and NTSC frame rates technically apply only to standard definition television, not HD, with the roll out of HD, countries maintained the heritage of their former systems. HDTV in former PAL countries operates at a frame rate of 50 Hz and HDTV in former NTSC countries operates at 60 Hz.[25]

How to choose?

First identify the process by which you are going to animate your subject. Is it software or a stop action camera or both or something else.

Next, you want to learn what are the compatible frame rates and formats across all the animation tools you are using in your workflow.

Next, select the highest resolution and frame rate that is compatible with all your gear.

Next, make a short sample and then test it on a close if not same model HDTV that is in the "company's head office."


ffmpeg: Convert 4K 10-bit file to DNxHR 444 I have a 2160p29.97 AVI 10-bit RGB file recorded with a Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K capture card.  I want to convert this file to DNxHR 444.

I used the following command to do so on Windows 10 with ffmpeg 3.3.2.
ffmpeg -i "test.avi" -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_444 "test_dnxhr444.mov"

I received this error:

  "[dnxhd @ 00000000026e6c60] dnxhr_444 or dnxhr_hqx profile is not
  implemented. Update your FFmpeg version to the newest one from Git. If
  the problem still occurs, it means that your file has a feature which
  has not been implemented."

I tried running the command again with dnxhr_sd instead, which works.  So, does this mean that dnxhr_444 does not work with ffmpeg at the moment?

Here is the full output for reference:

ffmpeg version N-83133-ge664730 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.4.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-cuda --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-dxva2 --enable-libmfx --enable-nvenc --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-decklink --enable-zlib
  libavutil      55. 43.100 / 55. 43.100
  libavcodec     57. 73.100 / 57. 73.100
  libavformat    57. 62.100 / 57. 62.100
  libavdevice    57.  2.100 / 57.  2.100
  libavfilter     6. 69.100 /  6. 69.100
  libswscale      4.  3.101 /  4.  3.101
  libswresample   2.  4.100 /  2.  4.100
  libpostproc    54.  2.100 / 54.  2.100
[avi @ 0000000000946500] non-interleaved AVI
[avi @ 0000000000946500] Stream #0: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #0.1 : stereo
Input #0, avi, from '20mintest.avi':
  Duration: 00:21:51.84, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1535764 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: r210 (r210 / 0x30313272), rgb48le(10 bpc), 3840x2160, 1582152 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s24le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s32 (24 bit), 2304 kb/s
[dnxhd @ 00000000026e6c60] dnxhr_444 or dnxhr_hqx profile is not implemented. Update your FFmpeg version to the newest one from Git. If the problem still occurs, it means that your file has a feature which has not been implemented.
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (r210 (native) -> dnxhd (native))
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (pcm_s24le (native) -> aac (native))
Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height

As stated in this answer (includes an example), as of ffmpeg 3.3.6, this is now supported.

The error no longer appears and you can convert to 444 without trouble.


Why is ffmpeg outputting a 600fps video from a 120fps video input? I have a very short 120fps video.

ffprobe input.mp4 shows 118.99fps:

ffprobe version 3.0 Copyright (c) 2007-2016 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple LLVM version 7.3.0 (clang-703.0.29)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/3.0 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-opencl --enable-libx264 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid --enable-ffplay --enable-vda
  libavutil      55. 17.103 / 55. 17.103
  libavcodec     57. 24.102 / 57. 24.102
  libavformat    57. 25.100 / 57. 25.100
  libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
  libavfilter     6. 31.100 /  6. 31.100
  libavresample   3.  0.  0 /  3.  0.  0
  libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
[h264 @ 0x7f8262009600] Increasing reorder buffer to 1
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'input.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 1
    compatible_brands: mp41mp42isom
    creation_time   : 2016-04-27 10:43:14
  Duration: 00:00:02.76, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 10318 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 720x1280, 10272 kb/s, 118.99 fps, 600 tbr, 600 tbn, 1200 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2016-04-27 10:43:14
      handler_name    : Core Media Video

I'm running a square crop and resize operation:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop='if(gte(iw,ih),ih,iw):if(gte(ih,iw),iw,ih)', scale=640x640" -an -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level 4.1 -preset veryslow -crf 20 output.mp4

This gives:

....
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'input.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 1
    compatible_brands: mp41mp42isom
    creation_time   : 2016-04-27 10:43:14
  Duration: 00:00:02.76, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 10318 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 720x1280, 10272 kb/s, 118.99 fps, 600 tbr, 600 tbn, 1200 tbc (default)
....
Output #0, mp4, to 'output.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 1
    compatible_brands: mp41mp42isom
    encoder         : Lavf57.25.100
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 640x640, q=-1--1, 600 fps, 19200 tbn, 600 tbc (default)
....

And sure enough, ffprobe output.mp4 confirms that output.mp4 is at 600fps, as does VLC.

How can I ensure that ffmpeg will encode my video using the same framerate as the input (be that 30, 60, 120, or 240fps)?

Update: The PTS entries of the input and output for the command below are identical in version N-79630-g9ac154d. Looks like the file is falsely flagged as VFR. But this single-step command below works for the sample video.

Use

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop='if(gte(iw,ih),ih,iw):if(gte(ih,iw),iw,ih)', scale=640x640" \
   -an -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level 4.1 -preset veryslow -crf 20 -vsync 0 output.mp4

The framerate stored in the container (tbr) is 600, whereas the reported fps of 118.99 is arrived at by counting the number of video packets and dividing by the total duration. If this is not a variable frame rate stream, then add -r 118.99 as an output option.

For older versions,
Alternatively, output to MKV i.e.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop='if(gte(iw,ih),ih,iw):if(gte(ih,iw),iw,ih)', scale=640x640" \
   -vsync 0 -an -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level 4.1 -preset veryslow -crf 20 output.mkv

If you then mux the MKV to MP4,

ffmpeg -i output.mkv -c copy output.mp4

The resulting MP4 will show (close to) the source framerate.

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'no-rc.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf57.34.103
  Duration: 00:00:02.75, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2462 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 640x640, 2444 kb/s, 119.88 fps, 600 tbr, 16k tbn (default)


SD card for Sony FDR-AX100E 4K? I recently acquired a Sony FDR-AX100E.

Samsung 64 Pro+, SDXC I 10 U3 says:

Cannot record. Please use UHS-I U3 compatible memory ...

Sandisk Extreme Pro SDHC-1 U3 10 32Gb says:

This memory card does not supoprt does not support recording ofXAVC S movies.

Lexar Professional SDXC I U1 says

Cannot record. Please use UHS-I U3 compatible memory ...

But this latest is a U1 so this one makes sense. (I only recently discovered about U1 and U3.)

The manual says that to record XAVC S I need

Class 10 or faster, up to 64GB

Which card am I supposed to use ?

The camera has the latest firmware (3.00).

Solution found regarding Sandisk Extreme Pro SDHC-1 U3 10
The card was formatted to FAT32, I reformatted the card to exFat (unit size 128kb, though I am not sure at all about the impact of unit size, that's something I'll have to check) .

What is really "fun" is that the camera itself can only format the card to FAT32 so I need to format it using a computer.

I'll keep this up to date.

Update:
Even re-formatted:  Samsung 64 Pro+, SDXC I 10 U3 look like the camera won't recognize it as U3.


What are the best codecs and encoding options for a image sequence video? I am trying to make a video out of an image sequence -  Where each frame lasts for a second.

The image sequence contains the same object shot from different distances.
I'm guessing most default video converters optimize for motion, but in this scenario, I need to get the least file size without changing the frame rate.

Which codec (H.264, VP8, VP9) can give me the best size to quality ratio?

Also are there any flags for H.264 which I can enable to optimize for this case?

I occasionally make a video from slide images. I find I get the best quality and compression by putting the images in the timeline in your preferred video editor (I use Vegas Pro 13), saving as a motion jpeg*, then use ffmpeg to convert that to H264. I use -crf 28, which is probably called "constant quality" in Handbrake. At 1024x768 resolution I easily get bitrates under 100 kbps and they look great. You can increase the crf value to get more compression or decrease it to get better quality, so you can fine tune to your tastes.

With this method above, I would bet H264 and VP8 are comparable. VP9 will probably be better, but it doesn't work on everything and takes a lot longer to encode.

My theory why this works:

Motion jpeg is intra-frame compression only. Each individual frame is compressed as an image, then added to the stream; there is no inter-frame compression (compression between frames). It doesn't have I-frames or any of that complicated stuff. So for a full second in your video all the frames are identical, not just "look the same". They are technically identical.

H264 then has a lot of power to compress the motion jpeg. It sees a string of identical frames then does the equivalent of saving the first frame completely then uses nearly dataless "reference frames" for the rest.

*Motion jpeg will be a relatively big file. Coincidentally, when I record a slides presentation, I initially encode as motion jpeg because most of the presentation will be static slides.


Can video be composited for live streaming? I was watching a Twitch.TV stream of a panel of announcers discussing eSports live, and while all of the graphics, sets, backgrounds, lighting looked great, I thought it would be nice if the raw video of the announcers was also processed with composite editing, for a surreal, polished film effect. But I'm not sure: Can a video be composited fast enough to be streamed live, and are there tools capable of doing this?

The answer is yes, video can be composited fast enough to be streamed live.  The tool that does this is called a switcher.  Typically a switcher introduces a single frame delay from input to composited output.  By connecting the output to a streaming encoder, you can stream out your live, composited video.

For an example, see the Blackmagic Design ATEM System.


How to remove Tracker points from green screen footage I have downloaded green screen footage that has tracker points with it. I have easily remove the green screen but I am unable to remove tracker points from it.

I have google it, but unable to find any way to remove tracker points from video.

I am using Adobe After effects CC. Kindly guide me or refer me some good tutorial on how to remove tracker points from a video:

You don't need to use greenscreen. You need to track markers, and put your footage above the markers and greenscren. Just lock position on markers points.

Like in this video, but track not corners, but markers.

Then you can add some effects for footage, to look more immersive.


I'm looking to make a Nuke expression: I want the maximum value of an animation curve of another node I want to feed a custom made NoOp node with a floating point slider with the maximum value of an animation curve from another node. What would be the right expression to do this?

There's not a built in method for that, but this Python expression will return the highest keyframe in an animation curve:

max((key.y for key in nuke.toNode('Blur1')['size'].animation(0).keys()))

where Blur1 is the node and size is the knob.

Paste this into your expression editor, being sure to select the Py toggle.

This won't interpolate or extrapolate keys. It only iterates over every keyframe.

No guarantees on the speed of this either. It might bog down the node if you have a keyframe on every frame or something.


Is there any way to find the video editing software or camera that created a video? This question is inspired by the Exif data exists in JPEG files.

Is there any way to find:

the video editing software that created a video file?
the camera model that created a video file?
Get above information from a Youtube video?

Different NLEs each seem to live in their own metadata world.  One common metadata element they all seem to preserve fairly well is timecode.  Almost all support a few common elements, such as REEL, SCENE, and SHOT.  But DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro X each have metadata slots that are unique to them, even in cases where the metadata slot shares a common name.  MPEG, Quicktime, and other media formats do have slots for metadata, but nothing like the expansive and consistent world of EXIF.

In the pro video world, metadata is usually entered first via a slate, with the camera shooting the actual metadata at the start or end of a shot, and then what is now called the DIT (director of Imaging Technology) translate the slate data to metadata for the project.  Some digital slates actually create little databases so that at the end of the data, all the text the camera shot as video footage is also available to be uploaded to a (metadata) database.


Can Panasonic HDC-SD90 record pc screen Can a Panasonic HDC-SD90 record pc screen via HDMI or AV MULTI Cable?
Thanks.

No.  The HDMI and AV MULTI Cable ports are output, not input ports.  Depending on the OS of your PC, there are programs that capture screen video.  Such programs are used by gamers to capture their gameplay.

This link gives some information about recording screen output for Linux: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ScreenCasting


Show current play speed in after effects Is it possible to display the current play speed (eg. X2, X3.5, etc) in a text layer above my footage?
Some of my composition layers plays at normal (X1) speed but others were time remapped or time stretched.

You can do it with expressions on the time remapped layers: create an empty text layer ctrl/cmdalt/optshiftt. Alt-click the Source Text stopwatch, and use an expression like:

var s = thisComp.layer("some layer").timeRemap.speed;
"X" + Math.round(s * 10)/10 //limits the result to one decimal place

The time-stretched layers are more tricky. The stretch property isn't accessible to expressions, but what you can do is use the sourceTime() function. This gets the time of the source footage. If your layers start at the beginning of the source then this expression would work:

var s = thisComp.layer("some layer").sourceTime()/time;
"X" + Math.round(s * 10)/10 //limits the result to one decimal place

if the layer source doesn't start at the beginning of the comp then you'd have to do some extra maths, like subtracting the in-point, or to make it easier you could pre-comp the source layer with the text overlay and make sure the precomp has the source footage starting at the beginning of the comp.


Reset timecode in source footage to 00:00:00 I have an MOV footage clip supplied by a freelancer that starts timecode at 11:48:09.

It's a standalone clip that I don't need to retain that timecode for.

Would be very useful to reset it to  00:00:00.

Is there any way of doing this in any of the CC apps, FCPX or freeware utilities/apps?

You can use ffmpeg, a free command-line tool, like so

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c copy -map 0 -dn output.mov

The -c copy sees that there's no re-encoding, the -map 0 copies everything over but the -dn disables data tracks - the timecode being a data track.


Web Videos via Watch Folders Transcode What I am looking to do is fairly simple, however seems complicated in theory.

What I need to do is be able to have a folder where all video files placed in the folder, are transcoded to all applicable web video formats (H264, OGG, WEBM, FLV) Then placed into another folder...

I can set this up to a certain extent using Adobe Media Encoder however I need to use source Frame Rate, and Frame Size, as these clips will vary in range from PAL to NTSC to HD...

I am open to using FFmpeg but cant seem to get it work in the Mac Environment correctly doing what I want.  Any software as long as it is mac based would work, but must be able to create all 4 of the above mentioned formats.

...FFMPEG worked, it was a steep learning curve in terms of getting it to work in my environment and, took me a few days to learn how to code in Bash Scripts Shell based, but in the end very happy with the results and it's integration with both Macs and my Unix server.


Switching from Adobe to Resolve I want to switch from Adobe Pr to Resolve.
I downloaded it and now have some questions:

How can I put any of the windows (Timeline, Preview...) on another screen?
All in all the customisation seems very limited, which is kinda a deal breaker for me because I highly customise my programs. Do they plan to add this in the near future?
How can I zoom in the timeline? I only can zoom in and out and up and down. But I want to see all 10 Videos stacked on each other.

3. How do I make a video bigger? My Project is 4096x1716p and my Video 3840x2160 the video has black bars and if I zoom, it zooms inside the black bars and doesnt scale it up to project size

Do I need to go to Fusion for EVERY effect? Isn't there a Effects Windows like in Pr?

Thanks!

The customization options for window arrangement are limited in Resolve, compared to some applications.  The customization options are flexible enough to have your timeline on a second monitor, though.  To do this, under the workspace menu, check both Dual Screen-> On and Dual Screen-> Full Screen Timeline. To switch which monitor the timeline's on, go to Workspace-> Primary Display.
Your program monitor can be on either screen by switching which display is "Primary," also.   In the color tab, there are three options for how your program monitor is displayed; Cinema, Enhanced Viewer, or Full Screen Viewer.  These options are found under Workspace -> Viewer mode.  In the edit tab, there is no Enhanced Viewer, but you can get the same effect by closing other panels and using Single Viewer mode.
Besides having different panels open or closed, breaking out Scopes into a floating window (which you can drag to another monitor if you want to devote a monitor to scopes), resizing sections by dragging the divider between them, having tabbed timelines, multiple bin views, FCPX-like hover-scrubbing with strip or icon view and single view program monitor, or a more Premiere-like Source/Program,  there's not much more you can do to customize its layout.  You can't "skin" it like winamp.  You can't move panel positions relative to each other.  In short, everything you need to do your job is in there, with nothing superfluous.
Whether or not BMD plans to add these features is anyone's guess, but their development team is extremely responsive to user feedback on their forums.  They've implemented changes that I've recommended on multiple occasions (the thin red line designating panel focus with the 15.2 update was something I suggested.)

Command +/- is one way to zoom, alt/option mousewheel or two-finger drag is another, dragging on the +/- zoom slider is another.  If you want to adjust track height, so that you can see more stacked layers, click on the "timeline view options" icon in the center of the screen, next to the zoom slider.

There are multiple ways to scale in DaVinci, and a couple of points in the signal chain where the scaling might occur.  You've found edit scaling, but there's also project-wide scaling under Project Settings-> Image Scaling ->Mismatched resolution files.
Then under the color tab, there's input sizing, output sizing, node sizing, and reference sizing.  The order of operations for color page sizing is covered in chapter 119 of the user manual.

Probably not, depending on what kind of effect you're after.  Fusion is to DaVinci what After Effects is to Premiere, except it's built in, and it's node-based, so conceptually it's more like Nuke than AE.  But if you just need simple things like blurs, keys, object removal, lens flares, etc, you can find those things in the OpenFX tab of the color page, or the Effects Library tab of the Edit page.  You can also install any plugin that supports OpenFX.  Genarts Sapphire, BorisFX Mocha, and filmconvert are all popular.   Premiere supports effects presets and templates better at the moment than DaVinci, but Fusion integration is new, and this should change soon.


Lighting for video in room with no windows, choose led or cfl I want to produce some cooking videos with recipe preparation demonstrations. The shooting area is about 1 square meter. The room doesn't have any windows, so there is no natural/daylight. It is an inexpensive production using a Pentax K-S2 and GoPro Hero4. Currently, I use 2 soft boxes with 135W compact florescent (CFL), which leads to noisy video in the low light.

I want to buy more lights and add like 4-8 more bulbs.

From what I have seen on the net, a 15W LED that costs $2.50 outputs 1500 lumens, while a 200W CFL bulb costs $22 and outputs 3200 lumens.

So is it more economical to buy LEDs instead of CFLs? Or am I missing something, like inaccurate light output labels?

It's not just about lumens. Generally you get what you pay for when you're buying lights, and the difference between an expensive LED and a cheap one is not usually the power output, it's the colour fidelity.

White lights look white because they produce a range of colours which our eyes mix together and perceive as white. The better the light the smoother the graph of the intensity across the spectrum is - so there'll be a smooth line going from red up to violet.

Cheaper lights produce a more jagged spectrum. So even though they may look white overall, there will be certain colours that are less intense or missing, and other colours that are brighter.

Fluorescent lights, including CFLs are notorious for having a spiky spectrum:

The spike right in the green area of the spectrum can give the footage a greenish, slightly morbid look. This is quite popular in the shaky-cam horror genre, but it may not suit your film:

Cheap LED lights are less spiky, but the spectrum is still missing some areas. Even though this light might balance out as a warm white, it is not providing light across the whole spectrum. Anything cyanish will look darker and less saturated under this LED:

What this means for video is that some cheap lights are very difficult to grade. Skin tones will go from looking sunburnt to jaundiced with no happy medium. Some things will pop, while others will be undersaturated. The price of cheaper lights will be the cost of extra time spent making it look good.

Tungsten (hot filament / incandescent) lights however, even cheap ones have a very smooth spectrum. This is a standard household incandescent bulb. Although this light is very orange, it is probably possible to get an acceptable grade by adjusting the colour temperature in-camera:

Halogen lights have an even better spectrum, with more light in the blue end.
You can get halogen work lights that would do quite well as film lights with a bit of diffusion. They do however run hot as a lot of the energy they use is turned into heat. They have a smaller up-front cost, but cost more in terms of power usage and replacement bulbs, and because they use ten times the power you can't run them off batteries, like you can with LEDs.

Of course, for the average youTube face-to-camera type video the colour fidelity of the lights may not be such a problem, especially if you're reusing the same setup again and again - you can get the colour grade right using your tool of choice (most NLEs have pretty good colour grading tools built-in these days) and then keep the settings from one video to the next.

Read the article that goes with those graphs here, though it's talking about lighting for household illumination, not for video.


GoPro Recording Without A Phone Connection I was just wondering whether one is able to use, operate, and record on a GoPro without connecting to a mobile device or GoPro's mobile applications. Some insight would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, it is entirely possible to use, operate and record on a GoPro.

You won't be able to view any of the photos/video you have taken without either connecting to a mobile device OR viewing the footage you have taken on the MicroSD with another device such as a PC or Mac.

The GoPro cameras have a fairly wide angle lens which is helpful considering the cameras don't have a display built-in. GoPro sell removable LCD touch screens that can help you to frame your shot.


Can low quality video be manipulated to change the displayed time without being detectable? A friend of mine is being accused for theft and the only evidence for that is a video camera of a nearby shop where he just passed normally. The time on the video matches. He says it's a set up. The court needs evidence that a video with such low quality can be changed (the time in the corner of the video). Is this something that is easy to change and are there any reliable sources that talk about this?

The easiest way would be to simply add a timecode to video that doesn't have one.  If you had a clean video, it's super trivial to add something to it.  It would be quite a bit harder to alter something if there was already timecode put there (unless cropping would work like BrettFromLA suggests), but it could also be argued that the clock was also simply wrong on the camera.

Your best bet is to have a video forensics guy look it over for signs of manipulation and have them act as an expert witness.


What kind of hardware do I need for a multi-person editing team? What are some good ("Pro?") ways of storing videos so that a team of editors can work on them?

I currently work for an eLearning company that produces medium-large quantities of instructional videos (we go through about 100gb of storage per month).

Our typical workflow to this point has been to work locally on our hard drives and then back up to a shared network drive that is connected to our wireless router via USB. Obviously this workflow is slow and tedious. What could we improve?

Currently we are considering creating a dedicated RAID array that we could connect to via Firewire. The idea behind it is that ideally we would all be working off of the same storage system, rather than ever having different versions on different machines. We need to be able to connect up to 6 desktop machines at once.

With that as background, here are my specific questions:

Are there any good recommendations for large-ish storage systems? 10TB would most likely be adequate for the near future.
How should we connect the computers? USB3? Firewire? Do we need special hardware to route 6+ cables to a raid array?
Should we be considering software for version control and backups? We currently edit in PremierePro. So something that integrates well with Adobe would be ideal.

The first thing is to separate your source assets from your projects.  Source assets are the biggest things and should never change.  They are generally best placed on a NAS RAID array on gigabit Ethernet or better (10G+ fiber links are nice if you can afford them, but not strictly needed).  Each editor can then pull down whatever source files they need locally (or possibly just work off the NAS, though I'd recommend local pull down).

Project files on the other hand could use things like versioning and locking to prevent conflicts from forming.  Project files change frequently since they store the actual editing decisions, but they are also much, much smaller than the static source files.  Personally, I back these up in a portion of the same directory structure on my external, but I don't have to worry about version control since I am not in a multi-user environment.

Any decent editor should be able to reasonably easily deal with wiring up to assets via relative paths and should be able to adjust for moving the project files around provided that similar directory structures are used on each editing system.

I personally organize with a folder per project with a source folder and a project folder and a swap folder in each, though that can be switched around to have a source folder and a projects folder with sub-folders for each project within it if you prefer that organization.

I know there are also more dedicated asset management systems out there, but I have never had need of playing with them beyond some light work with Adobe Vue which I don't think is still actively maintained and wasn't really designed for handling video as I understand it.


what is preventing me from streaming video correctly with nginx? i am running nginx v.1.9.3 here to serve my website and also video files for streaming. i am seeing that the mp4 files are always served with a code of 200 and that partial content requests are ignored. sometimes videos are able to be 'seeked' in browsers and sometimes not. i have used various file formats and the results vary from ok-ish to fatally bad.

i have now ensured that all MP4 files have had heir moov atom relocated to the beginning of the file and that has not resolved the problems, in general - since most of the video files were ok in that regard anyway.

i used curl -I to view the return data from nginx and saw that there was no mention of the server accepting byte-ranges.

i asked about this in several places already, but so far no-one has found the solution and i have been forwarded to this video part of stackexchange on the premise that the video format may be the cause. however, i do not think that is the case because there are numerous formats involved and they all exhibit problems.

the thread i already opened on serverfault is here: https://serverfault.com/questions/710304/why-is-partial-content-not-being-served-in-nginx-mp4

i am not longer using any mp4 specific directives in nginx.

anyone know what i am missing here?

this is an example of an MP4 file that i am having problems seeking with in browsers (except strangely i am finding that firefox in fedora 22 works most of the time!?) https://www.ureka.org/file/play/17924/censored%20on%20google%202.mp4

tunist:

You've gotten pretty close to getting this going - nice that you did the curl to determine that the byte-range was not being honored.  I had done exactly that in the past when setting this up.

If you check here: http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_mp4_module.html  You may find what you're looking for - it is unclear whether you're using this module or not already, so perhaps this is what you need.

--dan


In final video how much is B Roll and how much is A Roll percentage wise How much of the BRoll do you usually place in your videos for documentary work (not short films)?

By documentary, I mean talking head whether that's vlogs, interviews of different descriptions etc.

My end product usually has about 30% of BRoll. I.e. every 7 or so seconds ill add some BRoll.

Does anyone of you have any recommendations?

I agree with @MichaelLiebman 's comment, it depends ...

  My end product usually has about 30% of BRoll, I.E. every 7 or so seconds I'll add some BRoll.

It's possible to adjust your percentage 20-30% either way. The way you'd have 60% broll and still call it B-Roll is that the A-Roll had a lot of failed shots and it was broll that saved the day.

As a rule seven seconds is short and > than 20 but < than 40 is probably good, but even 7 can be long (parkour, skateboarding, etc.) and 40 short (rowing to the crab traps, driving over the Golden Gate); it depends.

So basically what does it depend upon (limiting it somewhat to the scope of your question):

Subject and pace of the story (laidback vs. jarring).
The need to switch. If you must show wide and close with fast pace you'll be flipping back and forth in less than 7 seconds (showing what someone is doing or offering how-to advice), if you're panning around someone's surroundings or showing the parts or usage of something you can run well beyond 40 seconds.
What you got. You either have to make an edit with the shots you have and try to cobble them into your storyline or you need to shoot some more footage (which often, but not always, involves going back out to the location).
Style. It's yours, make it your's and be proud; assuming it's reasonably good.

Look at what other people do, read up on the subject; but make your own style.

Videos are easier than written advice for this topic but here's a mix of both:

Nikon's "Shooting B-Roll Footage with a DSLR". In particular see near the end of the video included on that webpage how B-Roll saved Grandpa.

Look at this video on the Gear Dads YouTube channel: "How To Shoot B-Roll". See what and how to shoot, so you come home with useful material.

Speaking of YouTube, there's lots of professional advice, or simply work done by professionals (that isn't explained, but you can see how it's done). Erik has been a Producer for over 2 decades, here he is interviewing at a Trade Show: "CAME-TV Gimbals – Newsshooter at IBC 2017". Single camera, single person crew, and he edits it too. Not perfect, not bad. One man job.

Look and learn, practice makes perfect. There's also short courses at Colleges or offered by local talent that can provide individualized advice.

If you edit your question and put a link to an example of your work then fine tuned advice can be offered.


Animate two layers along identical path I have made simple animation where a hand drags an item onto a page.  I wanted them to take a curved path so I have added a bezier curve to the path as shown below

This only effects one of the layers so I manually put the same curve into the second layer but it is not perfect.  I can see the hand and the contact us box move slightly differently.

How do I lock both layers on the exact same path?

You could Parent one layer to the other.

This means that one layer controls the position/rotation/scale of the other layer.

See https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/layer-properties.html#parent_and_child_layers
for more info.


OBS Studio - 'Blurred background copy' effect. Is this possible using only filters? I don't know exactly what is the correct/technical name for this effect, but, to illustrate, i'm searching for a way to reproduce this effect in OBS for a live video source (both window, webcam and so on).

This effect is also applied in some portrait videos and photos like this:

I don't believe OBS can live blurring effect. The effect you want is actually called compositing where there are two layers and one does not have a blur effect and the other one does.

Donkey Kong background is actually scaled and blurred.

This can be done in editing but not live.

Check out Blackmagic Design website and look for free editing/color correction software. It is called Davinci Resolve.


How to start making videos I want to learn to make videos like this one, where should I start? And what tools I can use?

There are many different ways to accomplish this. You will have to pick an animation software like Adobe After Effects. There are many different 2D animation programs, all of which do certain things better and other things worse than the alternatives. Which you pick depends on your preferences and what you want to accomplish in detail. I would recommend After Effects, since it is very multilateral, however you should take a look at this list to get an overview and decide by yourself.

Another option is to start with 3D animation software, in this case you could start with Blender (freeware and relatively easy to learn), Cinema 4D (expensive and powerful) or Maya (free for students and used for professional works), or chose a program from this list.

I have to warn you though: 2D and 3D animation is very difficult. It will most likely take some time and effort for you to be able to create videos like the one you linked.


Why do higher frame rates require lower resolution? I've noticed that when comparing video camera specifications, higher frame rates usually require a lowered resolution.  For example, the GoPro Hero4 Silver can get 15fps at 4k, 60fps at 1080p, 120fps at 720p, and 240fps at vga.  I would think that the resolution of the individual frames would be independent of the rate of capture.  Is this because of bitrate capabilities of internal cables, or an encoding limit on the internal circuitry?  Thanks for your help.

I am not an engineer, but I think you've answered your own question.

This is a bit of an oversimplification, but if t is the time it takes to record, process and store a pixel from a frame consisting of p pixels, then 1/(t * p) is your maximum frame rate. So if you increase the framerate above the maximum you need to decrease either t or p. And since t is fixed you have to decrease p - the number of pixels.


Why does my Class 10 memory card run in to buffering problems? My Canon EOS 600D's class 10 SD card does not write out data very quickly and this results in buffering issues which can be seen when shooting 1080p@30fps video.  Why can't the card keep up and what can I do to fix the problem?

You don't mention which Transcend card you bought but the benchmarks here indicate that the write throughput performance of Transcend cards are a little under 10 Mbps (naively I assume this is true for their brand of SD cards but I could be wrong). Strictly speaking the SD Card class rating seems to imply 10 Mbps minimum for 1080p recording so that may partially explain why you are seeing that behavior with your camera.

If you can try other manufacturers, look at their benchmarks from them as well as reviews to see how it goes.


Proper time stretch in After Effects for multiple layers So when I stretch the two chosen layers, they do stretch together, but the collision point shifts so I need to correct it manually.

How can I simultaneously change the length of the layers without messing the scene?

I've tried to show the things in this picture. Thanks!

You can nest this two clips in new composition, and change time starching on it.


Is it correct to mix tripod and handheld footage? I want to shot some scenes using a tripod, and some others handheld (with an IS lens).

Can I mix both types of scenes in a short (4 minutes) movie, or is it unprofessional?

From what I've seen:

Many movies are shot handheld: it is barely noticeable, but in most scenes when it looks like the camera is on a tripod (for example a 10 seconds scene of a woman who talks to her husband in a restaurant), the background still moves a little all the time.
Short movies where tripod is used use it consistently: all scenes are shot with either a tripod or a slider. An example: Philip Bloom's Postcard series.

You're asking for an opinion, because there's no rule book to consult here. So, IMO...

'Pro' movies are shot with all manner and mixtures of techniques, including dolly, mount, rig, crane, Steadicam, fixed, zoom, drone etc. I think many people would find a short film that mixed tripod with deliberate "shaky cam" to be a bit jarring without a good cinematic justification, but just mixing IS handheld with tripod should be no sin. Story trumps technique anyway -- if your viewers are watching how the camera moves, your story isn't compelling -- or they're film students. (-:


Poor Resolution Video ".MOV" Yesterday, I'd been editing a film for work. I imported the footage from my camera and the clips looked perfectly fine. So I uploaded the clips to Google Drive and then downloaded on my computer and imported these footages to my Linux machine using KDENLive editor. The footage looks all pixelated and it has terrible resolution.

Is there something I can do to fix it? I tried using Handbrake to convert it to another format but even that didn't work.

It was my own fault -- when I had exported it, I didn't make sure to export it in full resolution because since it already was, I thought that step was automatic.


How best to stretch an area of video Using Premiere or After Effects, what is the best (or possible) way of stretching a section of footage.

Basically I have some talking head footage that is too central, and want to shift the talking head left, and stretch the righ hand BG area to fill the remaining BG.

Many Thanks!

As Jason says, if the camera is stationary throughout, this is probably doable.

First, work out how much more scene you need to create, by opening the video in After Effects, and dragging it to one side until it looks right.  Export a frame from that comp as a still (something lossless like TIFF is best).

Open the still in Photoshop, and build your "clean plate" - try using the Content Aware fill tool.  It works suprisingly well sometimes.  Any dodgy bits, go over again with the Content Aware brush, then use a soft Clone Stamp to fill in any further bits that look wrong.  Save your new still image as a TIFF.

Open the new TIFF file in AE, and put it behind your main video in the comp.
Draw a mask around your main video, and feather the mask until the edges start to go transparent.  Drag the edges of the mask, so that you have a nice gradual feathering gradient into your clean plate, but make sure the other edges of your video aren't becoming transparent (make the mask much bigger than the video on all sides except the side you're trying to fix).

Finally, add some noise or film grain to the still image layer - it will help "sell" the shot more, and make the still look more like video - don't overdo it - a little goes a long way.


How do I encode videos into h.264 at 8k resolution? I am trying to use premiere, but I wouldn't mind switching computer programs to accomplish my goal. h.264 is an amazing codec for exporting videos, it is the fastest I've seen yet. Same exact videos but in a different codec take 5-10 times as long to export. So I'd like to make videos with the h.264 codec.

Anyway adobe premiere only supports up to 4k when it comes to outputting with h.264, and that is because at the time, h.264 only contained max with of 4096 pixels or something.

Now, there is h.264 "advanced video coding", and I have videos on my computer, that are 8k, and are in this h.264 avc codec.

My question is, how do I convert to, or export in, a 264 video.

If I can't do this with premiere, can someone point me to a program that does it? I would be able to take a 4k video, with 8k esque bitrate, convert it to a 8k video, and it would look some what decent.

I know this isn't optimal, but please help me figure out some way to upscale into this 8k avc format.

Are you sure the 8k videos on your computer are actually h.264, and not h.265?  The max resolution of h.264 level 5.2 is still 4096x2305.  To convert beyond that in Premiere, you need to chose HEVC (h.265) as the format in the export settings dialog.  The HEVC stands for High Efficiency Video Coding, and you might have that confused with "advanced video encoding."  H.265 supports up to 8192×4320.  Upscaling your 4k in Premiere shouldn't be a problem, either.  I'd do it by changing the project settings to my desired resolution, then scaling the timeline video to fit, but you could probably also do it in the export settings dialog.


How to cut out pauses and unneeded places from video in Adobe Premiere? I have a long video and wish to cut pauses and unneeded places from it. Currently I know how to select mark ins and mark outs

Unfortunately, this does not allow to have multiple ins and outs in single clip.

If I cut multiple clips from one video, then will probably loose a sequence.

How to accomplish the task?

You need to create a sequence. If you're not familiar with video codecs, the easiest way to do so is to right-click on your clip in the project panel and select New sequence from clip ..., which will create a sequence using the resolution and framerate from your clip.

Once you've created the sequence, it should appear as a timeline in the lower right area of your screen. If you have not yet set an in- and outpoint, your video will be in the sequence as a whole. Make sure to delete that (right-click on the video in the timeline and select Clear), so that you get an empty timeline to start with.

Then you can start putting your video together. Set the in- and outpoint for the first scene from your video that you want to use and then drag the clip from the project panel into the timeline (alternatively, you can push insert (shortcut ,) or overwrite (shortcut .)). Move on to the next scene in your video, again set in- and outpoint and insert the clip into the timeline, and so on.

Once you have everything arranged in your sequence, you can export the sequence as a whole via File -> Export -> Media ....


How does HDR relate to color space and bit depth? I'm not a photographer, but I'm struggling to understand HDR technology as it relates to TVs and monitors, so I thought this would be a good place to ask.

First, I got a good understanding of the terms "color space" and "bit depth" by reading this excellent answer.

How does HDR technology relate to these terms? Is HDR simply a combination of a 10-bit color depth and really wide color space, or is there something more to it?

In the marketing language, certain areas of the screen (such as the rising sun) are said to be "brighter" than other areas of the screen on a HDR display. What does "brighter" actually mean here — does it just mean "farther to the edge of the color space"?

I currently have a DELL U2410 monitor, which, as I understand, has a 12-bit internal processor and an 8-bit panel with FRC dithering, and supports an Adobe RGB color space. Even though this is not true 10-bit, will it produce a result similar to HDR if I use a device which can output HDR? I currently set the color space to "sRGB" since Adobe RGB looks too oversaturated. Could this be because my graphics card does not support a 10-bit output?

EDIT: I am talking about "HDR" specifically as it relates to how the term is used in modern 4K TVs.

TV technology and video encoding is in principle outside the scope of this site.
Still, as photographers we are presumably interested in new display standards that promise both more dynamic range and wider color gamut. HDR computer monitors are coming, so it probably won't be long before photographers too will be interested in HDR displays.

HDR by itself just means High Dynamic Range. Dynamic range is the brightness ratio between the brightest and the darkest parts. "High" is relative to what the sensor can capture or to what a standard display can show.

HDR video is one of several standards for video encoding. They have names like HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Hybrid Log-Gamma. They all support higher bit depth (10-12 bits), wider color gamut (Rec. 2020 and/or DCI-P3), higher dynamic range, and 4k resolution. They are not compatible with each other, but some devices support more than one HDR standard.

"HDR TV" doesn't necessarily mean much, except that it will accept a HDR video signal and display an image. It does not necessarily mean that it can display the wider gamut and higher dynamic range, just that it can read the signals and show something, even if what it shows is plain sRGB with a mundane dynamic range.

"UHD Premium" is a certification standard for displays that can actually show HDR. Requirements include:

minimum 10 bit color
minimum 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut
use a HDR transfer function (The transfer function for sRGB is called 'gamma', it translates bit value to brightness value. HDR uses a different function so it can cover a larger dynamic range with a small increase in the number of bits)
either: Minimum 1,000 nits brightness and max 0.05 nits black level, contrast ratio 20,000:1 or better (for LCD displays)
or: Minimum 540 nits brightness and max 0.0005 nits black level, contrast ratio 1,080,000:1 or better (for OLED displays, they can't go as bright but have better black levels)

Standard displays are 200-400 nits and rarely go beyond 1,000:1 contrast ratio. So a "Premium" HDR display has significantly higher peak brightness as well as an order of magnitude better contrast.

Brighter highlights, higher contrast ratios, and a different "bits to brightness" encoding/decoding all combine to enable the "high dynamic range" part of a HDR TV.

Color space and bit depth is only related to HDR in the sense that they are part of the same standards. Yes, you need more bits to represent a higher dynamic range without banding. But the larger color space is a different decision, it's more a matter of including enough improvements to make a new video standard worth the trouble. (4k is also part of the standard, and 4k is not related to HDR either.)

"The sun looks brighter on a HDR display" means that a) the display emits more light in the brightest parts of the scene, and b) it may look even brighter because the rest of the scene can be dimmer without losing detail.

So it's a real improvement; the wider color gamut and higher dynamic range can  contribute to more vivid photos and video.

The caveat is that TVs/monitors may be sold as "HDR compatible" without any actual HDR capability in the display. The content needs to be made specifically for HDR to make use of the new capabilities. And for computer monitors, you need a graphics card that supports HDR output.


How can I manually set the LFE volume in Premiere's "Audio Track Mixer" panel? In the Audio Track Mixer panel in Premiere Pro 2019, each channel has a slider that adjusts the LFE volume. However, setting the volume this way is imprecise. How can I manually set this value?

I understand, that by saying "manually" you mean: input digits with keyboard.

There is no easy way to manipulate this exact setting that way through UI - if you want more precise control hold Ctrl while click dragging the slider your mouse left-right.

However if you really need to be on the exact number (and perhaps you will set this once for entire project) - there is a hack, that will allow you to set this value to exact number:

Make backup of your project before doing any changes this way.
Close the project in Premiere if you have it open.
Open your .prproj file with zip archive tool (like 7-Zip), inside you will find xml file representing all settings of the project.
Open it with a text editor - I recommend Atom or something with syntax highlighting.
Search for "LFE", edit appropriately (this may require some educated guesses).
Put xml file back into archive, and re-open in Premiere.

Good luck!


How does Apple Motion compare to Adobe After Effects? I am looking at Apple Motion and Adobe After Effects. How to they compare to one another? What are the pros and cons of each?

After Effects is much more powerful than Motion when you get into advanced stuff like scripting your animations.  After Effects is much more tolerant to large projects, and you can "precomp" different sequences (which is difficult to explain without you actually seeing it; basically allows you to put one timeline inside of another or reuse a specific portion of your project over and over, if that makes any sense).  Apple Motion only allows one timeline per project, you cannot nest sequences inside one another without rendering out a QuickTime movie.

Apple Motion does however boast that it gives you "realtime previews" which plays your animation instantly, whereas After Effects typically requires you to render a RAM preview in order to see your animation in realtime.  Of course this depends on the speed of your computer and the complexity of your project, so this is really only handy for simple projects.

When you want to start doing really custom effects like particle systems and other physics based or true 3D compositing, your options are very limited in Motion.  After Effects has a whole range of plugins available online that will do almost anything you can think of.  The Trapcode plugins are very well-built and very popular.  There are very few plugins for Motion compared to After Effects.

I've used both for years, and Apple Motion seems to crash more often than After Effects, especially as your projects get more complex (just personal experience, maybe this has improved as of version 5).

I actually started animating for the first time in Apple Motion, and I agree that the learning curve isn't quite as steep as After Effects (although that was Motion 2.0 and 3.0, and now they're at version 5.0).  Once I mastered Motion and dove into After Effects, I haven't looked back.  I recently fired up Motion for the first time in a few years and I was struggling to get it to do what I wanted to do, my brain has just been trained to think like After Effects.  Even though at first I was more productive in Motion than After Effects (because After Effects is more complex), I have completely reversed and now I feel like I'm a speed machine in After Effects and Motion is now useless to me.

The bottom line: if you're serious about getting a professional tool to do professional work, save up to get After Effects.  If you're just a hobbyist that wants to dabble in animation, get Apple Motion (now that it's on the Mac App Store the price has come down considerably).

Hope this answers most of your questions!  If you have any other specific ones, let me know and I'll be happy to talk.


How to scale a rectangle along its length in one direction while keeping the stroke fixed in after effects? I am animating a rectangle with a stroke and would like to it scale up and down along its length in only one direction while keeping the stroke fixed.

I have managed to either keep the stroke fixed but not scale it in one direction, or to scale it in one direction but not keep the stroke fixed. :(

I have learned that in order keep the stroke fixed I can create a shape layer and edit the "size" rather then the scale. The problem is that I can't get it to "scale" in one direction now. (I know while editing the scale I can move the anchor point to the side I would like to scale from but while editing the size moving the anchor point has no effect and I haven't been able to find a solution.

Any suggestions? :) Thanks!!

In this situation I would right-click on the path options in your rectangle and choose "convert to Bezier".  Then instead of adjusting the scale, I would keyframe the path, and change the shape of the path in this way.


Merging mp4 files and preserving subtitles I'm in the process of digitizing my entire movie collection. For the most part, it's pretty smooth. I'm using Handbrake to put everything in mp4 format, and it's getting moved to my Plex server.
The only issue I've run into so far is when movies span multiple discs. I figure, once I'm digitizing, I should merge the two so I get a seamless viewing. The problem is, the only way I have to cleanly merge the files is a video editor (I happen to be using VSDC Free Video Editor, but I'm not married to it). The problem is that I lose subtitles. I've only had to do this once and I accepted the loss, but I'm going to hit it again later (think LoTR extended versions) and I don't want to lose them there.
Is there a way (preferably free, of course, but I'm open to all suggestions) to merge them without losing the subtitles? Or perhaps even a good way to add them back in after the fact?
Thanks!

You may consider to use either

Subtitle stream of mp4, e.g. https://gist.github.com/xer-rex/913db0dcef06c0304acd1fcb3712cd04
or
Burn-in subtitle in video of mp4, e.g. https://gist.github.com/xer-rex/bc80b5fbd23d1b91bb4737439816d773


I can't open my edit in premiere as its saying it was saved in the newest premiere? I am currently editing my project and it was saved to the newest premiere however this computer version has now been changed back and I have no access to my edit. I cant use my laptop however all the computers at university have the old premiere is there anyway to open it on there and continue with my edit?

I just tested it, and you can successfully import files from CC to CS6 via exporting to final cut pro xml and then importing that xml back. This should work with any versions, though there may be a few issues if some newer features are not supported, or cannot be exported to final cut pro.

This requires that you would have access to the latest version of premiere on any computer that can access the file.


Fast way to add titles to music videos I have lots (1000+) music videos ready to be aired but without usual titles (artists, album, publisher).

I need fastest way to add (bulk?) titles to all of them. Graphics or simple text will be same for all of them, just the text itself changes for each video.

So the process would look like:

import video
add text to same position for all videos (same font, size, background etc.), just the text itself changes
export video to same format it was imported

I have many software available to use (Mac and PC), but no idea which one would be fastest solution.

I guess some software should be able to do this in bulk, but if not i will do it manually. Just need something simple and fast, without need to tweek all the render option from start as each video is already prepared for airing.

I believe you can do it with ffmpeg with command drawtext

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=enable='between(t\,0,60)':fontfile=/Windows/Fonts/Tahoma.ttf:fontcolor='White':> > text='YourText'" -acodec copy output.mp4

See this tutorial, for batch conversion.

You can add drawbox to make it more nice. See documentation here.


Removing horizontal scan lines from video? I recorded some supposedly 720p video on my phone which usually yields nice results. However something about the conditions of how it was set up has resulted in the whole sequence having these lines that flicker and run up the screen as if its trying to adjust to the lighting repeatedly, I'm sure its this because as I move around in the video occasionally blocking the light it stops but returns when I unshadow the area that is been filmed.

I have the Adobe CS5 suite which includes Premier but I only know a few basic functions. Is there anything in there I can use to filter this out? Ultimately I'd like to convert the video to youtube so I don't mind a bit of format loss.

TIA

Youtube clip of the offending lines:

If your video was shot indoors with fluorescent lamps illuminating the room, then the lines will be due to the frequency of the camera's shutter being similar to the frequency of the lights flickering on and off (usually 50Hz in UK, 60Hz in US).

It's not really possible to fix this in post production. You'd need to reshoot with different lighting or at a different shutter speed on the camera.

See link below for more info:

http://www.davidsatz.com/aboutflicker_en.html


How to create outward spiral motion in Adobe After Effects? I want to create an outward spiral motion in Adobe AE. So how to do it?

I found an expression script for it here but it creates an inward spiral motion and I want outward spiral. And I am not able to reverse it.

shrink=time+1
radius=1000/shrink
angle=time*200
x=radius*Math.cos(degreesToRadians(angle))
y=radius*Math.sin(degreesToRadians(angle))
//z=0 // no depth
z=time*time // with depth
centre=[640,360,0]
add(centre,[x,y,z])

What exactly I want to do?

I want the images to spiral in a circular image from center to some particular points in the circle. And then they stop spiralling and stay at that point.
And after a while they shift to left with the whole circular image.

Please help.

That script uses the variable shrink, which paradoxically increases with time. Just make it decrease with time, e.g. by replacing the first line with these two:

var endTime =  123; //how long you want it to take, in seconds
shrink = endTime - time;

Or make the radius the product of the time and a constant, rather than dividing the radius by time, by replacing the first two lines with these:

shrink= time;
radius = 100 * time; //this will grow 100 pixels every second, adjust to suit

Or parent the images to a null, rotate it and scale it up. Then to counter the rotation and scale of the null on each image use this expression for rotation

0 - parent.transform.rotation

and for scale:

100 / parent.scale


ffmpeg mov_text subtitle too small when converting mkv to mp4 I want to remux a mkv file into mp4.
I used the following command.
ffmpeg -i "input.mkv" -c:v copy -c:a copy -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map 0:2 -map 0:3 -c:s mov_text "output.mp4"

Problem: The subtitles in the output.mp4 file are way too small.
Also, the subtitles of the mp4 file are unaffected when I try to make them bigger from vlc preferences.
I can turn them on/off but I think they are somewhat hardcoded.
I had to rencode subtitles while remuxing as otherwise it was showing error.
Also, I'm using the latest version of mmpeg.
input.mkv :

output.mp4 :

input.mkv has the following streams,codecs :

I searched a lot, but couldn't find a way to make mov_text subtitles bigger. How can I make them bigger?
Or Please suggest any other way to retain the subtitles while remuxing from mkv to mp4.

I consider subtitle text rendering is part of the player feature. If you are using VLC, may this link, https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_HowTo/Adjust_subtitle_font_settings/, help?
I had tried on a mkv to mp4 video, before

After, I changed the VLC subtitle font size to larger, exited the program and replayed it again, i got


How to create 3D video from two separate stereo images? I have two images that form a stereo pair. I'd like to view this in 3D on a Samsung 3D television. I was looking for such a software but did not find anything exactly for this task. My question is: how could I put this togedher? What if I make a video that changes the two images frame-by-frame in 25 fps? Is 3d avi supposed to work that way?

For creating a 3d image (from two jpeg images), this piece of software works pretty well:

http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/

Creating a full 3d video is a bit more difficult, so I'm not sure if I can help you there.


Looking for recommendations on editing Premier Pro on a MacBook Pro My MacBook Pro died today and I am looking for solid advice on a replacement that will be best for working with Adobe Premier Pro 6.

Apple has the new 13" Retina Display and the regular flavor. I have seen a variety of reviews and want to get some solid perspective on which would work best for video editing.

Thanks.

I've seen a few reviews of the Retina display machines that suggest that the graphics chip has trouble pushing the display at full resolution. At this point, I think the Retina machines are better suited to the processing of static images for iPad development than for high-res video editing.


10 bit 422 vs 8 bit 420 I have been looking around for commentary on this, but have not been successful. So, I hope you folks can point me in the right direction. Hopefully, this is the right forum for this kind of discussion, since there might not be 1 correct answer.

For a while now, I've been using my canon 1D4 for most video production. It's ok for what it does. At times, I supplement with other video sources for multi angle shoots.

This past summer, I did an interview on the back of a truck with a fixed-mount camera (7D w/ 15mm due to tight geometry). Basically it looks great. However, we were going in and out from under trees and the lighting switched from kinda dark to very bright. Since I was also working B camera angle and audio for the interview (very crowded, no room for others) I was distracted and there are some very blown out sections of the video.

I have seen reviews and samples on the bm(p)cc showing how blown out sections can be recovered using ProRes 422, much like raw photos can be recovered. Ditto for underexposed clips. Of course, my video was 420 and had no option to recover from either end of the histogram. What's done is done, much like a jpg image.

So: need to work on resolving this issue. For a single-person 'team', I need equipment that is forgiving. been reading about shooting directly to 422 and getting a very wide exposure latitude. The Black Magic cameras (especially pocket) seem to fit the requirements. However, everyone is raving over the GH4 which, tho it shoots 4k, is 8bit 420 unless you record to outboard via 1080, which seems to defeat the 4k benefits.

Any discussion on this topic would be most welcome.

420 vs 422 only really matters in terms of color accuracy.  The significant part is 8 bit vs 10 bit.  The reason RAW files give so much recover-ability is that they are typically 12, or in the case of your 1D mark 4, 14 bit files.  Every extra bit doubles the total number of possible values that can be stored.  Some of this goes in to having more detail within the typical 8 bit range, but some of this also goes in to holding additional headroom above white and below black for a typical 8 bit image.

Even better than shooting 10 bit is to try shooting pure RAW video.  You may be able to actually try this with your 1D by using high speed cards and the third party firmware hack Magic Lantern.  I've used it on my 5D Mark iii and the results are outstanding.  It can record full 1080p resolution with each frame being a 14 bit raw file that has full use of RAW image correction tools.

Alternately, you can help increase recover-ability in 8 bit video by keeping your image away from the black and white points by decreasing contrast.  This will result in a more subdued image without color correction after the fact and will result in fewer total colors after expansion, but it will buy you room to deal with blown highlights and shadows since they will still fall within the 8 bit range of values.  This technique is often referred to as recording a "flat" image.


How to fix white balance gone bad? I've done about 1h of footage during a SCUBA dive with a Gopro Hero 2 (underwater housing, no filter), but the auto white balance algorithm messed up the colors and everything has a very strong green tint to it.

I understand that some light wavelengths get weaker with depth, hence the green tint, therefore I'd like to know how to fix this in post-production.

I have tried Adobe Premiere Elements 11, with the "smart fix" feature, and in some of the footage it seems to work fine. However, since the footage is quite dynamic, the algorithm gets confused and there's lots of flicker, as it constantly changes color corrections.

I have tried alternative programs that let me pick a "white" reference to correct the white balance of the video, but nothing on these clips is good enough to use to that effect.

Is there a way to determine the optimal color corrections for these clips, for example by picking them from a frame in the flickery "smart fixed" video that Premiere Elements outputs?

Any free applications that could help me here?

Samples below:

http://goo.gl/CzQyZD
http://goo.gl/CYlNYQ

EDIT: I've had some minor success with Adobe Premiere Elements 12 "auto color" mode, so it is possible to get something out of this footage. However, it flickers a lot since the color correction changes as the scene changes, even in the same clip. An example of 2 nearly-contiguous frames can be found in the comment below.

How can I force PE12 to use the same color correction across the entire clip, or at least figure out the proper color corrections from a given frame?

This is not the auto white balance screwing up.  This is the way that SCUBA footage looks without artificial light.  Even shooting with my SeaLife DC1400 which has specialized underwater white balance settings, you get a strong color cast, particularly in green water.

Water doesn't block frequencies of light evenly and as depth increases, much of the red light is lost from the spectrum.  Unless you have an artificial light to put red back in to the color, there is no signal there to be had.  The color cast comes from the color of the light exceeding the sensitivity of the sensor to be able to adjust for the imbalance between the red, green and blue light.

Update: Ok, I just looked at your footage and it looks like there may have been a technical glitch with it.  That is extremely green, even for underwater footage.  That almost looks more like a malfunction, but there still isn't enough information there to correct.  It looks like red and even blue data is almost completely absent from the recording.  I guess maybe my SeaLife DC1400 does a better job than I thought with color if there wasn't a technical problem there.

As far as ways to try and salvage it, you could go black and white with it or could try reducing the amount of green in it using a hue adjustment, but it still is only going to look "less bad" not "good".  Wish I had better news for you, but it kind of goes with the territory of shooting underwater at any kind of depth at all without a light, particularly in colder green waters.


How to use Creative Commons licensed videos on YouTube? According to YouTube help center, Creative Commons licensed videos can be reused and edit.
But it is not allowed to download videos from YouTube, so how can i edit it?

YouTube Studio beta only allows to edit your uploaded videos.

As Dr Mayhem mentioned, if you can see it and it has an appropriate license, you are allowed to reuse it.

I would recommend also as they suggested to ask the author first if they can send you a copy somehow. Alternately, I think youtube-dl should have you covered for downloading directly. It's a command-line tool so you will have to use the shell of your OS (e.g. Command Prompt in Windows) to use it, but it's fairly easy to use and has a plethora of options for getting the exact quality you require. Generally you can probably get by with just calling it without any parameters e.g.:

  youtube-dl www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxx


Video corrupted because of force restart when capturing I was capturing my video using Vmix Live Video Streaming & Video Mixer Software when suddenly my computer restart itself. The file was saved with size of 3GB in my local drive. I used AVI format.

But when I try to open the video file, it looks like the file is corrupted and couldn't be opened. What can I do to fix this??

Any help would be very appreciated, thanks.

UPDATE:
This is the screenshot when I open the file in VirtualDub Hex editor

UPDATE:
This is the screenshot again where the zeros end.

UPDATE:
This is the screenshot of a working file.

Don't panic
Download virtualdub and try to open in it. Try select "direct stream copy" and save new file. AVI container very easy to fix.
If you using h264 codec inside, you can try to use my tool https://github.com/bookkojot/mp4fixer


Interlaced Video Format 1080i (59.94) I have a video project and the format is for Broadcast TV and needs to be interlaced NOT progressive video.

High Definition File

All High Definition content MUST be 1080i (59.94) format
All High Definition content should be 4:3 center-cut safe.
Video Format: 1080i, 29.9 frames/sec (59.94 fields/sec) HD File
Format(s)
File Format: XDCAM HD422: 4:2:2, at 50 Mbps MXF (OP1A, self
contained)
Video Codec: MPEG-2 Long GOP, Sony XDCAM compliant
Field Order: Upper Field first
Audio Format: 48 KHz sample rate, uncompressed
Operating Level: Peak program levels at -12 to -8dBfs, nominal
-10dBfs

I have never received / edited OR built / rendered out a 1080i (59.94) video before, always digital / progressive(.mp4 ).

I plan on using Adobe Premiere for any editing of the uncompressed footage and then for motion graphics / animation using After Effects.

My question is, how can I keep the format consistent, interlaced fields, across different applications and also what output format should be used for the final video / deliverables.

Can I apply my editing and motion graphics like normal with progressive, but @ 60 frames/sec, then at the very end export a rendered video that is 1080i?

You're not going to be able to replicate the precise "look" of 59.94, even with special plugins. This, due to the fact that interlaced is in many ways like:

Double Frame Rate - Half Resolution.

Think of 59.94i at 1080 really as 119.88 at 540p.

Interlaced lines are scanned odd lines first, then even. So you technically have a first set of lines which are actually one frame, with the other set of lines missing. These lines are then displayed back to the viewer odd/even//odd/even//odd/even etc.

That said, you get smoother motion with i vs p. You are able to achieve better slow motion in post production with i vs p, however, p, is of course the preferred format to most. A single frame being a single frame.

NOW THAT SAID...

Looks aside, in order to output your video from PPro, all you will simply want to do is import the footage material in (original); right mouse click; new sequence from clip; make any edits/trims, etc.

It is really unnecessary to make any additional adjustments from the timeline in Premiere, because what you ultimately want to do is use Frame Blending when you export.

After you've made any adjustments, go to export, choose the format you need; 59.94i, whatever codecs they are requiring, many are already built in; others may need to be downloaded.

Ensure you turn on Frame Blending, IF your source material is progressive.

Frame Blending will force interpolation of the frames during the rendering of your new video outputs, using two side by side discreet progressive frames to create a new "quasi" interlaced frames, twice as many frames as your progressive source at the correct frame rate.

It isn't quite the same "look" wise as actual Interlaced source material; however, specification wise it should meet their needs; and to the average viewer most will not notice.

Do not however use Frame Blending if you are using Interlaced material. And do not double the effect by applying it to the clip in the timeline (which you can do by right clicking the clip; Under Frame Blending/Field Options); and then stack it with another Blend on export. Only one is necessary, and my recommendation is simply allow Adobe Media Encoder handle the p to i conversion.

Lastly, if you have material at lower resolution, AME will be upscaling it to get to 1080. If so, you can use the Use Maximum Render Quality Checkbox at the bottom of the export panel window.

Be advised this will likely increase your rendering time by multiple fold.

In regards to the audio; they have peaking requirements. You will need to apply a Dynamics and/or Limiter filter in the Audio Mixer Window Filter Dropdown. Limit to the specifications they have stated.

In regards to center safe, if you're given material that isn't center safe, you're going to need to talk with them about that, as you'll have to do a push in and do manual pan and scan using the motion filter, adjusting the frame position on the canvas to get it to 4:3 safe.


How can I do color grading that changes over time? I just bought a cheap action camera that I plan to use when freediving and my first test shows that the video quality is quite good. The only thing that isn't good enough are the colors.

I started iMovie and managed to get good colors above water and under water but never both at the same time. I realise that I would need to gradually change color as the depth changes and this doesn't seem to be supported in iMovie.

Which software or app, preferably free but not necessarily, can be used to do color grading that changes over time?

DaVinci Resolve seems to be an industry standard software for color grading that exists as a free version. Here is a tutorial on how to use keyframes to animate color grading that worked for me:


How to prevent ffmpeg from dropping frames when trimming? I'm using ffmpeg to trim a Zoom video recording (format: ISO Media, MP4 v2 [ISO 14496-14]) via this command:
ffmpeg \
  -ss 00:11:42 \
  -to 01:11:22 \
  -i input-original.mp4 \
  -c copy \
  output-trimmed.mp4

The input file looks great, but the output has a few dropped frames at the beginning, so for the first few seconds it looks like this:

A few seconds later, it goes back to normal and it doesn't have any other issues. I'm wondering if there is a way to fix this problem.
EDIT: Actually, this seems to be a VLC-specific problem. Once I upload it to Vimeo, the weird frames go away. Still, I'd like to know if there is a way to prevent this.

Try to place the -ss and -to after the input:

ffmpeg \
  -i input-original.mp4 \
  -ss 00:11:42 \
  -to 01:11:22 \
  -c copy \
  output-trimmed.mp4

According to @Gyan (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45004159/ffmpeg-ss-and-t-for-cutting-mp3)

  When -ss and -t are placed before the input, ffmpeg resorts to fast
  seek which relies on the index of the input to allow ffmpeg to start
  and stop seeking. MP3s don't have indices, so ffmpeg estimates
  duration via bitrate. This can be inaccurate.

  When -ss and -t are placed after the input, ffmpeg counts demuxed
  packets. This will be accurate.

If it doesn't work you can also try to convert your video to intra-frame format (try ffvhuff), trim it and then convert it back to mp4 but this will slightly decrease the quality of the trimmed output. Keep in mind that ffvhuff will create huge file in size so make sure you have enough free space if you want to go this way.


How to turn off LCD on camcorder while external microphone is connected? I'd like to turn off the LCD on my camcorder during recording, to save battery.

However, I cannot close the LCD screen because I have plugged in an external microphone and the external microphone plug is under the LCD (see picture).

I'm using a Canon Vixia HF R42.

It's not possible to turn off the LCD panel when it is open, but you may do two things with it to save your battery:

reduce the LCD brightness to the its lowest limit, and
set the LCD Backlight to [L Dim]

Both commands are available from the Home Menu -> Other Settings -> Display Setup.