Premier Pro producing a 4 hour video that's corrupted I have a project in Premier Pro that is basically just stitching together a series of videos from a helmet camera into one video that is 4 hours 30 long. In Premier pro all looks good and I can watch the video in the preview window no problem at all.

The exported video is different though. It is fine up to about 3:26 but then it doesn't play. In windows media player I get an error if I try to move the play head past this point. The video was uploaded to youTube here:

and you can see that it just removed the end of the video.

Is there some sort of limit on H.264 video length? I highly doubt that!

What can I do to start debugging what is going on here?

Thanks

The first place I would look would be in the encoder log files. If you used Adobe Media Encoder you will find the log files here:

Windows 7 & 8:

C:\Users\[user]\Documents\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder\8.0\AMEEncodingLog.txt

Mac OS:

/Users/[user]/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Media Encoder/8.0/AMEEncodingLog.txt

To view the log file, choose File > Show Log or press CTRL + L.

There are two log files:

AMEEncodingLog.txt - for successfully encoded jobs
AMEEncodingErrorLog.txt - for jobs that failed, or were stopped by the user

See the help: https://helpx.adobe.com/media-encoder/using/log-files.html

Check the last entry in each log file and see if your video was encoded correctly.

If the log file points to an encoding error, investigate that
If the log file indicates no error then attempt to play the video in a different media player and see if the problem still persists

I use VLC media player because I've found it to be most reliable.  There is also a debugging console in VLC that can be useful.


How to turn video with spherical, equirectangular projection into an actual "360° video" playable with VLC? I have a video (MP4/AVC) that is in 2:1 aspect ratio and uses equirectangular projection for a spherical video (often called "360° video").
VLC can play spherical videos since version 3.0.0. Through conversion the video in question has "lost" the required metadata to be recognized as a spherical video with equirectangular projection.
I'm not sure which and what metadata to add to the video, in order to fix the video file, such that it is correctly recognized as a spherical video.
This is what I've tried so far, but it didn't work:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -metadata ProjectionType=equirectangular fixed.mp4

Unfortunatelly, this didn't fix the issue.
After googling around, I was led to believe, that I may fix the issue with MP4Box off the GPAC project, however I'm not sure where to start. I was led to believe it's not just fixable with simply adding metadata, instead I'd need to change the container types?
In any event, I'd like a solution that uses ffmpeg and/or MP4Box as those tools are readily available to me.
(this question has been originally posted on unix.SE, but I had no answers or comments there, and I figured it's more in line with this than using Linux)

you can use Spatial Media Metadata Injector to fix the metadata https://github.com/google/spatial-media/releases/tag/v2.0


Free Software for Drawing Overlays I'm trying to draw some geometric shapes on a video as overlay, e.g. draw a box around a part of a video to emphasize. I've seen many videos on youtube that do this, and I'm sure I can do it using commercial packages such as Premiere or AVS video editor. I wonder if there is any free software that can do this?

iMovie comes free with a Mac, and it allows "Picture-In-Picture" images. You can create art with a transparent background, using a free program such as GIMP, then save it in PNG format (not JPG) and then drop it over your video in iMovie.

For emphasizing sections of your video, you can also create a whole image that is partially transparent (like a black image that is 30% transparent) and "remove" a section of it (so the transparency of the "hole" is 100%).  It will look like smoky glass with one perfectly clear part.  When you lay that over your video, it will look like the rest of the screen was darkened except for the part in the perfectly-clear "window". Kind of a nice effect. :)


iPhone X or Canon 77D - which will produce better quality? I own a Canon 77D DSLR and am just getting started with filmmaking. I have a variable ND filter etc. I wonder if this DSLR would produce better quality videos than my iPhone X (with FiLMiC pro)?

I know that 77D doesn't shoot in 4K whereas iPhone X does. But what about the quality of 1080p at 24fps?

iPhone X also seems to have some optical image stabilization. Is it better than Canon's electronical stabilizer for videos in Digic 7 chip?

I don't know much about codecs and stuff hence why I ask here.

Well, this hardly depends on what you want to do and need.
If you simply want to create cinematic images, 77D will be a lot better because of the bigger sensor.

If you need highly technical and sharp images, like I would expect it from a tech YT channel, I would take the iPhone X.

In the end, it matters more how you handle the camera, than what it can.
Espacially lighting will make a huge difference on both cameras.

So facts are, iPhone X video will look cleaner, but 77D will be more easily to achieve cinematic footage and give character to the image


Formula / Calculate how much to slow video down to match audio? scenario:

I have video matched with audio (song).

I slow the audio (song) down (eg from 120 bpm to 115bpm ie, I know exactly how much slower the new audio is than the original video)

How do I calculate how much to slow down my video by (in Final Cut I have the option of slowing down from 100% speed right down to 1%) so it matches the slow(er) audio?

thanks.

(115bpm / 120 bpm) * 100 = 95.83% (approx, to 2 decimal places)

Speed change percentages are always confusing.

Final cut expresses speed changes as:

  If you change the speed to 50 percent, your clip becomes twice as long
  [...]
  If you change the speed to 200 percent, the clip becomes half as
  long

So if you go from 120 bpm to 115 (a slower tempo), you are looking for a longer clip, so your percentage should be lower than 100%.


Usage of Target and Maximum Bitrate with the H264 Codec in Premiere Pro When exporting a video using the H264 Codec with a variable bitrate in Premiere Pro, you can set the target bitrate and the maximum bitrate. I would like to know how those work together and if there is any rule of thumb on what to set them to.

So AFAIK, the target bitrate is the average bitrate that the encoder will try to achieve by balancing out parts of the video where more or less information is required respectively. In that case, what is the purpose of the maximum bitrate setting? Is it the highest possible bitrate that won't be ecelled at any point of the video? Or can the encoder actually exceed the average bitrate over the amount speficied as target bitrate and the maximum bitrate is the highest possible average bitrate that the resulting video can have?

Also, how can I determine a good value for the maximum bitrate depending on the target bitrate? Let's say I export with 1, 10 or 20 MB/s (as my target bitrate), what should the maximum bitrate setting depend on?

You seem to have a good grip on what these parameters are all about.

The target bitrate is what the encoder tries to average throughout the video.

The maximum bitrate is the roof for how high the bitrate can go. How high it can spike.

It's a good idea to leave a substantial amount of headroom, 5-10%, between the target and the maximum bitrate.

Best of luck!


Do I need an STM lens for face detection live video with Canon? I bought a Canon EOS M to shoot video, mostly talking heads stuff so I simply set to the camera to AF Face tracking and had no problems.

I recently purchased the DSLR lens adapter and the cheap Canon f/1.8 50mm to use with the camera and the results are terrible. It just refuses to stay in focus for more than a second, even with someone sat still and not moving. It hunts none stop, creating a lot of off putting noise.

I understand that an STM lens will reduce the noise and the jerky movement, but do they affect AF as well? Is the lack of STM why I can't get solid AF?

The AF subsystem is part of the camera. It is not affected by the lens.
Face detection is also part of the camera.

STM only affects the speed of focus for a lens (assuming that the camera feeds it with correct information.)

So yes, STM lenses are better for video when coupled with a camera that has fast focus on its own.

For your problem there are two solutions

1)Deactivate automatic focus and select a big aperture (like 11) so that everything is in focus
2)Deactivate automatic focus and manually focus the lens on your own.

All hollywood movies, tv broadcasts, commercials etc use manual focus.


Where/when should I specify unsharpen when converting images to video? Edit: its not liking it when I specify .exr as the output file....not sure if there's a fix to support exr in ffmpeg. Just pretends its .png then unless you can help with that as well

Hi so I transcoded a 30 min video into a 16 bit 1080p.exr image strip. I then plan on upscaling these images with ffmpeg to 4k. I then want to render it out again as an 8 bit h.264 .avi.

Somewhere here I want to apply sharpening to make the upscale a bit cleaner (this command looked nice when applied to the exr on their own):

-filter "unsharp=1x=13:ly=13"la=2.0"

Will unsharpening re-encode? Because my final video output is h.264 8/10bit I don't want to re-encode that.

My question is where in my commands should I be applying the unsharp? And should I only apply it once or as many times throughout that it makes things look nice?

I thought for simplicity I would divide my commands up, but maybe they should be done as a single command? Will a single command lessen the number of re-encodes any?

Step 1. Upscale:

ffmpeg -i %d.exr -vf scale=3840:-1 C:\Users\Me\Desktop\Test\output_3840.exr

Step 2: Turn images into .avi (not sure if this works for avi, i kno it works for mkv tho)

ffmpeg -framerate 500/21 -i %d.exr -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le output.avi

Step 3: Unsharpen...but when/where?

-filter "unsharp=1x=13:ly=13"la=2.0"

I'm not even sure how to combine these, or like I said if doing so will limit the re-encodes. Is there a single command I can/should be using here based on the 3 above? I'll just do the audio as a separate command with -c copy so it doesn't re-encode, it makes it less confusing for me.

Just do it all as one step and forget about up-sampling to 16 bit. That just adds complexity, processing time, extra storage and for no gain in quality in the end result that anyone could possibly perceive.

fmpeg myinputVideo.avi -vf "scale=3840:2160,unsharp=1x=13:ly=13"la=2.0" myoutput.mp4

The internal process of ffmpeg works basically like this:

 _______              ______________
|       |            |              |
| input |  demuxer   | encoded data |   decoder
| file  | ---------> | packets      | -----+
|_______|            |______________|      |
                                           v
                                       _________
                                      |         |
                                      | decoded |
                                      | frames  |
                                      |_________|
 ________             ______________       |
|        |           |              |      |
| output | <-------- | encoded data | <----+
| file   |   muxer   | packets      |   encoder
|________|           |______________|

The "decoded frames" box basically is where the pixels in the image are stored in memory as uncompressed RGB or YUV (or whatever) samples. That's the point where your footage is as good as it is going to get. Any extra filtering or processing will notionally degrade the image due to quantisation loss, or compression etc.. That image is what is sent to the filter chain. What you're doing is:

demux → decode → [decoded frames] → resample → encode → mux → save →
demux → decode → [decoded, resampled frames] → upscale → sharpen → encode → mux → save

so you're applying your filters to frames that have had an extra resample and encode step added, not to mention taking up a whole bunch'a space on your HDD.

When you filter something the output of one filter goes to the input of the next filter in the chain, so if you put scale first the scaled image is then sent to the sharpen filter.

 _______        ________        _________        ________
|       |      |        |      |         |      |        |
| input | ---> | scale  | ---> | sharpen | ---> | output |
|_______|      |________|      |_________|      |________|

You can get more complex by using -filter_complex which allows you to have various inputs and outputs for filters.

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Filtering for more ascii-art empowered knowledge


Stream from a windows desktop to multiple TVs/apartments on a separate channel How can I stream from my windows 7 desktop to TVs in multiple apartments in my building on a dedicated cable channel. Is it possible? If so, how can I go about it?
The stream must play if someone switches to that channel.

I am trying to achieve something simple. I own a hotel and I want to broadcast hotel conferences/local tech programs/local sports events live to all rooms.

While what you are asking about is technically possible, it wouldn't be easy or cheap.  It would in fact be very expensive.  To use a channel, you would need to form your own cable network within your house and play different sources for each channel into the system.  These are the kinds of systems that hotels buy to do their own cable network in the building and they can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.  You would also probably need some pretty expensive licensing from the cable company to rebroadcast their channels so you would need to basically pay for everyone's cable bill.

For the interactive portion (having a stream start when they go to the channel) you actually need a set-top box for each TV as well.  Broadcast networks like cable can only play a signal on a channel to everyone.  They don't normally support starting a video when someone tunes the channel unless the set-top box can communicate back and control the source.  Alternately, the more modern way of approaching it is to have an on-demand type setup where the content isn't streamed in the traditional broadcast manner, but rather is stored on a media server and sent as a digital signal on demand and encoded for a particular set-top box.  This is generally implemented more like Netflix now with a digital stream being sent over a data network allocated to part of the cable network, though some older systems do it as a hidden channel that only that set-top box knows to tune to.

If it is something you still wish to pursue, I suggest looking into manufacturers of different "hotel cable systems" or "private cable systems."  Some quick searching found these guys as one possible option, though I know nothing about them or how good of an option they may be.  They are just the first option I found to give you an idea of what you are looking for.

Update: If you are in a comcast area, it looks like they may also have an option that they can provide to help work it into an actual service agreement which might be cheaper upfront.  See here.


How to save the phone rotation into a video? I recorded a video from an android phone and turned it from portrait to landscape within the first 5 seconds.

I noticed if I play the video in Windows Media Player - it shows up portrait then turns to a 90 degree angle on its' side. However in VLC player, it shows up in portrait and when the film rotates, the position stays fixed so the video always looks correct, I guess because VLC reads the meta data of the film for the rotation angle and adjusts automatically during playback ?

However I need to save this into the actual video... so that it "automatically" turns for other players or for YouTube etc.

I have no idea how to do this?

Edit:
What I mean is that the metadata for current rotation needs to be read and a video saved using this information so that the actual video stays stable when the part in the video where the phone is rotated while filming. Does that make more sense?

Try it out by filming something with your smartphone and then rotate the phone while recording from landscape to portrait or vice versa. Save the video to your PC and play with latest VLC, it stays stable but view in Windows Player and you end up with a rotated video (either it's on the side or something)

I may not be able to answer this as fully as someone else, but I'd do the following:

Open the video file in (most) any video editor. (something as basic as Windows Movie Maker will suffice)
Split the clip at the point where the device rotates.
Rotate the newly-created second clip to suit your needs.


After Effects Mask is cropping down resolution I have two videos, from one I create a mask.

In preview I have output fine.

Preview:

In RAM preview and render queue, output is weird:

I am a beginner ,using After Effects CS6 trial.

I have followed several masks tutorials, not a single tutorial has addressed this issue. I am using no effects at all, there are only 2 videos.


How to set up live audio feed (with lavalier mic)? I've been performing live video broadcast for awhile now carrying around lots of equipment so I can have nice live audio feed in the video stream but I'm currently looking for ways to simplify my setup.

I'm using a full blown mic on a stand connected directly to an audio interface with XLR cable in between which works fine but it's not very mobile and it's not very convenient for the person talking as they will have to stay close to the microphone without being able to move away from it.

I would like to have something more flexible instead like a lavalier mic or a headset mic (the person talking is not in the camera view so they don't have to look nice) that would allow the speaker to move around and have more freedom and still be able to use this setup without a pause for a long periods of time (sometimes over 4-5 hours). From what I've seen online, I'm not even sure that if I can and how to connect a lavalier mic (or nice head set) for live audio feed and even if I find a way to do so - what would be a good recommendation to have "infinite" power source for the mic as batteries would not hold long enough for some of the sessions that I have. Would it work with any model or only some specific ones would be suited for this setup? Any tips, information or recommendations are welcome. Thank you!

First thing is to check whether your audio interface XLR input can supply 48 V phantom power. If the answer is yes, look for a microphone that can be powered by phantom power. If this is not the case, look for an adapter that can power your mic and output to your XLR input.

For your use case, I think that a headset mic would be better than a lavalier one as it maintains the same sound when the speaker moves his head relatively to it's torso. You also are more safe against clothes noise. Most serious microphone makers offer this kind of product. Entry level products can be found from around 100 €.


Is Davinci Resolve 16 good for beginers? I have just started video editing. I have little experiences, and I want good free software for video editing.

When I was searching on the internet I came across Davinci Resolve 16. T know it's profession software but is the community for it big enough to get started?

As far as I know, in Resolve you only have to pay premium for the cloud collaborative features.
Its not beginner software like iMovie or WMM, but rather comparable to Premiere, the cheapest rate for which is 20/month if you have a student email.  Among free software, Resolve is definitely one of the best options out there.
While it is a professional tool, it's very intuitive for basic functions and it has the core features you'll find in other professional editing software.
Edit: Free version includes 4k


Combining a short video and long audio file efficiently using Vegas or FFMPEG I have a need to repeatedly create videos that have a short 15 second intro that fades to black and have really long audio tracks like 8 hours. I generate the video in Vegas and the audio in Cubase. The desired result is to have the video and audio start together and the video's last frame (completely black) be repeated to match the audio length. I can do this easily in Magix Vegas 16 Pro but the performance is awful. It takes 2+ hours to say render 15 seconds of actual changing video and then another 8 hours of black frames. This is on a 10850K with an RTX 2070 rendering using the GPU as it is faster in Vegas than using the Intel CPU renderer. I thought it was somehow choking on the audio so I eliminated it and just the video rendering of all of the black frames is still 2 hours. Any thoughts on how to speed this up in Vegas would be greatly appreciated. I feel like FFMPEG could be a viable alternative. I had some promising results with render time using ffmpeg -i Input_Video.mp4 -i Input_audio.mp3 -c:v libx265 -c:a copy -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 Combined_Output.mp4 .  This completes the task in under a minute BUT the resulting video is not as it seems. I can play the video from beginning to end in a media player and it looks fine. However, if I watch for a second and fast forward beyond those first 15 seconds, I don't see the black screen. It still shows whatever frame I went from. I examined the video and it sort of appears like the final video result it just the frames of the input video for 15 seconds with no encoded video after that. I need to have just black video after the first 15 seconds playing along with the audio. The black frames need to be encoded as video all the way until the audio ends. Any thoughts on this?

Have you tried using the ffmpeg playlist feature dubbed concatenate? The fade to black with ffmpeg has been described here.


Is importing to Aperture then editing in iMovie a viable workflow? I'm primarily a still photographer, but necessity is pushing me into learning video editing. I'm in the habit of dumping my camera data to Aperture, using the rating & stacking system there to sort out favorite pictures, and finally exporting those for final touches in PhotoShop.

Will a similar workflow work for iMovie and editing there? iMovie automatically picks up the videos I dump into Aperture, but at first glance I don't see the precious, precious metadata I've taken the time to mark them up with there: No ratings!

Is there a way to get ratings/sorting from Aperture showing up in iMovie? If not, what's your favorite workflow for picking clips to use in iMovie?

I usually manually drop my files into the iMovie Drop Box for safe keeping until I want to use/edit them and do all my managing of videos (personal ones, at least) in iMovie.


Different FPS on different clips (premiere pro) so I'm editing a video for YouTube and I'm having some trouble.

I want some clips in the video to play at low FPS (8fps or so), they are recorded at 8fps but, I'm speeding them up (I, however, still want them to play at 8fps)

I did it by setting the project fps to 8fps. The actual problem is, other clips, I want them to play at 30 fps but as the project fps are 8, they cannot. If I set project fps to 30, then the videos recorded at 8fps that I have speed up will play at 15fps, 20fps, depending on how much I speed them up, but I want those to play at 8fps always.

Any help?

What you want to use to have a clip play back at a lower frame rate is the Posterize Time effect. It's pretty straightforward and self-explanatory. Just find the effect in the Effects panel under Video Effects → Time → Posterize Time and apply it to your clip. Then select the clip, open the Effect Controls panel and set the Frame Rate parameter of the effect to 8 (in your case). Then you're pretty much done.

To apply that effect to multiple clips at once, you can use an adjustment layer. Create a new adjustment layer (File → New → Adjustment Layer) and put it above your clips in the time line. Then apply the Posterize Time effect to the adjustment layer. It will affect all clips in all video layers below the adjustment layer.


How to add a title with a transparent background in iMovie? I'm using iMovie 10.0.8 and like to display some text with a transparent background over the clip. Can this somehow be done?
The titles view only lists titles on a black, white and color bar, but color bar does not allow to set an alpha value for the background...
Any ideas how text with transparent background can be added to a clip are welcome,
Thank you.

drag the title over the clip you want to lay it over in the title track. the background in the title view is already transparent, defaulting to black if you do not lay it over a clip.


I have a .ts video containing a 720° video record it with an AllieCam360 Hi I have an AllieCam a camera to record 720 videos 360x2 lenses, the format it use is .ts, the program requires a login online, but the manufacturers drop the business and the web site is offline, so I can not convert the videos to mp4, I tried a lot of converters but no one solve the problem, and if one of them converts to mp4 the only i obtain is a sphere with half of the video, anyone can help please.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ao7qckQCBLU8iFF0CfUQLG8IKhPz

I leave the link with a sample of a video for if any one wants to try.

FFmpeg can see both views as separate video streams.

You can remux the file to MP4 simply by using

ffmpeg -i input.ts -c copy -map 0 output.mp4

Hopefully, your video editor can work with distinct streams, else they will need to be combined in some way.


How to convert LibreOffice Impress to video with custom animations? I am wondering whether it is possible to convert a LibreOffice Impress presentation into a video (to upload on YouTube), while preserving custom animations on slides.

There is a possibility to export the presentation to a .swf Macromedia Flash file, but the custom animations are not preserved.

Does anyone have a solution?

I would use a screen recording / capture tool. With this solution you can even define your individual timing from slide to slide.

Which software to use? Depending on your operating system there are many free or low cost solutions available. There are even web-based services.

This blog post lists 10 of them. I copied that list here for reference.

Desktop Software:

IceCream (Windows)
ActivePresenter (Windows)
CamStudio (Windows)
Snagit (Windows/Mac)
Jing (Windows/Mac)

Web Services:

Webinaria
Apowersoft
Screenr
ScreenToaster
ScreenCastle

I'm sure next year there will be different options. That's why this list can only be an overview and starting point for your own research.

You might need another tool to finally crop your recorded video to 1280x720 or 1920x1080 pixel, because the screen recorder might have recorded an odd rectangle that you have drawn with the mouse. My favorite is VirtualDub for Windows.


Quality loss when exporting on Adobe Premiere I'm having some trouble when exporting a sequence in Adobe Premiere CS6. There is a quality loss: image are more pixelated and colors are more bland.
I'm exporting in H.264 format and it's 1920x1080 footage. I tried every possibility of configurations and it keep exporting less good quality.

Here are some screenshots, so you can compare the original quality and what comes out from exportation:

Thank you for your help !

Use a visually lossless (intermediary) codec when going between different editing applications. Avid DNxHR, Apple Prores, Edius HQX, and GoPro Cineform are all examples of intermediary codecs. I personally prefer DNxHR, but all the options I listed are good options.

You can also use dynamic link between After Effects and Premiere, which would be even better.


Presentation to Video conversion I'd like to make several online language courses, and was thinking about incorporating video into a lecture.

I was looking for a way to convert presentations (PowerPoint or OpenOffice) directly to some video format, or, indirectly, maybe through Adobe Flash format.

Right now I'm on a Ubuntu.

Maybe there is some kind of tool, like FFmpeg style?

Thank you again!

What you are looking for is called a Screen Capture program or Screen Cast program.  A quick Google search turned up gtk-recordMyDesktop as an option that should work for your purposes and appears to be built in to Ubuntu.  This was the site I found that explained more detail on how it is used.  I personally have no experience working with Ubuntu, let alone screen capture on it.


How can I achieve a smooth animation in Adobe Premiere? I want to make a video in Adobe Premiere, I noticed that there is a certain kind of animation that video editors use in video essays, here is an example:
Check Your Schadenfreude
You can see how there is a smooth animated motion that appears when a text is highlighted or an object is being revealed, how can I make a similar effect? I was able to make something that is a bit close to it but I can't make it perfect, are there any presets for this? what should I search for?

You need to add ease-in to the motion. That's where the motion slows as it approaches the final position. You can add it quickly by hitting the f9 key. This sets the speed of the keyframe to zero, and gives it 16% influence. To change the effect you cn edit this by opening the keyframe properties dialogue. Hit ctrl/⌘shiftk. Alternatively open the graph editor and click on the position property to show the graph. You can adjust the speed of the keyframe and its influence by dragging the Bézier handles there.

You might want to duckduckgo the 12 principles of animation, if you want to do some extra reading. This is a valuable guide to creating pleasing motion in animation and motion graphics, that is as true now as it was when it was written back in the days of cels and paint.


removing an x265 audio track without conversion? I have an x265 video file with dual audio tracks in different languages. Obviously one is useless to me and I want to remove it without waiting through a lengthy conversion that will lead to quality loss.

I have been using mkv2mp4 to do this with x264 in the past, but it spits out an error when I try any x265 coded video. Is there a codec I can install? Any other suggestions?

Use ffmpeg*, a free command-line tool:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c copy -map 0:v -map 0:a:0 singleaudio.mkv

where 0:a:0 is the index of the audio stream you wish to keep. In ffmpeg, numbering starts from zero, so 0:a:0 refers to the first audio stream in the source file. Running ffprobe input.mkv beforehand will show the contents of the input.

*download the latest snapshot/nightly build.


Compressing a large MP4 file that is on 2.30mins long I have been sent a video that is only 2.30 mins long. But is a whopping 168mb, unfortunetely this has to be embedded into an app - so I need it as small as possible. I need to get the file size down big time.

It's attributes are Frame Width 1920 x 1080. 25fps data rate: 8690 kbps
Total bitrate 9008kbps

It will be going on a tablet that is 1040px at potrait.

What is the best way to shrink the file size?

I can recommend you to one nicely done piece of software which can enable you to compress this file, it is called HandBrake. Its encoder options provide for manipulating the Frame width, rate, quality and resulting format size.


FFmpeg text overlay add sensor values into video stream I'am using external camera with ffmpeg to acquire underwater live stream. Now I want to add some dynamic values (text overlay) over video stream and restream that to some external provider like youtube live... My values are from different sensors (temperature, oxygen, salinity etc..) and those values must be embedded into video stream.

What is the righ or "best" or "right" way to do this?

This question a bit similar to I'm trying to add guitar tabs to a music video, do you know any software to do it?

At first, in which format your data, which protocol used from your sensors? I guess, here some closed-source software and proprietary protocol for there sensors? Obviously, you need software which can read this data format/protocol. If you creating own system with micro-controllers, try to find usable and open protocol for data. It very hard to find open protocols with needed functionality.

At this point I guess, you found any appropriate protocol. For example, JSON with custom fields. Now try to find/write software, which will be use it.

One possible way: write web-application, which will display video stream in your browser, loads data from sensors and display funny overlay. Then just grab video from your screen and broadcast to youtube or any other service. This is "dirty" way, but it will work.

Other way: write custom filter to ffmpeg. You can use ass-renderer for reference how to add text on image. Just add reading data from your sensors and your task completed.

Writing fast and dirty video filters

Sometimes we need to somehow filter the video, maybe put some text or graphic on top. Write a full application that decompresses the video stream, imbues the image with new elements or changes the image itself, and then compresses the stream anew, somewhat difficult. Today we will learn how to quickly and dirty make such applications without knowing how to encode the video in general.

To begin with, remember that the images consist of rows and columns of points, which are called pixels. Each point consists of 3 or 4 components, usually Red, Green and Blue signals, and sometimes there is an Alpha channel. Therefore, to change 1 point of the image, we need to change 3-4 components (this is usually 3-4 bytes). So, to change the entire image, we need to change all the rows and columns, in each of 3-4 elements and somehow modifying them, save back. For example, if we have a picture of 256x192 pixels in RGB24 format, then it will have 49152 pixels and 147456 color components (bytes).

Therefore, we just need to read pieces of 147456 bytes, somehow modify them and write them back! It's all! No complicated libraries or algorithms are required! Where do we get these bytes? And we can get them with wonderful utility ffmpeg and its equally wonderful rawvideo mode, the exhaust of which we will give to stdout and receive in stdin your application!

Let's write the simplest application that will slightly change the image:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main () {

// allocate variables and buffer

uint8_t *pixels = malloc (147456);
uint8_t *pix;
int q;

while (1) {

// read frame
if (fread (pixels, 1,147456, stdin) <= 0) {break;}

// process image
pix = pixels;
for (q = 0; q <49152; q ++) {
*pix++ = *pix * 2; // multiple red to 2
*pix++ = *pix + 120; // shift green channel
*pix++ = *pix + q / 10; // lines in blue channel
}

// write frame back
fwrite (pixels, 1,147456, stdout);
}

return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Yes, that's all! Of course, here all the constants are hardcoded, never do so in real projects!

Now, run this and upload a video here:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -s 256x192 -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 - | ./a.out | ffmpeg -s 256x192 -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 -i - -y out.mp4

And we get the following result:

Let's analyze what parameters in this line participated:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -s 256x192 -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 -

Here we read from the file video.mp4, resize the picture to 256x192 (if your video is already 256x192 in size, then you can not do this), then we specify that it should be converted to rgb24 color space (if it is not already in it, what for can spend quite a lot of resources), and the result we need in the form of uncompressed video rawvideo, the result we record in -, i.e. in stdout.

| ./a.out |

And this is our application. Vertical "tubes" mean that it will take data from the previous application and transfer it to the next

ffmpeg -s 256x192 -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 -i - -y out.mp4

Here we indicate that the input of this ffmpeg will be uncompressed video in rawvideo format, size of 256x192 and in the rgb24 color space. It is also may need to specify fps, as it is lost from such conversion. We will write output to out.mp4, and even if such file already exists, the -y parameter is responsible for this

Here is a very simple example of changing the image, but you can overlay text, other pictures and anything else. Of course, it's better to write a full-fledged application, or at least patch the already existing filter to the desired state, this will be a more correct solution. But if you need a working solution, while you do not want to write a lot of code, this is the solution for you.


Dealing with dropped frames in background plate when doing keyframe animation in After Effects I am working on a video which includes some dropped frames ever so often. When a frame dropped, it repeated the previous frame sometimes 2 or 3 times. I am overlaying many objects on this video, and the problem is that when interpolating a property, it continues to interpolate during the dropped frames, meaning the objects move while the video remains still. Because of the huge amount of objects in my scene (100+) it is incredibly tedious to go through each and find each dropped frame, set a keyframe for the properties, and copy them for all the repetitions of that frame. Is there a way to either set a keyframe for all properties at some time, or ideally to set time ranges for the whole composition where interpolation is disabled?

Try frame blending.

Show the switch column in timeline.
Check, and enable the Frame Blending switch on the timeline.
Check, and enable the Frame Blending option of the layer.
Always check your composition frame rate.

Shortcut:
ctrl + k (Win) or command + k (Mac)


Crop a man out of a 360 video I'm making a 360 video, filmed with 2 180 degree spherical cameras back to back.  The problem is that the man holding the cameras shows up in the bottom section of the video.  With the software, (I am using Kolor Autopano Video) is there a way to crop a section out of the video?

To do any cropping of video in Autopano Video, you will need additional software from Kolor: either Autopano Pro or Autopano Giga. That will allow you to click the edit button below the preview window to send it to the editing program and apply a crop.

Alternatively, you can render out your video from Autopano Video that includes the cameraman, and then make your crop in a video editing program like Premiere Pro or Final Cut (even iMovie and Windows Movie Maker may work). That video can still be rendered as 360 video.


Opacity in an animation doesn't stick I'm just getting started with Final Cut Pro X and I'm following this video for a slide out animation:

I have a background square for my text as the Text moves to the right. If I set the opacity to 80%, the background looks how I want when there is no animation. Once the transition is animating though, the background is opaque and not transparent. Is there a way to get around this?

Thanks!

I think I know what’s the problem is.

The compound clip isn’t working that way because you have probably a “Solids” generator in it.

Ignore the step of generating the compound clip and build the sliding box and text on top of the main timeline. That should work as you want.


Why does media show up in Final Cut but errors when rendering in Compressor? I am building a video using media all on my local hard drive. When I watch the video preview in Final Cut, there's no missing media clips. However, when I bring the project into Compressor, the clips are missing and there's some areas where there's a red screen and camera, signifying missing media.

My question is, why does the media have no problem showing up in the Final Cut preview window yet when I export to compressor, it doesn't work out. Are effects in Final Cut screwing up the media when it makes it to Compressor?

Thanks for the help - I'm in a crunch on this project, and can't figure out why Compressor says media is missing.

Is your Final Cut event using proxy media? It's possible the original media has been moved and Compressor can't find it.


istockphoto for videos I am thinking about make some story video and I would leverage some general footage -- timelapses, cars passing streets, etc. Is there some service which provides such assets? I think I saw something like "video building block" service or something like that. I don't need this service specifically, but just something where could I download/buy such video assets shoot by somebody else.

http://www.gettyimages.de/footage
https://www.shutterstock.com/video/
http://www.dissolve.com/
http://videohive.net/

to name a few, probably there are much much more.


How to stabilize exposure of video? When I shot the video, I forgot to fix the exposure, so now the brightness constantly changes. How can i stabilize exposure in video, I can't reshoot it.

Plugin Flicker Free didn't help. The video goes for an hour, not possible to fix it manually.

Example of video

I have planned for a long time to make a video luma stabilizing software, and when I saw this question I gave myself a kick in the butt and built something (hopefully) useful during the night. Now, it's by far a finished and polished product, of course, but if you feel bold and want to give it a shot, here is how you can use it (currently).
The best part: it's free... (and runs locally directly in the browser).
Prerequisites:

You will need After Effects
You video need to be stored as frames/images (they don't need to full size for the analysis though). JPEG, PNG sequences are fine.
You need to run this on a desktop or tablet with somewhat high resolution. It targets FHD but it may work in smaller screens - I have not tried or accounted for responsiveness quite yet...

Go to this web page to start:
https://epistemex.github.io/Video-Luma/
As mentioned, everything will run inside the browser (there is no upload) and will require a newer HTML5 browser. I am using Firefox v59 beta for this myself, but you should be able to use v58 stable as well as Chrome, Opera, Edge, Safari etc (although the latter ones may be slower and I have not yet fully tested with these browsers except Chrome).
Browser Steps

Select all your files/frames from the button at the top of the web page.
Then select the base frame and region to use as analyze area (I hope you don't mind I'm using your video example for these steps). The base frame is to indicate a goal luma for the selected region - also: the bigger the selection the more to calculate and will take longer time, but may also produce better result. Avoid selecting areas with movements (incl. shadow):

Then hit the "Analyze" button and wait until end. How fast it will finish depends largely on your computer specs. There is no escape in this version, but you can always reload the page or close the browser if you feel it will be too slow (in that case consider using lower size frames).

When done you can hit the "PREVIEW" button to get a impression of how it will look. It's not gonna be perfect. Currently I'm just using luma to adjust the values (I plan to support white-balance as well) but you will, depending on the footage, see variations in contrast. Not perfect but hopefully better.

Finally in the web page, hit 1) "Export" and 2) select+copy all the text AS-IS:

After Effects Steps

Next: Start up After Effects and load the sequence into a comp.
Then drop the effect "Brightness & Contrast" on top of your image sequence.
Make sure the play head is at the 1) first frame, expand effects and select the above mentioned effect and its "Brightness" property - then paste (still holding the copy from the browser):

The key-frames should now show in the right pane and you're ready to go! Preview and check if everything looks fine.
Troubleshooting
I noticed a bug in the browser's image loading process which can produce "spikes" in the data from time to time (unclear why but I'm working on it):

The only current way to get rid these is to open the 1) graph panel in After Effects and 2) manually remove those:

I did implement a "Spike filter" button that is activated if these are detected, but there is a chance it will affect the other data as well so I would recommend not using it for the time being.
I have not run exhausted memory tests but the images are loaded one by one directly from disk as to not to fill up the memory too much so you should be able to run through long sequences although they may take some time.
And that's it, let me know if it's useful in your case (or if something went horrible wrong - which reminds me to add a disclaimer: use at your own risk! :) ).


How do I resize a video layer (not the compossition) in After Effects? I created a footage of 1920x1080p, then I added a video of 1280x720p in a layer, now I would like to resize the video of this layer to fit the size of my compossition. Is this possible to do without using an external program to reconvert the original video at the desired size?.

Please, take into account in your explanations that I'm very novice using AE, I don't have more than 2 days using it.

Assuming you meant the composition is 1920x1080, and you wish to resize a layer to match the composition size, do one of the following:

Right-click on the layer name. In the menu that comes up, click on Transform --> Fit to comp.

Another method is, in the controls for Scale, under the Transform drilldown, right-click on one of the values. Click on Edit Value.  Change units to % of composition. Alter the value of the larger dimension, out of Width and Height, to 100%.


Match color between 10 cameras I will need to film on 10 cameras soon, as I can't afford to rent 10 cameras, I will collect them from friends, which means I will have many diffrent cameras.

Should I try to color match them in camera with internal saturation, contrast and sharpness or should I match them in post?

They are all lower quality cameras like Canon 700D, Nikon D3500, Panasonic G70...

The only thing you can do to mitigate your pain in post is to white balance all of them on the day of the shoot in the conditions of the shoot (shoot lighting, etc), probably right before the shoot. And then get to work in post. Don't hope for a miracle though. No one would use that many cameras and hope for the colors to match.
You're only going to be reduce the imperfections, so embrace them and don't lose your mind over matching everything perfectly 'cause it's technically impossible -- too many cameras and too many models.


After Effects: Create an isometric/orthographic Camera I know that its not possible to create an non-perspective camera in after effects. But I read about a way to fake the effect of an isometric camera in after effects. I just didn't find something useful in the web so far so I wanted to post the Question about how to create an isometric camera in after effects here so you guys can share your ideas on how to realize this problem.

I just cant get over the fact that its not possible in a mighty program like After Effects.

Thanks for your sharing your opinions and ideas in advance!

Use a camera with a long focal length.  The longer the focal length, the closer to isometric.  Just back the camera far enough away to frame the shot.


How to create a light wall in after effects? I want to create a wall of lights, that will be animated (on/off) by simple graphics in motion, similar to:

So far I created the wall of lights using Optical Flare + AE point lights. I can also "flash" the full wall by animating the brightness of the optical flare FX.

BUT: how can I actually base the brightness of individual lights on eg a graphical arrow or any, as seen in the video linked above?

Can I somehow add a matte/mask to the optical flares FX layer, so that the optical flare FX will only pick the lights that apply to that mask, and change their brightness accordingly?

Or maybe I'd have not to apply as matte animation on the FX, but on the 200 light layers somehow?

Most light walls in AE are made using a matrix of sorts, rather than individually creating many light layers.  Trapcode Form would allow you to create a 2D array of individual glowing particles, which can then be "driven" by another layer, to adjust the brightness of each individual particle.  A lamp image could be used for the particles, and additional glow effects can then be overlaid to make the effect more convincing.

There's a page here listing lots of different ways of achieving the same effect:

http://provideocoalition.com/ryoung/story/led_and_casino_text_effects_in_after_effects/


Unhappy with wedding video production - what to do next? I recently got married in the UK and paid a company to film our wedding (and pre-wedding celebrations), they have completed the highlights trailer & full wedding video but it isn't of the quality I would expect...

They have used the wrong songs, missed key parts of speeches etc... Their contract states any problems with the final edit should be notified within 7 days of receiving the completed video otherwise they presume that client is happy with the final edit.

I have contacted them within the 7 days via email and facebook but received no responses so far - I have given them ample time to respond (almost a week) yet still no received a response and have now gone past their '7 day deadline'.

What should be my next steps, I do not mind going to court but that seems like a very long winded and possibly expensive route.

I am considering asking them for their original source footage and asking another company to complete the final edit for me - what are you thoughts on this, what would be the best approach with all of this?

It all depends on your contract. Unless you have specifically requested it for the contract, you probably don't have any rights to the original footage (artist/creative workers generally don't like to give out raw footage, unedited photos et c.). Because of this, you will in general have to trust the artist/editor to do a good job for the final product. This is why you should always check their creative portfolio before you hire them to see if you like their style, especially if it's about something important that can't be repeated (like your wedding).

  They have used the wrong songs, missed key parts of speeches etc... Their contract states any problems with the final edit should be notified within 7 days of receiving the completed video otherwise they presume that client is happy with the final edit.

If this is the case, you have fulfilled your part of the contract and can refer to it if they later refuse to do the requested edits. But just because you are contractually obliged to inform them about any changes you would like them to make, it doesn't mean they have to answer within the same timeframe. Again, check your contract for what it says regarding their response time. If it specifies a timeframe for their response/delivery of the requested edits, wait at least until that deadline has passed before you contact them again. If it doesn't, maybe try some other means of communication (email/call/personal visit).

  What should be my next steps, I do not mind going to court but that seems like a very long winded and possibly expensive route.

Suing should be your last, last resort. If you still want this company to edit your movie (with the changes you requested), it won't do you a whole lot of good to drag them to court. You have hired them to do creative work, after all, and I don't believe they will be very passionate about getting you the movie you wanted after you sued them. I would only consider suing if they straight out refuse to comply by their contractual obligations. Keep in mind that you can only sue them for what was agreed upon in the contract. Getting the source files might not have been part of that, so your legal footing in this case will be shaky at best.

  I am considering asking them for their original source footage and asking another company to complete the final edit for me - what are you thoughts on this, what would be the best approach with all of this?

This again depends on your contract, specifically the scope/amount of changes that you can request. Based on your question, it sounds like rather then having some minor issues with the movie (e.g. wrong format, some uncomely shots, bad audio mix or something like that), you don't like the style of the overall movie, which means they would basically have to redo the entire movie. Again I can only guess, but this is probably not covered by your contract. In this case, it might be easier to have them give you the source footage so you can hire someone else to cut your movie for you, since even if they do the requested changes, it still won't be 'your' perfect movie. If you wanna go down this route, your best shot is to be honest and try to have them see your site of the problem. It's a win-win after all (you get the source footage, they don't have to put any more work into the movie).

If they refuse to hand out the source footage or you want to hold them up to their contractual obligations (i.e. doing the edits you want), be polite, give them time to answer, and only threaten them with a lawsuit after you've really exhausted all other options. A lawsuit may get you what you want, but it will cost you way more money and time.

If they refuse to do the requested edits or can't do it to the extent/in the way you want it, you can maybe strike a deal (instead of having them go over several improvement cycles, they can just give you the source footage and be done with it). You can try to get that deal in the courtroom, but it will be easier, less time- and money-consuming for both parties to do it extrajudicial.


Has a realistic looking film ever been produced entirely virtually? I know many examples of videos where an object or a person has been added after the recording (e.g. political propaganda or CGI characters in movies). I also know that animated movies are more or less entirely generated on computers. There is also the art movement of hyperrealism which produces paintings that are very difficult to distinguish from an actual photo. Has there been a realistically looking film produced entirely virtually without using any recordings of the physical world (except maybe for models of the characters)? What techniques would be important to produce such a film (e.g. ray tracing)?

Well if you take a look at the mandalorian, almost every background is computer-generated. Sure, the actors are real, but almost nothing else. If you're looking for entire cgi-sequences, you can take a look at the marvel movies. Many of the fight-scenes are completely CG.
Asking what's important for photorealism is a hefty question. There's a bunch like:

Accurately ray-traced shadows
Accurate reflections
Accurate roughness on reflective surfaces
Sub-surface scattering (like light shining through a hand)
Accurate motion-blur, focus rack and rolling or global shutter, depending on which camera you're imitating.
Accurate physic simulations
Accurate fluid simulations
Accurate wrinkles and stress-maps for skin, cloth and other flexible solids
Proper animation of people and animals, preferrably motion-tracked
etc. etc.

I could go on for pages, but the point is that simulating all the jazz of the real world is very expensive and hard labor. That's why most films rely on CGI only when filming it for real would either be too expensive or too dangerous. No person in their right mind would try to make a whole film CGI with the goal of the viewers not noticing, when they could save around 75% of the budget by just filming it in real-life and getting a similar (often better) result.


Beginner: what software to combine 2 videos of a dance show I would like to make a film of our dance show from 2 videos which were shot of it, keeping 1 audio track and the movement synched to the audio. Can anyone tell me what software can do this as easily as possible? I had a go a couple of years ago, spent many hours on it and completely failed! As far as I can remember the problem was that I couldn't line up the videos one above the other and in time with each other so that I could choose which bits I wanted to cut from one to the other and put them in the right place. I happen to have a reduction for corel video studio - can it do this, if not what can?

thanks very much

any suggestions on what the technical terms I need to do this are would be much appreciated to help me search the web

You are looking for a Non-Linear Video Editing packages or NLE.  Premiere and Final Cut Pro are two of the most popular, but they are also relatively pricy professional products.  There are also many cheaper and/or free options available such as Windows Movie Maker (Windows) or iMovie (Mac).  If you search for non-linear editing software or video editing software, you should find lots of possible options.


What compression should I use for archiving VHS tapes to HDD? What do you recommended for capturing VHS for archiving on a HDD? Will DV PAL codec do? H264 at high quality? (I'm PAL over here btw). I want to retain the quality, but at the same time I don't want 60GB per hour...

DV has a something of a focus on simplicity, so it can be encoded with primitive microprocessors and decoded quickly in an NLE. In particular, it's intra-frame: a DV file is basically an array of still-image files.
That's useful for professional editing; it means however DV can't achieve nearly as high compression ratios as more complicated formats with P- and even B-frames – space used to be not so much of an issue since magnetic tape fits quite astonishing amounts of data.

So DV isn't really a great format for archiving, it takes up not 60 but easily 10 GB per hour. And that for SD quality, albeit with very little compression artifacts.

h.264 is much more space-efficient, and its higher computional cost isn't much of an issue now everybody has a fast, at least duo-core processor at hand. You can easily get VHS-like–quality files down to about 1 GB/s with h.264.

It's pretty much the canonical format now. The main alternatives I'd suggest are free alternatives, mainly

Theora. Reasonably well-supported, simpler than h.264, not quite as that good as that- but still pretty ok compression-wise. And
Dirac. Highly sophisticated, really good quality/compression, but computation-heavy and not supported by anything consumer-grade. Not too well by professional stuff either.

This so far applies to pretty much any kind of video, not just VHS. All of these formats support PAL resolution; Theora doesn't have interlacing, but switching to progressive-scan prior to compression is no big deal and might in fact be a good idea anyway. Just make sure you use a good deinterlacing algorithm.


How is this basic 3D animation template created? I found this "3D Character Template" which can be used in after effects:

https://videohive.net/item/martin-3d-character-man-presentermanager-product-promotion/6886216?s_rank=52

How can I make these 3D animated characters myself? Because I'd hate to use templates, it makes the work unprofessional so I want to learn to create these myself?

You answered your own question in your tags: use Animation in a 3D package like Blender.

But TBH your question is too broad to be answerable. To tell you how to make those 3D characters yourself we'd have to explain modelling, rigging, skinning lighting and rendering, not to mention the principles of animation. To give even a basic explanation of any one of those topics would be way beyond the scope of a Stack Exchange anser.

It's complex and takes a good while to master. If you want to do 3D animation, get a copy of Blender and start watching tutorials, reading books and practising. It's like any other skill set that has to be learned. There is no short cut... apart from buying templates.


How to keep framerate but increase video duration with ffmpeg minterpolate? I have a looping blender animation in mp4 format that is 10,000 frames long, but I basically want to make it longer to the point where the changes between frames are imperceptible, but the animation still progresses over time. I've tried just stretching the clip in kdenlive, but it looks like it does no frame interpolation with default settings, and the transitions between animation positions is perceptible and instantaneous.
I've seen examples of ffmpeg minterpolate used to convert to higher frame rates, and ffmpeg examples to slow down videos (and increase video duration), but is it possible to do both at once with minterpolate?
I'm hoping to get the length to 10 hours, but details about the end frame rate, codecs, etc isn't too important as long as the video

is able to be uploaded to youtube (https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171)
takes <24 hours to render
doesn't have perceptible changes in the animation

I also asked this question on reddit and got a good answer, so I'll paste it here for maximum future search-ability of this problem:

minterpolate has multiple modes:

Duplicate frames as necessary
Blend frames as necessary
Actually calculate motion vectors and perform interpolation

The third option is the highest quality (if it works correctly, which
it doesn't for me, always produces weird artifacts) but it's
incredibly slow. Definitely not possible in less than 24 hours. So
option two is probably what you're after. That being said, 10,000
frames in 10 hours (36,000 seconds) equals a raw framerate of 10/36
fps (0.2777778), so I don't think frame blending will look very good,
but I guess you could try (I'm assuming your animation is stored in a
series of image files):
ffmpeg -f image2 -framerate 10/36 -i "frame_%05d.png" -filter_complex "[0:V:0]minterpolate=fps=25/1:mi_mode=blend[out]" -map "[out]" -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 20 -f mp4 -movflags +faststart "output.mp4"


Removing MP4 encoding information Is it possible to remove certain information form a MP4 file? Specifically things like tagging and encoding dates, Writing library and application, Encoding settings... No client needs to know when I encoded something or what software and settings I've used.

My only guess was to remux the file with ffmpeg, but that only gets rid of the dates and replaces the writing application info with the more generic Lavf.

I'm on Windows, btw, but MacOS and Linux (Ubuntu) would work as well.

Use bitstream filter filter_units with ffmpeg 4.0 or newer.

ffmpeg -i INPUT -c copy -bsf:v 'filter_units=remove_types=6' OUTPUT

P.S.

/* NAL unit types */
enum {
    H264_NAL_SLICE           = 1,
    H264_NAL_DPA             = 2,
    H264_NAL_DPB             = 3,
    H264_NAL_DPC             = 4,
    H264_NAL_IDR_SLICE       = 5,
    H264_NAL_SEI             = 6,
    H264_NAL_SPS             = 7,
    H264_NAL_PPS             = 8,
    H264_NAL_AUD             = 9,
    H264_NAL_END_SEQUENCE    = 10,
    H264_NAL_END_STREAM      = 11,
    H264_NAL_FILLER_DATA     = 12,
    H264_NAL_SPS_EXT         = 13,
    H264_NAL_AUXILIARY_SLICE = 19,
};


AE - Randomly place ~100 layers and then move to the middle I currently have around 100 text layers placed in the middle of my composition in After Effects. What I would like to do is randomly place this layers around the middle and then create an animation where they are all moved to the center again.

Is it possible to do this without manually placing the layers?

I would use a particle system to do this, like Particular or Particle World.

Particular is part of the Trapcode Suite of AE plugins, and is the easiest to use.

http://www.redgiant.com/products/all/trapcode-particular/

Generate a load of particles in random positions
Make a pre-comp with all the different text layers on different frames, so one text object per frame.
Tell the particle generator to use the pre-comp to texture the particles
Have the particles emit from a central point to their random positions.
Then time reverse the whole comp.

This video tutorial explains how to get different textures (in this case different leaf images) on to each particle:


Null object to toggle volume in After Effects? Null objects don't have volume controls, but I'd like to control many audio layers in my timeline at once.

Anyone know of a way to adjust volume or toggle mute on a bunch of layers without having to precompose them?

Add a Slider to your Null Object.
Alt-click on the stopwatch next to the one of the volume controls that you want to control.

This will open the Expressions box for the volume control, and a pick-whip icon will appear.

Drag from the pick-whip to the Slider in your Null.

Some code will appear in the Expressions box, something like:

temp = thisComp.layer("Null 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
[temp, temp]

The numbers on the volume control will turn pink to indicate that they are being controlled by an expression.

Now move the slider on the null, and the volume should change on the audio track.

To do this to multiple audio tracks, just follow the same process.

Here is a screen shot to illustrate this:


Pinnacle Studio 23 - 'JPG Noise'/White border added to .png images Every .png image I import ends up with a slight white border. Mostly it's not that noticable, but other times it is extremely noticable.

The video is set to Widescreen (16:9) and size HD 1920x1080, every single .png file is 1920x1080px big.
I've double checked to make sure that the white border is NOT on the original .png file and only appears once imported into Pinnacle Studio.
It seems like some kind of resizing issue, however there should be no resizing happening.
I feel like there must be some general project-wide setting to fix this, but after long research, I couldn't find a solution.

Turns out the problem only existed within the editor and when exported as HD 720p video. Exporting it as HD 1080p fixed the issue in the exported video.


When I put my shot into Premier, the top half of the shot is cut off. How can I scroll up so I can see the top of the shot? My phone is I believe an Android A8. I filmed with the phone upright, in I guess portrait mode.

You want to use the Effect Controls panel:
https://helpx.adobe.com/au/premiere-pro/using/viewing-adjusting-effects-keyframes.html

As the help says, there are several standard effects added to a clip in the timeline, the effect you want to look for is Motion. Select the clip in the timeline, go to the Effect Controls panel, and expand the Motion effect. Inside you'll see Position and Scale, Position has two numbers, horizontal then vertical - if you adjust the vertical, you can scroll it up to see the top of the image. You could also scale the image to fill the frame (zoom in), or scale it so that you can see the whole phone image instead (zoom out).

Just play around with the various options in the Motion panel to get a better idea of what you can do to manipulate your image, it's fairly intuitive.


ffmpeg thread_queue_size warning: What does this mean? *Edit: changing the render to -preset veryfast will no longer display the warning message. I also noticed that the video itself for the versions where the warning displayed had the last few minutes cutoff on both the audio and the video. I'm quite lost as to why this is.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thread message queue blocking; consider raising the thread_queue_size option
  (current value: 8)

I'm trying to find information on this warning message and what it means. The information I found online is indicating that not increasing my thread_queue_size can create artifacts and sync issues..? However the postings are many years old, and I'm unsure if they are true or still apply etc. They also apply towards screencasting specifically, which I am not knowingly doing.

The command I use that prompts this message is as follows:

ffmpeg -framerate 500/21 -start_number 1518 -i %d.png -i audio.ogg -c:a copy -vf "scale=3840:-1" -c:v libx265 -preset fast -crf 19 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le output.ts

So basically I'm turning thousands upon thousands of 1080p png into a 10 bit 4k h.265 .ts video. Whether I use a preset or not, or do audio separately, the warning still displays.

While I'm doing my command ffmpeg uses 90%-100% of my cpu and 80%-90% of my ram. I want to know if my render is suffering in some way by ignoring the warning message. The stuff I read online was concerning. For the sake of argument I'll link the info I found, just note the language is nsfw.

I will add that my content is just over 30 minutes long. Also I noticed that after rendering it out and lining it up with the original content in my Video editor, that there is a slight audio echo. Meaning the audio does not sync 100% correctly as it should. It's irrelevant for my video in the grand scheme, but I'd like to know if its related in any way as the linked info suggests. I'd also like to know what I can/should do to address the warning, if anything.

s speed = 0.117x
using preset fast

I came across information in my search that said speed needs to be 1.0 or faster...? I don't know if that was related to a specific situation in the post read, or if there's something I never knew about happening here. Almost all my renders occur under 1.0x speed unless I'm rewrapping/copying streams.

The "Thread message queue blocking" message is an indicator that your computer cannot keep up with encoding in real-time. It's recommending the "thread_queue_size" parameter because it thinks you want to process data in real-time (based on your command). By setting "thread_queue_size" to a higher value, you are increasing the buffer size for packets which are waiting to be encoded. If you exceed the packet buffer size (i.e., buffer gets full), ffmpeg will start to drop packets to keep up in real-time; increasing the buffer will hopefully allow your computer to process the packets before it has to drop them... But that won't work if you eventually run out of memory or exceed the new buffer size anyway since you are processing in less than real-time (less than 1.0x speed).

With your command, the reason ffmpeg is trying to process in realtime is because you are using -framerate 500/21 as an input instead of your desired output fps. So basically, ffmpeg is trying to encode 500/21 worth of images per second, which your computer can't keep up with when using the fast preset. Using -preset veryfast lowers the output quality, and your computer can apparently keep up with that, but I doubt that's what you want...

Since you really don't need to process in real-time (you're using a file-based source and not something live), you should use -r for the output instead of using framerate on the input.

ffmpeg -start_number 1518 -i %d.png -i audio.ogg -c:a copy -vf "scale=3840:-1" -c:v libx265 -preset fast -crf 19 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -r 500/21  output.ts


Where can I find helpfull reference for film making? I'm looking for sites, books, of video's on how to build scenes, composition and lighting for either 3d animations or filming.

Sites like pinterest and google are not enough to quickly find reference of valueable information on the topics I mentioned above.

For example I'm making a 3d scene with a female character holding a gun in the nighttime. I'm struggling to find a good composition and how to properly light the scene where the character pops out from the background while not overlighting the whole scene.

Who can push me in the right direction?
Also where can I ask for feedback on these topics for my "art"

Sites like google are not enough to quickly find reference of valuable information on the topics I mentioned above

Oh, my...

You live in a privileged era, never, ever in the history of humankind was the information, examples, tutorials, were so easily available.

Where? the internet.

The problem I see without knowing you, but reading your question is that you are not focusing.

  3d scene with a female character holding a gun in the nighttime

A torrent of questions:

Is the female a girl, a young woman, an old one; Is it a western, a cyberpunk or an android female; do you want to accentuate the female's curves, probably the hips next to the gun, is she defending herself in fear or she is a badass; is it a thriller or a cop story, a drama, a comedy. Is she facing the antagonist or chasing or running away, is it an interior scene, or is in the middle of a forest... etc, etc...

  how to build scenes, composition, and lighting for either 3d animations or filming.

This is even more general... let us forget for now about set design, character design, and storytelling, drama, and rhythm of the scene (all that can be on how to build a scene) and just focus on composition and lighting...

So, look for tutorials on composition, planes, framing, depth of field. What a plane means, what does it say about a character and about the environment.

Now look for tutorials about lighting. Quality of light, the direction of light, the position of light, the color of light.

The keyword is FOCUS on what do you need. Separate the elements.

Focus on real-life tutorials. In a 3D environment is super easy to cheat and not really understanding what is happening.

There are free youtube tutorials of GREAT quality and there are event masterclasses websites with the people you see in the credits of your favorite movies.

Make a new account of youtube, and do not contaminate the search and view history watching memes.
Type a focused and specific search, and let the automatic feed give you recommendations.

One good place to start, for your specific scene is this video:

You also have a ton of websites where you can search for movies. Look for a scene that caught your attention, and again, focus on one topic. Framing? light? expression? color?

Focus.

An additional tip, with a bit more experience, you can simply find a reference image and analyze it a bit.

Again separate the elements and find out yourself what do you need, for example:

What...

Lens
Camera position
Camera distance
Light position in relation to the subject
Light position in relation to the camera

How

Many lights are there
Is the quality of the light

etc. Element by element.


Bandicam dramatic fps drop I have the following rig:

E8400 4.1 oced-
nvidia 8800 GTS 3gb DDR2 RAM.
WinXP SP3 (yes it still rocks based on this rig)

I installed bandicam today.

I tried EVERY setting & preset there is to it, from the lowest to the highest. I get 8 fps during recording (game: empire at war rts). It's not the components guys, it's something else.

I tried the RGB24 which is supposed to be the same as FRAPS lossless standard recording. I expected that since it wont have to compress it ,it would give me the same fps as FPAPS... thus 30 fps.

I have 60 stable fps when not recording this game in any situation & with max video settings. The fps drop is dramatic. I was excited when I read about bandicam on how small its files are. This is my main concern.

But, how can it drop to 8 fps when the same format?

FRAPS gives you 30fps with no lag at all. I used all formats, the best I got was 12 fps. But the result was worst than FRAPS, half size recording. (OS -game - output recording folder are on separate drives) even when I set all graphics to the lowest it gave me 200 fps & then on recording it dropped again in 8 fps so it must be something else.

Note that the stress on the CPU is tops 80%. So it manages. Also the drives do not share same ATA channel. So where is the bottleneck?

The weird thing is that FRAPS that is considered to create huge fps drop generally won't make me lag at all. I guess bandicam's engine won't exploit the full ability of the rig? I also toggled the CPU affinity but no luck at all.

FRAPS gets its speed specifically because of the large file size.  When dealing with video you have two conflicting goals, low CPU usage vs low space usage.  To use less space, more compression must be applied.  To apply more compression, more CPU must be consumed.

If CPU consumption gets too heavy, it impacts performance of games.  Thus FRAPS goes to the other side, rather than use compression, it saves nearly totally uncompressed.  This results in massive size files which hit the memory and hard disk more, but as most games tend to be more forgiving on these, it has less of an impact on frame rate as long as the memory and hard drive can keep up with the data rate coming out of FRAPS.

The fact you are trying to produce smaller files means you are running compression while the game is going.  This means more CPU consumption and thus lower frame rates.  If you want small files and good performance, use FRAPS and then compress down the files produced by FRAPS after recording.  Since they are basically uncompressed, there shouldn't be any measurable quality loss.


Video artifact removal and restoration - How can it be done? (Really?) I have been researching this for the past couple of days, and all I could find on the subject were a bunch of research papers, a demonstration video of a model that isn't publicly available, and a software that you have to pay hundreds for to make it useful, on a poorly designed and shady looking website.  Everything else is for JPEG artifacts, de-noising (a completely separate issue), and video up-scaling.  Either that, or it's just questions/answers on how to solve the issue from the source (camera, recording software, or editing software) rather than how to fix existing footage.
I am looking for a software, preferably AI based, that can remove and repair highly compressed videos their compression artifacts. (Discoloration, macro-blocking, banding, loss of detail, etc...) without a serious loss of existing detail or flickering between frames (Caused by frame-by-frame editing).
Does this actually exist?  It really seems like it doesn't, and relevant information is hard to find.

If I understand you correctly, then most of the restoration goals will be impossible to be reached. While my knowledge of existing videos tools is not extensive, I am still pretty sure such a software does not exist. As a software developer I have a good grasp of what is impossible and what is possible and what effort you need to do that.
When details are lost, they are lost. How should an AI restore these? Well, any AI has to be trained first and this needs to be done with pairs of a master video in highest quality and its heavily-compressed export in the target codec. The problem is that the export video has less information than the master and there is no way to define a sensible bidirectionaly mapping. Imagine the master contains a scene with a machine with little screws. Another scene shows a machine with rivets. But after a heavily compression you cannot see a difference between screws and rivets in the export video. Due to loss of detail, both screws and rivets now look like grey smudges. How should you decide what is correct if you only have the compressed video? You can only make a guess. And that's what the AI would do. This means you get a restored video that often shows quite different details than the original video, however now and then the AI will make correct guesses too. This is of course theoretical, I highly doubt there is an AI based software for this job as it would be extremely expensive in development and with only a few potentional customers the price tag would be enormous.
Discolouration is also hard to solve because often there's no easy way to differentiate between intended de-saturated areas and compression artifacts.
Macro-blocking can be fixed in theory by applying a blur effect. But you have to sacrifice sharpness. Fine artifical noise can be added to gain a bit of sharpness again. Anyway, this can be done and such a function is probably available in some tools.
Colour bending can be solved in theory without too much effort but I don't know if anybody does offer such a thing.
Update: As has been pointed out in the comments, DaVinci Resolve can do de-bending. Both Premiere and Resolve use some AI based tools to restore a video to fix dust, scratches, de-interlace. But if I infer correctly this does not help much with your problem of restoring a heavily compressed video.
All in all, you cannot undo the artifacts of heavy compression.


Superimposing 2d photoshop cartoon into video footage I am using after effects and I want to place a drawing of a character behind a person in the video footage to make it look like the character is standing in the distance behind the person in the film. Is that possible? I have been thinking about masking but the video is treated as one object and not separate objects.

You will need to create 2 layers, one with the foreground person and one with the background, with the animation in between. Since you only have the one layer, you need to duplicate it, and send one copy to the front. You then have to remove everything except the foreground from the front copy.

How you do this will depend on your footage. I'm assuming you haven't shot against a green screen, so just keying out the foreground character (using something like Keylight) isn't going to work, unless you're lucky enough that the character happens to be standing in front of a well-lit object of a flat contrasting colour. In that case you'll have to rotoscope.

So, welcome to the world of rotoscoping, roto to its friends, except it doesn't have friends because it sucks. Basically rotoscoping means animated tracing of live footage. Disney pioneered it for their early hand drawn animation, but today it mostly means manually creating an animated matte.

If you have AE CS5+ you'll have the roto brush tool, which is like the magic wand from Photoshop, but it follows movement over time. Often it can do the heavy lifting and get you a nice clean foreground and background plate. Here's a link for the CS6 version, and they've given it some more love for CC with it's own refine edge tool. If you watch the Adobe videos it looks like a walk in the park, but unfortunately it doesn't always work like it says on the can. If your foreground and background are similar in colour, or are very detailed or grainy using roto brush might actually take longer than doing it by hand, because the matte will start to wander and it can be hard to convince it to go where you want it to go.

So your plan C is doing it by hand, which is a whole bunch of fun. My advice: get comfortable. I always use a graphics tablet when I'm doing roto, at least make sure you've got a good mouse, and a well set up workstation. Get some music playing or listen to a podcast or the radio. This may help stop you going insane. Now the important stuff is organised it's time to get to work.

First, play through the action. Try to analyse the movement, breaking it down into separate parts. If the character is walking for example, you might want a separate mask for each leg, to avoid having to create and destroy masks and handles as the legs cross over each other. The same for arms and hands.

Then you need to start drawing your masks. Do NOT start tracing frame by frame, that way is the short road to pain. Draw the mask around the foreground element you're starting with at the start of the shot, and then jump to the end of the shot and move all the points in the mask so that they are match up to where they were at the beginning - for example if there's a point on the end of the character's nose n the first frame, try and put the same point on the end of the characters nose in the last shot. Wait - you did set a keyframe for that first mask didn't you? I forget at least once every roto session.

Ok so if you play the shot back now you'll see that the mask starts out right, gets progressively wrong, and then goes back to being right. Find the point at which it is the most wrong and correct it, creating a new keyframe. Sometimes you'll need to create new mask handles, don't worry, AE interpolates them well, though deleting handles can be problematic.

Now play between your first and second keyframe, find where the mask is furthest out of whack, stop and add a keyframe there, and the same for the section between the second keyframe and last keyframe. And repeat, putting in-between keyframes where the mask is most out of line. You'll find that as you progress the mask will start getting closer and closer to where it needs to be, even on the in-between bits, until you're correcting very small errors. You may well have to keyframe every frame, depending on the shot, but doing it this way will mean that the computer is doing most of the work for you, compared to starting at the beginning and working frame by frame.

Remember that with AE if there is a single handle that has to be tweaked then it will create a new keyframe for the whole mask. So make sure the whole mask is right each time you make  anew keyframe. If you just concentrate on one bit and then realise after you've set keyframes for your whole shot that one handle is a couple of pixels off you'll have to edit each one of them again.

Another tip is to work in the layer window rather than the comp window. this will speed up the rendering, and avoid accidental clicks on other layers. I usually turn off the mask rendering (in the view options at the bottom of the layer window) because it lets me see what's happening outside the mask as well as speeding up display.


How to fix: ffmpeg: Picture size 32768x16384 is invalid? I need to use ffmpeg with very large images (32768x16384).
When I try to read such an image I get the error:

Picture size 32768x16384 is invalid

It it does not matter what operation I want to do on the image (like scaling, v360 cutout etc.) it already fails at the read-in stage.
I tried JPG and PNG as input formats.

Full log with demonstration operation (scale 32k to 16k)

E:\XXX\Pipeline>"E:\XXX\Pipeline\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i E:\XXX\Pipeline\calibration_sphere32k.jpg -vf scale=16384:-2 "calibration_sphere32k_scaled.jpg"
ffmpeg version N-94664-g0821bc4eee Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 9.1.1 (GCC) 20190807
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libmfx --enable-amf --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt
  libavutil      56. 33.100 / 56. 33.100
  libavcodec     58. 55.101 / 58. 55.101
  libavformat    58. 31.104 / 58. 31.104
  libavdevice    58.  9.100 / 58.  9.100
  libavfilter     7. 58.101 /  7. 58.101
  libswscale      5.  6.100 /  5.  6.100
  libswresample   3.  6.100 /  3.  6.100
  libpostproc    55.  6.100 / 55.  6.100
[mjpeg @ 000001eefc88ab80] [IMGUTILS @ 000000acfa1fef30] Picture size 32768x16384 is invalid
[image2 @ 000001eefc878740] decoding for stream 0 failed
[image2 @ 000001eefc878740] Could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video: mjpeg (Baseline), none(bt470bg/unknown/unknown)): unspecified size
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
Input #0, image2, from 'E:\XXX\Pipeline\calibration_sphere32k.jpg':
  Duration: 00:00:00.04, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 20939328 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: mjpeg (Baseline), none(bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (mjpeg (native) -> mjpeg (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[mjpeg @ 000001eefc88d3c0] [IMGUTILS @ 000000acfa1ff050] Picture size 32768x16384 is invalid
Error while decoding stream #0:0: Invalid data found when processing input
Cannot determine format of input stream 0:0 after EOF
Error marking filters as finished
Conversion failed!

EDIT
Found out, that the maximum horizontal resolution is: 22976.
This is a very odd number.

The general limiting rule is ((Width * 8) + 1024)*(Height + 128) < INT_MAX. The rationale being, that all pixels of an image plane should be accessible using a signed integer index.

On a machine with 32-bit integers, INT MAX is 2147483647.

So, ((32768 * 8) + 1024)*(16384 + 128) = 4345430016 which is > 2147483647.

Now, it's possible there is a bug with the image size check, in that the factor 8 applied to the width is prematurely applied in most cases and can be skipped. You can raise a ticket at trac.ffmpeg.org if you want to explore that possibility. Else, you'll need to use another tool (maybe Imagemagick).


Create one split screen video, separate audio streams and a thumbnail from the resultant split screen video - all in one pass I'm using ffmpeg to create several single splitscreen videos out of 2 separate videos. The 2 videos have audio so I want to extract the 2 video's audio streams as 2 separate mp3s and also create a thumbnail out of the finished splitscreen video. Is it possible to do these 3 actions in one pass?

Here is the code I'd use to create the splitscreen video:

ffmpeg -i input0.mov -i input1.mov  -filter_complex "[0]scale=640x360[v0];[1]scale=640x360[v1];[v0][v1] xstack=inputs=2:layout=0_0|w0_0|[v]" -map "[v]" -an output.mp4

Here is the code I'd use to create the thumbnail of the resultant splitscreen video:

ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -vframes 1  OUTPUT.jpg

Here is the code I'd use to create one mp3

ffmpeg -i input0.mov output0.mp3

Combined command:

ffmpeg -i input0.mov -i input1.mov -filter_complex "[0]scale=640x360[v0];[1]scale=640x360[v1];[v0][v1]hstack,split[video][image]" -map "[video]" output.mp4 -map 0:a audio0.mp3 -map 1:a audio1.mp3 -map "[image]" -frames:v 1 image.jpg

For a 4 videos into a 2x2 layout:

ffmpeg -i input0.mov -i input1.mov -i input2.mov -i input3.mov -filter_complex "[0]scale=640x360[v0];[1]scale=640x360[v1];[2]scale=640x360[v2];[3]scale=640x360[v3];[v0][v1][v2][v3]xstack=inputs=4:layout=0_0|w0_0|0_h0|w0_h0,split[video][image]" -map "[video]" output.mp4 -map 0:a audio0.mp3 -map 1:a audio1.mp3 -map 2:a audio2.mp3 -map 3:a audio3.mp3 -map "[image]" -frames:v 1 image.jpg


Final Cut Express vs. Final Cut Pro X vs. Final Cut Studio I am looking at upgrading from Final Cut Express 3.5 to another Final Cut product. What are the pros/cons of Final Cut Pro X and Final Cut Studio? (In terms of functionality)

EDIT: Which would you recommend: Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Pro X? I am using Final Cut Express 3.5, and am possibly looking to upgrade. Also, how steep is the learning curve going from Final Cut Express to Final Cut Studio?

FCPX, I've heard, is much easier but different. Its like a combination of FCPS and iMove: Simple, Elegant, Powerful, but overall different and in that sense incompatible with other FC project files. Its like OSX was at its time, or iMoive 8: "It breaks the line". If it's for good or not depends on you: how used you are to your workflow/plugins/etc.

Nevertheless, just like with iMovie or OSX, Apple wont go back and support whats old again, it will just keep improving, so I'd Final Cut X to be getting better with time whereas FCS is obsolete already. This plus the fact FCX is finally Cocoa 64bit and makes use of the latest Apple technologies might be enough for you or might not. It all depends on you.

Good luck!


Is it possible to hook up an external mic to a Nikon D90 to get better sound for video? I'm getting bad sound quality on video taken with my NIKON D90. I think the mic is bad so I need to know if it is possible to plug a microphone into it some how?

Nope, it sure doesn't.  On that camera, its only got an internal mic.  Your options are:

Record sound otherwise and then sync up in post.
Buy a new camera like a D7000 that will take an external mic.
Use an actual video camera that takes an external mic.
Possibly tape some material to mimic a windscreen over the existing D90 mic, to help a little in some situations.
Live with the limitation.


How to convert an MTS file without loosing quality? I have shot some videos on a Panasonic v720 camcorder. The videos are huge. I used the internal feature of the camcorder to convert to MP4 and the quality was reduced very much.

What is the best practice to compress MTS videos?  What is the recommended output format (avi, mp4)?

My goal is just to consume less disk space and upload to Youtube (and have 1080p there) with the least quality loss.

What is your definition of huge and what is your definition of high quality?  Size is directly related to compression and compression is directly inversely related to quality for the most part.

Some amount of compression can be had for free using lossless compression or near free with more efficient pattern finding for lossy compression, but for the most part, there is a direct relationships between size and quality.

In fact, you generally have to actually increase the size to maintain the quality when re-encoding a lossy file as information that was already lost by the first can't be recovered, but other information may be lost due to the encoding process running again, so the combined error requires a higher data rate to avoid losing more.

MTS files are already generally based on H.264 (MPEG4) and are generally relatively small.  It should be possible to extract the MPEG4 from the container and repackage without any loss, but to reduce size would pretty much require a reduction in quality.


After Effects rendering wrong colors? I'm creating a video using After Effects CC 2015 for use it on a website.
The background of the page on the site is #607D8B, so the first thing I did was create a solid with that color, and the color was right, however when I rendered, the color changed to #6e8995.
What are the settings I need to do to avoid this problem? I exported using Adobe Media Encoder and the standard H264.

Thank you.

Sounds like a color space / range flag or rendering issue. Quickest way to resolve this is to take a short screencast i.e. video capture of the page. Load that into After Effects and pick that color. You can't take a screnshot. It has to be a video. OBS, ffmpeg, VLC, Screenflow, Camtasia..etc can all screen-record.


How to save each segment as a separate file with DaVinci Resolve? I have a movie imported into my project. The movie consists of several aikido techniques. I want to slice the movie with blade into several segments, each contains only one aikido technique.

Having cut the video, I want to save each segment into a separate file.
How to accomplish this easily?

Go to the deliver tab and on the left click on the file menu. Above it yopu should see the checkboxes labelled Render [ ] single clip [✓] Individual clips. check the individual clips box, and then check the Use Unique Filenames box. This will output every clip in your sequence as a separate file, with a numeric suffix, eg output_0001.mov, output_0002.mov…

You can either use a custom name or base the name on the original source clip. (This is how you export files from a grade, so that they link to the original footage file.)


large px sized comp not rendering in after effects 19000x40 sized comp (for sports stadium) won't render in after effects. It 'looks' like it's rendering, but the resulting QT mov file is black.
What could be some of the problems here? How can I fix this?  I have a smaller version 8000px long x 40px wide that renders just fine.

I tried remaking the comp and exporting it at different length sizes. It seems that After effects is unable to export it without corrupting if it's longer than 8000px. At least on my system with this file. Strangely enough I was able to get this 19000px wide file to export earlier in the week, but not any more. So strange.

Any suggestions?

So really wanted to be able to export from afx uncompressed but could not find a codec that would allow export of such a wide pixel width. I tried 'animation', that did not work for me. If you know of another codec that does work at the larger widths, let me know!

Anyhow, I ended up just exporting with H264 codec / compression which works even with the huge pixel width. Then used an older version of Apple's Compressor to reexport that to uncompressed AVI. It looks fine.


Video Broadcast within Retirement Community We would like to send a video/audio stream from an auditorium in our retirement community to a large screen TV in the health center.  They are in the same building but probably 500 feet apart.  There is good wi-fi coverage in both areas. We need something VERY user friendly on the health center (receiving side) of the operation.  Anything more complicated that switching the input on the big screen TV from one HDMI port to another is not going to work.  We have demonstrated the potential of doing it using YouTube Live and with a couple of "baby monitor" apps using an Android TV Box but that is too complicated on the health center side. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Short of doing a live stream which you've already ruled out, your best bet sounds like it will be a fiber link between the auditorium and the health center.  HD-SDI has a technical limit of around 100 meters, so you would need a booster in between to make use of SDI (which would be a coax run and possibly a bit cheaper).  Neither of these options can be completed for less than a few hundred dollars in cabling alone.

Other than that, your best bet is to provide training on how to use the live stream and possibly setup a device like a roku that can be adjusted remotely over the network by someone in the main auditorium.