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Green screen Issue shooting with dslr (background green changes)
I don't have a real green screen, just a piece of canvas painted green and not even the "best" color of screen. I've taken some short videos with a dslr (Nikon D7100) of me using a mobile phone and some work (I can key out the green) and other don't.  I'm trying to understand the reason the key operations aren't working.
I think it is because the light from the mobile is affecting the way the camera sees the green background.  When the phone's screen is a light color the green darkens; when the phone screen is black the green lightens.  How do I prevent this, as I can't key out such a wide range of greens?
Camera is on auto, but have tried Manual also.  Lighting is sub par but I think it is good enough.

It would be very helpful to post photos of the two lighting conditions, using both Auto and Manual exposure.  With those four images, it should be easy to diagnose what is wrong and how to fix it.

It doesnt really matter what type of lighting instruments you use, tungsten, hmi, led, flo, so long as you use the same color temperature lights to light the screen as you do to gauge the lighting of your scene and subjects.
I do a lot of greenscreen work, and my best "short" advice:
1.) Get as big a screen as you can afford. And get your subjects as far from it as possible. This will reduce back and side spill.
2.) Use 1/4 magenta CTM rosco gel for hair/cut lights, behind your subjects. The subtle magenta is complementary to green, and will give you a better key and better edges in post.
3.) Avoid stray hairs.
4.) Use best codec possible. 444, 442, 422 being the worst. I shoot RED 3:1 and still have issues sometimes.
5.) Test shoot, and do your key in post, before you shoot. If you have fast moving action, you will want to shoot at a higher shutter speed. Motion Blur can be a problem.
6.) It's easier to shoot at a higher f-stop, and get a sharper tack, and add back in blur/dof effects in post, than it is to shoot wide open with a long piece of glass. Blur causes masking issues.
7.) Get Keylight for AE.
8.) Have a dedicated waveform monitor if possible. You want your luma to be a straight line at 75 IRE. You will not be able to light your screen evenly by eye, you really need a waveform to get a spot on straight line, with no dips or falloff on the edges.
9.) Dont let your subjects wear green.
Cheers.

Great greenscreen tutorial!

DO NOT USE "AUTO". It is working against you.  A nice, even video image of the green is needed. Setting your camera to "auto" just means that there is no single "formula" for which green to key out.
USE BETTER LIGHT.  it is not clear why you say "I think it is good enough", and then tell us that it is not good enough?  We typically light the green screen separately so that the light is nice and even regardless of what is in the foreground (in front of the green screen).

A popular solution is to use cheap "shop" fluorescent lights.  Typically we don't like to shoot with fluorescent light because it has an intense green spike in the spectrum.  But that is exactly what you WANT for lighting a green screen!  Be sure to use a modern solid-state (high-frequency) ballast, not the old "buzz-box" kind that flicker.


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Can a SONY HXR-NX30U camera record two external audio inputs?
I own a Sony HXR-NX30U which has two XLR input ports. I would like to use both, the directional built in shotgun mic and a lapel mic.
Is that possible? In other words:

Does the camera support it?
If so, would both channels be in the same mp4 file?
Will iMovie see both channels?

Thank you in advance!

Pages 41-43 of the HXR-NX30U manual tells you exactly how to do this.
First of all, the "superdirectional boom mic" is an accessory that overrides the "builtin mic" (which is much smaller and not a boom mic).
Secondly, if you want to use both the boom mic and a lapel mic, you definitely need to use the XLR adapter, which will override the builtin (non-boom) mic.
If you set the switches correctly so that the boom mic is going to one channel (perhaps Ch 1) and the lapel mic is going to the other channel (perhaps Ch 2), then yes, both channels will be recorded to the media file that the camera records.  And iMovie will see both channels within the clip.  You might have to fight with iMovie to explain that the audio is dual-mono, not stereo, but that's an iMovie question, not a SONY question.
Make sure that if your microphone needs phantom (+48v) power, that phantom power is enabled on that channel.

Thank you. Just a quick terminology question: does "channel" mean "stream"?  I intuited, perhaps incorrectly, that "channel" meant left/right, while "inputs" corresponded to "streams". I'm confused by the fact that there are two "inputs" and two "channels".

I added confusion when I used stream instead of channel in my answer.  Inputs are physical jacks on the camera.  Channels are the logical elements of the clip/media file.  I'll clean up my answer.  I also cleaned up the question to use more standard terms.  The use of the word "streams" in the question led to this confusion.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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I keep on getting a brownish-green hue around me
I always get a brownish-green hue around me when I edit out the green screen in after effects. Is the problem the lighting, green screen editing, etc. Can someone please help.

Lighting could definitely be part of the problem here. Typically, for green screen work, it helps to have a light between yourself and your green screen to get rid of those shadows behind you (sort of like a backlight).
To fix your current footage, I'd increase the sensitivity of your chroma key in After Effects, since it looks like AE is essentially leaving a thin outline of the screen around you. If you increase your tolerance, you should see that outline shrink a bit. Feathering the edges of your image can help with this, too.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Trouble scaling 2880x1800 to 1080p without blurring in Premiere Pro
I have a project I'm producing where the source clips are generated from Quicktime doing a screen recording. The dimensions are 2880 x 1800, 60fps.
The source dimensions are a little unusual, but Quicktime saves as mp4 and offers no option to change the recording dimensions. This is not ideal to be re-rendering mp4 but I have no option.
When I render to 1080p, it seems the scaling is causing some mild blurring. I've used Maximum Render Quality and Render at Maximum Depth but still get blurring. Bitrate is fixed at 8mbs, but I have also tried up to 16mbs with the same result.
I've also tried doing 50% renders at 1440x900 with the same options but again, the there is slight blurring. My thoughts were that with double the data available at 50%, there would be little to no blurring.
Does anyone have any ideas about what I can do here?
Edit 2 days later with more steps I've tried:

Created a new sequence at the clip native resolution of 2880x1800. I rendered out using h264, mp4, Max Render Quality and Maxium Depth enabled, 16mbs. Still showed blurring.
Created a sequence at half the native resolution, 1440x900 using the same previous settings. I then scaled the clip to the frame. Still showed blurring after rendering.
I installed Apple's Pro Res codecs and tried both 1 & 2 scenarios again. I got blurring with each codec except for the very highest bitrate one, and only at native resolution of 2880x1800. A 10 second clip was about 500mb, so that made it an infeasible attempt.

I then found that Apple has a 30 day trial of Final Cut Pro so I installed that. I took me a little bit of experimentation but I was able to do a test render at full resolution that came out perfectly.
I then recut the entire project in Final Cut and was able to export it.
FCP is ok, but it was a huge cpu hog during the editing process where Premiere seems to perform a lot better overall.
I'd still like to figure out this problem with Premiere if possible.

Since you tagged Premiere.. I imagine you're dropping these clips into a premiere timeline and then attempting to export. Are you scaling the clip to a 1080 timeline or cropping it or just using it at the dimentions above and scaling it in the export?

@integris Just added some more info from after the original post.

Well you have source material in h264 which is a compressed format, you are scaling the size and then compressing it again. Each of these operations will increase apparent "blur". You will get the least apparent blur by exporting uncompressed at full resolution.. even so you can't add information, Only a bunch of file size. You might try exporting a clip as uncompressed prores, then reexporting it as an h264 again, possibly the the recompressing wouldn't fight with the artifacts as bad.
http://www.avsforum.com/photopost/data/2363756/5/55/559f1241_Bit-Rate-Detail.jpeg


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Upscaling or downscaling videos
I was wondering, is upscaling from the videoplayer worse then upscaling the video during encode?
For example, consider the original source of a video is 640 x 480. Which of the following will produce better quality on a 800 x 600 display:

Encode video > play in full screen
Resize video to 800 x 600 > encode > play in full screen

?
My assumption is that a lower quality resizing algoritm is chosen during video playback to save cpu. Am I right?

This depends on how much resources you are willing to invest into upscaling content. The default setting for libswscale in VLC seems to be bicubic, if you intend to use more sophisticated resizing filters and a particular target resolution then you should upscale the video during encode this way you also don't have to rely on the capabilities and customizing options of the player device or software.

Upscaling at playback time is done by graphics hardware, not the CPU, so your assumption turns out to be false.  Good software players will feed the video through high-quality hardware scaling (e.g. mpv's opengl-hq video-out).  HW upscaling might still default to bilinear, though, so it's worth thinking about this.
Upscaling before encode spreads the detail information over more pixels, making more work for the codec.  However, there's no new information, and as long as you use a HQ upscaling algo, you aren't adding new detail.  (stair-stepping / aliasing artifacts from low quality upscaling looks like detail that a codec has to spend bits to preserve, at the cost of the details you want.)  I would guess that you'd get better perceptual visual quality for method 1 (encode,decode,fullscale) than 2 (hq-scale,encode,decode,fullscale).  Both relative to source->fullscale, or to source->hq-fullscale.  Given the same bitrate for both options, of course.
However, this post in a doom9 discussion about upscaling or not before encoding a dvd backup indicates that this guy got better results from upscaling before encode.  (At least when targetting low-qual playback upscalers.)  Anamorphic = non-square pixels, in this context.  e.g. a 16:9 image stored in 720x480 (square-pixel upscaling would give 853.333:480).
I know I play back all the video I watch using high quality opengl upscaling, but the question is more about making it look good for people using the default video player in Windows and Mac.  IDK what kind of video scaling quality you get out of the box.  I hope it's pretty good these days, since AMD and NVidia have made their video pipeline a selling point of their graphics hardware.  (e.g. HW image postprocessing / high quality stuff).  I think Intel does ok too...
I'm also not sure that HQ scaling to an intermediate resolution would even help, if the final upscaler is lower quality.  Does anyone have any data on that?  The question is whether the quality of the output of a bilinear upscaler gets worse or not depending on how much it has to upscale.
The codec having to work harder to pull out just the information needed to recreate most of the detail could well be overshadowed by the benefit of using a good upscale to a medium rez.
If you wanted to try it out, and have access to a mix of Windows and/or Mac computers with AMD/NVidia/Intel video hardware, then you could experiment just by first comparing a HQ software upscale to fullscreen with what you get from the hw video scaler.  Then try a SW upscale to mid rez.  Don't bother encoding, or encode to a fast lossless format for a short clip.
Probably if you're expecting people will mostly play back your video on computers (rather than blu-ray & dvd players / other set-top boxes), then not upscaling is probably the way to go.  Upscaling a bit to a medium rez is possibly helpful for some HW players, but that might only be when the source doesn't have square pixels.
Upscaling before encoding will increase the encode time.  If encoding-time is limited (i.e. you'd have to use lower settings with a higher rez), then probably don't upscale.  Better quality at the same bitrate from spending more CPU time per pixel on the encode might be a bigger factor.


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Rendering edit on linux
I use Adobe Premiere for editing and rendering videos which is a windows based software and then I use ffmpeg for converting those video clips into different qualities.
As you may know rendering process can be done faster on a linux OS. Fortunately I've got a linux based server but the problem is for some reasons (I mean work related reasons and not technical) I can't do the editing job on linux which means I'm stuck on Premier or any other Windows based software like Edius,etc.
Is there any way to do the editing on windows (by Premier or Edius or other softwares) and do the rendering process on a linux OS?
Thanks in advanced.

Welcome M.Shahrokhi :) Maybe you want to start with the tour: http://video.stackexchange.com/tour to get your first bagde. Anyway, nice question - the only chance I see is using an edl and try to import it into one of linux nle's, see: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/2274/good-open-source-video-editors or write a tool to use ffmpeg with it. Related: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/14758/which-different-edl-types-exist. Enjoy video.se!

Thank you for your helpful comment, Now I was wondering If you could tell me how may I only render(not edite) a Premier edl expor in linux . In the other words what is the suitable package that can import and render Premier edl exports? Considering the fact that i want to implement the solution in ilinux server through command line.

Just an idea, unfortunately I can't give you specific instructions. I'd search for a tool that also runs headless and supports premiere edls or simply use ffmpeg (maybe there are some libraries, worklflows or solutions already) and give it a try... Note: You have to convert or export the edit. Rendering only, seems impossible without adobe linux support (running the app on linux). A Virtual Machine or Wine could be a solution too.

Thank you so much for your help ! now I have another question: May I use a render manager for rendering Adobe premier or even After Effetct projects on linux ? I mean all of those render managers support major platforms including linux but dose that mean they can render a After Effetct project on linux , Thanks again.

If it's another question - then please ask another question. Do you mean something like Deadline? Never tested, but I can't believe that's a cross platform solution for after effects, again unfortunately  adobe products are win or osx only.

Glad I could help - I'd be interested to know your final pipeline, keep us posted here :)

I am defienatly going to do that , I actually took your advice and asked it seprately :http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/15781/can-any-render-manager-render-premier-or-after-effect-on-linux   , Thaks again for your patience

I was wondering if you could take a look at this related question: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/15791/frame-server-for-linuxubuntu

My apologize, I was so busy with the subject that I completely forgot about  that. Thank;s for the answer by the way.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic. You posted 2 copies of this question here, and one on AskUbuntu. You have accepted the AskUbuntu answer. Please don't cross post or post multiples.


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HyperCam2 video out of sync, ffmpeg throws video out of bounds
I've recorded my over 2h presentation using HyperCam2 but output video is totally out of sync with audio. It looks like video is 2x faster than audio so I have 'Thanks for watching' slide in the middle of it while audio keeps playing till the end.
I've tried slowing down video with ffmpeg using this command:
ffmpeg -i input.avi -filter:v "setpts=2*PTS" output.avi

but there is out of bound error at about 80%:
[msvideo1 @ 00000000044a9840]  MS Video-1 warning: stream_ptr out of bounds (7310 >= 7306)

so my video has not been 100% properly processed, but anyway I'm closer than before. Now audio stream ends before video at 2:03:22.
My streams looks like this:
ffprobe.exe -i input.avi
ffprobe version N-71497-gedbb9b5 Copyright (c) 2007-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.9.2 (GCC)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-w32threads --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfi
g --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --
enable-libdcadec --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libm
p3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --en
able-libschroedinger --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --ena
ble-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enabl
e-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-decklink --enable-zlib
  libavutil      54. 22.101 / 54. 22.101
  libavcodec     56. 34.100 / 56. 34.100
  libavformat    56. 30.100 / 56. 30.100
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 14.100 /  5. 14.100
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  1.100 /  1.  1.100
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
[avi @ 0000000002d15920] non-interleaved AVI
Input #0, avi, from input.avi:
  Duration: 01:06:52.40, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 28193 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: msvideo1 (CRAM / 0x4D415243), rgb555le, 1920x1080, 26873 kb/s, 10 fps, 10 tbr, 10 tbn, 10 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s16le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 22050 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 705 kb/s

So my question is how can I fix my video so audio and video is synced?


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What's the best way to record a skype conversation?
I need to record a skype conversation and upload it to youtube (it's a live conference and the other party asked for it).
Can I record a skype conversation? What would be the best way in terms of quality?
I have different systems available (Windows xp | 7 | 8, Debian 7 or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS), I'll use the one that suits the job better.

Have you seen this? https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12395/how-can-i-record-my-skype-calls

Thanks! Which do you think would be the best way among these?

I have added two suggestions as an answer.

I would try with these apps (as they are both free)
http://ifree-recorder.com/index.htm
http://voipcallrecording.com/

A free solution could be with ffmpeg or other tools recording directly the monitor where you are running the call, maybe if you have multiple monitors you could consider running skype full screen in another monitor without showing your cam.
This solution could work if you have not the need of grabbing only the internal skype remote video input, and if you have enough space and a bit of time to cropping the final result at the end.
It could allow you by using a lossless codec to save a 100% identical quality of original call or even stream out the video somewhere else with different bitrates in a well known ffmpeg streaming workflow.

Bandicam is a fantastic tool, it costs roughly $30; and does screen capture perfectly. Capture whole; part/region, fully configurable as to frame rate, codecs, and very easy to use interface. The playback quality is fantastic. I run it on all of my systems and it auto launches at startup.
I run 1 FPS all the time, with auto pause on no change in frame, so I can go back to any moment on my computer if I lose a file, etc. I have a record of every thing I do just as backup.
Great product.


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fair use of copyrighted footage in language learning context
I am making a language learning website. One of the features I want on the website is a collection of videos that talk about various topics in the taught language, so that the members get to practice listening. These could be historical or factual topics, like World War 2 or chinese cuisine, or pop culture topics, like James Bond, Michael Jackson or Super Mario.
These videos would be of an informative nature, but their main function would obviously be to serve as material for language practice. To what degree could I defend the usage of copyrighted material, for example movie footage, in such videos as fair use? And would it affect the situation whether access to the videos was free or not?
EDIT: The website is operated from Norway.

You might want to state which country you live in, since laws differ depending on your location. E.g. in Germany this would be a copyright infringement no matter what, in the USA this might fall under Fair Use, but don't quote me on that ...

First let's cover the Norway Part...
Just because you are in Norway doesn't give you protection.
In 2007 Norway signed the TRIPS agreement which is comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property. This agreement basically extended the powers of the Berne Convention treaty that established a basic standard of copyright protection.
Norway is covered under the European Unions Copyright Doctrine.  You can read more about it here in an article titled "Copyright exceptions for teaching purposes in Europe":
http://www.uoc.edu/in3/dt/eng/20418/20418.pdf
If your video is getting views in the U.S. then technically you are breaking U.S. copyright laws (unless you can prove fair use).  It all comes down to whether a company or the government wants to go after you.  But different international treaties allow other countries to sue (and/or arrest) copyright infringes in the U.S. and in turns allows the U.S. to go after foreign copyright infringements.
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/03/15/more-foreigners-find-themselves-targets-of-us-copyright-law/
This power is used everyday by adult film companies going after small foreign owned web servers.
Now let's cover Fair Use...
Fair use is tricky.  Just because it's an educational site doesn't mean you automatically fall under fair use.
Fair use is in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.  It uses 4 factors to determine fair use. These factors are:

the purpose and character of the use,
the nature of the copyrighted work,
the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and
the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Don't fall for bad advice that's all over the internet like "It it's educational it's legal" or "If it's a parady then it's legal."  Not all parodies or educational products fall under fair use.
Also, courts in different jurisdictions have ruled opposite of each other for almost the exact same cases of fair use claims.
There are many nuances to Fair Use that only a lawyer can answer after seeing the finished product.
And don't forget that Fair Use won't stop you from getting a cease and desist letter or a lawsuit.  It's only a defense.  You may have to still prove your case in court and answer like "The content you used, was it the best image/video for your curriculum or did you choose it because it's popular and will increase your sales?", or "Did you use the minimum amount of copyrighted content to make your point, or did you let it run on to get more content into your product?"
Bottom line, it's up to the company that owns the copyright as to whether or not they want to pursue you.  For instance, J.K. Rowling let a man run a website that was a Harry Potter Encyclopedia.  She even said she liked the site.  However when the man tried to turn it into a book, he lawyers came out claiming copyright infringement.
Final piece of advice... Stay away from using Mario Brothers.  Nintendo is infamous for going after anyone using their content.  They even go after people putting up positive reviews of their games on YouTube.  Which is stupid because 90% of gamers make their buying decisions based off of YouTube videos.  So Nintendo is suing people giving them free advertising.
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2015/04/09/nintendos-copyright-blunder/

This does not seem to match up with the user's situation.  In all cases mentioned in the article you linked to, the reason that the foreigners fell under US copyright law was that they took actions within the US (I'll be it remotely).  They either did business in the US or uploaded to US based servers.  If you are hosting videos outside the US, with no business connections to US companies in relation to the material, I've never seen any basis of US law applying.

The basis is that in 2007 Norway signed the TRIPS agreement which is comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property.  This agreement basically extended the powers of  the Berne Convention treaty that established a basic standard of copyright protection. Plus, the fact that a single person has viewed it on a browser in the U.S. has been upheld to make it a U.S. copyright case even if the file was on a foriegn server.  Many adult film companies like Vivid go after foreign servers daily based off these international copyright treaties.

TRIPS doesn't appear to put people in other countries under US law, but rather just sets minimum standards for protection.  Do you have an example of where it has been upheld that US copyright law applies, to the host, for someone who has no business or hosting in the US?

I think we agree.  There has to be a U.S. tie to be in U.S. courts or else the lawsuit takes place in the foreign jurisdiction.  But a U.S. tie seems easy to find.   Companies now are looking for any ties to make it a U.S. Jurisdiction case.  Like the suit against the website Mygazines which had an address in Aguilla and the founder lived in Canada.  They were sued in New York because their domain registrar had an office (one of many) in NY.  Your ISP, Hosting Compay, Clients, Registrars, Advertisers, Employees, it's virtually impossible to have a site and not have something tied to the U.S.

Sort of, in that case however, the suit was only to force the site shut down in the US.  Not that it isn't still a complex minefield if it goes against US copyright law, but you can limit your exposure as long as it is legal in the jurisdiction that you are actually working.  My primary disagreement was simply the argument that having a US person VIEW your content was sufficient to establish US jurisdiction.  It has nothing to do with it.  There are many other ways that various levels of jurisdiction might be established, but who views your site is not one.

Okay, I see where the disconnect is and we are going down a rabbit hole.  The topic went off into jurisdiction.  Set jurisdiction aside.  If a person in another country sets up a streaming server filled with Disney Movies and it's viewed in the U.S. then they are breaking U.S. copyright law even if they are not in the U.S.  Everything else is a secondary issue.

According to this site, Norway does allow exceptions to author's rights for educational purposes, but it does not expand on what said requirements are.  You should probably talk to a lawyer in your jurisdiction for up to date information on your local jurisdiction.


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Canon 5D mk III vs Sony A7s
I have been shooting both video and stills with my canon 7D for the last 6 years and I am looking to upgrade my kit. My initial thought was to get the 5D Mk III and use it with magic lantern to record video in raw but after researching I have seen that a lot of people are transitioning to the Sony A7s.
I am seduced by the smaller size of the A7s and the apparently simpler post-production process for video (smaller files that don't require conversion) but I have always loved the look of Canon and I know it will also be great for stills.
Does someone have experience using both? Is one superior to the other?

Forward thinking the A7s is capable of 4k (with external recorder, e.g. atomos shogun) which is trendy and can shoot at a higher fps (120 fps) and in S-log which for me is three major selling points over the 5D. Not to mention the picture is a lot sharper. The 5D in my opinion is not something I would want to use given the option of the A7s, the image is soft and muddled in comparison. I have used both.
That being said, if you are not concerned with taking pictures, and strictly want to get into video may I suggest buying a C100 MK I. On ebay they are in roughly the same price range, and the camera, although not out performing the A7 in terms of resolution and frame rates, has a beautiful Canon look out of the box, professional video controls + form factor, and many people prefer C-log over S-log.
That being said, if I were to get a B-cam to my C100 MK II, I would get the A7S. Sure it might take some work to match the Sony green-cast to the generally more neutral Canon image, but the pros far outweigh the cons.


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Low action Kickstarter video with Nikon DSLR: do I need an external lens?
I'm a complete video novice, who's only ever shot anything with his parent's handicam. I want to make a video for a Kickstarter project, and I want to do a good job.
The video will be very simple, with the camera completely still and only a couple of shots, likely all of them indoors.
I've been looking into renting a video capable Nikon DSLR for a couple of days, and I'm wondering, do I even need an externally attached lens? Will the camera be fine without one? What are the consequences of not using one?
If I do need a lens, what should I look for?

Does the kit your looking to rent come with a lens ?

No it doesn't. It would just be a camera, with maybe a strap or whatever.

I've added a link to one of the cameras I'm considering.

Just to clarify, a DSLR with no lens won't take very useful pictures. They generally come with a basic lens, but it is removable, and it is possible to buy/rent a camera without any lens. This is only done if you already have a lens (or set of lenses) and don't want the extra cost.

I just finished working with a company that has had several very successful Kickstarters.
IMHO, lighting and audio are more important than camera type for this type of video, as long as you have a pro-sumer camera that shoots decent 1080p HD.  Many successful campaigns have been shot on a DSLR with a stock lens.  If you want to buy an additional lens then your first lens should be a "nifty-fifty".
An external microphone is way more important than camera.
Here is the one piece of advice that was given to me by someone that has run mutltiple multi-million dollar Kickstarters.  Don't let someone that is dry and boring be the spokesperson for the video.
Of course the owner/CEO of the video wants to be in the video, but that's not always the best choice to be the talking head.  Instead use them in action scenes, Like at a workbench or a design table.
EDIT:
I re-read your post.  I assumed it came with a kit lens and you were wanting to know if you should upgrade the lens.  The poster above is correct, you have to have a lens. But what I don't understand is why are you going with such a high-end DSLR?
The camera you are looking at, the Nikon D7200D, is a great camera.  But it's also an overkill for what you need.  It's a 24MP camera that can shoot video at 60FPS.  HD video is only 1.8 MegaPixels and you only need 30FPS. For almost the same price as the rental of the body and lens you could buy an older model (refurbished or used) DSLR with a 50mm lens and own it.  This would give you time to learn how the lens AND the camera work since they are two different beasts.
Also because a DSLR is not primarily a video camera, it's actually a little bit more complex to setup for video.  Not ideal for a beginner.  A Pro-sumer HD video camera would be a better choice but it costs more.
So I would actually recommended, for a beginner, a camera with a built in lens.  Something like a Nikon Coolpix that shoots full 1080p.  You can definitely get one of those (factory refurbished) for less than what you would pay to rent the Nikon D7200D with a lens.
I know I'll probably get criticized for that recommendation.  But if you don't know how to use the D7200D, then you probably won't shoot anything better than would with a Coolpix.
Now all you need to do is learn 3 point lighting.  If you put a key-light on the back of your subjects head, then you will shoot something better than most other kickstarters.

By "stock lens", do you just mean the one that is in the body of the camera? Or do you mean a basic lens that is externally attached? Ultimately, I'm just trying to decide if renting this camera "as is" will work out.

A stock lens is also called a "kit lens".  It's what comes standard with most DSLRs (unless you buy the body only).  Generally it's an 18-55mm lens.  Unless you are trying to recreate Hitchcock's famous "Vertigo Effect" it should be just fine for a Kickstarter video.

Which Coolpix model would you recommend? Owning a good hd video camera would be wonderful.

This one is jumping out at me as a good combination of cost and quality. Am I crazy?

Having a good camera to take nice still photos would be great too, I could easily find many uses for that.

To use a DSLR for video, a lens is a requirement.  A DSLR body is only a sensor and control circuitry, with absolutely nothing that will focus light on to the sensor.  If you could even get it to record without a lens attached, you would simply have a large colored square recorded.
That said, for what you are trying to do, a DSLR is probably not what you want to use anyway.  DSLRs are popular in video circles because they allow you to use a variety of lenses and accomplish high quality video effects that can't be done with comparably expensive video cameras, however they are not user friendly.
They require far better knowledge of photographic principals and video shooting technique to produce quality results.  They are more difficult to use than video cameras and without practice and training, you are likely to get a far better quality of video using a decent normal video camera.
Additionally, as others have mentioned, the sound and lighting is also highly critical to getting ideal results.  Stay away from renting  a DSLR for shooting the video unless you have someone familiar with using DSLRs for the purpose.  They would also be able to determine which lenses you needed for the shots you are planning.
If you do still want to rent a better camera, instead rent a prosumer video camera, such as the Black Magic Cinema Pocket (still needs a lens) or something like the Canon XC10 that is on that same site you were looking at.  It costs a bit more than the body only for the Nikon you were looking at, but it is cheaper than the cost of additionally renting lenses.  It really probably isn't necessary as long as the camcorder you have shoots decent quality HD video though.


text:
Need ideas for simple closed circuit tv for church overflow room
The Need: In our small church, we have an "overflow" room right across the hall from the main room where the pastor speaks. We're already getting sound into the overflow room separately, but we need to get video into there, too. We don't need recording capabilities, just a live video feed.
Some challenges: We did have a setup using a camcorder in the main room, and running an HDMI cable from the camcorder to a TV in the overflow room, which worked ok, but the camcorder recently broke. We could just buy a new camcorder, though it seems overkill to buy a camcorder with all its functions, when all we need is a live video feed. At the same time it would be nice to have something I can move and zoom with a remote (sometimes we need to switch views when there's a baptism, for example).
I even thought about using a cell phone or ipad with google hangouts or face-time, or chromecast. But I don't think I want to rely on wifi; plus, there will probably be a delay that then wouldn't sink with the sound that we're piping in separately. I was looking for closed circuit cameras online, but most of the stuff I found was either bad video quality (like some security cameras), or had all these bells and whistles that I don't need, like infrared night-vision, motion-detectors, etc.
So, here's a detailed list of needs/wants for the setup:

Live video feed to a separate room (no recording necessary, no sound necessary)
Decent video quality (not like some security cameras)
Remote move/zoom control
Ideally < $500
(optional) Wireless (nice to have, but NOT necessary)

If you want to remotely control the pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera, you want to look for a "PTZ" camera. You will not find one under $500 with a controller.
A cheap camcorder with a wall mount and a long HDMI cable is your cheapest option.
If your budget was closer to $2,000 you'd be able to get everything on your list.

thats a tough one for the price, have you looked at GoPro cams? theres no zoom, but excellent quality. Probly could find one on ebay for around $200

How about a wireless AV Transmitter?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUKK8QA

Please avoid link only answers. This should be a comment instead.

Also, you can trim that link to end at ...8QA/ since everything from ref= onward is cruft.

It is also worth noting that this does not help with the remote zoom/move control.  Some more explanation of the advantages/disadvantages of this solution would make this a much better answer.


text:
Smartphone vs camcorder
Okay, so I'm a young A/V tech, and I'm looking into picking up some equipment for video recording. The guy who is mentoring me said that for the kind of work I do, which is primarily speaking events indoors, with varied lighting, I want a camera with at least ½" sensor.
The Canon XA20 Professional Camcorder seemed to be the best choice for the money, but then I got thinking, phones have come a long way, so when I looked it up, the Samsung Galaxy S6 has a ½" sensor and is capable of shooting 2160p@30fps or 1080p@60fps video, which compared to the camcorders 1080 @ 59.94p seems like it's pretty good, minus the fact that you can't get the same zoom on the phone.
So for the same price of the camcorder, I could pick up two S6s plus accessories and ask for roughly the same price or less that the camcorder with no accessories.
Am I missing anything here? Would love to hear what I'm missing being an amateur and all. If anyone would have a better suggestion on how to maximise our invest my money, I'd love to hear them. Thanks in advance.
Edit 1:
Okay, so to add some clarity, I was just asking about video. My experience is almost completely in audio, and I always use separate equipment for that.
Also, when I'm talking about speaking events, I'm currently only dealing with small groups under 75 people, so I can get the cameras pretty close to the speakers without intruding on the group's attention. My only major issue to date is lack of lighting.

There are a few things you are missing, and a few more you just aren't fully appreciating how much of a difference the things you mentioned make.
First, the S6 sensor is not over 1/2 inch, it is 1/2.6 inch, which is substantially smaller than a 1/2 inch sensor, particularly since sensors are measured diagonally.
Second, lenses matter a lot more than the sensor.  The inability to zoom optically is a deal breaker for what you are trying to do with covering speaking events.  Typically, video is a secondary concern to a live audience and camera positions will be far off to avoid impacting visibility.  Without strong optics, you will not be able to get the footage you need.
Third, most (all?) cellphones do not use a global shutter, while most camcorders do.  Global shutters ensure that an entire frame is captured at the same time instead of scanning line by line while the frame is exposing.  The lack of a global shutter results in the "jello" effect that you can see when you pan a camera quickly.  Global shutter is a bit less of a concern for fixed camera position shooting at a relatively static target, but it is still work mentioning.
Forth, reliability.  Smartphones are more likely to crash than a stand alone video camera, they are subject to recording length limits that may interfere with your recordings.  They will have lower battery life while shooting which may also cause issues and the S6 in particular does not have a replaceable battery at all, so when you are out of juice, you are done unless you have an external battery pack that can keep up with sufficient juice.  Even then, it's a disadvantage to the much more compact battery placement directly on a camcorder.
Fifth, stability.  While you can get tripod mounts for a smartphone, camcorders are built from the ground up to support tripod mounting in a secure way.  You can work around that on the smart phone with complicated cases and mounting systems, but those also drive up the cost.  When shooting off a tripod, camcorders also still have a stability advantage.  You can hold them up to your eye and form a 3 point support that is easily held steady.  Accomplishing the same with a phone would require expensive rigging running up in to hundreds or possibly over $1000 unless you want to try to do custom fabrication yourself.
There are probably a few other things I'm missing too as I've just been writing these from what has come to mind as I go.  Smartphones are up to the point where they can make a pretty decent (though less durable and more expensive) alternative to a go pro, but they are really not an alternative for a camcorder by any stretch of the imagination.

Okay, thanks. Following up on that, what exactly is the difference between ½" and 1/2.6"? I should know this, but my mind is drawing a blank.

.3846 inches diagonally instead of .5, and actually, it sounds like the article I read may have been wrong.  Other sources are saying it is only a 1/3 inch sensor, which means it's only .3333 inches diagonally.  This chart gives length and width measurements.  As you can see, the area of a 1/2 inch sensor is 30.72 square mm.  Comparatively, a 1/3 inch sensor only is 17.28 square centimeters, so it is almost half the size.

Okay, well I saw some even more expensive professional camcorders for the same price or more and they only had ⅓" sensor. So an I still losing out going with a phone, assuming I can get rid of the power issue?

Yes. The rest of my post goes over quite a few reasons. Not the least of which is optics. Don't use a phone, just don't. It isn't suited to the task at all.

Apart from all the reasons mentioned already by Henderson, the sound quality from the mobile phone will be awful compared to a professional video camera.
Attempting to record speaking events with a mobile phone is a very difficult decision.
You can get for about 500 dollars a tripod, a camcorder and a lavalier microphone which is ok for a speaking event.

Ehh, in either case you really want to do your audio recording separately for best results, so I wouldn't really define the audio as a significant drawback, though you are right that the built in audio on a camera will be better.  It's just a bit like saying a car that lets you go 5 miles an hour is better than having to crawl everywhere, neither really gets the job done well.

True, but the original poster mentioned nothing about separate audio, so I think that it is important to mention it as well.

Yeah, certainly worth mentioning, it just wouldn't be a deciding factor for me personally, just because neither would produce an acceptable result for my tastes, but I agree it is still worth pointing out.

The iPhone has 3 microphones, but only uses 1 for audio recording. Yes, mono audio!.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Video transitions and filters - how to create custom ones?
I am wondering if there is a possibility to do custom video transitions or filters. Like the video spiraling out, little squares appearing, circling out or something like that. Wiping the video out sideways, sliding it over like a page. Stuff like that. Adding a semi transparent image as filter over the video. Applying instagram style filters. Is there a tool that supports that at all?
Is there a tool with a manifold of transitions or filters?
best would be it works from command line in linux. But anything helps.

https://github.com/hudl/HudlFfmpeg/wiki/Creating-Custom-Filters might be useful to you.

To get filters, you can use photoshop for that. iMovie can do all of the effects that you were talking about, and iMovie has a pretty nice collection of filters too.
Hope that helps!

iMovie & Photosohop dont run on Linux..


text:
How to live stream 4 cameras to a flat screen TV
I wanted to live stream different views from 4 cameras at the same time on a flat screen TV or monitor. What materials would I need for such a project. I have seen home security surveillance setups in which 4 cameras are streamed live to a monitor, however two things that are very important to this project are:
1.) live stream quality
2.) monitor size (need ~50inch display)
3.) placement of stream views on display
If there are surveillance packages that accomplish these goals (especially flexible positioning of the 4 live stream views), feel free to point me to them. Also, I am new to this website so If this question is not a good fit for this thread, then where would it be a good fit? Thanks in advance.

You need something like the Blackmagic Multiview: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/multiview or Matrox Quad-Split http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/microquad/ or Decimator MD-QUAD http://decimator.com/Products/MultiViewers/MD-QUAD%20Quad-Split%20MultiViewer/MD_Quad.html
These units take HD-SDI input and can then display it on a HDMI (or SDI) display however you like.
So grab as many cameras as you need - you can decide what quality camera suits your needs. Get cameras with with SDI output for long cable runs. If they don't have SDI, you can get HDMI to SDI converters. If an SDI cable isn't long enough, you can get SDI/HDMI to Fibre converters that let you run fibre optic cable between your cameras and a multiview.
Any half decent multiview will let you use a computer to re-arrange the placement of the images on the screen.
Good luck!

Thank you so much! This is what i ended up figuring out I'm going to have to do. Very glad that someone else can back me up. One more question about connections though. I need a high quality feed from all 4 cameras on the monitor. However, my budget for this project prohibits me from buying the expensive quad splitters. If I purchase a lower end quad splitter, hook up the 4 cameras via RCA cables, connect the monitor output to a SDI-HDMI converter, then the converter to the monitor, will the quality of the feed improve? Sorry I am new to all this so bear with me:) Thank you again.

Couldn't fit the answer fully in the comments, but: The rule of gargabe in, garbage out, applies here. If the input into the splitter is only a 480p analog signal, the output isn't going to be any better quality than that original 480p signal. An SDI to HDMI converter won't improve quality at all, it will just take whatever the SDI input is and convert it to HDMI, that's all.

That is a good rule of thumb to go by. So if I am using HD 1080p surveillance cameras and a high quality monitor, will the quality of the video be hindered by a low cost, lower quality quad splitter? Is there some sort of "perfect quality in perfect quality out" rule hopefully? Can the splitter even affect the quality of the video? Thank you for all your help. You are actually a godsend.

If the splitter is HDMI/SDI, it should look perfect as everything is staying digital. Just make sure your security cams actually have HD-SDI output. Don't expect miracles though, security cameras, even "1080p" ones often look awful, even though they do output a 1080p image.

Wow that's concerning... This is the quad splitter I bought: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00108HEKK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1437002001&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&keywords=Quad+splitter&dpPl=1&dpID=317VbVsyX6L&ref=plSrch  i guess just hope for the best! Thanks!


text:
FFmpeg : Error occurred while encoding audio stream from ac3 to aac
I am using following command to encode my video to h264 and aac audio codec :
ffmpeg -i sample.mp4 -codec:v libx264 -profile:v high -level:v 4.0 -codec:a libvo_aacenc -b:a 128k output_file.mp4

Following is a trace of the error i am getting at the console.
Input #0, mpegts, from 'sample.mp4':
  Duration: 00:00:58.08, start: 1.000033, bitrate: 17290 kb/s
  Program 1
    Stream #0:0[0x1011]: Video: h264 (High) (HDMV / 0x564D4448), yuv420p, 1920x1
080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 29.97 fps, 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
    Stream #0:1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3 (AC-3 / 0x332D4341), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fl
tp, 448 kb/s
    Stream #0:2[0x1200]: Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle ([144][0][0][0] / 0x0090)
[libx264 @ 003dc660] using SAR=1/1
[libx264 @ 003dc660] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX
[libx264 @ 003dc660] profile High, level 4.0
[libx264 @ 003dc660] 264 - core 130 r2274 c832fe9 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Cop
yright 2003-2013 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 de
block=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1
me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chr
oma_qp_offset=-2 threads=12 lookahead_threads=2 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1
 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=
1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scen
ecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmi
n=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
[libvo_aacenc @ 03c3c640] Unable to set encoding parameters
Output #0, mp4, to 'output_file.mp4':
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=-1--1, 90
k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 -> libx264)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (ac3 -> libvo_aacenc)
Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:1 - maybe incorrect parameters
such as bit_rate, rate, width or height

I am really not able to find what possibly could be wrong. I dont want to copy audio codec , i wish to encode it from ac3 to aac
Also any suggestion to make it lossless

Try adding -a:c 2 after -b:a 128k

Thanks !! that kinda worked for me... :) But next step now for me is to make it less lossy.

Your source audio is 448kbps in 6 channels i.e. ~75kbps per channel, and your target codec is AAC (a lossy codec), so it won't be lossless. Most you can do is increase the target bitrate to something like 192k or higher from 128k. You'll, of course, lose the channel separation from 6 to 2.

Yeah i got to know that libvo_aacenc supports two channels only, so i thought to give a try for 'libfdk_aac' . But its says Unknown Encoder 'libfdk_aac'
I am quite novice to ffmpeg world :) Your help is much appreciated. Even i tried other aac encoders like aac and libfaac, but getting the errors

ffmpeg has to be compiled with fdk. Your build apparently isn't. Use the native encoder with a higher bitrate, so "-strict experimental -c:a aac -b:a 384k" in place of "-codec:a libvo_aacenc -b:a 128k" in your original command.

You're using an ffmpeg with a 2-year-old version of libx264.  It's been mostly feature-complete for a while now, but there are still small improvements and fixes happening.
As Mulvya says, get one built with libfdk_aac, since you should update your ffmpeg for libx264 anyway.  Your current ffmpeg is trying to use the VisualOn aac encoder.  That's a terrible choice.
Check the video encoding guide on ffmpeg's Trac wiki, too.  You should probably use -preset slow at least, to get more quality per bitrate. -crf 23 is the default target-quality, which might be more or less than you want.


text:
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?

Interesting problem.

Use the Animation codec next time...

I tried that also, it didn't work beyond 8000px wide.

Rendering to an image sequence a good way to get around problems such as this. You can then compress the image sequence to h.264 or whatever you're using for delivery. Doing an uncompressed master means that you don't have to re-render if you want to change your compression or quality settings for the final video.

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.


text:
Adobe Encoder fps and duration doesn't match
I have After Effects project file 25 fps, 29 seconds duration long. After exporting i get 725 png files - looks normal so far. But then i merge it to mp4 using Adobe Encoder, I get total 24 seconds duration instead of 29.
Math:
725 frames,  25 fps  -  29 s
725 frames,  30 fps  -  24 s

The strange thing in mp4 file properties - 25 fps and 24s duration which doesn't make sense, it doesn't match math. Please any ideas what i'm doing wrong?

EDIT:
I find out in AE Preferences > Import image sequence footage fps by default was set to 30. After changing it to 25 imported image sequence looks good.

Unfortunately I couldn't find it in Adobe Encoder preferences - there is no such settings, and by default it loads 30fps sequence.

Something somewhere in your chain is assuming 30fps, as your math clearly shows. Examine everything, especially the timeline specs.

Unfortunately I couldn't find it in Adobe Encoder preferences - there is no such settings, and by default it loads 30fps sequence.

You can change the default in Media Encoder by going to the Preferences/Media and then change "Indeterminate Media Timebase"


text:
Overshoot expression: Consider variable text width
I have a lower third which resizes to the length of text. Now I want to make a overshoot effect. But.. I have no idea where to put the length of the text into the expression.
This is expression where the bar automatically resizes to the length of text including margin:
s=thisComp.layer("Name"); // Text
x=s.sourceRectAtTime(time-s.inPoint,true).width; // Text width
y=content("Rectangle 1").content("Rectangle Path 1").size[1]; // Height
[x+10,y] // 10 = Margin on the right side.

This is overshoot expression:
s=thisComp.layer("Name"); // Text
x=s.sourceRectAtTime(time-s.inPoint,true).width; // Text width
value[1] = content("Rectangle 1").content("Rectangle Path 1").size[1];// Set height.

freq = 1; // How many times should it overshoot?
decay = 15; // How far (in pixels)?

n = 0;
if (numKeys > 0){
   n = nearestKey(time).index;
   if (key(n).time > time) n--;
}
if (n > 0){
   t = time - key(n).time;
   amp = velocityAtTime(key(n).time - .001);
   w = freq*Math.PI*2;
   value + amp*(Math.sin(t*w)/Math.exp(decay*t)/w);
}else
   value;

Now I have the [x] variable left and the 10 pixel margin. I've tried it to put it on any place, but it does not seem to work.
If I do: value + amp*(Math.sin(t*w)/Math.exp(decay*t)/w) - x - 10;, the bar becomes smaller when the text becomes longer.
The bar is a rectangular path.
Does someone know how to resolve this?

you mean a bounce effect?

Yes, this is a bounce effect. I followed  this

Out of my zone of expertise, but perhaps precomp the resizer, and then bounce on the precomp?

@Alex The problem now is, that the pre-comp can't bounce because it keeps the width of the composition. ( I pre-comped the bar that should bounce)

Could you add a simplified project file to this question?

Sure, here you can find it

Any updates yet?

I think the problem here is that that bounce expression works by measuring the velocity at the keyframes on the size property, and adding an oscillation to it after the keyframes. But if the value is being driven by the length of the text then the keyframes are irrelevant. If you align the keyframes in the rectangles with the keyframes for the type reveal the expression works

Do you mean the text layer with "type reveal" ?


text:
Switch between 18-?? hdmi PC sources for live production
I'm looking for a device that takes a minimum of 18 HDMI-PC (max 36) sources at 1080p60 for a possible venture I'm going to getting in to. I'm going to be taking these sources and using them for monitoring/broadcasting/recording a show. (Edit: Note: Some of the inputs will only support 1080p60 and 720p60. No in-between. (Can't do 720 due to requirements in business agreement))
I know of the ATEM devices by Blackmagic, but, they don't state they do 1080p60 and this may present a problem. Not to mention in order for all 18 PCs to connect i would have to buy a converter for each connection as SDI is not usually a native connection on most PCs.
(Notes: SDI is a completely new connection to me as of today. I have never done anything with broadcasting equipment)

Micro converters from black magic are only $85 ... So 85x18=$1530 which isn't expensive at all for what you are trying to accomplish. If you hook up the HDMI output of your computer to the sdi micro converter your pc (for sure I know a Mac will) will recognize the option to go 1080 at 60p or whichever flavor of that you seek. I would go this route with an ATEM.

I'm going to assume you want to view all 18 HDMI inputs simultaneously on a few monitors, then be able to send one of those inputs to an output for broadcast/presentation? I don't know what sort of effects you need, or anything else like that, but maybe this will get you on the right track. Or if you need the switcher to be seamless (i.e: no momentary signal loss).
Look into the Kramer range of modular switchers: http://www.krameraustralia.com.au/products/model.asp?pid=2455&sf=55&pname=Kramer%20CORE
They're a chassis with slots for cards that you can configure yourself. Buy a chassis (e.g: VS-3232DN) and pop in the cards you need (e.g: five of the H-IN4-F32 HDMI input cards and one H-OUT4-F32 card) and away you go. The chassis is controllable over ethernet so you can use a PC to do all the switching and whatnot. You can also get cards that support HDbaseT, which is awesome if your HDMI cable runs are going to be more than say 10 meters as HDbaseT runs HDMI over Ethernet reliably (not like the crappy balun style converters on eBay and stuff).
This stuff isn't cheap though, you'd be looking at around US$15,000 for the setup with all the cards. That might not be an issue for you though :)
Again, this might not be the most appropriate solution for what you intend to use the gear for - on this chassis there's no seamless switching, no effects, no ability to put graphics on stuff. It's simply a switch with a load of inputs. It might be better to try get the inputs (are they all PCs?) to output 59.94 instead of 60, that way you can build yourself a rig with a couple of capture cards and it'd do everything all in one and be half the price of the switcher.

Only the 4K models of the Atom switchers support 1080p in 60 fps, like the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K.
Although a software control panel is included, I would prefer a hardware panel. Switching between 18+ input sources will be so stressful, that you don't have time looking where the mouse pointer is. A hardware panel has big buttons and knobs that you can operate without looking at it.
These switchers all work with SDI, because HDMI only works with cable lengths up to 10 meter, whereas SDI cables can be up to 300 meter long. See this comparison.

None of the 4k models on their site explicitly state that it does 1080p60.

They do 1080p59.94, which differs from 1080p60 not in the frequency of sent frames, but only in the timecode counting. Really complicated. But more important is that the BM Mini Converters HDMI to SDI explicitly support 1080p60.

To add to my previous comment: of course, before ordering this equipment which may exceed US$ 10,000, you should ask your reseller for confirmation. But I see no problem here.

Also should mention that some of the devices that will be connected to the equipment only have two settings in the HD range. 1080p60 and 720p60. Using 720p would actually be detrimental to one of the requirements of the broadcast.

ATEM needs all devices to be the same resolution, and to use other (lower resolutions) requires a scaler in your production workflow which increases costs tremendously. Also the hardware interface has a starting price of around $4k... Even though we prefer physical buttons, our wallet may not always agree.


text:
ffmpeg lens correction, fisheye effect
I want to remove fish eye effect using command line. I've found 2 ways. The simplest is using frei0r plugin called "defish0r" it has few parameters like
fisheye type, scalling, interpol and video aspect. The second way is using ffmpeg with built-in lens correction filter (http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html#lenscorrection). The second way according to documentation needs camera calibration file e.g from opencv, it might be more adequate result when you calibrated camera. My question is, what is better ? Is built-in lens correction filter is not proper way to remove fish eye effect?  When use what?

related: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/14772/correct-lens-distortion-with-ffmpeg

When its about fisheye what might be better? lenscorrection or defish0r, what about camera's calibration advantages? Maybe its trivial or something, but It drives me crazy, I can't find unambiguous answer/explanation on internet

I assume it's the same procedure, but I'd like to have some docs too :) Might be a good idea to find the developer and ask him directly - when I have time I'll searching for it again. Please keep me posted :)


text:
Crop Video temporary
I am in need of Video Player, or Software or API or any other idea for that help me to save the storage issue.
Let me explain, I have a video file about 300mb which contains 10 clips if i make video in parts each part is of size arround 20mb so in total i will have 11 files and 500mb and it sucks because i have video files in thousands, So is their any video player or software by which i can crop/split video online so it don't affect my server space.
In best of knowledge the better way is I have to take a video and just take particular part from the video during run-time by telling its frame/time range and play it. So in this case i will not get headache of file-system again and storage issue also.
Can anyone suggest me something or any better idea please?

What format are your clips to begin with? You don't say what you're output is? What software are you using an editor or a utility.. What OS are you using?

@integris if you read first sentence "I need a software". And i am using windows OS. Please read description again i hope you will understand my problem. Thanks

FFMpeg might do what you need. It's pretty powerful commandline tool to convert video formats, sizes, etc.
Here is a clear and simple tutorial for installing FFMpeg and using basic functions
Here is a specific SuperUser thread about using it to cut small clips from a larger clip.

So is their any video player or software by which i can crop/split
  video online so it don't affect my server space.

There are a couple of "online editors" such as WeView, I haven't used them.
FFMpeg can read files from a stream or ftp, see the documentation: https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-protocols.html#ftp
But if I understand you correctly, you want the software to cut the clips and convert them totally on server. I do not think that is possible with normal protcols. FFMpeg may be able to download and cut the file in one script. But I suggest posing that as a separate question if you decide to use it.


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Color shifts in Quicktime when playing h264 encoded movie from After Effects
If I preview my project in After Effects all colors appear as they should. However, if I render using either the AE renderer (lossless/best) or Media Encoder (YouTube 1080 H264) the colors are all slightly washed out. I have tested using no color profile and also using sRGB, but the results are exactly the same. My project consist solely of audio and png graphics (it does not contain another video). How can I get the final exported video to have the same colors please?
Other info
After Effects CC 2015
OS X Yosemite 10.10.4
Update
Hours of reading and experimenting later, I have established that this is not an After Effects problem, because if I open the file in VLC or view it in a browser other than Safari, colors are rendered perfectly. This appears to be a complicated quicktime issue. See here.
I have also tried opening the mov file in handbrake and exporting with the x264 codec - this improved things a bit but not materially enough to matter.
I found so many articles on this, but no definitive answers. There must be video pros out there who know how to fix this - if so, PLEASE help.

Exporting to H264 will always introduce a slight colour shift due to a gamma tag in the file header. At least, I didn't find any solution to export without a gamma shift. Neither in AE nor in any other video editing program.
Maybe also have a look at this answer: https://video.stackexchange.com/a/10336/11423

Something that I noticed about encoding to h.264 in premiere and after effects was that when you select the VBR/two pass encoding you get MUCH better results with h.264 than a single pass with VBR or CBR (no duh, right?) in terms of color shifts/gamma shifts. It wasn't obvious to me, but after that, the color problems were barely noticeable.

Thanks for your suggestion - I tried it and there was unfortunately no improvement. My video does not have other video - just animated images and sound.


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Camera stabilisers compatible with shooting in portrait
We shoot all our videos in portrait using a Canon 5D camera. What is the best type of camera stabliser for this scenario? Most I've seen only cater for shots in "landscape".

Could you add the model names of your existing cameras to the question? And do you plan to buy a new camera or are you looking for a stabilization that is built around these existing cameras?

We using a Canon 5D and not planning to buy a new camera. I'll update the question information... thanks so much for the feedback!

Could you add a right angle bracket to the mount of an existing stabiliser. Just a bit of steel would do it. The stabiliser would have to be large enough, but looking at the one we've got (DJI Ronin) I'd say it would be do-able.


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After Effects renders with no audio
I've been using after effects cs6 to make intros in my youtube template. They always render without sound. I've been exporting them as avi files. I'm currently making one in an mpeg4 format (assuming that is another name for mp4) since my other intros all have sound and they're mp4 files.
I clicked "lossless" in the render queue and I changed the file format to avi. I checked "audio output" and didn't touch the settings inside that submenu and then I clicked OK and render. after waiting a while, AE spit out an intro file thats around a gigabyte in size and has no sound. What is the problem?

Are you sure you have an active audio track in your timeline?

possible duplicate of AE - Composition video file/layer missing audio ?

@NateBarbettini here's a picture of the layers. I am unsure if there are hidden layers or whatever

@RegisteredUser And where is your audio layer in the composition? As you can see, in this composition is no audio, if a layer consists of audio the audio Icon (right beside the visibility icon) will appear. Could you please add a more meaningful screenshot? What about the answers in the linked question?

The output file doesn't have any sound because there is no audio in the timeline that you are rendering.
The output format (MP4 vs. AVI) doesn't have any effect; both formats can contain an audio track or not. Checking the box to output audio only has any effect if there is already an audio track in the timeline. If there's no audio track, the output will have audio but it will be silent (as you're experiencing).
The solution is to add some audio file(s) to the project and then put it into your timeline.

The MPEG4 has no audio settings. I chose h.264 and now I can see the Audio settings. So basically this MPEG4 has not audio output at all. That's why no audio is in the rendered video. This is very strange.
A lot of people out there are wondering why this is happening. Well its part.y our fault. We should notice there is no Audio settings in this format.
I think AE should specify that this MPEG4 version is Video only.
So all other option works I guess if you see an Audio setting with the option to choose format and bitrate then it will include the audio.
Yes all rendered and I can hear the audio perfectly 1:12 second video at 127 MB excellent quality at 300 Bitrate (maximum is 300 in this format) so have to play with it a little and see how far I can reduce the size.


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Unexpected filtering result with multiple outputs
Video capture device cycling through 4 cameras every 4 seconds. Want to split the video into four streams to reduce the amount of key frames, save internet traffic and soothe the motion detector.
While the channel is inactive, there should be a still frame.
Created a test input file combined.mkv. Bash script to create it:
(
    set -e
    fontfile="/Windows/Fonts/arial.ttf"
    fontfile="/usr/share/fonts/TTF/DejaVuSans.ttf"
    i=0; for c in blue green magenta red; do ffmpeg -y -f lavfi -i color=s=640x480:d=35:r=25:c=$c \
        -vf "
            drawtext=fontfile=$fontfile: fontsize=160:fontcolor='white':text='$i':x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-line_h)/2,
            drawtext=fontfile=$fontfile: boxcolor=0x000000AA:box=1:fontsize=72:fontcolor='white':text='':timecode='00\:00\:00\:00':rate=25
        " \
        $i.mkv; i=$((i+1)); done

    ffmpeg -y -i 0.mkv -i 1.mkv -i 2.mkv -i 3.mkv -filter_complex "[0:v][1:v]overlay=enable='between(mod(t,16),4,8)'[o01];[o01][2:v]overlay=enable='between(mod(t,16),8,12)'[o012];[o012][3:v]overlay=enable='between(mod(t,16),12,16)'" combined.mkv

    rm -f 0.mkv 1.mkv 2.mkv 3.mkv
)

Extracting one channel at a time works fine: select filter extracts the frames belonging to the channel, then overlap filter is used to fill the gap at the beginning of the file:
mkdir -p desired
for i in 0 1 2 3; do
ffmpeg -y -f lavfi -i nullsrc=s=640x480:r=25 -i combined.mkv \
    -filter_complex "[1:v]select='between(mod(t*1000,16*1000),$i*4000+100,($i+1)*4000-100)'[selected$i];[0:v][selected$i]overlay=shortest=1" desired/split$i.mkv
done

But when I try to split and filter, I get garbage:
mkdir -p actual
ffmpeg -y -f lavfi -i nullsrc=s=640x480:r=25 -i combined.mkv \
    -filter_complex "[0:v]split=4[null0][null1][null2][null3];[1:v]split=4[in0][in1][in2][in3];
    [in0]select='between(mod(t*1000,16*1000),0*4000+100,(0+1)*4000-100)'[selected0];[null0][selected0]overlay=shortest=1[out0];
    [in1]select='between(mod(t*1000,16*1000),1*4000+100,(1+1)*4000-100)'[selected1];[null1][selected1]overlay=shortest=1[out1];
    [in2]select='between(mod(t*1000,16*1000),2*4000+100,(2+1)*4000-100)'[selected2];[null2][selected2]overlay=shortest=1[out2];
    [in3]select='between(mod(t*1000,16*1000),3*4000+100,(3+1)*4000-100)'[selected3];[null3][selected3]overlay=shortest=1[out3]
    " \
    -map '[out0]' actual/split0.mkv \
    -map '[out1]' actual/split1.mkv \
    -map '[out2]' actual/split2.mkv \
    -map '[out3]' actual/split3.mkv


text:
ffmpeg not only writes mkv index at the end, but overwrites multiple places in file
According to Matroska options , the muxer writes the index at the end of file by default. However, if I save incomplete mkv file while encoding and compare it with the final clip, I can see more than 2 differences in 2 files:

This is not wanted. How to prevent it? I know ffmpeg won't be able to rewrite the file, if the output file is a pipe, but what if I cannot use pipes? (when I need to split the output and using -f segment)
To reproduce using ffmpeg's testsrc:
$ >after.mkv; tail -c +1 -F after.mkv >before.mkv & ffmpeg -y -f lavfi -i testsrc=s=720x576:r=12.5:d=120 after.mkv; sleep 3 ; kill $!

Full output:
[1] 6148
ffmpeg version N-72058-g3ecc063 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.9.2 (GCC)
  configuration: --disable-static --enable-shared --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-w32threads --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libdcadec --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-decklink --enable-zlib
  libavutil      54. 23.101 / 54. 23.101
  libavcodec     56. 38.100 / 56. 38.100
  libavformat    56. 33.100 / 56. 33.100
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 16.101 /  5. 16.101
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  1.100 /  1.  1.100
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
Input #0, lavfi, from 'testsrc=s=720x576:r=12.5:d=120':
  Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (RGB[24] / 0x18424752), rgb24, 720x576 [SAR 1:1 DAR 5:4], 12.50 tbr, 12.50 tbn, 12.50 tbc
No pixel format specified, yuv444p for H.264 encoding chosen.
Use -pix_fmt yuv420p for compatibility with outdated media players.
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] using SAR=1/1
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] profile High 4:4:4 Predictive, level 2.2, 4:4:4 8-bit
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] 264 - core 146 r2538 121396c - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2015 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=4 threads=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=12 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, matroska, to 'after.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf56.33.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (libx264) (H264 / 0x34363248), yuv444p, 720x576 [SAR 1:1 DAR 5:4], q=-1--1, 12.50 fps, 1k tbn, 12.50 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.38.100 libx264
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo (native) -> h264 (libx264))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame= 1500 fps=231 q=-1.0 Lsize=     575kB time=00:01:59.84 bitrate=  39.3kbits/s
video:564kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 1.994470%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] frame I:6     Avg QP:13.21  size:  8126
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] frame P:750   Avg QP:10.61  size:   570
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] frame B:744   Avg QP:11.90  size:   136
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] consecutive B-frames:  0.8% 99.2%  0.0%  0.0%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] mb I  I16..4: 52.0% 37.3% 10.7%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] mb P  I16..4:  1.6%  1.3%  0.1%  P16..4:  3.7%  0.9%  0.6%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:91.7%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] mb B  I16..4:  0.2%  0.8%  0.0%  B16..8:  3.0%  0.2%  0.0%  direct: 0.0%  skip:95.8%  L0:49.5% L1:48.3% BI: 2.2%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] 8x8 transform intra:49.4% inter:82.8%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] coded y,u,v intra: 2.6% 1.6% 1.9% inter: 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] i16 v,h,dc,p: 68% 24%  2%  7%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 79%  2% 19%  0%  0%  0%  0%  0%  0%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 46% 35% 15%  1%  1%  1%  0%  1%  0%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] ref P L0: 68.2%  2.4% 17.6% 11.8%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] ref B L0: 59.1% 40.9%
[libx264 @ 00000000006bdce0] kb/s:38.46
[1]+  Terminated              tail -c +1 -F after.mkv > before.mkv

How can this be duplicated? What is your ffmpeg command and complete console output?

@LordNeckbeard updated the question


text:
Displaying speedometer in Final Cut Pro
I often see a speedometer in people's videos. I have time indexed speed data, is there any way to get it into the video (as text even) in Final Cut Pro?
Data is in TCX (or GPX) but I could easily write a script to convert that to another format.

What is the format of your time indexed speed data? Have you checked out https://sites.google.com/site/verymadmart/cyclecam

@PaulZagoridis I did come across that. Current versions of the Java Runtime don't have the 32-bit processor though. It's a fair effort to set that up but may wind up being the only reasonable option. Thanks!

You can use the free Dashware app, which is normally used to overlay telemetry data directly on footage.
As per the FAQ,

What’s the best way to use DashWare with another video editor, so I can do sophisticated edits?
How to make blue/green screen, gauge-only videos with DashWare:

Add your video and data files to the DashWare project like usual: synchronize, set up your gauges how you like, etc
Once you are ready to export, create a new “Green Screen” gauge. In this new, empty gauge add a Filled Rectangle component with the
dimensions of your video (e.g. 1920 by 1080). I use a bright, neon
green color for the fill. You want to pick a color that you are not
using in any of your other gauges.
Put this new gauge behind all the other gauges in your project and it will cover up your source video.
Export and now you will have a green screen video with only gauges.
In your favorite video editor use a chroma key filter to turn the green screen parts of the video transparent and presto you have a
transparent video with your gauges.

Thanks for that but DashWare appears to be mac only. I don't see how this could work with FCP

@paullb Dashware is Windows only, but they claim it runs well under Bootcamp.

So you don't really need FCP.
VIRB Edit for Mac software version 3.6.0
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=6593
Youtube instructions (for Windows but should work the same).
Add SPEEDOMETER DATA on GoPro How To Overlay Speed, RPM, GPS in Video FOR FREE

Now if your can't get your footage into VIRB for some reason, you could try to import the TCX/GPX and see if it will just output the gauges. If that doesn't work, create a chromakey video with a blank green or blue screen and import data to add the gauges. Export the video and you'll then have a chroma keyed gauges plate to drop into FCP.

Is there a way to do something like this in Apple Motion using data that is formatted in the correct file format?

I'm not at all familiar with Motion, but every hint I've seen since posting this still uses VIRB software.


text:
T5i video quality doesn't even match smartphone camera? Where can I improve?
A friend wanted to make some professional looking videos for a weekly vlog type of thing for his church. We went into this planning to buy a better camera and lights etc as we go.
We filmed a video last week with his phone: a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. The quality was surprisingly good but I thought we could do much better.
After spending a couple of weeks researching cameras and looking at reviews I ended up picking out the T5i; but I gotta say, I'm pretty underwhelmed. While, the photo quality is pretty good (I haven't had time to take a ton of photos), the video quality is quite a bit worse than the camera phone.
In general, the video is not as clear, bright, contrasted or colorful, and there's more noise and artifacts. I've tried Auto, as well as few other modes, and also manual (1/60, F/5, ISO 800). To reduce grain I also tried bumping the ISO down to 400 and the shutter to 1/30 to compensate. But after more research I don't think the grain was a problem. I'm guessing I was actually seeing compression artifacts.
At first I had trouble believing that a smartphone could outperform a dedicated camera. Especially one that has countless reviews saying it's the best entry-level camera.
What might be the problem? Is a $600 phone really better than a $700 camera? Do I need a better lens? I've been eyeing the Canon 50mm f/1.8 because it's very affordable and footage I've seen with it looks much better in low lighting.
Maybe it's the lighting? Our lighting setup is definitely not ideal, at the moment, but I would expect it to at least still look clear even if it's underexposed. We have 3 work lights purchased at Walmart with 65w flood bulbs (if i recall).
We definitely want to get better lights; but it's still disconcerting how last week we used the same setup and got much better results on the phone.
Although, one area where the new camera was definitely more helpful was the focal length. With the phone we had to be very close in order to keep our backdrop in frame. With the T5i kit lens we were able to go to 50mm and backup and get much more natural framing.
I really want to make this work; it could be something we're doing wrong. Video tests I've seen on YouTube from the Rebel line seem to show better quality than we're getting; even T3i videos. I was hoping it was just post-processing, but after spending a day trying to color correct and color grade the footage, it's still not any clearer (of course).
At this point, we're considering returning it and getting something better but I'm not sure what to get.
I was hoping this would be the best of both worlds but it seems like it's really more focused on stills; and for now, video is our primary focus. And, after some research it looks like we'd better off with a Panasonic or Sony. True? The Panasonic GH4 looks great as far as I can tell; but of course, it's twice the price. I also hear good things of the GH2 or GH3.

Could we have some stills from the videos to compare?

The colour profiles on the Canon are very customizable. Have you kept them in defaults or did you play around with them?

We have decided, we're probably going to keep it.
This is the one taken with the phone:
https://youtu.be/HuhHFeapPf8
And this one is with the T5i:
https://youtu.be/EN45myKHuSY
The focal length made a big difference. In the first one his face is distorted and too close.

@ChristyJames Of course that footage is graded (with my current, limited knowledge), and sharpened a little bit. I'm actually not as unhappy with the quality now; I expected it to be sharper but it's usable. I think with better lighting (which we are about to order) it will be much better.

@kazanaki I did try them all out, as well as make a custom one based on a recommendation I found from a YouTuber: turn sharpness off and contrast down because it's better to do those in post. I also messed with the pre-defined white balance options but I only learned about setting a custom white balance the next day. Needless to say, it helps with the colors but not the clarity. Overall I don't think the image is actually that bad, I was just expecting it to be sharper.

There are specific colour profiles for Canon for grading. I have at least 3. Technicolor, Marvel and the "official" from Canon. These are aimed for footage that will be graded in post. Perhaps you can play with those as well.

Looking at the videos, the canon does not look that bad to me. It is a little redish (white balance problem).

@kazanaki I agree, I need to learn better white balancing. I'm still trying to nail my workflow. Right now there's some back and forth between AE and Premiere. Something else that I've been learning is that different f-stops can affect the sharpness. Have you experienced this? In my own tests I did find f8-11 to be a tiny bit sharper (as a lot of people suggest). Can't remember exactly, but this video was probably shot at f5 (wide open at this focal length) because of our lighting situation; hopefully that won't be an issue once we get our lights.

Yes you are right. Actually this is already known from photography. All lenses have a "sweet" spot of sharpness and in several cases it is at 8-11 as you noticed. In stock lenses going more then f16 is really bad. In lower f-stops the center of the picture is sharp but the edjes are soft.

Video knowledge really build ups on photography knowledge. It seems to me that you must study some photography first :-). Trying looking at the top-voted questions in the photography stack exchange first. It will save you a lot of time in the long run.

http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/34733/what-is-the-useful-range-of-apertures-for-lenses

Also search google for "lens diffraction"

I know this is late, but try to zoom in as far as possible with the lens, manually focus on the subject so I looks as sharp as possible, then zoom out and don't change the distance at all. How does that look?

Bottom line with the canon rebel series cameras is that the video is pulled from a low resolution capture of the chip which is normally used for high resolution photos. The photos from these cameras will resolve many thousands of lines but the video compression chip in the camera cannot deal with these in real time so they just grab the image that goes to the rear LCD screen.
This image is achieved by throwing away the high res photo lines (or pixels), this is called binning (discarding). This makes high contrast edges very aliased or have a stair stepped effect. To fix this Canon soften or blur the image to make it more acceptable. Guess what, all of this results in a video image that ends up resolving at about 480 vertical lines or standard TV resolution 'not' HD resolution. So no amount of sharp lenses or post sharpening will ix the matter. The soft is baked in.
While the phone camera is built specifically to capture a fixed line resolution but it compromises on maximum photo resolution, typically not better than the video resolution.

The camera isn't mine and I haven't had a chance to play with it in the last month or so, but I'm planning on trying out MagicLantern to shoot in RAW for our next project. Have you done something like that before?

Actually yes I have tried it on the Rebel series camera. Unfortunately the SD card port is limited to 21mbit per second. So any RAW frames you create will be severely limited. You have to fit the frames into this tiny bandwidth, and faster cards don't help. The port is simply not designed to carry all the data required for larger frames. I was recording either 6 frames per second or 320x240 sized frames.

There are a couple of questions here, so I try to break them down.
Can a smartphone outperform a DSLR?
In optimal conditions, yes. But as soon as you reach the limits of a smartphone camera, you cannot do anything about it. With a DSLR you can do so much to stay within the limits: change the lens, have an optical zoom, manual mode, you name it.
Kit Zoom Lens vs 50mm Prime
I find it convenient to quickly change the framing of the shot without moving the tripod. The downside of a kit lens is that it a) has a mediocre maximum aperture and that b) the aperture may change while you are zooming. And that may be in the middle of the recording. So if you want to use the zoom of your 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 while recording, take care that your aperture is only 5.6, but not wider.
Canon vs Panasonic vs Sony
I don't think there will be a final answer. But besides the specs it's also a question into which lens line you want to invest for the future.
What you didn't ask: 2K vs 4K
Of course for a vlog you only need 2K/1080p. But if you would have 4K, you would find it convenient just record a pretty wide shot and zoom digitally inside your NLE, without loosing quality. That would give your video some variation of an otherwise static shot.
What can you do to improve the quality?
The most important parts are a good (and pleasant) lighting and a flawless sound recording. If you have this, nobody will care about a less-than-optimal camera output. It's worth to invest your time into that.

Thanks for your answer. We have decided to keep the camera. I think with better lighting and editing it will be acceptable. And I can't argue with the results I see other people getting from it on YouTube. I just need more experience.

I would agree with this answer, but also add that I think about 75% of the image quality is in the lens, vs 25% in the camera. I would recommend avoiding the 18-55mm kit lens as much as possible, and maybe looking at some second hand (even manual) glass.

The latest version of 18-55mm STM found in Canon t5i is actually quite good and you should keep it. Kit lenses were bad in the past, but not now.

@ChristyJames Do you think I'd get noticeably better sharpness with the 50mm 1.8? I've been eyeing it for the better low-light capability and the low cost, but from a lot of reviews and comparisons I can't notice a huge difference in clarity, just DOF.


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premier pro timeline
I need to edit some clips for part of my graduate research to 200ms.
200ms are equivalent to 0.2 seconds.
Does the picture show this as 0.2 seconds?

It looks like you have 25fps (25 frames per second) video, so each frame is 40ms long (1/25 second). That means 5 frames of video would be 200ms. Your image shows a 20 frame clip, so it's 800ms long.

Thank you! How does this look?

@crazygradstudent  That's two frames, or 80ms. The time line indicates hours:minutes:seconds:frames -- 00:00:00:05 is five frames -- so move the marker under ;05 and you'll have it


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After Effects: Generate floating effects (smoke, particles, plasma, light, etc)
how can I creat a effect wich can be seen in this video at 0:19 seconds?

Is it generated in after effects with native effects or AE can't do this without external plugins?
I already know how to make it follow a path, I just want to generate the floating energy, light, etc effect.
maybe it is a pre rendered effect and the company just make it follow a path?
sorry, my english isn't good. btw, Thanks!

This effect can be achieved by using different particle systems.

I've almost done the same thing for TV-show intro. It was done with Red Giant Trapcode Particular plugin, see the result here.
You should move your emitter in 3D space with different particle settings for different effects. Also see this tutorial on how to work with Trapcode Particular.
However Trapcode Particular is pretty expensive. After Effects is shipped with the following built-in particle system effects:

CC Particle Systems II
CC Particle World
Particle Playground

You can try to reach same result with them. But they have poor set of settings.

Whoa! thank you very much!
I didn't know the existence of this plugin until now.
Now I must practice for my job interview test :D


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How Do I can do a live streaming of JPG imagens?
I saw you talking about making videos with jpgs in linux, How can I do a live streaming from videos sent by a security cam?
The cam just send jpgs by ftp even 1seg.

Hi, Daniel, you're probably still getting to know how Stack Exchange works. We don't know who is "you"... Can you link to the question that talks about "making videos with jpgs in linux"? Do you already have any live stream solution? Please, [edit] your question and add more details.

brasofilo is right. Might be a good idea to add more context in oder to get a solid answer. For creating a video by an image sequence via ffmpeg, see: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/7903/how-to-losslessly-encode-a-jpg-image-sequence-to-a-video-in-ffmpeg


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Losing audio/video sync in Adobe Premiere with mp4's
I have two videos to combine in Adobe Premiere. They play okay in a video player, but putting them into Adobe Premiere CS6 suddenly makes the audio unsynced with the video (even in the Source Monitor).
The videos are:

4GB each
1080p @ 60FPS
48 kHZ audio
Codec ID: avc1

Googling indicates this is a common problem. I've tried various fixes that did not fix the issue, such as renaming to .mov.
It records from NVIDIA Shadowplay. I suspect this has to do with the variable framerate. My goal is to keep them 60FPS.
How can I fix this so my audio & video are not out of sync? Even after exporting to a final clip, it's still out of sync.
[EDIT] I'm seeing mentions of using Handbrake to convert the source video first. Is there a way to solve this without having to convert every single video using Handbrake?

I found my answer to this issue here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCmMB5o_mBA

I would strongly suggest that you don't work with mp4/H264 files for sync-sensitive work. Transcode the files and work with those.

There's nothing wrong with H264/MP4 for editing, including syncing work. I've done it hundreds of times.What you don't want is VFR  or streams with many reference frames whose decoding requirements make editing sluggish or throws the NLE's decoder off. A baseline or even main profile CFR H264 stream will do just fine.

Nothing wrong indeed, but safer to work with codecs that are steady and reliable. h264 is really for reviewing.

I only work with NVIDIA Shadowplay. How can I change what it outputs to?

Seems Shadowplay doesn't do constant framerate, so if my methods didn't work, conversion to CFR MP4 is your best option.

Download the 32-bit static build ffmpeg from here and try either of the two methods:
1) regenerate the timestamps
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -fflags genpts new-input.mp4

2) Extract audio, import that separately, align starts in timeline and then check
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a copy input-audio.mp4

I had the same issue on Windows 10 with a Variable Frame Rate (VFR) video recorded using Shadowplay. Here's how I fixed it without requiring to convert the video using Handbrake or any other converter:

Download Apple's Quicktime and install it
Rename the .mp4 file to .dif
Import that .dif file to Adobe Premiere Pro and it should not have any audio/video sync issues

I suspect it works here because Adobe Premiere Pro fails to load the .dif file without Quicktime installed meaning that it uses Quicktime's codecs etc. to deal with the file which can handle VFR. This means that the built in codecs Adobe Premiere Pro uses have an inherent issue with VFR.
For completeness sake, this should fix issues with all VFR MP4 files such as the ones created with Shadowplay, Xsplit, OBS, iPhone, relive etc.

oh my, this works on macOS! This is the golden answer!!!!

Worked for me on Windows 7 64-bit when .mov wouldn't, thanks!

This didn't work for me on Windows 10 with QuickTime 7. I had to re-encode my video using FFmpeg.

You're probably going to need to convert them.  The following methods work for me on a Mac:
Convert them to ProRes 422 Quicktime files first before beginning to edit on them.  Use something like Quicktime Player Pro if Adobe's media conversion is doing strange things.
Then open the converted files in Premiere.
Nudge the audio around until it syncs up at the beginning of the first video clip.  Take a note of how far you had to nudge it to get sync.
Check the end of the file is also in sync.  If it isn't, check the middle of the file... Keep working backwards until you can find out where the sync gets worse.  Each time the sync gets worse, chop the region into two pieces, and re-sync the next piece manually.
It's boring, but it will work.  If the number of frames out of sync is the same in each file, you'll have it done quickly.
Export as ProRes .mov files, then convert from that to whichever lossy format is needed for delivery (e.g. h264 quicktime .mov)

This works for me every time, if you're on windows, put the video into Windows Movie Maker (I know, just listen), after the video is in there, go to File> Save Movie> Recommended For This Project, it will re-save the file (even sometimes mp4 into mp4) try putting that new file in premiere. Guarantee it's going to work :)

Windows Movie Maker is not supported for Windows 10.

For those who have windows 10, here is the link. Download it and simply click on windows movie maker!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=255475

@Spleffie "This site can’t be reached"