text:
Building a presentation video
Hi everyone I am in my last three days before I present my final project for my exam at college everything is ready for the final presentation except a good presentation. At first I made one in Microsoft Power Point but it isn't very cool looking.
I just got an idea for the presentation to create a video that slide's different images that contain information about my project, add some music in the background and at some point the music's volume will be turned lower and an mp3 with me talking will start playing.
Until now it isn't something I could not do in power point although I hope you guys will suggest another software because I also want to add over the presentation another video with me talking and pointing my hand on different subjects from the video. I have never done this before and do not know how am I supposed to cut that part with me talking from one video and add it over another.
Can anyone suggest a good easy to learn software that can achieve this and has an easy learning curve? And also some tutorials on that. Can a beginner like me manage to do it in 3 days?
I would like to make something like this:

Anyone know a tutorial that teaches how to make a similar video?

This video seems very out-of-touch with current advertising and sales videos. It may just be me, but seeing poorly made advertisements (with the fade in of pictures or cheap animations) make me lose interest immediately. If you really want it to stick out, add in some creativity into it. Food for thought.

On this question @hasanyasin and I provided you with alternatives for slideshow presentations. Additionally I place here a part of my answer, just for your convenience:

Anyway, what you wish to do in a video can be achieved by a
  professional non linear editing system, like Sony Vegas or Adobe
  Premiere, of which Sony Vegas is the easiest to learn.
If you are used to Microsoft Based Products (PhotoShop, Corel Draw,
  Office, Movie Maker, etc.) you are almost ready to do it.
The process to place you in front of the moving images, videos,
  transitions, text and other media is called "Chroma Key" and it can be
  reached in the Effects tab of the Sony Vegas 8 (and previous/further
  versions). A video tutorials on how to create the Chroma Key effect
  can be found on youtube by dropping the terms "chroma key sony vegas",
  here is an example:

Basically you work in multi layer. Placing in a time line the elements
  in the order that you wish them to appear on screen, adding a
  background, in/out transitions, and other elements. Remember that the
  top layer will be the "front" element on screen. After which you
  insert your blue/green screen video at the very top, apply the Chroma
  Key effect, choose the dropper and select the background in your
  video, after which you adjust the threshold in order not to appear
  like a ghost in the video.
You will need to use the "Event Pan and Crop" tool in order to create
  the "moving" effect for some static items, like pictures and even if
  you wish your videos to "fly" around the screen. Just run a search in
  youtube with the words "Pan and Crop Sony Vegas" and you will get tons
  of results. Here is an example:

And yes...  you can create awesome results in a couple of hours. Give
  it a try and drop us back a link with your published video.

Good luck!

I think one can do this with some helpers, and if 3 days means working 72 hours.
For getting this result you need:

A editing or compositing software.
A green- or bluescreen- backdrop.
Four adujstable Lightsources.
A room with a depth of about 4-6 meters.


text:
Video Capturing Cards - What to Buy on the Cheap for HD Quality?
Im new to the video and capturing world.  I want to give you the setup.
We will be filming a event with three or two cameras. Then pushing this video to a webserver and stream it live.  We will be using Silverlight HD technology which can stream out at 720HD quality video.
Most likely two cameras will be over cable and then one over wireless.  We currently have not figured out what video cameras we want, but to save on costs, we plan on renting the equipment.  Our budget is also $1,000.  We can push it over the top a little, because once we have the hardware, we will be using it over and over hopefully recouping the costs.
We have a PC figured out for encoding and that will be a desktop with a GTX NVidia Card for GPU processing.  The CPU will run us $550, so over and done with.
So we have about $500 or less for the capturing card(s).

First Question, Can we get away with one capturing card for three cameras?  Or do we need one card per camera?
Second, What cards can we buy on the cheap?  If we need three cards, What cards can we buy for about $125 a piece that can produce HD quality?  If we only need one card, Whats a good card to buy that can produce three video feeds?

All the cards need to connect to a Desktop Machine.  It doesn't really matter how, as we can buy Firewire cards or HDMI cards if needed.
EDIT

Do we need to capture Audio Too? Or will the Capture cards do just that?

Thank you!

1 - No, you will need more than one card.
2 - It's entirely dependant on your motherboard, but where i work we have 2 Black Magic Intensity Pro cards, and they do an excellent job of capturing HD footage over HDMI. They are also relatively cheap, so would suit your needs. They also allow you to run multiple cards in a single system.

The cheapest boards i know:

the elgato game capture HD.
the BMD Intensity series.

In that price-category you will need one board per camera.
You don't need additional HDMI- or FiWi-cards. These boards can capture via HDMI, so there are ports for that signal.
Edit:
Yes, this boards can capture the audiosignal too.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Can QuickTime Pro Edit mp4 files?
I just started trying out Snagit 11 on Windows. It now records screencasts in .mp4 instead of .avi. I thought this would be great but there's a problem. I typically record a screencast and then open it in QuickTime Pro 7.x and edit out the bits I don't want. When I'm done I export to .mp4.  When I tried to do this with the mp4 that Snagit11 created, deleting a few seconds of video would actually delete a couple of minutes. I tried it multiple times and it was very repeatable. It got the starting point of the cut correct but it didn't get the stopping point even close. I'm not sure if this is a problem on the Snagit11 encoding side or on the QT pro side. I've never tried to edit an MP4 before. I don't see why this wouldn't be possible and I can see how I might lose some precision in adjusting playheads on an already compressed format but to miss by a couple of minutes seems a wee bit extreme. Are there any tricks I need to know to edit a video in QTPro that is already in mp4 format?

I think the short answer (one you may have already found) is no! I'm in a similar situation: I write music to picture and used to receive clips as .movs. I could then add final audio myself for showreel/web purposes. Now those clips arrive as mp4 and are useless and unchangeable. I can merge files in QT pro for viewing, but no saves are allowed.
Editing software usually prefers 'linear' formats (aiff or wav for audio, .mov or similar for vids) whereas mp4 is heavily compressed and 'lossy'. Also, the key frame rate is very poor (300 I think) so that might explain some of your edit problems. The only workaround I can find is to open in QT and re-export, but the results are pretty ugly! Saving to mp4 for final product? Why not - it looks pretty and the file sizes are good. Working with mp4 in the edit? Hell no :)

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


text:
exporting .mov vr to multiple still frames
Ive got a quicktime VR in .mov format i need to strip the all still frames (in total there are 250) out of it and have them in as individual images, preferably pngs or jpegs.
I was looking at using quicktime pro for this, is that the right software to do it ? Would you suggest trying another method ?
thanks in advance.

I assume you do not have access to the original files before they were made into a Quicktime VR? It seems you are asking to reverse engineer what Quicktime created, were these converted to make panoramic shots?

hi, the vr is actualy of a 3d model that i rendered in artlantis, unfortunatly they only let you export the quicktime file, not invidual images. Although when rendering the process it goes though is to render 250 seperate images and then combine them together in a quicktime file.

Calling all "artlantis" experts, this has your name on it. :>

@sam Do you have any other software on your computer? (eg. Adobe After Effects)

no, just artlantis studio & imovie

As @user4751 when I do this I just get the key frame once (or repeatedly if I specify a framerate). Has anyone been able to confirm this method or can you advise what else we need to do?

Revisiting this as hadn't cracked it before and got one step further following https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7662805 which has got me as far as getting 97 individual frames out but haven't been able to recombine these to a newer supported format... yet... Has anyone got a working answer?

Using Quicktime Player 7 you can export any movie file as an Image Sequence

Open your .mov file using Quicktime 7
File > Export
In the Export dropdown select Movie to Image Sequence

Open the options and set the export format (eg JPEG or PNG)

If you want just the current frame leave the frames per second blank. Otherwise, enter hte videos frame rate and you will export ALL the frames.

great, thats it qt pro right ?

@sam I'm going to say yes. The computer I have it installed on also has Final Cut studio installed which comes with a Pro licence, so I have no way to test if the export to image sequence option is in the normal version

i think it is, checking the standard version almost all options are greyed out with "pro" written next to them

You can also use MPEG Streamclip which is FREE! (Its also good for files which arent compatible with QT)

Open the movie file with Mpeg Streamclip
Choose File –> Export to other Formats.
In the export options window: go to the Format drop-down menu and choose Image Sequence.
Click Options and choose the image format. (Leave Frame per Seconds at 'best'), click OK.
In 'Frame Size', choose 'unscaled' to leave the image at its original size
Click OK to export

thanks for providing a free alternative. It keeps giving me an error saying the movie is too long, as a vr it dosnt really have a length, but when i click on "get info" it says the duration is 25 seconds which dosnt seem particularly long. Any idea why it might be saying its too long ?

hmm not sure. cant test it myself as I dont have any vrs. But maybe you could try setting an in and out point? (using the I & O keys)

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


text:
.Mov file corrupted after QuickTime Exporting for web
I recently attempted to export a large video file to the web through QuickTime Pro in hopes of uploading it to my web storage account and put on my website. However, when I encoded this .mov file, somewhere in the process it became corrupted and it appears as a much smaller file. I can play the file on my computer locally, but when I upload it to my web storage account I can no longer access/play it. It also appears as a much smaller file. This is the only file of the movie I have on my computer so I find it curious that it plays locally but cannot be accessed online. Please let me know if you have any suggestions as to how to fix this problem. Thank you!

I guess you've uploaded a reference movie file, because this kind of movie is much smaller, and can not play without it's master. What you need is a self-contained movie.
My suggestion: To avoid this, try to export your movie via the "Export…"-Item, but not with "Export for Web…". So you'll get a self-contained movie.


text:
Video Archiving Tool
I'm collecting some video and audio files.
I need a tool to create a searchable archive from them that will be able to store video /audio path, meta data (Name, Director, description,...) and tag them.
Is there an application for this?

Which platform?

Based on research I did for a client here's what I found out.

Canto Cumulus is a desktop app that has a good rep but is relatively
expensive.
iDive is a Mac based app that is relatively cheap but may
not have everything you need or want.
Imagine Products has some good
integrated solutions. I've used their ShotPut Pro software. Their
customer service is very good.
I've purchased and implemented CatDV.
It is simple and has a number of automation features. Basically drag
and drop.

You didn't mention platform. I'm on Apple so my solutions are Mac-centric.

CatDV by SquareBox is a very powerful media archiving program which runs on both windows and mac. We use it at work to catalouge the 100s of video files we ingest daily.
All our editors have the program installed and they can browse the library from their own computer (connecting to a server).
The features we use the most is its ability to import sidecar files (eg .xml)that come with a lot of content providors which contain scripts and timecode markers. When you import the video, CatDv looks for a matching metadata file and imports that info.
You can also do basic edits of footage within the program and then export it to FCP.

Larger Image
The downside of this software is its expensive, so not suitable for personal use.


text:
How can I see each frame of a mpeg transport stream under windows?
I am looking for a tool, preferably free, that will allow me to see and save each frame from MPEG-2 Transport Stream (video/mp2t).

Anything missing?

Take a look at MPEG Streamclip for Windows. It's a very usefull converter. It's free. You can step frame-by-frame thought your TS-Streams, and you can export frames.


text:
Background color of MP4 rendering incorrectly in QuickTime
I am converting a .MOV file into .MP4, .OGV and .WEBM for web use. I have found that the background rendered by QuickTime and Safari is not white although the same MP4 has a white background when viewed with Windows Media Player.
The video is compressed using http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/ which uses ffmpeg (conversion parameters used are listed https://develop.participatoryculture.org/index.php/ConversionMatrix#Output_Formats)
Can anyone tell me why this is and how I would correct the output for QuickTime?

I wonder if your video has an Alpha channel that's creating a partially or fully transparent background. Then each player and codec is displaying that transparency different.

it is a problem with  gamma settings youre using and QT has its own gamma settings, dont bother. it will display only in QT that way...
also check for alphas, but im not so sure that mp4 can support alpha channels... only qt mov with animation codec has alpha.... as i know...

mp4 cant support alpha channels.

It does seem a bit of a problem that videos would not display properly in Safari and on iPads, will do some more searching, would be good to work out how to create a QuickTime version that displayed properly

First thing to consider, Mac OS X and Windows have different gamma setups for screens, so thats a part of your shift in white. Second thing to consider is, what is encoding preset like, third, send us few screenshots from both setups so we can see the difference in white more clearly.


text:
How to record a slide presentation efficiently with video/audio
I am making some video slide presentations (~15-30 minutes) which consists of a lot of animated slides and my voice. I made a test video to see where problems occur when doing such a project. It was a really hard work as I had to sync my video with my prerecorded voice.
How did I do it: I used Apple Keynote to make the presentation, exported it as a video with fixed animated timing, recorded my voice into an audio file, synced the material in Apple Final Cut Pro with manually pausing the video where it would get out of sync with the voice over.
Do you have any instructional sources on doing such a project in a more efficient manner with Mac OS X or have useful experience which you could share with me on this topic?

Did this answer your question? If so, please mark as answered so other are able to refer to it.

"Do you have any instructional sources on doing such a project in a more efficient manner with Mac OS X or have useful experience which you could share with me on this topic?" <- No it didn't

So you didn't check out what @DoktorHauser mentioned? I'm wondering what part of the provided answers didn't answer your question. Because using one of the tools he mentioned would actually solve your problem.
I guess it's not helping though. I post an answer in the main thread to hopefully help you.

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

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

Low Cost Solution

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

Pro Solution

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

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

I worked for several years with dedicated screenrecording software to record live presentations. I've tested a lot of them and there is a lot unreliable software out there. Today i use capture hardware.

Regarding @rich's suggestion... if you don't have Quicktime, will iMovie work instead? Or some other program?

Create your Keynote presentation.
Record your speaking part (separately) with an audio recording program. I recommend Audacity. It's a great free application. You can download Audacity from www.sorceforge.com among other places. You'll also want to get the Audacity LIB file that is needed to export your audio recording to .mp3.
From the Keynote Inspector, under the Document tab, go to the audio section and add your new voice recording file to the soundtrack.
From Keynote, go to File, Record Slideshow. While the audio plays, click through your slides. This is getting the slide change time down.
From Keynote, go to File, Export. Make sure to have the following settings:
Playback Uses: Recorded Timing
Include audio (sound files, movie audio): NOT SELECTED
Include the slideshow soundtrack: NOT SELECTED
Include the slideshow recording: SELECTED
Click next and your Keynote presentation should export to a .mov file (keep in mind, this .mov file has no audio. We'll take care of that in the last steps).
Open the new .mov Keynote presentation in Quicktime Pro.
Open the original .mp3 sound file in Quicktime Pro.
Select All of the .mp3 file and then click CTRL + C to copy it.
Go back to the .mov Keynote file and Select All. Then go up to Edit > Add to Movie. This adds your sound and movie file together.
Finally click on File > Save As. Select Save As A Self-Contained Movie and you're done.

BTW, who is Rich??

As @DoktorHauser mentioned. Using one of the tools he mentioned would actually solve your problem.
I don't really understand why you recorded your voice separately, if the point was to bring the video together with the audio. In that case it would have been much easier to record the audio with the video. (ScreenFlow, Camtasia and any of the tools mentioned are able to record audio from separate audio sources.)
If this didn't answer your question, we simply need more information. Your setup looks overly complicated.

Yes, my setup is very complicated. I have slides with a lot of animations in it (moving objects, text change, dissolving numbers etc.) and a written voice over script which have to sync without errors or pauses as this would make my video to long. The problem I face is that having to speak a text which is ~15-30 min long and at the same time activating the next animation in the right moment is very difficult. I already did that and the recording was medium quality, which I can't publish according to my test audience. Does this clarify enough? Else don't hesitate to ask further questions.

As to DoktorHauser's answer. He didn't give me an instructional resource on how to do such a project in a efficient manner or shared his own experience on how to do such project. He gave me a software and hardware list. For a software list I can go to software.informer.com or even better to mac.appstorm.net/category/reviews/video/ which at least host reviews and comparisons on video editing software. I read his list and know most software a little bit. What puzzles me is why would I use a Ninja Atomos or HyperDeck Shuttle which from my point of view have nothing to do with desktop recording?

@elhombre wrote: "The problem I face is that having to speak a text which is ~15-30 min long and at the same time activating the next animation in the right moment is very difficult." - Thats not a technical problem with the recording, the software or whatever. You simply have to train that. Or find someone who can assist you.

@elhombre wrote: "What puzzles me is why would I use a Ninja Atomos or HyperDeck Shuttle which from my point of view have nothing to do with desktop recording?" - You can use this capture hardware for screen recording. The hardware records directly in Final Cut Pro X (and other NLE) native codecs/formats like ProRes422. This saves a lot of time and discspace. The picture and the audio will be always in sync, and in addition you'll get a recording with smtpe-conform timecode.

I have two screen set up and I record everything live using a blue yeti and the record feature in key note..i use the "show presenter note"  to write the script for the various slides using RED to signify when to click on the advance arrow to trigger an animation - text replace .. etc..  with two screens keynote shows a "live" view and a "preview" view with the notes showing... once its recorded.. i export to imovie for final adjustments. I have been doing it this way for years and I have produced hundreds of hours of video this way...

I agree 100% with recording your voice at the same time as the presentation. That'll save a ton of time in editing.


text:
How can I use FFmpeg to lower the quality of H264 video but keep it in H264 format?
I'm a complete noob to video editing, so forgive me if I ask for something ridiculous.
I'm getting video clips from a set top recorder box.  The clips are AVI files:
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frames Per Second: 60
Video Format: ITU H.264
Audio Format: MPEG 1 Audio, Layer 3 (MP3)

The resolution and FPS are well beyond what I require, so I'm trying to run a command to scale things down:
ffmpeg -i highres.avi -r 30 -s 960x540 lowerres.avi

This is successful in giving me the desired resolution, framerate and lower file size, but it also degraded the quality way more than I expected.
I looked at the new file, and found that for some reason FFmpeg converted the format used:
Video Format: FFmpeg MPEG-4
Audio Format: MPEG 1 Audio, Layer 2

It's unclear to me why it wouldn't use the same output formats as input formats.  I tried to use this command to force it to use H.264:
ffmpeg -i highres.avi -r 30 -s 960x540 -f h264 lowerresforceh264.avi

Unfortunately, it failed with the following output:
ffmpeg version 0.7.3-4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the Libav developers
  built on Jan  4 2012 16:21:50 with gcc 4.6.1
  configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  avutil      configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdirac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-version3 --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-version3 --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  avcodec     configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdirac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-version3 --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-version3 --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  avformat    configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  avdevice    configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  avfilter    configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  swscale     configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  postproc    configuration: --extra-version='4:0.7.3-0ubuntu0.11.10.1' --arch=i386 --prefix=/usr --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-vaapi --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libavutil    51.  7. 0 / 51.  7. 0
  libavcodec   53.  6. 0 / 53.  6. 0
  libavformat  53.  3. 0 / 53.  3. 0
  libavdevice  53.  0. 0 / 53.  0. 0
  libavfilter   2.  4. 0 /  2.  4. 0
  libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
  libpostproc  52.  0. 0 / 52.  0. 0
Input #0, avi, from 'highres.avi':
  Metadata:
    comment         : Quality_GOOD
    encoder         : Lavf52.64.2
    encoded_by      : AverMedia_c281_1.7.2
  Duration: 00:01:59.28, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 10263 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1920x1080, 59.94 fps, 59.94 tbr, 59.94 tbn, 119.88 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 128 kb/s
[buffer @ 0x8f438a0] w:1920 h:1080 pixfmt:yuv420p
[scale @ 0x8f431e0] w:1920 h:1080 fmt:yuv420p -> w:960 h:540 fmt:yuv420p flags:0x4
[libx264 @ 0x8f0fb40] broken ffmpeg default settings detected
[libx264 @ 0x8f0fb40] use an encoding preset (e.g. -vpre medium)
[libx264 @ 0x8f0fb40] preset usage: -vpre <speed> -vpre <profile>
[libx264 @ 0x8f0fb40] speed presets are listed in x264 --help
[libx264 @ 0x8f0fb40] profile is optional; x264 defaults to high
Output #0, h264, to 'lowerresforceh264.avi':
    Stream #0.0: Video: libx264, yuv420p, 960x540, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 30 tbc
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Error while opening encoder for output stream #0.0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height

I'm not sure why I can't do this.  Running "ffmpeg -formats" listed h264 as one it could use for both input and output.
If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it greatly.  Thanks.
PS: I'm using FFmpeg version 0.7.3-4:0.7.3-0 on Ubuntu 11.10.
EDIT
I've found a solution looking at the use of presets.  After looking for information about presets, I found the following tutorial discussing them:
http://juliensimon.blogspot.com/2009/01/howto-ffmpeg-x264-presets.html
I just needed to specify the codec and the proper preset setting like so:
ffmpeg -i highres.avi -r 30 -s 960x540 -vcodec libx264 -vpre medium lowerresforceh264vpremedium.avi

I still have some tweaking to do, but this is basically what I wanted.  Thanks.

I'm trying to help. First, I don't understand why you're saying FFMPEG H.264 is not the input format?
I don't know the FFMPEG command line well enough (is there anyone who does? ;)  ). There's got to be a switch for multipass encoding. I know there are some built-in presets you could probably use and do almost certainly what you're aiming for. These are normally called x264 presets or x264 tune. Can you find anything like that?

Thanks.  Your talk about presets has helped me find a likely solution.  I'll edit the post to show what I did.

Nice solution. Added to my collection of snippets. Thanks.

@BigBeagle: When you find an answer to your question, you can post it as an answer. Editing your question is done to provide more clarity to the question. As I understand, answers go in the answer section.

ffmpeg has removed their x264 presets so the -vpre setting doesn't work any more.
Now, I have a script for converting video files to a format my Cellphone can handle.
ffmpeg -i input.avi -sws_flags lanczos+accurate_rnd -vf "scale=320:240" -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -preset veryslow -profile:v main -tune fastdecode -c:a copy output.mkv

I'll explain each option
-sws_flags lanczos+accurate_rnd this option is the downscaling algorithm, lanczos is recommended as it produces the least artifacts without bluring but it is slow.
-vf "scale=..." is self explanatory specify the output resolution
-crf 20 this is the quality, 20 is a good final (don't use it before editing) output setting, this is constant quality and is the best option when file size isn't tight and will produce better quality at lowest file size than anything else, otherwise use two pass for maximum quality at a specific file size(like needing to fit it on a CD or DVD), fixed bitrate (ex. -b 2000k) should only be used when streaming, a special case is '0' which is lossless and range of this option is from 1 (highest quality) to 50 (lowest quality).
A good test for this is to run through the encode with -crf 20 take note of the bitrate, and then use that as the -b setting for a 2nd version of the file both should be the same file size, compare the two for quality differences.
-preset veryslow this chooses how much CPU you want to use, the slower it is the smaller the file size and better quality.
-profile:v main this is the H.264 profile to use. high is the most efficient file size wise but uses lots of CPU to decode compared to the other formats, that being said its the most popular as most cellphones have a hardware decoder built in and flash player supports it, mine does not so I have to use main.
-tune fastdecode my cellphone doesn't like playing the files without this option, but usually this can be left blank or set to 'film' for videos games, the main reason you use this is to get a little extra quality.
And last thing I would highly recommend using a modern container format .avi isn't designed to hold H.264 and from what I understand there's no standard for storing H.264 or making the file larger than 2GB, most implementations are hacks and prone to have problems, use mkv or mp4.

The presets for libx264 are now specified by -preset as in -preset slow

-tune fastdecode disables deblocking, and weighted B and P frames, as well as CABAC.  There are decoders that can handle B frames, but not CABAC?  I would suggest -profile:v baseline, if you need to target old hardware decoders.  (fastdecode could be useful if targetting a software decoder on a slow CPU, but not a hardware decoder.)  Main with B frames but no deblocking or CABAC might or might not look better than baseline with deblocking.   +1 for recommending not-AVI for storing h.264.  IIRC, the main is B frames, but yeah h.264 in avi is not well standardized, and it's hacky.

I'd call -crf 20 a high final. You can change that to 22 or even 24 and probably be fine, unless it's high motion, like a sports event.

There are some things to make clear:

A format is not a codec; you want to get a file in avi format with video encoded with h264 codec. Just use -vcodec libx264 and a filename with .avi. Ffmpeg should recognize a format by looking at a file extension, but you may also be specific adding -f avi. You definetely not want to use mpeg1, because it gives worse quality than mpeg2 or even worse comparing with mpeg4, which I reccomend.
Your problem was that ffmpeg just used the lowest possible quality because you didn't specify any. The -sameq option rarely seems to work for me. In fact, it is very handful to set the bitrate manually. Add, for example, -vb 3000k to get a file with average video bitrate of 3Mb/s, which gives quite good quality. I guess it would be even enough for you to have 2Mb/s for the mentioned resolution.
The key to lowering filesize is not resolution, but bitrate mentioned above. I would rather stick to the original resolution and just manipulate the bitrate.
I guess you also want to keep the audio without conversion (so without quality loss), so use -acodec copy.

Try this:
ffmpeg -i highres.avi -acodec copy -vcodec libx264 -vb 2000k lowerres.avi

Constant bitrate is the worst (in terms of quality vs. size) of all rate control modes in x264 and should be avoided. Use -crf to set a constant quality mode instead.


text:
What should I look for in a video capture device from a Satelite Reciever to PC?
i wish Audio-Video Production is correct Q&A site for that question.
I have a Satelite Reciever and i want to watch the broadcast on my Laptop, i will not use my TV anymore.
I have two options to capture the video stream,

Easycap Capture Adapter
Analog USB TV Tuner

but i want to learn that which one is better solution related to performance, easiness, quality ? Or, is there any better solution that you can advice?
Thanks.

Questions involving a comparison of products don't work so well on this stack exchange site.  Please re-word the question to something more like "What should I look for in a video capture device".

Thanks for taking the time to edit the question.  I think it will work a bit better now.

The Easycap Capture adapter is simply a video capture device with no TV tuner, so you would not be able to receive any TV signal.
I would recommend the USB TV tuner.  I'm not sure whether you will need an Analog or Digital tuner as this will vary according to where you live (here in the U.S. all stations are now Digital).  If you are putting this into a desktop computer you can get an internal TV Tuner card.  Hauppage makes a few good ones that will work with Windows, both internal and USB.  Their products also come with software to allow you to watch and record TV.  They should also work with other programs.
Edit:
As for performance the TV Tuner and the Video capture card should be about the same.  The TV tuner is in hardware and the video capture for both is also in hardware.  If you are concerned about performance, your best bet is to get a device that has a hardware MPEG-2 encoder (usually an internal card).  With my Hauppage card with built in encoding, I was able to watch TV and record without any serious performance hit to anything else I was doing at the time.

I've thought to use Easy Capture Adapter because i'll use DVI output of my reciever. And i think this way of streaming is analog but i just wonder that which way is preferable about the performance, easiness, quality?

They should be about the same.  The TV tuner and the video capture are both in the hardware.  See my updated answer for details.


text:
Video clip is smaller dimensions than project. How to change the color of extra space?
I may be asking the question in an unclear way, because I come from an audio and graphics background. Apologies in advance. Hope this is makes sense...
My Final Cut Pro X project is 960x720, and I'm putting a clip on top of it that's larger, but scaled down using "Spacial conform" so it fits vertically, and there are black stripes to the left and right of the clip.
The clip is a Powerpoint and it's got a white background, so I'm using "Stencil Luma" blend to put a nice animated video behind the text. The effect is nice, but the black bars to the right and left of the clip prevent the animation from showing underneath those black bars.
I simply want those black bars to go away, or become white, so that the background video won't be clipped while the front video is on the timeline.
Solutions?

What video editing suite are you using?

Final Cut Pro X. Good thing to mention. :)

I should have picked that up with the tag. Sorry, I don't use FCPX, but in most pro editors you could try masking out the bars, or have you tried reversing the top vs. bottom layer, then mask the upper layer to only allow what you want to show over the bottom layer.

@filzilla, I ended up going with your advice of finding a different way to mask and putting the "background" layer on top. If you write that as an answer, I'll mark it as the response. :)

Unfortunately you can't create a project of any size. Larry Jordan posted a workaround, which doesn't solve you're problem.
There was a tutorial that showed how you can have sequence of any size in FCPX (and thus removing black bars), but I can't find it at the moment. (EDIT: I found it! Creative Cow) I remember what you need to do though:

Go to the event library and pick a clip that has the final clips' resolution.
Make a backup copy of said clip (right click, copy&paste)
Right click and choose Open in timeline.
Drag another clip into the timeline.

This creates what is called a compound clip. Compound clips can be handled like projects, but can have any frame size. A special icon in the Event Library shows you that the clip is actually a Compound Clip.
As long as there are at least two clips in the timeline, the clip's going to be a Compound.
If you really really really rather work with a project and want to have a custom background to cover up the black bars. I suggest to drag a solid color generator from the effects/generators section underneath your Main Storyline.

Sorry, not trying to change the size of the project itself (though that was enlightening advice), but I'm trying to figure out how to change  the "matte" (or whatever those black bars to either side of a clip are called), when the clip is smaller than the project.

If you keep on reading, I'm actually giving you an answer how to change the black bars to either side.
If you don't know how the black bars are called. Simply search on Google. (I didn't mean to sound snarky.)

I tried using a color generator, but it didn't work with the masking. Whether the generator was above or below the clip didn't make a difference, because the black bars were still present.

And you scaled the generator to the size of your canvas? (i.e. so big that the background is covered entirely)

Of course. The only way I could make this work was to put the "background" clip (a video loop) above the other clip, and mask that clip. I then put generators of the same color as the background of the smaller clip (the clip with the content) to either side of it to make it work. The effect works, though it's less than ideal.


text:
What's a good camera to shoot a low-budget short film with?
My budget is around $750. So far I have come up with Canon 550D and I think it's a great choice to shoot a low-budget short film. I am just seeking your advice to see if there is any better alternative I can use with this budget. Cameras with Flip-out screen are preferred. Any advice would be appreciated!

The short answer is anything that works for you. IMO, the 550D is a fine choice if it works for you.
The long answer? Even if you need to postpone the film, make sure your script is FLAWLESS. Shooting with a Red can't save an awful script, but I've seen some ~awesome~ shorts & features shot with a Fisher Price PXL-2000 and the Flip.
Beyond that, understand lighting. Know where your light is coming from and how to use it to make your scenes less muddy or grainy (unless that's what you're going for stylistically). Consumer camcorders are less light-sensitive than their professional brethern.
Also, make sure you can record decent sound. In most cases, on-board microphones are crap. That being said, bad sound makes a mediocre script awful. amazing sound can make mediocre scripts a touch less painful to watch.
One other thing you may want to try: network with other filmmakers and see what they're using. See if you can rent or borrow cameras to see what you like to work with. Who knows? I've shot films and donated my gear to the cause because the script was AWESOME. You may run into someone who's willing to support your vision with a camera donation.
But start with your script.

Thanks for your response. FYI, I found Canon 650D a better option.


text:
Adobe After Effects - Script - How to move puppet pins relative to some other pin/layer anchor?
I want to move some puppet pins relative to an anchor point.
Is there a simple script that does the math and makes the pin move with the anchor of a different layer?
This stuff seems pretty basic but I couldn't find any good scripts or explanations on how to do this efficiently.
Could someone please help with this?
Currently I have a very dumb solution, I just put a hidden shape layer over both the puppet pin and the layer I want the pin to move with. Then I parented the anchor point of this shape layer with the anchor point of the original layer, then I added a puppet pin onto the shape layer and parented the old puppet pin I want to move to the puppet pin on the shape layer.
Basically bridging the gap between the the pin and the original layer.

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


text:
FFMPEG duplicates the first frame when encoding
Using ffprobe shows that both videos have the same framecount, still if I extract the frames as images the compressed one has an extra frame at the beginning (which is just the duplicated first frame).
This causes me a lot of problems since I have to compute the frame differences between the two videos and having an extra frame makes everything out of sync.
Input
ffmpeg -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -an -f mpeg2video -y "720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg"

Output
ffmpeg version N-76684-g1fe82ab Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.2.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --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-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-decklink --enable-zlib
  libavutil      55.  6.100 / 55.  6.100
  libavcodec     57. 15.100 / 57. 15.100
  libavformat    57. 14.100 / 57. 14.100
  libavdevice    57.  0.100 / 57.  0.100
  libavfilter     6. 15.100 /  6. 15.100
  libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
Input #0, avi, from '720p50_mobcal_ter.avi':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf57.14.100
  Duration: 00:00:10.08, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 552974 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (I420 / 0x30323449), yuv420p, 1280x720, 554059 kb/s, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 50 fps, 50 tbr, 50 tbn, 50 tbc
Output #0, mpeg2video, to '720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf57.14.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 50 fps, 50 tbn, 50 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc57.15.100 mpeg2video
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo (native) -> mpeg2video (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=   41 fps=0.0 q=31.0 size=     984kB time=00:00:00.78 bitrate=10330.5kbits/frame=   80 fps= 78 q=31.0 size=    1323kB time=00:00:01.56 bitrate=6948.1kbits/frame=  124 fps= 80 q=31.0 size=    1725kB time=00:00:02.44 bitrate=5790.0kbits/frame=  168 fps= 81 q=31.0 size=    2084kB time=00:00:03.32 bitrate=5142.8kbits/frame=  212 fps= 81 q=31.0 size=    2482kB time=00:00:04.20 bitrate=4841.4kbits/frame=  255 fps= 82 q=31.0 size=    2840kB time=00:00:05.06 bitrate=4597.2kbits/frame=  296 fps= 82 q=31.0 size=    3133kB time=00:00:05.88 bitrate=4364.5kbits/frame=  338 fps= 82 q=24.8 size=    3453kB time=00:00:06.72 bitrate=4209.2kbits/frame=  382 fps= 82 q=31.0 size=    3723kB time=00:00:07.60 bitrate=4013.4kbits/frame=  426 fps= 83 q=31.0 size=    4005kB time=00:00:08.48 bitrate=3869.1kbits/frame=  470 fps= 83 q=24.8 size=    4276kB time=00:00:09.36 bitrate=3742.5kbits/frame=  504 fps= 83 q=31.0 Lsize=    4469kB time=00:00:10.06 bitrate=3639.3kbits/s
video:4469kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.000000%

My current solution is to trim the compressed video before computing the differences, but this involves re-encoding and quality loss, making the results useless.
To make the question a bit more complete, here's the commands that I'm using to trim and compute the differences:
ffmpeg -y -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg" -an -f mpeg2video -vf select=gte(n\,1) "cut-720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg"

ffmpeg -y -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -i "cut-720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg" -filter_complex "blend=all_mode=difference,hue=s=0" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "differences.mpg"

The question is: how can I avoid having the first duplicated frame? If this can't be avoided, is there a way to remove it without re-encoding the video or just skipping it while computing the differences?
EDIT:
Following @Mulvya's answer, I tried his suggestion but it doesn't work somehow. I understand that it's hard to find the problem without having the video file so, instead, I'm posting a screenshot with the first 4 frames of each video to help you visualize my issue.

As you can see, the compressed video has a grey third frame that messes up the differences.
The reason behind this edit is that I'm sure that the given answer should work, at least from my understanding on how filter mappings work, but it probably doesn't work because the issue here is not what I thought it was.
I expect to have an almost black third frame on the differences video, and not the full frame from the original one.
EDIT 2: Tried the new solution which somehow worked the first time but now it doesn't anymore.
Here's the list of the commands that I'm using, the result is still the same of the screenshot but now the problem has moved to the second frame instead of the third one (basically it's like how the screenshot would be without the 00000.png frames)
ffmpeg  -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -an -f mpeg1video -y "compressed.mpg"
ffmpeg  -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -vf fps=50 "original\image-%05d.png"
ffmpeg  -i "compressed.mpg" -vf fps=50 "compressed\image-%05d.png"
ffmpeg  -y -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -i "compressed.mpg" -filter_complex "[1:v]trim=start_frame=1,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS[cut];[0:v][cut]blend=all_mode=difference,hue=s=0" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "differences.mpg"
ffmpeg  -i "differences.mpg" -vf fps=50 "differences\image-%05d.png"

The source video that I'm using is here just in case you may want to try it yourself.

I had this problem too with latest zeranoe binary. Solved by using the fps filter for output.

You can skip that first frame during the computation process.
ffmpeg -y -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg" -filter_complex "[1:v]trim=start_frame=1,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS[cut];[0:v][cut]blend=all_mode=difference,hue=s=0" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "differences.mpg"

Edit: as requested, added the commands I used to reproduce the behaviour but I didn't experience the problem.
ffmpeg -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.y4m" -c:v copy "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi"
ffmpeg -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -c:v mpeg2video "720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg"
ffmpeg -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg" -filter_complex blend=all_mode=difference,hue=s=0 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 "differences.mp4"

ffmpeg -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.avi" avi\frames%03d.png
ffmpeg -i "720p50_mobcal_ter.mpg" mpg\frames%03d.png

My ffmpeg build, taken from Zeranoe
ffmpeg version N-77380-g2dba040 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.2.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --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-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-decklink --enable-zlib
  libavutil      55. 11.100 / 55. 11.100
  libavcodec     57. 18.100 / 57. 18.100
  libavformat    57. 20.100 / 57. 20.100
  libavdevice    57.  0.100 / 57.  0.100
  libavfilter     6. 21.100 /  6. 21.100
  libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100

While I'm sure that your answer is correct, it didn't work for some reasons and I updated the question to provide more details that may be useful.

Reset the PTS as per the edited command and check.

Edited the OP again because I still have issues.

Will take a look at source video.

Can't reproduce problem. Frames in alignment here. See http://www.datafilehost.com/d/8b05aaaf

What's your command to generate AVI?

It's been a while but I think I used this one ffmpeg -i input.y4m -an -vcodec rawvideo -y output.avi because I need it to be uncompressed. I'm not that sure tho, su maybe it will help if you post the command that you used to build the .avi.

ffmpeg -i input.y4m -c:v copy output.avi  -- the input video stream is already rawvideo, so AVI generation is not needed. Try a newer build of ffmpeg.

Recreated the AVI with your command and updated to latest build, still no differences from the previous results. Can you please write all the commands that you used to get to your differences video? Maybe there's something wrong in how I compress the video.

I get identical results with a mpeg1video transcode and compare as with mpeg2video

I've no idea why this happens, but with your encoding command everything works fine so I'll accept your answer.

I further analyzed this issue and found that, it exists even with 2.8.1 version of ffmpeg. But surprisingly first frame is duplicated only while transcoding input video with 23.976 fps!!! When I transcode video with any other fps (24, 25, 29.976, 30) initials frames seems fine.


text:
How to clean GoPro footage?
Is there a good technique to do lens correction, rolling shutter removal and stabilisation on GoPro footage.
If you start by rolling shutter correction, the filter seek for straight edges and cannot find them.
If you start by lens correction, the image is distorded so rolling shutter could not be corrected.

For the rolling shutter issue, you can check AE CS6 built in tool, Effect > Distort > Rolling Shutter Repair, if you haven't already. This basic tool is useful in some of the shuts but in more action packed footage (this is the case i think), you can try The Foundry's ROLLINGSHUTTER plug-in, which is more powerful. And there is a Virtualdub plugin, Deshaker, claimed to fix the rolling shutter artifacts, but i couldn't test it on my own, worth trying.
For the lens correction, there are built in stuff in AE CS6 (and probably in Premier Pro, i'm not sure though), Effect > Distort > Optics Compensation. Play around with the Field of View parameter along with the others. You'll have some loss in quality yet you may find the correct balance after some experimentation.
You can try first adding the rolling shutter fix, precomp the footage, then add the lens correction or vice versa.

For reducing the fisheye effect I used http://www.crumplepop.com/fisheyefixer/ with pretty good results.


text:
Why is my video alternating between blurry and sharp?
I notice this on a regular basis while watching videos I've downloaded. The image will alternate pretty quickly between blurry and sharp and sometimes the effect is quite drastic. Below is an example image of a tree and the difference between two frames.

What is this effect called and why does it happen? I'm fairly certain it has to do with compression but what is going on?
If you receive a video like this and there's nothing you can do with how it was rendered or processed, is there anything you can do after the fact to minimize the effect? Settings in your video player maybe?
This particular screen shot was taken in Windows Media Player on Windows 7 playing an AVI file. The effect is still visible in VLC and I first noticed this while playing video through my PS3 off a harddrive. I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly certain that it's happened on multiple file types as well.

You could help us work it out if you provide some more information. What player are you using? What quality are the videos you are downloading? What platform are you running these on?

The effect that you've seen is a side effect of the compression algorithm that was used to encode the video.
The most common compression algorithms (MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 among them) compress different frames with different methods, and that is why two very close and relatively similar frames may look so different.
The frame that looks pretty good is likely a keyframe. This is a frame that has all its pixels represented in the encoded stream. The compression introduces some loss of quality, but since the whole image is encoded the result typically looks good.
The image that looks bad is a frame that is not fully represented in the encoded stream. To make videos smaller, for certain parts of the picture the encoder references parts of previous frames that the player/decoder keeps stored in memory, so only the parts that are different are stored for the frame. Because of this these frames end up being a sort of collage. If the bitrate is too low, then you end up with really washed up images like the one you show. But increasing the bitrate enough helps dissimulate this effect, to the point that it is barely or not noticeable. Consider that all the TV that you watch (digital over the air, satellite, FIOS, cable, etc.) is encoded in this way.
For MPEG-2 it is common practice to insert a keyframe in the stream every half a second (15 frames for 29.97fps video, 12 frames for 25fps). For H.264 sometimes they go even longer than half a second.
In general, the image quality of a compressed video is at its highest at the keyframe points, and then slowly starts to degrade, going up again with the next keyframe.
For a more detailed explanation of frame types used in compression algorithms see the Wikipedia article Video compression picture types.
Unfortunately a player cannot improve the quality of the video, since the problem is that the information to reproduce the frame with better quality isn't there. The only ways to address this is by increasing the bitrate when encoding and/or increase the number of keyframes.
On the player side I think the only thing you can do is play the video in a smaller window, so then these artifacts will be less visible.


text:
Reverse engineering: which video editing software was used on this video?
With my staff we have to create a video similar to

We have to start from scratch, buying the software and involving some experienced people.
Which kind of software you think would allow us to make a video like the one of CERN's guys?
In particular a feature I think we need is the possibility of having multiple videos on the screen.
Example: a box with someone talking on the uppre left corner, while some images go on in the main screen.
--UPDATE 1 --
The OS I'm using is Mac OS. If needed I can surely switch to linux, and also to windows 7 (but I would avoid this last option).
Our level in video editing is not really high, hovever I'm a so-called ICT person so I don't usually get lost with new software. But of course a  software with a steep learning curve do not fit well to our needs, because I would take one month just to learn it.
We were looking at Pinnacle studio or iMovie.
Pinnacle has the video-wall feature which is great, iMovide allows for box where people is talking while images go on on the main background screen.

Could you state for which OS you want to buy software? This makes it easier to answer the question.

Sorry if my question sounds rude but... in which grade are you and your staff? Please also provide details on your experience and skills (of everyone) It will be useful in order to suggest you software alternatives (open source and freeware) based on what you can do. Any NLES can do this video and we can say our own opinion based on our experiences but the results will always depend on the skills of the people involved. Thank you.

Adobe After Effects is an obvious answer, but Animoto might be a solution. It's a web application that allows you to make video slideshows and could be easier and cheaper. Also, Adobe Creative Cloud is worth a look for monthly access to CS6 tools as an alternative to bigger spending for the standard license.

In the question the feature of picture-in-picture is mentioned as something the asker wants. I don't think After Effects is necessary. Simpler tools like iMovie, Windows Movie Maker and this http://www.rehanfx.org/pip.htm (no affiliation whatsoever) could be enough. Of course more detail is needed in the question to say for sure.

Hey Bart, I can't speak for iMovie but I know for sure you can not composite with Windows Movie Maker or the more recent Live Movie Maker. The CERN video has a least 4 layers of video going on perhaps as many as 5.

iMovie's built-in themes do this kind of moving overlay.  To be sure, you have to pick one of the built-in themes, but iMovie does it well for its limited selection.

@GeppettvsD'Constanzo & BartArondson I updated the quesion. Is that enough?

If you're on a Mac iMovie is most likely pre-installed so you don't have to buy it. iMovie '09 can do picture-in-picture and iMovie '11 can also do side-by-side movies. I'm not familiar with Pinnacle studio, but if you're going to spend money anyway look into the monthly acces to Adobe CS6 as @LordNeckbeard already stated.

With a 99% chance After Effects was used here.
As long as you plan on doing a commercial video I would avoid home video production programs like iMovie at all costs. Specially because iMovie is made for cutting video and not making animations. That's like making a commercial in Windows Movie Maker.
There are many many talented freelancing After Effects animation artists out there who will make you this kind of animation with ease if you don't want to learn the software yourself.
More info on After Effects here on the Adobe website.

where could I found talented freelancing After Effects animation artists? on odesk maybe? can you suggest something?

You could look if you find someone on http://services.creativecow.net/
The site is mostly visited by Video and Animation professionals. You could also create a "hiring thread" in the job forum of cgsociety, though they have an focus on 3D rather than 2D but I'm sure you will find talented 2D animations artists there aswell: http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=319

UPDATE:
I may be a bit overboard on the hardware and software targets. Taking a second and third look at your example video tells me that yes there is some animation s/w but the composite level does not appear to be as intense as I first thought. In any event you won't go wrong with the h/w I recommended but if you are on a budget you may be able to scale it back some. Certainly the basic system should be at least a i5 core 64 bit machine with at least 12 GB. Again, asking the folks that are actually going to edit your video should be the most important input on what s/w and h/w will work for them. I am assuming that you are going to have seasoned professional editors to do this work as the work you are targeting is not trivial nor is it something that you can learn fast.
The CERN video has more than one piece of software in it as there is a ton of animation, and a ton of compositing as well as multi synchronized track motion not to mention some very good motion graphic titles.
I would not start with buying software. Instead I would let the expert people you hire to choose the software they know and trust to get the job done.
Likely they will ask for one or more of the following and then some animation tools that will plug into these. You don't mention hardware but to render something like this CERN video you will need at least an Intel  third generation i7 Core 64 bit CPU with a great GPU card that has 1 GB or more local memory and 16GB to 24 GB for system memory.
For Windows systems: Avid, Adobe Premier, Vegas Pro, and additionally Adobe After Effects no matter what editor you use.
For MAC systems: Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects.
Again, let your experts decide on the tools they need, don't hoist some one else's opinion on them.

I'm not an expert on this, but isn't the hardware requirement a bit too much? Of course the hardware you mention would make it all go much smoother, but it's not a necessity right?

You might get away with less, but I think the key is to make it easy and not spend more time than needed to wait for a render. The most important aspect is to have a 64 bit machine with at least 16 GB, E.G. my 32 bit quad core running Vegas Pro will barf if I put more than 5 video tracks on it for compositing. The CERN video has considerably more tracks, so hence more horsepower is needed.


text:
What makes iMovie 11 crash when exporting a project?
I'm making a short movie with iMovie.
From time to time (more than once per day) I export it in medium format.
I did it with my last version, then I refined the video and when exporting again iMovie started crashing.
After lot of hacking, reading (this great post for instance, which gives multiple very useful solutions), I understood that the cause was some corrupted video.
I crashes probably in the part where I included some video produced with iMovie itself. So, I create a temp project with iMovie, and I export it to use the exported video in my MAIN project.
I removed it and now it works. If I include it again it sometimes crashes, and it is the weird thing:
I never changed this video, and when I include it again some time the project is exporting well, sometimes not (it seems a not-reproducible issue! crazy!).
Hence I have the following questions:

is it possible to 'repair' the video which make the project crash?
is there a way to understand, from the error report, WHICH WAS THE PART CAUSING THE CRASH?
iMovie is great but I think it is still somewaht a toy. So if I buy final cut pro x, can I import iMovie videos without getting crazy?

-- UPDATE --
The followings are not  possible solutions:

Removing the "organic" title (I'm not using it)
clean the preferences entry in the library folder (com.apple.iMovieApp.plist), I've already tried it

You can try to convert the defunct video to a different codec. Use something Lossless like ProRes, if you can, or Motion JPEG. Then put the clip back into your project.
I had this problem once in FCP7 for about a week. It didn't go away until I re-recorded that video (which was painful, but in my case, doable). I wouldn't suggest such a radical solution in your case though. There's a lot you can still try. Read the linked post. Basically what I did was: "circumvent or force media conversion at different production stages".
You can also open Console and take a look at the log when the app is crashing. That normally gives hints what is going on in the background.

Do you have suggestion about a good converter (free is better!)? Thanks

Yes, try HandBrake or Adapter for "end product" conversion and MPEG Streamclip for "in production" (ProRes, Animation, MJPEG) conversion.

Zett, how can you get hints from the log? any suggestion? It seems to me it gives  a lot of information about the threads, the libraries... but not many indicaiton on where the problem happened (just having the exact time where the problem was generated would be of great help).

Look on the left where it says ~/Library/Logs and User Diagnostic Reports. I assume there's something somewhere inside. If not you can always type the apps' name in the search field.

I think I found the problem!!!! This has nothing to do with the video. It's the lettering. Some lettering makes it crash! The good news is that it crashes also when you play it from iMovie editor, so can know it doesn't work before  exporting it.

Hey, glad you found the problem! Hope you can fix your video soon. :D

I've solved the same problem by removing all animations of my introduction. I hope this is helpful for future problems.


text:
What are or where to find SDI record start/stop ancillary packet specification for Sony, Red or Panasonic
SDI video coming out of cameras can trigger the video recorder to start and stop via ancillary packets usually contained in the HANC space.  I've found the ARRI specification for this packet in their white paper Metadata_in_the_ALEXA.pdf, but not all recorders work with it.  Where to find the packet specification for Sony, Red and/or Panasonic?
EDIT:
After contacting a manufacturer, I found out that a popular way to flag record is to set the MSB bit of binary group 1 of the RP188 timecode ancillary packet.

I couldn't find specific details, but it appears that ancillary data on SDI in general conforms to SMPTE 291M.  I couldn't find any details about the specific implementations used for deck control.  It appears like there could potentially be some variation between manufacturers or even particular decks since the ancillary space doesn't seem to be that regulated other than specifying what it shouldn't step on with the main signal.

Thanks AJ, I did find another way some camera manufacturers like RED signal record: a bit in the RP188 timecode ancillary packet - the MSB of binary group 1.


text:
How to create a ragdoll effect on a human?
I make an action(combat) short-length film and I use After Effects and 3DS MAX to edit it.
I want to make a battle scene where the one guy hits another guy and the second one is thrown away like a ragdoll.Could anyone please give me some advices or guide how to do an effect like this?
The following video resembles a good example of the effect that i am trying to create.

The only way i found effective is to crop the "ragdoll" guy and manipulate it by using the puppet tool (from after effects)...Also blur would hide the fake effect...
Thank you! :)
P.S.:The following 2 links are samples of the film that I am making!Hope you enjoy it!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48212109/the_battle_final.flv
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48212109/the_battle_part6.flv

Yes, you'd have to make a fake solution to this if you're not able to do it in 3DS Max. If you are however, you can make a model of the "ragdoll" and animate it all.

@50ndr33
Thanks for your response!
Well,despite the fact that I am a beginner on 3DS Max i am looking for some tutorials based on ragdoll effect in 3DS Max.
Ok!Let's say that i create a ragdoll in 3DS Max..Can i put on them clothes or at least different colors on the torso and the legs in order to be identical to the real human?
P.S. Am I allowed to  post a link of a youtube video here?Its a good example to show you how i want the effect to be like..
Thank you! :)

Here's how to post a link to a Youtube video.

@GeorgTsabou I watched a  40 hours long training series on Autodesk Maya a couple of years ago, and I know how to use it very simple, but I've never really used it more than the trial I got. Yes, you would make the "doll", and put on it the clothes you want. Autodesk 3D software is exceptionally good at making it look real. (IF you are good at it, at least.) Try to recreate the reality. I'm sorry that I can't help you more. I can only say, a 3D program will do the best job, if you can handle it.

it's not super realistic but this tutorial uses the puppet tool in AE to simluate a ragdoll effect as the dude is crumpled over the hood.
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/advanced_car_hit/

thanks for the link!Although I have already seen this tutorial by Andrew Kramer I find it very useful!! For now I am searching for a tutorial on ragdoll effect in 3DS MAX environment!But if you find anything else you can post it here! :)


text:
ffmpeg overlay image moving is choppy
Using overlay to move a image from left to right feels very stuttery, as if it's moving every 0.5 second instead of per frame.
Complete:
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -loop 1 -r 2 -i 'bg.png' -i 'centerpiece.png' -t 30 -c:v libx264 -filter_complex "[1:v]scale=iw*2.2:ih*2.2[scaled_cen],[0:v][scaled_cen]overlay=(main_w-overlay_w)/3+(t*10):(main_h-overlay_h)/2,format=pix_fmts=yuv420p" -r 30 output.mp4

The important part is this:
[scaled_cen]overlay=(main_w-overlay_w)/3+(t*10):(main_h-overlay_h)/2

According to the ffmpeg docs, t is evaluated in seconds, but I've read elsewhere that its evaluated in MS, in any case I'd like my centerpiece to move a little bit every frame.
Here's the result of the command showing the choppyness:
https://i.imgur.com/PN4Ji1P.mp4
So far i've tried things like the blur filter and minterpolate but I'm guessing the problem resides in getting t more granular or doing tricks with the fps.
===EDIT====
After applying the answer of Mulvya it still seemed a bit jittery, but adding:
tblend=average,framestep=2,setpts=0.25*PTS

at the end of the filter but before the format filter seems to do the trick.

The overlay filter draws on each base or 'main' frame as given; it does not create new frames.
In your command,
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -loop 1 -r 2 -i 'bg.png' ...

The -r 2 sets the main video's framerate to 2, hence the result.
Use
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -loop 1 -framerate 30 -i 'bg.png' ...

Yep, that's it! I remember adding -r 30 in front of the command but I completely missed that I also had the -r 2 in there, so it just got overridden. Thanks!


text:
Blackmagic design cards on Linux
Which ones of the BlackMagic design cards do I need to run DaVinci Resolve normally on Linux ?
I need at the very least to have audio and video playback, and video encoding.
I don't plan to connect to any hardware for input or output.
This is just to make a video out of a series a pictures and some audio files.


text:
Very simple question: converting DVD/VOB to (say) AVI
I recently converted an old 90-minute VHS to DVD. I then copied the DVD files onto my PC: VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.IFO, VIDEO_TS.VOB, VTS_01_0.BUP, VTS_01_0.IFO, VTS_01_1.VOB (1GB), VTS_01_2.VOB (1GB), and VTS_01_3.VOB (938MB). I can open VIDEO_TS.IFO with VLC media player and watch the entire video. No problem.
But when I try to convert the VOB files to AVI, I get problems. VTS_01_1.VOB only has nine seconds, and VTS_01_2.VOB only has ten seconds! VTS_01_3.VOB has only the last 26 minutes of the video. The software I've tried includes Windows Live Movie Maker, Convert VOB to AVI, and VOB to AVI: they all generate the same problems.
I just want the video in a single easy-to-watch file. Does anyone know what to do? Thanks.

That's a bad idea. You are converting the already-poor-quality video to the AVI format, known to be lossy.

I suggest you use Handbrake. It's one of the best transcoders I know of, and have used it myself many times to convert DVDs to video files.
It is pretty simple and straight forward to use, but if you need any help/guidance this page covers pretty much all you need to know.
Have fun! And if you have any further doubts don't hesitate to comment.
Kevin.


text:
How do I recover truncated AVI/DV video?
Short version: I believe I have truncated but otherwise valid AVI/DV files that won't play in any player I've tried (Adobe Premiere, MPC HC, VLC). I assume the stream data is intact but truncated, and the container is damaged. Are the files still recoverable and how would I accomplish this?
Long version: Having finished a recording from a Sony AnyCast workstation with two cameras to a FireWire hard disk drive, I accidentially unplugged the hard disk drive without "disconnecting" (unmounting) it first.
The result was a corrupted ext3 filesystem that would not mount under the Windows Ext2 IFS setup I was using to download the videos, so I connected the hard disk to a Linux laptop and ran e2fsck on it. After this, I was able to list the directory and copy the files, but the files appeared corrupted.
I'm working under the assumption that I've only lost some data at the end of the two video files. (This might prove false as e2fsck might have wrecked havoc on them.) That would mean I have 1,5 hours (x2) of unscathed DV stream. Unfortunately, my layman analysis concludes that these lost bits must have contained some information vital to the container format.
Note that all I have are the files copied to an NTFS volume from the fsck'ed ext3 volume. I no longer have access to the original hard disk drive.
Dear StackExchange, please help me find a way to recover and reconstruct these files! I suspect what I would need is some software that would guess or be told the information usually contained in the container header, copy the stream data and write it into a new, valid container file.
Edit: I believe the format is DV instead of MPEG2.
Edit2: It seems that the broken files do not in fact have an AVI header at all - they should begin with the bytes "RIFF" which they do not. ffprobe does recognize the stream format, though:
[dv @ 0xefb8a0] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, dv, from '120610-1-001.avi':
  Duration: 02:08:36.84, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 28799 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: dvvideo, yuv420p, 720x576, 28800 kb/s, PAR 64:45 DAR 16:9, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s

Edit3: Thanks to Matti "Lumpio-" Virkkunen, we've finally got the video files fixed. He wrote a good 400 lines of C that did exactly what @JEEB suggested: crafted an AVI header and searched for things that look like AVI chunks, copying them over to the output file. A long AVI file needs a new header between every gigabyte or so, and the program simply fixes the broken first section and then copies the following sections as-is. The source code for fixavi.c can be found on Gist.
Please note that details such as codecs, audio sample rate and video frame rate are hard-coded in the source, so if you need to replicate this process, please adapt the source to your needs. I found Alexander Noe's AVI format guide a good reference on the AVI file format.
Edit4: And as fixavi.c does not create an index at the end of the AVI file, I simply used ./fixavi broken.avi recovered_without_index.avi; ffmpeg -i recovered_without_index.avi -acodec copy -vcodec copy recovered_with_index.avi to make one.

can you get it to open in VLC, if there's anything to open, it can , which will at least tell you it's possible to recover

Does ffmpeg -i FILE (or better yet, ffprobe FILE) return any sane result for the file?

@AKX yes, it returns this: https://gist.github.com/042c28df252120eb74db

First of all, if I remember correctly, the DV format is intra-only, and thus if there is various damage that has happened to your video, there should be a relatively big chance of getting at least something out -- given that the file isn't completely broken in the most relevant of places.
A good way of checking if there's at least some kind of sanity left in the file is indeed by the aforementioned ffmpeg|avconv -i input.avi or ffprobe|avprobe input.avi. If ffmpeg/avconv and/or the related probe application can 'see' the format as well as other information there's at least some hope that the file actually still contains some of the things you're hoping it contains.
As for actual recovery attempts, I would actually first make a copy of the file (backups are generally useful, even if it's a backup of possibly broken data), and try to open it with Avery Lee's VirtualDub, as I remember it having one of the good general AVI reconstruction mechanisms I've seen so far. If you are lucky and there's enough data for VirtualDub to actually do something with the file, it should ask if you want to repair/reconstruct the index and so forth. After that you can set both audio and video to 'Direct stream copy', and just remux with another file name, and see if that works.
Another way to try and salvage it is to use ffmpeg/avconv, and use the stream copying function there (of course this might not work at all in case ffmpeg/avconv or the related probe application cannot see what container/video/audio format the file is). ffmpeg|avconv -i input.avi -vcodec copy -acodec copy out.avi
A yet another way to try and salvage something is by trying out the now-discontinued AVI-Mux GUI. I have not tried it myself, but I have some hazy memories of people fixing their broken AVI files by remuxing with it a few years ago.
Edit:
And of course the so-called final destination would be to see if there are any chunk-like entities in the file, and manually recreating the AVI header and friends before it either via scripting or with a hex editor, looking at the related technical documentation.

ffprobe my_broken_file.avi produces the following output: https://gist.github.com/042c28df252120eb74db
So the format seems to be recognized as DV+PCM. However, ffmpeg -acodec copy -vcodec copy -i my_broken_file.avi recovered.avi only produces a very short (~1 MB) file that's no more intelligible as the original.

VirtualDub fails to load the video file, stating The file "my_broken_file.avi" is of an unknown or unsupported file type. :(

AVI-Mux GUI crashes when I try to load the file. :((

DivFix++ 0.34 says Input is not an AVI file.

@Japsu: Option placement matters. You're attempting to apply -acodec copy -vcodec copy to the input. Possibly a moot point with your ffmpeg version as it is probably applying those options to the output, but newer ffmpeg may be more strict about option placement.

@LordNeckbeard: Right, thanks. Have corrected it to -i first now.
With the help of a friendly C coder, we're actually taking the "final destination" now - that is to say, regenerating a RIFF AVI header. Expect results tomorrow.

Kudos to Japsu.
If you don't want to bother with compiling code and using command line tools, you can use a video repair service.
http://mp4repair.org provides free preview and diagnostics.
-- Benoît
(disclaimer: I'm affiliated with this website)


text:
What is the difference between mkv and mp4 files?
I don't know if this is the correct exchange site to ask this question. I would like to know what is the difference between mkv and mp4 files?

Both MKV and MP4 are container file formats. Container formats define how actual audio, video, subtitle and other data are structured. MKV is an open standard format, while MP4 comes from the ISO and is based on the QuickTime file format.

I would like to add that MP4 has restrictions of what can be muxed to MP4 and what not, while MKV has nearly no limitations at all.


text:
What software do I need to convert a DVD to common formats? And what are the recommended formats?
I need to rip a DVD (product instruction manual for my company) and convert the files into common formats for users to download and play on their computers.
I was planning on offering .MOV, .MP4, .WMV and .SWF (is this overkill?). I was able to use handbrake to convert the files to .MP4, but I am not sure how to convert the rest.
I am looking for a software recommendation (Windows) that will cover all of the formats.

Should this be two questions?

I would also like to mention that, as I realize I can "Google it" there are so many results that look like spyware, I would rather a recommendation from the community.

Do you really want to distribute videos to your customers? Would it be possible to upload the videos to youtube instead? That way, the videos can help your existing customers as well as people considering your product. And it costs you nothing.

@ObscureRobot Unfortunately many of our customers work at corporations that block Youtube network wide, so we need to either self host videos, send physical copies or allow downloads. The download option is  a huge cost saver.

S3 is a very easy way to host your videos, just turn on web server mode and you are pretty much done.

Drai, which OS do you use? PC? Mac? Linux?

@Globalnomad PC, I mentioned Windows in my question.

@ObscureRobot Thanks, we still need to offer a download.

I ended up using Xilisoft and it works well for my requirements.

Mpeg streamclip, its free, and I believe you can open the DVD right into mpeg and then convert it to anything you would like, If you are unable to open the DVD, then transcode your mp4 from handbrake (another great tool) into any file you would like

I've had great results in the past using CloneDVD (currently $70) to rip DVD's to MP4.
As a professional editor, the thought of ripping a highly compressed DVD to another lossy format like MP4 gives me the willies; however, as WMV and SWF compressions will ultimately be further quite lossy, you probably won't lose enough quality to be significantly detrimental.


text:
After effects rendering
I have a small problem with rendering.When i render with default setting my video size is more than 1 GB and i was using only 10 pics, some solids and 1 null object.Can you please tell me what setting is best for rendering so that the size is reasonable and the quality is good enough.Thanks in advance.

This is entirely dependant on what version of After Effects you're using, what codecs you have installed, what the video is for, and what resolution you need it at.

As @Oliver-G said above, your final use of the footage will dictate your render settings. But I'm going to explain HOW rendering works, because it's essential knowledge.
Rendering is the process of taking your After Effects comp - a series of instructions of how to process files - and writing every pixel's value to a file (See footnote 1).
The way AE does this is to work from each layer from the bottom-most upwards, calculating expressions, effects on each later, motion etc. Then it computes the next bottom-most layer, laying it over the previously computer layer(s). The final size is not dependant on the complexity of the comp, so a still image will be the same file size (footnote 2) as a full composite with particles, effects, 3D elements etc.
Once this is done, AE then runs the resultant file through a compressor, which is where you choose your codec(s) and compression.
Codec: Every file has three (footnote 3), one for Audio, Video and Container. Think of a codec like the format for that stream in the file - so you can mix and match codecs. This is why .mov files can be unplayable on some systems: Quicktime is a Container format, and can have any of a huge number of video codecs in it.
Compression: Set how much data is "thrown away" to achieve a smaller file size. Similarly (footnote 4) to how a .zip file has a smaller size than the files it contains - fewer bits to be stored - compression can reduce the file size of a video, at the expense of quality. This is why web video - YouTube especially - looks atrocious, because it is reduced to such a small file size.
These settings are accessed through the Output Module button under each file in the Render Queue.
What you did when exporting is leave everything Uncompressed, so you had a huge file size.

Footnotes

For those with a deeper understanding of encoding, yes, I realise that keyframes, I/B frames make this statement untrue. But it's simplified for this explanation.
Not true, depending on how the codec's compression chooses to handle movement - a still image will be smaller because the codec doesn't have to record every frame of new data.
At least three, for a normal Audio+Video+Container. Multiple audio/video tracks, 3D etc. all add more codecs to the one file.
Not at all, but hey, cut me some slack :)

Try rendering it as an flv (flash video). Put the quality down to 80-90%, and your video will be much, MUCH smaller in file size with great quality. I can never get small file sizes from avi videos no matter what I do.


text:
Colors look different after export
Colors look great in FCPX.
After I export (Share > Master file > H.264 Quicktime) they look a bit dull: desaturated, less vibrant. Also sort of like the wrong gamma curve - shadows are darker.
I realise compression is lossy but is this expected?  Should I over-saturate the video in FCPX a bit to compensate?
I saw some very technical forum posts talking about color-space conversions last time I googled for this, suggesting maybe Quicktime uses the wrong 'matrix'.  I am not a video pro but the visual difference does remind me of what can happen with RGB > CMYK and colour profiles in the print world.
At first I thought it was only after upload to YouTube, but the issue is there when I play back the exported .mov too.
Does anyone have any tips or info?

related: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/10305/upon-export-in-premiere-pro-colors-lose-saturation-when-previewing-in-quicktime

that sounds useful... I should add I don't much care about viewing the video in Quicktime, I mostly want a solution that preserves colours when uploaded to YouTube... I will try the 'gamma stripper' utility and report back

...unfortunately I can't use the gamma stripper, it's a Windows .exe file :(

I will try 'x264' codec and see if it looks better

apparently YouTube actually accepts ProRes... I might try that too! https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4529088

You could try running it via wine. Sorry, unfortunately my osx experience is very limited... But as you mentioned, better idea is to encode the video to h264 instead. Also see: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/5318/what-codec-will-my-youtube-uploads-be-output-in-and-what-codec-should-i-use-to-u/5715#5715

I have this issue forever...found a solution thanks to this website
https://isaac-molina.com/downloads/
download his luts aplly the correct lut to an adjustment layer placed on top of you project (in my case convert mrec 709 g2.4 to sRGB g2.2) and then you get to see what you get as output, but inside the project viewer, so you can grade correctly.
Good luck

This looks promising... googling around now I have found some sources suggesting YouTube uses sRGB, so the Rec 709 -> sRGB LUT looks worth a try. I also found this thread which diagnoses it slightly differently and also offers some similar LUTs https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=101253&start=100 (it gets more complicated and confusing as the thread progresses...)

You may need to perform a “trim pass” to export to Rec709 colour space.
See: https://images.apple.com/final-cut-pro/docs/Wide_Color_Gamut.pdf
Matching colors in Rec. 2020 and Rec. 709 masters
When some colors are translated to the narrower gamut of Rec. 709, they may look
different. To ensure that the Rec. 2020 master and Rec. 709 submaster look similar, you can perform a trim pass color adjustment on the Rec. 709 timeline to bring all the colors in line with broadcast specifications. When performing a trim pass in a Rec. 709 timeline, you should attempt to match the look and feel of the Rec. 2020 timeline as closely as possible.
Prepare for the trim pass

In the Final Cut Pro browser, select a master Rec. 2020 project and then choose
Edit > Duplicate Project as Snapshot.
With the duplicated project selected in the browser, choose Window >
Project Properties (or press Command-J), then click the Modify button near
the top-right corner of the inspector.

In the dialog that appears, click the Color Space pop-up menu and choose
Standard - Rec. 709.
In the browser, click the name of the duplicated project (the submaster), then type
“Rec. 709” at the end of the name.
In the browser, click the name of the original project (the master), type “Rec. 2020”
at the end of the name, then press Return.

Thanks, I think the problem is something like this but not exactly this because I do not have a Wide Color Gamut source file AFAIK. The Rec 709 output still looks different after leaving FCPX

Your browser/quicktime plugin is likely to blame for inaccurately displayed colors.  There's a simple test for this.  After you export your master file, re-import it into FCPX.  Does it look the same as your project?  If so, then don't worry about the mismatch because the colors actually exist in the file as you mastered them.

It's no help to me if the correct colours exist in the file but no one can see them. I want to be able to export a file which looks the same when viewed outside of FCPX

Until the rest of the world adheres to a single set of standards -- you get software developers, content creators, camera/display manufacturers, and distributers to play by the same rules -- you're out of luck.  Welcome to being a colorist. https://xkcd.com/1882/

or alternatively, to be able to preview the altered colours inside of FCPX

It's been 3.5 years since you originally asked this question.  You're still struggling with it.  Have you tried my advice?  What was the result?  Does the re-imported footage match the pre-exported footage?  If it does, then the problem is with viewing/decoding or perhaps metadata.  If it doesn't, then it's with your color process.  Without much to go on, it's hard to help.

You might even go as far as to re-download the uploaded YouTube file and A/B it inside FCPX with your original project.  There are many tools available on the internet to download YouTube videos.  The one I use is called "youtube-dl" which runs on the command line, and is available through homebrew, github, etc.  https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/


text:
How to avoid sluggish UI in FCPX - more CPU, GPU, RAM or what?
My question is about what aspects of hardware performance would best prevent sluggish UI and 'beachballing' in FCPX.
Currently I am running on a Macbook Air Core i7 2.0ghz, 8GB RAM and Intel HD4000 graphics.
I am editing 1080p only. The project files are on a Drobo 5D raid-style Thunderbolt drive connected via Caldigit Thunderbolt dock.
Generally the edits are not complicated, just one layer of video with some colour correction basic filter and transitions.
I realise my current system is underpowered, and at times I suffer from unresponsive UI. My question is what upgrade would give the most benefit:

quad core i7?  (currently dual core)
16GB RAM or more?
discrete GPU?  or more recent Intel Iris would be enough?
if GPU, is available video RAM more important than processing power?
the current HDD should be fast enough?

I want to stress that, for the purposes of this question, I do not care about rendering times - only to avoid unresponsive UI.
I have proxy and optimised media for all my projects, and I have the proxy media playback option selected:

Apologies if this is obvious, but you know you have to switch the viewer to use proxy media through the disclosure triangle in the upper right-hand corner, right?  Just generating it isn't enough.

I will check... I remember doing it via preferences in earlier versions then the option disappeared and I think I assumed it was more automatic

@JasonConrad ...just checked but I do actually have proxy media selected in the viewer panel.

Your hardware is NOT underpowered. I can run FCPX on a old MacBook Air using proxy media, with only 4GB if memory. That machine is much slower than yours. So it's not the MacBook that's the problem.
Have you tried to copy your media to a local drive just to see if you have issues with your raid system?
Another thing to check is running the Activity Monitor utility and see if your CPU is busy when you get the beach ball.
Before we know why you are having these issues it's hard to give a recommendation on what parts to upgrade.

+1 I bet it's the RAID, or the connection to it.

I finally had a chance to test this in practice, bought an SSD big enough to transfer my project onto and all the beachballing is gone. Better than that, the sluggish playback of 'orange' regions where preview has not yet rendered is cured as well!  Editing is a breeze. So now I will just use the Drobo 5D for archive storage and move projects to the SSD 'scratch' disk for editing.

I thought being Thunderbolt-connected the 5-disk Drobo would have been fast enough. I only have WD Green drives in there though. SSD is the way to go for video clearly.


text:
What are the various desktop streaming software used by justin.tv and similar sites?
I want to create a channel to which various users could stream their desktop. I’m looking for the best solution for them.
So far I’ve found Dyyno (free but too simple), WireCast (expensive and too complex), and Flash Media Live Encoder (free).
I need one that is free, simple to use, yet powerful enough (notably, it must be able to stream a specific area of the screen, and to include audio from the software or from the microphone or both, and to run on both Windows and Mac OS X).
Do you have any suggestions?
P.S. LiveStream and Ustream have proprietary solutions (incompatible with others).

It's not clear if this is really on topic here, since the question is really more about using justin.tv in a particular way. It's not really video production. Meta discussion here

@Warrior Bob I see it as production because when you're streaming your desktop you're producing video with several audio and video sources, you're mixing them, you're adding titles and special effects. The question has in fact little to do with justin.tv, as you can guess WireCast and Flash Media Live Encoder were not made specifically for justin.tv yet they work with it and that's what I'm looking for. I'm stating the obvious here, but maybe nobody on this site does streaming.

In your comment, you describe what sounds pretty clearly like video production - editing, mixing, effects, that sort of thing. But the question itself doesn't appear have any of this. Right now it reads like "how can I get video of my desktop onto some streaming site?" which is more like a question I'd expect on webapps.SE. If the question is really more deeply about video than that, then an edit for clarification might be all that's necessary.

Also, please join the meta discussion if you think the site is being too restrictive! It's up to the community to define the scope of the site.

ispyconnect.com might be an inexpensive option.

If you want to stream with Justin.TV, you can download FFSplit !
http://www.ffsplit.com/
It is still in a BETA State, but it does run quite well !
Don't forget to follow every instruction that is put on the site.
Good luck !