text:
Are they all legal cc videos?
I chose a video from "A"'s channel which was a cc video. Later on, I found that the video was not actually a cc video. "A" downloaded the video from "B" 's channel & introduced the video as a cc video. Now on good faith considering it a cc video, I uploaded it from "A" 's channel. Now...if "A" 's video channel is terminated for violation of youtube policy for this illegal practice will it be harmful to me??..

It is a bit unclear what you are asking. By "CC" do you mean Creative Commons or Closed Captioning? I understand you are trying to anonymize things, but could you explain your situation more? Is this related to producing a derivative work or exhibiting the work? The former is on topic here but the latter is off topic.

I think the CC-2017 means adobe Creative cloud 2017. Perhaps the tag needs renaming.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is about legal advise, not video production.

We aren't well equipped to handle legal questions here, but there is a law SE that you might be able to ask it on.  Almost certainly you don't have the right to use the content that was incorrectly attributed as CC as they couldn't grant you a license, for the same reason I can't sell you my neighbor's house.  Even if you paid me for their house, you still wouldn't own it because it wasn't mine to sell.  There will probably be other finer points based on your local law though, so I'd still ask elsewhere.


text:
Technical Term for "side by side scene editing"?
I am looking for video editing software that has a feature, but I don't know the name of it. It was a feature I had in EditDV around 2000, but I have not found it since.
Essentially, setting the END FRAME of one scene while "simultaneously" setting the START FRAME of the NEXT scene. You had side-by-side, frame-by-frame control over the end and start points of 2 different scenes, at the same time. There was also a 5-second preview button that showed you just the video around your edit, which was really nice.
Does anyone know what this is called? And more to the point, a reasonable ($50~) video editing software package (for windows) that has this?

What was the behavior of the system when you were adjusting?  Are you talking about where you can move the point of the cut without moving either video clip?  ie, the first clip gets one frame shorter at the end and the second clip gets one frame longer at the beginning?

No, adjusting one scene's length would not affect the other scene's length. Removing frames from one side (or both sides) would result in a shorter movie. I mean, I can "duplicate" the behavior in most softwares by clicking "cut" or "break", then deleting that tiny bit, then previewing ... but if I'm wrong I have to undo (or trim a little more, delete, etc).

Sounds like classic 3 point editing.

What you are describing is called a "ripple edit" (because the adjustment you make to the clip ripples through the rest of the timeline that comes after it).  It may also be called something like "ripple trim" as a more specific term for the precise type of ripple edit.  It is a feature available in any decent professional editing package.  Depending on your other needs, it's probably worth taking a look at DaVinci Resolve as Resolve is a high end professional product which also offers a completely free version with about 90-95% of its features included.  It's out of your price range for the full version (at $299 for a license that they haven't charged for an upgrade in the last 3-4 versions) but there is a decent possibility it will cover your needs in the free version.
There is lots of other software with Ripple Edit capabilities, but Resolve is the cheapest one I personally work with enough to be able to recommend.  I've been out of the consumer market for a very long time, so I'm not sure what products would be current there.

Thanks. I just did a little research on "ripple edit". It looks like it's just a way to slide the start/end of a clip, without actually "trimming" it (so it's still there if you want to adjust later). It turns out my cheapy software DOES have this feature, which is great. This technically answers the question "what's it called" (so I'll mark it!), I guess I was also hoping for a more refined "ripple edit editor" type of tool. I will check out davinci. Thanks!

Oh, there's no "mark as answer" here that I can see, but, this is the answer!

@emery.noel - It looks like you got disassociated from your user somehow as this comment was under a different user than the original post.  You can request a user merge from the Contact Us page on the footer.

@emery.noel - also, the edit you described as sliding the start/end of a clip without actually trimming it is called a slip edit because you are slipping the clip within it's spot in the timeline.  Ripple has to be causing a change in length of the overall timeline for either the content added or the content removed.

thanks, I'll make the request, I posted as anonymous but later synced with my other stackexchange accounts. As for the slip edits, when I drag the edge of the clip, it DOES change the overall length of the whole project. In dragging the "edge" of the clip, I'm changing its in or out point, not both (and I'm not changing the adjacent clips), and I'm not moving the clip in relation to other clips. Would that be a "slip ripple" edit?

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

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text:
Upgrade path for indoor sports video from 7D + Samyang 85mm f/1.4 MF lens?
I regularly shoot 720p/50fps  video at ice skating events with a Canon 7D + Samyang 85mm f/1.4 manual focus lens. I set the ISO at 6400 and with the aperture at 11, I have most of the ice rink in focus.
Unfortunately, light conditions sometimes force me to open up to 4, and manual focus gets really hard to get right on fast-moving ice skaters.
Canon 7D has no continuous autofocus in video mode, so I  thought of switching to an X-mount system with Fujifilm X-E3 and an XF 56mm f/1.2 lens, but did not have a chance to try it out. Is the manual focus easier with an EVF? They seem to have a few modes that help manual focus, but what about the EVF lag?
Any other recommendation? Sony A7S is somewhat pricey, and I am not sure that it can autofocus well enough for my needs either.
I can also switch from 7D to 5DmkII and still shoot at 720p/50fps with an extra sensitivity of a bigger sensor. But this will mean losing some DOF, and I won't have continuous autofocus so what's the point?
Last but not least, is there a system that has fast enough continuous focus to track an ice skater? They move fast, but the background is mostly white and the distance varies between 10 and 40 meters.
Mod's Note: Please keep answers to the video portion of the question. If you want to answer recommendations based on the photo portion, it is covered here.

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


text:
How do I make animated subtitles to go with music?
The subtitles in this video look amazing.  They are able to make the words dissolve and fall off the screen as the song progresses.  Most subtitles are just plain text.  How is it possible to make animated sub-titles?  Are there any ways to make it match up with the music quickly or is it a manual process?

I have given a pass at trying to generalize the question a bit more.  In general, I think the question of how to make burnt in custom subtitles that are animated in general, as well as any tricks to sync that animation to music would be of general interest.  I agree that there is less general benefit in addressing the specific look of the effect, but there is a broader, more general question here that still merits an answer.

The author of the subtitles, Jefferz, says:

"... I animated the text to match the original subtitles use Adobe After Effects (CS6 specifically) keyframing the text movements ...".

Source Jefferz's Tumblr Blog.
It's a manual process.

This is easy with Adobe After Effects or other linear editors.  Build your text block. Set it's track and timing, and apply the fades at the appropriate points on the timeline


text:
How to do this motion graphics?
This is the motion titling of a film.

I'd like to know few things. Assuming it's created using Afer Effects:

If you give a closer look, you could see ink spreading after it's written. How did they achieve it?
Was there any plug-in used for this purpose? If yes, which one?

You could perhaps do it with turbulent displace + blur + curves on the alpha channel (all built in). Trapcode Particular (3rd party) also springs to mind.

Curves on the alpha channel; can you explain a bit? @stib

If I have to make this manually, I would do the following:

Create/Draw the blue Logo in Illustrator as its seen in the final frame.
Breakdown and place spread ink into separate layers, like 4 or more.

To make the drawing animation, create a path "using pen tool" along the lines of the blue Logo, make sure that the path is thick enough to cover the lines.
Using Trim Path effect you can animate the path and as it spread it reveals the blue Logo, kinda like a mask.
The spread of ink is not that obvious, I think it was made using opacity. So whenever you reveal a letter or two, keyframe the opacity of the layer that contains spread ink that you made earlier in Illustrator from 0% to 100% which creates a feel like a spread.
I hope what I wrote does make sense.

Thank you so much! I'm not marking it as the answer because I'd like to see other people's ideas (if there are any). @MEGA

I'd use the Quickdraw plugin - you create your artwork, then paint masks over it in the order that you'd like to reveal the elements.  It then animates the masks for you, and makes it easy to tweak the speeds of the reveals of each stroke
http://aescripts.com/quickdraw/
I'd do the main paths as one layer, then go back and do the ink splatters spreading as a second layer


text:
Datavideo KMU-100 FORMAT
I was able to get only one 4k camera signal into my KMU-100,to get 4 HD outputs.
The issue am facing right now is,
How do i get my two 4K cameras working on the KMU-100?
Because,the format i used for section A, is the same format i do apply to section B.

The KMU-100 supports two distinct input channels or one input being sent to both channels.  When you say that you are applying the format from section (channel) A to section (channel) B, do you mean that you are choosing Channel A as the input for Channel B?

Are both cameras the same and/or outputting the same format?  What physical connections are you going in to on the back of the KMU-100?  What are your settings for the channel inputs in DV Link?  If discussing interactively would make it easier to figure out what is going on, I'm available in chat as well if you click here.

The DataVideo KMU-100 produces 4 1080p feeds (or 1 4k and 3 1080p feeds) from each input and has 2 different inputs.  It is possible to link the input on Signal Input A with the input to Signal Input B, but in this case, the connections for Signal Input B will not be used and the signal from Signal Input A will be sent to both splitters to make 8 1080p feeds.
If you want to have two feeds, you need to make sure each of the Signal Input sections is properly configured in DV Link.  You will want to make sure each camera is plugged in appropriately on the back.  There are 3 possible ways to plug your camera in to each bank.  Only one camera should be plugged in per input block (there's a square around each set of 1 HDMI and 4 BNC connections.)
If your camera is HDMI based, you will want to use the HDMI connection.  Note that if your camera is too far away, the HDMI signal may have trouble making it to the splitter and it may be necessary to get an HDMI to SDI converter for longer runs.
For single link SDI (3G, 6G, 12G) I would connect to the 12G BNC connector.  It should be backwards compatible with both 3G and 6G and should give you the least possible headaches.  The manual is a little unclear on this, so I'm having to make an assumption, but given that the other's are all 3G, they appear to just be there for dual and quad link signals.
For dual and quad link signals (where two or four 3G cables are used from a single input source), use the necessary number of connectors regardless of if they are 12G or 3G.  The manual isn't clear on which ones should be used, so presumably the unit can figure it out on it's own.  If you have problems I might try using different connectors for the dual link.
Once you have everything setup and the type of line selected in DV Link, the feeds should be detected provided that your cameras are outputting on a compatible video format.  It appears that the unit has it's own frame synchronization so it does not appear that video settings have to match between inputs, but if you experience problems, it couldn't hurt to verify this as well.

@JudeArrialexajunior - did this end up fixing your issue?


text:
How to fade out mp4 audio AND video with FFmpeg?
How to fade out audio AND video in *.mp4 file?
If I try code from this answer:
ffmpeg -i "c:/input.mp4" -filter:v 'fade=in:0:30,fade=out:227:30' -c:v libx264 -crf 22 -preset veryfast -c:a copy "c:/testsong.mp4"

I get:
[AVFilterGraph @ 000001e0f41affc0] No such filter:  fade=in:0:30,fade=out:227:30'
Error opening filters!

Complete output:

ffmpeg version N-86994-g92da230 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
    built with gcc 7.1.0 (GCC)
    configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-cuda --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-dxva2 --enable-libmfx --enable-nvenc --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib
    libavutil      55. 74.100 / 55. 74.100
    libavcodec     57.102.100 / 57.102.100
    libavformat    57. 76.100 / 57. 76.100
    libavdevice    57.  7.100 / 57.  7.100
    libavfilter     6. 99.100 /  6. 99.100
    libswscale      4.  7.102 /  4.  7.102
    libswresample   2.  8.100 /  2.  8.100
    libpostproc    54.  6.100 / 54.  6.100
  Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 's:/dummy.mp4':
    Metadata:
      major_brand     : mp42
      minor_version   : 0
      compatible_brands: isommp42
      creation_time   : 2016-08-24T16:42:38.000000Z
    Duration: 00:03:50.34, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 980 kb/s
      Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 960x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 851 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc (default)
      Metadata:
        creation_time   : 2016-08-24T16:42:38.000000Z
        handler_name    : ISO Media file produced by xyz...
      Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 125 kb/s (default)
      Metadata:
        creation_time   : 2016-08-24T16:42:38.000000Z
        handler_name    : ISO Media file produced by xyz...
  Stream mapping:
    Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> h264 (libx264))
    Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (copy)
  Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
  [AVFilterGraph @ 0000000002d64580] No such filter: 'fade=in:0:30,fade=out:227:30'
  Error reinitializing filters!
  Failed to inject frame into filter network: Invalid argument
  Error while processing the decoded data for stream #0:0
  Conversion failed!

What' wrong here? Thanks in advance!

Welcome! Please share the full console output, not just the one error.

Update your ffmpeg version to a recent one.

Fade both video & audio
First of all, the command you've provided won't achieve the desired effect: the fade filter only applies to a video stream, plus you specifically apply it to your input video stream with -filter:v.
To fade both audio and video, you'll need both afade and fade filters.
E.g.
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "fade=in:0:30, fade=out:1770:30" -filter:a "afade=in:0:44100, afade=out:2601900:44100" -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4

This command fades in and out the first and last 30 video frames and 44100 audio samples, on a 1800 frames-long and 2646000 samples-long video (which, if your framerate is 30 fps and samplerate 44100 Hz, will be the first and last second of your 60 seconds-long clip).
Working with frames and samples can be highly impractical, so to work with start and duration in seconds, use the st (start) and d (duration) parameters, like so :
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "fade=in:st=0:d=1, fade=out:st=59:d=1" -filter:a "afade=in:st=0:d=1, afade=out:st=59:d=1" -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4

(fades in and out first and last second of a 60s clip)
See afade and fade filters documentation for more details on parameters.
Alternatively, you can also use a complex filtergraph as suggested by Manul Hüttinger, which can be handy if you need to apply further filters to your clip:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex \
  "fade=in:st=0:d=1, fade=out:st=59:d=1; \
   afade=in:st=0:d=1, afade=out:st=59:d=1" \
 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4

Regarding your particular error
I'm not sure where your error comes from, but you should try the following:

First, update your ffmpeg: your libavfilter is in version 6.99.100, latest is at least 7.6.100
I guess you're on Windows, given the filepath and build number. Beware that you cannot use single quotes (') on Windows, you must use double-quotes ("). Looking at the console output, this might be the origin of your error:

[AVFilterGraph @ 0000000002d64580] No such filter:
  fade=in:0:30,fade=out:227:30'

Then, if it keeps failing, try with a different input (the error message might indicate an encoding/decoding error:

Failed to inject frame into filter network: Invalid argument Error
  while processing the decoded data for stream #0:0 Conversion failed

try -filter_complex "fade=t=in:st=0:d=30,fade=t=out:st=227:d=30"

Can you explain the how this will work compared to what the OP already tried? That will make this useful to others trying to solve similar problems.


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

Posting as a comment since I don't have a full solution for you, but your best bet is going to be to interpolate new frames or alter your frame rate so you can drop out the frames in a custom pulldown.  Neither are particularly easy unless you have software to automate it and I don't know what options are available for that right now.  If you get the footage fixed though, then the problem goes away and it will lessen the frame stutter as well.

@AJHenderson I can write a program to remove duplicate frames, but I worry that this will then cause audio sync issues due to the amount of removed frames. Should I go down this route?

no you don't want to simply remove them.  You need to actually interpolate a frame to go in their place.  It's often possible to blend frames to get an approximation of what the frame would have looked like that is good enough to avoid a noticeable microstutter in the footage.  It's been a long time since I've used such software though and I'm not sure what current options are.

If you turn the video into an image sequence and delete the dupe frames, you could use imagemagick to create an interpolated frame using morph. https://is.gd/RIgHae I've done that for video where there were lost frames, I just used shell scripting to detect the missing ones from the numerical sequence, and morphed them to gether to create a new intermediate.

Try frame blending.

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

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


text:
What do different types of SDI mean?
My DataVideo kum-100 supports a number of different SDI specs.  What is the difference between Quad SDI,6G Link SDI,and 3G-LINK SDI?

SDI stands for Serial Digital Interface.  Over time, the bandwidth needs of video have changed drastically, and so SDI has gone through a number of revisions and different solutions for handling the ever increasing bandwidth loads.
3G, 6G and 12G SDI all refer to single conductor bandwidth specs.  They refer to the maximum data rate supported.  3G is capable of 3 gigabit transmission, 6G up to 6 gigabit and 12G up to 12 gigabit.  Each standard uses progressively higher grade cables and more rigorous transmission standards to enable the higher data throughput.
Dual and Quad link SDI take an alternate approach.  They use the slower SDI cables, but run multiple cables to the same device.  Using this approach, it is possible to split the data and achieve higher throughput with lower grade (and potentially pre-existing) cabling, but multiple conductors are required.
The standard you use will be determined by the feeds that both your source and destination devices can support and based on the wiring constraints you decide on (length of run and cable costs being the main two factors, as well as any existing wiring).
Much more technical detail on SDI is available on Wikipedia.


text:
What are the best export settings for Kolor or other pano-stitching software to create 360° videos in Unity?
I'm using the Autopano Giga 4.4 and Autopano Video Pro 2.6 to stitch and create spherical content, but I've recently moved into wanting to create 360° tours via Unity. I know this is partly a developers question, but if anyone out there can help me with the right specs for exporting a spherical image from Giga to use to create the image for the inside of the sphere on Unity, I'd appreciate it!
Even though experimenting with Premiere and FCPX to edit highlight reels of spherical content, I've had seamless experiences created. For some reason in Unity, the images appear to be stretched around the sphere wrong and it's creates issues on the top and bottom of the image.

Could you post an image of the bad results you're seeing, and maybe the original pano image?

I'm not sure of how to post a picture on here, but, I uploaded a screenshot of the results of the stitch in Unity. It's available in my dropbox, thanks for any help, I appreciate it! I've had smooth images in Giga, Pano Video pro, as well as Adobe. I think it's just the encoding that Unity uses for the 360 spherical content... https://www.dropbox.com/s/3i6ywe445qshxyo/Screen%20Shot%202017-09-05%20at%207.28.19%20PM.png?dl=0

That is really odd! I see 2 things that look odd - the geometry of the projection (looks like it was projected onto a very low-res sphere or something), and it also looks like the top (or is it bottom?) of the image was cut off before projecting it. I don't know why those things would happen.

@user1118321 - that's exactly what I thought too! I figured the sphere was too low of a resolution, that's why the encoding of the video wouldn't allow it to be flat. I definitely am lost as to how to fix it. I've been on the software trying different codecs for about four days, all the same results.

You might ask over on the Game Development Stack Exchange. They do a lot of Unity development over there and one of them may have run into this before.

Great idea! I'll go join and ask @user1118321


text:
Is it possible to track continue motion tracking on another point in After Effects CC?
I have green screen footage and have about 4 points on the green screen
but sometimes the actor moves and hide the points. He will hide all point but not at the same time.
Is it possible to motion track one point and when he hides it, I continue tracking the other point until it reappears.

When you put a track point to a feature, you can notice the white crosshair in the middle of the tracking marker. That is the tracking point. If your tracked feature is covered by something else or moves out of frame, you can re position your marker before that happens. Just before that moment:

Place your cursor over the marker, but not the crosshair.
Press ALT on your keyboard, your cursor arrow will turn white.
While ALT is pressed, hold your marker and move to a new feature. You can notice that the crosshair remains at it's initial position. When you place the marker, release ALT button.
Continue tracking, After Effects will keep your tracking point's crosshair in it's initial position, while tracking your new feature. So even your initial tracking point moves out of the frame or obscured by something else it will be OK.

But selection of the second feature is important. It must be on the same surface or plane as the first one. If your first point is on the wall, choosing the second point on the ground or another feature in the foreground, will cause a lot of problems, as there will be plenty of parallax motion (Foreground will move faster than background etc.)
Or if your footage is shot with a wide lens, features on the edge of the frame will have a different motion when compared to a feature in the middle of the frame, due to the lens distortion.
See the explained steps in a screencast video.

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


text:
How should I use Audition to convert audio for retimed 24fps to 25fps for broadcast?
I have to convert the audio tracks of my 24 fps movie to match up with retimed 25fps so that it can be exported alongside the 25fps video (just playback speed change) for broadcast transmission.
I need to speed up the audio to match the new shorter duration (96% of the original speed) while keeping the quality of voice, effects and all the other things as high as possible and with the same pitch.

1) My source audio is 5.1 and it needs to be stereo for broadcast.  To keep maximum quality, should I do the mixdown or the retime first?  Does it matter?
First mixdown to stereo still at 24fps and only after shrink the audio to 25fps duration right ? I'm not asking how to mixdown, I know how to do it, just asking in what order.

2) Do I need a VST plugin to get good results or can Audition achieve good results directly?
A professional I know in the industry had said he had issues getting decent quality results out of Audition and I wasn't sure if a VST plugin might do a better job.

3) If it is possible to do with Audition directly, what are the proper settings for using Audition?
I think I should go for the Effects -> Stretch and Pitch effect (the one in the picture). My duration will be the original * 0.96.**

What other settings I should check inside that plugin ?
-> Algorithm: iZotope Radious or Audition ?
-> Lock Stretch Settings to New Duration ?
-> Vocoder Mode ?
-> Solo Instrument or Voice ?
-> Preserve Speech Characteristics ?
-> Formant Shift ???
-> Pitch Coherence ???

Could you explain why you pick some settings and not others?

4) Does it matter if I apply the effect selecting all the channels together or do some changes need to be made on individual channels?
I'm concerned about producing panning artifacts, but my guess is to apply the effect to all the channels at same time.

Did rubberband not work? You may have better luck at https://sound.stackexchange.com/

@Mulvya is possible to cross post this to sound.stackexchange.com in some way so that it has more visibility ?

@AJHenderson - what sayeth thou?

@AJ-Henderson someone please reply at least.. is pointless burn that 50 reputation..

I'd respond if I had any familiarity with doing this kind of thing.  Being an NTSC guy, I don't deal with 24 to 25fps conversions so I have nothing more than guesses.  I could migrate it to sound design if it doesn't get any attention here though as it's certainly on topic there.

I see, so i will give it a try


text:
Using ffmpeg to add height (as black bars) to video file without quality loss
I have a file of resolution 3840x1632, but my TV stretches the picture vertically to fill up all 2160 pixels of height.  Is it possible to use ffmpeg to add blank / black height, while preserving the video and audio quality?
Tried doing this, which seemed to work (took about 2 hours, the same length of the video), but greatly reduced the file size/video quality):
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter:v "pad=3840:2160:0:280" -c:a copy my_output_video.mkv

Is there a switch to say "keep everything else the same"?
Thank you!

You'll have to manually set encoding parameters.
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter:v "pad=3840:2160:0:280,setsar=1" -crf 18 -preset faster -c:a copy my_output_video.mkv

The CRF option sets the tradeoff for size/quality. Lower values produce better quality but larger files. The preset will increase speed, but for same quality, the file size will be larger.
The setsar filter has been added as a precaution in case your player reads the SAR stored in the file and stretches the video based on that value.

You can do transformations with -c:v libx264 -crf 0 X264 has lossless mode, which it enters with -crf 0. They implemented real lossless video encoding, this is not widely known - but it works perfectly.
I use it all the time.
Be ready - it takes GBs - especially for videos of real-life (not graphics etc...)
Doing screen recording for programs and graphis in -crf 0 - is perfect - it compresses them really great and uses relatively small CPU power.
You also can control compression complexity it uses, with the presets (fast, veryslow ... etc). And you also can recomress lossles into more compressed lossless.
Everything for lossless is the same as for all x264's, except that it is the real lossless.

The OP intends to play the files on a TV, and most h/w or s/w decoders don't support Hi444 profile which is what crf/qp 0 requires.

@Gyan Yep, what you say is true. Except I said "transformations". The idea I represent - person does not know how to play with lossless processing. He can develop workflow in lossless form in stages, and then all that can be moved into on-the-fly bulk processing into lossy.
Also lossless can be directly compared. Like I had two days before. If input file has 11.8 GB, letterboxed file also would be 11.8 GB - you see right away that all information is preserved.
& Lossless can always be encoded into lossy.

Here is my solution with explanation
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter:v "pad=3840:2160:0:280,setsar=1" -c:a copy -c:v libx265 -x265-params lossless=1 my_output_video.mkv
----------111111111----------------2222-3333-4-555----------------------------------------------------------6666666666666666666

Legend
1 - input filename
2 - Target X dimension
3 - Target Y
4 - Bar's target X pos. Best: Floor( (Target X - Current X) / 2) . If the value is 0, no vertical baps will be present.
5 - Bar's target Y pos. Best: Floor( (Target Y - Current Y) / 2) . If the value is 0, no horizontal baps will be present.
6 - output filename

Notes
-c:a copy is to maintain lossless-ness
-x265-params lossless=1 option is for lossless encoding. Adding -crf 0 is not required.
-c:v libx265 - added to reduce output video quality while maintaining lossless-ness
Floor() - means to floor DOWN where applicable (ideally, no non-integer calculations occur)

My example command to add bars from 1660x780 to 1920x1080,
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "pad=1920:1080:130:150,setsar=1" -crf 0 -c:v libx265 -x265-params lossless=1 my_output_video.mp4

Sources,

https://video.stackexchange.com/a/24756
https://video.stackexchange.com/a/28659
http://underpop.online.fr/f/ffmpeg/help/pad.htm.gz
https://superuser.com/a/1667833
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/382367-X265-Lossless-not-really-lossless-and-I-can-prove-it
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.265

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


text:
What is the name of the device used in live action filming that includes information like scene, take and roll and has a part that can snap together?
What is the name of the device used in live action filming that includes information like scene, take and roll and has a part that can snap together?
It can also include information like production name, date, cameraman, director, timecode, etc.

That gadget actually combines TWO different functions:

SLATE which is the lower portion that identifies Scene / Take / Roll, etc. in written form so that the camera(s) can document exactly what this clip is. Without that information editing would be an absolute nightmare for big productions.
CLAPPER which is the part at the top. Essentially two sticks that are snapped together to establish picture vs. sound SYNCHRONIZATION. The camera(s) can see exactly when the two parts come together, and the microphone can "hear" when the sticks snap. That sound transient is used to exactly synchronize the sound recording (which is typically done on a separate recorder) with the film or video recording.

Sometimes they even put a wireless mic on the slate/clapper to properly "hear" the snap, especially for huge scenes where there is no microphone near where the slate/clapper needs to be (to be seen by all the cameras).
What people CALL that gadget depends on tradition and the preferences of the director, etc.

It is clapperboard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapperboard
used in filmmaking and video production to assist in the synchronizing of picture and sound, and to designate and mark particular scenes and takes recorded during a production

also known as a slate

I've also heard the term "clapboard" in film school. (Might have been student slang.)


text:
Premiere Pro CS6 Won't Install on Windows 10
 I wanna to create professional videos for upload to YouTube at 1080p, but after installing Windows 10 I can't install Premiere Pro CS6.  I get warning icons and the option to install Premiere is greyed out.  How can I get around this error and get Premiere to install?

Are the checkboxes greyed out? What happens if you click or hover over the warning "!" icons?

How much space do you have on the hard drive?  It looks like the warnings might be telling you that there isn't enough space.

Based on info revealed in chat:

I trying to install that on windows 10 32 bit . Is it a problem ?

the answer is that since version CS5, Premiere Pro is 64-bit only and can't be installed on a 32-bit OS.


text:
Remove audio from video annotation in ActivePresenter
I've been creating screencasts lately (cut with real footage) with ActivePresenter.
ActivePresenter allows one to add "annotations" and they can be in various formats including both audio and video clips. I would like to overlay a video clip onto my screencast, but my issue is, I cannot mute or remove the audio from the video clip in ActivePresenter. When accessing the video's properties, there is a volume slider there but it is disabled.
I can remove the audio using a different tool, and then import into ActivePresenter, but I thought this would be pretty standard functionality. So, the question - is there a way to remove audio from a video annotation in ActivePresenter? The format of the video annotation is mp4 (I'll try with other various formats and see if there are formats which ActivePresenter will provide this as an option).

Cleaned up a bunch of your meta-justification and added the tag for you.  Yes, this should fit within the bounds of on-topic here.  You don't need to justify yourself.  Not sure if we have anyone familiar with the product, but that doesn't mean it doesn't fit.

I've gotten dinged on other exchanges before when talking about a specific product, and I couldn't find reference to that being taboo or not on the rules, so I figured I'd pre-justify. Now I know for sure, and thanks for adding the tag.

Yes, you can remove audio from any video in ActivePresenter. To do that, please follow the instruction in ActivePresenter's community:

You just need to select the video, click Adjust Volume tool on the
  Timeline, and select Mute checkbox.

I tried this but it changes the volume audio of the whole project, not only the audio of the selected video. Is there a way to mutate the audio of individual videos?

Got it now! I was adjusting the audio on the right hand pannel of ActivePresenter, but the correct tool is on the toolbars above the timeline.

Besides acting as a professional Video and Audio Converter, iDealsahre VideoGo is also powerful Audio Remover which can remove audio or audio tracks from all kinds of video files on Mac or Windows.

authors: Михаил Балашов


text:
supply video files to editor in another country
My editor is moving from Los Angeles (where I live) to Canada. Is there a common, reliable, cheap way for me to supply large video files (up to 10 GB) to him? I don't have much of a budget, and I have just a standard DSL internet connection.

This is a common problem for video producers. Google Drive doesn't reliably zip and unzip large video folders when downloading. Dropbox has the same issues. Is there a service which reliably re-downloads files which have corrupted, and ensures all the files end up on the remote server without requiring constant checking and/or server management skills?

Fedex has the highest bandwidth around... Mailing laptop hard drives, SSDs or USB sticks is probably your best bet and may well be cheaper than upgrading your Internet upload capabilities.
Alternately, if you need a way to handle it over the Internet, I'd actually recommend getting a virtual private server.  You might be able to find a file sharing service that will fit your needs, but often for larger files, it may actually be cheaper to run your own server.  Running your own server also allows for uploading in chunks.
When I need to transfer multiple gigabytes of data over my Internet connection, I use Total Commander (my file manager of choice) to split the large files in to multiple pieces (normally around 100MB each) and then upload them via FTP to my server.  Once they are up there, I re-combine the files in to their original form and run an MD5 verification of the file integrity.  Then, it is easy for someone to quickly download the files.
I've used this for transferring 10 to 20GB of files at a time to people and it took a number of hours to upload even over my 5mbps Internet connection, but if you give it enough time, it is a viable option at lower speed connections as well (as long as your ISP doesn't cap you).  You might want to use smaller file sizes though as my experience is that slower connections are more likely to corrupt a file and smaller file splits means less needs to be uploaded again if there is a failure.

Thanks AJ. I've been thinking about that option too, but it looks like more than I want to pay. The quick quote I got was over $40; seems like sending a USB flash drive should be cheaper than that. (Still gave you an upvote!)

@BrettFromLA - added some details for what I do for Internet based transfer as well since $40 a USB stick is probably enough to make faster Internet and/or a server worth it if it will be regular transfers.

Thanks a lot for the info, AJ! I'm starting to think that I'll just find another editor!!! (I'm in Los Angeles. Should be easy.)

I recently read about MASV on TechRadar, it's a file transfer service that charges 25¢ per gig that is downloaded. If you're only sending 10GB at a time, this is much more cost-effective than mailing (in 2021 Fedex is charging $60+ to overnight an envelope from LA to NYC and even more to Canada).
MASV is currently offering a 7day/100GB free trial.


text:
How to capture / upload videos at scheduled times
Let's say there is a conference and there are several hour-long talks by speakers.
Is there a way to setup a stationary camera that will

Record specific talks (say the talks that start at 8:00a, 10:00a, 1:00p and 4:00p)
Upload to a video hosting service(YouTube, ustream, livestream etc.)
Never run out of space (because it records/uploads and deletes after successful upload)?

Is it possible to schedule recording start/stop times?If not, one should be able to start/stop recordings with one of those cameras that have wifi enable remote controls right?
Would live streaming be a better option since most video hosting services record the stream anyway?

With a computer and a camera controled by that computer you can surely do that.

Ideally, I would like to start livestreaming remotely(from the web - not from the same wifi network). I looked at the ustream mobile apps. I want to see if it is possible to mount a stationary tablet/mobile phone with an HD camera, connect to it remotely to start the ustream app installed on the device.

Then you should investigate that path (movile recording transfering video to computer)... For me the easiest way would be a compatible linux webcam that can be controlled via command line, that way it could be started/stoped from a script. Create a script to start/stop the recording at the specified times creating video files with date_time as name. After stoping the recording that same script would upload that file wherever I want and after a successfull upload delete the original file. If it has to be uploaded to a webpage (youtube) then wget might come handy.

I guess for me the sweet spot is to find a livestream ready device (like Panasonic HC-V250K or a tablet/phone with livestream app installed) that I can control remotely from the web. That is the simplest way I can think of to satisfy my requirements

The more I thought about my requirements the more I was convinced that I needed a wifi enabled "security" camera setup than an action cam setup.
I'm giving dropcam a try. It seems to satisfy all my requirements.

Broadcast without any additional equipment
Schedule recording times remotely from anywhere
Broadcast is automatically recorded in the cloud for 7 to 30 days (subscription req.)

I just hope the video quality is good enough.


text:
How do I make the DoTA 2 map work in Source Filmmaker?
Full Question: How do I use the DoTA 2 map in Source Filmmaker? Every time I load it up, it crashes.

I've been trying to use the DoTA 2 map in Source Filmmaker, but every time I try to load it, the program crashes. I have the DoTA 2 assets extracted and mounted, but loading the map seem to be the thing that always cause it to crash.
I can load all the models (ie. Couriers, Heroes, Gear, map props etc.) fine. But loading the DoTA 2 playing-field map doesn't work.
These are two of the heroes/champions; Viper and Teemo* along with a bunch of other stuff, in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map de_nuke.
Characters and models work. Not the map. Why? and how do I fix it?

Note:* Not from the game DoTA 2.

Also, going "File > Load Map > [Map name].bsp" (or Ctrl-L) does not work.

What exactly is the message you get when loading a Dota 2 map?

Nothing. It just closes and crashes. (Basically, the usual "Not responding" then suddenly closing)

Its hard to say what exactly is the issue without an error message.
Maybe you haven't properly exported the maps and or setup SFM for Dota 2 content. There is a nice guide here that goes through the whole process step by step.
You also want to check the cache and local file for both SFM and Dota 2, if an error gets detected re-export the Dota 2 content afterwards.

All I ended up is with this. (It's the crash file uploaded as a .zip)


text:
What format should I digitize mini DV tapes with HDV footage in?
I want to digitize a lot of mini dv tape footage, shot on a Sony a1(HDV).  What format should I digitize the footage in? (and on a side note can you point me in the direction of what hardware I will need for this)?

What is the purpose of the capture?  Do you intend to edit or only view?  How much does space vs quality matter to you?

You have a few options for capturing Mini-DV tape.  The first and highest quality, but largest size, is to capture it in HDV format (HDV2 is used by most Sony cameras).  It is a form of MPEG-2 Part 2 video.  This is the same as the format actually stored on the tape.  Storing your files as HDV will preserve the quality of the recorded footage, but it will take quite a lot of space.  This is ideal for high quality archives and any footage that will be used as a source for editing.  It only requires a firewire port and DV capture software (which is also built in to most NLEs.)
If you only care about viewing, then your best option is probably to initially capture to HDV and then transcode to h.264.  h.264 is a high quality compression that you can tweak for the quality/size trade off you desire.  I'd personally recommend either a constant quality or a 2 pass VBR encoding for maximum quality to size.  This doesn't require any specialized hardware beyond the initial HDV capture and can be done entirely in software with free tools (which may even be able to leverage GPU acceleration depending on your video card.)

Hi, thanks for the informative answer. I want to capture for editing so the first option seems the best for me.


text:
How to encode 60p MP4 video to play on TVs?
I have 60fps MP4 videos shot with a Canon G7x camera.  They playback find on my laptop, however I would like for the videos to be playable on TVs that have video file playback capability (such as my Samsung Smart LED TV.) I have tried converting to .MOV using QuickTime, but that format also does not work.
Is there a way to prepare such videos to allow them to play directly on TVs?

have you tried checking which codecs your TV can play (the manual should tell you) and convert to them. Or convert to video and just feed that to your TV over HDMI.

I am a newbie to this video world, I will check what's supported by my tv. For the codec conversion, do I have to use any specific software? Could you please share the names of those? Right now, I have iMovie.

Unfortunately, smart TVs are still a relatively young market and the ability to play back video files is not yet uniform.  Each TV may support or not support a variety of formats, resolutions and frame rates.  Your best bet is likely to stick to formats used by popular services such as youtube and NetFlix as these platforms increase the likelihood that a manufacturer will support that specific format.
Alternately, if you know what model TV you are targeting, you can look at the documentation for the TV for the specific codecs and frameratest that are supported by the TV and pick one of them to match.

I checked with Samsung support and they provided me a link with supported codecs (http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?idx=409600&modelname=UN60ES6100F&modelcode=UN60ES6100FXZA). It looks like for everything they support only up to 30FPS. Thats why my TV does not play 60FPS video. :(


text:
Camera directing for lenghty single character scene talking
I am an absolute amateur regarding directing, but have been reading up on the subject and been paying close attention to filmworks, both real and animated.
The thing is, I have about one and a half minute of a single character speaking to the viewer(introduction and world story building). But I haven't encountered such scenes during other films so i'm not really sure how to pull it off.
I have tried looking for the fundamentals of lengthy and rather static scenes but have come up quite empty.
The scene in question looks a bit like :

And the scene itself:

I figure there should be plenty of room for different shots, but i'm unsure how to fill them.
Just to clarify, I guess I'm looking for perhaps a scene of a real film that has similar conditions to this or a technique explained which helps in directing a rather static scene.

There are two main things you want to do here.  First, use a lower camera angle for your main camera.  You are shooting from substantially above your speaker which makes them seem diminished and small, but you want them to be the focus of attention.  Shoot from eye level or slightly below eye level to give them a feeling of more importance in the scene.
Second, use multiple camera angles.  You can easily break up a long scene with one speaker by cutting between multiple angles of the same individual.  Be aware of the axis of action however.  You don't want to have your left and right sides get suddenly reversed, but cutting between a close up of them talking vs a wide shot or a mid shot from a different angle can help the video feel less static.
As far as an example of this in action, look at any kind of news or public speaking footage (such as political debates or church sermons).  You will see a variety of different camera angles to try and methods and timing of cuts to help make the footage feel less static from these kinds of sources.

I think it all comes down to what this person is actually talking about and what the overall atmosphere of that movie should be.
I'm not a professional director myself, but I can think of some ways to do this:
Option one: Let this person do something. Have a look at the opening scene of Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in the west:

Those guys weren't even talking. Just waiting for minutes. Use a lot of inserts / close shots of whatever is happening. (flies, water drops, drinking etc.)
Option two: Let something happen in the background. Let this interfere with the person. Think of some subtle jokes.
Option three: Use flashbacks, if you like it.
Option four: Make a dialog instead of a monologue. That easily gives you lots more creative freedom.
Option five: Don't show the monologue in chronological order. Make it harder and more interesting for the viewer to figure out what is going on.
Option six: Don't reveal too early, where that person is. Give some wrong hints, and keep the viewer busy figuring out, what the context of the monologue is.
Surely, there are tons of other options.
I am convinced - if the only thing that is interesting for the viewer is what the person actually says, it will be boring. You have to find something else that makes the scene visually appealing.


text:
Is there a way to directly save DNG Sequences to 16bit exr Sequences in Photoshop or After Effects?
I want to prepare my Magic Lantern Raw files for Nuke. I use Photoshop to convert DNG to a 16bit tiff and then re-encode them to a 16bit exr sequence. I wish I could directly save as exr.
I know i could use Davinci Resolve I just don't like the workflow with Davinci...

Using After Effects this is not an issue. After Effects has CameraRAW support and by that also support importing DNG sequences.
You import them just as you would any other image sequence.
Then simply make the sequence into a composition and add it to the render queue.
AFAIK After Effects has the OpenEXR plugin integrated since CS5.5. In case I'm wrong you can get the great ProEXR plugin for Photoshop and After Effects from fnodware (I'm not affiliated). To do the same with a few more format options.

After Effects and Photoshop can open exr but as far as I can see not render as exr. Did not find the option in the Adobe Media encoder either... Fnodware seems to be for CS3 but maybe it works for Adobe CC too.

Sorry I was blind found the option in After Effects. It looks like they integrated the plugin from fnodware into after effects. Now wondering if i can find it in Photoshop too.

Photoshop also has OpenEXR but only when your image is 32bit. Otherwise it doesn't show up as a save option for whatever reason.
Maybe try the Photoshop Trial of ProExr, should allow you to save as 16bit aswell.


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

I would also point out though that it doesn't really make sense that a neighboring store would provide footage with altered time code.  Why not go to that store and ask if you can verify it is the footage they provided and verify if the clock on their camera is correct.

I'll assume the time code is at the top or bottom of the video, and off to one side. In simple video-editing software (like Adobe Premiere or even the free Apple software iMovie), an editor could zoom in on the shot to crop out the timecode.

At this point, though, the editor would have to create a fake timecode and lay it over the top of the video convincingly. Once that was done, the editor would save the video as a new file which would appear nearly the same as the original but with a new timecode.

The easiest way would be to simply add a timecode to video that doesn't have one.  If you had a clean video, it's super trivial to add something to it.  It would be quite a bit harder to alter something if there was already timecode put there (unless cropping would work like BrettFromLA suggests), but it could also be argued that the clock was also simply wrong on the camera.
Your best bet is to have a video forensics guy look it over for signs of manipulation and have them act as an expert witness.

The thing against nobody can complain is corruption in the court and police. In this city criminal is the number 1 problem. Most of the criminals are protected by the government (city stories) and the court need way better results to reach the contry average. That results in vast of wrong adjudicated cases. (A Comp.Science spealist already said that it's 'almost impossible' to change the video - we believe he's payed to say that). It was not a clean video. The idea of @BrettFromLA is great. If the size of this video and other clips differ, it means that the video clip is cropped! Thanks!

Oh wow, if a computer scientist said it is "almost impossible" to change the video, they are full of crap and outright lying.  Besides, a computer scientist is in no way remotely qualified to make that kind of claim anyway without other credentials.  The best bet is still to find the original then.


text:
What are the names of different ways to fit video when the aspect ratios do not match?
If I want to communicate to someone editing a video, how can I tell in an unambiguous way how I want the video to be resized.
1) If I want the image to be cropped so that there are no black strips filling the area that has no image.
2) If I want the the video to be scaled down so that the image is not cropped, adding the two black strips filling the gaps where there is no image.

Letter box if you have bars on the top and bottom.
Pillar box if you have them on the sides.
Stretch (or possibly anamorphic, depending on what the intended playback aspect ratio is)   if you are full screening it by stretching it out to fill the space.
Cropped if you are making it full screen by cutting off the edges.

much simpler version than mine

@AdamMannPro Yeah, I generally try to do whatever the other answers isn't.  If someone bullet points, I'll go detailed.  If someone is detailed, I'll be brief.  It's nice to have a detailed explanation and a TL DR version.  Never know what someone will most need.  I voted yours up too though.  Also, welcome to the site if I haven't said it already.

I like your way of thinking there, I feel sometimes I dont make much sense so I try to give an example if I have one.

And if you somehow end up with a letter box AND a pillar box, you get a window box.

@KCMcLaughlin - that must be why so many video guys prefer Macs...

1) - Fit Height, often called Pillarbox
2) - Fit Width, usually called Letterbox
Examples and explanation from Apple

its all about the aspect ratio
is you have a video that has black bars (pillar boxes) either on the sides or top and bottom, you can expand the video to fill the space but you will loose the sides or top/bottom depending on which ratio it is at.
when I was shooting in 4.3 ratio i would plan my shots to have enough room top and bottom so that I could resize the video to fit a 16.9 ratio, when Im filming in 16.9 (widescreen) I do the same so that if I wanted to add the bars top and bottom I wont loose any of my frame (ie: heads of people, action etc etc)
This was an interesting link on how they came about through film history
http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/the-changing-shape-of-cinema-the-history-of-aspect-ratio/
hope that helps


text:
Tessellation-like animation in after effects
I am trying to make something I've seen on the local new in the after effects. Now, let's say there's a large picture that has text on it "WBC" or something like that and those letters, when zoomed in are made of smaller pictures. I made the large image in Photoshop and it's pretty decent looking but I can't seem to figure out a way to create this tessellation animation that is probably simple since it revolves mainly around zooming in and moving around but I am a novice in After Effects so i need your help. Thanks ;)

The easiest way to do this is to sync the scaling and make a cross dissolve between them as you do the scaling.  You want it to fade fairly quickly as you work your way in.  One layer would be the many images in whatever arrangement you want, the other would be the overall logo.  This is also often the technique used for doing a smooth zoom in on a satellite image from a very high level to a lower level.
If you time the fades right, it isn't that noticeable as you move to progressively more detailed images because the more detailed image is starting in while it is still small enough to not be distinguishable.
To keep the sizes manageable, you may also have to do multiple images to transition through.  Don't bring one in to the timeline until the previous image is big enough that details of it will start being noticeable.  Also, be sure to remove the larger previous image from the timeline once the newer image completely covers it.

Use the Form or Particular plugins made by Trapcode.  It's the quickest and easiest way to do it.  Make a comp with one image per frame consisting of all the small images.  Make sure the comp size is small - maybe 100x100 or an appropriate aspect ratio compared to your images.
In your main comp, make a text object with the text you want in large white letters.  Hide it.
Create a solid layer.  Apply Trapcode Form to it.  In the Quick Layer styles, for particle opacity, choose your hidden text layer in the XY direction.
This is from memory, so may be a little hazy... Check the Form tutorials like this one:
http://www.redgiant.com/videos/getting-started/item/76/


text:
Can H264 achieve "equivalence" with ProRes 422?
Has anyone done or seen any tests comparing Apple ProRes 422 with high-bitrate H.264?
We use 422 as a delivery format to go to DCP for theatrical versions of trailers.
The bitrate is around 150mbps.
We are wondering if it is possible to reach adequate quality with H.264. Say, with bitrates of 50-100mbps, and tweaking the GOP size/structure. (E.g., only using "I" frames.)
Assuming H264 is a more "efficient" codec, we are hoping to get smaller file sizes.
Or does H.264 just not have the color depth to compete?
It would be great to see if someone has done some real-world testing.
Update 1: I just did a quick test using 50mbps, GOP size 1, I-frames only ... and "by eye" I see no difference whatsoever. Same level of noise, same colors. The ProRes is 1.92GB, the H264 is 566MB. How would one "test" the difference technically? Or measure the color information?
Update 2: I did some more testing ... with Adobe Media Encoder, using MPEG2, and the "4:2:2" profile, the ProRes file went from 1,920MB to 290MB! And I would say, subjectively, that is is 99% as good. This is remarkable. (With H264 I was down to 500-700MB)

On the MPEG2 size, it sounds like you are using predictive frames.  You could get even better file sizes if you used predictive frames on the h.264 video, but since you are using All-I, a substantial portion of the compression that h.264 is capable of is disabled.  For archival formats in general, you want to avoid predictive frames though as they will negatively impact the ability to re-encode since predictive frames are not as high quality as non-predictive frames.

OK, sorry, moved options questions to http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/12504

Well going by the numbers h264 has a lesser bit-depth and color accuracy than ProRes 422. PR422 has 10bit and 4:2:2 chroma sub-sampling, h264 has 8bit and 4:2:0 unless you encode in the Hi422P Intra profile which isn't very well supported in the wild but offers 10bit and 4:2:2.
So in that case I don't think you will have any difference what so ever between the two formats but a better compression ratio than with ProRes.
E: If you want to go real ape shit you can also encode in the 4:4:4 Intra Profile, that supports up to 14 bit of color depth. So technically superior to ProRes4444. Though you probably wont find any commercial application that supports it.
On another note, I don't think content delivery for cinema should be done in h264 nor ProRes 422 especially when you plan to encode to a lossless codec (JPEG2000/DCP) afterwards. It just doesn't make much sense to do so, all you loose is quality even though there is no need to do so, you only save space until you encode your DCP. There are other good lossless codecs, that offer very good compression, to use before encoding the DCP.
You could for example go directly to DCP, the Adobe Media Encoder offers export to 2k DCP since CC 2014, you can skip an encoding step and have a lossless codec with very good compression ratio.
Another great intermediate codec is UtVideo aswell as Schrödinger (an implementation of the Dirac codec from BBC, its available through FFmpeg).
In the end though theory always differs from practice and if you don't deliver for nation wide cinemas with excellent projectors and what not, that quality difference in your delivery chain will be neglectable.
The only thing that could be pitfall is that h264 is very complex an by that always prone for some weird visual defects, so final inspection is always a necessity with h264.

Doing some "scientific" tests and compare the two codecs would definitely be very interesting though. I might do something like that if I find the time.

Does Media Encoder have a Hi422P option? Couldn't find it. And when I tried to encode as DCP via Wraptor, ME kept crashing.

Thats unfortunate.
I haven't seen the option in AME, I know that the MainConcept implementation supports it and x264. The former is also available as a plugin for the Adobe Media Core (e.g. all video tools).

Wikipedia has a nice comparision of different encoders and their feature support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H264#Software_encoder_feature_comparison

I just see that MainConcepts Plug-In suite also offers DCP support, might be worth a look. http://www.mainconcept.com/eu/products/plug-ins/plug-ins-for-adobe/totalcode-cs-5-6.html

I don't see Hi422 mentioned on that MainConcept page ... just DCP. Is there a Hi422 plugin or encoder for Mac?

Wow, amazing results with MPEG2 ... see my updated post above.

You would probably achieve far better results when using standard h264 instead of an intra encode (i frame only). MPEG2 is far(!) worse when it comes to compression.
If we are talking about a 2-3 minute 1080p trailer that can be around 30MB without any apparent visual downgrade.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

JPEG2000 is not a lossless codec.

Has anyone done or seen any tests comparing Apple ProRes 422 with high-bitrate H.264?

No, but I can tell you that x264 can get as close to lossless as you want (or even mathematically lossless, with -qp 0).  x264 can produce h.264 streams in 4:2:0, 4:2:2, or 4:4:4 YUV colorspaces, at 8 or 10 bits per component.  (It can also do RGB, but unless you're doing lossless, you'll probably get better quality per bitrate from YUV.)
Decoder support for anything other than 4:2:0 8bit isn't as widespread.  (e.g. video cards have hardware decoders that can only accelerate 4:2:0 8bit).
Note that x264 has to be compiled for either 8 or 10bit output.  You need a separate build of libx264 (or a whole separate static build of ffmpeg) for 8bit and 10bit.  Either can handle any input bit depth you want to throw at it, but will always output the bit depth it was compiled for.
The Hi444PP h.264 profile supports up to 14bit depth for lossy or lossless operation, but x264 still only supports 8 or 10bit.  (Also 9bit, if you compile it with bit depth = 9, but there's really no point in doing that.  The speed hit comes as soon as you go beyond 8)
BTW, even if your input is 8bit and your final display is 8bit RGB, 10bit h.264 looks better for the same bitrate.  8bit h.264 is a speed vs. quality tradeoff.  (and obviously decoder compat.)  Google should find some threads on doom9, and a PDF from ateme, to back up this assertion.
To understand it, remember that lossy codecs aren't trying to reproduce all the input bits, just something that looks similar.  10bit allows more internal precision for motion prediction, and lets the encoder tweak the least-significant bits for better CABAC efficiency (trellis) without producing a visible difference.  So you get less banding of gradients.

We are wondering if it is possible to reach adequate quality with
  H.264. Say, with bitrates of 50-100mbps, and tweaking the GOP
  size/structure. (E.g., only using "I" frames.)

Forcing more I frames, or I frames only, does NOT increase quality.  h.264 encoders "know" how their output differs from their input, and will use I macroblocks where they're a better choice.
Short GOPs are useful for seeking, or error recovery in realtime streaming use cases.  For video production, a short GOP lets you frame step backwards without having to decode very many frames from the previous keyframe.  So you can scrub with more precision.
If seeking isn't a concern at all, you could set keyint=1000, and then x264 could use almost as long a GOP as it wanted.  (Scenecut detection is on in every preset except ultrafast, so x264 will use an IDR (key frame) every time a scene cut makes an I frame a good idea anyway.)

Update 2: I did some more testing ... with Adobe Media Encoder, using
  MPEG2, and the "4:2:2" profile, the ProRes file went from 1,920MB to
  290MB! And I would say, subjectively, that is is 99% as good. This is
  remarkable. (With H264 I was down to 500-700MB)

If you got results that good with MPEG2, you should easily get even smaller files with a decent h.264 encoder.  Your content probably compresses pretty well (low grain, some areas with lots of similarity).
If you have your input in a file that ffmpeg can read (i.e. almost any format),
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset medium -tune film -crf 10 -movflags +faststart out.mp4

CRF 10 is way beyond visually lossless.  ffmpeg defaults to the same colorspace as the input, if the output codec supports it.  If your input is 4:4:4, but you want to subsample your chroma, use something like:
ffmpeg -i in ... -sws-flags lanczos+print_info -pix_fmt yuv422p  out
...
[swscaler @ 0x33be0c0] Lanczos scaler, from rgb24 to yuv422p using MMXEXT

Update 1: How would one "test" the difference technically? Or measure
  the color information?

Measure the output color depth?  maybe with mediainfo.
To compare quality of different encodes of the same source, measure the SSIM or PSNR of each encode relative to the source.  x264 can measure both those metrics during the encode process.  There are other tools for comparing two already-made video files, to measure those quality metrics, but I haven't used them.
For ffmpeg, use -ssim 1  -psnr -tune ssim.  (Don't use -tune ssim except when benchmarking that metric.  It defaults to enabling psychovisual optimizations that produce output that looks better to humans, but is mathematically less similar according to that metric.)
SSIM and PSNR are about the only thing you can use when you're working with bitrates that go way beyond visually transparent.  Google on these for more info.
To test losslessness, you can use ffmpeg's -f framemd5 codec to make sure the h.264 decodes bit-identically to the input.  (see this question for an example.  Make sure you use the same -pix_fmt for all tests, because different decoders might pack the same data differently.)
Oh, just read Prof Sparkles' answer.  Didn't realize that you were eventually outputting to lossless.  You're just shooting yourself in the foot if you use any lossy codecs along the way.  The lossless codec will have to encode all the invisible blocking / ringing artifacts left by the lossy codecs, so you'll typically get bigger files from your lossless codec if you feed it input that's been through a lossy codec, instead of the original source.
So if you want to use h.264, use lossless.  (ffmpeg -i in -preset ultrafast -qp 0 out).  (slower presets give only a tiny compression improvement for lossless.  Never use ultrafast for anything except lossless, though.)


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Which is better quality, a larger 480p video or a smaller 1080p video?
On the Internet, I sometimes see lower resolution videos that have a larger file size than a higher resolution version.
Which of these should have a better apparent quality when displayed on a 50'' FHD TV?
A 4GB 480p or a 2GB 1080p ???

What do you mean by heavier? A 480p is very low res. A 4GB 480p sound a poorly done encoding. I have seen excellent quality clips, 2 hours, at 1080p that took 1.5Gigs to encode, with stereo sound.

Well you CAN make rough assumptions. For a live action film a bit-rate of 3-8 Mbit/s is very advisable at 1080p. At 3Mbit/s you will very likely have noticable artifacts, thats usually an advisable bitrate for 720p video.
A file at SD resolution 480p/567p that is around 4GB in size you probably deal with a DVD that wasn't trans-coded for archiving.
Which is better is hard to say though, in case of a DVD encode you probably have MPEG2 or MPEG4-v2 encoded video and with HD/Blu-ray you will very likely have h264 which is more efficent than MPEG2/MPEG4-v2/Xvid (h264 is MPEG4-v10). So a low bitrate with h264 is not as bad as a low bitrate with MPEG2/MPEG4-v2/Xvid.
Generally I would probably go with the 1080p with less bitrate if its smaller in size, just because its smaller in size and its very likely that on a 1080p monitor/TV the video will not look worse than the upscaled DVD.

There is no concrete answer to this. It depends entirely on the content of the video. Video compression effectively looks for patterns in video. If lots of patterns can be found, then high compression can be achieved with high resolution and low but rate.   If the video is hard to find patterns though, then high compression results in altering the video to make patterns and this produces artifacts that distort the video.
Reducing the resolution of the file in these cases allows for fewer artifacts since less alterations need to be made to the video to find a pattern.
I'm over simplifying here with some technical inaccuracies to make it more accessible, but that is the general idea for compression. If the hd video doesn't have artifacts then the hd video is better, but the sd file is far less likely to have artifacts if similar codecs were used for both.

Ok. thanks for simplifying ! so as for you, is there a way to choose? for instance, with the 2 links in the other post, is there a way to know which one to download?

No. Only looking at the files can determine which is better.

That's very strange. Normally, video files with higher resolutions have a bigger file size. That is, if the videos have approximately the same duration?
If they do, the only possibly explanation are very strange bitrates, which might cause this. Even so, I would go with the 1080p file, since a high bitrate doesn't really result in better quality for 480p videos, and 1080p videos still look relatively good with low bitrates. (Also, you could literally count the pixels of the 480p video on a screen that big)
Might I ask where you got these strange video files?

I lost the 480p video link. But I was looking in TPB and it seems to be a special case only, in general, 1080 are heavier than 480. Tx for helping !

This isn't strange at all. Bit rates vary hugely based on the quality of the video, the codec used and the amount of motion and complexity in the video. It isn't at all strange to find a high quality 480p file that is much, much larger than an hd file. For example, a standard DV file (480i) is 4.7 minutes per gigabyte, meanwhile a 1080p hd download may be only 2gb for an hour long TV show. That same tv show on bluray would be more like 10 to 15gb.

Example here : 1080p : 1.4GB --> http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7883584/American.Psycho.2000.1080p.BrRip.x264.YIFY     720p : 4.4GB http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6782966/American.Psycho.2000.720p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON


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How to use mouse drag gesture to position & size a still image in Premiere Pro CS6
I would like to be able to position a still image using the mouse/pointer directly on the image, to be able to drag the whole image around or resize it by dragging one of its corners or sides.
I'm sure I did this earlier but don't know which part of Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 does it.
Sure, there's the Effect Controls but this seems to only provide for indirectly resizing and positioning the image - i.e. I mouse drag on the numbers themselves and see the effect.

Simply double click the Sequence Preview and you get handles to resize the footage and you can drag the footage around in the frame.

+1 accepted. Got it! It was that double-click - thank you so much!

One more thing - what if there are several tracks of still images overlapping - how do you choose which one to manipulate?

Premiere will choose the one you double click on, just make sure you haven't selected one already, it wont select a different image when there is one already being selected.
The topology in the timeline is also a factor, even if an image is not visible it will still be selected when double clicked on.

Thanks but not sure if I'm seeing that happen myself. For example if I have a title on top of an image, I always get the title moving when I click. Presumably a solution is to turn off the title, or just temporarily move it elsewhere to get at the image to move that (which I actually did in the end.) Cheers!

It depends on the layer size, if the layer is full frame with surrounding alpha it will still select the layer even when double clicked in the alpha part where a different layer is visible, its similar behavior as in Photoshop.

Doesn't work for me. ;c Clicked and double clicked everything I saw.


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What needs to happen before we expect x265 to be in wide use, along with encoders something like Handbrake available for it?
I know that the project is already out and work has began on it.  However, realistically speaking, a large number of things have to happen before it is ready for prime time. (For example, given the encoding/decoding challenges to overcome, decoders need to "smarten up" to the new encoding process.) What other things have to be accomplished before we can reasonably expect to see x265 in wide use?
Are there any additional barriers to something like Handbrake being released?

I made some relatively extensive changes to your question.  The way it was worded, it was unanswerable as an entirely opinion based question.  Nobody, probably not even the developers, can give a fact based answer on when it will be ready, or if it will ever even see bulk adoption.  The barriers that need to be overcome for it to be possible is far more concrete and addressable though.

If you want to know when x265 is going to be in a usable state you will have to ask the developers about that. Though I'm pretty sure they don't know either.
If you want to know when h265/HEVC will be starting to get actually used I'd say earliest end of 2014 though more realistically in mid 2015.
Why? At the moment the devices most profiting from this new codec are mobile handsets that operate on limited data plans and 4K TVs.
As Smart TVs often use the same SoCs as smartphones and tablets both will happen pretty much at the same time.
Qualcomm already released a preview of its Snapdragon 805 which will be a SoC with h265 hardware decoding support. Thats the most important step towards the widespread adoption of a new codec, without hardware support most smartphones will have a hard time with playing back h265 content. SoCs that also support hardware encoding will come out in 2015 (f.e. Snapdragon 810). At that point all important factors on the consumer sides are ready for a widespread adoption. Now we just need to wait until even the low-end SoCs have hardware playback support.
Though that might go faster than expected with ARM v8 being around the corner at the same time. There might be some more rapid changes again in the Smartphone market.
Something like Handbrake will come around pretty quickly, its not all to hard. In the end its just a good user interface and some good presets. You just have to come up with it.


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Is it possible to control GoPro recording without the official app?
Is it possible to start recording with a GoPro without the official app or from an unsupported device?

What is the purpose of this question?  This seems like it is about application development rather than Video Production.

For the GoPros with wifi (Hero3, Hero3+ or HD Hero/HD Hero 2 with a wifi bacpac), yes it is possible. They essentially work as a web server, so you can connect to that, and control the camera. It seems this is not officially documented anywhere, but a number of people have figured out how it works.
So turn on the wifi on the camera, then you can connect to it from your computer.
You can view the webserver by going to http://10.5.5.9:8080 in a browser. This will let you view photos or videos stored on the camera.
To control the camera, you can send HTTP requests. eg to turn the camera on: http://10.5.5.9/bacpac/PW?t=password&p=%01 (where password is the GoPro wifi password). And to trigger the shutter: http://10.5.5.9/bacpac/SH?t=password&p=%01
All of the commands are listed in this Github: KonradIT/goprowifihack
There are also several unofficial apps for connecting to and controlling the GoPro, some of these are open source. eg KonradIT/HeroProApp or moohtwo/Android-GoPro-Streaming.

Can I connect gopro directly without wifi bacpac. I need apply to Gopro hero5.


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Interactive YouTube video navigation
I want to create a youtube video based on the technique used in this video: Interactive Trailer. How can I make annotation(spotlight) on youtube that will link to a video and start at various times.  (Like the buttons on the bottom of the video.)
Example:
If I click the spotlight 5 sec, then step the slider to 15 sec.
If I click the spotlight 6 sec, then step the slider to 16 sec.

Thanks for clarifying, I have reopened your question and attempted to further clarify what it appears you are asking.

You'll need to make a separate spotlight for each different link.  So one spotlight goes from 5 seconds to 6 seconds, and another spotlight goes from 6 seconds to 7 seconds.  Each of them starts your linked video at a different point (15 seconds, 16 seconds, or whatever).
It's easy to set the starting time within an annotation link.  When you create the annotation, and add the link URL, it will ask you about the starting point.  (The default is 0.00, the beginning of the video.) You just set it there before you publish your annotations.
Note that annotations don't yet work on mobile devices (as far as I know).
Here's a useful page that instructs you how to create and use annotations, in case you need some more info.

Thanks for the answer! I also think this solution, but I was hoping exist an easier one.

I've been making YouTube videos since 2006. I WISH there was an easier way, but I haven't found it yet!


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How can I edit in FCPX like I would for a live event when I have multiple sync'd tracks of the same event?
I have layered up multiple clips of the same event in FCPX on the same timeline and synced the audio between clips.
I would like to view a certain layer at a certain point in the clip and select a few seconds of that clip to be visible, then switch to another layer, find another clip segment and make that visible. It would be very much like broadcasting live video where the director can select one or another camera and switch to that camera for broadcast.

Multicam clips do exactly what you're asking.  There's a good tutorial on how to use them here.

well well.. whaddayaknow? another thing to learn in fcpx. #groan.. thanks, jason. =)

and a question: do you know if there is a way to convert a project into a multicam clip?

answer: no. gotta re-do the project as a multi cam clip.


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Blocky video artifact problem on Canon 600D
When shooting video with my Canon 600D I get artefacts like the following in the pictures: (not throughout the whole video but only for a second and then its gone again, but comes back after a few seconds)

They are always in the bottom part of the image. (Although not visible on the LiveView Screen when viewed in camera)
I tried to view the video on several devices and its always the same.
I use a Class 10 SD Card, so this should not be an issue.
Searching on google for the problem had no success.

I've never seen anything like that with my 600D, not even with slow SD cards (in which case the recording just stops). My guess would be an issue with hard- or firmware. Have you fiddled around with the firmware? Magic Lantern or anything? BTW, class 10 may not always be sufficient for HD recording with the 600D, I always choose cards in between 20 and 40MB/s.

This is dropped data.  It may be a problem with either your memory card or your camera itself.  h.264 data, which is the format your video is recorded in, works off of a concept known as Group of Pictures.  Basically, many of the frames of video don't store information about what they look like, but rather what they look like related to previous or future frames.  The entire group of pictures is then decoded together.  A group of pictures typically covers somewhere around half a second to 3/4 of a second of video.
Additionally, image data is encoded in blocks within each frame.  When the data is encoded properly with sufficient bandwidth, these blocks blend seamlessly and you can't tell they are there.  If the data rate is too low or something gets corrupted, then they become obvious though.
This is what has occurred in your video.  During the recording, some data was dropped, resulting in the remaining data being shifted over and thus when the video is decoded, the image blocks are given information that doesn't line up correctly, resulting in the blocky look you are seeing.
Since full frames are only stored every 15 frames or so, the video can't recover from the error until the next full frame (I frame) is reached.  This is because the decoder only knows what changed from the neighboring frame for B (based on former and next frame) and P (based on previous frame) frames.  Thus, it works from the corrupt frame and produces further corrupt frames.
It is possible that the camera is trying to record proper data, but the SD card is not bothering to write it down correctly.  It is also possible that the encoder within the camera is corrupting the data and that the SD card is writing the data it is given faithfully.  The best bet to troubleshoot is to try a different SD card and see if the problem continues in the same manner.
If the SD card does not fix the problem, I would suggest contacting Canon's customer support for further assistance with getting your camera fixed.


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Audio from PA system to Camcorder
I've been asked to video tape a Q/A session with a speaker, and I plan to use my HD camcorder (http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-HDC-TM700K-Camcorder-Control-Internal/dp/B0035LD0EY).
The issue is that my camcorder only has the 1/8th inch speaker cable input, and a long cable from the PA system to my camcorder could pick up a lot of noise.  Wondering what my options are as to how to get the audio from the PA system into my camcorder.  I thought of two options:

Wirelessly transmit the audio from the PA system into the camcorder
Get an XLR <--> 1/8th inch adapter for my camcorder and use an XLR cable to get the audio from the PA system.

Are there any other ways?  If not, could you please recommend product options for 1 and 2. Not too expensive (around $100 if possible).  This isn't professional, but I do want decent audio quality.
Thanks

An XLR cable used with an adapter won't give you the audio quality that an all-XLR cable will. If audio quality is really important, I'd buy or borrow an external recorder that takes XLR cables directly. If this isn't an option, pick up an XLR to 1/8" adapter cable. I suggest taping the adapter to the camcorder so it doesn't move around much.
(Mic cables do move around, particularly if you have a boom operator. However, with an interview, you may be able to use on-screen mics in stands or a single, overhead mic on a stand or hung from the ceiling.)
If you need two mics for the interview, you'll need a small mixer which you can then feed into the camera.
Wireless only really makes sense if you want to use lavalier mics on the actors; wireless systems introduce additional complexities, as they're less plug-and-play than a standard cabled mic.
Balanced versus unbalanced audio:
Any signal chain will have line noise. An unbalanced system (like an XLR cable going into an 1/8" stereo adapter would be) will have more of it. XLR cables (with three connectors) are good because they deliver balanced audio, which is another way of saying that they can do long cable runs without much noise.
A 1/8" cable has also three connectors, but usually because they carry a stereo signal, which is not the same as an unbalanced one. I assume the stereo cable jack on your camera means that the cable run is not balanced - repurposing that third prong from ground to a stereo signal is what does it.
Although I think it's technically possible to have a balanced 1/8" jack, I've never heard of one. (A stereo signal carried through XLR would neccesitate two XLR cables.)
According to Panasonic's specs, your camera uses a "stereo mini" jack, not a balanced or TRS jack. Connector quality would be even more important in that case, since you're feeding an unbalanced analog signal to the camera.
If you have a little time, perhaps getting two adapters - one high-end and one inexpensive - and doing a test may be in order.
Conclusion:
In your situation, if buying or renting an external recorder isn't an option (around $300US), a good microphone feeding into an XLR to 1/8" adapter will introduce line noise, but will also give you getter audio quality than most onboard camera mics.

something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-XVM105-Right-Angle-3-5mm/dp/B0010CTL66/ref=sr_1_7?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1340301923&sr=1-7&keywords=xlr+to+1+8

Is the cable quality (see link above) good for what I'm trying to do?  Is it more like a cable that of a 1/8th inch or is it the kind of a typical XLR cable?  The latter is what I would need right, to eliminate the "hum" that would be picked up from these 1/8inch cables?

@Prabhu - See my edit. (It's hard to guess at cable quality from this Amazon link.)

thanks a lot for the clear explanation.  What is an "external recorder"?  You mean just rent a pro-camcorder?

No, it's a small box that only records audio. You plug a mic into it directly and sync up the audio later on.

Oh...in that case may be I can just get the PA system guys to record the audio for me on a CD or something, and I can just sync it up later?  That's doable right?

I've never done it, but I understand it can be done. Ask them for an AIF or WAV file, not an MP3. Can anyone speak to whether or not it's possible for timecode sync to be used in a case like this, if the sound guys have something that'll generate it?

Ok thanks, will get in touch with the sound guys.  But how is an "external recorder" different as far as I'm concerned?

They'd be using a recorder of some sort - if they have one - or recording to a laptop. "External" in this context means any audio recorder that's not the camcorder.

To sync the audio to the video, you want to have an even that is able to be precisely identified by both the sound and the video. A nice hand clap works well. I've done this with great success.

Answer 3:
Use XLR cables to get the audio from the PA to your camcorder. To convert the balanced PA signal to the line signal, take a passive DI-box (aka DI-unit). They are not expensive. You'll get a solid one for less than 50$ by Amazon.
More info:
DI-Units - Wikipedia
DI-Boxes - Amazon.com

I can't really say anything else beyond what Neil said...that's great info...but I'll throw this into the mix. If you're handy with electronics (or know someone who is), try making this adapter from off-the-shelf parts at Radio Shack.


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What are some things to know and learn about the Canon 550D (T2i) when shooting movies?
I am working on using our 550D for shooting movies. What are some things I need to know and learn about the 550D before shooting with it?

Some things to be aware of when shooting video (this applies to most DSLRs):
Rolling Shutter
Because of the way the 550d records each frame you can end up with slanted video when combined with fast motion. This is because the camera recordes each frame line by line, so each line is recorded at a slightly different time causing a warped effect. Its not a problem for normal motion, but if you are doing moves like panning the camera quickly you will see the effect.

Recording Sound
The Canon 550d (and again most other DSLRs) dont have the best quality audio recording. This leads to two methods you can use to record audio for film work
1. External Recording
Most commonly, people will shoot using an external recorder like a Zoom H4n and then sync the audio to the video in post using software like Plural Eyes. The important thing to remember if you choose this method is to make sure you still have internal recording enabled on the 550d because you will need it as reference audio (there is never really any good reason to NOT record the internal audio, its always useful as a reference even if you dont intend on using the audio)
2.  Built-in Recording
The camera has a compressor built in so anything you plug into the line in jack will be running through the cameras compressor. The issue that can come from this is clipped audio if your audio suddenly jumps up in volume. Here is a good article going over recording sound specifically with a 550d and ways to avoid having your audio clipped.
Memory & Recording Time
A common problem with almost all the Canon DSLRs (not sure about the new ones coming out) is that they can only record around 12 minutes at a time. In my experience the amount is never exact. Its not a problem for any fictional work because its rare you would be shooting for longer than a few minutes at a time, but for documentary work (eg interviews) this can be a problem!
Its worth testing your memory cards before you shoot with them, I've had many experiences where some cards will record fine and others will stop recording after 5-15 seconds. Its always worth getting higher class memory cards which allow for faster transfer rates. Class 6 or Class 10 is often the standard choice for video recording (though the higher the class, the higher the price!)
Batteries
Shooting video chews through the battery life. For a single days shoot you would be very lucky if you didn't use more 3-4 batteries. Its always a good idea to have at least two batteries (ideally 3). That way when your battery dies you can use the spare battery while the other charges. But I wouldnt rely on this, sometime it takes longer for the battery to charge and you may not always have access to power depending on your location.
Good Resources
A good resource for DSLR film making is Phillip Bloom's website and also Vimeo's DSLR video school.
Good luck!

Awesome answer! Thanks so much for all the time you put into this!


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How do you install Adobe Production Premium CS5 on a different hard drive in windows?
Is there a way of installing Adobe Production Premium CS5 on a hard drive other than C:\? I tried changing the install path in the installer but after installing parts of the program don't work and it can't find any plug-ins I add. I have windows 7.
After a lot of messing around I figured out how to get it to work and will post the answer.
The reason I actually want to do this is because my main OS drive is an SSD and there's not really enough space to install the whole Adobe suite on it.

I've figured out how to do it but it won't let me post the answer for 7 hours so I'll have to wait until then!

After a long time of messing aroung I got it to work by tricking the software into thinking it was actually in the default location it likes at 'C:\Program Files\Adobe' by creating directory junctions. In order for it to work the hard drive must be formatted with the NTFS filesystem.
I used http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/ to create the directory junctions. You need to map the following folders to folders on the other hard drive you want to install the suite on. Run the symlinker software as an administrator.

C:\Program Files\Adobe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe

Make sure that you select Directory Junction in the dropdown for type of link otherwise it won't work.
In the symlink program the box which says 'give a name to the link' is the folder name. So for example to set up the first path you would enter 'C:\Program Files' in the top box. Then 'Adobe' as the link name and then '[New Drive]:\Adobe From Link' (as an example) in the third box and then do the same for the other 3 and they all need to go to different folders.
Then when you've done this and checked that the folders are being mapped correctly you can simply install the adobe suite into C:\Program Files\Adobe (where it wants to go) and it will actually set itself up on your other hard drive.
I know it's not common to even think about putting it on another hard drive but I had to and I hope this will be useful if there's someone else out there that ever needs to and will save a lot of time!


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Encoding 1080p for DVD - Pr 5.5
When I encode my 1080 sequence using the MPEG2-DVD preset I get a slight letterbox effect on either side of the frame. Does anybody know if there is any way around that, or if that is just-the-way-it-is?

1080 would suggest full HD, the rub is that DVD is not HD. At best DVD is 720 x 480 so I believe that PR5.5 like many other pro editors is scaling your 1080 to fit in this smaller screen format, so letter boxing would be expected.

They are slightly different sizes. (I think it has to do with aspect ratio )
When I scale down 1920 HD to DVD I scale Fit Width,  not Fit all.
This scales it down but leaves a few pixels above and below.
I think you end up with 720x485 when it's supposed to be 720X480

That's what I've concluded too.


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Help with playback stutter in Sony Vegas Pro 11
I've got 2 DSLRs in my kit, a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon D3S, for 1080i and 720p respectively. I experienced stuttering playback with footage from both cameras, and figured it was something with Nikon's codec until I had the same issue with HDV footage from a Sony camera (client was unsure of the model#). I recently upgraded from Vegas 8 to Vegas 11 to handle HD footage more cleanly. My machine has 6gb RAM, one of the recommended NVidia graphics cards, and my CPU, while slower than I'd like at 2.53GHHz, is still within recommended ranges for Vegas 11. My internal discs are spinning @ 7200RPM & I'm running Win7 Pro. I've downloaded all the latest drivers, codecs and updates that I could find for my hardware and software.
So here's more detail on what I've tried:
Playback in Vegas 11 Pro stutters for both the Nikon and and Sony HD footage.
SD footage plays back just fine.
Only picture stutters, not sound.
Stutter happens at all playback resolutions, from draft to highest quality.
If I view the clips in an external player (Quicktime, VLC, DivX) playback is fine.
If I render out a clip to Quicktime, AVI, Windows Media, MPG2, MPG4 at HD resolution, or at least matching the camera clip as closest as I can, I can pull it back into Vegas and play it without any issues.
Based on the above facts:
It's appears to be a Vegas issue, and since playback after rendering THROUGH Vegas works fine, I suspect it's an issue with the Nikon codecs on the inbound side. But, what's up with the Sony playback stuttering? Maybe it's hard drive speed issue? Then why do rendered clips, some of which are larger than the original, not stutter?
I never did any setup from within Vegas to point it to the GPU. I assume that Vegas will FIND my GPU and assign whatever processes as it sees fit. DO I need to do something special?
Has anyone else had success with Nikon clips, and would you be willing to share your setup parameters?
Thanks.

I have seen some trainwrecks by combining Nikon .mov with Vegas Pro 10. After tech calls into both Nikon and Sony it was determined that my machine didn't have enough resources.
I need to upgrade from 32 bit to a 64 bit version of Win7, plus I need to go from a quad core to an i7, and from 4GB to 12 GB or better. I can use my Nikon files now but only if I keep the total under 1 GB, short projects only but it works. One thing that may help your stuttered preview is to set the window to preview mode at 1/4 size, this helped a lot for me.
Here is a tutorial that covers everything I've tried and more of the things that may help you
get your playback smoother.