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Adding a time stamp to a video
Anyone know of a program that will add a visible date and time stamp to a video file? Preferably, I can just put in the start time of the video and it will just keep incrementing the time as the video plays.

You can use ffmpeg to display current localtime:

ffmpeg -i input -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/Vera.ttf: text='%{localtime}': x=(w-tw)/2: y=h-(2*lh): fontcolor=white: box=1: boxcolor=0x00000000@1" image%03d.png

See Can ffmpeg extract images from a video with timestamps? for more examples.

Timecodes can be added in Sony Vegas. It's possible to adjust the vertical and horizontal allignment and scale of the timecodes as well as the format (Time, Frames, Feet).
Open or create a new project in Sony Vegas and switch to the 'Video FX' tab, find the Timecode effect, click and drag one of the formats onto your media event. In my example I've chosen to use the 'Time & Frames' timecode which displays in hours, minutes, seconds and frame number (HH:MM:SS:FF)

If you don't own this software, and you only intend to add a time stamp, you can download a free 30-day trial from the Sony Vegas website.

Most pro non-linear editors (NLEs) such as Vegas or FinalCut include something to do that. Search the documentation for "timecode burn" or "window burn". I know in Sony Vegas it's one of the text effects. While it's possible that the prosumer NLEs like Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Vegas Studio may have that functionality, I just don't know about those products for sure.
good luck!

Moviemaker does allow you to do a fixed date stamp as a caption, but you can't easily add a changing timecode.

Good info to know! I suspect that may be the case with most prosumer/consumer products.

Windows Movie Maker does not have this function

Thanks for the general answer, the ones referring to specific paid programs aren't particularly useful if the OP doesn't list a program they own.

For example Motion has textgenerators for this task.
Just look for "Timecode" and "Time & Date" in the effect-library.
But most compositing and editing applications can do that.

There is a tool for Sony Vegas Pro (not free) that can grab the recording metadata and burn it on the movie.
Here

Adobe Premiere has this functionality.
Search for "Timecode" in Effects tab.

That doesn't actually seem to put the date/time of when the clip was taken. Is that normal?


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How do I create a zoom transition in Premiere Elements 9?
Could you tell me how do I zoom in Adobe Premiere Elements 9? And I mean a slow zoom transition, not a non-transitioning zoom that "jumps" into zoom from one frame to the other.
Thanks

I think it would be helpful if you included a link to an example (youtube or like) of what you are exactly looking for, and another link to the "non-transitioning zoom that "jumps" into zoom from one frame to the other."

I'm no expert, but here's what I use. Right-click on the piece being edited. (I usually view them in Timeline rather than Sceneline.) Choose "Show Properties." The important property for this purpose is Motion. Click on the little clock at the right end of the Motion heading. That will show you arrows where you can go forward and back, to see what keyframes you have set. (You can also right-click on the image and choose Show Clip Keyframes, but what you see is not necessarily very informative.) Add keyframes at the beginning and end of a clip, for Position, Scale, and Scale Width. (To add keyframes, click on the diamond, not the arrows, under the Motion clock.) If the little dot on the Timeline disappears (assuming you have selected Show Clip Keyframes), that means you turned the keyframe off, not on. Arrow back and forth to make sure your keyframes have been added for each of those three parameters. Now go somewhere in the middle of the clip and drag your image around in the viewing window and/or use the Motion sliders. Get your image where you want it and add those same three kinds of keyframes there too. Now, optionally, click on the camera picture, at the corner of the viewing window, and add a still image of your zoomed frame. Hope that helps.

I'm not sure what you mean but I you can get a zooming transition by adding keyframes to the scale and opacity property.
if you scale it up as you turn the opacity down it should look like a zoom and transisiton.

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Adobe Premiere Pro Says Exporting, No File Produced
I have a 1440 x 1080 sequence that I'm attempting to export in Premiere Pro, in the Export | Media... dialog I've tried a bunch of settings but each time I click OK the exporting status bar pops up momentarily and nothing happens (there is no file produced). I've double checked the output directory and name, both export video & audio are checked. Tried DV PAL, Intel IYUV and None under video codec and all had same result.
What else should I be looking at/is this a common silly mistake?

Also make sure "Source Range" is set to "Entire Sequence" (below preview on left side of "Export Settings" pop-up.)
When you say "nothing happens" - does Media Encoder freeze? crash? does it say "done" and you can't find the file?

I find when a composition won't render it's usually a clip on the timeline (or really large still images in my case)
For instance I do video board game reviews and I have issues rendering from Premier CS5 when the  9 megabyte  still images are on the timeline.
Try moving half the clips to a layer and turning them off(click the eye next to the layer) then trying to render, if it still fails turn that layer back on and the other layers off.
Or rendering out a smaller segment of the timeline.
I think CS4 comes with media encoder.
If your using the media encoder try not using it and rendering directly from Premier.  If your not using the media encoder try using it.
(this might be your issue ? http://frankieloscavio.blogspot.ca/2009/03/fixing-adobe-media-encoder-export.html )
Have you been able to render from premier before?
Have you patched it with the latest updates from Adobe?
Hacked copies of premier tend to have more bugs because you can't install the updates and fixes they release.

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Recorded video changes dimensions while play
I have recorded a video of a blackberry simulator using Cam Studio and i use Nero for playing.
I used fixed region dimensions of width 454 and Height of 762 inorder to capture simulator dimensions to show app working.
Now i want to edit this video.I used Windows movie maker inorder to edit and add few things like:
Title
Captions
But when i play after performing necessary edits in Windows media player,it shows full screen dimension.As a result of which the simulator video looks enlarged and magnified.
I want to avoid this and retain original dimensions that i used during record.How to go about it.
Please help.

Windows Media Player by default will re-size the video to fit the screen.  To get it back down to the actual video resolution you will need to press F11 to exit full screen mode.
If it is still not the correct size right click on the video and select 100% from the Video sub menu.
As for preventing the video player from resizing the video, I don't think it is possible.
(These instructions are for WMP 12, but should be similar to previous versions)

Thanks for responding.The problem is not exactly with wdows media player but with wdows movie maker.As it is using full screen dimensions to edit the recorded video.Can u suggest some editing s/w that will allow me to perform edits in existing dimensions.

Check the answer to this question for a clue on how to resolve the issue in movie maker.

It doesnt quite meet my needs. :(

You can look at the following questions for some additional software options: http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/4233/simple-video-editing-tool http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/2274/good-open-source-video-editors?rq=1 http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/2389/non-linear-video-editor-for-free-or-cheap-that-does-these-things?rq=1

Thanks for those links.Appreciate ur help.If u some across any other good sofwares or alternatives for recording simulator video do keep me posted.


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Mobile Tethered Video Shooting
I'm interested in purchasing a camera setup for video where I just "tether" a camera with realtime HDMI or USB output to a PC (a netbook) with a huge hard drive and shoot everything directly to the netbook.
Why? So that I can experiment with visual effects in realtime, and get excellent macro-command functionality and web uploading for "free".
Do any of you have personal experience with this kind of setup and have anything to say to dissuade me from trying it?

if an answer was helpful for you, please consider selecting it as your choice.

I have personal experience with tethered shooting for different purposes, and I have absolutely NOTHING to say to dissuade you.
Having said that, there are some things about which you need to be cautious. I don't know what your end result is going to be. Is this going to be a webcast? or are you trying to save some post-production time on a movie for distribution? That makes a huge difference in what you need to watch out for. Without that, the best I can do are some very broad generalities.
First, prosumer cameras take up a lot of bandwidth. Do some tests to make sure your hard drive spins fast enough to capture the data coming down the wire. I had to upgrade to a 10k RPM hard drive for a stright-to-disc project once. Use lower quality cameras for less bandwidth, but few of those have HDMI.
Second, depending on what you're doing for VisFX, coupled with the complexity of the image you're using, you'll want to make sure that your processor is fast enough to render everything on the fly. That's a total crapshoot...but VisFX on a relatively static talking head will take less processing overhead than VisFX on a scene with fifteen people all moving in front of the camera.
Third, if you're webcasting, see my bandwidth comment above. You've got similar issues on the output side, and you'll need to render your output to be small enough to be web-friendly. Uncompressed AVI to compressed QuickTime, Flash Video, Windows Media, etc. takes time and processing power. If this is the plan, you may wish to consider a dedicated machine that transcodes for web in realtime. The ones I've used are dedicated machines, I'm not sure if they'd play nicely with your system.
You have a lot of variables at play here. Before you invest in the gear, I would recommend borrowing and renting what you can, and testing the bejeebers out of the system to make sure it's doing what you need. If something doesn't work, figure out that smaller piece of the process, then move on. I can guarantee that by doing it and asking questions along the way, you'll lern more about doing this than you ever wanted to.
But I'm definitely NOT dissuading you. Be excited about your journey into new technological realms, and go for it!
Good luck!


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GPUs and software for FAST realtime VisFX?
This question obviously is highly dependent on specific VisFX's, so please answer IN GENERAL:
In general, which GPUs/GPU families and software (Mac, Windows, Linux) COMBINATIONS are best for rendering a large variety of VisFX in realtime on a live video feed (from a tethered camera)?
I'm asking in order to choose a netbook to purchase for realtime VisFX on a live feed; netbooks are fundamentally limited in GPU/CPU power, so I want to find a GPU/software combination that works most efficiently.

Although you've specifically requested that we answer 'in general', it is nigh on impossible to do so with the information you have provided. For starters, what software will you be streaming in, and what resolution will it be? What are you using to produce the effects?

I asked about COMBINATIONS of hardware and software in order to open up the domain and allow this question to find the FASTEST setups for live video VisFX.  For the purpose of this question, assume 720p  24fps, with whatever hardware, software, and OS can most quickly get a feed from the camera into a realtime VisFX process.  That should be enough to specify the question.


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How to use Pinnacle Studio 9 effects in newer versions?
I've created many HFX transitions to use in Pinnacle Studio 9 but newer versions of Pinnacle Studio(e.g. 12,14, etc.) does not support it. I need to stuck with 9 because I need those effects so badly.
Is there any way or workaround to make it work in newer versions?


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Not able to play 13Mb video file
I have developed a video which approximates to 13 Mb.I try opening it with Windows media player or Nero.It tries to open but then the player automatically closes.
Format is .avi
What could be the possible reason.Is size the issue?

What is the resolution ? AVI can support arbitrary sized (dimension) video, but many codecs and players do not.

Not enough info. Try getting a copy of the GSpot Codec Information program (google it) and report back here what it says about the file.
Size is almost certainly not the problem.

It is almost certainly to do with not having the correct codec.

Best tool for this is MediaInfo.
This tool is opensource and has nearly daily updates for features and bug fixes. It is an analyzer of media files. Have many levels of how deep it will report you about media file. While it is not checking the integrity of the whole media file it check correctness of headers and tells you about capabilities.

Could you edit your answer and explain why? I suspect you might be right but it's not clear whether this tool is helpful from your answer or the link.

This tool is opensource and have nearly daily update for features and bug fixes. It is analyzer of media files. Have many levels of how deep it will report you about media file. While it is not checking integrity of whole media file it check correctness of headers and tells you about capabilities.

@Whity You should add the contents of your comment into your answer - I suspect that would earn you some upvotes.

Size should not be an issue.
You probably have a corrupt video file. This would explain why players close when trying to decode it.
You can try to preview the video with this tool:
http://mp4repair.org
(disclaimer: I'm affiliated with this website)


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Understanding Region of Interest selection in a Camera
I want to understand how ROI selection actually happens inside a camera? I have an ethernet camera, that can capture and send images to the PC, based on user defined ROI. The advantage of this is that I transfer only useful/relevant data from the image to my PC which will process it, instead of processing on the complete image.
The manufacturer has given a user guide, that gives very little details. The user guide says that ROI Selection-1(see figure below) is a valid ROI, and the ROI Selection-2 is of no use, in the sense that it will be still sending the complete image (though with some 0 values or garbage). That is the ROI selection-2 will not give any advantage of having only useful data transfer.

In support of his arguments he has given the following figure(without any explanation)
Horizontal scanning

Vertical scanning

Can someone help me understand why the selection 2 is invalid. I am really facing problem in understanding these pulses. Is there any link giving details about these pulses?

The image is scanned (and data stored) with an imaginary cursor starting at the upper left, working across horizontally to the right, then the cursor pauses to move down one line and resetting to left edge. One could think of the rectangular image as a single string where the "carriage return - line feed" is merely implied by keeping track of the timing (or counting pixels). In most image storage formats, the width and height are tags in the header and the data itself is a long stream without demarcated frame extents. Since the figures speak about clocks and blanking however, file storage is probably not implicated here.
I think that the horizontal scan lines can be skipped (or at least started and then reset arbitrarily), but cannot be started at an arbitrary distance from the left edge.
Selection 1, is optimal for this behavior: you send a minimal set of commands to skip down to the proper horizontal position, and scanning can start at the upper left of the desired viewport scan what is desired and then skip the rest.
In Selection 2, we must scan every single line to at least the rightward extent of the part we are interested in, at which time we can send a command to move to the next line and reset.
Very roughly: if you have a 99w x 99h "units", and are interested in 1/3 of the image centered as in the examples, in selection 1, you scan 99w x 33h units while in selection 2, you must scan 66w x 99h units minimum. It is unclear to me, but the supporting figure looks to me to be speaking about selection 2 only, and the horizontal "2,592clk 1H" implies to me that the right-side mask is skipped for scanning.
Note that if the camera cannot start a horizontal line without scanning the complete line (i.e. can't stop and reset at an arbitrary distance from the left edge), then the selection 2 scenario must scan 99w x 99h units.

Here's what I think is going on.
In the example above, with the "A", let's assume that all white space takes up very little information in the data stream when being transferred from the camera, and that the "A" itself takes considerably more space (similar to how, in a JPEG, an image with lots of solid color will be smaller than an image with lots of contrast). In this case, looking at ROI 1, you are cutting out parts of the "A", meaning parts of the image that would be costly to transfer are being left out. This means that the resulting stream will be considerably smaller. In ROI 2, the only parts being cut out are white parts that would be very cheap to transfer anyway, thus making it inefficient.
Looking at the two diagrams, the first one seems to illustrate RIO 1. Notice that the video output here seems to measure 2,448 CLK. In the upper right we see that 1 CLK = 12.22 nanoseconds. Doing the math, that comes out to the video output taking 29.91456 microseconds. Meanwhile, in the second diagram, we have what appears to be an illustration of RIO 2. Here, video output is measured at 2,058 H, with 1 H being 31.68 microseconds. That comes out to 65.19744 milliseconds, considerable longer than 30 microseconds.
I'll admit the diagrams are strange, but really they just seem to be an overly-complicated way of saying that RIO 1 leaves less hard-to-transfer parts of the image than RIO 2 (which leaves all of it).
That's my guess.


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Hardware to rotate a video signal 90 degrees?
Okay, so what I'm trying to accomplish is to take a standard TV monitor and mount it at 90 degrees, while simultaneously rotating the source input signal 90 degrees so that the video output appears right-side-up on the rotated TV monitor.
We're doing this in an attempt to mock-up a giant iPhone in portrait orientation, driving the screen image off of an actual iPhone in portrait orientation.  So the TV needs to receive the signal from the iPhone, rotate it 90 degrees, and then scale it to fill the screen (probably distorting it a bit due to different aspect ratios).
I understand this sort of thing is relatively simple to do in software, but we really need some sort of hardware solution as we will be running this on a live feed, with the video running directly from the input device (iPhone) to the TV, with no computer in-between.  Is there any readily available hardware (like a cable or adaptor, maybe) that can do this?  Or perhaps any known TV models that allow the input image to be rotated arbitrarily?

I don't know of any cables which do it, but you have a simpler solution:
A few recent HDMI computer monitors will be able to do this in hardware - an example I quite like is the The Samsung Syncmaster C24A650X

The manual for the C24A650X seems to imply it's just telling Windows to rotate, not doing it in hardware http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201203/20120307182339473/BN46-00083C-Eng.pdf


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Motion tracking in screen recording
I'm experimenting with motion tracking and screencasts. The motion tracker in Motion 5 has problems tracking a very basic shape though. I was wondering if someone may know why and how I could get the tracker to work properly?
The problem is that as soon as I hit analyze the tracker analyzes two or three frames then stops. I tried a couple of different settings but couldn't get it to work.
Here's an example image
The lower half shows a tracking point sitting on one of Motion's "suggested" tracking points.
Thanks

Have you followed any tutorials for this? Such as this one?

Yes. As I said the problem seems to be the kind of video. Real video recordings are quite different from "static" screen captures, i.e. apps.

I’m curious if you’ve made any progress with this?

I did not. I'm doing it all manual with interpolation.

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How can I prevent adobe media encoder from trimming the end of the video?
I'm working with videos from a client that need to be converted to Flash from Quicktime.  I've started to encounter a problem where Adobe Media Encoder will trim of a fraction of a second at the very end, which sometimes even clips off the very end of the audio.  The client does not want to add some silence to the end of the videos.
For the complete render settings, please see this screenshot: http://cl.ly/2V372S2N3B0R091N1P1s
Does anyone know what causes this or how it can be prevented?  Adobe doesn't seem to have any information about the problem and Google results all seem to be about intentional trimming.

I can't read your screenshot, and in any case I don't use the particular tool, but I can say that some common reasons for this are: 1) the audio and video are different lengths and the particular encoding scheme or codecs don't like that; 2) the scheme or codec requires that the material ends in a full GOP (encoding quantum).
If these are your issue, possible solutions are obvious: make the streams the same length, and/or pad the streams out to a full quantum. Probably both...

Do you have audio at end without any video?  Try putting in black video until the very end of sequence. (File - New - Black Video)  -- I had an issues when I faded out to nothingness at end and cross fading to black video fixed it.
Additionally, make sure "Source Range" is set to "Entire Sequence" when exporting in Media Encoder.  That could be another problem source.


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How do DVDs avoid the blockyness that plagues dark scenes in most video files?
When a DVD is ripped to a file on a computer the dark scenes typically get compressed to the point of illegibility; huge squares of black are all set to the same value, removing all the detail. This is often seen in video files posted to the internet.
I get why it happens; The difference between two shades of black is quite easily to perceive, but to the compression algorithm it is a tiny difference, so the two shades are set to one value to save space.
However, this effect is obviously avoided on the DVD itself. How do they do this, and why don't the compression methods used when ripping the DVD to a file also do this? I mean, the DVD format and codecs are old, far older the the ones used online today. So why does this problem appear when ripping the file?

Strictly speaking, ripping is the process of pulling data off the disc. If the video ends up in another codec, you have been transcoding the video as well. Transcoding is the likely source of the blockiness.

A single layer DVD has about 4.5 GB of capacity, a dual layer DVD has about 8.5 GB of capacity. Some of this space is taken up by menus and special features, but that still leaves plenty of room for video with minimal compression.
Take a look at the "blocky" videos - they have probably been re-compressed down to 700MB (so they can fit on a CD-R blank) or 1GB (because people love round numbers). Shrinking the video down requires more aggressive compression settings, which results in lower quality video. Sometimes this lower quality exhibits itself in terms of large blocky dark regions.
The other issue is that the compression algorithms used on DVD video are lossy. When you transcode to a lower bitrate codec, the software uncompresses and then recompresses the video. Since the compression is lossy, the uncompress step recovers imperfect video, and that imperfect video is then compressed. This slightly compounds the quality problems.
If you want to make a perfect copy, just rip out the original video. Don't transcode it to a new format.

The problem with this, is that overly compressed video tends to have artifacts throughout it. These files only have artifacts in the dark regions, and even then light areas in the dark region are fine.

Overcompression isn't a binary thing. If you pull off the original file and never transcode it, the video quality won't change. You are either transcoding the video to a codec with similar quality settings (causing mild degradation) or turning up the compression.

So why does it hit the black areas first?

The effect happens everywhere, but the human vision system detects differences in black shading before it detects differences in colors. It is also possible that your display's Gamma curve is set such that it exaggerates small differences in black level.


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How does Salman Khan make his screencasts?
Just wondering what software he uses. I see his videos regularly and I'm somewhat impressed by the video and audio quality of his screen-casts.

Could you link to one or two of them?

This is probably in reference to the Khan Academy. Here's a video example.

He uses Camtasia Pro ($200) a Wacom tablet and (at least on the earliest videos) MS Paint. And a head mic.
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/how-to-screencast-like-the-khan-academy/
On a mac, a similar piece of screen capture software would be Screenflow, although Khan works on a Windows machine:
http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/


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Errors in Windows Movie Maker
This is my first time of using Windows Movie Maker so, I'm not sure what the problem is. What I want to do is to make a video with 5 short videos, each lasting 3-4 seconds, with a background music. But when I edit some videos three to four times, like adding effects, they show errors. It's not that I can't play my video anymore. It's just I can't edit it. So, how can I fix that kind of error?

Can you provide more information - what are the error messages, what video formats are you using, what effects are you adding etc.

The error says that the file might be corrupted or in a form that Windows Movie Maker doesn't recognize. The movie can't be saved or published until that part of movie is removed. The effects I added are just "Fade in" and "Fade out". I also added captions. The error is "0xC945002D".

Chances are, the corruption was just caused by a hiccup in the program while it was placing the effects into the project file. In my experience, all versions of Windows Movie Maker beyond the one bundled with Windows XP SP2/3 are incredibly buggy and should be replaced with a better video editor. Problems like this are ridiculously common in the Vista version of Windows Movie Maker.
To answer your question, you should try closing and reopening the file, and if it is still corrupted, you'll obviously need to start over. The issue may be that Movie Maker inserted malformed properties into the project file, causing Movie Maker to not be able to parse it correctly.


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Adobe Premiere not reading audio from .MTS file
I was filming some scenes on my Panasonic SD90 and it recorded them In a AVHC-HD format, .MTS. The problem is, when I import them in through Premier they lose their audio tracks! It plays fine in VLC, and I have the K-Lite codec pack installed.
Any Ideas?

MTS is just a container format. Try using Gspot or Mediainfo to find out exactly which codec it is encoded in. Have you considered simply converting them? Also, are you sure you're dropping the audio channel onto the timeline also? Or do they show without audio in the library?

I would check the audio encoding options on your camera and if possible set the encoding to uncompressed. I've come across some issues with some encoding codec's on some cameras when trying to import into Premiere.


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How to automatically synchronize two recordings of the same event?
Let's say I have two recordings (or more) of the same event. Maybe one has been recorded slightly slower or faster (different "pitch") than the other one and has been started several seconds after or before the other one.
Let's also say, for simplicity's sake, that there are no gaps in the recordings.
I can synchronize the recordings manually in a software such as Audacity by importing the different recordings as tracks and shifting/stretching them, but is there any way to do that process automatically?

There's no silver bullet, I think. If you have video, you may set anchor points at sharp movements, and align tracks by those points. However, if the recording suffers jitter, and jitter is non-deterministic (random), it makes synchronization more difficult.

By "slightly slower or faster", I was thinking of a situation where two analog tape recorders were used to record the same sound/event from two different places and the tapes were not running exactly at the same speed.

Here are two examples of recordings that I might want to align/synchronize automatically:

several audience/soundboard recordings of the same concert (goal: make a "matrix recording" of the concert)
several versions of the same album (let's say one original, one remastered, one remixed, etc.) (goal: put version 1 on left channel and version 2 on right channel to compare the two versions; some remixed versions of old albums have elements that are added/missing from a version to another)

see benfmiller/audalign or protyposis/AudioAlign

There is a plugin called vocalign that will do this. It is designed mainly for aligning vocal overdub and replacment dialog but it should work for what you are doing. You can use it as a VST in audacity. It isn't cheap but, if my memory serves me correct, it has a fully functioning demo.
http://www.synchroarts.com/index.php?PAGEID=products&ID=vocalign

Another option I am very impressed with is Plural Eyesno affiliation. It can sync multiple audio tracks with each other and export the timeline to your video editor.
I have used it for the following:

Sync DSLR footage with sound from multiple external recorders in an interview setting.
Sync multi-camera footage with sound from external recorder

I am not sure how it will handle soundtrack of differing pitch.
It's rather expensive, but there is a free trial to see if this fits your needs. If it does what you want, and you sync tracks often, this will save you a tremendous amount of time and frustration.

Final Cut Pro X has a very very easy-to-use feature that syncs up separately recorded audio tracks of the same event that. For those who are confused, recording the same event on two different recorders will yield files that don't sync up perfectly, especially if they are an hour long or more!

You can do this in Adobe Premiere using the multi camera sync function. It works well.
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/how-to/multicamera-improvements-premiere-cc.html

I have a theory it maybe works! It's a cheap solution ...
1st download the virtual DJ, second on the left and right you put those 2 recordings you want to synchronize,  and you play it together, so the app can synchronize well these 2 songs for example for relative small differences, and if you use the button record, you can record the new mix of these 2 songs in one.

You can try Ableton live and its wrapping feature.
To glue them together you can also use a bit of reverb and maybe some little compression.


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Miro does not convert the entire file when converting to webm
I am trying to convert files from .mov to .webm with Miro on a Mac for publishing to the web with HTML5. The conversions go fine for about 75% of the file but then Miro does not convert the rest of the file. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue and what they did to get around it. Thanks!

I tried using Miro as well to transcode H.264 MP4 into VP-8 WebM so that Firefox would play using HTML5 rather than a Flash fallback.

But at least when the mp4 source was exported from Premiere then the Miro conversion did not work properly
it finished in my case, but the webm file would always start to play from the last second of the video for some reason (try it with VLC, for instance).

FireFogg Worked
My solution was to use FireFogg, which can encode into webm as well
http://firefogg.org/
Instructions here, just choose webmsd or webhd instead of ogg: Video - Dive Into HTML5

Thanks! I'll bookmark this and try it next time I need to do a conversion. :)


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Are there any wearable IP cameras?
I'm trying to find a wearable camera (to mount on a helmet, or on the shoulder) that support live-streaming video over a WiFi-network or the mobile phone network (HSPA or LTE) to a custom video streaming server. Are there any such cameras that you know of?
I have considered using something like a GoPro HD Hero 2 with an Eye-Fi SD-card. That I believe would make it possible to upload the video to an FTP-server, and then I could provide on-demand streaming of the files that are uploaded. However, it would be really nice to allow live-streaming, and in that case the FTP-server setup wouldn't be a good option.

I use the Contour cameras, with a small transmitter-box connected to the camera. If you want decent quality footage, you should avoid cameras with built-in wireless streaming, as most really do not have the capability to transmit in full quality.

Thanks for your response! What are you referring to when you say "decent quality footage"? My purpose doesn't necessarily require HD or even close to, it's not for video production. Do you know any wearable cameras with built-in wireless streaming, that I could check out?

What I mean by decent quality footage, is that the typical cameras with built-in wifi, will compress the footage quite heavily in order to amount of data needed to be transferred down to a minimum. This means either a lot of graining or the loss of resolution - sometimes both.

If you want decent streaming in an affordable pricerange the Contour+ hooks up nicely with the Cerevo's LiveShell ($300), and I believe that GoPro has a similar solution (Wifi BacPac) planned for fall 2012, although it's rumored that the wifi is quite sluggish and will cause lags and glitches when going with 720p or above.

Easiest way would be to get a small camera with HDMI output (like say, a GoPro HD Hero 2 or a Replay XD1080) and hook it up to a Livestream Broadcaster unit, which looks small enough (and is battery powered) to strap on to someone.
The Livestream Broadcaster supports wi-fi, or even plugging a USB modem directly into it. There's also the Teradeck stuff if the Livestream Broadcaster doesn't do it for ya.


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Prevent video stutter / lag in h264 on iPad
When the iPad stutters playing my video, it continues playing audio at a normal rate. This causes the video to go out of sync until the video can catch up. Is there any setting that triggers a pause instead? Or are there better export settings than what Premiere provides?
I'm exporting video from Adobe Premiere at 4mb / 5mb the application's preset "iPad 2 / iPhone 4s", with the modified resolution of 1024x768 instead of 1200x1080 (or whatever it normally is).
The only way that I know of to resolve this issue is to reduce the mb/s video quality, so I'm hoping someone out there has a better idea.
Thanks in advance!

From the look of the specs page, the current iPad (4) can handle up to 2.5Mbps MPEG 4 video at HD resolution (1920x1080) at 30fps.
Going above this will result in what you described. See discussion link below:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5012754?start=0&tstart=0


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How to make an iPad like commercial video?
We're looking to make an iPad like commercial video for one of our apps.
My Question is, what technologies are involved in making this kind of a video? Is it flash/after effects? or something else all together.
Also, if there is a tutorial which can help me build something like this video, it'd be helpful. cheers.

'I am a mac' ads were very easy to reproduce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av6fWfmugds

A lot of commercials involving electronic devices, like Apple advertisements, usually have simulated screens. This is usually done in After Effects or 3D software like 3ds Max or Cinema 4D.
You can do this animation and screen replacement yourself if you have the software and knowledge required. If you are an After Effects or 3D beginner, there are tutorials that can help you and ready-made project files you can download and add your app's footage to.
Example Commercial:

 -
Download Commercial Template: http://videohive.net/item/tablet-commercial/166585
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.


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How can I transcode a PAL-formatted videotape in the United States?
A friend has come into possession of a VHS tape whose video is encoded in the PAL standard. He would like to play this tape back and record the output into some format that he can easily play back in the United States - either NTSC video, or some digital format. He can't just play it in a common local NTSC VCR, as he hears sped-up sound and sees no video.
What equipment would be required to do this, and are there any other considerations that need to be taken into account, such as power adapters?

You need two things - a PAL VCR and a digital video converter than can speak PAL. The last one I bought (in 2005) was software configurable for (or could autodetect) PAL and NTSC, and several that show up on Amazon appear to be both PAL and NTSC compatible. It looks like VCRs that are PAL compatible are available on both Amazon and EBay.
When acquiring a VCR, pay attention to its power supply requirements. I haven't purchased a VCR in over a decade, so I have no general advice on what to expect. However, if the VCR expects 220-240 V and/or 50 Hz, then you will need an inverter in order to use it in North America (120V @ 60Hz).
Edit: Once you've digitally captured the video, you should be able to play it on a PC or most mobile devices. If you really need to transcode it to NTSC, then something like VLC or Apple's Compressor should do the trick.

I use the Ion Video to PC software and it copes with PAL and NTSC - works really well for either.

Any VCR to PC capture device should do the job.IF you can find a VCR which can play PAL.
Usually these type of players are sold in the Indian or Arabic neighbourhoods.
I think it is not worth the effort to buy one and deal with the capturing.
Simply find a place close to where you live, where they can do it for you. The average cost is $5 to $10 per tape. And they will give you the information on a disk or flash card.


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FCP Editing: Timeline Footage Looks terrible in timeline & export its 4:3
Im having difficulty in final cut pro, My captured footage looks absolutely terrible on the timeline and when its exported it’s in 4:3 and looks squished, What is the BEST outcome I can setup with this footage, Im a tad naive when it comes to codec’s etc, I literally have two days to get this project completely done and im really struggling on what settings I need as my two source materials are different size’s codecs etc.
 I have two sources of captured footage that Im editing between. the first is in:
DV - PAL, 720 × 576, 4:3, 25 fps, 28.80 Mbps - Audio: DV stereo, 32 kHz, 28.80 Mbps
The second camera’s footage is in:
.mov Apple Intermediate Codec, 960 × 540, 25 fps, 29.43 Mbps - Audio: 16-bit Big Endian stereo, 48 kHz, 1.54 Mbps
The sequence settings are set to:
720x576, CCIR 601 / DVPAL (5:4)
Pixel aspect ratio: PAL - CCIR 601 (720 x 576)
Field Dominance: Lower
Anamorphic 16:9: off (Tried exporting with this on and off)
Compressor: Apple ProRes 422 (Was defaulted to DV PAL)
I use Final Cut Pro     6.06 on an Old Macbook running OSX 10.5.8
I have my mac plugged into an external TV as a monitor at 1920 x 1080
The footage is being used on a projector for an audience, Either as a DVD or File, It may be used on the web later.
Here is a screen grab of the DV footage in the timeline in final cut pro and opened up the source footage in quicktime side by side.
https://i.sstatic.net/jPFEN.jpg

It seems to me from a high level, two things. First off your project settings in FCP do not match your source materials. First off you should transcode one of your two sources to a common format so you are dealing with only one aspect ratio and frame size, it may require cropping or scaling down some of the larger content to match the smaller one (i.e. bring the 960x540 down to 720x432 so that the width of that clip is the same width as your PAL source, not the other way or you will get fuzzy resolution)
Next set up your sequence setting, to match your source 720x576.
Usually when you drag a clip to FCP new sequence in FCP 6.06 the dialog message in fcp will offer to create sequence settings to match your clip, do it, just pick the lower res clip, and scale down the high res ones.
As you bring in the 720x432 (formerly 960x540) you will need to adjust aspect manually in FCP for that clip (double click on your clip in timeline, click motion tab, then adjust/play with the distort Aspect Ratio slider) , there will be a little black on top or bottom of the clip, but at least that way you are no blowing out and scaling up the PAL content, and you can manually adjust aspect if needed.


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Why is after effects turning my Prores audio into white noise
I have some footage that I converted from red to prores444. I am able to view the converted mov in quicktime and the audio sounds fine. However, I when import it to Efter Effects, the audio previews and exports as white noise, I can see the waveform in the audiotrack, but it won't play. Any ideas what might be causing this?

My guess would be that AfterEffects is assuming something about the audio format which Quicktime is handling correctly but AE is not.  Check your format settings; you might need to specify a different byte ordering (also called "byte swapping") or tell it to be explicitly 16-bit instead of, say, 24-bit.  In Quicktime you can see what the audio format is via the movie inspector.

+1 - The alignment is off. Expanding on what fluffy said, depending on the format the audio is in, check to see the format as far as PCM vs other raw formats; their sample size (16bit vs 24/32bit, etc) might be the same but the wait the samples are ordered might be off.
Also check interleaving settings.


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How to save multiple QuickTimes but flatten audio tracks so that youtube/vimeo will accept it
When I copy/paste multiple clips into a single clip inside quicktime, QuickTime allows me to save that "edit" as a single standalone mp4 file without having to re-encode any video. This is a very fast/efficient export and works well for quick edits where you just need to trim off material.
The Problem:
When you look at the final output file, it has multiple audio tracks, instead of a single. At the point where the 2nd edit point plays in the video file (where the 2nd audio track plays), the audio drops out on youtube and vimeo.
Solution?
Im guessing the only solution is to do an export instead of a save, which will re-encode... but im asking the question in case anyone else knows any tricks to avoid re-encoding.

Exporting is the only option from within QuickTime if you want your audio to be flattened down to the standard channels which most simple players will understand.
The problem you have is that your extra audio tracks are just ignored by YouTube, Vimeo etc.


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Is there any option for mirror imaging in video editing software?
I recently encountered this video:

I really like the presentation of that person in the video. I guess he has a glass screen infront of the him and he is writing it. But is he writing it backward? Or is it an editing effect? I mean, any option for mirror imaging the video?

Related question: http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/2488/video-with-person-writing-on-glass-effect

Comments on that video say the actor is right-handed in other videos, so this one is flipped horizontal.

I don't think it would matter that much other than for the actor writing, easier if (s)he doesn't have to think about reverse-writing. The flipping effect is a one-click effect and wouldn't require much in terms of hardware, software or brain-power.
What editing software are you using - the effect should be easy to find in any way. It might not even be an effect as such but rather a transform feature but it would help if the editor was brought out.
I doubt that your editor DOESN'T have this effect but in the strange case where it doesn't, you can also try setting the width of the image to -100%, that works on some editors. But I'm pretty sure there is a flip.horizontal effect somewhere.


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How to change active camera in after effects ( or render a different camera )
I added a camera to my comp, however, when I render it uses the active camera, and not camera1. How do I Either make camera1 my active camera, or make it so that I can render out camera1

Just move the camera to the top of the composition. The 1st camera is the one Ae will render.

Its worth having a look at this tutorial about Render Order within After Effects.

It sounds like you've switched over to Active Camera in your Composition window.
You may need to switch the Composition viewport window to the camera you wish to use. Do this by selecting the camera in the dropdown menu at the bottom of the Composition window.

Hope this helps!


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Having problems with fade in
I have a video with an overlay that i need to fade in. When i add a crossfade it starts fully opaque and then fades out. The exact opposite of what i want to achieve. How do i reverse the crossfade effect without also reversing the video?

If the overlay has transparency, you could use an Add strip instead. Then keyframe the Multiply setting for it going from 0.0 (invisible) to 1.0 (fully visible).


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Software to add text from file
I'm working on a daily video blog, currently creating them with Adobe Premiere Pro. I need an advice or an alternative software, because I don't find a way to add text (e.g. as titles) from file.
I have an intro, a main part and an outro. In the main part is a background image and changing text (fade in, fade over, fade out). I would like to leave off all the duplicate steps to change a text or move the position (4 titles, break, 2 title, break, 3 titles, break but in the next video 2 titles, break, 3 titles, break and so on). I've started to modify the text in PS, which is a bit faster since I dont have to look up the correct title in the project, but its not perfect.
So, do you know a software that can combine 3 parts of a video and add text from a file?
Would be nice to here from you!

did my answer help?

Well there are MANY programs that do this but what your talking about is something you want to do manually. Technically you should be able to accomplish this with Premiere Pro, and I don't understand why your having trouble due to the awesome functionality between Adobe programs.
But what you're describing is something you do not want to leave up to a program if at all possible because a program could totally screw it up or would apply things EXACTLY the same so the alignments could be totally off or an assortment of other problems with how it looks. And since you are in premiere you should only have to copy and paste these "duplicate steps" you are talking about.
If its frustrating you so much that you want to automate it have you ever taken a look at the macro tools built into the Adobe Suite? It may help you with what your looking for.

Adobe Premiere has a great feature called "Script". Its JavaScript with many PP enhancement. Since I don't no all the special functions for PP, I've hired a freelancer for that.

Ah I knew that it had enhancement like that in the macro area but couldn't remember what exactly it was called. Most all Adobe programs (except flash I think) have something like that.


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Possible to use sRGB as mp4 colorspace?
I have an mp4 using h264 that i'm using in the background of a website. It has to blend in with the background image. I've already created ogv and webm videos for firefox and chrome and these work fine but the mp4 for safari doesn't blend properly. The only difference i see in the files is that the ogv, webm and original mov are all in sRGB color space, but the mp4 is in SDTV NTSC Y'CbCr. I've tried lots of different exporters but the mp4 is always in this colorspace. How do i get the mp4 in sRGB colorspace?
adam

You are currently probably using the Rec. 601 color space for SD video. Encode your source footage in the Rec. 709 color space.  It's the color space specified for HDTV and comes sRGB quite close.
If you need higher color accuracy you can use the Rec. 2020 color space which exceeds the sRGB color space by far. Though compatibility may not be given everywhere with this color space.

h.264 always uses Y'CbCr as the color space.  Y'CbCr should be able to match the space pretty closely, but you might have to use a 4:4:4 instead of the simplified 4:2:2.  4:2:2, which is most commonly used, lacks a lot of the color resolution and might be why you are seeing the differences.
I can't guarantee it will allow a perfect match, but it should get you much closer.

Should be noted that Y'CbCr is not an absolute color space and therfore is not really comparable to an absolute color space like sRGB. There are standards like Rec. 709 which define an absolute color space for Y'CbCr encoded images.

mp4 in sRGB colorspace can be of at least 4 types, first it is possible to have RGB (RGB identity matrix) tagged as sRGB transfer and primaries (BT.709 primaries are used in sRGB, so you MUST tag the file as that). That can be full range and limited range. Second is YCbCr, you can use BT.709 or BT.601 matrix. One should use BT.601 matrix for sRGB as it is how it is specified in the IEC standard, even though BT.709 matrix is better than BT.601 for BT.709 primaries as BT.709 matrix is derived from BT.709 primaries. As for range full range is what should be used, even though video is everywhere limited range, so...


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Improve chroma key effect in Sony Vegas
I'm performing some tests with the chroma key, I already noticed that blue screen will not perform well for me (the subject is often in black, which doesn't match well with blue), so I got a green screen.
I managed to light it quite correctly with some cheap work lights and managed to have a pretty good result with a few minutes playing with the Sony Vegas 11 chroma key effect.
My problem is that it is not absolutely perfect because of the lighting and I find that the chroma key effect is lacking some options. I'd love to have the kind of options I can get with the Secundary color corrector effect (with this one, I was able to replace my first blue screen with a flashy green ! But the same imperfections are still there).
I read somewhere that one should not select one color but a range, but I couldn't find how to do that in Vegas.
My question is : what can I do to improve the quality of the chroma keyer match, in term of effects or settings, in Sony Vegas (not considering the lighting, I'm already working on getting better lights, but I guess there will always be some imperfections that I want to be able to deal with).
Is there any other plugins (free or reasonably priced) that have more options for the keyer ?

Let's first review the basics of green screen:
1) screen about 5 or more feet behind subject so it is out of focus from subject.
2) flat screen, no wrinkles.
3) flat lighting, no shadows, no hot spots.
4) subject can not wear green or wear shiny things or see through things.
Review Vegas Chroma Key: Once you engage the chroma key effect, use the eye dropper and take a sample of the green screen to set the baseline color, engage the mask and tweak the level until you get a flat black on the screen area and white everywhere else then turn the mask off. If this can not be done then something in the basics above was not done correctly.
Another idea to assist. Make sure when you shoot your subject that you have properly set the white balance on the camera so that you have the correct color baseline.
Here are some tutorials to assist:

https://vimeo.com/34365256

Everything that Filzilla said is great and on point. BUT the standard chromakey plugin that comes with Vegas is lacking. There really is no way to get around it. I have been doing greenscreen videos for yourmusicmuse.com for 3 years and I have found the NewBlue ChromaKey Pro plugin is perfect. It has the following features:
Garbage mask to mask out bad areas
Spill corrector - this is huge. It gets rid of the green edges.
Chroma smoothing for 4:2:0 consumer cameras. The edges of your subjects will be smoothed out.
Shrink and Blur which can help blend the subject into the background better.
I am not sure how much this plugin is but I think it is part of a package that is less than $100. It is the best option I believe after trying everything and not being happy with my keys in the standard plugin.


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Shooting with a camera and then pausing while recording
We're shooting basketball videos, and I would like to be able to Pause/Rewind while continuing to record, so I can show the coaches of the team the video, while the players are still playing.
Is there something in Adobe Premiere that will allow you to do this, or will I need to buy a PVR or something?
We currently are looking to buying a new camcorder, and getting the entire setup created. Basically we want to be able to record all of our games straight to a computer via a capture card or direct Firewire out of the camera, and then be able to Pause/Rewind/Scrub through the video, but when we are pausing and scrubbing, we still need to be able to catch back up to "Real Time", basically like a DVR in a TV.

I don't see how this question is not on-topic for Super User. Reopened accordingly. David, if your question doesn't get much attention, we can migrate it to [avp.SE] if you want. Just let us know by flagging it for moderator attention.

It doesn't sound like thee is a cheap or easy way to do what you want to do.
I use premiere a lot and.  There are mutlicam features for Premiere that allow you to sync to tracks and edit them easily, not to do live recording and playback at the same time.
If you stop and start the recording on lulls in the game where nothing is happening you will generate files that can be played back while the computer is recording the next file.
Also
Most computers video cards have an HDMI out, and can output to two monitors.
wire one output through a PVR and use that to rewind etc.  I don't have any experience with a pvr but that might work.

Yea - I think I may of found my answer in a program called EyeTV 3, but I'm open for other options! Thanks for the help!

You may want to look at MythTV, a very good open source DVR.
A more complete list of free DVR applications can be found on Wikipedia's Digital video recorder page.


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Are there free OpenFX plugins available?
I read that Sony Vegas Movie Studio (the non-pro version) supports video and audio effect plugins via the OpenFX standard.
Are there any such plugins available as freeware or open-source?
So far I only found commercial pulgins, which are tailored for a professional audience and are beyond my budget as a hobbyist filmmaker.


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Is it possible to record audio-responsive Quartz compositions along with the audio?
I would like to build simple Quartz compositions that respond in real time to audio. Once I've done that, how can I record both the audio and video into a single video file for upload to youtube? I would prefer to work within Quartz Composer, iMovie and other software that is free or already included with OSX.

Well, you can import the audio into quartz or play it through the mic input using Soundflower.  http://quartzcomposer.com/plugins/1-export-to-movie SHOULD export it. Then you can go back and add and line up the music to the video with iMovie (or something better) and export it.
*Soundflower Instructions: Open soundflowerbed, in the menubar (top) a little flower will appear, click on it and go under "Soundflower (2ch)" and click "Built-in output." This will let you hear the audio when you do this. Then go to your system preferences, go to audio settings, and change the OUTPUT to "Soundflower (2ch)" When you go into Quartz Composer, drag the Audio Input (if you have not already) and wire it up. Then go to settings in the inspector and check "Select a specific audio source" and select "Soundcloud (2ch)." Then go and play whatever you want on your computer.

That is what I'm already doing. The problem is that I can't find a way to record the video synchronized with the audio. The best I can do is screencapture tools intended for presentations, and that isn't good enough.

@ObscureRobot Screenflow has a good FPS, but you need to buy it. You can even use Garage Band for the audio.

I'm doubtful - screenflow records the entire screen at record time, and only lets you crop after the fact. That is a lot of bandwidth to keep up with.

Well you have to look. There are many good screen recording pieces of software. I can look but Quartz is unfortunately not made for doing that kind of stuff.

Quartz is very much designed for audio visualizations - one of the default templates is for iTunes visualizations. The problem is that I haven't been able to find a Quartz host that will take a snapshot of the window hosting the quartz composition every 1/30 of a second and keep it in sync with the audio. I could probably fire up XCode and solve this problem myself, but I'm a bit surprised that people in the A/V world don't have a ready-made solution that works well.

It is for live audio presentations and developing effects for software. It is also for mixing video, audio, and other things live. It was not really made for post production. I do want to fire up x-code myself, at one point I was going to but was then distracted by another project. I will keep it in mind though.

If you import the audio into QC, won't the audio trigger at the beginning of your export capture? If you can get them to line up that way, you can just pull the capture and the audio into iMovie and line them up at the beginning of the timeline.

Since Quartz Composer renders directly on the graphics card (with openGL) there's no way to render a file in real-time.
Here's an alternative solution:

Display the Quartz video fullscreen on a second monitor output (HDMI preferably)
capture the HDMI signal with an HD capture device, like this one

No - you can capture Quartz output with most screen recording tools, including UStream's broadcaster app. But I don't want Ustream's highly compressed video stream, I'd like higher quality output. A hardware solution is unnecessary.

Try Quicktime Player's screen capture--it seems to work pretty well for ripping youtube videos.  Also, I never said you couldn't capture Quartz, but rather that you can't render (i.e. produce a full quality file version) Quartz output in real-time.


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Clip quality severely degrades when imported into Premiere Pro CS5? (appears interlaced)
I have a clip which is 720p30 and plays back perfectly smoothly when opened outside of premiere. When I import the clip into premiere and play it back it looks awful: https://i.sstatic.net/V0NZR.jpg
If I export the sequence it looks the same as in the preview (interlaced and awful).
Premiere indicates that the clip is 1280x720 (1.0) which is correct and the sequence preset I am using is AVCHD 720p30. I have tried fiddling with interlacing settings (though none should be necessary) to no avail.
I have a project full of different 720p clips from different sources and this is the only one that is exhibiting this behavior. The problem clip was generated by another program.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

The file I am having trouble with is available here: http://limelinx.com/d1dbh

It's definitely interlaced. Change the interpret footage settings and see how that goes (or have you done that already?).

The problematic file could have been encoded using a different codec, which Premiere is unable to convert effectively.
If the file looks ok in QuickTime player, I would export it to the same format as your Premiere sequence, and see if it looks any better when you reimport it into Premiere.


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How to monitor system sound and mic using Rode Podcaster?
Just set up my new Rode Podcaster and trying to figure out how to monitor both the mic and the system sound from my mac.  Using it for podcasting, so I want to be able to monitor myself and the person I'm interviewing.  The Podcaster mic includes a line out for monitoring, but it doesn't include system sound.  Conversely, jacking my headphones into the computer allows me to monitor the other person I'm speaking w/ (typically via skype) but not the mic.
Help!

In general, I'd say don't bother. Just do a bit of pre-recording testing to make sure your input levels are good. You're not going to want to tweak the input levels a bunch while you're recording, anyways. That would just be distracting to you and the other people that are recording.
But if you really want to, and you're on a Mac, check out "Line In" from Rogue Amoeba: http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/ - I just tried it out, and it works great.
If you're on windows, this may work http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-pictures/how-to-get-the-microphone-sound-through-speakers/1643d977-5dfb-4eca-9330-3b16370e7646 though I haven't tried it (don't have my windows machine ready to try it out). There are other options, as well, like software packages you can purchase.
One thing you need to know, though, is that you'll end up with a small delay between your actual voice and what you're hearing through your headset. It's not much of a delay, but it is noticeable. This can be confusing if you're not used to it. You might accidentally start to slow down or pause or get mixed up because you're hearing yourself slightly after the moment that you are speaking. It tends to make people think they are interrupting someone else, and can cause stumbles in speaking.
If you've done any studio recording, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. But if you've never done anything like that, it can be disconcerting. So if you're going to go down the path, be sure to practice recording yourself with this feature on. Get used to the way it works, and the output levels that you need for the recording vs what you are hearing.

I prefer to monitor the mic while recording, to make sure I notice if I start breathing into the mic, or if I move too far away from it, etc.
I've heard that, since this answer was written, delays have mostly become a thing of the past, due to faster computers/interfaces/cables/etc. I haven't experienced it, even with a cheap USB mic.

For Skype and GarageBand, these steps worked for me:
Setup

Install the latest Soundflower release. You don't need the SoundflowerBed GUI app (which is retired), just the kernel module itself.
Under Applications > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup

Create a new aggregate device, name it Skype + Mic (or whatever descriptive name you want)
Check the Use box for your mic and Soundflower (64ch)

Under Skype > Preferences > Audio/Video

Microphone: Your mic
Ringing: Soundflower (64ch)
Speakers: Soundflower (64ch)

In GarageBand

Track menu > Enable Multitrack Recording
Under Preferences > Audio/MIDI

Audio Output: Your headphones (make sure you use headphones and not speakers, to avoid feedback)
Audio Input: Skype + Mic (or whatever you named the aggregate device)

Create two tracks:

Name one of them Mic, set Input Source to Mono 1 (Skype + Mic), turn Monitoring on, and click the small red Record icon to enable recording
Name the other one Skype, set Input Source to Mono 3 (Skype + Mic), turn Monitoring on, and click the small red Record icon to enable recording
The red buttons above are the small red buttons in the track itself, not the big red button at the bottom that starts recording.

Reboot the machine, just to be safe. It shouldn't be necessary, but it seems like it might be.
Open Skype and make a call to the echo123 account, which is an official bot that they run to help people test things like this. Make sure you're connecting to that exact username, though, since it looks like there are a lot of phishing bots trying to impersonate it.

Troubleshooting
If it doesn't work, then double-check all of the settings, reboot, and try again.
Sometimes Skype will revert to Soundflower (2ch) when other settings change, so make sure it's set to 64ch.
Sometimes GarageBand needs to be restarted to recognize changes in input sources, but it's best to just restart the entire machine after the settings are correct.
Miscellaneous
Other DAWs and videoconferencing apps should follow a similar process. I'd recommend keeping the main system Input and Output at their defaults, and only change the input/output for the DAW and conference app.
(Source)


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Video file playback issue
I have a 75.7 GB avi file that when viewed only plays ~ 2 seconds of video and then quits.  How can I correct this issue?

Are you looking to just play the file or edit the file so that it can be played?

much more info is required, like what media player you are using, if you created the video so you could have a better idea at how its encoded and if you have any additional codecs to play different encode types.

It was created with a web cam that is motion activated, and i tried to open it in both VLC as well as windows media player.  I would be happy if i can just view the file, editing would make the end result easier but not a must.

I can't make any comments on why playback stops after only 2 seconds because you haven't given us much information about what operating system you are working with, what you you are attempting to use to play the video back, etc. When we know that we can give a much more detailed answer.
However, I'd like to make a suggestion that you may be running into problems with the max file size for whatever system you are working with. Especially if your hard drive is formatted in FAT32, you will be unable to work with files that are 4GB or larger.
This article has some good information on the upper bounds of AVI file sizes. From it's suggestions, I recommend finding a tool which will allow you to divide your file into smaller (< 4GB) segments, which will in turn also make them much more manageable for editing or storage.

Windows 7, VLC or windows media player, created via web cam using Motion Activated Asus Live Utility.  The file is stored on a 2TB NTFS HDD.


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video recorded with Mac's Photo Booth doesn't match session length. Can this be fixed?
A while ago I recorded a video with a friend which I didn't examine or watch until today. Upon opening it, I realized that the whole 15 minute video session had somehow only saved four seconds. We didn't click out of Photo Booth (like into the desktop or anything app), nor did we accidentally exit or force quit the app, all of which seem to be the most
I have already figured out a solution to how to fix this problem and my real problem is that I really want this video. This video is quite dear to me as my friend in it is taking a turn for the worst and I have since moved to a different state. There is no way that I can possible rerecord this video :(.
I don't know if the video is corrupted or not since it plays just fine, but is way too short. Can this be fixed? Possibly something in the encoding of the video to extend the length of the video? Is that even how it works? I know mov files are packages so maybe there is something restricting the length? The size is larger than I would expect a 4 second video to be which makes me hope what I just mentioned is possible.

Quick thing to check - look at frame size and frames per second. This will let you estimate an expected size for 15 minutes. If the file size is in that area, you could be in luck. Otherwise...

where do I check this at?

Check your resolution eg if 640x480 and 8 bit depth, that'll give you 300kb per frame, and at 25 fps you'll have 7Mb per second before compression. A comparison with other similar video you have recorded will give you an idea of what size you'd expect post-compression.

ah ok I got cha. Will give this a try later this evening

Were you ever able to get anywhere with this?


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Removing ["Bounding box"] in Sony Vegas
I'm not exactly sure what it is called, which is why I can't find answers anywhere. It is the grey box that envelopes the text, I think it is called a "Bounding Box". It is not needed at all in anything that I do. I have presets that I have saved and use them for everything, no reason to tweak them at all, and all they do is obstruct the text I am editing. How do I disable these ["Bounding boxes"]?

Sony Vegas Pro or Movie Studio? Pro Titler or Scrolling or simple Text?

dang, Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum - Production Suite.

oh, and, just static text

Hey BillyNair, I have both versions. I will take a look and see if I can copy your error. Off hand I would say it sounds like some text editing feature is still engaged if you see that box. Are you sure all the pop up windows have been dismissed?

Yes, this happens when the I have the "Video Media Generator" window active, regardless of there I am in the timeline. This did not appear in the Vegas I used up until a few weeks ago when I updated. Is this something that can not be turned off? Notice how the "42>" is virtually unreadable because of it, I want it to go away!

Hey BillyNair, I won't be able to take closer look right away. Since you mention an upgrade/patch, I think it would be best for you contact Sony directly. Start here: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/technicalsupport.asp

Thanks for the help, im not in a hurry, it is just annoying. and I meant going from vegas 8 to vegas 11 (they just call it those fancy words) it wasnt a patch or anything. I am guessing it is a "feature" but I cant figure out how to turn it off. I dont want to have to close the edit window either, doing football stats means the window is open more than it is closed, and as you see with the "42>", I cant read it while I am editing the text and you have to edit it with the window open...

I tried to replicate the issue last night with using Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0, version 9.0 (b) build 92.
I engaged various text options under the Sony Media Generator: Simple Text, Rolling Text, and some legacy defaults. The only time I saw a Bounding Box was within the text pop up window where one has the option of placing text by dragging the box to where you want it to appear in the video. In no cases did I see the Bounding Box appear in the preview window nor were there any artifacts such as the persistent "42" that you demonstrated.
Due to the timing of the upgrade from v 8 to v 11 that you mention in the comments,  I am thinking something went awry. The best thing I can recommend is to use the question form available at:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/technicalsupport.asp
You will need to register with the site to access this service, and once you engage the form it will look something like this. You will need to give them the needed technical info like the version number and your machine info too. Here is a snip of the form to assist in that preparation. I have used this service many times in the past, and they generally offer very kind attention. However, you may have to wait a few days before they process your question depending on their current load.

thank you for all your help. I will try this, I hope this technique is more responsive than Sony customer service in the past! I am not impressed with their business model as far as customer service goes, had a few run ins, and they dont seem to care...


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How to add closed captioning to MPEG-2, QuickTime MOV, or AVI/DV for cable broadcast?
I need to add closed captioning to a short video that will be broadcast on our cable TV system.  The cable system will accept MPEG-2, QuickTime MOV, or AVI/DV formats.  This is in the United States, and I'm guessing that we will need both EIA-608 and CEA-708 formats.  Because I am not actually producing the video itself, and I don't have it yet, I don't know whether it will be in a standard-definition or high-definition format.  I am presuming the latter, but information on either could be helpful.
What software (preferably free and/or open-source) can help with this task?  I have tried Google, and I have tried skimming the documentation of some of the packages out there (e.g., Kdenlive) to no avail.  I can use Linux or Windows software for sure, and I can probably find someone with OS X if needed.


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How to alternate between two video clips in Premiere Pro CS6
I have two long video clips on two different tracks in my timelines, both starting at the same time, and I would like to alternate between them (see a bit of track 1, then a bit of track 2, then track 1...).
The only way I can think of for now is to cut the track with the greatest number when I want to show the one below, but then I loose some data and it gets hard to change my edit points.
Is there any standard way of doing that (for instance make the track with the greatest number transparent...)?
Thanks

I'm not sure I have the whole picture, but one way would be to add a third layer that acts as an external luma keyer -- when it's black, the top track will show, when it's white the bottom track shows.
Make a continuous black track the length of your clip pair, then just overlay white during the portions you want to switch to the other track. Easy to alter, and no chance of the clips getting out of sync.


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How to easily insert frames at the end of a video?
I need to insert a still image for several seconds at the end of my 1080p video. I can't find how to do that with Virtual Dub. Tried with Microsoft Movie Maker but it messes the resolution, changes the format, etc. Any quick solution I haven't thought about ?

A quick Google search for the terms add photo with virtual dub shows this result. Quoting:

save the titlescreen in bitmap (same size of video, obviously)
import image in VirtualDub (with Open command)
select the single frame you get after opening and copy it
open your video
paste the frame you copied in the desired position (every ctrl-v is a single frame, if your movie is 25fps, just paste 25 times to create
  1-second title sequence)

For your case you don't have a titlescreen but just a regular image.
You can select frames in VirtualDub as following:

Click on the timeline on the location where your frame that you want to select. In the image below I clicked on frame 30.
Click on the button where the arrow points to. This sets your beginning of the selection.

If you want to select one frame, click on the 31st frame (as in the image below) and click the button that is indicated by the arrow. This sets your endpoint of the selection.

You can also select a series of frames this way.

Thanks, but how do you select a frame (any frame) in Virtual Dub ? To my knowledge it's impossible.

I've added some clarification to my answer. I hope it helps.

thanks for that, I can now select my frame. However I still can't follow the instructions you pasted initially, which state that the frame must be copied then pasted at the end of the video. Problem is, I don't see how to copy the frame I selected. Edit > Copy after frame has been selected then Edit > Paste doesn't do anything. Seems like nothing is copied. How can I copy it ?

Virtualdub is ancient and buggy.  On my VirtualDub 1.10.4, I must select do Edit-Copy, then go to where I want the frame, then Edit-Paste, then Edit-Undo, then go to that place again, then Edit-Paste.  Then you have to go back and forward a few times to see the frame appear.  Also, make sure you delay about 1 second between each operation.  It seems to happen "in the background" and doing anything while it is pasting causes odd behavior.


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Is it possible to set more than one motion tracking point in After Affects CS6 at the same time
Is it possible to set more than one motion tracking point in After Affects CS6 at the same time in the same scene?
For example one track point closer to our viewpoint, and another one that follows the background (therefore with a slower movement). To achieve a more realistic effect.

Sounds like you need to track the camera in 3D. If you're using CS6 then the best thing for tracking the camera in 3D is the 3D camera tracker (who'da thunk it).
To fire it up Choose Animation > Track Camera, or choose Track Camera from the layer context menu, or choose Effect > Perspective > 3D Camera Tracker, or (because there's always 3 ways to do anything in AE) in the Tracker panel, click the Track Camera button.
After tracking the camera in you footage you have a virtual stage, where any 3D objects that you add will look as though they're in the 3D space of your footage, so if you move past them they respect the parallax of your camera's viewport. It makes it super easy to add elements to a moving camera scene.
Here be tutorial and the Adobe page about it.
Oh and to actually answer your question, yes you can have more than one track point per layer. For 2D tracking where I'm not getting steady results I often make a dozen or so track points and average out their position with an expression. This gives good results on difficult footage. To add track points, select the layer, choose Animation>Track Motion. Set the track type to Raw in the tracker panel. Then in the timeline you'll see the Motion Trackers property has been added to the layer. Expand that and you'll see tracker1, expand that and you'll see Track Point 1.

Select that and choose Edit>Duplicate or hit cmd/ctrl+D. The track point will be duplicated. Note that it will be right on top of the other one, so you'll have to move it in the comp window or adjust the feature centre properties. Repeat as many times as you need.
Now when you go to Analyze using the tracker panel it will analyze all your track points at once.
Oh and FYI here's the expression I use when I'm adding all the track points together. I apply it to the position of a null or whatever it is I want to move:
trackpoints=10;
vsum=[0,0];
for (i=1; i<=trackpoints; i++){
    vsum+=thisComp.layer("tracked layer name").motionTracker("Tracker 1")("Track Point "+i).featureCenter
}
vsum/trackpoints

trackpoints is the number of track points you're using. and "tracked layer name" is the layer with the points on it.

Depends on what you are trying to do achieve, it sounds like you are doing a combination of 3d tracking or something.
But to answer your question technically no, you can only track one part at a time, you could track multiple points to gauge rotation and scale but its only going to affect one object at the end.  You would create a null object target the track to the null and then submit.  You would need to do another track on the second point separately.
No if you are trying to track to simulate a parallax in 3d space, one thing you can do is us AE expressions, if you dont know how to do this, do a simple google search, and something like this would get you where you need to be.

I couldn't understand what you are trying to accomplish but you should check Imagineer Systems' planar tracking tool, Mocha. After Effects CS6 comes with a basic copy. Basically, Mocha does not track features or points, it tracks planes. You can watch their training videos on their websites.
If it fits your needs there is a pro version which does much more.
AE's tracker is very good and powerful but in some cases Mocha handles the tracking better.

It is possible to set more than one motion tracking marker on a piece of video in AE.
It totally depends what you're trying to accomplish - whether it is 2D or 3D tracking, whether you need to track rotation and scale, or only position.
There's a video tutorial here explaining how to set up 2D motion tracking:


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How to make a Camera Slider with bearings?
I wan't to make a camera slider with bearings that is very smooth. I haven't come up with a good idea yet.
I wan't it to be able to be placed on a tripod. Can you please show me som links and tips and ideas?

Could you perhaps offer an example of what you're trying to achieve?  Have you run into problems with something you've tried?

Well, I have looked at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nIXDVr-35E But it seems like it is hard to get the metal angels perfect in place. An i would also like the rail to be fastened with a tripod.


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Opening WMV files in Virtual Dub
Is there an easy way to open WMV files in Virtual Dub ? I came across this tutorial but the plugin used in it if unavailable (page offline).

There is a mirror for the plugin used below:
http://gral.y0.pl/~fcchandler/
And an alternative plugin based on ffmpeg :
http://code.google.com/p/ffinputdriver/downloads/list


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24hour non stop recording in a single file on a 128Gb SDXC?
Not sure if I am allowed to ask the following question here or not as it's not clear from the FAQ
I want to record a non stop 24 hour video and wanted to know if the following device can do that?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838579-REG/Samsung_HMX_F80BN_XAA_HMX_F80_Flash_Memory_Camcorder.html
This device has a SDXC so I should be able to get more than 24 hours non stop using a 128Gb card right?  So is there a limitation on SDXC cards?  Maybe 4.2Gb per file/video?
Assuming that the camcorder allows recording while plugged into the mains?

According to the specs, the camera can only handle a 64Gb card which is < 15 hrs of record time at SDXC.

I don't have experience with that particular Samsung camcorder, but I did do some long term recording on an older Samsung camcorder. My camcorder had a time lapse mode that allowed it to capture a frame every minute or so. It would record while plugged in to A/C power. Although the camera used the FAT32 filesystem with 2GB file limits, it was able to span the recording across multiple files. As far as I could tell, the process was seamless.


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Embedding subtitles with Virtual Dub
Following this tutorial I installed VobSub in my VD folder, selecting the VobSub and TextSub options in the installation process. Then in 'VD > Video > Filters' I added the TextSub filter and picked my subtitles. I could then see the subtitles displayed in the video. Finally, I picked 'Video > Normal recompress' and chose Xvid in 'Video > Compression'. I saved as AVI.
The resulting file should include embedded subtitles, yet this is not the case. Why not ?


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Tricky full body video conferencing
I'm trying to setup a way to do video conferencing between two individuals. The tricky part is that the users need to be able to touch the screen and have the other user see their hand on their end. The only way this will work is if the camera is behind the screen filming through it. This has led us to this theoretical setup: camera + projector on one side of a transparent screen / person on the other side.
The issues that we've run into are:

we don't know of a screen material that will allow for a rear projector that will also allow the filming through it
the image being projected onto the individual

Please let me know if there are any screens that come to mind or an alternative setup or if I should stop right now.
Thanks


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Batch resize videos with "pan and scan" cropping
I am trying to prepare a collection of ~120 video clips to be played in VLC Player and projected on a low-res (1024x768) projector during a DIY electronic music event.  The source clips are all super hi-res abstract visuals in .mov format, about 4GB each.  They are of various aspect ratios.  Some are 4:3, others are 16:9, others are 1:1 (square) etc.
I would like to crop / scale all of the clips to 1024x768 while maintaining their respective original aspect ratios.   And, I would like to do so without letterboxing them and leaving black bars either at the top/bottom or left/right.  Basically what I would like to do is to reduce them to the point where they entirely fill the 1024x768 screen, and no smaller.  I believe that is essentially a "pan and scan" technique?
(It doesn't matter if part of the image is removed in the process - they're just spinning geometric shapes and such.)
Is there some way I can resize all ~120 videos in batch using a single FFMPEG command?  Or, is there another tool for Windows or Linux that would work?  I don't really care what output format - just something that VLC can play without getting choppy.

If you had just 4:3 and 16:9 videos, I would suggest:
ffmpeg -i input.mov -filter:v 'scale=-1:768,crop=1024:ih' \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset veryfast output.mp4

That would scale a video to a height of 768, scaling the width to keep the aspect ratio; and then it crops the width to 1024, keeping the height at 768. The fact that you are using 1:1 videos as well complicates things: a 3000x3000 video would get scaled to 768x768, and then ffmpeg would try to crop it to 1024x768, which obviously wouldn't work, since crops can be no bigger than the input...
The only way I can think of getting this to work would be to crop all of the videos, which you stated wouldn't be a problem. This will crop the output width to be the same as the input height, and the output height to be 3/4 of the input height; and then it will scale the video down to a height of 768, keeping the aspect ratio with the width:
ffmpeg -i input.mov -filter:v 'crop=ih:3/4*ih,scale=-1:768' \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset veryfast output.mp4

This will only work if the original files have a height of 1024 or more. Note that x264 only accepts an even width or height, which can cause problems (but shouldn't in this case).
To convert every .mov in a directory, you can use a for loop:
for f in *.mov; \
do ffmpeg -i "$f" -filter:v 'crop=ih:3/4*ih,scale=-1:768' \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset veryfast "${f/%mov/mp4}"; \
done

To do so recursively, you can use find:
find . -type f -name *.mov -exec bash -c \
'ffmpeg -i "$0" -filter:v "crop=ih:3/4*ih,scale=-1:768" \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset veryfast "${0/%mov/mp4}"' {} \;

All of this will require a recent version of ffmpeg.


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Dropping framerate when recording games with Bandicam
I was umming and arring if this is the right place to post this, however the FAQs say this site applies to software and recording, amongst other things.
I've recently started recording a certain Java based video game on my PC - along with audio commentary - using 32 bit Bandicam and Audacity for microphone input. My computer is as follows:

Windows 8
3GB DDR2 RAM
Core 2 Duo CPU
256MB RAM graphics card (nVidia of some sort, few years old)
120GB 7200RPM SATA drive - OS
1TB 7200RPM SATA drive - Videos

I've been tweaking settings in my graphics control panel and within the game to get the FPS up. Finally I got to the point where I could comfortably record at 30fps. Yesterday, I installed Microsoft Office 2010 and VMWare vSphere for work purposes (sometimes I work from home). These had large installation files and fragmented the machine a bit - I ran a defrag and everything seems OK.
Unfortunately since then, my framerate will start around 40fps when recording and drop over 5-10 minutes to 30-40, then 20-25, then around 10-15 and stay there. This persists even if I stop the recording and start it again; When not recording I have the game set to limit to 60fps, which it sits on quite comfortably. Closing the game and reopening resets the FPS for the next recording.
I did notice Audacity writing its temporary files to the OS drive, so I tried without Audacity - no change. I've monitored the CPU, memory and disk I/O during recording - none of them hit anywhere near their max.
I realise I need to get new hardware and I'm hoping to over Christmas, however until then I'm trying to get this machine to work. Could anyone provide any suggestions to help me get a stable framerate?
If this is not the right place for such a question, please do point me to the right part of Stack Exchange or any external forums you think may help.

If you are "limiting to 60" using vsync, then it sounds a lot like triple buffering and vsync plateaus. With vsync, the software must wait for a video "wait state" and if the time it takes to do {magic} is even slightly longer than it should be, it must wait for the next wait state and you go from (IIRC) 60 to 30 (then 15, then 7). Again, if I remember correctly, with triple buffering, the plateaus are 60, 45, 30, etc. One obvious potential bottleneck is constant virus scanning of progressively larger files (audacity, video temp files)

Sorry horatio, I should have mentioned that I've actually disabled Triple Buffering and set vsync to "adaptive" after reading up about how vsync can cause frame lag.
I've also disabled my virus scanner while trying to record and monitored open files - no luck :(

One thing I've noticed is that the FPS overlay on the main Minecraft menu screen seems to sit at "36" when not recording. It used to sit in the hundreds. The timing correlates to my recording slowing down.

What happens when you disable "adaptive"?

also what revision of the game?

Ah right, that was what was maxing out my FPS at 60. However after disabling adaptive it dropped very quickly to 15-20fps unfortunately. It's Minecraft 1.4.5.

You are hitting a bottleneck of some kind - from your description it is hard to see whether it is CPU or I/O based, but things that could well be culprits:

You are only running with 3GB of RAM - this is pretty low. The Java engine can require large amounts of RAM. I play a fair bit of Minecraft and 8GB really helped me out!
A Core 2 Duo is not exactly cutting edge - get a nice fast Quad Core i7 CPU if you want a gaming machine.

Until you upgrade, the following may help:

Your drives should be on separate controllers, otherwise they will have to share the bandwidth.
Reduce screen resolution and graphics depth/quality
Shut down all other applications (including background apps)

Hey Dr Mayhem, thanks for your answer,
Whilst I do understand my machine is fairly low spec, I haven't CPU, RAM or disk IO being anywhere near maximum. I was also under the impression that Minecraft ran better with less memory allocated, as indicated by the creator of Optifine. I might go try it with more RAM allocated later tonight.
The controller idea is awesome, I'll open her up and give that a try! Unfortunately I've already tried your other suggestions :(.
Thanks!


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What software can we use to create this slideshow video
I am trying to create this video using adobe premier pro.

In each slide, I will have 3 different images slides in with different effect and timing.
However, it is a bit complex for me and I found difficult to change photos in slide, as I need to cater the motion effect, size, of other two images in the timeline.
I had tried window movie maker, it is very simple but it seems that it only allows transition of one whole image. I can't freely adjust the 3 different images to slide in with different angle, speed, stay on time, and fading effect, and stay on one screen.
May I know is there any other software that can produce the similar effect as in the video?

I agree. You just need to use an image editor to cut the overall image on screen into smaller images of each dish. From there you can set custom animation to each image as required. This could be done in powerpoint, keynote or even google docs!

Yes. However I need to save this in video format so we can play it on LED TV.

You should give a chance to Sony Vegas 8 or newer. In Sony Vegas you can place as many images as you wish and make it "fly in" or "fly out" over a background which can be a solid color, gradient (both self-generated) and/or a background image.
The process itself is quite easy. You set the background in the timeline for the duration that you need. Then simply add as many tracks as you need for each image that you wish to get animated over the background, place the item in the timeline, enter the "Pan and Crop" function of the timeline and create the movement that you wish.
See this video for a comprehensive explanation about the Pan and Crop function in Sony Vegas.

In Sony Vegas you can create per-track and/or per-event motion by using the proper tools.
If you are using Linux you may find KDEnlive as a good alternative for Sony Vegas.
Good luck!

In Adobe After Effects, you can import each picture as a layer and animate them separately. Check out tutorials on youtube, there are plenty out there : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nt-BMN_GIw

If what you want is the easiest software then Powerpoint or Keynote seem to be the best options. Keynote can export presentations as a .mov file via it's share menu, as shown in the following video tutorial:

Exporting Keynote presentations to video for sharing on websites

Powerpoint 2010 allows you to share as a video too, as described in the following help article:

Turn your presentation into a video

If you already use Premier to edit videos I think purchasing another high-profile app to just animate slide-ins would be a rather unnecessary investment, plus an office suite always comes in handy!


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Orange Bar in Final Cut Pro X 10.0.6
Before whenever I imported videos on my timeline, there would be an orange bar in my event browser indicating I've used that portion of the clip. In the new 10.0.6 version, I don't see this. Is there some kind of setting I have to turn on, or was I imagining it this whole time and this never existed?

FCP X is a complete re-write of the software, many and most features that everyday professional editors use when video editing are no longer available in FCP X, this feature was not included.
Update:
Also this only works on true Time-based cameras, a 5D or 7D will not produce this feature even in FCP 7


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settings for editing in cs4
What initial setting should I be using in Premiere CS4 if I shot video on a Samsung HMX-q10 camera but shot in standard definition? When I tried DV NTSC the video looks very bad, like it's somewhat pixellated. When I view it on Windows media player the video looks good.
The properties on the clips are: 720x480 59 fps.

Could you maybe include a screenshot of how the video looks when imported in a DV NTSC sequence? Your footage seems to be NTSC as it is 720x480 interlaced (according to the specs of the camera).

Try applying a de-interlace and make sure that the preview window is at full quality.  If you play back interlaced footage as progressive without deinterlacing, then every other frame only has half the normal information which would look pretty bad.  You should be able to adjust it under Interpret Footage from the footage properties.


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Recommandation for a 360 degrees video camera for developers
I'm a developer and I'm intending to develop a camera based surveillance software.
The simplest way is to try and pick a 360 degrees video camera. I found some models but the problem is that the recorded/real-time flow videos are only readable by the manufacturer's software (example: GoPano).
Is there any 360° video camera device that is shipped with tools for developers so that we can build our own softwares ? Are there alternatives ?
The idea is to have a real time video flow that could be consumable by any platform (browser, iOS SDK, Android SDK, etc.).
Regards.

Interesting.  Definitely interested in the answer.  Also interested to see if it is considered on-topic here or not.

It's definitely on topic since I'm just asking for the device and its API. I believe this is the stackexchange's website where I should ask.


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How to get closed captions to appear on a live stream
I want to be able to stream live TV but also include the closed captions.  My workflow is to use a Blackmagic Designs Decklink card (video source is SDI) and use VLC to capture and transcode the video, then send that to a Wowza server to be packetized for HTTP streaming.  I have this working for Video, but I cannot figure out how to get the closed captions to appear in my player.  I am using a VLC Player, Quicktime, Flowplayer on a web page, iPad, and iPhone to view the streams, none of them show the closed captioning in the source video.  The closed captions are both 608 and 708.  I have spent the last 3 days reading everything I can about vlc and closed captions, wowza and closed captions, and x264 and closed captions, vbi, teltext, and even subtitles, but I am no where closer than when I started.  I sincerely that someone here will be able to help me.
I am using a core i7 with 4GB ram, runign ubuntu 10.04 64bit.  I compiled vlc with the following:
./configure  '--enable-xvideo' '--enable-sdl' '--enable-avcodec' '--enable-avformat' '--enable-swscale' '--enable-mad' '--enable-a52' '--enable-libmpeg2' '--enable-dvdnav' '--enable-faad' '--enable-vorbis' '--enable-ogg' '--enable-theora' '--enable-mkv' '--enable-flac' '--enable-caca' '--enable-alsa' '--enable-qt4' '--enable-ncurses' '--enable-realrtsp' '--enable-twolame' '--enable-real' '--enable-x264' '--with-decklink-sdk=/home/bimls/bmd/Blackmagic_Decklink_SDK_9.6.4/Linux' '--enable-zvbi'

I use the following to capture and stream the live video:
cvlc decklink:// --decklink-card-index="0" --decklink-mode="ntsc" --rtsp-timeout 0 --sout='#transcode{venc=x264{subme=1, ref=1, bframes=16, b-adapt=1, bpyramid=none, weightp=0 }, vcodec=h264, vb=1300, acodec=mp4a, ab=96, threads=4}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1:8888,mux=ts}'' --vbi-page=100 --no-vbi-opaque --vbi-position=0

Some of the question I have are:

Is this the proper way to get the closed captions to appear? if not please what am I doing wrong?
How does one
know what vbi-page to look for as the range seems to be "--vbi-page integer [-2147483648 .. 2147483647]>"
Does transcoding destroy
closed caption data?

So, Please any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

There isn't support for taking the closed caption data from SDI and embedding it in the video stream. That's why it doesn't work.

Can you include a reference that supports your answer?

Well I wrote support for adding user data such as captions in x264 a long time ago and VLC doesn't use this API.