text:
Multiple TV out from single Macbook Pro
I would like to present a digital art show using audio and video.
For this I was thinking of using 10 TV sets.
Is there a way that I could use my MacBook Pro to show either:
a) 10 separate videos (1 per TV screen)
or
b) a single video to all 10 screens
My MacBook Pro is less than a year old and has a single HDMI output.
Is there any software out there that could handle this?
Apologies if this sounds ludicrous. I am a complete novice!
Grateful for any advice / pointers.
Mark

a) You can't output 10 different video signals on your single HDMI output. Besides limitation of the graphic card of your computer, that would also require generating/reading 10 different video streams from your computer. One possible option, depending on your project aim and structure, is to produce 1 hi definition video stream from your computer and use an external tool to tile/scale it in 10 different screens (something like http://www.ambery.com/2x2hdvgaviwa.html)
b) sending same video to all 10 screens only requires that you have a one input/ten outputs HDMI splitter (assuming your ten screens have a HDMI input).


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How do I fit the Comp length to a layers length in after effects?
lets sayI have a comp in after effects with one layer. The layer appears to be longer than the actual comp. Is there any shortcut to make the comp automatically fit the length of the layer?
Thanks in advance!

This free script - rd: Comp Setter - should help.

I also wrote a script that does it with one click. Get it here free (RD Comp Setter does a lot more as well, so use whichever one you like the looks of).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How to set baseline sound volume level before video editing & sound mixing
It is clear from the various sound volume levels of videos out there that the sound volume that the creator perceives may not match most other viewers' volume settings since everyone is listening to sound with different computer hardware and settings.  Some videos are too loud while others are too low.  To complicate matters, there can be a few different volume adjustments: sound driver settings, speaker/headphone volume adjustments, maybe more.
Is there some baseline volume level that I should set my volume at before I start video/sound editing?

This article - How to Set Audio Levels for Video - offers some good advice. To summarize:

Overall Mix Level: -10db to -14db
Dialogue: -12db to -15db
Music: -18db to -22db
Sound Effects: -10db to -20db with occasional spikes up to -8db.

I usually set the voice a bit louder (-8 to -10 dB), but take these as a rough guide.

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


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Recommendation for HD upgrade of PTZ system
We are using an indoor video recording setup currently based on three Sony D70 cameras, controlled with a Sony RM-BR300 remote control. The three cameras are then mixed with a DataVideo SE-500. The mixed signal is recorded on an iMac using an Elgato video capture S-Video to USB device.
We would now like to upgrade this system to be HD and have been in contact with several suppliers that have made offers based on different brands and solutions.
The offers we got differs in price and brands, so I am looking looking for recommendations about which equipment to get, based on what we are trying to achieve:

1080p
remote controlled (PTZ)
digital signal "all the way" - meaning no conversions between formats loosing quality like the current system going between S-Video and BNC
ideally more precision in the camera control than the current system

This is no professional setup, so the price has to be considering that, up to $20000 would be within range.
Since we already have an iMac, I have been looking into Blackmagic Design ATEM for the video mixing instead of using a dedicated hardware mixer, thinking that might save some money. But hardware controls are probably easier to operate.
Offers so far based on cameras (varies a lot in price):

Dahua SD42212I-HC
IP HD Avigilon
Panasonic AW-HE40SKEJ
Panasonic AW-HE130KEJ
Sony SRG-300SEW


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ffmpeg: How to convert quicktime (iPhone) video to mp4 format?
I need to convert quicktime (.mov) video file recorded by iphone, into mp4 format using ffmpeg in php.
I tried several commands but it did not work for me.
I tried following command that converted into .mp4 but just audio was there. No video was playing.
exec("ffmpeg -i input.mov out.mp4");

Any help in this case will be appreciated.
Thanks

What is the ffmpeg output when you execute the command. Also post some more info about the file. Preferably a MediaInfo or ffprobe output.

Have you tried just renaming the .mov extension to .mp4 ?

I'm new to ffmpeg, but if you want the codecs to remain the same and the data wrapped in mp4 instead of mov, I believe the following will work:
 ffmpeg -i video.mov -c copy video.mp4

The command you posted may have worked just fine, but your computer is having trouble playing the video data. This is almost always a codec issue.
You can compare the data in the mov input with the mp4 output using ffprobe. Compare the output of the commands ffprobe video.mov and ffprobe video.mp4. If the above command works as expected, then the data should read the same under the codecs. Only the container related data should be different.

MP4 file format is based on QuickTime file format. Usually, renaming the file suffix to .mp4 just works.
The spec are here

ISO/IEC 14496-12:2015
QuickTime File Format(QTFF)

That is false information. While ideas were taken from QuickTime, they are different formats and simply renaming a file doesn't convert it into a mp4 file. As it also says in the second link you posted.

Container structure is the same and often renaming can work. FFmpeg has the same demuxer for mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2. But QT allows lot more codecs than the official MP4 format, So a player coded as per the spec to vet streams will refuse to play a MP4 with e.g. PCM audio or just won't play the audio, just like ffmpeg won't create such a MP4. But nothing technical prevents PCM in MP4. Sony's cameras produce such MP4s. ----------- TL;DR difference between MP4 and MOV is administrative rather than technical. The viability of renaming MP4/MOV depends on the app the file is to be used in.

Renaming would work for VLC (anything would work for VLC) but not for players like QuickTime.


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Top and tail GoPro video based on volume
I'm thinking of using ffmpeg to automate a simple video task. I have lots of action videos that go like this,  quiet/boring -> loud/exciting -> quiet/boring. Allowing for a few seconds at the start and end of the exciting part I'd like to cut the quiet/boring bits. Can anyone give me some help on the filter/filters I might use?

I'm not well-versed with Unix shell scripting, and also only have basic proficiency in Windows scripting, so I can only offer a pseudocode flow of the script:
1) Break up your full video into N-second segments of only audio (into a temporary folder)
ffmpeg -i GoProFull.mp4 -vn -c:a copy -segment_time n -f segment GP%03d.mp4

Obviously, this will generate a sequence of MP4s where GPx.mp4 represents the n second audio starting at n*x seconds. You can get the exact value by running
ffprobe -i GPx.mp4

and parsing for Start: XX.YYYYYY
2) Run ffmpeg with the volumedetect filter on each of the files
ffmpeg -i GPx.mp4 -af volumedetect -f null - 2> GPx.log

This will produce an output with the final lines looking like this.
[Parsed_volumedetect_0 @ 0000000002584880] n_samples: 575488
[Parsed_volumedetect_0 @ 0000000002584880] mean_volume: -6.6 dB
[Parsed_volumedetect_0 @ 0000000002584880] max_volume: 0.0 dB
[Parsed_volumedetect_0 @ 0000000002584880] histogram_0db: 54799

There may be multiple histogram lines depending on your audio, but the mean and max are on the 2nd and 3rd lines.
3) Now your script should parse those last lines of each log
Check the detected mean and max volumes of each segment. Depending on how long your exciting parts are, and how much of a quiet interval there may be within an exciting segment, decide on whether to use the mean or max (or some evaluating expression involving both) and record the qualifying segment names in a formatted text file. Probably remove the prefix and keep only the unpadded numbers for the next part.
4) Prepare cut list
In the text file containing the numbers of the qualifying segments, collect consecutive segments together, so if your list is 3,4,7,11,13,14,15,18 then you want to treat it as 3+4, 7, 11, 13+14+15, and 18
5) Run ffmpeg to generate the cuts
Now for each cut, use the trim and atrim filter to make the cut. For a cut consisting of multiple segments starting with GPx and ending with GPy, the time codes for the cut is n*x - top seconds to n*(y+1) + tail seconds. You can use ffprobe to get the precise numbers.
ffmpeg -i GoProFull.mp4 -vf "trim=n*x-top:n*(y+1)+tail,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS" -af "atrim=n*x-top:n*(y+1)+tail,asetpts=PTS-STARTPTS" -{video and audio encoding parameters} GPcut-X.mp4

where X is the index of each generated segment.
Output each generated filename, one on each line, into a text file of the form
file 'GPcut-X.mp4'

6) Make into one video.
Run
ffmpeg -f concat -i cutlist.txt -c copy GoPro-Highlights.mp4

where cutlist.txt is the text file created in step 5.

@Mulvya, I split the video into segments of 1 second, and the mean_volume of all of'em were alike. What could be the problem? Since I'm searching for pauses in speech, I can't go beyond 2 or 3 seconds.


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Adobe media encoder encoding slow
Help,
I have setup Adobe media encoder and After effects for cuda. My project is only 3,5 min long and my rendering time is about 2,5 hours. I have resized all my footage to match my resolution (1080p, 29,95 fps). I think this is strange because I have a decent graphics card. Here are my pc specs if it is going to help:

Amd A6 cpu
Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
8 GB ram
Windows 10
3 2tb hard disks (about 1tb free for each drive)

I haven't changed any settings except the cuda renderer option.
Am I doing something wrong, is there something I can change in my settings to improve rendering time?
Please help.

Check the sequence and footage settings to make sure they match. If AE is doing frame interpolation to change frame rate, for example, that would slow it down.

@stib the settings are matching, maybe it has something todo with that I only have generated media and only 1 image

Well,  it could depend on the content of the composition,  things like motion blur and frame blending slow down renders considerably.

@stib I'm using trap code for an audio visualiser. Maybe that is the cause?

you could do a test render without it on to see if that's what it is. Just FYI a lot of AE rendering doesn't use the GPU, especially some of the older plugins, so CPU is the bottleneck.


text:
Handbrake refuses to use correct Audio channel with batch conversions
I'm trying to make Handbrake convert a batch of .mkv files, but I'm running into a problem where everything that it spits out from batch transfers uses the default channel 1, but I want the resulting files to use channel 2. This happens no matter which audio channel I choose when starting the conversion. Does anyone know what the hell is going on?

Maybe if you tell us in which way you are using Handbrake (GUI or CLI) and what settings you apply, someone can help you. You can edit your message to add these informations.

Also you could try to get as much log information out of the process as possible, as at some point a command is/isnt being issued that possibly you could correct for your needs.


text:
Stream tablet to computer with switcher to stream to internet
I was unsure where to post this, so please move if there is a better site for it
I am trying to design a cheap system that allows me to have 3 video inputs, allows me to mix them and stream it live to youtube.
Currently I am thinking that I can stream from basic amazon/android tablets to a central computer running OBS. I could mix and apply effects and then stream from OBS to youtube.
My main question is how would I import a stream into OBS and how to create the stream on the tablet.
Overall I would prefer a solution that already exists, but would be able to create an app to do some of the work.

I don't quite understand the setup you want to use. so you want to stream 3 tablets (the cameras I assume?) to a computer... Are these three cameras supposed to be in frame accurate sync, because then I assume you can bury that idea quickly. If you don't care, what software are you planning to use to stream the tablets to the "main" computer?

I was able to resolve this by using usb Webcam instead of tablets.

So possibly OBS (i havnt checked) as CasparCG (im using) do not support stream producers (input), I was recently looking into this option, and one program i found (there may be others) that supports this is vmix http://www.vmix.com/software/features.aspx which has a free version.


text:
Adobe Premiere Pro Rendering in Linux
I was really wanting to build a Raspberry Pi Linux Cluster (~20GB RAM, etc). I was wondering if it would be possible to render video from Adobe Premiere Pro to Linux and how I would incorporate a rendering farm to split up the tasks. Thanks for all of your help!

At the moment, Adobe Premiere Pro struggles to run properly on the systems it supports--Windows 10 and Mac OS 10.10.  As of today, Adobe does not even recommend running it on Mac OS 10.11!  Premiere Pro does not run at all on Linux, and while you might be able to create some virtualized environment that can host a cluster of OSX or Windows instances on a Linux cluster, such virtualized environments are weakest where Premiere Pro needs them to be strongest: at the CPU/GPU interface.  In summary, not today, and likely not in the near future.
A far better starting place for your cluster project would be to select an open source video editor (here's a snapshot of the state of the art for 2015) and evaluate what sort of Raspberry Pi cluster is needed to compete with a typical modern GPU.


text:
Copying Effects from Photoshop to After Effects
I was wondering if it was possible to copy effects settings from photoshop to after effects?
Let's say I have a simple effect like "Levels" and I want to have the exact same values for the effect in after effects like in Photoshop without having to switch windows to copy the values one by one.

Have you tried saving the levels as an adjustment layer, importing the PSD In AE and checking if it comes through?

The best way to achieve this is to import the PSD into After Effects, which converts the PS effects to AE effects automatically.
Make sure your effects are all on adjustment layers before importing, and make sure your document mode is set to RGB. If your PS document is a different resolution than your AE comp, you may need to move the effects from the auto generated layers to a new solid inside AE. This will not work if you are using layer masks in PS to manipulate the Adjustment Layer visible regions.
Hope this helps!


text:
export a video from Blender with alpha channel
I have a problem exporting a video from Blender (Cycles Render) with Alpha Channel. Generally it's a scene with sailplane flying about a camera positioned near to the floor. In addition to this it is a camera with a fisheye lens, but I don't think this changes anything.
I failed to export the video with alpha in blender, so I exported the 500 frames to pngs with an alpha channel.
I tried many things, but did the job by now.
The target system is Digital Sky 2.
Any help?

Sounds like you've forgot to enable Transparent option in the Film Panel: http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/5164/3710

Or do you just wanna compile/encode your Image sequence?


text:
Error playing video from snapchat (.mp4)
I have a video from snapchat that I have difficulties playing (on the computer).
It's a .mp4 and it plays perfectly on VLC and QuickTime - but not on anything else. I've tried downloading all sorts of codecs and stuff but i dont get it to work. It dosen't work when uploaded to youtube or facebook for example.
Often the first images are fine, but then the rest of the video is like this: https://i.sstatic.net/CW3kl.png
It can also be the reversed. The first images dont show but the rest of the video is fine.
This is the video (for download): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2hzopfx_ybFLWpVMmJyTnctLUU
Does anyone have any idea?

Seems that Snapchat allows to select multiple clips of different parameters and stitch them together as one MP4.
Like you said, it plays fine in VLC, but ffplay here warns that

[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 00000000005b0a00] Concatenated H.264 or
H.265 might not play correctly.
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @> 00000000005ba100] ignoring multiple glbl
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @> 00000000005b0a00] multiple edit list entries, a/v desync might occur, patch welcome

VLC fails to convert to a good file. Crude method would to screen-record the video playback and crop that, or Snapchat seems to allow to download the individual clips, which would be the best possible method for now.

If you have a Mac, it's possible to import it into iMovie, then reexport it. The resulting exported .mp4 will then be usable on YouTube (and I assume others).


text:
how do I produce a time lapse visual animation like this famous video?

I want to create something of that similar effect...I don't know what this style is called, I don't know what tool to use, please help me.

R (the letter R) is free software environment for statistical computing and graphics.  It can be extended by means of packages that the R-core team and team and community create.  For creating a video such as the above, you would want the data that describes the date of a nuclear event, the yield of the event, some metric of its decay function (perhaps the half-life of some particular isotope present in the fallout of the event), the geolocation of the event, and the country responsible for the event.  You could then feed this data into a package such as animation combined with rworldmap.
R is a great way to bring data to life, visually.  With the above, you can create animated GIFs, active HTML pages, or full-fledged video files that can be further integrated into digital production environments.


text:
Is there a buffer caching application that preloads streaming video?
I'm trying to find out if there's already a application in existence or a way to preload (cache/ buffer) couple minutes ahead of live streaming media
e.g. live stream onine TV, rtmp protocol etc..
in order to play it smooth on vlc media player and even at low bandwidths.
I don't mind getting the live feed 30 minutes later.
another hint:
VLC media player only allows 9999 ms buffer time for streams and am looking for some way to expand this ..by 10 min or so :)

Launch VLC. Go to Open Network Stream. After specifying the URL, select Convert in place of Play.  Choose Dump raw input. In destination file, specify somefilename.ts. Wait 10 minutes. Launch another VLC instance. Play somefilename.ts


text:
How can I apply the same keyframe pattern to multiple still images in Adobe Premiere?
Here's what I mean by that. I'm making a short video with still images, but each one is animated Ken Burns style by gradually zooming in, or shifting position from left to right, or both. Sometimes, I'd like the motion to be diagonal as well.
My problem is that I want each animation to proceed at the same speed, but I can't find a good way to do this from one image to another. The only way I can see to make the animation is to create a keyframe at the in point, set the position or the scale, and then do the same at the out point. But it's nearly impossible to work out the right values for position or scale so that the transition from in to out happens at the same speed for one image as it does for another.
So, is there a way to create an animation by specifying the speed of the motion rather than the absolute start and end values?

would you be able to use After Effects? It sounds like it would be a job for expressions.

Simply create your motion keyframes on your longest clip placed on your timeline (or use a dummy clip which exceeds your longest clip by a few frames or even a second in case you later add an even longer clip/image to the sequence).
Once you have added you "start" motion position, set the keyframe, then the "end" motion position (I am guessing you will be doing pushes and pulls).
Select the clip on the sequence. CTRL-C Copy.  Then use the C select tool (arrow) to lasso and select ALL the clips you want to apply the motion effect to.
Right mouse click the selected clips in the sequence, then click Paste Attributes.
This will paste the motion from your longest clip to all the clips; with the same relative speed. The keyframe for you "end" motion position on clips shorter than your "longest/dummy" clip will simply not be visible in the effects panel; because the keyframe will be out of range and past the tail of the clip.
However, the same speed motion will be applied.
If you are doing more than just a slow push or pull, or are dealing with various image sizes/aspect ratios; you may need to do a few "template moves" and apply the Paste Attribute command to the clips that require that specific move.
If you need to reset the motion; select the clips on the sequence; right mouse click; remove effects; click motion, click ok.
I would recommend also:
Run ALL your images through Image Processor using Adobe Bridge; and upres them larger than your sequence size. So if your working in a 1920x1080 workspace; use Tools; PhotoShop; Image Processor -> Resize Image (Then set a "SQUARE VALUE" of 2500 w by 2500 h).  This will box in all your images to meet either an X or Y value of 2500 px depending on the orientation of the image.
Do not use Scale to Frame Size- as you will lose image quality on any push ins past 100%. Upresing your images using Image Processor will import all your images into PPro, and they will be larger than your sequence; so you have pull room, and push room, to go in and out, without your images pixelating.
You may want to go higher than 2500 px. I'd recommend 2-3x your horizontal resolution. (So if 1080p, scale them all to roughly 5000/5000).  Photoshops resizing will provide much better results than PPro when moving/pushing in past 100% if your image doesnt meet your 1920 Width (if working in 1080).
Hope this solves it for you.

This may vary depending on the duration of the animation. For example, moving 100 pixels on one image may not be enough to meet the needs for another image. On a different image you may need to move 200 pixels in the same amount of time. The latter will appear slightly faster than the former.
There's no way I can think of to standardize the same speed because the images may have different focal points. You may need to "eyeball" it as best as possible.


text:
Fastest way to add a video event in multiple cuts
I made a lot of cuts from many videos. Now, what if I want to add a video event in multiple pieces?
I could click, in every piece of video, the video event button to add one, and do the same thing over and over again... but that would consume tons of time and will. And if I highlight multiple ones and right click in one of them, the option goes grey.
Is there any trick to do this?

If by Video Event, you mean Video Event FX, then apply the effect to one event. Right-click and select Copy. Then select the remaining clips, right-click and select Paste Event Attributes. Note that all the original Pan/Crop and effects applied to the other clips will be overwritten with those in the copied clip.


text:
MPEG - the maximum range for R,G,B?
There are sentences:
For analog video or MPEG (including DVD) output, the maximum range for R,G,B is [16, 235] (8-bit).
For YUV, the maximum range for intensity (Y) is [16, 235] (8-bit).
Is this saying correct ? I'm thinking that the first sentence contains an error. MPEG has YCbCr encoding ..
What do you think about it ?

Yes, MPEG-2 video is stored as YCbCr, but video editing programs (like Cinelerra) convert the samples to RGB for processing during editing. That range is 16-235.
From Wikipedia on YCbCr

Analog YPbPr from analog R'G'B' is derived as follows:

To get a YUV output in the 16-235 range, the input RGB is also limited.

Do you use Cinelerra ? Can you confirm it with screenshots?


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FPS drops when recording video
I have a DSLR camera which can record a HD movie at 60fps. My question is that, sometimes when recording, the FPS seems to drop below 60fps. What caused this problem? I used a class 10/UHS-1 SD card with transfer rate up to 45MB/s.

An uneducated guess: variable bitrate encoding.

Are you sure it's dropping frames? I have a canon 5d and it never drops frames, it simply stops recording when it can't keep up.
My guess is the file is fine, but the preview on the LCD is dropping frames.

I mean that when I play the video, it seems a bit laggy during specific period. I did the preview on my laptop as well and it showed the same thing. My laptop should be powerful enough to play the video.

That should be easy to confirm, even a fast computer can drop frames occasionally. If you go frame by frame then there should be duplicate frames where the skipping occurs.

I see.. Let me check the video file again later and verify.

try exporting the video to another file format from your favourite player or editor. If the video lags at the same place then the corruption is baked in and not a playback issue (as the software doesn't care about maintaining audio sync during export).

You must remember that the bitrate of the compressed file does not represent the decompressed file size. Your PC is trying to reconstruct 60 full HD frames per second without a specific chip set to do it (whereas your camera is designed for this one task).
It is not at all surprising that it cannot achieve this, especially if there is not enough video ram allocated to displaying all the data. Many Video Editing applications will scale the dimensions or frame rate to retain audio sync playback. Consider creating a higher bitrate file that requires less processing time per frame but uses more memory to decompress. This should alleviate some of the stress on the CPU for decompressing.

This issue is that the camera doesn't maintain recording at 60fps, not playback afterwards.

How did you determine that the fault is with the recording? My experience of Canon cameras dropping frames is that they tend to hold a frame instead of loose sync, so that you get a stuttering playback.

The question is about recording - doesn't mention anything about playback. In any case, modern PCs can easily decode 60fps baseline profile H.264 like a camera would record.


text:
Video flickering when recording a screen with a mobile phone
When recording a computer screen straight with a mobile phone, there are sometimes colored spots to see in the recorded material. I know that when recording CRT displays, the flickering was caused by different refresh rates between recording device and playing device. Can I prevent the flickering/discoloration in spots on a mobile phone?

This should be a comment I guess but I don't have enough rep.
What kind of monitor are you using?
My iPhone records my 27" Retina 5k monitor just fine.
My guess is you have an LCD monitor and you are having polarizing issues (

)

It does not matter. It's with every monitor (LCD). Just open Instagram and you can see tons of people taking pictures of their monitor. That's what I meant.

Taking a picture is slightly different from taking video on your phone. Resolution is much higher for photo than video - which could cause issues - because you are taking pictures of points of light - usually 1920 lights by 1080 lights. If your resolution can "resolve" all of these points individually - from an angle - it will have strange effects.

It does not matter if video or photo. Essentially, I mean this. https://www.instagram.com/p/_I-XPQLrjc/ Is this just lighting? https://www.periscope.tv/heuteplus/1BRJjDpPADBKw (At minute 00:53) It's clear that they've recorded straight from a monitor but I wonder why they chose this setup and not improve the visual appearance.


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Working in a linearized Color Space in After Effects causes hard gradients
I am just playing arround with the new trapcode suite in after effects working ina linearized color space for a better control over color and effects.
Somehow I get really bad rendering on parts of my footage where its supposed to be more smooth.

On the screenshot I am using trapcode mir for the fllo, tao for the spiral thing and shine for the light rays. If you take a closer look at the sprial geometry you can already see the jagged gradient where its supposed to be smoother. I am also working in 32Bit soo I don't get it.

I'm not familiar enough with this workflow to give a real answer. Perhaps you can tell a little bit about: how you convert your linear image back to your monitor gamma. (I can't imagine that you have a way of monitoring the linear signal) And through what bit depth are you looking at the image? You can work in 32bit but if your computer screen resolves 8bit it's quite possible you see banding that's not really present.

@RemcoHekker Actually Linear Workflow is too complicated to explain in a comment. You should google it, there are a bunch of helpful articles in the web about it. I am using an 27" iMac late 2013 with Retina Display I couldn't find information about what the monitor is able to display. Everything I did to make use of the linear workflow is enabling the 32 Bit Color Depth, defining sRGB as my working Color Space and checked "linearize my Color Space".

I use the trapcode suite as well, the issue has more to do with the fact that even though you may be working in an sRGB workspace at 32 Bit; your monitor output is 8 bit. 10 Bit monitors are available but unless you forked up a lot of cash - you are viewing 8-bit.
The way to solve gradient problems like this - with this as well as any other gradient in AE/Premiere/PS; is to add an adjustment layer to the top of your project; on top of all layers. Add the standard NOISE filter. Check monochromatic (or un check use color noise) - you don't want color. Gaussian sometimes looks better; it's one of two options on the NOISE pop-up.
Typically; I use a setting of 2 - 4%. But it really depends on your comp settings. If I'm working with RED 5k footage I typically have to do 1-2%.
Lastly; honestly I almost always add NOISE to all the work I do; even if it's just 1% on a nested timeline for output. It solves a lot of aliasing problems and is a standard trick in post many people use.
Hope that helps.

Out of interest: how does the added noise affect the compression if you're exporting to h.264 or the like? I can imagine it wouldn't help.

If the above render is a RAM preview, the default preview quality may be the culprit: Preferences > PREVIEWS > Color Management Quality > More Accurate.

You'll need to play with the parameters to get the desired look. Some noise is, to me, a nice look- otherwise your output will look too clean. All the filmmakers now shooting digital, whether on Alexa, RED, etc; they all add some noise in post. I own a RED EPIC; The camera has such a low noise floor; that without adding some it looks a little flat, plasticesque.
A better way of looking at it is consider the noise you add "fine grain". Use monochromatic. Not color. Use Uniform, not gaussian. You will need to adjust the % of noise added, based on your frame size. 5k needs a tad more than 1080p. But usually 2-3% will take care of most gradient problems, not be distracting in any way, and lastly; will give your output a bit more "life".
Finally, your output workflow is a whole other issue, but noise shouldn't drastically change the overall quality when added at such a low threshold. If you added 50%; yes your compression would be horrible because of the h264 encoding process and how it uses frames past and prior to build the current frame. But at 2-3%; you are not losing much, and certainly not losing what to the naked eye anyone would notice.

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


text:
Would this camera light solve a lot of my indoor shooting problems?
I have a Rebel T5 Canon camera I use to shoot short videos with. Interviews, short video sketches, scenes from plays. In my living room.
I'm having a huge problem with indoor shooting. No matter how many light fixtures I turn on, bring in from other rooms, or train directly at the person I'm shooting; no matter what kind of bulbs I use, incandescent, CFL, or "flood"; no matter how much I play around with the ISO levels or aperture: everything, and especially the person I'm shooting, comes out either too dark and grainy, or yellow, or too harsh and overexposed (and yellow).
I'm not a cheap moron: I'm a painter on a tight budget.
Would this camera light solve a lot of my problems?

It's NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Light, LED Light for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic,SONY, Samsung and Olympus Digital SLR Cameras, and it's selling for $30 on Amazon.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

This light fixture will not solve your problems.  As a painter, you surely understand the need to transfer paint to your canvas, so you choose the correct tool for the job.  It could be a brush, an airbrush, a palette knife, your fingers, or you might just pour it on straight out of the bucket.  So, too, must you learn to transfer light to your scene.
A light such as an ARRI 300W Fresnel is a scale model of the Ur-light for video.  This design pattern scales down to 150W and scales up to 24000W, though it is difficult to work with more than the 1000W model in a home and more often than not you need dedicated electricity to handle more than 2000W in a commercial environment.
The basic Fresnel has good "throw", meaning that it gets a meaningful amount of its light onto your subject in a scene.  Because a Fresnel can be focused, you can adjust it from a meaningful flood to a meaningful spot (much more meaningful than a 75W light bulb from Home Depot that lists itself as spot or flood).  The basic Fresnel is also a standard input to many lighting modifiers, such as a soft box, which means that in addition to creating "hard" light (distinct shadows) you can create "soft" light (soft shadows or almost no shadows).
Straight-on lighting such as the above device will make your video look a bit like what a photo looks like when you use a flash (if it even has enough light to do its job).  Which is not pretty.  To light an interview, it is best to use Three Point Lighting as a starting point, and then creatively change from there.  You can sometimes ditch the rim light.  You can sometimes get away without fill.  You can sometimes get away without key (especially if you are interviewing a criminal who does not want their face shown on video).  But Three Point Lighting is the starting point.
Of course you can get fresnel lamps with other lighting elements than tungsten: LED, HMI, Plasma, etc.  But these are all more expensive than "hot lights".
For your living room, 300W may be Just The Thing, or you may need to step up (650W) or down (150W) a level.  But be advised that the way luminosity of LED panel lights is measured, it is much more about the source light level, not the level of light that actually reaches the subject 8' into the room.
Also, if you are getting blown-out highlights, it means your contrast levels (lighting ratios) are wrong.  Again, Three Point Lighting is the ticket for balancing highlights and shadows, and with a little practice you can dial in 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1 ratios between key and fill, avoiding the typical 10:1 or more ratios you get with only a single key light.

White balance! Can you lock in a color temperature setting on that canon? If you can't manually control shutter 1/30, 1/60 ( or maybe 180 degrees) or if it ignores your ISO when you hit that video button, the image processor may be trying to auto adjust on the fly. This makes tailoring a shot impossible. Consistency is also impossible.
Michael is 100% correct! I would add that diffuser hoods work well with hot lights. I use 1k watt hots with dimmers, it's seems to change the color temp a bit, but it's our only setup right now. I'm looking to get a kilo flow setup too, they are like a fancy fluorescent shop light but way more expensive. This is probably bad advice, "maybe try a shot light from a hardware store. I doubt it'll work, I imagine you'll see a nasty flicker or harshness. But hey it's cheap."


text:
which digital format for old Hi-8 home videos?
I have a rather large number of old Hi-8 PAL videotapes, that I managed to convert to digital video using El Gato EyeTV Hybrid through an S-VHS cable.
That solution worked fine. It may not be the best quality, though I think that there isn't much quality to preserve beyond what I got. I don't know that, as I have no way to compare to other solutions. Comments welcome.
One fact about that solution is that it produces MPEG-2 video. The total disk space used for my videos is 168 GB.
I don't like MPEG-2 as a format: its compress rate is not great, it's difficult to process. What would be a better format for archival? Relevant features (in no order):

compress rate vs quality (saving disk space is low priority, preserving quality, poor though it is, is high priority)
long term support (avoid bit rot)
adequate for video editing (at least easy to import in common non-linear editing software. I am on Mac, so that would suggest Final Cut or maybe even iMovie).
interoperability/compatibility with Plex and typical DLNA servers/players.

Despite being a bit weak for point 3, I tend to favor H264. I converted all my videos to H264 using Handbrake, with its default H264 HighProfile preset. I saved a moderate amount of space, going down to 1.22 GB total.
Is there any point to converting those videos to any other format (codec/container) for archiving?
Thanks

Difficult to reply without knowing if you aiming for a full lossless codec or a lossy one can go too. You talk of H264, but this codec can also be used in a lossless way.
If it was for me, and storage doesn't matter I would go for a true (pixel per pixel) lossless codec.
Here, excluding some other "good but insane storage hungry" lossless codecs your choice is between:

FFV1 codec, a pretty good choice for archival purposes.
H264 codec used in loseless fashion, that take less than the above, but is also handled not so well by NLE out of there.

In case instead you want to retain only a good video quality (let's say visually lossless but not pixel per pixel) you can go for an H264 with a crf let's say about 16 or 18.
Obviously is pure nonsense use lossless codecs if you already acquired media with a poor mpeg2. My suggestion is referred to the first video capture itself. So you should capture and save directly in FFV1 without any intermediate steps, then decide to transcode in lossless h264 or lossy h264 or just keep the FFV1 based on your storage needings.

Many things to address. capturing: 1- What capturing software would capture in FFV1 on the Mac? 2-EyeTV Hybrid captures in MPEG-2 only. What would be an affordable hardware option to capture in FFV1 on the Mac?

transcoding: what software can be used on the Mac to transcode to and from FFv1? I found only fffmpeg, which is not user-friendl, really.

My goal is not necessarily full lossless. As you mention, the source is already lossy-compressed. The goal is not to loose too much additional quality. But, as you say, "visually lossless" (whatever that actually means). This is why I transcoded to H264 using Handbrake. Trying out H265 at this time.

FFV1: my research showed basically no software support at all for encoding to FFV1 on the Mac (except using ffmpeg). Some to transcoding from FFv1. Some support for playing FFV1. For me this is not enough


text:
Color is being processed strangely after uploading to YouTube
After uploading to YouTube, the green in my video is being processed with a weird tint (like a sea foam green). In the image below, I'm hoping for the blueish/green color on the left, but that color only shows in Safari (and sometimes Chrome) - otherwise it's mostly showing the color incorrectly.
Even more strange is when I use Quicktime on my Mac to screen record the video when the color is displaying incorrectly on YouTube, the end result when I play it back in quicktime shows the correct color. For example, watch my YouTube video:

, then see the screen capture here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-2T7XJFKEKdklRQUpDaTdUYVU/view.
This is only happening with the green color, all the other colors are correct. I'm exporting from Final Cut Pro on a Mac, I've tried my color display on my Mac at Color LCD and Color LCD Calibrated. Any idea why the color is being processed incorrectly once it's playing in YouTube?

Just some considerations, the reply to your answer itself is a bit more extended and I have not the whole vision to suggest you except of check the profile you are using. But the variables are a lot, consider that this can differ if the video is played as flash player or html5 and also different browsers handles and apply color profiles in a different way. This is true also for images with embedded ICC profile. About the "green" but other colors, well, that green is shifted in a more visible way but i'm pretty sure all the colors get a slight modification.

I see the correct color on Youtube. via Flash player on Windows 7.
Sounds like either a gamma issue with the errant players, not Youtube. Try VLC.
--or--
Your FCP output isn't properly tagged. Its colorspace is Rec 709 but it's tagged as Rec 601 (or something else).

On a mac, when I open VLC > Open Network > paste my youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heuPCADkS0o, then I see the correct color. But still don't see the correct color in Chrome on YouTube. Would you suggest changing the FCP output to Rec 709?

Yes, that should be the default.


text:
Premiere Pro CC export produces dark, muddied video
I've dug around numerous forums and have had no success finding a solution to my issue - .mp4 files color corrected in Premiere and exported in H.264 end up being unacceptably dark, the colors crushed.  There are a lot of conversations from 3 years ago about exports being lighter, or solutions offered on a Windows platform (I use a Mac), lots of complaining about Quicktime, but nary a fix for what ails me.
Here's an example of my issue:

Top left = Premiere program monitor; Top right = Quicktime playing the .mp4; Bottom center = Youtube (obviously).
In reading forums, I wonder the issue is that I'm editing in 0-255 rgb range, but it's exporting in the 16-235 range.  Or vice versa?  I'm fairly new at this and while I'm pretty confident in everything else regarding video production, I can't figure out what's going on behind-the-scenes in Premiere that would cause this.
I have found each video example to be unchanged from Mac to PC, on Safari, Chrome and IE11, exported for Vimeo or Youtube, on the MacBook Pro screen to two differing-model dell monitors.
I work on a 2013 MacBook Pro, with an Nvidia GeForce GT 650M.  The drivers are up to date.  There are no meaningful graphics card settings on OSX.
At first I thought that Quicktime as a player doesn't have anything to do with it since it shows up the same on Youtube.  It must be in the file.  Then I imported the .mp4 back into the project and the color/white balance looked fine.  So now I have no idea.
Thanks in advance.
Andrew

Can you render a visual whose left half is black and right half is white? Just a 1 second sample, with the same project and render settings.

I wonder if its just the way the encoding is handling the footage. If you turn up the quality to 100 and export do you get the same issue?
If you export to uncompressed avi, do you get the same thing?
Unless I'm misunderstanding the issue it sounds like the encoding itself is the problem. Probably a settings issue.

In my experience Quicktime always produces incorrect shading and color with video- period. It shouldn't be used to assess what really "is there".
First, go into Bridge. Under EDIT, make sure you've synchronized all your color settings for all Adobe Products, and that you're using WEB AMERICAN (Monitor Color for sRGB).  That would be the correct profile for web content like youtube.
After that; try re-out putting. Also; you can check your NVIDIA settings; but you want to allow applications to control color; so it could be that your system is simply using a different color profile or an expanded color gamut for web vs what Adobe is using.
But I'd shy away from using QT for viewing files (or anything MAC for that matter); having switched over to only using Windows based workstations so many problems like these have been solved for us.
Hope this helps.

I would suggest throwing the video into After Effects (if possible) add some corrections to the brightness then when you go to export, change the codec to Photo-Jpeg with 100 quality. I've been using that for a while now and haven't had any issues.


text:
C4D - Nothing seems to fix this stupid black screen
I am having this ridiculous problem in Cinema 4D. I created a new project with NOTHING in it. Trying to render it gives me a black screen. I tried adding lights, infinite lights sky, turning off OpenGL rendering... but nothing happens!! I have searched everywhere for a solution but nobody seems to have a problem like this. It worked about a day ago. I updated my graphics driver too.. still nothing happens. Also, EVERYTHING is black, not just one object. Remember, this happened in an empty project i just created with nothing in it.

I had the same Problem! ...i don't know how, but I put some Material on the Light-source ;)
Maybe you do the same funny thing :)

I had this issue with on R21 with Windows 10, a GTX 1070, 12700k. The solution was to go into ProRender Settings > General > Devices > Check Override Global Devices Settings > And finally set ProRender to your CPU or GPU of your choice. For me, It still wont let me use my GPU but it let me use my CPU though.

Are you sure it is not functioning as intended?  What do you expect to occur on an empty project?  I would expect that it should still be black even if you add lights as there is nothing for the lights to reflect off of.  If you haven't assigned materials to the objects, depending on the render mode, I'd still expect nothing to show up as it wouldn't be able to reflect any light back at the camera.
Make sure you have lights in the scene, an object (with actual surface geometry) in the scene and materials on the object.  If you're still getting black, you may be able to try different render modes.  I'm not familiar with Cinema4D specifically, but typically there are different render modes available.  This may also be what changed resulting in a change in behavior from what you are used to.  Some render modes behave differently in incomplete scenes than others.

Way back when I was new to C4D in the late '90s, I remember having a difficult time figuring out how to get it to render anything other than black.  It probably took me a day or two to realize that I needed a light in my scene.  Nowadays, though, it'll render a "default" light.  Kids, these days...

just go to C:\Windows and you will find atiogl.xml file then enter into atiogl.xml file & remove from it that

it done

Solution for Cinema 4D Black screen is
go to Preference=>Viewport HArdware>Anti Alising>make it none or 2


text:
Why ffmpeg dcp playback behaving a different ways in mac and ubantu
I have a Mac desktop and a Linux Ubuntu setup. I have installed source code of ffmpeg with x264 and Libopenjpeg support in Linux. On the other hand I have installed homebrew version of ffmpeg with libx264 and Libopenjpeg support on Mac OS. The following command automatically convert xyz colours pace to rgb in Linux, but dose not convert colourspace in Mac OS when I play dcp with ffmpeg. What is the reason behind this strange behavior??? My code is:
$ffmpeg -lowres 2 -ss 0 -r24 -i MOVIE.mxf -ss 0 -i AUDIO.mxf -ac: 2 -c:v libx264 -f matroska - | ffplay -

Please paste complete console output for both the mac and ubuntu command executions.


text:
ffmpeg trying to convert AVI to MP4 but not playing
I'm trying to convert a video file from AVI to MP4 but it doesn't seem to play, my code:
exec("ffmpeg -i ".$video." -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -movflags faststart ".$withoutExt.".mp4")

Even plain code:
exec("ffmpeg -i ".$video." ".$withoutExt.".mp4")

Any ideas please and thanks in advance.

Paste full console output of the executed command.

@Mulvya actually with the plain version, I get Output file #0 does not contain any stream

Can't diagnose issue without console output. Add -report option to generate a log file.

As an alternative, what's in the AVI file? Please [edit] and paste MediaInfo of the file.

The full, complete ffmpeg console output would be more informative than mediainfo output.

You should specify the audio codec, e.g. -c:a libvo_aacenc.

Not necessary. If not specified, AAC is implicitly effected for MP4 container. 2)The internal AAC encoder is now stable (since Dec 5 build) and preferable to the VO encoder

@Mulvya, that depends on the AVI's audio codec and the ffmpeg version. AAC is not an mp4 requirement, you can mux into an mp4 container practically any streaming format. It is true that ffmpeg will default to AAC when your source is a raw stream, but not when the source is already encoded (notwithstanding some subtle differences between ffmpeg versions). The result is a valid mp4 file which can not be played on a player that expects only h.264+aac. I usually prefer to first get the command line fixed, only if it still doesn't work then the OP should go into diagnosing by sending the dumps.

Let me repeat for clarity: if no audio parameters are specified and the output container is MP4, then ffmpeg will encode the audio using the highest priority AAC encoder it has. This is not dependent on whether the source audio is PCM/MP3/other. I did not say AAC is a MP4 requirement, am only referring to ffmpeg's behaviour.


text:
Output is shaky after exporting an edit of several clips in Premiere Pro
I am quite new to video editing, and I am trying to make a clip out of different source footage:

sources made from my DSLR are at 24FPS
sources from my video camera are at 24.97FPS
Other sources (video clips) are at 29.97FPS

I wanted to edit those videos and to upload the result. However when I choose the "Vimeo 720p" export preset (29.97FPS), the exported final clip appears to shake from frame to frame, which is annoying.
I wonder whether that could come from the different framerates used throughout the project, and if so, how could I solve the issue?

When you re-render 24FPS to 29.97 FPS, every 5th frame will be repeated, which will make the image appear to "stutter"

@pojo-guy, that's the exact symptom! If you'd post that as an answer i'd be happy to mark it as answered :)

I'm looking for the same thing, but I think they we're saying that there is a shake that happens to the video after it gets exported. It keeps happening to me and is super annoying. I read it could be unnecessarily high output settings.

Maybe your footage are shaky, because you filmed it that way? Try to use effect "Warp Stabilizer".
If it will not work, try to described in detail what you mean by "shake from frame to frame".

I'm guessing that because Premiere is dropping frames from the source in order to conform to the output FPS, there's stuttering which results in a visual 'shake'.

Thank you for your answer!
No, the source footage is really not shaky, it is something that is created from the editing/exporting process. What I describe as "shaky" is that when reading the exported video I have an impression of a up-down vibration of the whole picture a few pixels in extension at a rather high frequency (few Hz). Is that clearer?
@Mulvya, what I don't get is that even the part originating from a ~30FPS footage comes out as "shaky" too, and I don't see why he would drop frames for that one...?

Check interlacing - whether interlaced and field order of - source clips, project and output

Being good at Premiere Pro, and as advised above, use Warp Stabilizer or try changing format. If problem occurs edit your question and give detail


text:
Attach a video to a static image?
Well, its not my area and i am a little bit scrappy with this.
So we have this little device , that we want to show how a real human hand stick to some different places .(for example door,window,gate ,etc)
Because we cant go physically over 50 locations, i was thinking about this
I will picture one video, where a hand stick the device to some flat green/blue area, then replace that area with a different picture(s) .
1.Is it possible to make this look real (so a normal eye cant tell)?

Is there any better colour to use on the background ?

3.What is the simplest software that do that on a mac? Can iMovie do that ?
Thank you.

Making green screen / chromakey look 100% realistic takes a lot of time and artistry, mainly because of the shadow the hand SHOULD cast on the surface it's touching. (I left comments about this on Michael Tiemann's good answer below.) To get the most realistic effect, it might be worth your time to go to the 50+ locations and shoot. I have gotten excellent video quality just shooting with my phone. That would definitely limit the equipment you would have to bring to the location!

The effect you are looking for is Chroma Key, and it is supported by iMovie (according to this Apple documentation).  The color green is typically used (and the technique known as Green Screen) because green is not the color of human skin, and thus easy to distinguish.  When green is a color that must be used in the scene (for example, if your subject is Kermit the Frog), then Blue Screen is used (and the technique is known as Blue Screen).  Sometimes no color works, in which case, people use bright white or dark black.  Chroma key software can work for those, too, but technically it's a Luma Key in that case.
As for making it look real--that's a skill.  But now that you know the name of the technique, you can find articles that explain how best to do it, and the pitfalls to avoid.

Michael Tiemann gave an excellent answer about Chroma Key. One thing that will definitely help "sell" the effect is adding a shadow of the hand on the "surface". The shadow will have to move with the hand, and will probably be hazy or unnoticeable until the hand gets closer to the surface.

In addition to the shadow, the light on the hand has to exactly match the light on the surface. That includes the angle of the light, the color temperature of the light (more warm, more cool...), and the sharpness of the light source (a single lightbulb? Light bouncing off a white wall?).

Technically luma keying uses three channels, not two. There is the background channel, the foreground channel, and the alpha channel, which is uses black and white to define the image outlines, and grey scale to define transparency/


text:
Multiple Channels vs Playlists on YouTube
Is it better to have multiple YouTube channels, effectively targeting specific audience for wildly different topics but also spreading the total subscribers thin, or to have multiple playlists all on one channel regardless if playlists have absolutely nothing to do with each other?
Additionally, if you have subscribers across various channels does YouTube count them cumulatively towards monetization?

The two questions here, relate to marketing/product strategy and remuneration policy, so off-topic for this site. That said, my thoughts are that disadvantage of one omnibus channel will be that followers of one niche may unsubscribe or ignore your channel if content from other niches dominate. If the various topics can't cross-fertilize each other's audiences, you are better off having dedicated channels.

Generally, you are much better having one channel and placing all your videos into this single channel, with different playlists targeting the different audiences.
However, I'm assuming the videos are somewhat related. If they are on completely different topics (for example Gardening and Software Programming) you may find that it's better to separate so the subscribers don't get overwhelmed by videos in the wrong category.
If perhaps you have a brand, say a magazine (Home World, for example) and you have separate categories (Home World: Gardening and Home World: Decorating) I'd say stick to a single channel for branding purposes.
And to answer your final question, no, generally YouTube will treat separate accounts as separate entities for the purpose of monetization.


text:
extracting keyframes from damaged video file
if I have a video file that is in .mov format, but the header has been overwritten, is there a way to scan the file to find the keyframes and somehow extract  them?

Try running the file through recover_mp4_to_h264, assuming video codec is H.264. You will need to supply a good reference file i.e. with valid header, of the same type as the damaged one.


text:
Loop and mix audio on video
I want to mix audio on a video.
The video already has audio stream in it. I'm adding another one.
The new audio I'm adding is shorter than the video. So, I want to loop it as long as the video lasts.
So far, I'm doing this:
ffmpeg -y -i test.mp4 -stream_loop -1 -i bg_sound.mp3 -filter_complex "[0:a][1:a]amix=inputs=2:duration=longest[out]" -map 0:v -map [out] output.mp4

This adds the audio on the video, but does not loop it. I've also tried stream_loop with other integer options with no luck. The audio I'm adding ends and the rest of the video continues.
I need to loop my audio.
Here is the ffprobe result of my video:
   ffprobe version N-76452-ga97f1e7 Copyright (c) 2007-2015 the FFmpeg developers
   built with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04)
   configuration: --prefix=/home/alfanso/ffmpeg_build --pkg-config-flags=--static --extra-cflags=-I/home/alfanso/ffmpeg_build/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/alfanso/ffmpeg_build/lib --bindir=/home/alfanso/bin --enable-gpl --enable-libass --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-nonfree
   libavutil      55.  5.100 / 55.  5.100
   libavcodec     57. 14.100 / 57. 14.100
   libavformat    57. 14.100 / 57. 14.100
   libavdevice    57.  0.100 / 57.  0.100
   libavfilter     6. 14.101 /  6. 14.101
   libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
   libswresample   2.  0.100 /  2.  0.100
   libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
   Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'localtest.mp4':
   Metadata:
       major_brand     : isom
       minor_version   : 512
       compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
       encoder         : Lavf56.40.101
       Duration: 00:06:53.97, start: 0.033333, bitrate: 179 kb/s
       Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High 4:4:4 Predictive) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv444p, 1280x720, 45 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn, 50 tbc (default)
   Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
      Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, mono, fltp, 128 kb/s (default)
   Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler

I've also tried using different video and audio sources with the same result.

Try assigning something 5 or 6 to stream loop and change to shortest in filter.

I had tried with stream_loop 5. Just tried that along with shortest in amix. That caused the original audio (already in video) to stop along with the video being added. I hope this makes sense :P

Ok, I'll check when I have more time.

Just checking in :)
Should I report this as feature request/bug?

Sorry. Busy. Give me a day or so.

Sure! No problem. :)

Got time for it? For now, I've increased the length of my audio manually to the max value I think I would need in extreme case. Such a hack.

I have tried the following command to generate output file with repeating audio track and it is working fine
-stream_loop 2 -i input.mp3 -c copy -y output.mp3
it will create output.mp3 output file with repeating input track 3 times


text:
Easy way to take 1s clips from video every 60s and join them all together?
Pretty much what the title says: I have a couple of video files and would like to extract one second intervals every sixty seconds or so, i.e. extract the clips
00:59 - 01:00
01:59 - 02:00
etc.
Then I would like to join all of these individual clips.
Is there an easy way to do this?

ffmpeg, a command-line tool, can do this in one command.
Update: New template, first below, is easier to manipulate (and understand)
This is a generalized command template:
ffmpeg -i input -filter_complex "[0:v]select='gte(mod((t\-FS),I),0)*lt(mod((t\-FS),I),D)', setpts=N/TB/FRAME_RATE[v];  [0:a]aselect='gte(mod((t\-FS),I),0)*lt(mod((t\-FS),I),D)', asetpts=N/SR/TB[a]" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -map "[v]" -map "[a]" -fflags +genpts output.mp4

Alternate method:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v]select=isinf(t\/(mod(D*trunc(1+(t/D))\,Interval))),setpts=N/TB/FRAME_RATE[v];[0:a]aselect=isinf(t\/(mod(D*trunc(1+(t/D))\,Interval))),asetpts=N/SR/TB[a]" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -map "[v]" -map "[a]" -fflags +genpts output.mp4

This is the first command formatted for full visibility
ffmpeg -i input -filter_complex \
"[0:v]select='gte(mod((t\-FS),I),0)*lt(mod((t\-FS),I),D)', \
setpts=N/TB/FRAME_RATE[v]; \
[0:a]aselect='gte(mod((t\-FS),I),0)*lt(mod((t\-FS),I),D)', \
asetpts=N/SR/TB[a]" \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -map "[v]" -map "[a]" -fflags +genpts output.mp4

Basically, replace input with your source video filename, output.mp4 with your intended output name.
Replace D with duration of segment, I for gap between the start of two segments and FS with start time of first segment . So, for 3-second segments every 45 seconds, starting at 36 seconds, from a file called fullfile.mp4, the command will be
ffmpeg -i fullfile.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[0:v]select='gte(mod((t\-36),45),0)*lt(mod((t\-36),45),3)', \
setpts=N/TB/FRAME_RATE[v]; \
[0:a]aselect='gte(mod((t\-36),45),0)*lt(mod((t\-36),45),3)', \
asetpts=N/SR/TB[a]" \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -map "[v]" -map "[a]" -fflags +genpts output.mp4

These segments will be extracts from seconds 36 to 39, 81 to 84..etc
Download ffmpeg for Windows (32-bit static build) from here.

The joining part is easy compared to this. Just link to a concat question. Perhaps you should mention for OP that this method of cutting involves re-encoding. You could use -ss with -c copy to get slightly less accurate clips (depending on source codec) and avoid encoding.

In case, it's not clear, both commands both extract and join the segments into one clip. How will ss allow selection of all segments in one go?

I was thinking some kind of script, not all in one go. Also OP mentions he has several inputs, so he will probably need to run your command for each input and concat the results.


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Trying to reproduce a slow shutter speed effect using a gopro
Is there a way in post to simulate the effect of a slow shutterspeed shot that leaves trails behind bright things in the shot that are moving. I was thinking if I recorded something at a high frame rate then used some sort of compositing filter that multiplies the frames that might do it. I feel like that would also cause darker things in the frame to also come out blurry or leave trails. Here's an example of what I'm trying to reproduce with a sparkler from a pit bull video example

Try the Echo effect. To avoid echoing the darker portions, duplicate the source and apply the echo to it; experiment with the compositing modes and also layer opacity.


text:
How to capture 4K screens?
I want to create videos for youtube, but because I am using a 4K screen it is very difficult to find a proper recording solution.
My idea was to buy a card, that I can put into my computer that records my HDMI. (Also the hdmi of my camera)
What are your opinions? Are there better solutions?

Do you want to capture your screen? Have you tried OBS or ffmpeg?

Yes I want to make videos... I have never heard of OBS. I tried BB Flashback for example... But it does not work properly in games...

Try OBS

It seems that OBS is very cpu intensive?

Not in my experience. For games, it says, "GPU-based game capture for high performance game streaming"

Oh okay. I have to try it more.. I also have the recording card in my mind...

It would be cool to see an HDMI solution to this problem, since there are a lot of good reasons not to use screen capture software, including performance and their uncanny knack for messing up your computer.

As you know there are two solutions, one using your CPU, the other a dedicated GPU.
CPU Solution
As of today, the CPU solution exit for 4K content, at 60 fps, using x265 or x264 codec. x264 is embededded in OBS in fact, and x264/x265 are known for being the fastest implementation of the standard H264/H265. But, you need a powerful CPU, of course, and then you'll have to make trade off regarding the file size and/or quality. FYI, the x265 has been demonstrated to be able to live encode H265 stream 4K 60 fps, but using a dual socket server (not a standard CPU). It was last year.
GPU Solution
nVidia released end of year 2015 the fist cards with 2nd generation Maxwell architecture that is the first allowing H264 4K live encoding.
Since the Ultra High Definition streams needs a lot of resources, you couldn't really find an acceptable solution before new CPU or GPU are released. If I were you I would go with the GPU solution because you could use that card for both display and capture on the fly. If you could afford it of course, such nVidia card are pretty expensive!

I have an NVIDIA Quadro card and it is not fast enough to realtime-encode 4K.

Quadro are not Maxwell 2nd gen. You need GeForce 9XX if I remember well


text:
Microphone for indoor interview
I'm using a Rode ntg2 and I feel like the sound is less than ideal in a lot of situations. I record mostly indoor interviews (sometimes echoey enviroments) and I am looking for a good mic for that purpose. I realize that it is recommended to go with a hypercardioid or a supercardioid pick-up pattern. Which microphones would you suggest that can deal well with echoey environments, yet still provide a directional pick up? Budget up to 900.

Handheld, desk, boom, or lavalier?

Boom or lav works for me

The DPA 4060 is a fabulous lav mic… but pricey.

I like lavalier mics.  For $900 you should easily be able to get

2 lav's
wireless for both
receivers to XLR

Alternately, cabled lav's are fine for a studio situation!

If you have an echoey room, the only solution is to get the microphone closer to the subject.  Period.  Directionality won't solve your problem.  In high-budget productions you see people wearing lav mics for a reason.
Here's a link that tells you all you need to know about sound for video production.

Thanks for the link. I recently had a shoot where I had at ME66 about a foot away from the subject, unfortunately the ceiling were low and metal (horrible reverb). Im curious about the lav however, it has a omni/figure 8 pickup pattern; wouldn't it capture more reverb, or because its so close to the source the level of the voice is alot louder so to speak so there is just a bit of reverb in the background? I've used my ntg2 with a lav before but it wasn't a good lav (rode smart lav) and wasnt impressed by the quality of the sound. I was looking at getting the Sanken COS 11D.

Which lav do you use/would you suggest?

Another solution is to put something to catch the echo, like a towel or foam.

Due to the 1/r^2 law of sound fall-off, a microphone really close to the source is going to hear much more of the source than the reverb.  Announcers at football stadiums have headsets with mics that are almost right up to the lips, for example.

The Sanken looks like a fine mic.  We use Countryman lav mics--good but haven't spent the time to try to figure out how to make them great.

IMHO the NTG-2 is not a great microphone, even the Sennheiser ME66/K6 sounds better. The next step up would be a Sennheiser 8060 or mkh416 or a Rode NTG-3.
That said, they won't help much with the reverb either. In high-end sound terms, a lavalier will always sound worse than a properly boomed directional mic, by its physical characteristics alone, featuring a much smaller diaphragm, at least when comparing a good and properly setup Lav with a good and properly boomed directional mic.
BUT as the others mentioned, distance to sound source is the key to deal with a room with a lot of reflections so you might get better results using a lav in those cases. I would at least record a long room tone additionally (well, always record room tones anyway) but also the directional mic to capture the rooms characteristic during the interview. Then use the reverby directional mic together with the Lavs sound in the mix. Personally I feel that ONLY using a lav as a source sounds really dull.
As for lav mics, in Europe, to my knowledge, the sanken cos11d is pretty much the standard lav, I heard good things about DPA microphones Lavs but never tried them personally.
Generally speaking it is always a good idea to give the sound recordist at least a veto-right in terms of location choice, there are rooms which simply are not suited for recording interviews plain and simple.

A professional film sound mixer I used to work with swore by the Oktava Mk12. It's comparatively inexpensive, well-built, and sounded beautiful. He used it on all his interiors; for exteriors he usually switched over to the Senn 416. Even in boomy environments, his raw tracks were amazingly clear.
For lavs, I've never worked with better than the tiny Countrymans for placeability and sound quality. When the lav head is the size of a grain of rice there aren't too many places you can't put it. Try that with a Sanken or a Tram!


text:
Shape dimensions in AE
It's possible to change the dimensions of a Shape in AE under Transform > Scale.
But what if I want pixel values? Is it possible to change the exact pixel dimensions of a Shape w/o resorting to expressions?

On the layer "Scale" value:
Right Click => Edit Value...
There you will see dialogue box:

How you can see, you can change it there.

If you are using Adobe Afer Effects CC 2019, you can do the following to edit the Shape dimensions in pixels.

Right click on the Shaper layer. In the menu that shows up, find the option "Transform". Highlight it to reveal the "Scale..." option. Click on it. Check the screenshot below.

Doing so will launch a small dialog asking you to select the "Units" and will also give you the provision to enter the dimensions in digits. Enter the digits as you like. I entered 1920 & 1080. Then click on Ok. Check the screen below.

That's it. Enjoy!!!


text:
Change the coordinate system in After Effects
I'm recreating a Sketch composition in AE. To ease the process I would like to change the position of 0,0 from the center of the comp to bottom left. That would make it possible for me to translate the position values from Sketch to AE w/o doing any calculations.
Is it possible to change the position of 0,0 from the center of a composition to e.g. bottom left? Preferably w/o using expressions.

The coordinates of the composition are measured from the top left and there doesn't appear to be a way to change it.

What stops you from entering all your position values, then selecting everything and dragging it into place? Would that work?

Have you tried the Sketch2Ae plugin by the Google Motion Design team? It works amazingly well. Here's a link to it:
https://google.github.io/sketch2ae/
I usually couple this plugin with the RepositionAnchorPoint plugin from aescripts, as Sketch2Ae seems to mess up anchor points. I personally prefer my anchor points to be aligned center to an element within AE. Here's a link to it:
https://aescripts.com/repositionanchorpoint/
Once Sketch2Ae builds all your layers, select them all and reposition all anchor points with one click using this plugin.
Both plugins are free, with RepositionAnchorPoint being optionally free.


text:
Color grading software (Preferably free or part of Adobe CC) with individual color HSL controls (like Lightroom)
Lightroom makes it very easy for me to stylize my photos with HSL controls which allow me to adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance of individual colors. What can I use to do this with my video?

What OS are you running? It's hard to give an answer without at least knowing that.

Mac OSX El Capitan @user1118321


text:
Best open source tool to convert avi type 1 files to rgb
I have a capture card that produces DV video in AVI Type 1 container files.
I would like to convert the video to RGB, do some image processing,
and then convert the video back to DV-AVI and optionally code to DVD.
The original video sources are all either films that were telecined
for NTSC broadcast, stored on LaserDisc, or native NTSC broadcast
(i.e. shot with broadcast camera). But I might want to convert DVD data to RGB also.
The image processing functions include image stabilization, dust/scratch
removal, filtering large areas of single color in the broadcast material,
correcting inter-field artifacts, etc.
I assume I will have to write software to do most of the image processing,
but what is the best tool to do the conversion from DV to RGB, and RGB to DV or  DVD?
So far I see ffmpeg, avidemux and transcode as possibilities.

RGB refers to the pixel format and not to any specific video codec as such. H.264 can contain RGB pixels, as can Qucktime RLE or PNG. There are others as well. All the off-the-shelf VFX software can ingest DV AVIs and do the tasks you want - they convert to RGB internally. If you're going to write the code for the video processing yourself, you can just include a YUV <-> RGB conversion in there.The formulas for available online for BT-601 NTSC colorspace (and others as well).


text:
How to clone AND downscale 2560x1080 resolution for both display and streaming
The current setup is:
   ______________
  | Computer     |
  |______________|
 DVI |        | HDMI
     |        |
HDMI |        | HDMI
  ___|____   _|_________
 | Video  | | 2560x1080 |
 |Streamer| | monitor   |
 |________| |___________|
 eth |

So, basically I just have an ultrawide monitor running at 2560x1080 connected to a PC. I also want to stream a clone of what is displayed on that ultrawide monitor so I can see what's happening over LAN. I use an external streaming hardware box (Antrica brand) for that, and have no problems using resolutions lower than 2560x1080.
The problem is that my streaming hardware (and many other external video hardware) supports only resolutions up to 1920x1080.
So I need to downscale, resize and/or crop the cloned video output of the computer which goes to the streamer. This leads to my actual question: how to do that?
Ideally, there would be some kind of a hardware video downscaler box between the computer and streamer. The box should accept 2560x1080 input. Even more ideally I would have an option to choose whether to downscale or crop the inputted video. Do such boxes exist? Or are there other ways to achieve this?

Does it have to be a hardware solution? ffmpeg could do this in software.

Preferably yes, because I want to avoid performance impacts of software solutions. However, I could try this out. Could you please help me getting started in doing this with ffmpeg?

Which OS are you using?

Windows 7 64 bit. Sorry for forgetting to mention that.


text:
Started to record over AVI file
I have an AVI file. It was an hour or so long file. Then I accidentally started recording over that same file. The old video is still there but all the video players don't see it. Is there any way to recover the file?

When overwriting happens, usually old file is removed. So, new file size is around 0 bytes. Here nothing to rescue.
If you realized your mistake ASAP, in a few seconds, you can press RESET button. You will lost everything unsaved. Perhaps, even file system commit with new data, so old data will be here.
Otherwise, your file lost. You can try to recover file as any other deleted file (possible buy new disk, create sector copy, use any software like R-Studio), but since file here, with new content, this may not help. Try chance in specialized datarecovery company.
Yes, here exists ultimate solution. In theory, you can scan every sector of you hdd for AVI signatures (with AVI it easy possible) and read "RAW" frames from your disk directly. But here two problems:

I don't know good tools for this. I know only one tool, which "in house", written for "in house" usage: http://an-private.narod.ru/video/dvchanger/dvchanger.htm - it dedicated for DV video only. I found some other public available tools like https://www.remosoftware.com/dv-file-recovery, but it not tested by me and I can't suggets it.
Even if you file was in AVI, and you restored frames from your disk, frames may be mixed together due disk fragmentation. So you may get mixed your footages with other files. If you have very costly file, you can try to spend many hours in Premiere to recover it.

Sometimes it's easier to write a program for a specific case and equipment than to use ready-made utilities designed for general purposes. I wrote such a program for a dental camera and successfully restored the video

Try to drag and drop it into Virtualdub. If it (or some of it) is viewable you should be able to "direct stream" copy useable sections (and reassemble them subsequently). If it is viewable but won't direct stream copy you might be able to recover it by recompressing (both audio and video).


text:
How to up scale video resolution for Video Card
I've a Black Magic Declink Mini Recorder Frame Grabber which supports minimum 720p as Video Input. But my camera has a VGA resolution which ostensibly will give output in 640*480 resolution. The card accepts both SDI/HDMI slots for Intput and Camera cable I have is currently having BNC Connector at it's end. Could someone suggest how can I use this Video Card to process VGA Video Output from my camera?

Your problem is not (only) resolution.  640x480 resolution VGA is analog video, so you need an analog -> digital video converter.  This $200 Analog -> SDI Mini Converter from Blackmagic Design will do what you need.
Then again, for not much more than $200, you can get a camera that speaks HDMI and gives you true 720p.

Thanks Michael. I believe the Mini Recorder will take the analog signal and give the digital output. However, I do wish to know if it's possible to provide the VGA video as input to some converter and get the 720p resolution which can be fed to the Video Card I have!?

I believe that if you feed 640x480 analog video into a Blackmagic miniconverter, you will get upscaled digital video out at 720p or 1080p, but not less than 720p.

While Michael Already mentioned a "professional" version, you can find this much cheaper as well, here is a generic converter box for 30$ http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity®-Composite-Converter-Upscaler-High-definition/dp/B00MNFWYBI


text:
How to change profile of Openshot project?
I stupidly started a project using a DVD NTSC profile, made a bunch of changes, and then realized that the final product is supposed to be DVD Widescreen NTSC. I can export it as such, but because I'm viewing the project in DVD NTSC, I can't tell how my changes will actually look in the final product.
Is it possible to change the profile of my project, so I can view it in DVD Widescreen NTSC while editing it?

Open the project
Goto File->Choose Profile
Select the profile you want
Save changes

Note: checked with OpenShot 2.5.1


text:
Is there a device that will accept 2 hdmi inputs and output a single, 3d signal with one source for each eye?
I am trying to create a DIY dualplay setup. I would like to take 2 PS4s and combine their output into a 3d signal. Then, with modified active shutter glasses, two people could simultaneously watch one of the sources each on the same display at the same time.
My display can decode Top and Bottom, Side by Side, and frame packed 3d signals.
I think either a tiler that accepts 2 sources would work, or some other device that can alternate frames from the sources.
Matrox makes a device for approximately $500 that is SDI only, not HDMI, so I would need 3 converters at $200-300 a pop, which is outside my budget.
Any suggestions?


text:
Final Cut Pro X stopped outputting to an Intensity Pro
Final Cut Pro X stopped outputting to my Intensity Pro card.  Resolve sends video to it fine, so I assume it's in working order.
I have the latest OSX, latest Final Cut Pro X, and the latest "Desktop Video Utility".  What am I missing?

I've quit everything that could be using the Blackmagic card, I've rebooted etc, but FCPX video will not display on this screen.
Thanks!
-neil


text:
Where can I find design specs for 6mm to 22mm display signage?
I am fine with HD displays, but I would like to know where I can find how to design for LED driven displays where the LEDs are 6mm apart or 22mm apart. What resolution would I be looking for?

There's no standard resolution for such displays. They're generally made up of a collection of individual (usually square) panels or "tiles", of say 16 x 16 LED pixels. You can construct a display having hundreds of tiles horizontally but only a few tiles vertically, like the Fremont Street experience in Las Vegas, which has an aspect ratio of about 14:1 (2596 x 184).
Plus, displays can have any shape, not just simple rectangles. Fremont Street is curved, and I've worked with diamonds, cylinders, triangles, skewed pyramids and truncated circles.
There's no perfect way (that I've seen) of simulating the pixel grid. The best you can do is work in the pixel dimensions supplied by the display company, applying masks as needed for irregular shapes, and field test with any material that needs fine lines or small text. Assume for the most part that the intended viewing distance will allow the coarseness to 'average away'.

If you're using After Effects, when you create your comp, the only settings you need to define are the number of pixels horizontally and vertically, the frame rate, and the pixel aspect ratio.
If you know the specifications of your LED screen, (I'm assuming it's a jumbo outdoor screen), you should be able to calculate the aspect ratio from the physical size of the screen versus the number of pixels in the x and y directions.
e.g. if the pixels are 300x300 and the physical size was 3m x 3m, then the pixel aspect is 1:1 (square).
The fact that the pixels are a specific distance apart is less important than the ratios.  When viewed from a sufficient distance, the gaps between the pixels shouldn't be visible.
If you wanted to get really precise about it, you could use a plugin like Trapcode Form or the TV pixel script to better simulate any aliasing due to lower resolutions (if it is a low resolution screen).
Most importantly, make sure you get "technical delivery specifications" from whoever is signing-off your final output. That way you shouldn't have any surprises at the last minute.
Some examples of LED signage specs here and here.  Even if the RGB pixels are in unusual combinations, the screen should still be driven by conventional video inputs (VGA/HDMI/SDI)

If you are a first time investor in outdoor LED signs, it is better to do plenty of research and find a trusted LED sign manufacturer who will not want to just make a sale but genuinely help you out as a customer.


text:
Youtube video to text to speach
I have a youtube video that I narrate but I always type a script to read off for my videos is there a way to use my voice from one of the videos and insert it into a text to speach program so I don't always have to read the script? I know the program might not be able to handle tones of voice like sarcasm but I can edit small parts. Thanks!

Yes...possibly, if there is enough to sample from your existing video voice-overs but, as it's your voice, there's no reason to only use your videos as a source and the Acapela-Group, for example, has developed a Voice Factory for custom voice creation.
The main problem is that it will take time and money to do.
Try googling "text to speech sample my own voice" for other resources and methods and consider buying a quality text to speech application and quality sampled voice to use instead of your own. A quick Google of "high quality text to speech" will provide links to many options and demos.


text:
which file format to use for the ios app tutorial which should be embedded inside the app?
we have developed ios application, and now stacked at tutorial preparations , google does not helped too much.
Our issue is the following : what format will allow us to have the most size-wise optimised solution? What is the golden standard used for videos inside ios apps?
There is a really lack of resources about that....

The videos I've delivered for iOS App Previews have been as per the specification in this section, viz. H.264 video codec, Baseline profile, 30 fps, AAC-LC audio codec, sampling rate 48 kHz, stereo in MP4 or MOV. Resolution and bitrate haven't been restricted to what the docs say. Those should be tailored to the device(s) your app is for.


text:
Wireless audio from P.A. System to DSLR
I do video-taping of my company's events and I have been asked to find a better way of getting audio into the DSLR video. Currently, I am using the transmitter and receiver from a Sennheiser lapel mic in order to get the audio into my videos. We connect the transmitter to the P.A System and the Receiver is hooked up to the DSLR. This works, although audio quality is a bit low.
I was wondering if there is a better way to do this. Priority is on convenience. The reason we are not using an audio recorder is because editing the sound into the video is not worth it for our purposes.
Do give your suggestions on how I can wirlessly get audio into my DSLR video (preferably, without having to edit sound in). Alternatively, if you know of a type of long cable I can use to connect my DSLR directly into the PA system, do let me know
Regards,
Aaron

There are a lot of variables in this equation, and any one of them could be the culprit.  These include: the quality of the audio picked up by the lapel mic, the quality of the PA preamp, the quality of the PA signal output to the wireless transmitter, the quality of the wireless transmitter, the quality of the wireless receiver, and finally, the quality of the DSLR's audio preamps.
I would start eliminating variables by feeding a known test signal (such as an NPR podcast) into the DSLR audio port, and if that's good, feeding the same signal to the wireless transmitter/receiver pair into the DSLR.  If those, too, are good, then your PA system is the problem.  If, on the other hand, you cannot get decent audio into your DSLR from a known good source, you are not going to get decent audio into your DSLR from your PA.  Which is perhaps why so many DSLR shooters use external audio recording devices--not because they want to go crazy editing audio, but because they don't want to go crazy editing audio.
Regardless, the most reliable way to solve this problem is to introduce and eliminate variables one at a time.


text:
What equipment is required to record game play and commentary and post to YouTube?
My son would like to record game play on PS3 (Minecraft, Lego) and overlay his own commentary and upload these videos to his channel on YouTube? What hardware, software and/or dedicated equipment is required to achieve this?

Ah, can't have enough Minecraft videos on the web ;)

Assuming that you're looking for a low cost option, the key words you need to Google are "HDMI HD GAME Capture" which will result in hardware like this HD 1080P Video Capture HDMI Recorder with SD Card Slot for XBox 360 One PS3 PS4

The HDMI pass-through function guarantees smooth HD gaming
experience even while recording.
Record 1080P HD video into USB    disk or SD card directly, no PC required.
Supports all video sources input: HDMI, component, composite.
Pass through 1080P HDMI to display on big screen.
Record your voice with video together through microphone input.

£55 + shipping...bargain - and doesn't hog your PC whilst recording.
That should be all you need but, if further editing is required, google some free video editors to try out or you can perform basic trim and edits on YouTube...here's how.

You can record the audio side by side using any microphone or mobile phone and sync it with your videos through editing software like iMovie or final cut pro ...https://youtu.be/ZFhk-aM9sM8 using the auto sync function


text:
Speeding up a portion of video leads to choppy transition
What I am trying to achieve is speed up a small portion of a video, lasting only about a second. I tried using Windows Movie Maker. What I did was import the video three times, then trim the three versions so that the first version ended at 16.06 seconds, the second started at 16.06 and ended at 17.54, and the third started at 17.54. Then I sped up the second by .25x.
The result is almost acceptable, but there's a tiny flicker when the second version starts and stops.
Does anyone know how I can get rid of the flicker, or if there's another editing program that is better suited to this task? I think it would be better if the sped up portion was sped up gradually.

What effect does this achieve that speeding up a copy of the video, then intercutting sections of that with sections of the original does not achieve? I can't quite picture what you're trying to do.

@JimMack If I understand you right, that's exactly what I did. I sped up one copy, sandwiched that copy between two normal-speed copies, and then trimmed all three copies so that they matched up. Is that what you had in mind?

Can you post a render of the video? Doesn't have to be the whole video, just the portions where the flicker/transition occurs.

@Mulvya I'm sorry, because of copyright issues I can't. It's like the video is buffering for a millisecond. Almost unnoticeable one time, but if I repeat the effect multiple times it becomes a problem.

Try trimming in and out by 1 frame i.e. start 2nd segment at the next frame after 16.06 and end one frame before 17.54.


text:
Fast way to add titles to music videos
I have lots (1000+) music videos ready to be aired but without usual titles (artists, album, publisher).
I need fastest way to add (bulk?) titles to all of them. Graphics or simple text will be same for all of them, just the text itself changes for each video.
So the process would look like:

import video
add text to same position for all videos (same font, size, background etc.), just the text itself changes
export video to same format it was imported

I have many software available to use (Mac and PC), but no idea which one would be fastest solution.
I guess some software should be able to do this in bulk, but if not i will do it manually. Just need something simple and fast, without need to tweek all the render option from start as each video is already prepared for airing.

I believe you can do it with ffmpeg with command drawtext
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=enable='between(t\,0,60)':fontfile=/Windows/Fonts/Tahoma.ttf:fontcolor='White':> > text='YourText'" -acodec copy output.mp4

See this tutorial, for batch conversion.
You can add drawbox to make it more nice. See documentation here.

Another way to automate it: Sony Vegas Pro + Vegasaur extension (this tool)
(Sony Vegas Pro also supports scripting based on .NET Framework)

If you're doing this for broadcast and you want animated text and graphicse you could use After Effects with scripting. To pull in the track data automatically you'll either need something like this or this or you could learn / hire someone who knows extendscript to script After Effects. That way you can use your own graphics, animated text treatment and so on, rather than just static text.
Otherwise, as @Shultc says, ffmpeg could be the go. If you wanted to jazz up the text you could use a pre-rendered animated lower-third background and then use the overlay video filter to composite the background and the text over the footage.


text:
Video Analysis Tool - Open Source Software Recommendation
This is blurring the lines between programming and vid production (question not allowed on Stack Overflow or Programmers)
I am throwing this out there as I know there may not be a suitable solution, but if there is maybe someone here may be able to help.
My team is brainstorming a video stream analysis tool - essentially something that would be able to test media streams and provide analytics about that stream (bitrate, packet loss,startup time etc), preferably this is a tool that could be run in the background on Linux and accept tests as they come in - perhaps fed from a third party API.
If you are familiar with WebPageTest then essentially i would be looking for something like this, but for media streams (GUI is not required).
We would prefer python but that is not a requirement.
I have seen pymedia - but it seems quite old, and maybe not a good fit.

I believe that can be achieved with ffprobe.
You can see example of getting json format from it here

mediainfo https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download is also not bad for this task


text:
How to handle video with different frame rates in Lightworks?
Most video editing software allows me to import video of different frame rates, but Lightworks either does not have this feature still, or I cannot find it (on Lightworks or on the internet).  Does anyone have any tips?  I would really like to use Lightworks, but using multiple cameras (one of them being an iPhone), and shooting in slow motion, makes this a deal breaker.

in the latest version it is now possible to import mixed framerates

Looks like you will need to transcode all clips with frame rates not matching the project's frame rate:

If the frame rate is of a clip is not compatible with your project, it
  displays in red.  You will be unable to import the clip into your
  project.  Clips with incompatible frame rates may be playable in a new
  project set to the  same frame rate as the clip.

(page 40; User Guide)
You can use ffmpeg, a command line tool, to transcode such clips with commands of the form
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 8 -r 25 -c:a copy -map 0 input25.mov

Edit: should make clear that 25 should be replaced with the framerate of the project. NTSC 30d i.e. 29.97 fps is denoted as 30000/1001 and 23.976 as 24000/1001.


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How do I create footage that has nearly the same quality as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNJdPyoqt8U but is taken by an action cam?
How do I create video that is similar in quality to

 with an actioncam? Currently I'm using a Rollei 5S WIFI, and more often than not, I can without significant loss of image quality downscale to 360p. Yes, that is a pointer to how good and how sharp the image quality at 1080p is. See

 . But even the GoPro Hero 4 is not much better

Is that a lens issue, is that a CCD issue? I noticed, that most 4K videos do not show quick movement. It seems that they put their camera on a tripod and start recording very slow scenes, which is why there's hardly any blur. That seems to be one option to improve image quality.
My question is, how do I create footage that has nearly the same quality as

 but is taken by an action cam?
Also including post-production.

The quality you perceive in the "slow" videos isn't from the lack of motion blur, it's from the stability of the camera.  In the ones where the camera is moving, it's attached to a gimbal or crane or dolly or slider.  That's one thing you can do to make your footage look better.  You'll never be able to alter your camera's dynamic range or change the focal length of the built in lens, for instance, but you can do your best to hold your production standards high.  Lighting your scene well would be a good first step.

The Simple answer is going to be "No" That may sound harsh but you cannot as there are so many factors that were involved with this video unless you want to buy similar kit to the guys who made the video. The main thing being the camera and lenses they used
Tech spec:
Red Epic (M642) w/ Ti Canon Mount
Canon 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
Canon 100mm f/2.8
Canon 70-200 f/2.8
Adobe Premiere CC and DaVinci Resolve
Freefly System MOVI M10
Your action camera, while it can record 4k video cannot compete with RED RAW files nor can the lens compete with the dedicated lenses listed above.
Now to answer the question: to achieve this type of video quality would be to invest in a better camera that can use different lenses and has good quality video capabilities, now having a RED EPIC is great but also having a HUGE budget is great but there are small decent cameras that can record 4k like the BMCC or Panasonic GH4 or Canon C500 etc but besides having the best kit in the world you would need to know how to use it all and probably have a team to help.
With the post-production any decent NLE can achieve this but it is knowing how to edit that is the skill.
Hope that helps and doesnt sound to bitchy


text:
lightroom for video
I shot an event for a client. The client did not want me to make an after-movie, and they just wanted footage for promotion the following year. So I am supposed to deliver the video files.
I want to be able to trim off the fat from some clips, and perhaps even do some basic cc. It would be a horrible amount of work if I imported all files into Premiere and did this on a per clip basis then export/transcode in batches. I've thought of Catalyst Browse but it doesn't support my file type (ProRes .mov), and Prelude does not seem to be designed for this either, nor do I see a color correction panel (which I can live without).
Any suggestions for a windows computer? I was thinking of a sort of lightroom for video.

Did you tried Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 12?
How I understand, it should work fine with multiple files, but you shall check, if it will accept your ProRes files.


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How to fix a video with changing exposures (I didn't know about A/E Lock until now!)
I was filming an interview. Everything was cool with the right sound, WB, shutter speed and focus, However, my subject kept on moving in his chair the exposure changed whenever he moves. Then I realized it was my fault for I should have lock my exposure.
I use Adobe Premiere for editing. Is there a way to have the computer auto average out the exposure for me?
Here's the specific video

Look for deflicker effects or plugins. Not sure what's there for Premiere. If you can't find anything then I'll suggest a third-party method, but it's best to do this within your NLE.