text:
What qualities to search for in a camcorder for high zoom, lower light?
I would like to record sport events happening in the evening.
This would be recorded from static points, around 150 m from where the sporting people move.
I'm choosing the camcorders for this. What technical parameters should I pay attention to?
I've tried a few. They are excellent at a shorter distance, but as the zoom increases, the image becomes blurry and/or grainy - even in a direct sunlight from the right direction.
I have read some theory about how camcorders work, and it seems to be a physical phenomenon, going to the quantum nature of light. It improves with the size of the sensor and the camera lenses. But the zoom cameras tend to have rather smaller sensors.
What qualities should I prioritize to have a decent FHD picture?

What is your budget per camera?

The budget I intentionally left out, to find out what drives the quality of the zoomed recordings, and then adjust the budget expectations. But it's between $1000 and $2000.

Out of budget, but better than 50k, the Sony Z280 ain't bad. The Z190 is lesser and cheaper, but might still be ok for your needs. I'm considering selling my Z190, if you're interested.

For high zoom, low light you need all these things.

Large sensor.
Long lens [not software zoom].
Large aperture.
High ISO capability with low self-noise.

This is not a cheap combination, by any stretch of the imagination.
I would very, very much doubt any 'camcorder' can do all the above. I don't know of any camcorder with a large sensor at all. They sacrifice sensor size because it's factors easier & cheaper to make a long-throw lens for a tiny sensor.
I could suggest a good combination, but you'd need a spare $£€ 50,000 in your sock drawer.

50k is way to high. I am not a professional. Currently I have Panasonic HC-VX9xx, which is quite decent up to cca 14x zoom. But at 20x it gets grainy / blurry. I would be happy with something that would be okay-ish at 20x zoom.  The low-light may be understood as "partly cloudy, 6 PM in the summer".

x-number-zoom tells us absolutely nothing, I'm afraid. It's just a marketing number, comparing the shortest with the longest focal length, without describing either in real terms. I looked up the spec - Focal Length 4.08 – 81.6 mm…  which means it has a tiny sensor - 1/2.3, comparable to an old smart-phone. See https://newatlas.com/camera-sensor-size-guide/26684/ for a guide.

Focal lengths are usually compared using "35mm equivalent" values, which are a known quantity. The VX9xx has an equivalent of 37.0 – 752 mm which would be absolutely colossal in a real camera, in size, weight & cost. In real terms such a lens may not be possible to make at all. The one I was referring to in my answer is a 45 - 250mm, at a mere £42,000. [The extra cost was a basic 35mm camera body to fit it]

So, if i want a bit better picture on a higher zoom, I need to look most importantly for a larger good sensor, but still small enough to allow a construction of a zoom lens which would not cost tens of thousands, correct?  Is Panasonic X1000 or X1500 such?

The X1500 has the same tiny sensor. I don't think what you're looking for is going to exist in a consumer format.

The newer phones have better sensors? Then maybe buying a phone and a telescope clip-on addon would be the best way to go in the end?

A new phone may have a sensor a mm or so larger. It's still in the same ballpark.


text:
4K video from Panasonic VC8xx broken?
I have recorded some 4K videos as MP4 file on Panasonic VX878 and 9xx. Both produce a video which, when played in VLC or other player on Linux, has 3 tiles: 2 next to each other horizontally at the top 20 % of the canvas, both displaying the actual video, and the rest displays the 1st second of the video, looping.
I wonder where is the issue: In the player on in the camera? When I played the video in the camcoder's playback, it looked fine.

This will be hard to answer without the file. Please upload it somewhere and provide a link to the file. I would guess it is a problem with the player - not the camera if the camera can playback normaly

Yes, the videos are broken. They are created due to an overheat and some kind of built-in reduction of the recorded video to FullHD; but the resolution of the result is still 4K, and the last filled content of the 4K buffer is used to fill the bottom large part (hence the repeating).
Still, it's possible to get a FullHD video from the broken file:
FILTER='
[in] split [a][b];
[a] crop=1920:540:0:0 [ac];
[b] crop=1920:540:1920:0 [bc];
[ac][bc] vstack [stack];
[stack] il=luma_mode=interleave:chroma_mode=interleave'

if [ "$2" != "" ] ; then
  ffplay -i "$INPUT" -vf "$FILTER"
else
  set -x
  ffmpeg -i "$INPUT" -filter:v "$FILTER" $QUALITY_GOOD_H265 -c:a copy "$NEW_NAME" \
  && touch "$NEW_NAME" -r "$INPUT"
  set +x
fi

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Why isn't using ffmpeg to create a 2x2 video "mosaic grid" working for me?
On my Windows 7 PC, I've used Windows Live Movie Maker and Windows Media Encoder extensively to make and edit videos (I've also used other software like "Showbiz", "Super C" and "AVIdemux"). Recently I wanted to create a "grid mosaic" in a 2x2 arrangement of source videos in a target video.
After some flailing around and gnashing of teeth, I found out about ffmpeg, downloaded the Windows "build" from the ffmpeg.org website, and have installed it on my PC. I tried using a command in the cmd window (aka "DOS") for the simple task of converting a WMV video (with an unusual aspect ratio) to AVI, and that worked out fine. At first the output image was pretty low-grade, but adding -b:v 3M fixed that up. Then, for my real objective, following this example I had found online:
ffmpeg -i 1.avi -i 2.avi -i 3.avi -i 4.avi -filter_complex "nullsrc=size=640x480 [base];
[0:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [upperleft]; [1:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [upperright]; [2:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [lowerleft]; [3:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [lowerright]; [base][upperleft]
overlay=shortest=1 [tmp1]; [tmp1][upperright] overlay=shortest=1:x=320 [tmp2]; [tmp2][lowerleft] overlay=shortest=1:y=240 [tmp3]; [tmp3][lowerright]

overlay=shortest=1:x=320:y=240" -c:v libx264 output.mkv
Based on this, I tried my own command in the cmd window, thus:
ffmpeg -i PatrShdY.wmv -i TJC.wmv -i TwSlRawD.wmv -i NightmrC.wmv -filter_complex "nullsrc=size=1056x594 [base];
[0:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=528x297 [ul]; [1:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=528x297 [ur]; [2:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=528x297 [ll]; [3:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=528x297 [lr];
[base][ul] overlay=shortest=1 [t1]; [t1][ur] overlay=shortest=1:x=528 [t2]; [t2][ll] overlay=shortest=1:y=297 [t3]; [t3][lr] overlay=shortest=1:x=528:y=297" -b:v 3M mos1.wmv

The "reportage" mentioned some "guessing" issues with the audio, but that was not a big concern. An oddity was that it repeatedly said "frame=   1" instead of increasing numbers, and indeed, the result mos1.wmv had four images placed properly, but which were nothing more than one still image from each source video. All four source videos were 30 seconds duration, and the output "ran" for 30 seconds, but doing nothing more than showing one set of still images. The output file size of about 500kb was in line with this. The full reportage:
ffmpeg version N-87867-g0655810072 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers

  built with gcc 7.2.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-bzlib --e
nable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libblur
ay --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopu
s --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libtheora --ena
ble-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-lib
x264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-z
lib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-cuda --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11
va --enable-nvenc --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libmfx
  libavutil      55. 79.100 / 55. 79.100
  libavcodec     57.108.100 / 57.108.100
  libavformat    57. 84.100 / 57. 84.100
  libavdevice    57. 11.100 / 57. 11.100
  libavfilter     6.108.100 /  6.108.100
  libswscale      4.  9.100 /  4.  9.100
  libswresample   2. 10.100 /  2. 10.100
  libpostproc    54.  8.100 / 54.  8.100
[wmv3 @ 000000000048b200] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #0.0 : mono
Input #0, asf, from 'PatrShdY.wmv':
  Metadata:
    title           : In the woodshed
    WMFSDKNeeded    : 0.0.0.0000
    DeviceConformanceTemplate: MP@HL
    WMFSDKVersion   : 12.0.7601.17514
    IsVBR           : 1
    VBR Peak        : 2156613
    Buffer Average  : 1555
  Duration: 00:00:30.02, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2496 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Audio: wmav2 (a[1][0][0] / 0x0161), 32000 Hz, mono, fltp,
20 kb/s
    Stream #0:1(eng): Video: wmv3 (Main) (WMV3 / 0x33564D57), yuv420p, 1024x576,
 2441 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc
[wmv3 @ 0000000000459ea0] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #1.0 : stereo
Input #1, asf, from 'TJC.wmv':
  Metadata:
    title           : White -- 'nuff said!!
    WMFSDKNeeded    : 0.0.0.0000
    DeviceConformanceTemplate: MP@HL
    WMFSDKVersion   : 12.0.7601.17514
    IsVBR           : 1
    VBR Peak        : 2181663
    Buffer Average  : 2514
  Duration: 00:00:30.02, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2481 kb/s
    Stream #1:0(eng): Audio: wmav2 (a[1][0][0] / 0x0161), 32000 Hz, stereo, fltp
, 24 kb/s
    Stream #1:1(eng): Video: wmv3 (Main) (WMV3 / 0x33564D57), yuv420p, 1024x576,
 2441 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc
[wmv3 @ 0000000000506360] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
Input #2, asf, from 'TwSlRawD.wmv':
  Metadata:
    WMFSDKNeeded    : 0.0.0.0000
    DeviceConformanceTemplate: M0
    WMFSDKVersion   : 12.0.7601.17514
    IsVBR           : 0
  Duration: 00:00:30.04, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2276 kb/s
    Stream #2:0: Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 1024x576,
90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc
    Metadata:
      comment         : Movie/video screen capture
    Stream #2:1: Video: wmv3 (Main) (WMV3 / 0x33564D57), yuv420p, 1024x576, 2200
 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc
    Stream #2:2: Audio: wmapro (b[1][0][0] / 0x0162), 32000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 32
 kb/s
[wmv3 @ 00000000004cc1a0] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #3.0 : stereo
Input #3, asf, from 'NightmrC.wmv':
  Metadata:
    title           : In a Nightmare
    WMFSDKNeeded    : 0.0.0.0000
    DeviceConformanceTemplate: MP@HL
    WMFSDKVersion   : 12.0.7601.17514
    IsVBR           : 1
    VBR Peak        : 3032434
    Buffer Average  : 1675
  Duration: 00:00:30.02, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 3483 kb/s
    Stream #3:0(eng): Audio: wmav2 (a[1][0][0] / 0x0161), 32000 Hz, stereo, fltp
, 24 kb/s
    Stream #3:1(eng): Video: wmv3 (Main) (WMV3 / 0x33564D57), yuv420p, 1024x576,
 3441 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc
[wmv3 @ 0000000000451fe0] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
[wmv3 @ 0000000000504b60] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
[wmv3 @ 00000000004ccb40] Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:1 (wmv3) -> setpts (graph 0)
  Stream #1:1 (wmv3) -> setpts (graph 0)
  Stream #2:0 (mjpeg) -> setpts (graph 0)
  Stream #3:1 (wmv3) -> setpts (graph 0)
  overlay (graph 0) -> Stream #0:0 (msmpeg4)
  Stream #1:0 -> #0:1 (wmav2 (native) -> wmav2 (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[swscaler @ 00000000034d1f20] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did se
t range correctly
Output #0, asf, to 'mos2.wmv':
  Metadata:
    title           : Patrik Janovic in the woodshed
    WMFSDKNeeded    : 0.0.0.0000
    DeviceConformanceTemplate: MP@HL
    WMFSDKVersion   : 12.0.7601.17514
    IsVBR           : 1
    VBR Peak        : 2156613
    Buffer Average  : 1555
    WM/EncodingSettings: Lavf57.84.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: msmpeg4v3 (msmpeg4) (MP43 / 0x3334504D), yuv420p(progres
sive), 1056x594 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 3000 kb/s, 25 fps, 1k tbn, 25 tbc (d
efault)
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc57.108.100 msmpeg4
    Side data:
      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/3000000 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: -1
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: wmav2 (a[1][0][0] / 0x0161), 32000 Hz, stereo, fltp
, 128 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc57.108.100 wmav2
frame=    1 fps=0.0 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:00.25 bitrate=1044.1kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.8 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:01.21 bitrate= 219.8kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.6 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:02.30 bitrate= 116.0kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.5 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:03.60 bitrate=  74.1kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.4 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:04.86 bitrate=  55.0kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.3 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:06.01 bitrate=  44.4kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.3 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:07.74 bitrate=  34.5kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.2 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:09.15 bitrate=  29.2kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.2 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:10.24 bitrate=  26.1kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.2 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:12.35 bitrate=  21.6kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.2 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:13.05 bitrate=  20.5kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.2 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:14.46 bitrate=  18.5kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:16.19 bitrate=  16.5kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:17.98 bitrate=  14.9kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:18.88 bitrate=  14.2kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:20.28 bitrate=  13.2kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:21.69 bitrate=  12.3kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:23.26 bitrate=  11.5kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:24.32 bitrate=  11.0kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:25.08 bitrate=  10.7kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:25.98 bitrate=  10.3kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:28.49 bitrate=   9.4kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 size=      33kB time=00:00:29.95 bitrate=   8.9kbits/s
frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=6.1 Lsize=     524kB time=00:00:29.95 bitrate= 143.2kbits/s speed=2.54x
video:31kB audio:470kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 4.417643%

I decided to try an example sticking more closely to the example I'd found online, using a couple AVI source videos with frame size 320x240. The shorter of the two sources ran 4+ minutes, so that was the expected output duration. I put the two sources in a "checkerboard" 2x2 grid. In retrospect, I suppose I didn't need to NAME each of them twice, but I'm new at ffmpeg, so don't hate me! My command for this:
ffmpeg -i asianpho.avi -i WareMorg.avi -i WareMorg.avi -i asianpho.avi -filter_complex "nullsrc=size=640x480 [base]; [0:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [ul]; [1:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [ur]; [2:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [ll]; [3:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=320x240 [lr]; [base][ul] overlay=shortest=1 [tmp1]; [tmp1][ur] overlay=shortest=1:x=320 [tmp2]; [tmp2][ll] overlay=shortest=1:y=240 [tmp3]; [tmp3][lr] overlay=shortest=1:x=320:y=240" -c:v libx264 output.mkv
The result of THIS reported the creation of 4+ minutes of video (and not all "frame= 1") -- it wasn't still images, but it was properly PLACED images that were a flickering, flashing jumbled mess with screwed-up time flow, file size 41.4 Mb. I've been requested to supply the full report on it:
https://pastebin.com/6DrjGPmA
So what am I doing, or is, wrong? How can I make it work?

No errors shown in the log. I suspect the WMVs can't be parsed correctly by ffmpeg.

@AlanRat - well shoot.  Sorry about that answer ban.  It wasn't intentional and got put on by the system automatically.  I'm not seeing an immediate way to fix it in my controls, but I'll edit one of your answers to include your answer from the comment and undelete it.  That should at least get you an upvotable answer.  I'll also check in to getting it cleared since it was a special case issue, not something that really should have hit the automatic ban.

Ok, looks like upvoting your answer and question was enough to make the system decide your weren't a high risk for answers... yay!!!

https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/302385/prevent-answer-ban-from-kicking-in-for-a-single-honest-mistake-for-a-new-user

It occurred to me I could probably "work around" the problem.
My source files were all WMV files produced by Windows Media Encoder (mostly) and Windows Live Movie Maker, both of which can ONLY produce that file type.
As my first trial run with ffmpeg was to convert an individual one of those WMV files to another type, and THAT was successful, I decided to use ffmpeg to convert each source file separately to MP4. Then THOSE files could, indeed, be formed successfully into a "mosaic grid" with ffmpeg.

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

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


text:
What's wrong with VLC seeking and/or MKV created by ffmpeg?
I have creeated a video using FFmpeg. It is a result of putting 4 videos together, tiled, using -filter_complex with overlays.
Following the how-to here, I have it created as MKV.
When playing this in VLC, the file is sometimes not seekable and sometimes the seeking acts weirdly - it displays some length, but it is only seekable up to the length of the shortest overlay. And the console logs a lot of errors on seeking, like:
VLC media player 3.0.4 Vetinari (revision 3.0.4-0-gf615db6332)
[000055d320ad9630] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
[00007f4358002ca0] glconv_vaapi_x11 gl error: vaInitialize: unknown libva error
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_1
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 300000, buffering 100000, bound 9000000)
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: Could not convert timestamp 33852223320 for FFmpeg
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
[00007f43b0d69240] main decoder error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 300000, buffering 100000, bound 3000000)
[00007f43b0d69240] main decoder error: Could not convert timestamp 33862004475 for faad
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
[00007f43b0d69240] main decoder error: Timestamp conversion failed for 142272501: no reference clock
[00007f43b0d69240] main decoder error: Could not convert timestamp 0 for faad
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 300000, buffering 100000, bound 9000000)
[00007f43b0c8ccc0] main decoder error: Could not convert timestamp 33884814492 for FFmpeg

Then I created the same video as MP4, and it works fine, except, when the shortest video quarter "ends", the resulting file stops too, and the resulting play time is not accessible (meaning, the position widget is towards the beginning rather at the end). Here are the errors thrown during playback of that MP4:
[00007f8bbc000c40] main input error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR  is called too late (pts_delay increased to 300 ms)
[h264 @ 0x7f8bfce0a780] co located POCs unavailable
[h264 @ 0x7f8bfce7e160] mmco: unref short failure
[00007f8bbc000c40] main input error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR  is called too late (pts_delay increased to 755 ms)
[h264 @ 0x7f8bfce0a780] co located POCs unavailable
[h264 @ 0x7f8bfce19f00] mmco: unref short failure
[h264 @ 0x7f8bfce61f80] co located POCs unavailable

All overlays have shortest=1, which should cut the resulting video at the end of the shortest.
What is wrong, and how can I fix that?
ffmpeg version 4.1-static https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/  Copyright (c) 2000-2018 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 6.3.0 (Debian 6.3.0-18+deb9u1) 20170516
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-static --disable-debug --disable-ffplay --disable-indev=sndio --disable-outdev=sndio --cc=gcc-6 --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-gray --enable-libaom --enable-libfribidi --enable-libass --enable-libvmaf --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librubberband --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libvorbis --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg
  libavutil      56. 22.100 / 56. 22.100
  libavcodec     58. 35.100 / 58. 35.100
  libavformat    58. 20.100 / 58. 20.100
  libavdevice    58.  5.100 / 58.  5.100
  libavfilter     7. 40.101 /  7. 40.101
  libswscale      5.  3.100 /  5.  3.100
  libswresample   3.  3.100 /  3.  3.100
  libpostproc    55.  3.100 / 55.  3.100

The full command to get the video is, for instance:
ffmpeg \
 -i '/.../2014-11-21/....mp4' \
 -i '/.../2016-01/....mp4' \
-filter_complex "nullsrc=size=960x270 [lay0];
      [0:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=480x270 [TILE_1_1];
      [1:v] setpts=PTS-STARTPTS, scale=480x270 [TILE_1_2];
      [lay0][TILE_1_1] overlay=shortest=1:x=0:y=0 [lay1];
      [lay1][TILE_1_2] overlay=shortest=1:x=480:y=0     "      -c:v libx264 ./tiled.mp4

Need to see full command and its log.

It seems that the problem is related to the different lengths. The resulting file has the reported length of the longest clip used, but stops playing right at the end of the shortest.

Remove shortest=1 from all overlays except the first.


text:
ffmpeg - resize and crop from input file with unknown resolution
I use this filter to do some cropping:
-filter_complex '[0:v]crop=w=320:h=240[v0c]

which works alright. The problem is that sometimes, I do not know what is the input that I am going to get. It might be a 1000x500 or a 500x1000, for instance. So when that happens it just gets a small area of the center of the video. The ideal would be to resize the input to match the smaller of its dimensions to my desired output, and crop the rest. The problem is that I do not know which dimension is going to be.
How could I build a filter to solve this problem?

What is the desired output size?

320x240, as in the command I have written

Use
[0:v]scale='if(gt(a,4/3),-1,320)':'if(gt(a,4/3),240,-1)',setsar=1,crop=320:240[v0c]

The scale filter expressions for x and y check the aspect ratio of the input and if greater than 4:3, set the value to the 2nd argument, and if not, to the third argument. The -1 means that the original aspect ratio should be preserved e.g. scale=-1:400 applied to a 600x800 canvas will result in 300x400.

Also, if my desired output was another one, would this command still work, just replacing 320 and 240?

Yes. Also, update the aspect ratio fraction, if that's different.

So do I need always standard aspect ratios, like 16:9 or 4:3? Cant I make random resolutions, like 322x239?

Sure. The aspect ratio here is the one of your desired output. So, if your target is 234x787, then it's (a,234/787)

Explained in edited answer.

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


text:
Blackmagic setup: How do I record all cameras in a multicam broadcast?
I've been tasked with acquiring equipment to broadcast a festival through online stream, and have decided that blackmagic may be a good direction to go, so I'm going to strictly reference their products.
Currently I'm planning on purchasing:

1 x Blackmagic ATEM Production Studio 4K
4 x Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K
1 x Blackmagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder (thunderbolt)
Some very long SDI cable runs

Problem:
The cameras do not have internal storage, which means I can only record what's going to the stream through the UltraStudio mini recorder. Is there some kind of device I can set up between the cameras and the ATEM production studio to record my video feeds?
I don't think the ATEM has enough video outs to send to each feed to a capture card like the DeckLink SDI 4K. If I went this route, would I need something like the Smart Videohub?
Lastly, the cameras claim to have built in talkback and tally. Can I use this feature with my current equipment list? Or do I need the ATEM Talkback Converter?
Update:
I've decided that 3 blackmagic pocket cinema cameras (BPCCs) and a GoPro may actually be a better option for this. The BPCCs have a built in display (useful for my camera operators) and have internal storage via SD card. They also seem to perform well in low lighting. The downside is the cameras only have HDMI out, so I would require HDMI to SDI converters to run long lengths of cable (probably around 150-200ft per cable).
Am I going to have issues trying to use BPCCs with converters for live streaming? Are there other solutions for long cable runs that I may have missed?

This sounds like a question which you should be asking the supplier to make sure you have everything you need to do this, there are many companies who will provide the knowledge and kit so you can maximize your spending and results,

these types of setups are quite complex and can be costly if you buy it all and cant get it working and then have to buy more stuff and miss out on jobs or footage because something went wrong do to a setup of config issue. now there is probably someone on here who can help tho

Blackmagic makes a Multidock that holds 4 SSDs that you can record to, but as Adam has said, when investing this much money into a setup, it's best to talk to Blackmagic directly

Blackmagic does not make any product that separately records more than one video stream.  If you want to "iso" your cameras you will need to provide some separate way of recording each stream.  Note that there are some high-end software switcher products that DO include integrated iso recording of several video inputs.

You can use an SDI Distribution Amplifier ("DA") (one SDI input, and two or more SDI outputs) for each camera so you can "duplicate" the camera video to send to both the production switcher and to your camera iso recorders. I use DAs I buy on Ebay.  My current favorite is "AVUE 3G-SDI/HD-SDI/SDI 1 to 2 Repeater & distribution extender with re-clocking" at around $100
Or you could use something like the Blackmagic Smart VideoHub 12x12 if you have the budget for it.  Of course, you will need a separate recorder for each video stream. It seems unlikely that you can successfully use more than one UltraStudio Mini Recorder per computer.
The camera has a built-in tally light and the switcher sends the tally signals back to the cameras (assuming you use TWO SDI cables per camera!)  The tally light appears to be quite small and hidden just above the lens mount, so it seems of limited visibility unless you have a very small lens and are very close to the camera. There does not appear to be any kind of output for an external tally that can be seen at a distance one would expect in the Real World, or any tally provision for a camera operator. Are you planning on using these as human-operated cameras?  Or remote-controlled?  Or fixed POV cameras?
The Micro Studio Camera 4K has intercom built-in, with a 3.5mm TRRS socket for a headset as one would use with an iPhone, etc.  However you will need an ATEM Talkback Converter to access the intercom/talkback back at the switcher end.
Remember also that those cameras do not come with lenses, and they use a rather premium lens mount, so you may end up spending 2x or 3x for each camera by the time you hang some glass on the front of them.  The Blackmagic stuff seems like great performance for the money, but not necessarily when you add up all the required "accessories".  Especially if you want to equip the camera(s) with operator-controlled lenses. You could end up with 4x-5x the base price for each camera.
Remember also that SDI is quite high frequency and doesn't tolerate "very long SDI cable runs".  My working rule is that even with large RG-6 cable, 300ft/100m is the practical length limit. If you want to go longer than that, those fiber optic boxes from Blackmagic are one solution if you have the budget for that.

This answer is fantastic, it actually answered some questions I didn't know I had as well. It seems like those cameras may not actually be best suited for my needs. I'm actually thinking now about using GoPro cameras with HDMI to SDI converters as a much cheaper alternative. Perhaps I should set that up as a separate question outlining how I plan to use them, but do you have any recommendations for relatively small footprint cameras for multi-cam setups? Any reasons why I may regret using GoPros?

The biggest problem with GoPro (or any of those small POV cameras) is the lens. You are stuck with a single focal length. And that focal length is also extremely WIDE (actually FISHeye) which makes everything look far away and rather distorted.  You won't be able to produce anything that looks like conventional video coverage with only GoPro.  Of course, haveing a few of them here and there in special spots make interesting little "insert shots" (like spices in your recipe).

It's not really an off-the-shelf solution but, for multi-cam recordings, one company I work with built 2 PCs equipped with a Matrox VS4 "Quad HD Capture Card". The card is equipped with 4 SDI inputs and can synchronise the recordings on the 4 inputs so that the video files can be dropped into your favourite video editing software with the cameras synced for multicam editing. We can also network the 2 PCs together and record 8 channels of video simultaneously.
In addition to the cost of the card itself, to unlock the synchronised recording capabilities, you need to purchase a licence for the Matrox VS4Recorder Pro software, so it's not a cheap option, but maybe you can find a rental house that has built a similar machine.
For streaming, the card is recognised by Wirecast, and provides 4 independent sources.
One downside is that, by default, the card encodes using the Matrox MPEG2 or DVCPro codec, so you need to install their codecs on whatever system you use to edit. The cards can, theoretically, encode in h264 but this depends on the compatibility of the graphics card and motherboard in the machine, and I never managed to get this working.


text:
Gravity gimbal and effect from overall weight
With gravity gimbals like Steadicam, does the weight of the camera and the weight of the counterweights together have an overall impact to the stabilising effect? That is, suppose the same drop time in two setups where one has a 200g camera whilst the other has a 1kg camera. Will the stability be better in one?
Actually, what is the term for non-motorised stabilisers? It seems "gimbals" seem to refer to motorised stabilisers these days.
Any thought appreciated.

Gimbals are nothing more than a ball bearing (or a complex series of ball bearings; or even simply a sharp point which rests on a surface which allows it to move on a 2 axis level), which using weights balanced correctly provide a "zero gravity" effect on both the camera and the counterweight.
This doesn't apply to electronic gimbals which use servos, a microprocessor, and sensors to electronically move the gimbal head.
That said:
Yes weight will play a role in the overall stability of the camera unit.
I have taught workshops on camera technique, and I often joke that if you want to get steadier footage from a small lightweight camera (think GoPro), gafftape it to a brick.
Mass requires energy to move. So the lighter the object, the easier it is to move. Try to shake a marble around with your hand grasping it with two fingers, then do the same with a bowling ball. The motion, if you tracked it, would be both smoother, and more stable - smoother arcs, turns, etc, with the object that has more mass.
So with a steadicam rig (which I used to own a full blown rig capable of holding cameras in the 30lb range); a heavy camera with a heavy counterweight, which is properly balanced with give you far steadier shots, SPECIFICALLY with vibration. As a large heavy object is hard to "vibrate". So the little shakes, will be minimized by the mass added to the camera.
What's most important, if using a steadicam type rig is that you have perfect balance, that is, if you turn the camera 90 degrees (thus shooting sideways) the camera will stay in that position.
You do not want to set it up so the unit is counterweight heavy, keeping the camera upright.
The camera should be able to "hold" any position, angle, on any axis, and not return to upright.
If the camera is not balanced this way, you will encounter what is known as steadicam wobble. This is where the balance is off, and by the operators movement the effects of inertia and momentum push and tug differently on the camera vs the counterweight.
Lastly, the term for non-motorized stabilizers is a camera stabilizer. There is no one term; but steadicam is a goto term used by most.
Now as far as motorized stabilizers, none of what I said factors in, because the motorized stabilizers I own and have worked with, do not use weights, rather they use servos, and tension systems which differ than their non-electronic counterparts.
If you are using a light weight camera, and non-electronic steady system; you will achieve better results by adding ballast to both the camera and the counterweight. The ballast you add can be steel plates with holes drilled, cheeseplates, anything that has weight, and that you get the unit balanced to where it is not bottom heavy.

To follow up, by far the best way to balance your rig is to set it up on a light stand, and if necessary a boom so there is room to swing it around. No matter what position the camera is in 40 degrees left, 15 pitch down, yaw 10 degrees left, when you let go- it should stay right there. If it begins to pitch back, or down, or in any direction- the balance is off. Getting it spot on takes time, and adding so much as a small cable can throw it off. You will know its off if when you begin to walk from a standstill, the camera pitches forward or back. It shouldnt. It should stay level.


text:
Cropping VR video afterwards
I have mp4 SBS 180 VR videos made for Oculus Rift. I'd like to crop the videos a little (simulate the zoom) and then downscale to "cardboard" resolution so it would be smoothly playable on mobile devices.
Some mobile players have already zoom function built in, but this should work as a workaround for keeping the picture sharp (working down from the big resolution) at the expanse of FOV.
Pretty soon I realized I can't simply crop the whole video. I have to crop both sides separately and then join them together as they were.
Could you point me to video-editing software (preferably free and fast to learn) that would allow me to do such thing?

Can you post a screenshot of a single frame - both full and how you'd like it cropped and altered?

@Mulvya I'm affraid I can't, so I decided to google for example. Yet I couldn't find a single screenshot sample that would fit my video, except adult ones. After a while a find a sample, that I hope should be considered rated E for everyone. But as you were asking for the final crop sample I realized it can't be cropped as a rectangle. It would have to maintain this elliptical shape. There would be a specific app for this purpose needed, I guess. https://i0.wp.com/rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA1LzI5LzY3L1NjcmVlbnNob3QyLjc4ZDBiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/4064deaa/36e/Screenshot-2-1.jpg

The frame will remain rectangular, but if the visuals have to be cut in an elliptical shape, that can be taken care of.

@Mulvya Glad to hear it. Any way I could have done it without expensive tools?

Yeah, ffmpeg is my candidate. But to confirm what I have in mind, can you point me to a file?

@Mulvya Can't you just throw a not-tested command line at me? I would fiddle with it and make it and find my way around. Or use this as a template? It's the final version though. Original is 3840x1920 which needs to be cropped a little and then downsized to fit this example: http://imgur.com/UurGhJ1

Using the mask image below, you can use ffmpeg to crop and output a MP4 with the visual content bounded in the same elliptical shape as the mask
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -loop 1 -i 360mask.png \
       -filter_complex "[0]split[a][b]; \
        [a]crop=iw/2:1522:0:300,crop=iw*0.8:ih*0.8,scale=960:-1,pad=960:960:0:150[l]; \
        [b]crop=iw/2:1522:iw/2:300,crop=iw*0.8:ih*0.8,scale=960:-1,pad=960:960:0:150[r]; \
        [l][r]hstack[c]; [c][1]alphamerge[ca]; [1][ca]overlay=shortest=1"    vr.mp4

The video is split into two cropped halves to a rectangle which exactly bounds the visual area, then cropped to 80% along each of its dimensions, and then scaled and padded to a 960x960 canvas, rejoined to form a 1920x960 frame. Then the mask is applied to form the elliptical cut-out.
Mask

This is the basic technique. The visuals in your supplied image aren't centered, so I customized the crop expressions based on measurements within an image editor.

Thank you, that solves the elliptical shape, but the original obstacle remains. "I have to crop both sides separately and then join them together as they were." Please see the image I have added to my question. Fo the last part of your answer: I'm not sure what you mean but you probably referring to shift caused by 3D (each side is supposed to be a little different).

I'll update the command later for the split and crop method.

Command updated for your given sample.

Thank you! Works like a charm. Without previous experience with ffmpeg on this level I wouldn't come up with something like that.


text:
FFmpeg works in linux and same command in windows get me error Invalid data found when processing input
I have remote index.m3u8 file and I want to download it with ffmpeg.
The contents file is:
#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:6
#EXT-X-ALLOW-CACHE:YES
#EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD
#EXT-X-KEY:METHOD=AES-128,URI="https://example.com/encryption.key?x=AVCoPj..."
#EXT-X-VERSION:3
#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:1
#EXTINF:6.000,
https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...
#EXTINF:6.000,
https://example.com/seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...
#EXTINF:6.000,
https://example.com/seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...
#EXTINF:6.000,
:
:

I try this command in Windows and Linux:
ffmpeg -headers "User-Agent: a" -i "https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj..." -c copy "video.mp4"

In the linux all thing as well and the video downloaded. But on windows I get this error:
[AVIOContext @ 000001cef2816ec0] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Error when loading first segment 'https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...'
[AVIOContext @ 000001cef21c8f00] Statistics: 24167 bytes read, 0 seeks
https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...: Invalid data found when processing input

Note: Also in the same windows on the chrome browser nothing problem with play this video URL and also can be download with streamlink software.(so not have any problem for network or blocking IP.)
You can see all logs:
Log Windows:
C:\>ffmpeg -headers "User-Agent: a" -i "https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj..." -c copy "video.mp4" -loglevel debug
ffmpeg version 2020-11-18-git-e3081d6f4f-full_build-www.gyan.dev Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 10.2.0 (Rev3, Built by MSYS2 project)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-static --disable-w32threads --disable-autodetect --enable-fontconfig --enable-iconv --enable-gnutls --enable-libxml2 --enable-gmp --enable-lzma --enable-libsnappy --enable-zlib --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libzmq --enable-avisynth --enable-libbluray --enable-libcaca --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdav1d --enable-libzvbi --enable-librav1e --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libvpx --enable-libass --enable-frei0r --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libzimg --enable-amf --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-cuvid --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-nvdec --enable-nvenc --enable-d3d11va --enable-dxva2 --enable-libmfx --enable-libglslang --enable-vulkan --enable-opencl --enable-libcdio --enable-libgme --enable-libmodplug --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libshine --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libilbc --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopus --enable-libspeex --enable-libvorbis --enable-ladspa --enable-libbs2b --enable-libflite --enable-libmysofa --enable-librubberband --enable-libsoxr --enable-chromaprint
  libavutil      56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavcodec     58.112.103 / 58.112.103
  libavformat    58. 64.100 / 58. 64.100
  libavdevice    58. 11.102 / 58. 11.102
  libavfilter     7. 90.100 /  7. 90.100
  libswscale      5.  8.100 /  5.  8.100
  libswresample   3.  8.100 /  3.  8.100
  libpostproc    55.  8.100 / 55.  8.100
Splitting the commandline.
Reading option '-headers' ... matched as AVOption 'headers' with argument 'User-Agent: a'.
Reading option '-i' ... matched as input url with argument 'https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...'.
Reading option '-c' ... matched as option 'c' (codec name) with argument 'copy'.
Reading option 'video.mp4' ... matched as output url.
Reading option '-loglevel' ... matched as option 'loglevel' (set logging level) with argument 'debug'.
Finished splitting the commandline.
Parsing a group of options: global .
Applying option loglevel (set logging level) with argument debug.
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Parsing a group of options: input url https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj....
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Opening an input file: https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj....
[NULL @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 000001cef21bed80] Setting default whitelist 'http,https,tls,rtp,tcp,udp,crypto,httpproxy'
[https @ 000001cef21bed80] No trailing CRLF found in HTTP header. Adding it.
[tcp @ 000001cef21c1f80] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef21c1f80] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef21c1f80] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef21c1f80] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef21c1f80] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef21c1f80] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef21bed80] request: GET /index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Format hls probed with size=2048 and score=100
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Skip ('#EXT-X-ALLOW-CACHE:YES')
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Skip ('#EXT-X-VERSION:3')
[https @ 000001cef21bed80] Last chunk received, closing conn
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'https://example.com/encryption.key?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef2891bc0] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef2891bc0] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef2891bc0] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef2891bc0] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef2891bc0] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef2891bc0] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef2270900] request: GET /encryption.key?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef2269980] Statistics: 16 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef21eb740] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef21eb740] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef21eb740] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef21eb740] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef21eb740] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef21eb740] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef282acc0] request: GET /seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef28992c0] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef21e2a80] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef21e2a80] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef21e2a80] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef21e2a80] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef21e2a80] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef21e2a80] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef282acc0] request: GET /seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef21c6d40] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef282bd40] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef282bd40] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef282bd40] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef282bd40] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef282bd40] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef282bd40] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef2270900] request: GET /seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef226e6c0] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-4-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-4-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef282bec0] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef282bec0] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef282bec0] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef282bec0] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef282bec0] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef282bec0] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef282acc0] request: GET /seg-4-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

:
:
:

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef226b9c0] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-75-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-75-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef28dd1c0] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef28dd1c0] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef28dd1c0] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef28dd1c0] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef28dd1c0] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef28dd1c0] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef282ba40] request: GET /seg-75-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef2817800] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-76-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-76-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[tcp @ 000001cef2270700] Original list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef2270700] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef2270700] Interleaved list of addresses:
[tcp @ 000001cef2270700] Address 1.2.3.4 port 443
    Last message repeated 1 times
[tcp @ 000001cef2270700] Starting connection attempt to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[tcp @ 000001cef2270700] Successfully connected to 1.2.3.4 port 443
[https @ 000001cef2271600] request: GET /seg-76-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: keep-alive
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 000001cef2816ec0] Statistics: 368 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls @ 000001cef21be3c0] Error when loading first segment 'https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...'
[AVIOContext @ 000001cef21c8f00] Statistics: 24167 bytes read, 0 seeks
https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...: Invalid data found when processing input

Log CentOS:
# ffmpeg -headers "User-Agent: a" -i "https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj..." -c copy "video.mp4" -loglevel debug
ffmpeg version 3.4.8 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.8.5 (GCC) 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-39)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --datadir=/usr/share/ffmpeg --docdir=/usr/share/doc/ffmpeg --incdir=/usr/include/ffmpeg --libdir=/usr/lib64 --mandir=/usr/share/man --arch=x86_64 --optflags='-O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -grecord-gcc-switches -m64 -mtune=generic' --extra-ldflags='-Wl,-z,relro ' --extra-cflags=' ' --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-version3 --enable-bzlib --disable-crystalhd --enable-fontconfig --enable-gcrypt --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libcdio --enable-libdrm --enable-indev=jack --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-nvenc --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --disable-encoder=libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librsvg --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libv4l2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-avfilter --enable-avresample --enable-libmodplug --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --disable-static --enable-shared --enable-gpl --disable-debug --disable-stripping --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --enable-libmfx --enable-runtime-cpudetect
  libavutil      55. 78.100 / 55. 78.100
  libavcodec     57.107.100 / 57.107.100
  libavformat    57. 83.100 / 57. 83.100
  libavdevice    57. 10.100 / 57. 10.100
  libavfilter     6.107.100 /  6.107.100
  libavresample   3.  7.  0 /  3.  7.  0
  libswscale      4.  8.100 /  4.  8.100
  libswresample   2.  9.100 /  2.  9.100
  libpostproc    54.  7.100 / 54.  7.100
Splitting the commandline.
Reading option '-headers' ... matched as AVOption 'headers' with argument 'User-Agent: a'.
Reading option '-i' ... matched as input url with argument 'https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...'.
Reading option '-c' ... matched as option 'c' (codec name) with argument 'copy'.
Reading option '-y' ... matched as option 'y' (overwrite output files) with argument '1'.
Reading option 'video.mp4' ... matched as output url.
Reading option '-loglevel' ... matched as option 'loglevel' (set logging level) with argument 'debug'.
Finished splitting the commandline.
Parsing a group of options: global .
Applying option y (overwrite output files) with argument 1.
Applying option loglevel (set logging level) with argument debug.
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Parsing a group of options: input url https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj....
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Opening an input file: https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj....
[NULL @ 0x2634700] Opening 'https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x2635080] Setting default whitelist 'http,https,tls,rtp,tcp,udp,crypto,httpproxy'
[https @ 0x2635080] No trailing CRLF found in HTTP header.
[https @ 0x2635080] request: GET /index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Range: bytes=0-
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Format hls,applehttp probed with size=2048 and score=100
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'https://example.com/encryption.key?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x26af660] request: GET /encryption.key?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 0x26af500] Statistics: 16 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x26af4e0] request: GET /seg-1-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

Format mpegts probed with size=2048 and score=50
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] stream=0 stream_type=1b pid=100 prog_reg_desc=
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] stream=1 stream_type=f pid=101 prog_reg_desc=
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] stream=2 stream_type=15 pid=102 prog_reg_desc=
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Before avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 24167 bytes read:24167 seeks:0 nb_streams:3
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] All programs have pmt, headers found
[NULL @ 0x26aeb60] user data:"x264 - core 155 r2901 7d0ff22 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2018 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=0 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=5 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=90 keyint_min=46 scenecut=0 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=60 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=25.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 vbv_maxrate=89 vbv_bufsize=102 crf_max=0.0 nal_hrd=none filler=0 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00"
[AVBSFContext @ 0x2c7f080] nal_unit_type: 9, nal_ref_idc: 0
[AVBSFContext @ 0x2c7f080] nal_unit_type: 7, nal_ref_idc: 3
[AVBSFContext @ 0x2c7f080] nal_unit_type: 8, nal_ref_idc: 3
[AVBSFContext @ 0x2c7f080] nal_unit_type: 6, nal_ref_idc: 0
[AVBSFContext @ 0x2c7f080] nal_unit_type: 5, nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] nal_unit_type: 9, nal_ref_idc: 0
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] nal_unit_type: 7, nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] nal_unit_type: 8, nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] nal_unit_type: 6, nal_ref_idc: 0
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] nal_unit_type: 5, nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] user data:"x264 - core 155 r2901 7d0ff22 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2018 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=0 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=5 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=90 keyint_min=46 scenecut=0 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=60 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=25.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 vbv_maxrate=89 vbv_bufsize=102 crf_max=0.0 nal_hrd=none filler=0 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00"
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] Reinit context to 272x160, pix_fmt: yuv420p
[h264 @ 0x26dbc40] no picture
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] probing stream 1 pp:2500
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] Probe with size=7346, packets=1 detected aac with score=51
[mpegts @ 0x26b5680] probed stream 1
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] All info found
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Setting avg frame rate based on r frame rate
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] After avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 24167 bytes read:24167 seeks:0 frames:82
Input #0, hls,applehttp, from 'https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...':
  Duration: 00:07:34.20, start: 0.101000, bitrate: N/A
  Program 0
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
    Stream #0:0, 21, 1/90000: Video: h264 (High), 1 reference frame ([27][0][0][0] / 0x001B), yuv420p(left), 270x152 (272x160) [SAR 1:1 DAR 135:76], 0/1, 15 fps, 15 tbr, 90k tbn, 30 tbc
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
    Stream #0:1, 61, 1/90000: Audio: aac (LC) ([15][0][0][0] / 0x000F), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
    Stream #0:2, 0, 1/90000: Data: timed_id3 (ID3  / 0x20334449), 0/1
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
Successfully opened the file.
Parsing a group of options: output url video.mp4.
Applying option c (codec name) with argument copy.
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Opening an output file: video.mp4.
[file @ 0x2c403a0] Setting default whitelist 'file,crypto'
Successfully opened the file.
Output #0, mp4, to 'video.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf57.83.100
    Stream #0:0, 0, 1/90000: Video: h264 (High), 1 reference frame (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(left), 270x152 (0x0) [SAR 1:1 DAR 135:76], 0/1, q=2-31, 15 fps, 15 tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
    Stream #0:1, 0, 1/44100: Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (copy)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
cur_dts is invalid (this is harmless if it occurs once at the start per stream)
    Last message repeated 10 times
Automatically inserted bitstream filter 'aac_adtstoasc'; args=''
[AVIOContext @ 0x26b1dc0] Statistics: 138744 bytes read, 0 seeks
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x2c93100] request: GET /seg-2-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 0x2c98f20] Statistics: 153784 bytes read, 0 seeksate=   0.1kbits/s speed=8.51x
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x2c930e0] request: GET /seg-3-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 0x2c92c20] Statistics: 135736 bytes read, 0 seeksate= 175.1kbits/s speed=8.37x
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-4-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-4-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x2c85260] request: GET /seg-4-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

:
:
:

[AVIOContext @ 0x26cccc0] Statistics: 144760 bytes read, 0 seeksate= 172.4kbits/s speed=8.08x
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-75-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-75-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x2c836a0] request: GET /seg-75-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 0x26ccec0] Statistics: 123704 bytes read, 0 seeksate= 170.0kbits/s speed=8.08x
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] HLS request for url 'https://example.com/seg-76-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...', offset 0, playlist 0
[hls,applehttp @ 0x2634700] Opening 'crypto+https://example.com/seg-76-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj...' for reading
[https @ 0x2c85da0] request: GET /seg-76-v1-a1.ts?x=AVCoPj... HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Host: example.com
Icy-MetaData: 1
User-Agent: a

[AVIOContext @ 0x26cccc0] Statistics: 84600 bytes read, 0 seeksrate= 172.4kbits/s speed=8.08x
No more output streams to write to, finishing.
frame= 6813 fps=122 q=-1.0 Lsize=    9873kB time=00:07:34.13 bitrate= 178.1kbits/s speed=8.14x
video:2506kB audio:7255kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 1.141788%
Input file #0 (https://example.com/index.m3u8?x=AVCoPj...):
  Input stream #0:0 (video): 6813 packets read (2566107 bytes);
  Input stream #0:1 (audio): 19556 packets read (7429357 bytes);
  Input stream #0:2 (data): 0 packets read (0 bytes);
  Total: 26369 packets (9995464 bytes) demuxed
Output file #0 (video.mp4):
  Output stream #0:0 (video): 6813 packets muxed (2566107 bytes);
  Output stream #0:1 (audio): 19556 packets muxed (7429357 bytes);
  Total: 26369 packets (9995464 bytes) muxed
0 frames successfully decoded, 0 decoding errors
[AVIOContext @ 0x2c91480] Statistics: 2 seeks, 41 writeouts
[AVIOContext @ 0x2c2d240] Statistics: 24167 bytes read, 0 seeks

Why I can not download it on windows with ffmpeg and how can I resolve it?
EDIT 1: I tried ffmpeg N-54874-ga1553b0cfb-static (latest) on linux and get same error! Then tried ffmpeg 3.4.2 on windows and works well!
So seem this is not related to the operating system. And seem this is a bug in newer version of ffmpeg!
EDIT 2: I tried many versions of ffmpeg for windows:
ffmpeg-1.0.1-win64-static           Error in the pull function.
ffmpeg-1.2-win64-static             Error in the pull function.
ffmpeg-2.0.1-win64-static           Error in the pull function.
ffmpeg-2.2.3-win64-static           Error in the pull function.
ffmpeg-3.0-win64-static             OK
ffmpeg-3.1.5-win64-static           OK warning...
ffmpeg-3.2.4-win64-static           OK
ffmpeg-3.3.4-win64-static           OK
ffmpeg-3.4.2-win64-static           OK
ffmpeg-4.0.2-win64-static           OK
ffmpeg-4.1.4-win64-static           OK
ffmpeg-4.2.3-win64-static           OK
ffmpeg-4.3-win64-static             Error when loading first segment
ffmpeg-4.3.1-win64-static           Error when loading first segment
ffmpeg-2020-11-18-git-e3081d6f4f    Error when loading first segment

Seem after >=4.3 there is a bug in ffmpeg!
EDIT 3:
I'm not sure if this is relevant; but apparently in all the cases where the test of versions failed, this skip warning appeared in the output:
[hls @ 000002794d99dcc0] Skip ('#EXT-X-ALLOW-CACHE:YES')
[hls @ 000002794d99dcc0] Skip ('#EXT-X-VERSION:3')

First check with a current version on linux. get a git master build from https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/

@Gyan I try ffmpeg N-54874-ga1553b0cfb-static (latest) on linux and get same error! Then try ffmpeg 3.4.2 on windows and works well! So seem this is not related to the operating system. And seem is a bug in newer version of ffmpeg!

Open a ticket at trac.ffmpeg.org

@Gyan Sure, I opened it: http://trac.ffmpeg.org/ticket/8998


text:
How to zoom .psd with vector graphics in AE without losing quality?
I'm in the process of making a little animated film, and since I don't really know how to use Illustrator, I did all my graphics in Photoshop, and now I'd like to import those into After Effects to animate everything.
I have a few .psd files which I prepared, and they all consist of vector layers. All those layers were created with the pen tool, and other similar tools, and I did not rasterize them, so they are still fully editable within Photoshop. However, when I import my .psd into AE and try to scale one of the images above 100%, it becomes pixelated and blurry. I assumed that AE would properly handle vector graphics in a .psd file, but I was wrong. I did try enabling the "continuously rasterize" option for my layers (as suggested by other sources where the same question was asked), but it didn't do anything. Also, this happens regardless of what option I choose when importing the .psd file (whether to merge the layers or not).
I guess I could just export the .psd in a much higher resolution in order to be able to zoom into it in AE, but that seems like a waste of resources, plus the render times and just performance in general would be horrible, I imagine. I would have to export my images in like 8k, or something like that, since I want to zoom in pretty far. I don't have a really powerful computer anyway, so that would be just plain suicide.
Is there a way to make AE properly re-render vector graphics in an imported .psd file at any scale?

Using Photoshop to create vector graphics is a bad idea, as it is just not built for that. Even if you don't use the more sophisticated features of Illustrator, the basic tools such as the pen work somewhat similar to the vector tools in Photoshop. So next time you want to create vector graphics, just work with Illustrator from the start.
For your existing vector graphics, as long as they are truly vector-based in the .psd-files, there should be several ways to export them to a vector format or copy them over to Illustrator (this doesn't directly answer your question, but it's a better approach than trying to make the .psd files work with vector graphics within After Effects anyway). Here are two options for you to try:

Export as svg [requires Photoshop CC]. In Photoshop, use File → Export → Export as.... Select SVG from the dropdown menu. SVG is an XML-based vector format. You should be able to import those into After Effects directly. Or you can open the exported SVG file in Illustrator and export it to another format.
Open your .psd file in Illustrator. Chose 'convert layers to objects' in the Photoshop import options. As long as your .psd contains only vector objects, this will work as intented. Once you have imported your vector graphic to Illustrator, save it as an .ai file. You should be able to import that into After Effects to work as intended. If that doesn't work for some reason, try saving it as an .eps file instead (File → Save a copy... → Select Illustrator EPS from the dropdown menu in the file saving options).

I'll try to convert to .ai then. The problem with SVG is that my .psd has certain layers with vector masks, clipping masks based on other layers, and stuff like that, and I don't know how that would carry over to SVG. For example the eye of a character I designed has the outside shape of the eye as a clipping mask for the center of the eye, so that it stays within the shape. I would like to animate all these layers in AE while keeping these properties, for example move the center of the eye around to make the character look different ways. So I guess .ai would be my best shot. Thanks.

The clipping masks should remain functional when you import the psd to Illustrator. You'll just have to try it out and see what works.

Alright. I'll have to install Illustrator first. I'll let you know if it worked.


text:
How do I recreate this bouncy effect?
I was wondering how this 'bouncy' effect is done when the computer comes up. Is it with keyframes or an expression? Has it a specific name? I have searched for bouncy effect tutorials but couldn't find one that explains this effect.
bouncy effect video example

Related: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/16045/how-do-i-create-this-slide-bouncy-effect-in-after-effects/

This is called "Inertial Bounce" and has a handy expression to do all the work!
https://gist.github.com/animoplex/aafd6a157282351c8dfeea385d969ef2
amp = 5.0; freq = 2.0; decay = 4.0;

n = 0;
if (numKeys > 0) {
  n = nearestKey(time).index;
  if (key(n).time > time) { n--; }
}
if (n == 0) { t = 0; }
else { t = time - key(n).time; }
if (n > 0 && t < 1) {
  v = velocityAtTime(key(n).time - thisComp.frameDuration/10);
  value + v*(amp/100)*Math.sin(freq*t*2*Math.PI)/Math.exp(decay*t);
}
else { value; }

Here's a quick video tutorial as well:

Hope this helps you out!


text:
How to make Sony Vegas Pro 13 work on a 4K display
I bought Sony Vegas Pro 13 recently for my 4K laptop, but when I fired it up, the loading screen did not look good. The text was running into itself, and it didn't fit in the window.

When the application loaded, the buttons and strips on the editor were only about 5mm tall.

Is there a way to make Vegas work on a 4K screen? Are there settings I can change, or a patch I can install? And if not, is there something in the works for this? I will add that I did try changing the screen resolution, but it still looks like this.

There's apparently a hack which alters the Vegas executable to solve this problem. There's a setting of dpiAware in the application manifest which falsely tells Windows that Vegas is DPI aware and will scale up text and icons on a HiDPI display. Vegas does not do this. So, the value should be changed from true to false.
The hack tutorial alongwith link to required tool is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvr0c5VHGIM

I haven't needed to do this so I can't vouch for the method but it appears to work.

I could not get this solution to work recently. I've been just suffering and losing my eyesight. @XamuelSchulman Did you do something specific to get this solution to work?

@fredsbend Not really. I just followed what the tutorial told me to do and then after a restart it worked.

@XamuelSchulman Well, I'll try again, maybe. Thanks.

Nearly two years later, I did get this to work, but this video link is dead. Looks like this one is the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvr0c5VHGIM


text:
Create video file with multiple audio tracks?
I have an animated movie in three different languages. The picture is exactly the same for each langauge, only the audio is different.
I want to merge all these files into one, so that I have a single video file where I can switch easily between the audio tracks in VLC.
How can I merge the audio tracks into a single file?
I can use any OS for the job, but my preferred order is:

OS X
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint)
Android
iOS
Windows desktop

It's not really important, though, I'll take suggestions for any platform happily.
The only function I really need is the merging itself. Lightweight solutions are a a plus.
I prefer GUI solutions.

Crossposting is discouraged. And you're unlikely to get a different answer.

@Mulvya I'm sorry, I just really want to find the solution to this. A different answer from what?

The one I gave. ffmpeg is pretty much the only tool that does this for most formats. If your videos are MKV, then MKVToolnix will also work.

@Mulvya I'm not comfortable with CLI. And for the the GUI options you linked to, I couldn't find the function. But I think I've found a way to do it though. The sources are all DVDs, btw.

@Mulvya Yes, MKVToolnix was very nice. Someone described it to me in detail here: apple.stackexchange.com/a/239676/153510

FFMPEG can do it. FFMPEG is command line video (and audio) processing software, available here.
If you have FFMPEG here is the command you would use:
ffmpeg -i video.avi -i audio1.mp3 -i audio2.mp3 -map 0 -map 1 -map 2 -codec copy output


text:
Why would a company put black lines around the picture in their DVD?
I bought a series of children's educational DVD's and they all have these black lines on all four sides of the picture, throughout the whole video.

This is the first time I've ever seen this. Why would anyone do this? Is there any benefit?
I'm trying to understand the motivation of the DVD's creator for doing this.
FWIW, the DVD's are aimed at a market where a significant part of the consumer base will view them on old/small TV's. Maybe something like TV's that were widely used in the West in the 80's.

Old/small TVs tended to overscan their images.  The "title-safe" area was about 90% of the original image.  The DVD's format ensures that despite such overscanning, everything in the image is visible, including the titling shown in red at the bottom of the image, which is hard up against the limit of the frame and thus requires that the image be reduced so that a 10% overscan does not clip it off.

Protecting the title/action safe areas is always a good production practice. However, doing that by shrinking the image is a very bad production practice. The correct way to protect the title/action safe areas is to extend the picture to the edge of the raster but keep important elements within the title/action safe areas.
Without knowing the production details, I would actually guess that this was more likely a result of standards conversion, poor understanding of aspect ratios and formats, or even incorrect settings/guesses made by the DVD player/TV.

Agree @MichaelLiebman.  That's why I mentioned that the titling decision probably forced the formatting/mastering decision as it did.


text:
Best way to simplify edges of a pixely mask?
I'm working on an experimental video that uses a mask of a person.   Some of the masks were made in After Effects using the roto brush tool at full resolution, as is recommended.
Some however were not and done at a much lower res.  The result is naturally masks with visible pixel notches in them as you can see below.

Ideally within Premiere Pro where I'm editing the video, are there any reliable ways to simplify the mask edge ?

Those edges don’t look like they need sharpening. They’re probably jagged because of a mistake with premultiplication, which tells the computer whether or not semi-transparent pixels include information from the background upon which they were originally shot, in a nutshell.

You are quite right, sharpening is not the best word. I'm going to change the title of the question.


text:
Reimporting from Camera for footage already in Timeline in FCPX
I have created a video using FCPX using media from my GoPro and my Cannon camera, when trying to export the video I receive an error "Project has missing or offline titles, effects or generators".

I have identified the clips which are still used from external sources, however when reimporting clips as instructed nothing happens.

The files aren't imported, I'm stuck on how to export this file. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the media (the footage is still able to relink itself) but doesn't import. I have also tried restarting FCPX but that hasn't done the trick either.
UPDATE:
Actual error message when exporting...

The error you are having "Project has missing or offline titles, effects or generators" is kind of self explanatory, the project you are trying to export is missing on of the following from within the project timeline

Title (some text you have put on or used)
Effect (a fade in or fade out, wipe, etc)
Generator (any one of the build in generators)

so if you watch the project from start to finish you will see the issue, somewhere on the timeline there will be a missing
If you have not used any of these then there might be something wrong with the project and I would suggest re-doing the whole project again.
I don't think you have any problem with the "media" as such. Normally within FCPX you will see a "red" section where there is a problem.

There are no red sections in my timeline. And all text and effects used are those that came with FCPX out of the box. The only issue I can see is some clips still display the camera icon (attached in post above) which to my knowledge indicates the footage is from an external device.

It might be worth removing all "Text, Effects, Generators" etc to see if the issue still appears. if the media was not available you would not be able to play it and it would just display a red box saying media offline.

Please check updated post, it is definitely the camera footage.

That will be due to the footage being used is on the camera and has not been imported into fcpx. You would need to import he media onto your Mac first and then export. To check unplug the camera and play the timeline and you should see what footage is missing


text:
Why is the audio delayed both in preview and render in after effects
I have a problem with after effects, the video is alright but whenever I render or preview it the audio is delayed. The problem is not during the render it occurs during preview and its only one video that contains sound that is on my timeline, the preview is ok at first but at some points on the timeline the audio begins get mixed up. I checked the waveform of the audio of the video and it was ok, but when I preview or render it gives problem, this problem occurs in all the adobe products I have- after effects cc, cs6, 2015, and premiere pro

Have you considered deleting all your media render, preview, and cache files?

It also sounds like audio-drift too: https://youtu.be/lLQOyaYkhkA

What will happen, if you will work only with wav-files (files wothout compression, pure PCM)?

To me it seems more like an audio driver problem. The outputted media should be good, try to render it and play it on another machine, I guess that the file would not have problem. Investigate on your hardware and software better, try changing / updating the sound driver. Check if you haven't some extra effect costantly applied on it.

Try making sure the video format you're using for the comp is the same as your source video file, e.g. same frame rate, same audio sample rate, and same resolution.  The suggestion about converting the file to a PCM WAV file 48kHz 16 bit is a good one too.

I'd been stuck with the exact problem before and in my case it was an issue of VFR.
Apparently, Adobe products do not support videos with variable frame rates. So whenever you work with such videos the A/V goes out of sync.
Try re encoding the video to a constant frame rate using FFmpeg or handbrake.

A friend of mine had the same problem and the only thing that resolved it for him was using lossless for the output module render settings. Then after the render, to get the AVI file size down, he used a third party program to apply some lossy compression to it.


text:
ffmpeg - moov atom not found0/0
I'm trying to play a movie (.mp4) that i've encoded with ffmpeg and i get the following error:

[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x7fa39a802800] moov atom not found0/0
  /movie.mp4: Invalid data found when processing input

Why does ffmpeg throw this error?
Thanks!
Note:
It's an .exr sequence that i've encoded, but i don't think it's a problem with my encoding settings since i've encoded another .exr sequence with the same settings and it worked.
Command:
ffmpeg -thread_queue_size 512 -y -loglevel info -threads 0 -f lavfi -i aevalsrc=0 -framerate 60 -i /image.png -start_number 000000 -apply_trc bt709 -framerate 60 -i /sequence.%06d.exr -r 60 -preset medium -codec:v libx265 -ar 48000 -acodec aac -shortest -strict experimental -sn -vsync 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:v 31457280 -movflags +faststart  -x265-params high-tier=0:pmode=1:wpp=1:tune=fastdecode:bitrate=31457:fps=60:keyint=360:min-keyint=180:vbv-bufsize=31457:vbv-maxrate=31457:scenecut=0
' -filter_complex "[2:v]crop=3440:2227:0:2560, scale=3440:768, rotate=0[input_num0];[1:v][input_num0]overlay=0:0[output_num0]" -map "[output_num0]:0" -map "0:0" output.mp4

Console output:
ffmpeg version 3.0.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple LLVM version 6.1.0 (clang-602.0.49) (based on LLVM 3.6.0svn)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/3.0.1 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-opencl --enable-libx264 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-ffplay --enable-libspeex --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libopus --enable-libx265 --enable-nonfree --enable-vda
  libavutil      55. 17.103 / 55. 17.103
  libavcodec     57. 24.102 / 57. 24.102
  libavformat    57. 25.100 / 57. 25.100
  libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
  libavfilter     6. 31.100 /  6. 31.100
  libavresample   3.  0.  0 /  3.  0.  0
  libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
Input #0, lavfi, from 'aevalsrc=0':
  Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2822 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_f64le, 44100 Hz, mono, dbl, 2822 kb/s
Input #1, png_pipe, from '/image.png':
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #1:0: Video: png, monob(pc), 3840x1536, 60 tbr, 60 tbn, 60 tbc
Input #2, image2, from '/sequence.%06d.exr':
  Duration: 00:00:32.27, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #2:0: Video: exr, rgb48le(unknown/unknown/bt709), 5120x2560 [SAR 1:1 DAR 2:1], 60 tbr, 60 tbn, 60 tbc
[libx265 @ 0x7f9ee1003400] Unknown option: tune.
x265 [info]: HEVC encoder version 1.9
x265 [info]: build info [Mac OS X][clang 7.0.2][64 bit] 8bit
x265 [info]: using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX AVX2 FMA3 LZCNT BMI2
x265 [warning]: Limit reference options 2 and 3 are not supported with pmode. Disabling limit reference
x265 [info]: Main profile, Level-5.1 (Main tier)
x265 [info]: Thread pool created using 4 threads
x265 [info]: frame threads / pool features       : 2 / wpp(24 rows)+pmode
x265 [info]: Coding QT: max CU size, min CU size : 64 / 8
x265 [info]: Residual QT: max TU size, max depth : 32 / 1 inter / 1 intra
x265 [info]: ME / range / subpel / merge         : hex / 57 / 2 / 2
x265 [info]: Keyframe min / max / scenecut       : 180 / 360 / 0
x265 [info]: Lookahead / bframes / badapt        : 20 / 4 / 2
x265 [info]: b-pyramid / weightp / weightb       : 1 / 1 / 0
x265 [info]: References / ref-limit  cu / depth  : 3 / 0 / 0
x265 [info]: AQ: mode / str / qg-size / cu-tree  : 1 / 1.0 / 32 / 1
x265 [info]: Rate Control / qCompress            : ABR-31457 kbps / 0.60
x265 [info]: VBV/HRD buffer / max-rate / init    : 31457 / 31457 / 0.900
x265 [info]: tools: rd=3 psy-rd=2.00 signhide tmvp strong-intra-smoothing
x265 [info]: tools: lslices=8 deblock sao
Output #0, mp4, to '/output.mp4':
    encoder         : Lavf57.25.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: hevc (libx265) ([35][0][0][0] / 0x0023), yuv420p, 3840x1536, q=2-31, 31457 kb/s, 60 fps, 15360 tbn, 60 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc57.24.102 libx265
    Stream #0:1: Audio: aac (LC) ([64][0][0][0] / 0x0040), 48000 Hz, mono, fltp, 69 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc57.24.102 aac
Stream mapping:
  Stream #1:0 (png) -> overlay:main (graph 0)
  Stream #2:0 (exr) -> crop (graph 0)
  overlay (graph 0) -> Stream #0:0 (libx265)
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:1 (pcm_f64le (native) -> aac (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[image2 @ 0x7f9ee081f400] Thread message queue blocking; consider raising the thread_queue_size option (current value: 8)

Run the encode again. If it doesn't work, show command and console output.

Done, i've edited my original post

Your EXRs are 5120x2560, but your crop is 3440:2227:0:2560. Which does not make sense. No active image area is included. Also, why rotate=0? The image.png should be looped.

3440x2227 is the size of the cropping region i want out of that 5120x2560 image, giving it a top left corner of (0,2560). I think it might be because i calculated the top left corner wrong? (since the (0,0) coordinate of ffmpeg is at the top left).
The rotation part is a parameter set by a python script, in that case it's 0 but it could be anything else.

I changed my crop filter arguments to crop=3440:2227:0:0 and it still doesn't work..

Try
ffmpeg -y -loglevel info -threads 0 -f lavfi -i aevalsrc=0 -framerate 60 -loop 1 -i /image.png -start_number 000000 -apply_trc bt709 -framerate 60 -thread_queue_size 512 -i /sequence.%06d.exr -filter_complex "[2:v]crop=3440:2227:0:0,scale=3440:768,rotate=0[input_num0];[1:v][input_num0]overlay=shortest=1,format=yuv420p[output_num0]" -preset medium -c:v libx265 -c:a aac -ar 48000 -shortest -b:v 31457280 -x265-params high-tier=0:pmode=1:wpp=1:tune=fastdecode:bitrate=31457:fps=60:keyint=360:min-keyint=180:vbv-bufsize=31457:vbv-maxrate=31457:scenecut=0 -map "[output_num0]" -map 0:0 -movflags +faststart output.mp4

There are still some redundant settings, but those can be checked later on.

gives the same error

Switch to libx264 and see. And your console output looks incomplete. How many frames were encoded and muxed?

Still same error, all frames encoded..

Output to .ts or mkv

mkv works! why is that?
also, i get the error Thread message queue blocking; consider raising the thread_queue_size option (current value: 8), even though i set the size to 512..

So any chance you could please let me know why it happens? It's very weird.. never had a problem encoding .mp4's before


text:
Can I miror Nikon D5000 live view to an android device wirelessly/wired?
I am using my Nikon D5000 to record some videos. The problem is that at some points the camera will be mounted on a crane and while I would be able to operate it's orientation, I won't see the image. I know that a solution is to get a small monitor and pass the micro HDMI through an adapter and then to the monitor, but I was wondering if there might be a way to wirelessly or by cable transmit the feed directly to my Android phone that would be able to display it, most probably by using a special app.
I found this device, but this one outputs from Android to another screen, and I want to receive the data from the camera and display it to my phone.
Is this possible? If so, how?


text:
How to create screen capture video without losing it's quality?
I want to create screen capture tutorials such as https://laracasts.com/series/php7-up-and-running/episodes/1 (with the HD option) for YouTube. On laracasts' videos, words are excellently readable, however words on my captured video are spreads.
How can I fix it (I'm using Movavi Screen Capture Studio)?
What program is the best solution for creating tutorials (like laracasts) on MacOS?

QuickTime is included with macOS. This app has a built in screen capture tool. You can create a new screen recording by pressing Command-N to create a new screen recording after opening QuickTime, then set settings to Maximum Quality by clicking the drop down beside the record button. The video will save after recording to any location on your machine. See more Here on Apple's Webiste.
After this, you can ingest the footage onto your video editor and send it to someone.
Hope this helps.

Capturing video on macOS is easy.  Doing so without losing any quality whatsoever is not trivial.
Simple Approach
If you want simple and don't mind slight color inaccuracy, you can go with ScreenFlow.  It'll take care of most heavy lifting for you including the final encoded video.
Free alternatives to doing this are using CamTwist and sending its output to Syphon Recorder, or using Open Broadcaster Software.  However this won't give you post-production editing options and you'll need to know how to encode your video manually afterwards.
Advanced Approach (note: this is only if you're not scared to dig a lot deeper.)
Most video recording solutions will degrade something even if you try "lossless" recording.  If you want video that is truly 1:1 with your source,  you'll need a few things:

SSD or better: Perfect videos require fast disk write speed, so HDDs won't help except maybe at super low resolutions.  Likewise, you'll need a lot of disk space.
RGB format: The software you record with must be capable of handling video in RGB, whereas most recording solutions will default to YUV and not have a means of changing it.
Flexible encoding: It does you no good if you can get a perfect video but the encoded video losses quality.

So far the only solution I've found that gets both RGB format and frame rate correct is Syphon Recorder.  Set it to "Lossless" quality and for frame rate choose "As Fast As Possible" for maximum smoothness and perfect quality.  This will give you a rawvideo file that you can then encode.
For encoding I recommend learning how to use ffmpeg.  It offers tremendous flexibility and you can get amazing compression while keeping all your quality.  Here's an example of a command I would use for a YouTube video:
ffmpeg -i ~/Desktop/Input.mov -c:v libx264rgb -preset veryslow -crf 0 -vf fps=60 -c:a pcm_s16be ~/Desktop/Output.mkv

For archiving videos on your computer you can use this:
ffmpeg -i ~/Desktop/Input.mov -c:v ffv1 -level 3 -vf fps=60 -c:a copy ~/Desktop/Output.nut

It is also possible to do a screen capture with ffmpeg, but currently there is a frame rate bug that prevents the macOS version from achieving perfect smoothness for live capture.
Lastly, if you want to verify the accuracy of your videos, you can use the built-in utility Digital Color Meter to check the pixels and values of your videos.  If you don't mind dropping a few bucks, there's a much much better version of that on the Mac App Store called Classic Color Meter.


text:
Is it possible to have paragraph text as an After Effects template (in Premiere Pro)?
I have a text layer in After Effects that I'm using as a text template for a Premiere Pro project. Is it possible to make the editable text multi-line, and if so, how would I go about this?

Just to sync our watches: Both point text and paragraph text have the potential to be either single or multiline.
If you create multi-line text using so-called point text like this (ie, single-click of the Text tool, w/ multiple lines created by hitting the return key) ...

..then Premiere will display the multiple lines like this:

On the other hand, if you create multi-line text using so-called paragraph text like this (ie, click-drag a rectanglar area with the Text tool, w/ multiple lines created by hitting return key or word-wrapping) ...

..then Premiere will display editable fields like this:

So basically Premiere will add additional editable text fields whenever it sees linebreak characters in your text, whether it's point text or paragraph text. Hopefully that helps!

Perhaps I wasn't clear. After Effects has a setting where the text of text layers can be made editable in Premiere. This only appears to work with point text (I can only edit one line in Premiere). I was wondering if you can add multiple lines.

Sorry about that, I didn't even know about that feature, ha. I'm taking a look at it right now.

Ok, I think I've gotten the hang of the "text template" feature now, and have updated my answer.


text:
Find Position in a Film/Video by a Frame
Is there an application or online service that is able to find a position (either as a frame number or time from film beginning) in a film by a frame from that film, represented as standalone picture (even if that picture was converted, resized, cropped, etc.)?

If you leave out the cropped scenario,  then ffmpeg could do this using a combination of the blend and blackdetect filters

What do you mean by 'leave out the cropped scenario'?

Looks possible for uncropped images

But if I know position (X,Y) of the cropped image in the frame, then I can crop entire film, like the frame was cropped) and make the procedure?

What maximum divergence between the image and actual frame in the film, with which the input data can be processed successfully?

e.g. cmd ffmpeg-in.mp4 -loop 1 -i croppedframe.jpg -an -filter_complex "[0]crop=w:h:x:y[a];[1][a]blend=difference,blackframe=90:32" -f null - This will match a movie frame if at least 90% of the pixels have a difference in value of less than 32 with the image. Any such matching frames will have their timestamps shown.

Try the command:
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -loop 1 -i croppedframe.jpg -an -filter_complex "[0]crop=w:h:x:y[a];[1][a]blend=difference,blackframe=90:32" -f null -

This will match a movie frame if at least 90% of the pixels have a difference in value of less than 32 with the image. Any such matching frames will have their timestamps shown


text:
Why does After Effects not export with audio?
I have made a simple four second long video in After Effects and exported it only to find that it had no audio. I tried changing the file type to .MOV and re-rendered it but  now the file had audio but no video. I have thoroughly researched the problem but nothing worked. here are some pictures:

Any help is appreciated!

how are you playing the file?

I am using Windows 10 movie player which is what it opens with automatically.

Maybe the codec isn't installed. render with H264 under 'Format Options' in the Video Output settings.

plays sound but doesn't show video ) :

Try with VLC.

The issue seems with your playback of the rendered file. Try playing it with QuickTime (you are exporting with QuickTime after all) or VLC Media Player or Media Player Classic. All these are good options if you want to test you rendered files.
Using the media player that comes with your version of Windows is always a bad idea, Microsoft never bothered with good codec support.

Yes this works! Thank You! Now what would i do if i wanted it to play online in some sort of website?How would i play it on my I Phone? would I need to convert it to a file type that is more compatible?

See these questions f.e.:
http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/10071/what-is-the-most-compatible-compression-codec-to-in-handbrake-use-for-video-that
http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/6906/how-to-encode-a-video-for-the-iphone-with-handbrake
You can use your exported QuickTime Animation video source and open it in Handbrake or use Adobe Media Encoder.


text:
Remove an image through subtraction?
Firstly, I'm no video professional, I'm an audio professional. Video theory is a dark area for me. So I will use an audio-type analogy in this question.
In audio editing, it is possible to subtract one waveshape from a bunch of other waves by inverting the phase of the wave(phase subtraction). While this is a simple, easy to understand process, due to my lack of knowledge of digital video processing, I am unsure if this process is an available tool in video editing. My logical mind tells me that it is. I know in nature, like in bubbles, phase interactions cause interesting effects.
I need to use this process on a video to remove the axis scales from a 3D spectrogram, so that everything else in the video except the axis scales are left.
For this I assume I need an isolated image of the thing I want to subtract i.e. the axis scales. I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects, whichever is best for this. The Image I want to remove is stationary in the video.
Any advice on how to do this in Adobe AE/PP if it can be done is appreciated.

It is possible and works in a similar manner. What's different is that normal pixel values in video are always positive, whereas it's normal for audio to go both positive and negative several thousand times per second.
If you have a copy of the axes without the spectrum, you can overlay the image with the spectrum on top of the image of the axes and set the blend mode of the spectrum image to "difference." That will subtract the image of the axes from the spectrum image and leave black where the axes were.
If you don't want black, but some other color, you can use an image mask that sets the axes to an alpha value of 0 and the rest of the image to an alpha value of 1 (or 255 if you're working in 8 bit per channel mode). Then put some other color underneath the masked footage.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the image of the axes alone should be black wherever you want the original image to come through. (Because you're then subtracting 0 from the original image in those areas.)

If your axes are baked in to the video, then, no, you cannot easily remove them because they have replaced, not added to, the underlying image.  One way to remove them would be to create a mask that exactly covers each axis and use that mask to copy and average pixels on either side of the axis. Then place the averaged pixels where the axis used to be.  This will effectively blur-out the offending axes.

Thanks. Yes, I realized my silly mistake when I read the first answer. I have a habit of thinking in terms of sound waves.