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SDI Converters from Many other Forms
I need a Converter from DVI, VGA, and CVBS to SDI.
The most important thing is that this converter don't change the signals informations, I want it just to convert the signal.
Is that even possible ?

I don't think you can 'convert' something and not change it in some way. Could you try to clarify what you expect?

I want to record a video signal through a device and it takes in as input only SDI so I need a converter or a Frame Grabber that won't effect my Video signal because I want to test it.


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how to Rotate a 3gp video without re-encoding
I created a video in my cellphone holding the phone in portrait mode. The video is 720p and it looks perfectly fine in cell phone. I copied it on computer and when viewing it, the video looks 90 degrees anti-clockwise rotated. It is confusing for me that why it happened. How can I rotate the copied video back to 90-degrees without re-enconding the video.

It has been answered to death already. Not possible, unless container supports it or you are using MJPEG codec, which you are not.

@Volodya ok, deleted my answer, but might be better suggest a duplicate instead of downvoting it.

@poor I've clicked downvote on your answer by some weird accident. Tried to undo, but it didn't let me.

@Volodya this is the only one I've found here: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/15013/avconv-rotating-mpeg4-video-loses-quality/15021#15021 and I don't think this is a duplicate.

@poor Ok, i now feel dumb. There were several questions, some of which have provided a very in depth explanations on how to rotate mjpeg via bash scripts and imagic. It really feels like somebody has gone on a cleaning spree and has removed too much. Alternatively i've dreamt all those questions. I'm trying to find them now on other SE.

@Volodya I think only equal questions are real duplicates (avconv rotation is not equal to How to rotate my 3gp video), but we could post a meta, if you are interested and also suggest a duplicate if you find one. I've undelete my answer, just to have an answer for this question, see the statistics: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/4/audio-video-production.

Apparently my answer doesn't solve your issue. Please let us know, what else you need or edit your question.

@poor Yet another drive-by-question.

@LordNeckbeard Haha - a drive-by-question ;) Made my day. Upvoted your answer to prevent that this question comes over and over again... Thanks.

Rotate without re-encoding
You can add rotation metadata:
ffmpeg -i input.3gp -c copy -metadata:s:v rotate=90 output.3gp

-c copy will enable stream copy mode, so it will just re-mux instead of re-encode.
Player and device support for the rotate metadata may vary, so your player or device may not actually rotate the video. If that is the case you may have to manually rotate within the player, or re-encode.

Rotate with re-encoding
When re-encoding ffmpeg will automatically rotate the video. The rotate metadata/sidedata will not be copied from the input (which is a good thing).
ffmpeg -i input output

If it doesn't work for you then your build is too old. Refer to the FFmpeg Download page.

Any idea why rotating 90 deg does 180, and rotating 360 does 90? haha

source: Stack Exchange

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

authors: Михаил Тарасов

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Replace the video edit with another video keeping the in and out timings
I'm editing a pre-rendered photo gallery template in Premiere Pro CC 2014.
The entire photo gallery clip is a single video clip, which I have cut in many places to make some changes. I have made several edits to this include speed changes, perspective correction, etc..
Now I have a second set of photo gallery exactly same as the first one with different set of photos and wish to keep the same edits as the first one.
Is there any way to replace the second set with first set edit.
I'm aware of the Replace Clip from Bin feature. But it always sets the In point to the beginning of the clip. Is there any way to replace the clip as well as sync the mark in and out points?

A possible workaround:

Open the new clip in its own project.
Set the "in" point and the "out" point.
Export that as a new clip (with lossless video quality, if you can pull that off).
Open your other project.
Use Replace Clip from Bin, and replace it with the clip you just exported.  In the new clip, the "in" point is the beginning of the clip!

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


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In affter effect cs 6, I don't know why i cannot use mask with effects
I try to edit a video clip, like a steady cam and slow motion, using a mask and Time Warp in after effect.
But, whenever i select any effect in Effect menu of a menu bar, the mask is not working.
Can i use a mask and effect at the same time?
or, i have to use pre-composition where effect is applied, and then mask, such pre-comp?
plz help me.

What exactly are you trying to do? Can you post a relevant screenshot or two?

Yes, precomp your layer and apply a mask on the composition instead.


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audio recording and video editing software
I've got a canon powershot. It has an inbuilt mic. I usually take interview-type videos, mostly indoors. The audio quality is poor as far as the purpose is concerned. I use pitvi as my editing software.
The question I have is...how easy is it going to be to record audio from another device and merge that with the video using pitvi?
I also would want to know about audio recording devices which support a lapel or a collar microphone.

I don't know Pitivi but in general it's not hard to do what you need, just sometimes a little time consuming. Use a digital audio recorder that can record 48K at 16 bits at a solid fixed rate.
In this case since you already have sync audio from the camera, you can use it as a reference track to find and check sync with the separate track. It helps to use a clapper at the beginning and end of each scene, but since you have both tracks you might not need a visual clap, just a recognizable audio clap. If possible announce the scene and take so that it's audible on both.
If the sep sound drifts out of sync you can use those start and end claps to find the exact frame duration and adjust the rate of the sep sound to match. If Pitivi does this, great, but you can also use a free tool like Audacity.

You can do it with any decent video editor (I use openshot -http://www.openshot.org/)
The process is as Jim Mack says. You clap your hands 3 times in front of the camera and then you combine the video track and external sound usings these claps.
Regarding audio, your best and cheapest solution is the Zoom H1 (recorder) and the Audio Technica 3350 (lapel microphone)


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DVB capture into ffmpeg in windows?
Looking for a way to use ffmpeg dshow to open a tv capture card within windows. I have tried running the list devices command and my usb capture does not show. If it is a device limitation, Im happy to get one that does support this.
The station I want is on DVB-T.

FWIW I have a working DVBT/ATSC digital capture prototype in my local FFmpeg branch, ping me if anybody wants to be/become a beta tester :)

I'm interested in it, have you merged it? Could you give some info?


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Producing Video Lectures similar to Coursera/EDX
I would like to record video lectures using a light board scenario which is a transparent board on which one can draw as if one is drawing on the screen/camera itself. For those of you interested, here's how you can create such a set up:

I have a similar set up of the light board itself but I have the following two issues that I would like to have some feedback on:

For the initial tests we used a Sony-DCR-SX65E camera. The quality of the video was tremendously bad but the more evident problem was the fact that we didn't have a proper lighting so it was very hard to distinguish the writings on the board. Obviously a better camera is needed but would the camera itself be sufficient if it has good enough configuration options or we have to consider additional lights as well? I'm curious if we can fit around 1000-1500$ budget to have a professional looking video?
A bit off topic, but the bluetooth headset microphone that we used also produced horrible audio quality. Any idea of easy to use portable microphone that we can use? Audio quality is of most importance but it would be a nice bonus to be able to easily use the microphone i.e. plug it in directly via USB instead of needing additional audio interface to use it?

I don't feel like I have enough information to give you to post a full answer but check this question out as some of the things you ask for are discussed there as well: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/4399/what-equipment-do-i-need-to-be-able-to-produce-hd-quality-videos?rq=1

What I can say: The max. resolution of the camera you have is quite low. You'll want one that records in at least 1280x720. Something like or similar to the Sony Handycam HDR-PJ810E probably. Besides recording in 720p/i you'll need to be able to plug in a mic to it.

Lastly: yes, you'll most likely want to invest in some proper lighting equipment. Check out the question I linked for more info.


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Encoding Video For Archiving Using Premiere Pro CS6
I have a set of videos created in Premiere Pro C6 and currently I am encoding them in h264 for YT upload. The raws were taken using a Canon 700D @ 720p60.
I was wondering what is the best encoding settings that is available in Premiere Pro that I can use to encode them that is suitable for archive. I would like them to be somewhere along the same size as if it was taken by the 700D. I tried doing a lossless format and my 5min video balloon to 70GB. That's way over the size of the raw file.
I appreciate the help so that I can just store the archive copy in my glacier and delete the rest of the footage in my hard drive rather than uploading every footage I have in the cloud.
Here is what VLC sees on my RAW file if it helps. http://prntscr.com/72kvgb

Your footage is encoded as MPEG4 / AVC, that's no RAW format ... So your camera already compressed the recordings. Why do you want to reencode it anyway? If you need to reduce the size, you will by design lose quality ... espacially if you plan on using that footage in other videos in the future, I would strongly advise against reencoding it for archiving purposes, since every reencoding results in a quality drop.

@Gin-San I'm sorry for not being clear. I have some edited videos using these videos I shoot with my camera. I would like those video (edited) to be of the exact same quality as the one I took so that I can store them somewhere and re-use them if needed and only store videos that are relevant.

The thing is, whatever you do you will still have to re-render your files, they have to be re-encoded. Some small amount of quality degradation/compression, however miniscule, is inevitable. My best advice would simply be to try and match you sequence and render settings as close to the original files as possible, find a file size–quality ratio you feel comfortable with and just go with that.
To give a more practical answer for you specifically: I'd choose "Quicktime" under "Format", "MPEG-4 Video" under "Video" > "Video Codec", click "Match Source" and also drag the "Quality" slider to a 100%. Don't forget to uncheck "Limit data rate..." under "Bitrate settings". Audio settings should be pretty straight-forward.
Remember, these settings are mostly a guess based on the information you've given and some tests I ran on my Mac using Premiere Pro CC 2014 with the codecs I have installed on it. Hopefully someone with more knowledge of codecs/video encoding will pop in and give a more fleshed out answer eventually; but for now I think this is your best bet.

You don't necessarily have to re-encode - see my answer.

If you are archiving the video you're not going to get better quality than the original files. So why not just save those and a copy of the project?
To make it easier you can use the project manager File>Project Manager> to save just the media you use in your project (or you can transcode and trim the clips if you wish). Saving the original clips means you can just re-create the project without any generation loss at all, and without the overhead of transcoding.
I'd also save an uncompressed or high quality compressed copy (h.264 at a high data rate or one of the production codecs like ProRes or DNxHD) of the final master for convenience.

If you are talking about long-term archival, as in decades or hundreds of years, then there's a different set of questions to ask regarding the readability of the codec/container in the future, as well as the ability to protect against bitrot and transcription errors, but that's another can of worms.

Good answer, but doesn't Premiere technically re-encode the footage if you elect to trim it?

Yes, if you trim it it re-encodes. If you don't re-encode then you can choose to keep just the clips you use. If your footage is just one long take then this method won't save much space—In that case you might be better re-encoding in one of the codecs mentioned.

Very well. In any case, this is obviously the most convenient method as long as you're looking to archive unaltered (effects and whatnot) but used clips.


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How do I match the audio and video streams in my video file with the audio I recorded separately?
I record audio separately using an audio recorder and video separately and they usually sync up later in the NLE painlessly.
But there's one particular old digital camera I have that always seems to play back (both its audio and video) a bit slower than the audio I record with my audio recorder.
I must underline the fact that the audio and video streams of the digital camera themselves are always in sync. It's just that the audio (and video which is in sync with the camera's video) from the digital camera is never in sync with the audio I record with my digital recorder.
Even when I sync them up manually, for a good first few minutes, the streams from both the media playback in sync, but as time passes, the digitam camera playback starts to lag behind in both audio and video. The audio from the H1 Zoom outraces it.
How do I sync up sound (and video) from my video file from this digital camera with that of my audio file from the H1 Zoom?
I am listing the codecs of both the audio and video streams in both the media.
Properties of video recorded with my old digital camera
*Video Stream*
Codec: Motion JPEG Video (MJPG)
Frame rate: 29.970029
Decoded format: Planar 4:2:2 YUV full scale

*Audio Stream*
Codec: PCM MU-LAW (mlaw)
Sample rate: 11025 Hz
Bits per sample: 8

Properties of audio recorded using my H1 Zoom
File Format: WAV
Codec: PCM S24 LE (araw)
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Bits per sample: 24

I am guessing it has to do with the higher bit rate of the latter. But how do I fix this?

You could try processing the audio first to get it to the same speed as the video playback. Using (for example) Audacity you can apply a speed change of -0.1% (1000/1001) which is very likely the amount you're drifting by. You can change the rate without changing pitch, but if you can tolerate the very slight pitch shift you'll get slightly better results by just changing speed.
If that isn't the correct rate, then you need to determine the change needed by measuring the exact length of the audio tracks between two points near the beginning and end. Once you know them you can compute the ratio and apply that.

We use Red Giant's PluralEyes software to achieve this task. This software is one of our most important tools and we love it. It makes the sync between a lots of video clips and a lots of different audio tracks a really really easy tasks. You just drop your videos there and then your audios, press sync button and it syncs all automagically! Also it creates a timeline that you can import into premiere pro. It's perfect.

This isn't really answering the question. The problem is not getting them in synch, but keeping them in synch because they play back at slightly different rates. BTW did you know that premiere can synch separate audio streams without plugins? http://adobe.ly/1E4Ros2


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Automatically speed up video portions with no voice
I have recorded some video tutorials for our programming team. These consist of "live coding" exercises; basically, videos of me coding stuff. Thus, the video track is a screencast, and the audio track is consists of either my voice, or long periods of silence and/or clacking keys.
What I would like to do is to automatically speed up the silent and key-clacky portions of the video, while leaving the parts with voice intact. Unfortunately, I am a video editing novice. So, is there some well-known way to do that ? If not, is there some Python library (or C#/Java library even, I'm not married to Python) that can get me at least part of the way there ?

This question on super user may help you. http://superuser.com/questions/818342/strip-motion-events-from-file

@kazanaki - I edited your comment a bit.  While the question linked may be helpful, for purposes of duplicates, the same question coming up on multiple sites isn't considered a duplicate unless the same OP posts both.  Basically the expectation is that an OP identify the best place to ask and ask it there, however it is not expected that someone search all the SE sites for their question before posting where they think is best.

Yes, I understand what you are saying.

It might be possible through scene detection if your editor of choice allows for scene detection based on sound.  Alternately, since you are obviously handy with code, you could use a video editing library to write a program that would look for a threshold audio level to be exceeded and look for any long periods of time with no such peaks.  You could then apply speed changes between those timestamps.
The actual coding of something like that is really more of a programing question than a video production question, but it should be technically possible using that kind of a technique.  I'd recommend looking at libav or one of the similar types of windows libraries for manipulating AV files.


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Panasonic DMC Gf6 w/HDMI output: can I connect directly to Mac Mini w/o converter?
Trying to figure out whether I can live stream a music performance at StageIt, Ustream, Livestream, etc. without buying any new hardware. Here's what I've got:

Panasonic DMC GF6 camera w/HDMI and Mini USB out (http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/digital-cameras/compact-system-cameras/52987/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gf6-review)
2012 Mac Mini w/HDMI, Thunderbolt, and 4xUSB connections

Is it absolutely necessary to have a hardware converter in the chain, or is there software (ManyCam, FMLE) that will handle that for me?
Very confused by conflicting info elsewhere on the net, so hoping someone here has an answer. Thx!

Mac Mini does not have HDMI input.
GF6 has no video output through USB.

You need extra hardware, probably one of the cheapest adapters for this is the blackmagic ultrastudio mini recorder which does hdmi - thunderbolt.

But since the question was asked may 2015, I guess the OP found a solution anyways :)


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Maintaining thumbnails in Premiere CC
When I open a bin containing video files in Premiere CC on a Mac, if I want to view the video files as thumbnails, I have to wait quite a few seconds every time.  Is there a setting so that I can cache these thumbnail views somewhere?

Have you tried using proxies for large video files?

Allocate as much RAM to Premiere as possible (in the settings), and, as Kazanaki suggested, learn to use proxies (lower resolution copies of your master files).


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Is there an automated process to split a video into sections with motion?
I have some video files with a reasonably static background and the occasional movement in the scene.  I would like to edit down the footage to just the sections with movement in.  As there are several hours of footage I would rather not do it by hand.
I hoped to find a script or utility that I could pipe the media into and get segments with motion out the other side.  My limited searching has not suggested anything that could do this, unless I can get VLC to use its motion filter somehow to tag things.
I would rather use a free or FOS system, as I am cheap.  If that is not an option then I will consider paying.  I am happy for the software to be Windows or Linux based.  I would rather not dump all the frames as stills, run a diff and re-encode but if that is the only way then I can probably work with that.  I can do coding in C, C++, Ruby and a couple of other scripting languages if pushed.  I don't mind spending a bit of time to write something if nothing is available and others might find it helpful.  I don't have a background in media processing though, so although I understand the concepts I would be rather lost at picking libraries to use as a starting point and so on.
Video is of a bird feeder with a hedge and fence behind it.  There is some slow shadow travel as the sun moves but otherwise the background seems stable.  I think about 5% of the frame will be filled by the movement I need to pick up on.  I only mention that because I have setup ZoneMinder motion capture in the past so I am familiar with its filter settings.
Even if someone cannot give me a complete answer, I would be grateful to some hints, suggestions and keywords that help me carry this forward.

I would start by researching opencv. Perhaps there is an open-source application that uses it and already does what you want.

Also I think that imageMagick can process video and it includes a diff function that compares too images. Perhaps you can instruct to discard frames where the diff is 0 and keep frames when there is an actual difference

Bit of clicking though lead to something helpful sounding "Look here in order to find use on your video stream algorithms like: motion extraction..." http://docs.opencv.org/doc/tutorials/video/table_of_content_video/table_of_content_video.html#table-of-content-video
Sadly it seems there is no tutorial there yet.  I'll see about either finding or setting something up with OpenCV though, then maybe add some notes there.  Thank you for the suggestion.

I have not tested it, but i believe that it would be possible to do it with select scene change filter of ffmpeg. You can try something like:
ffmpeg -i input.ext -filter:v "select=gt(scene\,0.2)" -c:v copy output.ext

Note that you need to escape the comma, even though the value is in quotes. The second parameter is what you need to play with to determine what you consider to be 'motion'.
I got the idea from: https://www.bogotobogo.com/FFMpeg/ffmpeg_thumbnails_select_scene_iframe.php

There is a similar question in stack overflow
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28320004/detect-if-video-file-contains-movement
Apart from OpenCV they also suggest SimpleCV http://simplecv.org/
and "Motion" http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/bin/view/Motion/WebHome

If you add a downvote, at least add a comment on why. Otherwise how can I improve this answer?


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sofware to anim .stl before importing movie in after effect cs5
im looking for a software (free ideally) and user friendly to be able to import .stl format and anim them,then import them in after effect to add logo, typo and other stuff. Now im using open slipper to convert .stl in .3ds, then passing in photoshop to create a 3d layer so that i can import them in after effect cs5 to anim them and adding others elements (logo, typo ext). but photoshop crash often on some piece that i import in 3d layer, and anim the 3d objects in after effect to really easy.
tks

Why not using Blender OR export it as .obj to import it in after effects with Element 3d?

i  tried using blender then export .3ds and make a 3d layer in photoshop then import in efter effect but very often photoshop crash :( have looked for element 3d but a little expensive. Im trying cheetah now and i think it is ok then save .mov to put in after effect to continu to assembeland finish animation. Best solution i found for now. Tks a lot

Why not converting your comment into an answer?


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At what resolution can the 5D Mark 2 record at least over a minute of ML RAW video at 24 fps?
Adding to this, assuming all of this is being done on a 32GB 120MB/S SandDisk card, how many minutes would it take before the entire card is filled up?

You'd get way more input from a ML forum. Try http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?board=49.0 for lots of chat about RAW.


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Converting VOB to mp4 (h264) using ffmpeg results in a different length (bya few frames)
I have a VOB file that I want to convert to h264 using x264. I used:
ffmpeg -i 01.VOB -f mp4  -c:v libx264  -profile:v baseline -crf 17  -c:a toolame -vbr 3  prehratelne.mp4

which gave me this:
Input #0, mpeg, from '01.VOB':
  Duration: 01:22:01.44, start: 0.360000, bitrate: 6395 kb/s
    Stream #0:0[0x1bf]: Data: dvd_nav_packet
    Stream #0:1[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m/bt470bg/bt470bg), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], max. 7700 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
    Stream #0:2[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s
[libx264 @ 0x1567ae0] using SAR=64/45
[libx264 @ 0x1567ae0] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX
[libx264 @ 0x1567ae0] profile Constrained Baseline, level 3.0
[libx264 @ 0x1567ae0] 264 - core 142 r2495 6a301b6 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2014 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=0 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x1:0x111 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=0 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=12 lookahead_threads=2 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=0 weightp=0 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=17.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to 'a.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf56.15.102
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], q=-1--1, 25 fps, 12800 tbn, 25 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.13.100 libx264
    Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (libmp3lame) (i[0][0][0] / 0x0069), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.13.100 libmp3lame
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:0 (mpeg2video (native) -> h264 (libx264))
  Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  107 fps=0.0 q=22.0 size=     379kB time=00:00:03.91 bitrate= 794.0kbits/frame=  178 fps=178 q=22.0 size=     773kB time=00:00:06.64 bitrate= 952.7kbits/frame=  247 fps=164 q=22.0 size=    1131kB time=00:00:09.45 bitrate= 979.9kbits/frame=  289 fps=139 q=-1.0 Lsize=    1620kB time=00:00:11.56 bitrate=1148.3kbits/s
video:1569kB audio:45kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.425711%

However, the resulting files have a difference in length and start of about 80 miliseconds:
ffmpeg -i *.VOB 2>&1 | grep Duration
  Duration: 01:22:01.44, start: 0.360000, bitrate: 6395 kb/s
ffmpeg -i prehratelne.mp4 2>&1 | grep Duration
  Duration: 01:22:01.53, start: 0.023021, bitrate: 4737 kb/s

Why is that, can it be somehow fixed? Ideally, I would have files that correspond frame by frame.

I can't tell you what's happening, but I can say that you're never going to get files that match "frame by frame" because neither codec stores individual frames. Instead they store interframe information with a complete keyframe every so often. The exact number and spacing of these will differ between codecs and will vary with the parameters you choose.


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Getting a transparent image from a bmp with alpha
sorry if this sounds a little off topic but it actually has to do with video editing. I made once a logo image as a transparent png to use in virtualdub but since virtualdub logo plugin doesnt allow png I had to convert it to PNG and make an alpha image to use along with it in order to make it look transparent on the video.
Now I need that original image but I lost it and I have only the 2 BMPs. Is there any way to get a transparent png out of those?
Thank you.

You can do it in Photoshop. See the selected answer here: http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/2231/how-to-create-alpha-mask-from-an-image-in-photoshop-cs-8

Welcome Cain :) Please start with the tour: http://video.stackexchange.com/tour. First bmp is alpha channel only (black and white) and the second is rgb?

Both are black and white actually. Its a gray logo with 50% of opacity so one of the BMPs has the logo with a white background whereas the other one has it on a black one.


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fps changes during the record
I recorded myself using my LG G3 smartphone. Now I see that one video is 28.97 fps, another video is 28.81 fps according to the QuickTime Player stats.
When I edit the videos in Premiere, the sound sometimes don't match to the video and when I sync the audio and the video, it loses the sync again after a while.
Is it possible that the fps is changing during the record?

It is possible that the device is dropping frames when recording. If there are a lot of apps running or the device is running low on memory. I would try rebooting the phone then try to record video and see if you experience the same problem.


text:
SD Card - GoPro Hero HD
I have seen a lot of comparison about which microSD card I should take if I own a GoPro Hero 3/4 but none of thoses articles mension the original GoPro HD.
So is it worth buying an expensive one (30-40€ - 32 Go) or just a normal one (class 10 etc... at 16-20€ - 32 Go) is perfectly enough for filming in 1080p without having any downgrade in quality.
Thank you in advance :)
PS : I know there is a list of SD cards on GoPro website, but they may link overpriced SD card for the Original HD, that's what my question is about :)

You shouldn't notice in major downgrades in quality from a slower card (which I'm assuming is the main difference between the "expensive" cards and "normal" cards you mention). Higher speeds are required for newer cameras (like the more recent GoPros) that shoot in a much higher resolution and/or frame rate that need to be able to write a lot of information very quickly to the card. You should be more than fine with a class 10 card for the original GoPro HD.


text:
How can I overlap content in Windows Movie Maker?
Say I want to overlap another video on top of the one already playing. How do I do this? There seems to be no option to do so in the actual menus.

There's no native support for any sort of "Picture-in-Picture" functionality in Windows Movie Maker, so unfortunately, what you are asking cannot be done in WMM.


text:
Quick way to view previous clip in Premiere's Source window?
Sometimes I'm viewing a clip in the Source window, in Premiere.  Then I open a different clip in the Source window.  Is there a way to quickly get back to the previous clip, without having to burrow through the Project folders again?

I just found it by accident. Hit shift2 to go to the source viewer window, and hit it again to cycle through the previously opened clips. There's no display to tell you which clips are in the queue, other than right-clicking on the viewer tab, and the order seems to be alphabetical rather than chronological, so you might have to hit the shortcut a number of times.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Premiere doesn't have the capability you described.
The only way I know to make searching through the project folders a bit easier is to use Prelude (assuming you have access to it as a part of Creative Cloud) to rename all your files easily. Prelude can add an incrementing number to the front or back of the name of each clip, which can make it easier to find out which clip you just viewed (if you're watching Clip 005, then Clip 004 was the one before it).


text:
How to edit my video with iMoviewithout losing original dimensions
This may be the simplest question because I am very new in video editing. Basically I have a video of 640x1080 dimension (I recorded iPhone 6 screen with QuickTime). To I just want to add some text and sound to it. I know how to do the jobs; however, the problem is, when I created a new project in iMovie, I can only choose project of size 4:3 or 16:9. After importing, editing my video, and exporting, I will have a video with black borders at 2 sides. How can I preserve the original dimension?

1080x640 does not match with 4:3 or 16:9. If there is no option to set a custom ratio, (27:16 in your case), try another tool or crop the video, depends on what do you want to achieve.

iMovie does not support any aspect ratios besides 4:3 and 16:9.


text:
Close aperture on Canon 1100D
I have a Canon 1100D and a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Seems like the camera insists on shooting at default aperture, but I won't have it, since that results in a mostly blurred video. How can I adjust the aperture?

Yes you can, I would consider looking in the manual for your Canon 1100D

It looks like the manual is available here.

Okay, so it turns out that the shutter change is automatic depending on the amount of light available. You cannot alter the shutter manually. What this means in practical terms is that, with room lightning you are 99% guaranteed that you're shooting wide open, which just blurs everything and makes the video mode pretty much unusable. Thanks Canon.

In M mode, you can change the aperture.

Blurriness is also affected by focus.
Apart from the aperture make sure that you have focused on your subject. (Again read the manual on how to do this)


text:
Editing objects out of a video
Whilst filming a flypast, a stray piece of material flew onto my camera, wrapping around the lens, and appearing in some frames.
Can this string be edited out of the video?
(I can sort the audio etc... as I made a separate recording of the audio. It's just editing out the string I am bothered about)
Many thanks.

Generally, this will be very difficult. Can you add a screenshot?

https://youtu.be/gGQuwj_Sl_8
You'll see it in this video.

You mean the hairs and clothes (I.e. 01:23 - 01:30), right?

In relatively static scenes it's not too tough (just tedious) to either paint out the offender or 'clone brush' using nearby frames. When you have fast motion it gets more difficult. In any case it's usually a frame-by-frame process a la rotoscoping.
If you have a budget, investigate the plugins variously called wire-removal, rig-removal, 'no-strings' etc. which can help automate this.


text:
Move mask inside precomposition in After Effects?
I have a movie in after effects. I created a color key, applied a simple choker and then added a mask.
When I move the mask point, it is offset by the simple choker value - so I thought I would precompose the whole thing, so I can apply a second mask that isn't affected by the simple choker.
However, when I do that - the mask that was applied to the movie is not moved "inside" the precomp. It gets moved outside the precomp, and is still affected by the simple choker.
How do I solve this?

So, it was a simple thing:
Instead of "Leave all attributes" when pre-composing, I needed to switch to "Move all attributes".


text:
Popularity of Alexa?
Can anyone explain the reason behind the Alexa's immense popularity among feature films? I see that it is the significant favorite over the Red Epic which is its closest competitor. Why is this? Is is the brand name? Please excuse my technical ignorance but doesn't the red epic dragon shoot 6K and the Alexa 3.2K? Shouldn't this just make the Red epic dragon the go-to camera rather than the Alexa?

I like your question, but it is primarily opinion-based, might be better to rephrase it, because the answer is a mix of personal preferences and especially requirements on the project. The sum of all is crucial for the frequent use of Alexa's, further resolution has nothing to do with quality.

Please elaborate on why resolution has nothing to do with quality.

That's another question ;) In short: you can buy a trillion megapixel camera, but the quality of an image is determined by several other things, like: the quality of the sensor (noise, dynamic range), the sensor size, the sensitivity of the sensor in low light situations, the image processor, the range of lenses you can use and so on... See: http://lifehacker.com/5912356/what-specs-actually-matter-in-a-digital-camera - It's photography only, but a solid start to dive in :)


text:
Parent a Position X from Particular World to it's own transform xPosition
I have a layer called Blue.
I applied CC Particular World to a ShapeLayer with an animated separated X Position (with 3 keyframes).
The thing is that the effect doesn't move along with the shape.
So either I animate the Producer features "Position X" with keyframes or I would parent this feature to xPosition.
I just don't know if this is possible and if so how?
I invented this script...
    thisComp.layer("Blue").effect("CC Particle World")("Position X").transform("xPosition")

it results in error!
Thank you for your help.
H.

There's no property called xPosition, and transform is a property of a layer, not a method, but you're on the right track. The expression has to return an array of two values [x, y], and the components of the position are stored in an array like that too. The expression you want — if you're applying it to the layer position property — is this:
xpos=thisComp.layer("Blue").effect("CC Particle World")("Position X");
ypos=transform.position[1];
[xpos, ypos]

That will apply the value of the Position X property of the effect to the X position of the layer, and the current Y value of the layer to the Y.
If you're trying to use the layer's X position on the effect's Position X property then you need to use:
thisComp.layer("Blue").transform.position[0]

you only need one value for this property.

Pro Tip a great way to learn how properties are accessed in expressions, as well as being a super quick and typo-free way of
  creating them is to use the pickwhip. Next to the expression box
  you'll see a curly icon. Click that and drag it to the property you
  want to reference in your expression. So in the second case you could
  drag it to the number for the X value of the layer's position and it
  would give you the correct syntax for accessing it.

A good place to learn more about expressions is Dan Ebbert's page: http://motionscript.com/

You're welcome, here is the meta: http://meta.video.stackexchange.com/questions/1449/syntax-highlighting, I hope we get a detailed explanation soon.


text:
How to display a video on different wall sections only?
Here's the thing:
We wish to display the same browser window (with 3 html5 canvas), on a wall, however, it needs to be masket only on certain points of that wall.
So, in between the wall, there will be some objects that we wish NOT to have the projector to project, like so:
------------------------------ WALL --------------------------
|(canvas1)| real flower |(canvas2)| real flower |(canvas3)|
We can connect a PC, with a graphic card with 3 outputs, OR we can have 3 graphic cards, with 3 projectors, and perhaps that will work but, does anyone know a way for doing this otherwise? For example, using one single projector?
Thank you in advance

Are these showing 3 different/separate HTML5 canvases, or 1 canvas shown 3 times?

With even the most simple projector, if part of the image is black, then nothing will be projected at that point, so why not set up your image to be:

|(canvas1)| blank space |(canvas2)| blank space |(canvas3)|

Deciding whether that space should be black, white or some other colour is down to you - do you want your real flowers lit? If so, make it a white space


text:
Merge a Premiere-Elements project into another project
I want to create reusable video projects and merge them with other projects. For example - create an ending with a copyright notice, a website url, and some more information, and then use that as the ending for multiple videos.
Of course this can be done by simply merging the video output (as I've seen suggested on several threads), but that would reduce the quality. Is there any way to merge a project into another project so as to preserve the quality?

I'm not sure if that can be done in Premiere Elements. In Premiere Pro, you can import sequences from other projects, which would accomplish what you're asking for, but as far as I know, you can't do that in Premiere Elements.

You can render the ending with a lossless format (e.g. Animation/PNG) and then just append that to all your other videos.

I've done this your way... ...Trying to recreate video from assets is like trying to run through a line at the DMV or an IRS counter, and it's always audit season, or two days after the day with the most births 16 years ago (kids drive at 16 here).
Here's what I did to stop that:

Create a project with all my most reused content and save that in a file.  Lock this file as READ ONLY.  You can unlock it when you want to make changes.
When you are building the rest of your content, start from the read only, then save as... ...and build a file for your new project from that.
For less used content, get a large RAID storage with rapid access, and a BDXL burner.  Store your content in fullest format on the RAID, then burn it to the BDXL in file mode, and burn 3 of them.  Put them in plastic out of the sunlight, in a temp-controlled safe or file cabinet area, with a sticker label on the case only.  When you need the data again, RAID will do for a storage block.  Older RAID will work ok for 720 video speeds, but newer with even cheap ssd will work far better for the larger video and frame\data rates.
Keep the most used data and a copy of the project template it goes with together wherever you place them.  Personally, I have a drive hooked to a router, that houses a templates and folders for audio only, video only, or both.  The files kept here are the lower quality proxies.  They correspond by filename to the larger quality videos I keep on BDXL.


text:
Cut Video Clips Per Transcription Line
I have hundreds of high quality films with transcriptions that need to be cut into short video clips per transcription line.
So I need one video clip per one transcription line.
Example:

video_clip_home_0023.mp4
video_clip_home_0023.srt

It would be even better to also have an image thumbnail for each clip.
What would be the best way to do it?

"best" is not a useful phrase - it will depend on what tools you have at your disposal. What editing tools do you have?


text:
Is it possible to create a hybrid Dvd/Bluray?
I'm am doing a short Product demo for our company, intended as a give-away on Dvd (for the moment only burned Discs, no pressed ones).
The whole filming and editing is done in 1080p and since the video is less than 10 minutes long, I wondered whether it's possible to author a hybrid type of disc? I am aware that there exists a thing called "hybrid bluray/dvd" from Pony/Canon which basically consists of two entirely separated disc-structures on different layers (see here) however, that is not what I am looking for.
I try to find out if a disc-structure can be created where the DVD "VIDEO_TS"-folder is on the same UDF-filesystem as the "AVCHD"-Bluray folder. When the Disc is inserted in a DVD-Player, it just ignores the Bluray-content. The tricky bit probably is to get a Bluray-player to read the HD-content rather than to fall back into DVD-compatibility mode, I guess.
Does anybody know of such a technology and possibly how this can be achieved?
Thanks!

Would it work to put the HD video into DVD VOBs, and have a menu to choose SD vs. HD? (dvd players would crash if you selected the HD menu entry, since they'd then try to read a VOB containing HD h.264, or HD mpeg2).  Apparently PC players at least can play HD video in a DVD structure.

No it is not possible to create a hybrid DVD/Blu-Ray disk in the manner which you describe.  The reason for this is that in addition to the digital formats between the two being different the physical media is different too.  You would require a multi-layer or multi-sided disk such as the one you linked to and different digital data on each side.
DVD players read DVDs using a certain frequency of light and a set spacing between the track grooves (it really is laid out kind of like the grooves on an old phonograph record but microscopic).  BluRay players and disks use a different frequency of light and closer spaced grooves.  Initially this meant it was necessary to have separate laser systems for DVD and BlueRay in any combined player.  More recently optical systems were developed that could work for either format and made combined drives much cheaper to produce on mass.
I'd suggest the cheapest way would be to get a writable BlueRay and try gluing a writeable DVD to the back of it.  You would need quite thin disks to do this though as they would not fit inside standard drives.  Buying a combined DVD and BluRay disk (and writer?) is the best way to go.

You can author a Bluray structure and write it to a DVD, and most bluray players will "mistake" it for a Bluray and play it nicely.
A DVD player though, will not be able to make any sense of it.


text:
Is it possible to capture the screen (video) with Movie Studio Platinum 13?
Is it possible to capture the screen (video) with Movie Studio Platinum 13 ?
if yes , where do I do that ?

No, it's not possible.
Look here: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/5270/software-to-capture-high-quality-screen-casts


text:
How to create a seamless loop in AE without a dissolve or crossfade?
I am a beginner AE user and a much more proficient Ps user.  Can I somehow duplicate the comp and lower opacity of the top one and move the bottom one on the timeline to manually line up frames so that I can find a great start and end of the loop ( these are videos of people for example)?  I am willing to go any extra mile so that there is no "jump" whatsoever.  Can I use a transform tool to line them up?  I just have no idea how to do this and would love some advice.  I would think there would be a tried and true way to create a true seamless loop with no jump whatsoever or evidence of a cross fade?
Thank you for taking the time to answer!  Lisa

an example of the frames you're using would help us to answer

It would entirely depend on the content of the shot whether you get a seamless loop or not. Unless you want to ping-pong the shot backwards and forwards.


text:
Saving/renaming a project and preview files
If I save Adobe Premier Pro (CS6) projects under different names as I go along to mark my progress, are the preview files in the associated folder no longer used?
For example, if I save a project as: "video v1.prj", and then render some video in the edit window, and then save it under a different name as "video v2.prj" does premier use any pre-rendered files in the old directories?  Or can I delete those pre-rendered files if I'm no longer using that version of the project without causing any data loss other than any pre-rendering for that particular project version?

If you rename a project it continues to link to the old preview files. Any new preview files Premiere creates are saved in a new folder with the updated project name. So you'd be using media from two different folders at that point.
If you delete the old preview files then Premiere will just re-render them when needed.
I tested this by creating a project called test, adding some clips and applying effects and rendering. Render files were created on my scratch disk in a folder called test.PRV. Then I saved the project as test-rename. When I closed and reopened it the clips I had rendered still had the green bar above them, and played back fine, though at this point there was no test-rename.PRV folder in my preview folders.
If I moved the original render file from the test.PRV folder and re-opened the test-rename project the bar went red. When I rendered it the resulting file was saved in a new test-rename.PRV folder. QED.
Note that Premiere gets confused if you remove the render files while the project is open. It doesn't realise that the preview files are missing, and behaves erratically.

I just want to add that you can re-link rendered preview files as well. At least with premiere pro cc, when I delete the folder with the preview files and then open the project, it prompts me to re-link the preview files just like missing media. Not sure if this applies to cs6 as well though


text:
Can you edit Apple ProRes in iMovie '11?
I have an older Mac Pro, and I am not able to run Final Cut Pro X because of graphics card limitations.  However, because I have it installed, it seems like the codecs are present that are required for iMovie.
We are capturing video on a Hyperdeck Studio Pro 2 and using the Apple ProRes encoding.
Currently I can do an import, and iMovie will import the file. However, this takes so long that I can only assume it is converting the ProRes file into something else, and it's very disruptive to the workflow.
Besides the massive wait time to import the files, iMovie seems fine for our editing process, which involves trimming the video, adding an intro slide at the beginning, and exporting to Vimeo.
Is there some way in iMovie to edit the ProRes file directly so that I can skip the import step?  I feel like I should just be able to open it in iMovie, and start editing right away.


text:
H.264 encoding in PowerDirector 10
I want to make videos for youtube, and I want to encode my videos in MPEG-4, but the PowerDirector 10 says that I need to activate the video codification by hardware and I activated it in the preferences, but I can't activate it in the produce tab. I searched how to solve this and I didn't find anything useful. I downloaded K-lite mega codec pack and I downloaded the VLC H264 encoder, but i can't install the VLC H264 because I dont know how and I didn't find any tutorials about this.
So if someone could help me, I would appreciate.
NOTE: I don't know much about these codecs and stuff, but im not a noob at PC.

I think MeGUI is supposed to be a good front-end for x264 encoding.  (x264 is the same h.264 encoder that VLC uses.)
I don't know anything about powerdirector, so all I can say is that x264 is the best h.264 encoder (best quality vs. bitrate vs. cpu time tradeoff), and it's free.  It's what you should use to make files for upload to youtube.  (Use lots of bitrate, because youtube will decode and re-encode your video regardless of what you do.)


text:
Old layer shows up when playing the timeline without video
A while ago I made a short test animation. It was a red circle on a white background. Every time I create a new project or composition, there is always a picture of that red circle. The only time it doesn't show is when the video I am trying to edit is playing. I tried resetting my preferences and that didn't help.

I think we need more information on this. You mention that there is a "picture of that red circle". Can you attach screenshots or be more specific as to where the picture is?

@JohnBarton I don't know what happened but it's gone now. Thank you still for trying to help me!


text:
Transcoding AVCHD To Something That Isn't Choppy In Adobe Premiere Pro CS6
I'm recording with a Sony camera that records with the AVCHD codec. Unfortunately, as others have also observed, this format is choppy when trying to edit in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
What is the best codec to transcode to that will ensure the highest quality video with no choppiness in the editor?

What you can do is create an "offline" version of your footage, and then once the edit is complete do an "online".
Pick a codec that is good to edit in, e.g all I-frame mpeg, or proRes / DNxHD or even HDV. The quality isn't actually too important, because before you make your master you delete the transcoded copies, and re-link to your camera footage. Then you can master off the original footage with zero quality loss.
If that doesn't work for you, then the first three codecs I mentioned will be an acceptable compromise. ProRes and DNxHD have the advantage of greater colour depth, at the cost of greater storage size, though since AVCHD is only 8-bit to start off with the advantage might be negligible. Whatever you choose, you want something that is all I-frame for editing.


text:
VOB editing with FFMPEG
I read that it is better to extract from vob H264 files within a .ts to have a lossless and more accurate sample, easy to cut, is that correct ?
I used these commands :
ffmpeg -i VTS_01_1.VOB  -acodec libfaac -aq 100 -ac 2 -vol 2048 -vcodec libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 18 -threads 2 manu1.mp4

ffmpeg -i manu1.mp4 -c copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -f mpegts intermediate1.ts

I did extract two video samples from the intermediate .ts file with that kind of command :
ffmpeg -ss 43 -i intermediate1.ts -vcodec copy -vframes 1400 -acodec copy 1-manubus.ts

if I play separately this .ts files in vlc, they are both completely decoded, no frames are missing
Finalization :
ffmpeg -analyzeduration 200M -probesize 150M -i "concat:1-manubus.ts|2-manuchoisit.ts" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc -force_key_frames 0 1990-Manu_Redpants.mp4

But then, When I play the final file, the first 6 sec are a frozen frame and then comes the audio and video streams perfectly synchro until the end. If I play the first part 1-manubus.ts, the 6 first seconds exists and are not missing, what's happening ? Something related to first frame not being the I-frames ?

Please include the complete console output from each command.

In the first step you are doing a lossy conversion, you transcode from vob to mp4, and then to ts. For a lossless re-mux you should just re-mux, better to specify both video and audio:
ffmpeg -i VTS_01_1.VOB -c:v copy -c:a copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -f mpegts intermediate1.ts

However, if you re-mux for the purpose of slicing then you should be aware that with this method it is possible only on exact keyframe boundary, so you might want to reconsider whether you want to do it this way. For a detailed explanation please see in this answer.

After reading your interesting article link, and as I want to precisely cut the extracts, my understanding is that I should have placed -ss after the -i input_file.mp4, and this will be particulary slow, do you confirm ?

Yes, transcoding requires more time and also some quality loss, but gives you better control on the result. If you want a precise cut you should operate on the original VOB file, placing the -ss and -t before the output file (in your case it looks the same as placing after the input file, but to be precise we want the skipping to be done while producing the output). You should generate TS files, so that you don't transcode during concatenation. Once you have all you segments you can merge them and mux the merged movie into the final mp4 without any additional transcoding.

You'll get better results (avoiding timestamp / av-sync glitches) by using DVD tools to get a .ts from a collection of .VOB/.IFO files.  Like mplayer -dumpfile title1.ts  -dvd-device /path/to/the/dir dvd://1 I think.  I forget what command I used to use for this.  >.<

I found the command I've used before for dumping a .ts for a DVD title: tccat, from the transcode package.  Should be equivalent to anything else that knows about dvd structures, and isn't just accessing the VOBs directly.

I finally made it work in splicing directly the VOB files with the commands below :
ffmpeg -i VTS_01_2.VOB -ss 463 -c copy -vframes 325 2-manuchoisit.vob

ffmpeg -i VTS_01_2.VOB -ss 353 -t 16 -c copy 3-manutombe.vob

and then concat the extracts and convert with
ffmpeg -analyzeduration 200M -probesize 150M -i "concat:1-manubus.vob|2-manuchoisit.vob|3-manutombe.vob" -vcodec libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 18 -acodec libfaac -aq 100 -ac 2 -vol 2048 1990-Manu_Redpants.mp4

No frames lost, precise cuts.


text:
Is there an existing video format that records per-frame metadata?
I wish to stream a video with dynamic metadata. I know I could just steam the video and metadata separately, but ideally I'd like them to be bound permanently.
Is there an existing protocol / encoding / format that does this? I could store the data in each frame using steganography, but this is not an ideal solution and is rather hacky.

If the frame-rate is not too high and you can associate a frame with a precise timestamp then the easiest would be to add the metadata as textual subtitles.
The other option is to mux the metadata as standard headers in .mp4 or similar container format. .mp4 can be broken down into multiple fragments, each one with its own header, and theoretically this can be done per frame. However, doing that for more than a few frames is extremely inefficient in terms of file size and performance. A variation of this method would be to extract every frame as an image (e.g. JEPG), and set its metadata.
Yet another option is to use stenography without any hacking, you just encode the metadata into a separate stream which is timestamp-synced with the main video stream. Most modern container formats, including .mp4, can accommodate multiple video streams in the same container (e.g., you can label the encoded metadata stream as the same content but in another language).

Subtitle streams is what I was thinking of, too.  Make sure you flag it as non-default, or add an empty subtitle stream as the first sub stream, so players that aren't aware of your custom sub format don't display it as text.

ffmpeg distinguishes between subtitle and other data streams.  e.g. there's stuff like RTP metadata in some video files, and it's a separate metadata stream in the mp4 container.  So depending on what you need, you might be able to just use a custom data stream muxed in mp4 or mkv.

I'm not sure how this fits into a streaming strategy, but the DPX file format includes per-frame metadata (potentially a great deal of it). This Wikipedia article has the basic info.
I'm also not clear on what you mean by 'bound permanently'. In the AVI file container the "I" stands for "Interleaved", where video and audio packets (roughly) alternate in the file. This is true for almost all container formats. The streams can be separated, but they natively co-exist in one meta-stream.


text:
Chroma key with cropped video on top and background images/videos with alpha blending
Check the following screenshot to understand what's my goal:

I can't figure out how can I crop chroma key-recorded video, use a blend effect to make the chroma key part absolutely transparent (excepting me!), and then let the background layers (either video and images) fill the transparent part.


text:
How to move/remove/join adjacent Blade Speed points in FCPX
So, the Blade Speed retiming tool in FCPX is half-awesome.
But once I have put a blade marker in I can't work out how to:

remove it (apart from immediate undo, i.e. later on)
move its position in relation to the src clip, i.e. I put the blade point in the wrong place, I want to move it without adjusting the retiming either side of the point
join adjacent retimed segments... related to above, if I put in a new blade point in the correct position I can't remove the wrong one (1) or see a way to join/merge the adjacent retiming segments

Partial answer...
I still don't know how to remove a single blade speed point.  It is possible to remove all speed points for a clip by selecting the clip and choosing a new speed (eg Normal 100%) from the Retiming menu.
I still don't know how to join adjacent segments (kind of same thing as above).
Found out how to move the blade speed point relative to the clip itself without retiming:

double-click the blade speed centre handle and click the 'Edit' button

You get this icon you can drag in the timeline:

(classic bit of Apple "hidden UI" gotcha)
If you are zoomed in and you have a big speed differential either side of the centre point then it may not be at all obvious that you really are moving the src frame (fooled me before) because the preview changes are complex. But with Normal speed both sides it is clear this does what I wanted.

For #3 of your question, I could find some relevant info at apple support page.
To remove a through edit, do one of the following:

Select either or both sides of the through edit point, and choose Trim > Join Clips (or press Delete).
Select the clips on both sides of the through edit, and choose Trim > Join Clips.

I was recently having a lot of trouble with rejoining retimed segments, but the solution that came to me seemed a little too obvious to actually be the recommended way of doing this.
It seems, however, that if you simply select a range that contains both retimed segments, and set a new speed for both of them, you can quickly "join" them, effectively removing the marking made when blading the speed originally.
That said, being able to quickly select more than one speed segments would make this much more practical if you had to do it often.


text:
How to get a better quality diagonal line from Flash to YouTube?
I'm working on a video incorporating Flash animation into Premiere Pro to then upload to YouTube. When I upload it to YouTube however the diagonal lines are terribly distorted:
Youtube:

Flash:

What should I be checking for either in Flash or Premiere to ensure those lines are crisp when published on YouTube?

What you're probably seeing there is an artefact of chroma subsampling. Youtube videos are usually compressed as h.264 with 4:2:0 subsampling. What this means is that colour is sampled at a quarter of the resolution of brightness. A workaround would be to use a less saturated red.

@stib using HSL in Flash I lowered Saturation to 80% on the red, it helped a decent amount. Might try lowering it a bit more to find a sweet spot. If you want to leave that as an answer then I'll mark it correct.

Lowering it to 60% while not as vibrant as I might like completely fixes the distortion. Thanks!


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Cannot Grab Graph Editor Handles Intermittently in After Effects
On my desktop version of After Effects (not Laptop) I can only sometimes grab handles and béziers—clicking and dragging sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Usually I keep trying until something happens or select other points and go back to the one I wanted to edit.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gdygxqvyy58xe3w/AE.mov?dl=0
This issue seems specific to my desktop (iMac with an attached Cinema Display) as it doesn't happen on my Laptop (a Macbook Pro). The After Effects file is the same file between the two platforms.

For me it sounds more like a bug, if this doesn't happen on your laptop. Might be better to send a bug report to adobe.

@poor I did send it along to Adobe as a bug too but I'm not expecting much in return. Thought I'd post it here in hope of finding someone else who has come across this.

Of course, but it's always good to send a bug report :) good luck!


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Changing acceleration of animation path
I'm sorry if this question has been asked before but the search showed up nill for me. It could be I'm wording this wrong to be honest but I appreciate and help.
Essentially I have a shape that I have moving from one side of the screen to the other but instead of the animation moving at a linear speed, I want it to have an acceleration aspect to it (so it moves slower at first then speeds to full by the end)
Normally I do this by positioning and adding keyframes manually to make that effect, but it gets a bit time intensive. I'm wondering is there any effect or thing I can do to automatically add that in or make my life easier then doing it key frame by key frame?
I appreciate any help!

"Normally I do this by positioning and adding keyframes manually to make that effect" …really? That sounds so incredibly tredious.

Keyframe interpolation is essentially what you're looking for here. One really easy way to achieve this is by using modifying your "keyframe velocity".
This article explains it better than I could:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/speed.html


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Audium spectrum as particel emitter - After Effects
I'm playing around with audio reaction in After Effects and I'm trying to create an audio spectrum, that acts as a particle emitter. So the bars not only jump up when that frequency is present, but also emit an amount of particles representing the amount that frequency is present.
Now my question: How do I link my audio spectrum with my particle generator (I do own the Trapcode Particular suite)
Thanks, nxt191 aka Marc

Hi user3235390 :) In order to get a solid answer, please add a screenshot to clarify what exactly do you want to achieve. Something like: https://vimeo.com/24488104 ? Maybe you want to start with the tour: http://video.stackexchange.com/tour to get your first badge ;) Anyway, enjoy video.se!


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Get better focus on Canon DSLR's
I need some advises and opinions on how to get better manual focus while shooting video on Canon DSLR's ex. T2i, T3i, etc. Since these haven't got any focus indicators or anything like, like for example GH4 with focus peaking while shooting, although it is possible to get that with Magic lantern, I'm interested in native way. The problem is that you have to go from the eye and assume that focus is right, and I often find after importing videos on PC that focus is way off. How can I improve my workflow, and get better focus?

Probably the best thing you can do is get an external monitor. the electronic viewfinders on most DSLRs are too low resolution to be able to judge focus critically. Many of these monitors have built in edge peaking, or focus detection tools as well to make it even easier. Unfortunately to get a decent high resolution external monitor is going to cost the price of the camera again.

I agree with stib's idea of getting an external monitor, and I would also add that getting a follow focus system can help with focus pulling. A good system like this one will allow you to mark certain spots on the "marking disk" (it's a whiteboard-type material, so you can use dry-erase markers over and over again). I usually mark my focus points on the disk before I start shooting (the T2i and T3i both allow you to zoom in digitally to check focus when you're not recording) and then I can just make sure I move the follow focus from mark to mark to nail the focus each time. It's designed to work with cine lenses, but the one I linked to comes with an adapter for regular lenses as well.
This is a considerably cheaper method than getting an external monitor (and can result in smoother focus pulls), but requires a bit more work and a rail system.


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Put branding over tv signal
Im trying to figure out the most clean way to put custom content (being text or picture for branding) over standard tv signal for a business that want to show their logos and such in the tv´s they have in their place.
So far, the most promising solution involves taking a single source for tv to a capture device and stream it with a regular broadcaster software (something like OBS) through the internal network or to the same machine and distribute the feed over coax or whatever.
Thw downside (or upside, depending on how you look at it) of this approach is that all tvs will have the same channel on the screen, and I was looking for a way to make it more flexible and transparent, without having to actually put a computer with a capture device (maybe a Raspberry Pi + a cheap card would do the trick, but I think that´s just overkill, and really a waste of energy) in the middle of the tv and the sat/cable box.
So you know of any way to add text or image in front of a tv stream, whatever that may be that doesn´t involve what I´ve just described? Maybe a tv model that will allow to load text or bmp/jpegs/etc from a thumbstick; or a settop box, DVR, magic little device that allows to load content to put in front of the signal? It´s a pretty trivial stuff, and I´m a bit surprised I haven´t been able to find something like this.
Cheers,

Do you want unlimited, ad hoc channel selection behind the branding, or is there a small number of allowable channels? The first case requires a device at each TV, but the second case could be centrally controlled.

The first one would be ideal, but building a solution from scratch I think would be expensive. For the second case I was thinking on streaming several channels on the same way I described, it´s not what I want exactly, but would be a fair compromise, given the fact I can´t think of any other solution.

In VLC you have an overlay feature among the out-of-the-box effects (Tools->Effects and Filters->Video Effects->Overlay). The overlay can be a logo, de-logo eraser, or text. You can run VLC centrally and restream the TV channel, or you can run it in a Linux settop box and control it centrally via its internal built-in web server, via telnet, or via the Lua interface. You can also make more complex overlays such as PIP (picture in picture) but that requires some mastering of the VLC command syntax.


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Problem with external playback on Canon SX50 HS Powershot
I have a Canon SX50 HS Powershot and recently I discovered that when I play videos on my SD card on my computer using the Windows Media Player, the video quality itself is much more pixelated and tinted in darker colors. I have other videos which are much higher quality when I play them on my computer so this has raised me to ask you the question of whether or not the problem is to do with the computer itself, my camera which plays videos very high quality on its LCD screen or the SD card I use (Sandisk microSD 8Gb).

Many things could be a factor, wrong codec / no codec installed on your PC to which WMP is trying to use something else to decode the video, the spec of the PC is not enough to play the file. have you tried copying it to the HDD of the PC and playing it from there ? does it play OK in another PC or Mac ?

copy videos from card to hdd, maybe slow read cause it. 2. you cant judge by LCD screen as it is only 1megapixel. 3. try another player as VLC for example


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Best PC configuration to render Mid level Videos
I have tried so many PCs but didn't find any reasonable PC for video editing. I want to Edit video on Adobe Premiere Cs6 for which I need a good PC Can any one guide me what will be the configuration to run the Adobe Premiere Smoothly without any trouble or Slow rendering.
Thanks

There's lots of things to consider for a video editing machine, and the program you're using isn't everything, there's also what you're editing. For example, you'll benefit from a more powerful GPU for playback and rendering of high resolution files, and more ram for larger video files. That said, I have a Dell XPS 8700 with an i7-4790 processor for editing short films and some vfx and animation, and it runs fantastic, and it's only a $700 computer.
When looking at specs you'll want at least a quad-core i7 processor, at least 8GB of ram, and some kind of dedicated graphics if only something like a GT 720.
When looking at a processor, go for more cores over a faster clock. An Intel Xeon might he a good choice at the more expensive end.
RAM is easy to upgrade, so I'd start with 8GB and add more if you find yourself running out. I personally never have suffered with 8GB. Clock on the ram doesn't matter that much, just get the cheapest stuff you can.
For the GPU you want an Nvidia GPU. More CUDA cores is what you want. Baseline you've got a GT 720 or 730. A little more and you've got a GTX 750ti. Want to be the fancy kid on the block, get a GTX 960. If you really want to show off, get a GTX Titan X.


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diffculties using Manual mode with Canon DSLR 650D
Camera : Canon 650 D
I am having some difficulties while using Manual Mode.

Sometime face become so Dark as I don't know what should be the aperture.
In night shots, Grains appears if I set ISO to low it becomes dark video If i set it to High ISO Grains Appears.

So can anyone guide me what will be the global settings or anyone can differentiate about the aperture & focal length.

There is no global setting that works in all these conditions. The solution is to light properly and expose properly for the conditions. It's hard to give specific advice because you don't say what you're shooting in these low light conditions or what venue you're shooting in. Here are the general solutions:

Do you have the option to increase the lighting? If so, that's you're best bet. Note that you may not need to buy more lights - reflectors can do wonders and are very cheap.
If you can't increase the lighting, the next best thing is to open the aperture. However, that causes your depth of field to become more shallow, meaning it's harder to focus on your subject and keep them in focus, particularly if they're moving.
Decrease the shutter speed. In video, it may be called the "shutter angle" and it may be in degrees. 360° is the entire length of a single frame (1/24th, 1/30th, etc.). 180° would be half that (1/48th at 24fps, 1/60th at 30fps, etc.). You can only increase it so much, though, as a frame can't be longer than 1/30th of a second (if you're shooting 30 fps, for example), so that's the upper limit.
Increase the ISO. As you've noticed, this causes more grain in the image.
Use a camera with a better sensor for low light conditions. Since you're into Canon gear, the 5D is known for its large sensor size. In general, larger sensors (that is sensors with larger pixels) will gather more light and produce less grain. There may be cheaper options. You can rent better gear much more cheaply than buying it in most parts of the world.
Use noise reduction software in post. There are lots of plug-ins available for the major editing applications. I've seen people use Neat Video, De:Noise, and other similar products.

If you describe what you're shooting and where, we may be able to come up with more specific suggestions.


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Ultralight image stabilizer
Recently I took a video in a remote cave. Thanks to my 320 lumen headlamp there was a reasonable amount of continuous light for my DSLR, but the shaking is just too strong. The image stabilization in iMovie was not enough to smooth it out. Does anyone know of an especially small and light stabilizer? I suppose the answer is to bring a light camera, such as a GoPro, which has lighter stabilizers.
Or any other ideas about how to take stable videos while walking or crawling in a rugged cave? These are remote places, so ultralight equipment is a must.

Hello, Norbert and welcome to the Video Production SE site! I think you'll have more luck getting help if you can be a bit more specific with your question. What are your requirements? What camera are you using? What is your budget? Does it have to be a certain type of rig (there are many different types that stabilize footage in different ways)? Etc. I hope that helps a bit along the way.

Is there blurring in most frames?  (i.e. if you pause it, do most of the still frames that make up the video look ok on their own?)
If the shaking didn't blur out your image too badly, you might be able to recover something usable with ffmpeg's vid.stab filter.  It has some parameters, like speed of camera moves to not count as shake.
IDK how it compares to what iMovie has, but if your video keeps some of what you want in-frame most of the time, and isn't blurred to hell, software should be able to give you something.  (cropped to contain just the part that the camera kept in-shot for most of the frames).

Interesting. Other than the foreground, most of the frames are sharp, so I should try image stabilization on a software level some more. Once per step, probably when I set my foot down, the whole frame is blurred. iMovie doesn't seem to have any adjustable parameter, but maybe I should try ffmpeg as you suggest.


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Make FCPX forget where the old iPhoto library is
I switched to a different Photos library (on a different hard drive), and all of a sudden FCPX doesn't let me browse that library when I'm trying to import video. It instead says "Open Photos to see your photos in this list" (it's already open).
It seems FCPX still thinks I'm using the old library (some of my events/vids use clips from the old library, which are now marked as missing). How can I fix this? I'm tried uninstalling/reinstalling FCPX according to the official instructions, but no luck.


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How get a better quality of streaming?
i want to know how to improvee the performance of video streaming (in the client side), like raise the cache of the browser or use a vpn (to hide the video traffic so the isp don't do traffic shapping).
Well, feel free to edit this question to add more examples.
Thx :)

I think browsers usually don't have configurable buffer sizes for streaming.  If you can get the video URL out of the browser, you could stream with mpv or something.
mpv --cache-secs=15 http://example.org/video.mp4

mpv has several other cache-tuning options.
As far as using a VPN: your ISP still sees the traffic.  It just doesn't see that it's an HTTP request, and even deep packet inspection won't be able to tell that it's streaming video.  I think most ISPs, if they do any QoS-based traffic shaping, would prioritize streaming audio/video to prevent annoyances when realtime matters, unlike torrent downloads.  So putting your traffic inside a VPN would if anything make it worse, in most cases, I'd expect.


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Video Keywording, captioning and sorting software
I am looking for suggestions on software to help catalog my growing video library of GoPro MP4 and other (iPhone, dSLR video) files.  This software would be similar to Adobe Bridge or Lightroom - neither of which will write out XMP files for video files to make them portable.
The end result, I hope, is that when I import GoPro footage from a MTB ride where there's a crash, I'm able to keyword & describe the file so I can search the library for MTB, Crash.
I'm on Mac, but ideally the app should be cross platform with Windows.

Since you mention Adobe software, what about Prelude and Prelude Live Logger?  It's my understanding that these apps are tailored to ingest, logging, and metadata entry.

Ideal suggestion, cross platform as well.  It's an option for me that I am looking into as Creative Cloud downloads Prelude while I type this comment.  Without having run the app yet, I already know it will be much more powerful than required for the average GoPro user who just wants to keep track of footage from vacation - and not have a monthly CC membership fee to pay in order to keep track.
I'm hopeful Prelude will fit the bill for me, but for the average user, likely overkill.

The poor man's alternative is to put all the searchable words you want into the individual video's filename.  Sure, you may have super long titles, but you also get to leverage one of the most robust and fast indexing and search systems out there--that of the operating system (Spotlight, in the case of Mac).


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Hardware for exhibition video playback (long period) with timecode output
Not sure if this is the right place for such a question, but not able to find a more fitting place.
I'm looking for some solid and simple video playback hardware, for playing video continously for a long time. I'd rather not use a full computer, as experience shows that it creates more problems than a dedicated video/media player. I've previously used the Akman AMA 1080p which works great. But the problem now is that I wan't to create a secondary display (iPad or similar) that shows the remaining time of the movie being shown. So I would need some sort of signal output from the player with the current timecode of the video. Do anyone know of such a player? The output can be in any format, I can program the display solution myself. I can do this with the video played by a computer, but would rather not use this method as it's more unstable.


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What would be a good video editing computer?
Would a late (2013), retina display, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB HD, 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5, MacBook Pro be suitable for editing video?

Can you add a bit more info on what you will be editing, ie: music videos, short films, weddings etc, what NLE are you going to be using FCPX, PremierPro, Avid, etc, the more info you can provide the better we can answer the question which at this point is very vague

Suitable yes, ofcourse. Would change HD to SSD, makes your workflow much faster.
But like Adam said, be more specific to get a more specific answer.

Yes! Unless by videos you mean "hollywood style" movies. Then the answer is no.

A lot of "hollywood style" movies have been made on machines less powerfull than that. For editing you don't need a supercomputer, it's only when you start doing CGI and SFX that you really need high end specs. But you do want lots of fast storage.

Yes, it's powerful enough, even to edit features ... as long as:

you use low-resolution proxies (copies) for long projects.
you edit from an external drive with USB3 or better and not from your computer's HDD (avoid stuffing your HDD with large data files anyway).


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Will Compression/Format of Audio Change when Uploaded to YouTube?
If I have a .wav audio file, put it in a video file, say a .wmv, as, if I'm not mistaken, that format basically just uses .wav for its audio, and upload said .wmv file to YouTube, will the compression or format of that audio change?
In other words if I have a certain sequence of bytes present in the original audio file and I upload a video containing it to YouTube, if somebody downloads a copy of the isolated audio from that video, will that sequence of bytes be present? I couldn't find a definitive answer anywhere, and hoping someone on SE can help.
Again, I'm asking about only the audio, not the video.

Maybe relevant though mostly about video compression: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/5318/what-codec-will-my-youtube-uploads-be-output-in-and-what-codec-should-i-use-to-u/5715#5715
in short, yes it will ALWAYS change the audio compression/format.

Youtube generally reencodes all videos you upload to youtube to ensure compatibility across various platforms and to provide smaller versions of the videos for users with slow internet connections. So yes, both the video and the audio stream of your video file will be compressed and reencoded when you upload it. If someone uses a third party tool to download the video from Youtube, they will only be able to grab that reencoded file, never the original upload. Because Youtube compresses the video very heavily to reduce file size, there will be a noticable quality drop in both video and audio, which is a complaint many video editors have about youtube (though there isn't really a well-known alternative that doesn't reencode videos on upload). Youtubes will reencode the audio to m4a and aac files in various bitrates, as well as some low-quality ogg files.
If you want people to be able to download the unaltered original, you should provide a download-link via a file hosting service such as Dropbox or Google Drive. I believe if you have a Vimeo Pro Membership, you also have the option to allow people to download the original video, but I'm not sure about that.

Thanks. I've done a little testing, and I think I can find a way to preserve the information to be at the very least intact, even after having been through YouTube, so long as it's retrieved properly.

If you've been able to find a way to preserve the video for youtube it would be great if you can share your findings by posting an answer to.your question


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Working with Premiere and After Effects
I am doing a video project now where one of my goals is to learn proper video editing. I will make some effects in After Effects, but will doing the cut in Premiere. I know these softwares will be a good synergy, but I have a question about the process. Should I fix all the clips with different effects (some keyframe animations etc.) in After Effects first, and then import into Premiere? Or should I do everything in Premiere first, and then do the rest in After Effects? What would be the best approach for this?

Use Dynamic Link. This feature has been introduced by Adobe speficically to make it easiert to work with Premiere Pro and After Effects in combination. With dynamic link, you can replace clips in Premiere Pro with After Effects compositions and have them updated in the Premiere Pro project whenever you make changes to the composition in After Effects. You can also import existing After Effects compositions from After Effects project files or create a new one from within Premiere Pro and use them as assets in your Premiere Pro project, in the same way you can work with media assets.
(Note: I'm assuming you have a Creative Cloud subscription. If you use older versions of the programs, dynamic link might not be available.)

Dynamic link has been available since CS.

introduced in cs4.

Note that dynamic link requires a beefy computer because you have both applications open at the same time.


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How 2D to 3D conversion is performed?
The Oscar winning movie Titanic
which was picturized  in 2D format and released in 1997 . It was again released in 3D format in 2012.
But I wonder that how 2D to 3D conversion of movie frames is performed. So can anybody explain about it? What factors (like depth ) should be taken into consideration for 2D to 3D  conversion?

They've done it via rotoscoping techniques in order to create depth information.
From fxguide.com about Titanic 3d Conversion:

The team at Stereo D used no projection or automated solutions. The team isolated with multiple layers of roto each of the key elements of the scene, often many per person in the foreground and then these were used to derive a depth map. From the depth map normally a new left and right eye was created.

Also see the wikipedia article about 3d Stereo Conversion and The Art of Stereo Conversion.


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Adding effects to live video feed like subtitles
What software do you use to type in live subtitles to help translate a speaker while filming him...the subtitles would be outputted to a projector screen with the live video feed behind it


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I got less quality video when I uploaded it on Youtube
I recorded a video using Camtasia software trial version. I produced the video in MP4 HD. The video quality is very good when I play it on my desktop. When I uploaded the video to Youtube, the video on Youtube had less quality than it has at my desktop.
So can you help me have the very good quality (supoorts HD) at Youtube or at least having the same quality as it has at my desktop?
Thank you

possible duplicate of Will Compression/Format of Audio Change when Uploaded to YouTube?

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en

It's impossible to maintain the original quality when you upload a video to youtube since youtube reencodes all videos. For a detailed explanation of why it does that, check my answer here. To minimise quality loss, export your video with a high bitrate.

Try these export settings:

For a 720p export, make sure your data rate is no smaller than 5 Mbps.
For a 1080p export, make sure your data rate is no smaller than 10 Mbps.
Codec: H264.
Field order: progressive usually (depending on your raw footage).
Aspect: square pixel usually (depending on your raw footage).
Audio: AAC, 4100Hz, Maximum Bitrate.
Maximum render quality.


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Maya batch render missing alpha channel
I'm trying to export a scene to composite in Nuke.  When I "render current frame" and save the image from there, I get an image with an alpha channel, but when I batch render the images don't have the alpha channel.

Hard to say. In general your beauty pass should contain the alpha. Bmp is very limited, try to render as exr. Also check if Pass Custom Alpha Channel checkbox is enabled.

I solved my own problem after some more trial and error. For awhile it looked like the fact that I was using Mental Ray shaders combined with general shaders was the problem, but that didn't really make sense so I kept tweaking. It turns out that an image plane I had tied to my camera was the problem. The image on the plane never rendered out, so I assumed the plane wasn't affecting the rendering, but it turns out it was showing up as a black plane when rendered. I deleted the plane for my render and it works fine now.


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The sixth frame is a repeat of the fifth frame
I'm analysing a  dashcam video clip (avi format) frame by frame. According to media information when I open this video file, the frame rate is 30 fps. However I noticed that every sixth frame is actually a repeat of the fifth frame, like as if it is 25 fps. What the reason why and how I can I get rid of the duplicate frames? Was it actually 25 fps but saved as 30 fps? Any tips? Thanks.
Michael

Do you know the brand and model of the camera? It's possible that the hardware only films at 25 fps, but the software repeats frames to bump it to 30. Also, what software are you examining it in?

I had same situation in youtube:


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Please help identify this rack-mount case
Can anyone point me to where I can find something like this?  I have a Smartview 4K monitor, and I'd like a good way to carry it around.  It seems like all of the other boxes I've looked at open on the small side and don't have the hinge.  This image came from the Blackmagic design website.

I know it's a long time since you asked this and likely no longer need it, but in case anyone else comes across this thread looking for the same kind of case (as I did!), look for "pop up" rackmount cases for audio mixers.

Yeah, those were the closest I could find at the time, and I would probably still be interested, but I couldn't find any that tilted more than 20 degrees or so.  If you could direct me to something I could see from across the room, I'd really appreciate it.  Thanks!  Side note:  I actually called and asked BMD about this.  They said the picture on the website was created by their marketing dept.


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Pasting attributes in FCPX- succeeds, but does not list pasted attributes for new clip?
When I paste attributes (color correction), it has the desired effect, but then when I click on the clip I pasted to, the inspector does not show that the attribute has been pasted.
For example, I color correct clip A by increasing midtone exposure by 20 points. When I paste the "color correction 1" attribute on clip B, that clip will have the desired look, but in the inspector it will have midtone exposure at "0", rather than "20". Why is that?


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Do Film Makers Want 4k?
I am looking at upgrading our camera equipment and am trying to work out, to 4k or to not 4k?
We need a relatively compact camera in size and weight for our productions specifically.
For generic video productions companies, do they want 4k?
Is 4k valuable at 8 bit, 24fps, or do they really want 60fps?
Would they prefer us shooting high quality HD (1080p) footage upto 60fps (i.e. 12 bit, 13 stops, raw)?
We are having real trouble making a choice, as picking lower end 4k seems to have some big caveats. So is it worth it?
We have had some tell us, 'YES GO 4K!' And others, 'don't bother'.
Any tips would be much appreciated, thanks.

In my opinion, the market for 4k delivery is still very small, but that doesn't mean its useless.
Shooting at a higher resolution than the delivery resolution allows you to recompose shots without any quality loss. If you shoot a talking head in 4k but deliver in 720p, you can get a wide, medium, and closeup from the same shot.
In my experience clients nearly always want video delivered in 24/25/30fps. Higher frame rates should only be used to achieve slow mo. That being said, everyone loves slow-mo, so the ability to be able to shoot at 60fps or higher is valuable.

We shot one of the first indie HD films back in the day when the prosumer HD cameras first came out.  Because we were one of the first feature films to shoot in HD we secured a national theatrical release.
If I was shooting a feature film today, I would do it in 4K.  Because at some point in the near future theaters, NetFlix, Cable Networks, etc. will be acquiring all the 4K content they can get their hands on to please the millions that own 4K TVs.  We aren't there yet... but it's coming.
As for online, 60FPS is hard to handle with the bandwidth most people have today, but that will soon change.  YouTube just announced plans for supporting 4K with 60FPS.
I knew a photographer 15 years ago that shot a lot of stock images.  He shot and saved everything at a resolution of 320x240 because hard drive space was "expensive" and that was a decent resolution for the time.  Against my advice of shooting and saving at the highest resolution possible, He said those files sizes were big enough because they filled half his screen.  Fast forward a few years later and monitor sizes have increased and his "big" pictures now look like thumbnails.
Thousands of his images and pictures are now obsolete because he didn't look towards the future.
But it depends on your clients.  Are they shooting feature films, online content, or corporate stuff that will be shown once then never again?


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Premier Pro CC 2015 Lag Issues!
So updated to the new release this week and after spending a few days getting the damn thing to work with my previous projects and having to uninstall and reinstall my graphics card and enable CUDA the new Premier is simply unusable! Ever ajustment takes at least 2-3 seconds to appear in the monitor, you can't preview the timeline without having to render in/out first and the render times have gone from 3-4 minutes to about 4-5 hours!!
CC 2014 worked absolutely fine. On the same projects/footage. My rig is pretty up to date; Intel i7, 16gb Ram, NVidia GeForce 860 GPU.
Is anyone else having issues? I'd roll back to the earlier version but I'd lose all this weeks work (as I've been making use of the great lumetri colour ajustments).
Thanks in advance?

Okay, so I started a new project and step by step worked out where it was gong wrong. Everything was fine until I started using a 'creative look'. After that, death.


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Advice on shooting 1st Person POV restaurant scene
I have an upcoming shoot where I will need to capture a restaurant scene in first person point-of-view.  It seems pretty straight-forward, but I want to make sure it truly looks like the subject's point-of-view.  At first, I thought a steadicam would do the trick, but wasn't sure if that would actually look like first person point-of-view.  Then I thought about mounting the camera to a helmet, similar to the one here...
https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/new-approaches-to-online-video-at-the-wall-street-journal-/s2/a553636/
Does anyone have experience with these kinds of shots?  How did you capture them?  What camera and lens did you use?  I'd like to be able to get as much as the scene in the shot as possible, so going wide would be ideal.  However, I don't want to go too wide if it doesn't look as if we are viewing the scene through the subject's eyes. Any advice?

what kind of kit is already available, do you want to hire or have access to hire in?
do you need to have the whole walking in, sitting down, eating bit or is it just a conversation where it will be static etc

I currently don't have any equipment available besides a DSLR, but have access to mount and lens rentals. We want to do this shoot in-house though, as we will need to reproduce it many times in the future. Most of the scene will be eating/talking at a dinner table while sitting, but I want flexibility to move around as well.

Where is this going to be shown, is it aimed at selling something, or will be be more like an internal training video. all depending, internal training video I would experiment with a "Action Cam" like device on a helmet or you could have a camera over the shoulder of the actor (assuming there is room behind) and the camera man can act as his head with direction from the director to pan, tilt etc

This will be part of an online training tool where the user is supposed to be the subject of the application, so the view of the camera is the user's eyes.  We will need to show the camera operators hands on camera so I don't think it would work to have an over the shoulder shot here.

A lot of it depends on your budget.  Are you a low budget film or do you have some money to work with.  Even renting can get expensive if it's a multi-day shoot.
A dolly shot or stedicam seems to be the most obvious because you don't want the up-and-down motion that comes with walking with a camera (unless you are going for the hand-held style).
A lot depends of the actor that you are trying to replicate.  Are they short, tall, hyper, depressed, drunk etc.?  Choose your lighting and lens to reflect the mood. There is no single answer for that.
As for getting the shot... if you don't have a budget then I can give you some suggestions for what has worked for us as far as getting great POV shots.
If filming the POV of a child, put your DP or cameraman into a wheelchair and have a PA push him.  If it's a medium size adult put an apple crate onto the wheelchair seat and have them sit on that.  Makes for a surprisingly smooth shot.
If you need more height, put your DP into a shopping cart.
We've even had the DP stand on a skateboard while he was carefully held and pushed when we needed a POV of a drug addict that was high.
Just keep in mind... Larger wheels like a wheelchair will give you a smoother shot than smaller wheels like a skateboard.

If it was me, I would do some testing, first I would try putting a "action cam" like a GoPro or similar (eBay do some knock offs which are like £35) and attach it to a helmet or head strap to see if this is what is expected as this way the "actor" can act normally (looking around, shaking their heads, nodding etc) but in the end you might not like this style and opt for trying a different way.


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How to add a title with a transparent background in iMovie?
I'm using iMovie 10.0.8 and like to display some text with a transparent background over the clip. Can this somehow be done?
The titles view only lists titles on a black, white and color bar, but color bar does not allow to set an alpha value for the background...
Any ideas how text with transparent background can be added to a clip are welcome,
Thank you.

drag the title over the clip you want to lay it over in the title track. the background in the title view is already transparent, defaulting to black if you do not lay it over a clip.

You can use something like photoshop to make some text with a transparent background

Step 1: Create a transparent png with black background in photoshop

Step 2: Insert the image as picture in picture

follow instructions from here https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22931?locale=en_US
Step 3: Position the picture behind the title