text:
How to losslessly encode a jpg image sequence to a video in ffmpeg?
I have a large set of jpgs that I want to convert to a video losslessly (or, at the very least, very close to losslessly as long as the encoding time isn't much higher than otherwise).
Naively, I would think that there should be some codec that can store each individual jpg frames as-is (without recompression), and perhaps achieve some nice compression by replacing some of the frames by just the information on the delta from the previous frame. In my case there are many sequences of frames which are identical to each other, or that have a tiny difference between them.
Is there some codec and suitable settings for ffmpeg that can achieve this?

Related: http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/4642/batch-processing-individual-frames-into-video/6853#6853

Also Related: http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/7300/how-to-get-ffmpeg-to-join-non-sequential-image-files-skip-by-3s

sequence-of-jpegs has been a codec for a LONG time.  Digital cameras that don't use h.264 invariably record MJPEG, and video capture cards used to use it, I think.

Just mux the images
You can simply mux the JPG images to make a video:
ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i input%03d.jpg -codec copy output.mkv

Note that if you omit -framerate then a default of -framerate 25 will be applied to the input.
Lossless optimization
You can use jpegtran to perform lossless optimization on each frame which may provide significant file size savings:
mkdir outputdir
for f in *.jpg; do jpegtran -optimize -copy none -perfect -v "$f" > "outputdir/$f"; done

Now mux with ffmpeg as shown above.
Checking that it is actually lossless
The framehash muxer can be used to compare the unique hash of each frame to ensure that the result is truly lossless:
$ ffmpeg -i input%03d.jpg -f framehash -
stream_index, packet_dts, packet_pts, packet_duration, packet_size, hash
0,          0,          0,        1,   460800, 29bcc2db3726c7dfec1826c5740f603f
0,          1,          1,        1,   460800, b5fdc23d93cbd043dc2b9290dc8378f0
0,          2,          2,        1,   460800, ee0709942f24b458fd2380d134dcb59d
...

$ ffmpeg -i output.mkv -map 0:v -f framehash -
stream_index, packet_dts, packet_pts, packet_duration, packet_size, hash
0,          0,          0,        1,   460800, 29bcc2db3726c7dfec1826c5740f603f
0,          1,          1,        1,   460800, b5fdc23d93cbd043dc2b9290dc8378f0
0,          2,          2,        1,   460800, ee0709942f24b458fd2380d134dcb59d
...

In the above examples each associated frame for the input and output share the same hash ensuring that the frames are identical and that the output is lossless.
Also see

FFmpeg image file demuxer documentation
FFmpeg Wiki: How do I encode single pictures into movies?

could you please clarify what the two framemd5 commands are supposed to achieve beyond merely listing the hashes? how would I get additional compression when identical frames are thus identified?

The hashes were included only to show you that the frames are the same as the individual images, so therefore achieving your requirement of storing "each individual jpg frames as-is (without recompression)".

Posted an answer of my own with an untested idea for dropping the duplicate frames, to end up with a VFR MJPEG.mkv.  VFR is the only way I can think of to take advantage of temporal redundancy with MJPEG. :P

SSIM may be a quicker way to compare fidelity.

This will output a lossless H.264 video where frames will use information from other frames
ffmpeg -f image2 -r 30 -i %09d.jpg -vcodec libx264 -profile:v high444 -refs 16 -crf 0 -preset ultrafast a.mp4
Explanation of options:

-f image2 - tells ffmpeg to select a group of images
-r 30 - tells ffmpeg to encode at 30 frames (or images) per second (change this to your desired framerate)
-i %09d.jpg - tells ffmpeg to use the images 000000000.jpg to 999999999.jpg as the input. Change the 9 in %09d.jpg to how many zeroes the names of your image sequence has. If your file names are, for example, img0001.jpg, then this would be expressed as img%04d.jpg
-vcodec libx264 - tells ffmpeg to output to a H.264 compliant file
-profile:v high444 - tells libx264 to use the High 4:4:4 Predictive Lossless profile, allowing lossless encoding
-refs 16 - tells libx264 to have 16 images stored in a buffer, so that they may be referenced by other images in the video
-crf 0 - tells libx264 to perform a lossless encode
-preset ultrafast - tells libx264 to prioritise encoding speed over output file size
a.mp4 - tells ffmpeg to save the output in an MP4 file called a.mp4. Change this to the file name and format that you wish to use

A few notes: -f image2 is superfluous here. The image file demuxer should use -framerate instead of -r. libx264 will automatically choose the appropriate -profile for lossless, and the -preset will deal with -refs.

-refs 5 at MOST, unless you know your content has identical images separated by several other ones, that might cause x264 to lose the reference before it gets to the duplicate.  Higher than ultrafast makes little different in lossless mode, other than CABAC's ~10% gain over CAVLC (for a high cpu cost at the bitrates required for lossless).  Seriously, on some live-action 720x480p60 (deinterlace output), superfast was 28GB, slower was 27GB.  If encode time doesn't matter, but decode time does, make sure you avoid CABAC.  Maybe even -tune fastdecode.  Moderate ref count shouldn't hurt.

And if you have CPU to burn, you can even try -preset placebo for a few extra fractions of percent.

Also for completeness h265 also has its own lossless mode.
-vcodec libx265 -x265-params lossless=1 is the equivalent option.
(But in my experience (= recording of Powerpoint slideshow presentations), it isn't necessarily better, and it's much slower than h264)
Stay tune for next year's AOMedia's AV1/IETF's NETVC1/Xiph's Daala/whatever it's going to be renamed by then...'s lossless mode

God bless you !

You can create an avi animation as a series of png images ( png is lossless so the jpeg => png conversion should not degrade your pictures ):
if your images a named img_0001.jpg
ffmpeg -r 25 -start_number 1 -f image2 -i "img_%04d.jpg" -vcodec png video.avi

where "25" is the frame rate you want in the resulting video. -start_number is not needed if it is 1, but it is useful if your first video number is not 1.
If you want to encode in mjpeg with highest quality command line is:
ffmpeg -r 25 -start_number 1 -f image2 -i "img_%04d.jpg" -vcodec mjpeg -qscale 1 video.avi

And the beauty of the thing is that you can convert the video back to a series a pictures:
ffmpeg -i video.avi "img_series_%04d.png"
ffmpeg -i video.avi "img_series_%04d.jpg"

etc...

This doesn't really meet the askers needs.  He is looking for a way that the frame can be updated loselessly only when the image changes.  This means the same image may be used more than once.  Also jpeg by nature isn't lossless as I believe it uses jpeg compression even at max quality.

Actually I guess he was willing to have some compression, though I'm not sure how it is going to do on long sequences of the same frame.  I still think a variable frame rate presentation format is what is needed though I'm not sure if ffmpeg supports any.

CorePNG is able to create P frames also. Usually jpeg is not a lossless compression, and I doubt mjpeg can create P frames. I agree I do not answer the question as it is asked, but I give a solution to have a lossless video with ffmpeg.

To expand on LordNeckbeard's answer, yes, just mux the JPEG data into an MJPEG video stream.  That will be the smallest representation of the exact sequence of output images, even though MJPEG is a terribly inefficient codec by today's standards.  (no temporal redundancy, and not even any intra prediction.
You can make a variable-framerate MJPEG video to take advantage of the duplicate images in your input.
ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i input%03d.jpg -vf mpdecimate -codec copy output.mkv  # doesn't work.

Hrm, this isn't going to work, since mpdecimate won't work on compressed data, and we can't let ffmpeg decode and then re-jpeg the image data without loss and CPU cost.
Maybe if you replaced duplicate jpg source files with empty files with that sequence number, or something?
Since this question isn't even recent, I'm not going to take the time to figure out how to do it unless someone replies to ask how.  But since MJPEG can go into an mkv container, I'm sure it's possible to have a file that doesn't duplicate the jpeg data for repeated frames, but instead just doesn't have an output frame to decode until the sequence of duplicates is over.
Oh here's an idea:
ffmpeg -framerate blah -input blah -vf mpdecimate -f mkvtimestamp_v2 mpdecimate.timestamps

Then remove (or move aside) all the jpegs for frames that mpdecimate wants to drop (probably it has some logging options?  Or -vf showinfo, and parse that, and move or hardlink only the frames that show up in its output, leaving behind the dropped JPEGs?).  mux that to a MJPEG.mkv, then do something with mkvmerge to replace the frame timestamps in that with the timestamps from mpdecimate.timestamps.
If you were xcoding, instead of just muxing jpeg data to MJPEG, this would be MUCH easier, since you'd just use my first command with mpdecimate and any codec other than copy, and it would Just Work(tm).
I haven't tried any of this, since this was an old question.  Also the reason I haven't filled in the gaps of how to actually filter your directory of jpegs based on mpdecimate output, or how to actually use the timestamp stream.


text:
animating a line that is a 3d layer in after-effects
What I'd like to do
I'm trying to draw a 2D smiley face with the pen tool on a 3D layer...and then change it to a frown (or a sad face). I was able to do this in as 2D layer...but I'd need help on doing it as 3D layer.
Why I'm using 3D Layers in the first place
I'm using a camera (attached to a null layer) to zoom in and out of certain images I have in my animation (which are imported from illustrator). I've realized that you have to have 3D layers if you're gonna pan and zoom with the camera tool!
What's the Problem
It's close to impossible to draw using the pen tool if the pen layer is 3D. Even if I do get something drawn, I can't figure out how to animate it as a 3d layer.
Any tips?

The way I normally go about drawing paths in AE is by using the stroke effect with masks

Create an Adjustment Layer
Create Mask Paths for the smiley face
Add the Stroke effect to the Adjustment Layer
Make the Adjustment layer 3D and then position it where you want
Animate the Mask Path to animate the mouth

https://i.sstatic.net/MF5pX.png
Note:
For some reason the stroke effect doesnt work on open paths when there is more than one mask on a layer. So I put the eyes on one Adjustment layer, and made a second Adjustment layer for the mouth. Then I turned OFF 3D on the layers, PreComped them together, and made the PreComp a 3D layer.
Have a look at what I did: http://www.filehosting.org/file/details/334754/Smiley_Face.aep

Animating a shape layer with the pen tool is the same for 3D layers as it is for 2D. One problem is that if you're moving paths around on a layer that is not parallel with the view then you have pespective issues, or parts of your layer might go out of view.
To get around this you can create a new camera that is parented to the shape layer - best to do this before transforming the shape layer. Then you can switch to that camera to get a straight-on view of the shape layer.

Here we have the shape layer with animated paths and a camera called "shape cam" that is parented to it, as well as the scene camera called "active cam".
If we switch to shape cam using the viewport control at the bottom of the comp window we see a flat-on view of the shape layer, for easy editing. A handy tip is that once you've switched from one view to another, to switch back to your original view you just hit escape, so you can toggle back and forth with ease.

You can also set up another view (view > new viewer) and lock one on the shapeCam (the padlock in the view tab) and one on your scene camera, so you can edit your shape layer in one view in mock-2d and see it from your 3D camera at the same time. Here we see the shape layer at the next keyframe, where the paths have been edited, from both the shape cam view and the scene camera view.

An advantage of using shape layers is that they are not raster layers like an adjustment layer with the stroke effect. You can zoom right in on them without the pixels ever getting nasty

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Adobe After Effects MP4 Export Issue
I'm trying to export a composition from Adobe After Effects. My Comp is 1280x720, and ideally I'd export with an mp4 container, and h264 video codec. Problem is, After Effects is giving me a PAR error, telling me the video will be resized "to meet format contraints".
Error Message:

Video will be resized from 1280x720(1.00PAR) to 176x120(1.21PAR) to meet format constraints.

Anyone know of a fix to this? Looks like my encoder is MainConcept MP4 Video. I'm using CS6. Thanks!

Could you elaborate on how you are choosing the container and video codec? An overview of the steps you're taking would help answer the question. Because when I choose the H264 output module in the After Effects renderer I get a .mp4 file with no PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio) errors.

In AE's "output module settings", with the format set to h.264, click "format options".  Under the "video" tab, make sure "Level" is set to 5.1.
Here is a wikipedia entry which contains a table on h.264 level dimension constraints.

It sounds like you are using a trial version of an encoder that imposes limitations on the size it will export based on the severe down-scaling that it is imposing.

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


text:
Best render settings for broadcast/4k TV
I see a lot of tips for getting h264 renders onto web streaming sites in 4K but not much on TV. Should I just go with Animation/lossless for my “master”? seems crazy for a 22 minute program but HDD is cheap now so it’s doable. The content consists of detailed animation including 3d rendered scenes source material.
Would 4k on h264 5.2 be adequate? Any artifacts going h264 -> broadcast?

The reason for mastering out to an uncompressed / minimally lossy format is so that you have a master copy, which you can then use to make other copies, without generation loss, or having to re-render.
You don't have to use Animation. There, I've said it. While it's mathematically lossless, it's only 8-bit, so swings ± roundabouts. While I used to only ever render Aniamtion ever, these days I prefer DNxHR or Cineform with 10-bit colour, the file size is better and you have four times as much colour information. If you're on a mac ProRes 4444 is a good option.
But the first step is check with the broadcaster to see what their tech specs are. The broadcaster where I work mostly take ProRes, so I make proRes submasters from my master copy using ffmpeg. No seriously, check, because they will reject stuff that doesn't pass their quality control.


text:
Adobe Encore - I have problem with add Arabic subtitle to my project
I try make DVD of movie with Arabic translation I add my subtitle , But it doesn't look nice as supposed I try Every thing but I can't fix problem
Any suggestion
Thank you in advance
Here is screen  shot of my problem

As currently asked, there isn't really enough detail to give a reliable answer to this question. Can you please add screen captures of what the problem is you are experiencing?  Is the problem consistent on multiple playback devices?

I add screen shot of my problem


text:
Trying to figure out why my systems render times are so different
Can someone help me figure out why 1 system is rendering faster than the other.
System 1 specs
GPU Quadro K2000
CPU Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1245 v3 3.4 3.8 8 MB 1600 MHz 4
Ram 32 GB
OS Windows 7 64bit
Facilis Terrablock with Fiber connection (used to pull footage)
rendering to a 10k rpm dedicated drive in system.
Task manager say 85% of processor is being used
System 2 specs
GPU Quadro K600
CPU Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620 v2 2.1 15 MB 1600 MHz 6
Ram 16 GB
OS Windows 7 64bit
Facilis Terrablock with Fiber connection (used to pull footage)
rendering to a 10k rpm dedicated drive in system.
Task manager say 2% of processor is being used
Update with image
new project with new stats
The 2nd system renders this same project out in 1/2 to 1/3 the time but as the pic shows the GPU is barely being used. and system 2 uses almost not CPU still below 5%

Just a wild guess, but maybe the second setup renders faster because it includes the by far better CPU? ;-)
2 % processor usage during rendering can't be correct, maybe the taskmanager doesn't show the correct values ...
Though the difference is very high ... does the second system per chance have a GPU with CUDA or OpenCL support that the first one doesn't have? That would explain the great difference ...

System 2 is using GPU acceleration, System 1 is using CPU rendering. GPUs, especially Quadros run many rendering tasks FAR more efficiently than a general purpose CPU. It could easily explain the difference of 83% CPU utilization and 40 minutes of render time.

They are both quaddros and both have CUDA.

That would be my initial though as well but I have made sure that both systems are using the cuda acceleration unless there is another setting I am missing with system 1 they should both be using GPU rendering.

Are you using Adobe Media Encoder for the renders or Premiere directly?  Can you post actual screen shots of your settings?

ohh and post systems are using media encoder

Hit print screen while the screen is up, open Photoshop, create a new document and hit ctrl-v to paste the contents of the clipboard in to the new image.  Save it for web.  Then, edit your question and use the Image button above the editor to add images to the post.  It will automatically upload it to imgur and link it in your question.

I have uploaded images from system 1 only as I am unable to access system 2

System 2 is using GPU acceleration, System 1 is using CPU rendering.  GPUs, especially Quadros run many rendering tasks FAR more efficiently than a general purpose CPU.  It could easily explain the difference of 83% CPU utilization and 40 minutes of render time.
Note that while your system is showing only 14% CPU utilization in the screen shots, that is 100% of a single threaded process.  If the calculation isn't broken in to multiple threads, then it has to process on one core of the processor, which appears to be what is happening here.  That one core is completely maxed out.
I see you have CUDA selected as the renderer in the second screen shot, however it is not being used based on the GPU usage information.  This is probably related to a driver issue preventing Media Encoder from being able to utilize the GPU hardware.  Try updating your graphics drivers and verify that your graphics card appears on the list of supported graphics cards for CUDA support.

@Curtmcd - the only other alternative I can think of is that there is a virus or misconfiguration on the first system.  By all normal measures, the first system should significantly out perform the second and the CPU should not be nearly that high.  CPU utilization says that something is running on the CPU that shouldn't be.  Perhaps your preview is running CUDA but final render is not?

Ok I updated the photo to how it works. Heres a weird piece of info I have come across. If I use Media Encoder CC it uses the GPU up to 80% on this machine, but if I use Media Encoder CC2014 then it doesn't. And my drivers are up to date. Also the card is cuda supported

authors: Олег Клочихин


text:
miniDV - Same resolution but lost vertical space in 16:9 widescreen?
I have an old SD PAL camcorder, which records on miniDV tapes at a resolution of 720x576 pixels.
This is the output from ffmpeg of the 4:3 recording:
Stream #0:0: Video: dvvideo, yuv420p, 720x576 [SAR 16:15 DAR 4:3], 28800 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc

This is the output instead for the 16:9 widescreen footage:
Stream #0:0: Video: dvvideo, yuv420p, 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], 28800 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc

I noticed that the resolution is the same in both the cases, and of course the SAR is different, in one to fit the 4:3 resolution, in the second to fit 16:9. This leads me to think that the footage should be stretched to fit the aspect ratio but keep the same resolution in both cases.
However, the actual video footage is quite different. It doesn't look like they use the same resolution, but more that the 16:9 footage is cropped vertically. This would make sense logically, since the sensor is 4:3. However, shouldn't that mean that the resolution is lower? How is it possible that the footage has the same resolution while recording but a different one while reproducing?
EDIT: To clarify what I mean above, I took a screenshot of both video. As expected, both videos fit the two formats: 768x576 for 4:3 (16:15 stretch), and 1024x576 for 16:9 (64:45 stretch). Which again, is what is expected.
However, the image is evidently cropped vertically in the second case. For example, if I put a ball on the top and the bottom of the screen, it would be visible in 4:3, but would be cut out in 16:9. Video quality is also much lower in this case, as expected from an upscale. It looks like the image is first cropped at something like 720x405, and then upscaled to 1024x576.
I wonder why this happens, instead of having just the image at 720x576 stretched out to 16:9.

Okay, after some reasoning and research I think I understand what happens.
Basically, the sensor is fixed in size, but the lens is too. Which means the only way to get a wider sample to fit the image to 16:9 is to crop down the image on the sensor to about 720x405 pixels, each pixel catching a sample of ratio 64:45 (SAR).
The image is then stretched vertically to fit the whole 576 lines of the PAL standard. This means the original 5:4 footage captures has the same horizontal FOV as the footage captured in 4:3 mode, but a lower one vertically, stretched up to fit the whole 576 lines. This allows for the recorded media to then be stretched back into 16:9 by the media player.
This last step (the vertical stretching done by the camcorder) is still something that sounds really puzzling to me, but after analyzing some more footage, it is rather obvious that it is a digital upscaling and not an analog capture of the samples, since a lot of the digital noise is stretched vertically too.
It is an interesting way to get around the hardware limitations of the camcorder, but in the end not really worth it, considering the loss in quality.

Believe it or not, this is correct. The sensor in your camera is something like 720x576 regardless of whether you're recording in 4:3 or 16:9. What that means is that the lens needs to squish the 16:9 image into a 5:4 (720:576) area and your display device needs to stretch it back out. This is why the SAR (sample aspect ratio, AKA pixel aspect ratio) is not the same in both cases. (And also, DV even at 4:3 does not have square pixels which is why a 720x576 image is displayed 4:3!)

Thanks for the reply, but my question was not about this, which I understand, but about why the image is cropped vertically. I added more information so maybe that can help.


text:
Technical name for this? (PIP picture in picture with transparent background via green screen, chroma key)
Two questions regarding this screencap:
https://i.sstatic.net/bS5dh.jpg

What's the technical name for this? (where you impose a PIP that contains transparency, via a green screen, so there's no rectangular border)

(reason why I want to know the technical name: so that I can search for that feature while evaluating alternative video editing programs.)

What FLOSS (free libre open source software) programs for Windows PC platform are out there that will let me do this? Portable programs will get first attention from me.

For #1, That's just green screening or chroma keying. There is no special name for that particular application of it.

The technical name for this is a "bug". Usually the context is that it's an advertisement for another show on the same network, or it's a network logo rather than part of the content.
I'm not very familiar with Windows software, but Shot Cut is free and includes compositing functions.

I wouldn't call that a bug. Bug's are always branding and not part of the actual content. The usually are only generated graphics and will only incorporate short elements of actual video for promotional purposes.

That has mostly been my experience, as well. However, if you look at the software out there today, such as FCPX, you'll see that they have presets with names like "Boxes - Bug", "Bulletin Board - Bug", so I think it's relevant to list that as the name, since that's what you'll need to search for in the software if you want to make a similar effect.

Ugh, FCPX... continuing to ruin video production for everyone.


text:
inconsistent "Always Fit Window" behavior in VLC for two different videos
Two different videos:

both have same resolution (1920 x 1080)
one processed with Tencoder (frontend for FFMPEG), and the other processed with kdenlive (video editor that uses MLT framework)

The issue: they show up very differently in VLC.

One needs "Menu > Video > Always Fit Window" to be checked to fill the screen.
The other needs "Menu > Video > Always Fit Window" to be unchecked to fill the screen.

Video 1: processed using kdenlive (video editor that uses MLT framework) link:
How the file looks in the file system:

kdenlive project settings:

kdenlive render profile:

The MLT command looks like this in kdenlive (screenshot):

The MLT command in text form:
ab=160k acodec=aac channels=2 crf=23 f=matroska g=15 movflags=+faststart preset=veryfast real_time=-1 threads=0 vcodec=libx264
MediaInfo:

VLC with "Always Fit Window" checked: video underfills the screen:

VLC with "Always Fit Window" unchecked: video fills the screen:

Video 2: processed using Tencoder (frontend for FFMPEG) link:
How the file looks in the file system:

Tencoder encode settings:

MediaInfo:

VLC with "Always Fit Window" checked: video fills the screen:

VLC with "Always Fit Window" unchecked: video overfills the screen:

Summary:

despite the two videos having the same resolution (1920 * 1080)
to fill the screen, one video needs "Always Fit Window" unchecked and the other needs it checked.

Question for you dear reader: Why? (see Summary above).

This was fixed by doing the following in the project settings (via creating a new project profile):

Resolution - 1080x1920
Pixel aspect -  ratio 1:1
Display aspect - ratio 9:16

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


text:
making mouse click action obvious in a screen-cast video-capture
One of the challenges, in creating a tutorial video via screen video capture, is that it becomes a challenge to make obvious which mouse action was used to produce a certain action on the screen.
The creator of this video has a little mouse icon in the bottom left of the screen (see image below) that makes clear whether he's using the left, the middle, or the right mouse click button action.

How does one add such a mouse icon (or alternatively, which software allows this) to a screen video capture? (I've asked the original creator on multiple fora, but haven't heard back for months).

Is this a Blender question? That feature is a Blender specific plugin.

@LetTheWritersWrite Nope. Wasn't a Blender question. But your answer answered it for me. I guess this is a Blender feature. If you answer below, I'll mark it correct. Bonus if you also put a link to the actual plugin.

That is a Blender specific plugin that you can activate in the scripts menu.
https://en.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/Screencast_Key_Status_Tool

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


text:
ffmpeg / mencoder converting a video with correct setting
I have an avi video file that plays on my Onn-W7 player Link to avi video file that works  and backup link to avi file that works. I'm trying to convert some other video files over so that they will also play on it.  I've tried handbrake, ffmpeg and mencoder but the video fails to work most likely do to the fact I have some settings wrong in the conversion process but I don't know which ones any ideas how to fix this
Here's the settings of the avi file that works below:
General
Complete name                            : /tmp/ONN.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 11.0 MiB
Duration                                 : 3mn 1s
Overall bit rate                         : 508 Kbps
Writing application                      : MEncoder Sherpya-MinGW-20060312-4.1.0
Writing library                          : MPlayer

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP                    : No
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                                 : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 3mn 1s
Bit rate                                 : 371 Kbps
Width                                    : 160 pixels
Height                                   : 128 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 5:3
Original display aspect ratio            : 5:4
Frame rate                               : 15.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 1.207
Stream size                              : 8.00 MiB (73%)
Writing library                          : XviD 1.1.0 (UTC 2005-11-22)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 2
Codec ID                                 : 50
Duration                                 : 3mn 1s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 2.77 MiB (25%)
Alignment                                : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 26 ms (0.39 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration             : 522 ms

The ffmpeg command I tried is:
ffmpeg -i "video_to_convert.mp4" -c:v libxvid -vf scale=160x128,setsar=1 -b:v 800k -r 15 -c:a libtwolame -ac 2 -ar 44100 -b:a 128k -y video_converted.avi

Here's the requested info of the command above on a file that doesn't work:
mediainfo --fullscan video_converted.avi
General
Count                                    : 322
Count of stream of this kind             : 1
Kind of stream                           : General
Kind of stream                           : General
Stream identifier                        : 0
Count of video streams                   : 1
Count of audio streams                   : 1
Video_Format_List                        : xvid
Video_Format_WithHint_List               : xvid
Codecs Video                             : xvid
Audio_Format_List                        : MPEG Audio
Audio_Format_WithHint_List               : MPEG Audio
Audio codecs                             : MPEG-1 Audio layer 2
Complete name                            : video_converted.avi
File name                                : video_converted
File extension                           : avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
Format/Extensions usually used           : avi
Commercial name                          : AVI
Internet media type                      : video/vnd.avi
Interleaved                              : Yes
Codec                                    : AVI
Codec                                    : AVI
Codec/Info                               : Audio Video Interleave
Codec/Extensions usually used            : avi
File size                                : 4297704
File size                                : 4.10 MiB
File size                                : 4 MiB
File size                                : 4.1 MiB
File size                                : 4.10 MiB
File size                                : 4.099 MiB
Duration                                 : 165267
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s 267ms
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Duration                                 : 00:02:45.267
Duration                                 : 00:02:45:04
Duration                                 : 00:02:45.267 (00:02:45:04)
Overall bit rate                         : 208037
Overall bit rate                         : 208 Kbps
Frame rate                               : 15.000
Frame rate                               : 15.000 fps
Frame count                              : 2479
Stream size                              : 228958
Stream size                              : 224 KiB (5%)
Stream size                              : 224 KiB
Stream size                              : 224 KiB
Stream size                              : 224 KiB
Stream size                              : 223.6 KiB
Stream size                              : 224 KiB (5%)
Proportion of this stream                : 0.05327
File last modification date              : UTC 2016-09-16 10:15:46
File last modification date (local)      : 2016-09-16 06:15:46
Writing application                      : Lavf56.40.101
Writing application                      : Lavf56.40.101

Video
Count                                    : 332
Count of stream of this kind             : 1
Kind of stream                           : Video
Kind of stream                           : Video
Stream identifier                        : 0
ID                                       : 0
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : xvid
Commercial name                          : xvid
Codec ID                                 : xvid
Codec                                    : xvid
Codec                                    : xvid
Codec/CC                                 : xvid
Duration                                 : 165267
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s 267ms
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Duration                                 : 00:02:45.267
Duration                                 : 00:02:45:04
Duration                                 : 00:02:45.267 (00:02:45:04)
Bit rate                                 : 69281
Bit rate                                 : 69.3 Kbps
Width                                    : 160
Width                                    : 160 pixels
Height                                   : 128
Height                                   : 128 pixels
Pixel aspect ratio                       : 1.000
Display aspect ratio                     : 1.250
Display aspect ratio                     : 5:4
Frame rate                               : 15.000
Frame rate                               : 15.000 fps
Frame count                              : 2479
Scan type                                : Progressive
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.226
Delay                                    : 0
Delay                                    : 00:00:00.000
Stream size                              : 1431221
Stream size                              : 1.36 MiB (33%)
Stream size                              : 1 MiB
Stream size                              : 1.4 MiB
Stream size                              : 1.36 MiB
Stream size                              : 1.365 MiB
Stream size                              : 1.36 MiB (33%)
Proportion of this stream                : 0.33302

Audio
Count                                    : 272
Count of stream of this kind             : 1
Kind of stream                           : Audio
Kind of stream                           : Audio
Stream identifier                        : 0
StreamOrder                              : 1
ID                                       : 1
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Commercial name                          : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 2
Internet media type                      : audio/mpeg
Codec ID                                 : 50
Codec ID/Url                             : http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/index.html
Codec                                    : MPA1L2
Codec                                    : MPEG-1 Audio layer 2
Codec/Family                             : MPEG-1
Codec/Url                                : http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/index.html
Codec/CC                                 : 50
Duration                                 : 165224
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s 224ms
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Duration                                 : 00:02:45.224
Duration                                 : 00:02:45.224
Bit rate mode                            : CBR
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128000
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 44100
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Samples count                            : 7286378
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay                                    : 0
Delay                                    : 00:00:00.000
Delay, origin                            : Stream
Delay, origin                            : Raw stream
Delay relative to video                  : 0
Delay relative to video                  : 00:00:00.000
Video0 delay                             : 0
Video0 delay                             : 00:00:00.000
Stream size                              : 2637525
Stream size                              : 2.52 MiB (61%)
Stream size                              : 3 MiB
Stream size                              : 2.5 MiB
Stream size                              : 2.52 MiB
Stream size                              : 2.515 MiB
Stream size                              : 2.52 MiB (61%)
Proportion of this stream                : 0.61371
Alignment                                : Aligned
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 0.39
Interleave, duration                     : 26
Interleave, duration                     : 26 ms (0.39 video frame)

Also without the fullscan option:
mediainfo video_converted.avi
General
Complete name                            : video_converted.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 4.10 MiB
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Overall bit rate                         : 208 Kbps
Writing application                      : Lavf56.40.101

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : xvid
Codec ID                                 : xvid
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Bit rate                                 : 69.3 Kbps
Width                                    : 160 pixels
Height                                   : 128 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 5:4
Frame rate                               : 15.000 fps
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.226
Stream size                              : 1.36 MiB (33%)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 2
Codec ID                                 : 50
Duration                                 : 2mn 45s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 2.52 MiB (61%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 26 ms (0.39 video frame)

The products website is
Onn-w7 website
Here's the little manual in Chinese which I can't read

Can you add the media info for a (nonworking) file encoded with the above command line?

@Eric I added the media info for a (nonworking) file encoded with the above command line?

Try ffmpeg -i "video_to_convert.mp4" -c:v libxvid -vtag XVID -level 1 -vf scale=160x128,setsar=1 -b:v 800k -r 15 -c:a libtwolame -ac 2 -ar 44100 -b:a 128k -y video_converted.avi

Looks like the player is using the video codec tag to vet files. And it is picky about case. So try
ffmpeg -i "video_to_convert.mp4" -c:v libxvid -vtag XVID -level 1
       -vf scale=160x128,setsar=1 -b:v 800k -r 15
       -c:a libtwolame -ac 2 -ar 44100 -b:a 128k -y video_converted.avi

(The level may not be necessary. I was testing something.)


text:
Shapes overlapped in pre-comp, transparent fade in visibility
I have two white shapes that overlap on a purple background, which are in a pre-comp. One in animated (an arm) and the other is not (the rest of the body).
When I fade the pre-comp in, from 0 to 100 opacity, I can see the parts where the shape overlaps. This is made worse by having a motion blur, which seems to multiply the blur in that area.

Do you know how to avoid this situation, and to have the two shapes behave as one.

Are you fading in the parts of the pre-comp or are you actually using the pre-comp in another composition and fading in the entire pre-comp? This appears to be the result of a blending issue since if you aren't using a separate comp, you end up with two objects being blended at 50% but behind one object at 50% is another object at 50% which blocks out more than 50% of the background, thus you see the difference.

The body and arm are two shapes in a pre-comp. Then the pre-comp itself has the opacity change animation on it.

Hmm, no idea then.  The issue is definitely blending related, but I'm not sure the best way to fix.  It is treating it as 2 50% solids instead of 1 combined solid that is at 50%.

Pretty sure this is due to the little sun icon - the "collapse transformations" icon..
See more here: http://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/3d-layers.html
It's to do with what order 3D comp layers are processed when they're precomped.

Yes, that worked thank you. I wrapped the pre-comp inside another pre-comp and collapsed transformations on the top two layers of pre-comp. People (waving animation) > People Wrap (Nothing going on here) > Icon People (Collapse transformations) > Main Comp (Collapse transformations).


text:
ffmpeg drawtext filter - create transparent background with text
I am currently working with the drawtext filter. So far I have only been successful with drawtext option configurations to use the right font and place the text horizontally centered. How could i get drawtext to display text on a video as shown below?
ffmpeg
ffmpeg -i "/media/test/test.mp4" -vf drawtext="fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/truetype/open-sans/OpenSans-Regular.ttf:text='Title of this Video':x=(w-tw)/2:y=(h-th)/2"  /media/test_edited.mp4"

Use drawbox for the box, and drawtext for the text.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf \
"format=yuv444p, \
 drawbox=y=ih/PHI:color=black@0.4:width=iw:height=48:t=fill, \
 drawtext=fontfile=OpenSans-Regular.ttf:text='Title of this Video':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:x=(w-tw)/2:y=(h/PHI)+th, \
 format=yuv420p" \
-c:v libx264 -c:a copy -movflags +faststart output.mp4

drawtext has a box option, but as far as I can tell it can't be an arbitrary width and is relative to the text size, so that is why drawbox is used instead.
The format filter is used to improve the color of the drawbox area; otherwise, depending on your input and output formats, the area could look de-saturated or monochrome. The format filter is then used again to ensure that the pixel format of the output file is compatible with all players.
The audio is being stream copied in this example because you may not want to needlessly re-encode it.
Old ffmpeg users will have to use t=max instead of t=fill.

Perfect, this is out of scope of the current question and I may need to create a new question. Any suggestions of how to add the snapchat timer. For example, I did some testing and ffmpeg contains a testsrc video source that contains a timer: ffplay -f lavfi -i testsrc. The digit 0 of the initial timer has a 29x52 pixels size and its postion from the top -left corner  is 256 pixels horizontally and 94 pixels vertical. I can crop the area of one digit like this ffmpeg -f lavfi -i testsrc -vf crop=29:52:256:94 -t 10 timer1.mp4

I added an image with a timer to the question. The timer is a count down based on the video's duration .

Yes, I will create a new question for it. You are correct. 30. 29, 28... etc.

New Question posted: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/15556/ffmpeg-video-with-timer

Sorry, it is not showing any text inside it. HERE is the full ffmpeg output. I thought it was an ffmpeg version issue but after updating to the latest version it still shows no text inside the box.

@Code_Ed_Student Sorry, there was a typo in the drawtext option y; should be fixed now. But it will probably be best for you to determine where exactly you want the box and text to be located instead of relying on my example (note that if you change fontsize then that will affect the y location of the rendered text).

Great and you are right it did affect the box

Hello @LordNeckbeard can you please suggest how to rotate text by using  above command

@KarandeepAtwal Two methods are shown at Overlaying text on video with required angle using FFMPEG.

In the drawbox filter, the correct syntax is "t=fill" (and not "t=max")

@atyachin Thanks. The name was changed on 2017-11-20 to avoid conflict with a separate function also named max. I updated the answer and added a note that users of old versions will have to use max instead of fill.

ffmpeg 2.4.X seems not to work with either max or fill for me.

@stephanmg 2.4 is from 2014. Too old.

In case someone is wondering what is PHI, it is an ffmpeg constant: golden ratio (1+sqrt(5))/2, approximately 1.618

ffmpeg -i C:\Users\Developer_2\Videos\2.mkv -vf drawtext="fontfile=C\:/Regular.ttf: text='apcis.tmou.org': fontcolor=white: fontsize=24: box=1: boxcolor=black@0.4: x=w-tw:y=h-th" C:\inetpub\wwwroot\videos\1.mp4

this is worked for me but i using boxcolor-white@0.9


text:
Freeze frame effect with ffmpeg
I am currently fiddling with ffmpeg to achieve a freeze frame effect and so far have been unsuccessful. I have been able to do this with adobe after effects shown here. However I would like to achieve a freeze frame effect(of 5 seconds duration) at the beginning of the video. How can I achieve this in ffmpeg?
EDIT
ffmpeg -i "/media/test/test.mp4" -loop 1 -i "/media/sf_linux_sandbox/hashtag_pull/video-downloads/test/test.png" -an \
-filter_complex "[1:v]trim=start=0:end=5[ol];[0:v]setpts=125+PTS[nv];[nv][ol]overlay=eof_action=pass[final]" \
-map '[final]' -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -q 1 "/media/test/out.mp4"

Do you want the effect to occur at the very beginning or at a particular duration?

@LordNeckbeard at the very beginning

First you need to extract the frame that you wish to freeze. This is easy:
avconv -i test.webm -vf "select='eq(n,1)'" out.jpeg

Then you want to put that frame for the appropriate time interval.
avconv -i test.webm -loop 1 -i out.jpeg -an \
-filter_complex "[1:v]trim=start=0:end=5[ol];[0:v]setpts=125+PTS[nv];[nv][ol]overlay=eof_action=pass[final]" \
-map '[final]' -c:v libtheora -q:v 8 outtest.ogv

Firstly you will see that i didn't want to mess with audio, but if you'll find it too difficult, let me know and i will look into the quick way to align it as well.
Now what i'm doing here consists of several strange things. Firstly i am taking that frame that was generated before and i am creating a continuous loop video from it. And afterwards i cut first 5 seconds of it with the first filter trim. Then i do a quick and dirty move of all the timestamps of the main video by 5 seconds (125 frames). And finally comes an overlay filter, which places the grabbed frame entirely over the blank screen that was generated by shifting the video 5 seconds into the future.
Tested with avconv version v12_dev0-680-g3a724a7 built on Jan 22 2015 18:13:02
How to build avconv:

In terminal go to any directory where you are comfortable to place libav's code
run git clone git://git.libav.org/libav.git libav
enter into libav direcotry
run --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-encoders --enable-encoder=mjpeg --enable-encoder=flac --enable-encoder=ffvhuff --enable-encoder=libspeex --enable-encoder=libtheora --enable-encoder=libvorbis --enable-encoder=libxvid --enable-encoder=libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libxvid --bindir=/home/USERNAME/bin

Note that here i am assuming that you have ~/bin directory, that is added to your execution PATH. If you don't just remove that option

Run make

It is possible that you will not have some libraries, if you encounter such errors either install them or remove "enable" options for those libs. Keep in mind that removing those options can make it impossible to generate files with some codecs.

Run make install (or if you chose to not place binary within your user directory, sudo make install).

Edit: Unfortunately due to a bug, video becomes shorter than it should have been. I have reported it https://bugzilla.libav.org/show_bug.cgi?id=858

Thanks, I will test and let you know what are my results. Great and detailed answer!

Alright it did give a couple of errors.Click this GITHUB GIST for the full output.

@Code_Ed_Student I am unsure what is happening with your setup, so i've added how to make avconv with the same options as mine.

It seems that we have similar set up. Here is the script I use to install ffmpeg https://gist.github.com/xdamman/e4f713c8cd1a389a5917. I am aware avcon and ffmpeg are essentially from the same origin. However I been running several scripts with ffmpeg and therefore cant change now to avcon. Your help is appreciated.

this got me the image thumbmail ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "select=gt(scene\,0.5)" -frames:v 5 -vsync vfr  out%02d.png. Now just need to get the rest of the command adapted for ffmepg for freeze effect.

@Code_Ed_Student Ok, keep in mind that i don't have an ffmpeg setup, so my help will be limited. Can you try to just generate the frozen frame video -loop 1 -i file.jpeg -filter_complex "[0:v]trim=start=0:end=5[final]" -map "[final]" -c:v libtheora out.ogv let's see if this works, we'll continue from there.

Ok now showing progress. The issue was the libtheora I may not have that compiled with my ffmepg. Long story short I am just working with mp4 files so i used libx264. However, I dont want to trim anything from the original video. For example the original video was 15 seconds long, by appending the freeze frame of 5 seconds to the beginning should make it 20 seconds long. How can we get it to that?

@Code_Ed_Student With my setup you should have 5+15=20 second video, what did you get? And oh yes, i use libtheora so often that i type it almost automatically by now, you can use whatever codec and file format you wish.

The video is still 15 seconds long with the added freeze frame. Something is getting trimmed. The still image hops to another seen instead of starting from the frozen scene.

@Code_Ed_Student Most likely changing timestamps didn't move your initial video. Can you go to the man page, there should be example useages of setpts filter. Give them a try on the file that you are encoding, do they work?

If this is working for you, could you post the video somewhere so I can see your results.

@Code_Ed_Student I've relooked at the resulting file, and you are correct. It does terminate way earlier than it should. I believe that it a bug (apparently in both classic ffmpeg and avconv), i'm going to file a bug now.

Thanks! could you place the link here of the bug report.


text:
How do I record video for more than 30 minutes at a time with a Canon A1400 PowerShot?
I'm planning to send a Canon A1400 PowerShot to the edge of space with a weather balloon (we will figure out how to keep the temperature in our payload box suitable, so that is not a pertinent issue to the question). Unfortunately I believe it can only record 30 mins/4GB of 720p at a time. Our flight's duration is 3 hours and we want to capture all of that.
Can I program the A1400 with CHDK to recursively capture video till the memory card fills up? That is, start recording another video (almost) right after the 30 mins/4GB design limit is reached. If so, I would appreciate a script for the same!

Yes, CHDK should be able to do this.  There are actually scripts available on their wiki for this.  Basically, you have to tell it to press the video start button, wait a second or two for it to start, then begin polling to see if the get_movie_status has changed to the status for being done recording.  You then wait a second and repeat.
You'll also want to make sure you remove the 30 minute time limit with CHDK itself if available on your camera (under the video menu).  If it is, then you should only be limited by the 4gb file size limit and the script should restart the video.

Excellent, I'm very happy to see this!


text:
Telex and Mumble
I am trying to make a Telex MP 2002 interact with a Mumble client for a homegrown production intercom. However, when everything is hooked up, whenever something plays on the computer, it is instantly echoed back by the Telex. Is there any way around this?
Edit
Ok, so this is connected via the 9 pin program input port on the back(input on channel two, but that doesn't matter because the system is in combine). The output is taken from the PA output onto the line level input on the computer. The problem that we are seeing is that when we adjusted the volume on that computer and it made the noise to show what volume it is at, it started echoing that sound, getting progressively louder.

Can you add some more detail about how you are trying to use it and how you have wired it in?  There isn't really enough detail to answer it at the moment.

Added the information requested.


text:
Blu-Ray authoring on an Apple Mac
hope this is the right place for this query
I am after some advice on authoring blu-ray discs on a Apple Mac, I normally use Apple DVD Studio Pro from the FCP studio package, but this does not offer BR authoring.
Adobe Encore is not supported anymore and after reading some reviews didn't even really work that well.
I mainly do Wedding DVD's so there is a basic menu (4/5 buttons) with a short video background so this is all im looking for, I have Toast but it doesn't offer the customization I need, going direct from FCPX only gives me the option for the current timeline which is no good as I have multiple videos to add.
I have a BR burner in the Mac and it does work with Toast so im just after the App to build the BR image and I can burn it with Toast, like I currently do with DVDSP.
I could run a Windows VM if needed but it would be come messy when trying to move the files back and forth and trying to get the right codecs/supported files etc, but if this is my only option I am willing to look into it.
OR if anyone has any other options I would be open to suggestions.
EDIT: preferably free or a low price but im willing to look at all avenues, baring in mind this is not a huge money making operation this will be a few BR discs per year

Posting as a comment since this isn't an answer in and of itself, but stay away from Sonic's product line.  Scenarist might be ok, but when I tried their next to top line product (at the time DVD Producer) it was a buggy, unstable piece of garbage that I wasted $2500 on.

Cheers @AJHenderson, I been doing more research and it is looking like ill be stuck with trying Adobe Encore or removing BR from my list and maby subbing it for a digital download or something


text:
What are some versatile, standalone lenses under $600?
I'm beginning to put together a personal gear kit. I know enough to make decisions about most of my gear, but my knowledge of lenses is pretty lacking. I'm looking to spend under $600 total (including any adapters). The camera I'm purchasing uses the Micro 4/3 standard.
Originally I was looking at the Tamron 14-150mm f/3.5-5.8 Di III Lens because it seems to be a quality lens that can be used in a wide variety of situations, but I'm starting to reconsider because I've been seeing people say that getting an adapter to Canon EF is a better decision because a full frame lens will give you more light and narrower depth of field.
I'll be using this lens for a lot of cinematography, but I'll also be doing quite a bit of real estate and wedding videos. I intend to purchase more lenses eventually, but for now I need a single, versatile lens, preferably small and lightweight, even if it isn't perfect. Optical image stabilization and autofocus would be nice. I'm not looking for specific lens recommendations necessarily, just general information that can help me make a decision.

If you are starting from scratch with a m43 camera, then buying EF lenses kinda defeats the whole purpose of that format.
First things first: the m43 is approximately 1/2 the image diagonal of a full-frame 35mm camera, which means lenses need to cover only 1/4 the area, and that means you can use 1/8th the glass to get the same job done.  That translates to much smaller, lighter, and less expensive lenses, which is the main idea of the format.
When it comes to depth of field, the variables that go into that equation are focal length, focal distance, aperture, and circle of confusion (which is related to image size and magnification).  Boiling it all down, a "standard" 50mm EF lens shooting a subject 10 feet away at f2.8 on a 35mm camera is going to give similar field of view and depth of field as a 25mm m43 lens shooting the same subject 10 feet away at f1.4 on an m43 camera.
If you then place the 50mm EF lens on your m43 camera, it behaves like a telephoto lens.  It doesn't give you a shallower depth of field than a 50mm m43 lens on an m43 camera--that stays 100% the same.  The reason you get shallower depth of field on a 35mm camera is not due to the lens alone, but the variety of parameters (lens, distance, aperture, circle of confusion).  Putting an EF lens on your m43 camera will make it heavier, unbalanced, more expensive, and will do nothing at all to change the depth of field compared to the same focal length m43 lens.
As for your desire to "do it all" for $600, architecture really requires wide-angle lenses.  Really wide.  Wider than you can afford for $600.  But you can do something with a 12mm lens--much more than with a 14mm (or longer).  For weddings, you'll want medium wide to medium telephoto.  If you are trying to stand really far away and pick up candids with a long telephoto, you are doing it wrong.
A great lens that does both 12mm and the wedding range is the Olympus 12-40 f2.8: https://www.42ndphoto.com/Product/olympus-12-40mm-f2-8-m-zuiko-ed-pro-lens-62mm-/110022
It's a little more than $600, but an incredible bargain for what it does.
As for the range beyond 40mm (which is the equivalent of approx 85mm in 35mm full frame territory), a great shallow depth of field telephoto option (which again is more than $600) is the 75mm f1.8 lens: https://www.42ndphoto.com/Product/olympus-75mm-m-zuiko-f1-8-lens/110025
An f4.0 zoom lens on a m43 camera has the depth of field of an f8 lens on 35mm cameras--pretty deep.  An f2.8 lens, especially toward the longer end (40mm) will give you some separation between subject and background if you are careful.
Me?  I have the f2.0 zooms (14-35 and 35-100), which cost $2,000 +/-:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546539-REG/Olympus_261011_14_35mm_f_2_0_ED_SWD.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/404517-REG/Olympus_261012_35_100mm_f_2_0_ED_Zuiko.html
That's the cost of shallow DOF and really high performance on m43.  There are f2.0 zoom lenses that almost cover the 35mm format, but they weigh about 15 lbs and they cost almost $100,000:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/840523-REG/Fujinon_hk4_7x18_f_18_85mm_T2_0_Premier_PL.html
Which is why you see very few f2.0 zooms for 35mm.  Any why an f2.0 zoom on m43 is hand-holdable and much more affordable.
Bottom line: if you are going for m43 for cost and weight, don't blow it by buying EF lenses.  If you already have $20,000 worth of EF glass, then maybe it makes sense to spend $600 on a speed booster so that you can repurpose some of that glass for your new camera.  But it's no reason to go out and get some new.


text:
What benefits can a pen tablet or control surface provide in video editing?
I've been considering different directions to go to move away from a traditional mouse and keyboard setup while editing. I was initially looking at the Contour ShuttleXpress as a fairly inexpensive way to try out a control surface, but now having a Wacom Intuos looks attractive. It's my understanding that a tablet replaces your mouse, so would pairing a tablet with a control surface work well? Also, how does a tablet improve over a mouse? How important is size for the tablet, will the Intuos Small (6.2X3.9") be large enough? I've never used a control surface or a tablet while editing, so I'm just generally curious what the experience is like.

I work as an editor in broadcast TV and use a wacom tablet every day. I gave up on the mouse due to the tension in my hands caused by repeated clicking in tiny boxes all day. We have old Intuos 3 tablets, they're big but effective. In my case I benefit from large sweeping gestures and clicking those little boxes with a simple poke of the stylus.
However the biggest drawback for mouse users is loosing the last pointer position.
When you let go of a mouse, the pointer stays where you left it, not so with a tablet. Another tip I tend to map the screen 'inside' the tablet so that I don't overshoot to much nor rest my wrist on the uncomfortable edge.

I am a filmmaker/photographer; I have the shuttlepro 2 and a wacom intuos5 pro small...The shuttlepro2 is twice as much as the express but I have found it to be incredibly useful - more buttons = more customizable keystrokes. And the larger size is more ergonomic which will help with the transition and gaining the 'muscle memory' so that its the natural and fastest thing to do. Aside from needing to click shift, option, or command, I can edit (adobe pr/ae) without using the keyboard at all. This will increase your efficiency like crazy.
I do not find myself using the wacom tablet for video editing, although I did try it...The cool thing is that you can set up the radial menu with like 8 commands/keystrokes etc - being able to 'right click' on the pen and have all of your most common commands in a floating menu is awesome...however I found myself not really liking the pen for editing purposes. I have a kensington trackballpro - is had a scroll wheel and four bottons, making it excellent for use in a timeline, and its also really ergonomic.
I had the intuos5 pro medium and swapped it for the small - unless you are artist that plans on using this for sketching, you do not need that much real estate. You can map the tablet to the whole screen or map portions of the tablet for the entire screen; similar to a mouse, its most natural to have it set so that without having to move more than your wrist you can roughly reach all corners of screen, again youll only end up using a small amount of the tablet unless you plan on doing things like digital art, hand lettering etc.
The tablet really shines with photo editing. it has taken my work and workflow speed to the next level. Applying local adjustments in Lr or Ps is natural and much faster. And the ability to feather effects with the weight of your stroke can make edits more natural much faster.


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h.264 Audio Out of Sync in Premiere
I shot some video at an event last night with an ATEM TV Studio and recorded it via USB to my computer.
The files themselves play fine with VLC or Windows Media, but when I import them into Premiere the audio is out of sync with the video.
These files were captured with Media Express on 1080i5994. Capture format says AVI 8bitYUV.
Any thoughts or suggestions?

No that wouldnt work because the frame rate was being interpreted incorrectly causing the video to be half the length of the audio. And trying to fix the interpretation of the video only slowed down the audio. It was weird. I had to reencode the files and then edit.
For future reference in Media Express make sure the capture format is set to progressive.

If the audio differs by the video at a constant offset, you can just unlink them in Premiere and then move the audio in the correct segment.
If the audio differs at a variable offset, then process the audio with adobe audition or something similar and make it match the video.


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What is the difference between AVCHD and ProRes in terms of quality?
Depending on the project and the camera of course I often have to work with ProRes or AVCHD codecs without any thoughts. I assume that the code and the compression algorithm certainly is very different. Therefore I would like to know what is the difference between AVCHD and ProRes in terms of quality for a solid workflow?

You focus on quality in your question, so the answer is clear: ProRes (in various flavors) offers superior quality. There are other reasons you might choose AVCHD, but they don't relate to quality.
AVCHD is generally speaking a distribution format, while ProRes is more an acquisition and intermediate format (it uses all I-frames). ProRes also comes in a 4:2:2 /10 bit flavor, where AVCHD is 4:2:0 / 8 bit.

To answer that you'd need to flesh out your question. What equipment, processes, tools etc are you using? Is this about acquisition, post / effects, distribution, or what? There's no one perfect tool for everything, and on top of it all there's the budget.

AVCHD appears to just be h.264 with some constraints.  Mainly on framerate and resolution.  It looks from the wikipedia page that early versions mostly favoured interlaced encoding, unless you drop down to 720p.
The wiki page doesn't say, but I assume it's H.264 4:2:0 8-bit, not Hi10 profile or something.  I also have no idea what quality the hardware encoders in camcorders usually manage.  If you're generating AVCHD video on a computer, you could do it with x264 and get better quality per bitrate than ProRes.  (if 4:2:0 8bit is sufficient).
This might be a poor choice if you need fast random access to non-keyframes, since a lot of the compression advantage of h.264 is from inter-frame compression.  If you're just going to decode it in-order, then it's not an issue.
Note: AVC is h.264. (just like HEVC is another name for h.265). As always, a bad h.264 encoder can be standards-compliant but make your video look like crap, which is why I always make a point of recommending x264 for encoding.

h264 with some constraints - interesting. As always, thanks for your answer.

BTW, AVC is h.264.  (just like HEVC is another name for h.265).  As always, a bad h.264 encoder can be standards-compliant but make your video look like crap, which is why I always make a point of recommending x264 for encoding.


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What is the significance of this "RED, Digital, and Film Format Size Chart"?
Little context is offered when this chart:

is linked. What does it mean?

Based on this illustration, you are able to compare the sensor sizes of red cameras with film formats like 16mm, 35mm or 70mm imax and so on.


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Puppet tool - how do I make the arms stay attached to the same points on the body?
Trying to make following character's body wiggle a bit, using the puppet tool:

The face and arms are on separate layers as they will need to move independently. When the body moves via the puppet pins, the face and arms stay in their original positions. How can I 'attach' them to their assigned positions on the body?

If you put a puppet pin at the point where the arms attach, then you can tie the position of the arm layer to the position of the puppet pin using an expression. This will attach the layer to the puppet pin, allowing you to move the pin and the layer it is on and have the arm follow.
It's easy to do, with no knowledge of scripting really required.

So say your body layer is called "Body" and it has a puppet pin called "L_Shoulder", which is on the body at the point where you want to attach the left arm. The left arm layer should have its anchor point at the point that you want it to pivot on, which coresponds to the L_Shoulder on the body layer.

Here's what you do:

First, make the arm layer a child of the body.
Now apply an expression to its position property (hit alt/opt and click on the stopwatch).

The expression we want is this:
thisComp.layer("Body").effect("Puppet").arap.mesh("Mesh 1").deform("L_Shoulder").position

This looks very difficult to type, but fortunately we don't have to. Next to the expression editor text box is a pickwhip, that we can use to select properties and values. After you alt/option-click the stopwatch, drag the pickwhip to the position property of the puppet pin, and it will fill it all in for you.

Because the puppet pin positions are relative to the layer this works well. As the arm is a parent of the child, setting its position relative to the body layer is exactly what you want.
If the arm is not a child of the body it gets much more complicated: you have to use the toComp method of the body layer to get the relative position of the pin to the composition space, and then you have to apply expressions to link the other transformation properties of the body layer, but it can be done.

Thanks so much, that's really helpful! I'll try that. Cheers!

The puppet pin tool is designed to let you wiggle the limbs around on a single layer.  You place pins at the points where the joints meet, and at the ends of the limbs, then move the pins around using keyframes.  AE warps the image to make it look as though you've animated the whole image... Not always brilliantly..
If you have the limbs on different layers, you need to look at using a character rig instead of the puppet tool.
http://lesterbanks.com/2011/03/rigging-multi-layered-characters-in-after-effects/


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Empty library in DaVinci Resolve
I just wanted to work through the DaVinci Lite's manual. It says, the library browser should display all available volumes (Fixed, network and removable).
It displays, however, only one empty, cryptic "c:\vol0"
Any idea how I can access my footage?
Re-Installing the package didn't help.
I'm using version 11.3.0lite004 on Windows 8.1.

I've just received an answer on another forum:

Select "DaVinci Resolve" from the main menu, select "Preferences"
In the media storage tab press "+" and select the desired folder / drive.
Press OK and restart DaVinci.

OK, this software is definitely not intuitive, and one should not read the first 100 pages of the manual too fast!

Many thanks to Herja for the answer! https://www.gutefrage.net/frage/leerer-library-browser-in-davinci-resolve#answer-161183939


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Which different EDL types exist?
Edit decision lists are integrated in every pipeline nowadays. I've seen different types of it, but wikipedia only knows CMX 3600 EDL and a xml modification.
Which other formats exist and what are the differences of it? Is there a standard type which supported by all editing systems? Which open type has most features?

CMX 3600 (or earlier 340) is very common and understood by many systems. GVG (Grass Valley Group) format is almost as common. For simple cuts, dissolves and keys the two are highly compatible, but for more complex edits, including speed changes, there are significant differences. Neither deals well with multiple layers or multiple sources in one event.
Many other companies use proprietary formats that are often only slightly different from basic CMX/GVG. Things like the size and contents of the source ID, the use of notes for special effects, and so on, may change from version to version as well.
To list the specifications would take a very long post. If you have specific questions about what each can handle, try asking here. But in general, for interchange you'll probably find XML-based EDLs to be most flexible, and CMX/GVG will be understood by the most different systems, within their limitations.
Google "EDL XML AAF" for a lot more information on the topic.

Thanks for this overview Jim! Sounds like you are very familiar with it. :) Can you elaborate why xml formats are most flexible and what you mean by significant differences? I think proprietary formats are not interesting, because we can discuss about it :) Specifcations we can discuss in another question, will edit the question. Thanks again!

Since the older formats are frozen in a time decades old (CMX340 goes back to the early 1970s), they're limited in their ability to describe newer effects and methods, and lack source file tracking. XML-based formats are self-describing to some degree and so can be much more flexible. As for differences, a CMX EDL and a GVG EDL describing the same off-speed events would be an obvious example. There's a SMPTE standard for EDL exchange (258M-2004) that allows more audio channels and layers etc, but it's somewhat bogged down in its own details and has little manufacturer support AFAIK.


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What is the difference between ffmpeg and ffmbc now?
Two years ago I've used ffmbc to encode videos to prores, but nowadays ffmpeg also supports prores and avchd. What is the difference between ffmpeg and ffmbc now?

Usage differences
Note: ffmbc/ffmpeg will refer to the tools, while FFmbc/FFmpeg will refer to the projects themselves and/or each whole collection of tools and libraries.

There are syntax differences including:

ffmbc uses the old, confusing -newaudio option while ffmpeg can just use -map.
ffmbc does not support -codec or -c, so instead all stream types must be explicitly defined if you do not want to rely on the defaults. For example -vcodec copy -acodec copy -scodec copy vs just -c copy.
Probably lots more that I didn't think of. Feel free to edit answer and add more.

ffmbc will automatically relocate some data after encoding to MOV, MP4, etc while ffmpeg requires the -movflags +faststart option.
ffmbc does not support -filter_complex so filtering is different. For example, using the overlay video filter:

ffmbc: -i video.mp4 -vf "movie='overlay.png' [movie]; [in][movie] overlay [out]"
ffmpeg: -i video.mp4 -i image.png -filter_complex "[0:v][1:v]overlay"

FFmbc seems to support more broadcast formats.
FFmpeg has more features and filters.
FFmbc dropped ffplay and ffserver.

Development differences

FFmbc is GPL, and FFmpeg is mostly LGPL which makes porting features from FFmbc to FFmpeg more difficult.
FFmbc is basically the project of a former FFmpeg developer with a few contributions from others. FFmpeg has many developers and contributors.
FFmpeg often merges things form Libav, while FFmbc ignores Libav. Libav cherry-picks occasionally from FFmpeg, but ignores most stuff from FFmpeg (Libav is often joked to have "NIH syndrome").

One difference at least :
-target xdcamhd422

is supported by FFmbc but not by FFmpeg.
Very useful in a professional broadcast environment.
the -target option allows to specify several parameters at once. The -target option value must be one supported by FFm**. In the case of the xdcamhd422 value, it specifies the video codec to be used (mpeg2video), the frame size (1920 x 1080), and other parameters in order to have an output file conform to the XDCam HD standard.

Thanks! What exactly you can do with it? Convert it to sony xdcam mxf, right?

You're welcome. Added a few precisions in the answer. I used it to produce test files for a professional playout server and it worked perfectly.


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Encode settings for HTML5 background video
I want to create a website with a HTML5 video background.
I have a short 1080p mp4 clip that I want to use (20s). I intend to run the video in a letterbox format (5:2 ish), full screen behind the page content (for an example see Paypal's website: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/home)
What would the best export settings in Premiere CC for this purpose?

You should export multiple versions to accommodate for different browsers. With HTML5, you can offer different versions of the video and the browser will automatically pick the first one that's supported. For example, take a look at the source code of the paypal website you refered to:
<video autoplay="autoplay" muted="muted" poster="none">
    <source src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/webstatic/mktg/wright/videos/send-money.mp4" type="video/mp4">
    <source src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/webstatic/mktg/wright/videos/send-money.webm" type="video/webm">
</video>

As you can see, they offer both a mp4 (H264 codec) and a webm version of the video. Those would be good options for you as well.
Furthermore, you should try to keep the videos as small as possible, so that site visitors with slow internet will also be able to watch it. For that purpose, you should export the video with 720p instead of 1080p (nobody will see the difference, especially if the video is in the background) and aim for a bitrate below 1 Mbit/s. For example, the paypal video uses a bitrate of about 700 Kbit/s. If you don't need the audio, you could export without audio or with a low audio bitrate, i.e. 96 Kbit/s.
You can also save the video from the website to your computer and check the codec, bitrate and other parameters e.g. with MediaInfo or similar programs.
Update November 2018
Since this question is still getting a lot of views, I wanted to add some up-to-date information. By now, all modern browsers support MP4 (MPEG-4/H.264), and have been for a long enough time that you will be fine offering only MP4 for most projects. Check the link above for a browser compatibity table to make sure all browsers your project needs to support can play MP4. Keep in mind to use AAC for the audio track, not MP3, since it's supported by fewer browsers.
Still, you can and should offer a WebM video as the first <source>, since it features better compression, so users on a limited data plan will thank you. I just wanted to add that if you are limited in terms of disk space, render time or some other variable that makes it difficult to offer WebM, MP4 is all you need by now.
Also, since my original answer included something about audio, one additional takeaway that's not strictly related: Browser vendors are cracking down on autoplay videos (video that start playing automatically after loading the page, without a user interaction), especially if the video contains audio. For example, Safari will only allow autoplay videos if the video contains no audio track, or the video is muted (using the corresponding attribute on the <video> element). So if you don't need the audio track, export your video without one (autoplaying videos with audio are obnoxious UX anyway). And if you do need the audio, keep in mind that some browsers will block the autoplay, so make sure to include a placeholder image using the poster attribute.

As MoritzLost says, downscale.  Maybe put a link somewhere to the full-quality version for people that are interested.  Lower rez will also lower resource usage on the client side.  Even downscaling to 640p, 576p, or even 480p might be good, depending on the content, and how visible it will still be behind the text of your page.
Also, since EVERYONE that visits your site will be loading this video, it's worth taking extra trouble to make sure you squeeze out as much quality per bitrate as you can.  Esp. if you're not planning to change the video very often.  For h.264, that means feeding a lossless source to x264 with preset = veryslow, crf = 26 (or 2-pass bitrate target).  x264 is the best h.264 encoder.  (independent testing of various h.264 encoders has confirmed this.)  It has a lot of really clever algorithms for finding ways to make a really small file that looks good, given enough CPU time.  (And can run fast if you need it to, but encode time isn't really relevant for this use-case: encode once, download and play MANY times.)
Do NOT play audio by default when your page loads.  Hopefully sane people already know this, but MoritzLost was talking about audio.  Pages that auto-play audio are widely loathed and regarded as evil.
If you have a link to a full-quality version of the video, you could include audio with that.  96kb/s is enough for AAC stereo to sound excellent.  64kb/s will still sound good.  (as long as you don't use a bad encoder, e.g. anything in ffmpeg other than libfdk-aac.
edit:
I had a look at paypal's video.  (view page info -> media -> find the video -> save as).
mediainfo output:
General
Complete name                            : /f/p/home-signup.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                                 : mp42
File size                                : 10.9 MiB
Duration                                 : 1mn 11s
Overall bit rate                         : 1 276 Kbps
Movie name                               : Homepage SignUp - Alan Version
Album/Performer                          : Sorgel, Chase(AWF)
Composer                                 : Sorgel, Chase(AWF)
Description                              : This video is about Homepage SignUp - Alan Version
Encoded date                             : UTC 2014-03-13 16:26:17
Tagged date                              : UTC 2014-03-13 16:26:29
Writing application                      : HandBrake 0.9.9 2013051800

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 1mn 11s
Bit rate                                 : 1 273 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 30.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.046
Stream size                              : 10.9 MiB (100%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 130 r2273 b3065e6
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=4 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date                             : UTC 2014-03-13 16:26:17
Tagged date                              : UTC 2014-03-13 16:26:29
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

So they used x264 via Handbrake, but they suck at choosing an appropriate CPU-time vs. rate-distortion tradeoff.  ref=1,me=hex,subme=2 looks like the veryfast preset.  (x264 --fullhelp to see how each preset differs from medium, which uses the default settings for everything.)  Luckily for them, the default crf 23 quality setting is about right for their use case.  They could have saved I'd guess another 20% bitrate from the 1273kb/s they got from crf23 by using better settings, like veryslow, or even just medium or slow.
They also decided to limit themselves to h.264 Main profile, for compat with some older Android / iOS devices, which is sadly still a good idea, I guess.  (--profile Main).  Video that uses more bitrate than needed for the quality is kind of a pet peeve, so it really annoys me that people still distribute Baseline profile encodes.  Main profile can't use 8x8dct, which hurts quite a bit, too, but at least it can use CABAC to save about 15% bitrate vs. CAVLC, regardless of absolute rez / bitrate / any other settings.
IDK if it's possible with HTML5 video to have a Baseline, Main, and High profile stream available.  I know you can have mp4 and webm alternatives, but those are just containers.

I pretty much agree with everything that MoritzLost is saying.
I just wanted to add screen shot of the export window settings to help with setting the values on premiere pro.
I usually press command-M (Mac) to bring up the export screen
And I would set it like you see below.
The important setting to note is the Bitrate settings, I would set it to 1Mbps VBR, and allow to as high as 2.4 for scenes that get a lot of activity at a particular time.
Try to aim for a 1MB file size. (Paypal's sendmoney video was 1.2MB for 13 seconds, no audio)


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How to convert 25p to ntsc dvd?
I need to build a ntsc dvd from a 25p movie. I've read about different solutions:

Using twixtor to get ntsc framerate
Using DGPulldown to flag it up to 29.97fps

What is the most professional way without loosing any information?

The least-lossy way should be to just stretch time, so your 25p becomes 24000/1001p.  Then your video can go on a NTSC dvd with soft-telecining.  The audio needs to be stretched to match, using a pitch-preserving method.  (Soft TC means stored as progressive frames on the disc, with flags set to tell the player to apply a 3:2 pulldown if it needs to make 60i output (instead of 24p or 60p digital output)).
This is what British TV shows and movies typically do for their North American DVD releases.  It changes the run-time of the show by 1.04%, which is annoying.
This soft-telecining (25p->24p) is what is described on that forum link you found about twixtor.
The alternative is to butcher your video frames into interlaced fields that are going to have to get put back together again into progressive frames if they're not going to look horrible on a non-CRT display.  (This is the 25p->60i pulldown that Shin mentions.  IDK the details either.  And I wouldn't think it would ACTUALLY make motion look any smoother, because there's no motion-interpolation going on.  You still only have a temporal resolution of 25p, which is what you'll get from a deinterlacer / pullup filter that can figure out how to reverse a hard 25p->60i pulldown.)
I think I remember reading that concert-recording DVDs (and other stuff where stretching the timescale is worse than bad video) might do something other than the usual 25p->24p.  (like 25p->60i pulldown).
If you're making a Blu-Ray, it's worth researching if you can just put 25p content on a disc have have it play ok with North American equipment.  Instead of dropping a frame every second on playback, you'd probably just get one frame shown for a different length of time than others.  (Because the video output can be 60p, not 24p, even if the data on disc is 24 or 25p.)
I'm also not sure about DVDs, like what a North American dvd player would do with a 720x480p25 disc.  (And it might be different for different players, and maybe only good for HDMI out, but bad for analog NTSC output).
Basically, I'm really hoping it's possible for the world to stop stretching / squishing video when sending it across the Atlantic.  I know UK blu-ray releases of North American stuff are usually still 25p, though.
Anyway, whatever you decide to do, just be aware that one of these things is probably what actually happened.  Have a look at the NTSC version you produce, with an eye for any problems that could have caused.

I didn't think I said much that wasn't already in that twixtor forum post. :P  Maybe I rambled on longer, and that gave you a chance to understand it before you got to the end.

I personally would use media encoder and let it do the conversion. Convert it to a mpeg2-dvd format and pick a preset, you can adjust the preset to your liking. ME would do most of the heavy lifting. At this point I trust them to do the best job.
I find that nothing beats actually trying it though, you're not really out anything but time. And very little time at that. It's not like your encoding each frame by hand. :)
Alex

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.


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How to make a video where an actor writes facing the camera?
I'd like to know how to produce this kind of instructional video, where an actor is writing on an invisible wall facing the camera:

Introduction to Limits (mathbff)
What equipment/tools and which setup is required to shoot this video?

You need a few simple things to do this:

a camera
a large piece of glass or plexiglass
dry erase markers
editing software capable of basic transform controls

Record your actor writing on the glass.  To the camera, the writing will appear backwards.  Use your editing software to flip the image horizontally.  The writing will now appear normal*.  Most editing software is capable of this operation.  If there's not a "flip horizontal" command, try setting the horizontal scale to -100%.
*Pro tip:  Make sure your actor's clothes don't have any writing on them, or it will appear backwards in the final result.

Or you can write with reflective font, if there are not lot of letters. With siple drawings it is not a problem at all.

Or if you want to do more fancy stuff like pixie dust as write is being generated, you can use tracking software and 3D effects to accomplish that.

Of note: The glass will probably reflect the equipment and crew. Make sure the actor and background is lit but everything else is not. Position the lights to the sides. Crew members may need to wear black body suits, and it may help to hang a black tablecloth or something similar behind the crew & equipment. Also have the performer wash his/her hands and not apply lotion before shooting, so they won't leave smudges on the glass.

When shooting into glass you can hang a black cloth  in front of the camera with just a hole for the lens. We do that when shooting into aquariums.


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Sci-Fi intro logo animation
I'm trying to make an intro in After Effects (I'm a beginner) and I was wondering if anyone could assist me in reproducing the following logo animation:

In order to dive into this topic and understand the basics, can anyone point me in the right direction? How this effect is called and how to implement it roughly?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

In the example given, typical motion graphics techniques are used. There are several ways to achieve this animation in After Effects. Probably the easiest way is drawing a mask shape per letter on top of the 'logo layer' and keyframe the Mask Shape property. In most cases this is fast to implement and good enough, but in order to achieve a uniform motion I'd recommend to split up the logo into separate letters and use a trim path on a shape layer.

Instructions

Bring your Shape/Text from Illustrator into After Effects or simply use an After Effects Text Layer (If you don't want to switch between the applications)

Make sure that no layer is selected in your composition and hit G to enable the pen tool
Draw your animation path from the beginning to the end of the shape

Set the contour width of the new created shape layer to a value which covers the shape below
Set the fill color  to None by holding Alt and clicking into the color field
If you roll out the shape layer by clicking on the arrow  >  button left to the layer's name, there should be a appear another  > Add  Button in Track Mattes column. Click it to add a Trim Paths property
If Trim Paths is assigned to the shape layer go to your last frame, roll out Trim Paths property and click the stop watch of the end value, this should create a keyframe with a value of 100%
Go to your first frame and set the end value to 0% to get something like this:

To use the path animation as matte, set the track matte of the text layer below to Alpha

Note: Consider that the type in the given example is very suitable for this kind of animation.

Whoa! Thanks very much for the detailed tutorial! It means a lot.
Few questions. Can this be done with any font and what is this animation called in the animation realms?

@Robbie3059 Of course, but sans serif types more suitable. You can test it by your own, but serifs on both sides of the letter will make it less fluid and harder to animate.  It's simply animated type so it's a part of motion graphics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_graphics. Does that answers the question?

Yes it does. Can't thank you enough, very grateful for your help.

@Robbie3059 Glad I could help :)

@Poor is right for the "Ares" text on the left.  To the right of that, you've got a single line created with the path tool & drawn on using trim path.  The "archive" text has had its position and tracking adjusted using keyframes, and has been masked out to the left of the vertical line.
To take a guess at the fonts used, try using a site like WhatTheFont.