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Looking for compressed standard definition file format to share footage between Final Cut Pro 7 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS6
Brief Background
I have a 30 minute film originally edited on Premiere Pro 1.5 in 2005/2006 that used 4:3 720x576 PAL interlaced DV AVI footage imported by firewire from a DV Cam. The entire raw footage totals at around 100Gb. I have archived/backed up this.
My question
I'd also like to work with the footage in a more efficient codec/file format (but preserving quality) that used much less space than the DV/AVI format and that works in both Final Cut Studio 7 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
Further background
I have both licensed copies of Premiere Pro CS6 and Final Cut Studio 7. I am in the process of importing the old Premiere Pro 1.5 project into both tools. This has worked with reasonable success with the original AVIs (used Premiere Pro CS3 as an intermediate step) though there are some effects that didn't migrate but I am happy to tweak these manually.
I would like to keep the project that made this film in a current format so that it is still workable and to serve as practice for learning both tools. I believe that modern codecs provide efficiency in file size compared with the AVI file but still retaining the quality. I believe that FCP7 still does have some fans even though FCP X is said to be improved.
Detail about my technique for replacing the .AVI with the newer efficient file format
I am hoping that I can batch create copies of all the original footage files but in a more efficient commonly compatible format. I would expect the efficient version of the files to have the same name but with a new extension, e.g. .MOV for quicktime instead of the original .AVI. Assuming that both tools use a text-based/XML project file, in a text editor I should be able to global replace .AVI with .MOV so that the tool refers to the new efficient version of the file.
Research so far on a auitable codec/format
I have done some research including the FCP7 manual and on this site but not found many options. At the moment QuickTime seems to be the common format to use, but how efficient is this compared to the original AVI. I am not so concerned about Adobe Premiere Pro as this seems to be compatible with many formats.

What digital file formats are compatible with final cut pro?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090729091700AAFR72i
Video Formats Supported by Final Cut Pro
http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/usermanual/#chapter=C%26section=13
https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/final-cut-pro+file-formats

Your best bet is probably MPEG2 or MPEG4.  Both are going to have quality loss compared to your high quality DV format though, but proportionally, they should be pretty good.  You should be able to use Adobe Media Encoder to make the transition to whichever format you want to use.  Simply setup a profile and drag all the files in to Encoder and let it rip.
As to the type of MPEG2 or MPEG4, it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish.  I would personally probably go with h.264 at a fairly high quality level, though there will be some amount of difficulty working with the format in an NLE since it doesn't store very frame.  You really have to choose a trade off between space and efficiency in your NLE.  Large, less compressed videos can more readily access a particular frame without hammering the CPU, but they take up more space.
Motion JPEG is an in-between format that compresses each frame individually (or you can use all I frame H.264) but both give up a LOT in terms of compression since they compress each frame individually instead of making use of multiple frames at a time (which complicates non-linear playback).
One final option, (which is likely what I would do in your shoes) is to not recompress at all, but rather move the DV format video to an MOV container.  AVI and MOV are just containers and while AVI may not play nice in Mac world, MOV should play nice in both.

+1 upvote. Which "flavour" of MPEG4? There seem to be a few: AVC, H263, H264, with container this, container that etc. etc. Can you advise on which MPEG4 type Final Cut will support - for Adobe I would expect it to support it as it does very well at supporting most formats. If you can get back to me I would like to accept your answer. I can't really understand why these would have visible quality loss when MPEG4 is also used in HD video (and the file sizes compare favourably to uncompressed AVI). If I choose the correct quality settings then surely there will be no noticeable degradation?

@therobyouknow there is quality loss because it is the nature of the beast.  There are two types of compression, lossy and lossless.  Lossless at most typically only saves 2/3 the uncompressed file size and that quality level is very VERY high data rates.  Lossy compression, which is what you are looking for produces a loss in data that is unrecoverable.  Each additional generation of compression will also cause further deterioration (compared to an initial compression to the final data rate).

As far as Final Cut formats go.  I know it should support H264, but I'd be surprised if it didn't support any of the 3.  The best bet is to try running a short sample of whatever settings you like and verify it works well in both.  I have not used Final Cut since about version 6.

Thanks @AJ Henderson yes I am aware of the meanings - i.e. lossless (decompressed lossless file is identical to original, e.g. as in FLAC for audio) and lossy means information thrown away but smaller file size/data rate.

FYI h.263 is a very low bitrate format for video phone use. AVC is a synonym of h.264. MP4 is the container format, the "flavours" are the codecs. H.264 is very efficient, but FCP7 doesn't get along with it, because it uses inter-frame compression (one frame will be dependant on others to play back). Though for standard def you might be ok. Premiere works fine with h.264 because it transcodes anyway to an all i-frame codec. Which brings me to my suggestion if h.64 doesn't work: give good-ol' motion jpeg (mjpeg) a go. Not as efficient as h264, but better for editing because it's all i-frame.

The answer confuses quality loss and resolution. Perhaps rather than "full resolution" you should say "original quality"

@stib - agreed and updated.  I think I'll make mention of the all I frame bit too.  This is one of those answers I'm glad you necro posted on because I was still fairly new at writing answers when I wrote this and it can use a cleanup pass.


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zooming animation is not smooth in Premiere CS6
Animatedly, I tried to zoom into a video clip in Premiere by creating two Position keyframes and two Scale keyframes

But the result is very shaky for some reason?
What am I doing wrong with this implementation, or should I achieve this zooming effect by other means?
Same shaky result using linear interpolations
If I use just Position keyframes (Scale keyframes deleted for troubleshooting), and if I set the keyframes' Temporal Interpolation to Linear and also the Spatial Interpolation to Linear, the resultant video is still jerky, as evidenced here

I set the temporal and spatial interpolations to Linear for both keyframes i.e. for both the starting and middle keyframes

There are a number of other interpolation options, maybe one of them would help?

For one think, you are not using linear curves which is going to produce an acceleration and deceleration look. You also may need to render out the output as the preview may not be rendering smoothly. Have you verified if the problem appears on an actual export or is only when you are doing playback within Premiere?

Does this only occur when you use the zoom and position keyframes? Try keyframing only the position and only the zoom to see if it occurs in those situations too.

@BartArondson Thanks for the idea, I uploaded a position-only animation here and a scale-only animation here, but both are still jerky? :(

Thanks AJ, the links to the exported videos demonstrate that the issue occurs outside Premiere as well. I tried linear interpolations as well now, but it did not help - please see the edited question.

An observation - I think it is smooth inside Premiere, but becomes jerky on export?! At least when I play with half-resolution in Premiere, it seems smooth, but not when I play with full resolution, but that may be a CPU processing bottleneck or what not. I tried different output formats now as well, but they have all been jerky still, although QuickTime export seemed the least shaky. Any ideas?

@Cel - what is the format of the original video?  I know there are a lot of problems with this particular video clip from the multiple postings about it.  It almost seems like something may be wrong with the source file as there are really bizarre sounds, the video quality is poor and in general, things just seem off about the source clip.  If you export the video with no animation at all, does it still get jumpy?  It may actually be the source video that has the problem and it just doesn't become really obvious until run through an exporter.

@AJHenderson good idea about disabling effects, but clean output was fine..

Turns out that one should use the Motion effect and not the Transform effect for zooming in Premiere, even though they have exactly the same Position and Scale controls!
Here is the result with the Motion effect
p.s. The Anti-Flicker filter I discovered under the Motion effect was left to the default of 0, so that was not needed.
p.p.s. I also found this discussion of a similar issue

TLDR: Increase the Shutter Angle
I came across this (or similar problem) as I was using Transform on an adjustment layer to scale and alter the position of footage. One of the benefits of the Transform effect over the Motion effect is that it seems to scale text better - due to the Sampling option I imagine.
However I was getting really jerky results. I discovered increasing the Shutter Angle solved this. I used a value of 90 but lower might be fine as well depending on the speed of the transform you are performing.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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Using Multicam Editing How to Color Correct an entire angle
Am new to Premier CS6 - working with Multicam editing.  Having success but stuck on color correction.  I am able to create a multicam clip and do my edits using the Multicam Editing window (very slick and fast).  Also able to adjust those edits in the timeline to improve timing.  Sweet.
How do I color correct (or add an effect) to an entire angle in a multicam sequence after I've applied the edits (or even before)?
If I drag the effect into the timeline it sticks only to a particular edit and won't get to all the edits from that angle.  I can't drag it into the upper-left window ("browser"?) and don't know how else to apply the effect.
I've read some online but am hitting a wall with how I get to the underlying video footage behind the multicam edit.
Can someone hold my hand and guide me?
Detail Steps Taken in CS6

Place video files (angles) in the project browser
For each file, double click to preview video and then set corresponding in-points
Select all video angles in project browser, right-click, and choose Make multicamera clip... (by in-point)
Place new multicam clip in the sequence

If all is correct you enable the multi camera mode on a sequence containing the different angles in different tracks as shown in the image below (this is CS5.5, but CS6 is similar).
  The image shows a sequence containing 4 different clips which represent 4 different angles.
In this example these are just a collection of random footage, but it works the same if you have actual different footage from different angles.

Let's call this Sequence 01. Now put Sequence 01 in another sequence,

click on Multi-Camera -> Enable and then you can switch witch camera you want in Sequence 02.

According to the information in your question you've already come so far.
Now if you want to color correct one angle (lets take the angle called Leaf.MOV) just open Sequence 01, apply the effect to the clip (drag and drop on the Leaf.MOV clip) and this changes should propagate into your multi-cam edits.
Please feel free to ask any question if this doesn't work for you. I'll try to help.

Your approach works; I added detailed steps to my question to see how our approaches differed.  I didn't put all the clips in their own sequence first -- I just set in-points and then created a multicam clip from the project browser.  Your instructions, though, seem to work great! Thanks

Good to hear it works, I was not aware of your method. Consider accepting my answer if it has helped you.

Accepted! I clicked on it twice as the answer already but wasn't sticking ... I think it stuck this time.

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What equipment do I need to be able to produce 'HD quality' videos?
For starters, please forgive me if this question is very amateurish - if they sound that way, that's because I am an amateur.
I would like to start shooting some webisodes in my garage and want to know what equipment I will need.
The quality would be the equivalent to that of any of Revision3's shows - or more specifically TRS. So nothing TOO high quality, but decent-ish quality.
I have a Canon 7D, and would like another camera for a 2nd shot. My budget is about $4Kish for everything. The 2nd camera, lighting, audio, etc.
Someone suggested a t3i, or t4i for my second camera - what do you guys think about that?
Also, about 60% of the shots I do will be in this garage, but I also want to be mobile and be able to setup shots elsewhere - so keep that in mind.
Can you recommend lighting (both individual pieces and entire kits) and audio solutions that I might want to look at?
I was thinking of getting stuff on B&H, but the choices just seem overwhelming and I know it's easy to spend a ton of money on stuff that I don't "need".
So I would love any feedback on how I can get a "decent-ish" studio setup for a few $K.

With your budget, I would suggest investing in a few basic lights and decent audio recording equipment.
While a second camera is nice to have, creating production value with the non-picture parts of your films will make them a lot better. If you need to get second or third angle, just move the camera for a closeup and re-run the scene. Sure, it may take longer to shoot, but from my experience, you'll have better selection in the edit suite than if you're just cutting a bunch of suimultaneously rolling cameras together.
There's also the issue of matching. The 7D is so spectacular, that I'd fear mixing in something that's not comparable (and likely over your budget) will be very visible to the viewer.
Lighting: Learn basic three point lighting. Rather than buying a kit new, check eBay for Lowel lights. They're relatively well made (using metal!) and still very economical. The ProLight, VLight and Rifa lights are good to start a digital video lighting package with. I've put together kits designed to my specs buying individual pieces off of eBay, and spent half the cost of a comparable kit new. I would say a good place to start is 2-3 ProLights and a Rifa Light, maybe a vLight. The latter is good for just makign something bright, but isn't terribly good at adding modeling to a scene. It may not be appropriate for your garage shoot. I usually use it to uplight a tree in night shots jsut to add some texture.
Accessories for lighting: stands, dimmer switches and a roll of blackwrap. Gels are useful once you start shooting outside...you'll need to balance the lights to match the sun. Read about Color Balance and Color temperature if you're unfamiliar with the concept.
Audio: Invest in a good shotgun mic and a boom pole. I cannot stress enough the importance of good audio. If your picture is mediocre, awesome sound can save it, but no matter how awesome your picture is, bad sound makes it unwatchable. Play around with the mic to learn how its pickup pattern works and to find the sweet spot for placement. If you need to record sounds effects, ambient sounds, or record dual system, pick of an H4N. It's one of the best investments I made into my audio kit, and I use it on every shoot.
A solid, economical mic is the Audio Technica AT-435B. Sennheiser is also a good brand, but more expensive. I forget my model numbers off the top of my head; perhaps someone can fill in?
In short, a second camera is not as necessary as lighting and audio. The production value that you can add with those things far outweighs the convenience of adding a second camera. If you do insist on a second camera, look at the GoPro. I work on a lot of network shows that just place one of these to get b-roll...for cooking shows, it'll just monitor the cooktop while the rest of the crew runs around the restaurant. Quality is good enough to cut ionto broadcast shows, but the size of the chip limits its contrast and color reproduction...so there is a marked quality difference between that and the 7D. That being said, perhaps killer audio and lighting will compensate. Good luck!

Thanks very much for this detailed response @dwwilson66. That has definitely helped me a lot.

That's great to hear. Good luck, and keep posting questions as you proceed!


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How to delete an edit in Final Cut Pro (un-blade)

I want to be able to "undo" the blade tool, in effect merging clips
  together. How can I do this?

(Answered another question without noticing it was for Final Cut X, not FCP 7, but here is the answer for anyone using Final Cut Pro 7)

No, I didn't look at your other answer :-)

haha, beat me to the punch :p

I did. Being an FCP fan, I couldn't pass up the question. :-)

If you have made an edit and you want to remove it, you can click on the edit then press delete and the edit will be removed.
fig1. selected edit:

Note that this only works if the time on either side of the edit hasnt changed, as indicated by the red triangles. If you have cut out any video, you cant delete the edit:

You can just select the edit and hit Delete. If you removed any video in between, you won't be able to delete the edit.

Click on the line for the edit that you have done with the blade in order to select it and then press back space.


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How much film do I need (in feet/meters)?
I'm shooting 3-perf 35mm @ 24 fps. How many feet of film do I need if I'm shooting one hour?
Is there a good site/app for calculating this?
Note: This is a repost of an off-topic/closed question I asked on Photography - Stack Exchange.

4,051 feet of film.
For reference:

8mm = 80.0 frames per foot
Super 8 = 72.0 frames per foot
16mm = 40.0 frames per foot
35mm 2-perf = 32.0 frames per foot
35mm 3-perf = 21.3 frames per foot
35mm = 16.0 frames per foot
65mm = 12.8 frames per foot

The math:

60 minutes = 3600 seconds, 3600 sec x 24 fps = 86,400 frames, 86,400/21.333 = 4,050.06328

Tools for Calculating
Kodak makes a free app for iOS called "KODAK Cinema Tools" which has a film calculator, among other features.
http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Tools/Mobile/index.htm
Panavision has a simple website with a film footage, frame and running time calculator:
http://www.panavision.co.nz/main/kbase/reference/calcfootage.asp

+1 Great answer.  (by the way, no need to put "Hope this helps" at the end of your answer)

Thank you Fried Of George, I work at a helpdesk for a living, and 'hope this helps' is a habit that I will have to learn to break. :>


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What are the features you look for in an SLR when you mainly want it to shoot video
I want to buy a DSLR for shooting videos (semi professional video blogging).
What I should look for in a DSLR if I am mainly focused on video shooting.
I know this question overlaps with https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/1888/what-features-should-i-look-for-in-a-dslr-to-shoot-live-bands but it's more general, usually I have control over lighting, not very dynamic (moving) environment, sound recording is easier for this situation, can be tethered most of the time, more limited budget...
EDIT:
As I understand it, the flexibility that an SLR gives you in terms of optics (you can use a variety of lenses that are not available on video cameras), and image quality (sensor quality and pixel count) and other controls (exposure controls ...) makes SLRs very good options for semi-pro video production.

You will hear many responses, but let me make one point very clear.  If you are using an HDSLR for video, your primary concern will be your ability to focus or autofocus.  If we are using a true SLR - i.e. a camera with a reflex mirror, you will either need a loupe attachment or an attached LCD.
Here's the kicker - the 5DII, darling of the indie movie crowd, with the largest, highest res sensor in this class, only provides SD video output while recording.  Dear Lord, let me tell you, nailing focus on a 105mm at f/2 at 4 feet with a slide will drive you nuts.
I had a marking wheel.  I had Magic Lantern and peaking.  I had an external HD LCD.  I could not see what I was doing.  I did not have what I needed there: a 2nd pair of hands.
Oh, you saw House M.D. with really cool close up focus tricks?  That was done with a marking wheel and consistent focusing cinema primes, and a 2nd AC whose job it is just to hit the marks on cue.  Alternatively, it was a locked down shot with a lot of lighting, a decent f/stop for depth of field, and little or no focus adjustment or movement.  In this respect, the added DOF of a 7D and its ability to output HD video makes it a much easier camera to control.
SO: Much of this will depend on the style or intent of the video.  Autofocus may be acceptable for ENG or documentary work.  It probably will not be for dramatic work.  You need to be clearer about what you want to do.
You may be better off with a mirrorless camera - I love shooting with my GH1, far more than my 5DII - except for the crop factor.  We all love the output of the 5DII, its 1080p with full frame, but it handles like a schoolbus at Nürburgring.  Additionally, these cameras are typically better for video auto focus, but that is changing.  Still, the NEX series is a real price performance killer for many video and photo uses.
Most other issues are of less consequence.  If the video quality matches your expectations, don't worry.  Go to Vimeo to find some raw footage samples. Don't expect to edit video like your photos though.  Footage from these things is more like medium quality low res JPG than full RAW.
One thing I would tell you to completely ignore is audio.  Many make a big deal about manual audio levels and recording fidelity.  If sound matters at all, use 2nd system audio; on board sound should be used for video+audio sync and nothing more.  Seriously - a $200 recorder will do better than any camera not using XLR jack input.  If you're doing drama, you need to mic the actors and/or have booms anyway - and you don't run those lines into the camera.
If you refine the question, I might be able to point out a specific issue to watch out for or recommend a camera.
Finally - no matter what you do, learn how to light (and gel) for consistent color grading.  I cannot stress that enough.

Thanks, I'd be doing technical video blogging (mostly indoor/studio + macro ...). I didn't get what you meant by "Don't expect to edit video like ...". Here you are talking about what video?

In high quality photos, RAW capture gives you a lot of dynamic range to recover shadows and highlights without banding.  However, the video they produce is preceptually/lossy compressed - there is little you can do after the fact if your exposure isn't good.  Add the fact that you don't have a need for dramatic wide shots, I think a m4/3rds camera, like the GH* series is appropriate.  They are very capable cameras and I think the reasons people put money into 5DIIs would be not just wasted, but a hinderance. Do spend money on lighting (and stands/backdrop) and certainly on appropriate lenses.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should do your set lighting, camera support, and lens choice first.  The wonderful thing about lighting is that you take it with you through camera upgrades.  The bad thing is that while cinematic video camera technology has dropped orders of magnitude in pricing, lighting has not.


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How can I extend the ten minute video limit on a Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS?
This question addresses the fact that DSLRs have limits on video recording time and provides some speculation as to why the limit exists. It mentions that Canon has a 30 minute limit.
I am recording HD video on a Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS point-and-shoot, and am coming up against a 10 minute limit. This site says that there is a 60 minute limit on standard definition and 10 minute limit on high definition. With 720p a 10 minute video is about 1.5 Gb. I wanted to mention the 10 minute limit explicitly because it seems that many people talk about a 30 minute limit and so this seemed like a somewhat unique case.
My question is whether there is a way to extend the limit from 10 to something like 30 minutes? 10 minutes is just short for my purposes of recording my own judo tournament matches.
I guess it would have to be some kind of patch to the firmware. Does such a thing exist?

Try Magic Lantern Firmware Wiki

@daviesgeek: That is only for certain DSLR cameras.

@Flimzy Oh, I haven't used it much.

@daviesgeek: I've never used it (yet). I do intend to, I have a T3i/600D... and it looks pretty impressive.

I believe the limit is due to the file size, not the actual recording length.  This forum thread seems to confirm this for the T2i/500D, and Wikipedia agrees for the 5D mkII.  Also according to these sources, the limit for both cameras is 4gb.
For the PowerShot cameras, the file size limit is likely much lower. For the S2, it appears to be 1gb.
What all this means is that the time limit isn't a time limit, per se... but a file size limit.  So if you are able/willing to reduce the file quality, you may be able to extend the time limit.
If you can shoot in a lower quality video mode (say 480i instead of 720p), that will likely improve your recording time.  If you can reduce the frame rate, that may improve your time limit, as well.  Of course all of these things will make the video noticibly lower quality, as well.
If you can't get different equipment, you may be best off strategically stopping and starting the video during pauses in the action.

4 gb is indeed the limit for FAT file systems, but the limit I'm running up against of 1.4 to 1.5 Gb does indeed seem to have to do with the camera as the links in the question indicate as the length of the resulting video is exactly 9:59. These kind of limits are apparently common for cameras. But there is very little information available on going around these limits.

@LexFridman: I suspect the limits < 4gb have to do with shortcuts made in the camera firmware.  Either their FAT support is incomplete, or there is some other arbitrary limitation. You might be able to test the theory that their FAT implementation is incomplete by putiting a 4gb video on the camera card, and see if your camera can play it back.

There is a 2GB file size limit in some circumstances IIRC. Note also that some libraries might have a 2GB limit which has nothing to do with the filesystem (32-bit maxint

@Flimzy, good idea about testing the camera with a large video file. I'll do that and get back with the results. However, as I said the limit really does not appear to have to do with size of the video but the length of the video (exactly 9:59) unless it's a complete coincidence. I'll run some tests. I wonder if this can be overcome somehow.

@LexFridman: There is software for some PowerShot cameras that allow you to stream video to a computer. One example (although this one doesn't list your specific model.)  Perhaps with something like this, you could stream to a laptop, where your laptop doesn't have such a restrictive time limit.

Well, if a photographic (Digital) camera is capable of recordig video for a longer period, these items will be identified by the customs (of many countries) as "Video Recorders" where a higher tax rates may apply. To prevent this, all camera manufacturers limit their productions to 1 hour (approx.) for lower resolutions and 10 minutes for HD video. May be the 9.59 minutes limit for HD to prevent "10 min or higher" HD recording term by customs.....
If not they would have been manufactured to save files automatically by every 10 minutes and continue video recordings -like in many software and like in multy /continues photo shooting with the digital camera.
THere cannot be any FAT matter as many cameras are capable of handlong SD (less than 2 GB), SD-HC (More than 2 GB), MMC (commonly used by Sony) and SD-XC with higher capacities up to 32 GB. Untl recent past, 32 GB was a Card manufacturing limitation, but not by camers. May be that is why it is mentioned as "up to 32 GB".
It is always better to stay with Class 4 SD HC cards up to 4 GB and Class 10 for higher capacities.
Found this info while searching to find why this 10 min limit on Digital cameras....
Hope this help  you all...

I just found out there is a software mod developed called CHDK that will work on this camera and one of the features it opens up is the time limit on recording, and does not permanently alter the camera hardware or software. You can boot it off the SD card. I will be trying this myself soon, mostly for cat videos.
The version for this camera is just an alpha build, but what is working and what isn't is discussed over on the developer's site.  It only extends it to the 4gb limit, but it should buy you a little more time.

Canon powershot hs100 and hs 300, at 4Gb apparently shut off due to "tariff" and copyright problems.
It says it right in the manual. "10 minute clips"
At HD 1920 it lasted ten minutes. At 640 it lasted 1 hour.

Please share your sources for the tariff and copyright problems.  We would love to have more information on this.


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Vertically shifted Image through RCA/Chinc connector
I am experiencing the oddest thing about a RCA-transmitted audio/video signal. The sound is transmitted correctly and so is the image. However the image itself is vertically shifted by roughly one third of the picture. That means the bottom third of the screen is undefined static and the upper third of the actual picture is cut off.
Some context: As I do not have a TV at the moment but want to play some Wii games, I use my trusty but quite old VCR (which works perfectly for watching VHS cassettes) which is plugged in via television cable to the TV-card of my computer. This VCR has only a mono sound input regarding the RCA signal (yellow + white) so I left the red cable coming from the Wii unplugged and connected the other (yellow and white) cables to the VCR input.
Do you have any clue what is going on? Is there any chance whatsoever I could fix this?
EDIT
I can rule out the VCR, as I plugged the Wii directly to my TV-card (I just found out it supports chinch input) and have the exact same result.

I solved the problem now. The Wii was configured to send out a 60 Hz signal, but my TV card could only process 50 Hz. By changing this in the Wii menu (which you could see a bit) the setup works now.


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What factors are important for DSLR lenses for shooting video?
I'm about to upgrade my DSLR camera from a Canon XSi (450D) to either a Canon 7D or T3i (600D).  I'm largely interested in the video features of the camera. I have several mid/high-end lenses that I already use for still photography, but I don't have any "general purpose" zoom lenses (since I prefer to use a prime lens for most of my stills).
So, I'd like to get a general-purpose zoom lens (something that covers at least the 20-70mm range, or so) to use for shooting video.
My primary question is, how important is lens quality for videography? I know that "quality" can mean many different things, so let me break this question down a little bit more.

How important is sharpness? 1080p video is barely 2 megapixels, so it would stand to reason that an ultra-sharp lens is not really necessary to get sharp-looking video. Is this an accurate assumption?
My approach for buying lenses for still photography has usually been to buy the best lens I can afford for the application I'm interested in. I'm wondering/hoping that it might be reasonable to buy a cheaper lens for video, and not feel like I'm sacrificing image quality, since the output resolution is so much lower than with stills. Is this just wishful thinking?

Obviously a large aperture is a bonus for video, since long exposures can't be used. But when shooting in low-light, again, it would stand to reason that I might be able to use a higher ISO to compensate for a slower lens, with less noticeable impact, since I'm recording at a much lower resolution than I would be for still photography. Is this also true? How fast of a lens do I need to be able to record in an average indoor lighting setting (no studio lighting), without a high ISO becoming noticeable?

Is image stabilization a pro or a con for hand-held video recording? I can imagine the sound of the motor might be a nuisance if picked up by the microphone. What impact does it have on the video itself?

I'm guessing a USM for auto focus probably won't matter a whole lot, since what I've read suggests that live auto-focus doesn't work very well in video mode. But even so, I suppose a USM AF would be a bonus, if/when it does work.

The ability for a lens to retain focus when zooming seems like it might be of particular importance when shooting video on a zoom lens.

Are there other factors I ought to consider when selecting a lens specifically for video?
I'm not really interested in pointers on which focal lengths I ought to use for what type of shooting, or specific lens recommendations... I'm interested in more general pointers, that will apply to all video shooting.

How important is sharpness? 1080p video is barely 2 megapixels, so it would stand to reason that an ultra-sharp lens is not really necessary to get sharp-looking video. Is this an accurate assumption?

It depends on the way the DSLR is capturing it's video from the sensor. The first method is the most obvious one, take the image and scale it, but there's also another; use only the pixels across the sensor's area that approximately "line up" with the pixels in the final resolution. I.e. in a 1080p image only every third or fourth scan line would be used resulting in one sensor pixel being used to produce one pixel in the video image.
I would hazard a guess that an "acceptably sharp" lens would be okay for video, though not ideal and probably for more reasons than image sharpness.

My approach for buying lenses for still photography has usually been to buy the best lens I can afford for the application I'm interested in. I'm wondering/hoping that it might be reasonable to buy a cheaper lens for video, and not feel like I'm sacrificing image quality, since the output resolution is so much lower than with stills. Is this just wishful thinking?

As my above answer suggested, there are other aspects of the lens you need to keep in mind when choosing a video lens and these may be:

Maximum aperture for low-light.
Fixed aperture for consistent exposure when zooming.
Image stabilisation is especially useful when not using a steadicam or other stabilising rig or device.
Ease of use, especially when it comes to the focus ring. Canon USM lenses in particular have a very smooth, usually well placed and grippy focus ring. Kit lenses aren't so good in comparison.

Obviously a large aperture is a bonus for video, since long exposures can't be used. But when shooting in low-light, again, it would stand to reason that I might be able to use a higher ISO to compensate for a slower lens, with less noticeable impact, since I'm recording at a much lower resolution than I would be for still photography. Is this also true? How fast of a lens do I need to be able to record in an average indoor lighting setting (no studio lighting), without a high ISO becoming noticeable?

I think you'll find with most typical video DSLR's is that the ISO performance for video isn't quite as great as you might assume, but it in no way bad. I'd say ISO 1600-3200 lives up to most expectations on the 18mp APS-C sensors, but beyond that it's quite noticeable.

Is image stabilization a pro or a con for hand-held video recording? I can imagine the sound of the motor might be a nuisance if picked up by the microphone. What impact does it have on the video itself?

For music videos and other videos where sound is not used, IS is fantastic and goes a long way to ensuring the video is jitter free, but if you need the sound and it's potentially a quiet environment, it might be prudent to use an external, higher quality mic attached to say, the hot shoe via a mount.

I'm guessing a USM for auto focus probably won't matter a whole lot, since what I've read suggests that live auto-focus doesn't work very well in video mode. But even so, I suppose a USM AF would be a bonus, if/when it does work.
The ability for a lens to retain focus when zooming seems like it might be of particular importance when shooting video on a zoom lens.

As above, Canon USM lenses (whether L or standard) have very usable focus rings. Provide good grip and are very smooth to focus with.

I personally use a Canon EOS 60D with an EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM lens and find it a great combination at those focal lengths. The IS in that lens is quite remarkable and the USM focus ring makes it very smooth and accurate to focus. When I turn the IS off, I can instantly see the jittery movement from my hands trying to hold a 2kg camera setup.

Do all fixed-aperture lenses retain focus while zooming?

No. Any lens will loose focus when zooming.

Parfocal lenses, though, will not lose focus distance (within an acceptable margin of mechanical error).

You don't want Focus Breathing or Lens Wobble when zooming, in Stills it won't matter unless you're on a Tripod (to deliberately hold still) and trying to Focus Stack or other tricks requiring alignment. You also want a shorter throw than is common with 'Stills-only Lenses' (as far as getting a decent Shot is concerned) so you can move in one motion and not two or three grabs. A 4-6K Lens (only 'Video Lenses' go that low; not really a thing) is fine, invest for the future since Glass should outlast the Camera. An odd number of Blades and way more than 7 is best. Search "4K lens cheap", etc.

I do video with my Canon 5d Mkii.  I am a beginner at video, but I have done photography for years.

1) How important is sharpness?

My lenses are all about the same sharpness, and I've never A/B'ed two different lenses at the same focal length.  In my experience, lens sharpness is at the bottom of the list of problems with a shot.  Getting enough light, getting the focus right, the composition, tracking any movements accurately, these are all much more pronounced issues than lens sharpness.

2) How fast of a lens do I need?

I have found that shooting indoors in normal households in northern california even wider than f/2 I have to crank the ISO up to about 1000.  On my 5d, ISO starts to get very noticeable at about 600 or 800.  I suspect that there is a separate noise reduction implementation for video, because I can shoot stills up to ISO 2000 without any noticeable noise.

3) Is image stabilization a pro or a con for hand-held video recording?

If you are using the built-in microphone on the camera, pretty much every minor touch of the camera and movement will come across as very loud.  For this reason, I don't use the built-in mic at all.  I suspect that stabilization would very audible.  You can get a decent mic that fits into the hotshoe for about $100.
Stabilization after the fact works OK, but it does look manipulated to me.  Virgin eyes might not pick it up though.

4) I'm guessing a USM for auto focus probably won't matter a whole lot

Autofocus has never worked for me at all.  I can see the camera trying, but it is just far too slow and inaccurate to be useful.  I usually start with AF in "photo" mode and then focus by hand while shooting video.

5) The ability for a lens to retain focus when zooming

I believe all zooms keep the same focal point while zooming?  I don't have any zooms, but I think that is the case.

+1 despite the fact that the majority of zoom lenses do not keep the same focal point while zooming. :)

#2 - You definitely want the largest aperture you can afford for video. The higher ISOs very quickly add a lot of noise, and you won't want to drop below a 1/60 exposure (180° shutter "rule"), which only leaves aperture.
#3 - I haven't done alot of comparison, but I've never noticed any noise from it. The general consensus on this thread seems to be that it's useful for video at times.

I'm not sure what the 180* rule is, but the 180º rule you linked to doesn't have anything to do with exposure.

Thanks, I've updated the link to point to the 180° shutter rule, which is what I was talking about.

That (180° shutter "rule") link is dead. I can't find an mirror since the author appears to have removed their blog.

I answer your question with a video that helped me.
http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/13/dslr-lenses
Basically, you need to take into consideration fStop as well. This allows you to change the amount of blur the background.

Very important. You can't fix crappy/not sharp video. If the lens looses quality at the very limit of the zoom, then that will not effect the video. But, if the lens produces blurry shots on any focal length, it will show up in your video
Shutter speed has no effect on the video, as the shutter stays open for filming.
It all depends. I have had no experience with VR, but I always keep it on. If you are using a shotgun mic, then any lens sounds will not be picked up. I don't have much experience here, so not my place to comment.
Continuous Auto Focus is a camera function (AF-S AF-A for Nikon users)
Telephoto lens do not retain focus when zooming. When the focal length chances a small amount, then its not noticeable (18mm to 25mm wont be that visible a change), but from 70mm to 240mm will loose all focus.

Even thou you did not ask for it...
Get the 7D (The use it to film House).
For staring I would get the Kit Lens or a 18-55mm or 24-105mm, but really, any lens will do.
More Reading:

http://www.reelseo.com/hd-video-dslr-camera/

I'd actually already seen that page. Unfortunately, it's pretty light on actual information. They seem more interested in debating the pronunciation of "Nikon" than in providing solid information I can use to purchase a lens.

It helped me...
You should also try a youtube search for "canon 70d test video" and see what people are using. You can see what works for people

Lol yea. I was thinking about the 60D and that there was a step up from that

If I could give you -10, I would. Only -1, unfortunately, for "Shutter speed has no effect on the video, as the shutter stays open for filming." You couldn't be any more wrong.


text:
Ghost image issues with ffmpeg -filter_complex displace
I've (almost) been able to apply a displacement based on 2 animated gaussian noise videos, but I'm having issues with a ghost image. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Here you have a script to replicate the issue:
ffmpeg -y -t 2 -f lavfi -i color=c=blue:s=160x120 -c:v libx264 -tune stillimage -pix_fmt rgb24 00_empty.mp4
ffmpeg -y -i 00_empty.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text=string1:y=h/2:x=w-t*w/2:fontcolor=white:fontsize=60" 01_text.mp4
ffmpeg -y -t 2 -f lavfi -i color=c=gray:s=160x120 -c:v libx264 -tune stillimage -pix_fmt rgb24 02_gray.mp4
ffmpeg -y -i 01_text.mp4 -i 02_gray.mp4 -i 02_gray.mp4 -filter_complex "[0][1][2]displace=edge=mirror" 03_displaced_text.mp4

It creates a test video with a scrolling text and a gray dummy video. Then it applies a displacement based on the gray video. If I understand correctly, because the gray video is 100% gray, it should leave the video unchanged (or maybe displace everything by a fixed ammount of pixels), but it creates a "shadow". I tried with 3 different pixel formats (yuv420p, yuv444p, rgb24) because I found this question on stackoverflow talking about that:

Why are Cb and Cr planes displaced differently from lum by the displace complex filter in ffmpeg?

ffmpeg version 5.0.1-full_build-www.gyan.dev
Any idea will be welcome.
Thanks!

Solution: using -pix_fmt rgb24 and adding -c:v libx264rgb to all commands fixes it:
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -t 2 -f lavfi -i color=c=blue:s=160x120 -tune stillimage -c:v libx264rgb -pix_fmt rgb24 00_empty.mp4
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -i 00_empty.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text=string1:y=h/2:x=w-t*w/2:fontcolor=white:fontsize=60" -c:v libx264rgb -pix_fmt rgb24 01_text.mp4
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -t 2 -f lavfi -i color=c=gray:s=160x120 -tune stillimage -c:v libx264rgb -pix_fmt rgb24 02_gray.mp4
ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -i 01_text.mp4 -i 02_gray.mp4 -i 02_gray.mp4 -filter_complex "[0][1][2]displace=edge=mirror" -c:v libx264rgb -pix_fmt rgb24 03_displaced_text.mp4

Thanks to poisondeathray's answer in a post at forum.videohelp.com:

the real reason is the 8it RGB to YUV gray conversion for 02_gray.mp4 becomes YUV 126,128,128 (loss of accuracy from the 8bit conversion)
https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/master/libavfilter/vf_displace.c
If you supply a true gray YUV 128,128,128 video it works ok too

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


text:
How to reset the timecode whenever pressing record button on Sony nxcam?
The time displayed on LCD on my Sony nxcam has counted up and up. I'm sorry if this is a silly question. But is it possible to reset the timecode every time I press the record button automatically?
I go in to setting and find the TC/UB settings, I almost tried everything, But what I need is probably not an option, Right?
My camera model is "Sony HXR-NX100"

Please add the exact camera model.


text:
Testing if VCR supports S-Video by image comparison. Is it correct?
When I capture a video from my VCR (a Sharp VC-M401SM) with an S-Video cable connected to a SCART adaptor (like the one shown in this post) I obtain a gray-scale image.
One possibility for this is that the VCR is not capable to output an S-Video signal. To understand if this was the true reason I compared some couples of images composed by:

the gray-scale image obtained using the S-Video cable;
an image obtained by acquiring a colored image from the composite signal and then converted to grayscale.

Here is one example:

It seems to me that there are little differences between the two images. I guess that these differences result from noise and from color to gray-scale conversion. This makes me think that the quality of the images is comparable.
Therefore I conclude that the gray-scale output when using the S-Video cable is not due a problem in the croma component, but instead due to the fact that the VCR does not support the S-Video output.
Questions

Is my reasoning correct? Can we conclude from this test that the VCR does not support S-Video?
If not, what can we conclude instead?

You are likely comparing the same signal against itself, see https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/cables/audio_video/scart-to-rca-and-s-video-adapter/ - SCART pin 19 carries the identical signal to both connectors. So it's a question of whether SCART pin 15 (chrominance) is carrying any signal.

Thanks for the suggestion. I just checked that the SCART pin 15 was not cabled inside the VCR. So I conclude that the differences in the two images above is only due to noise.


text:
Why does my VCR output a grayscale video if I use an S-Video cable?
I asked here if an S-Video cable could improve the output quality of my VCR (Sharp VC-M401SM). The answers were promising so I bought this S-Video cable (they send me a 2 m cable instead of 0.5 m).
When I connect the S-video cable to the output of SCART adaptor of VRC, however, in the signal that I receive on my PC (through a video grabber like this) the color component is missing. I looked online for solutions to this and I found it could be a number of possibilities. Among the others I noticed that the reason could lie in the non-compatibility of the VCR SCART breakout with the S-Video, as described here.
Question:

How can I determine if the grayscale output is due to the VCR
incompatibility or it is due to other reasons?

Additional notes:

the S-video cable pins seem not to be damaged;
the SCART adaptor pins seem not to be damaged;
with the composite cable I obtain a colored image.

Do you have a manual for the VCR? Does it show the pin mappings for the SCART connector? I did a quick search, I can't find a manual online.
Where did you get your SCART cable? Did it come with the VCR? I'd agree with the link you posted - SCART more commonly connects to a composite signal, or sometimes RGB. All my SCART cables are wired for either to those, I've never seen one wired to S-Video (and from the link you posted, that sounds like a hack that has only been used in some scenarios). Any VCR I've used that had S-Video, had an S-Video connector directly on the VCR, usually only found on an S-VHS model.
Do you have a SCART cable with RGB connectors? If so, you could try using that - would still be a better video signal than composite, providing the VCR is wired for it. Possibly the VCR is only wired for composite though. You could also check the connector on the VCR for clues - often you can find there are is no metal in the connector pins that aren't wired. If you take the cover off, that might also clue you into what is actually wired up to that connector.

No, unfortunately I don't have the VCR manual. I recently bought a SCART adaptor like the one shown in my previous post: https://video.stackexchange.com/q/29933/29303. My VCR seems not to have any logo of S-VHS, so I suppose from what you say that the VCR probably cannot handle the S-Video signal. Did I get it right? Unfortunately I do not have availability of a SCART cable with RGB connectors, so I cannot do the test you proposed.

If it is a regular VHS VCR, it is unlikely to support RGB either anyway - the SCART connector on most of these devices is simply to provide a breakout cable for input and output (instead of a bunch of individual RCA device connectors). But it's unlikely they've wired RGB/S-Video on a VHS only device. Easiest would be to take it apart and just see which SCART pins are actually wired. You could try to find an S-VHS deck, depends on what the quality difference (likely to be marginal anyway) is worth to you.


text:
ffmpeg rtmp server connection issues

I am trying to stream using ffmpeg rtmp using,
ffmpeg -i out2.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a aac -listen 1 -ar 44100 -ab 64000 -f flv rtmp://localhost/live

The process starts but nothing is happening after handler_name

When I use the command, ffmpeg -f flv -i out2.mp4 -c copy -f flv -listen 1 rtmp://localhost:1935/live/app.

I get---> Cannot open connection tcp://localhost:1935?listen&listen_timeout=-1000
rtmp://localhost/live: Immediate exit requested

I followed your instructions. I changed localhost to 127.0.0.1:10000, and I was using input from an rtsp.
Here is my command. It worked for me. I was able to get the stream in VLC player.
ffmpeg -i "rtsp://someurl/" -c:v copy -c:a aac -listen 1 -ar 44100 -ab 64000 \
       -f flv rtmp://127.0.0.1:10000/live


text:
ffmpeg dynamic filter values from piped input
I need to run an audio filter on a piped input using its own lufs value as a variable, without writing to disk.
I previously bounced the piped input to processedaudio.wav and the command works as:
ffmpeg -i pipe:0 -af $(echo "startofafilter$(echo "$(
ffmpeg -i processedaudio.wav -vn -af ebur128=framelog=verbose -f null - 2>&1 |awk '/I:/{print $2}')")
restofthefilter") -f null - 2>&1);

which pulls the lufs value from processedaudio.wav in that nested ffmpeg command (which is the same as pipe:0), but the value needs to change dynamically with each file. I need it to read from the pipe (or whatever gets me a similar effect) like this:
ffmpeg -i pipe:0 -af $(echo "startofafilter$(echo "$(
ffmpeg -i pipe:0 -vn -af ebur128=framelog=verbose -f null - 2>&1 |awk '/I:/{print $2}')")
restofthefilter") -f null - 2>&1);

where the only change is the nested input, but that command just hangs. Any ideas?
Edit: This is basically the workflow needed:

Edit2: Attempting a named pipe seems to cause ffmpeg to hang.
Named pipes are working in general:
mkfifo outpipe.wav | ffmpeg -y -i test.mov outpipe.wav | ffmpeg -f wav -i outpipe.wav testout.wav

and this command works with an actual file name:
echo "$(ffmpeg -f wav -i test.wav -vn -af "ebur128=framelog=verbose" -f null - 2>&1 | awk '/I:/{print $2}')"

But it doesn't work with a piped input:
mkfifo outpipe.wav | ffmpeg -y -i test.mov outpipe.wav | echo "$(ffmpeg -f wav -i outpipe.wav -vn -af "ebur128=framelog=verbose" -f null - 2>&1 | awk '/I:/{print $2}')"

At this point, I'm not sure what's going on. Am I missing something? Is this a bug?

How are you planning to use the LUFS value?

I'm doing some math to it and using that new number as the adjustment value for the audio filter. The files I process have different average levels in every video, mostly voice over at a constant level within each video, so the value must be adjusted up or down as needed.

It will eventually be the n value for silencedetect, if that helps.

Make the pipe input available though two named pipes and read through those..


text:
How to prevent ffmpeg from dropping frames when trimming?
I'm using ffmpeg to trim a Zoom video recording (format: ISO Media, MP4 v2 [ISO 14496-14]) via this command:
ffmpeg \
  -ss 00:11:42 \
  -to 01:11:22 \
  -i input-original.mp4 \
  -c copy \
  output-trimmed.mp4

The input file looks great, but the output has a few dropped frames at the beginning, so for the first few seconds it looks like this:

A few seconds later, it goes back to normal and it doesn't have any other issues. I'm wondering if there is a way to fix this problem.
EDIT: Actually, this seems to be a VLC-specific problem. Once I upload it to Vimeo, the weird frames go away. Still, I'd like to know if there is a way to prevent this.

It's probably not a FFmpeg issue — the resulting video should be good (if the source was good, naturally). Try ffplay output-trimmed.mp4 for playing it back.

Try to place the -ss and -to after the input:
ffmpeg \
  -i input-original.mp4 \
  -ss 00:11:42 \
  -to 01:11:22 \
  -c copy \
  output-trimmed.mp4

According to @Gyan (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45004159/ffmpeg-ss-and-t-for-cutting-mp3)

When -ss and -t are placed before the input, ffmpeg resorts to fast
  seek which relies on the index of the input to allow ffmpeg to start
  and stop seeking. MP3s don't have indices, so ffmpeg estimates
  duration via bitrate. This can be inaccurate.
When -ss and -t are placed after the input, ffmpeg counts demuxed
  packets. This will be accurate.

If it doesn't work you can also try to convert your video to intra-frame format (try ffvhuff), trim it and then convert it back to mp4 but this will slightly decrease the quality of the trimmed output. Keep in mind that ffvhuff will create huge file in size so make sure you have enough free space if you want to go this way.

You can achieve the desired video without any broken or black frames by decoding and re-encoding the video. Although you need to know video codec and bit-rate in order to achieve so
ffmpeg -i input-original.mp4 -ss 00:11:42 -strict -2 -to 01:11:22 -codec:v h264 -b:v 100k;

Note: If this does not work, try to change -to switch to -t and specify the duration.
Hope this helps.


text:
Seamless loop animation
My experience in AE is not so big, so I need your assistance plz.
I faced with a task I still can't solve.
I'm trying to make the clouds loop. I wanted if the part of cloud which disappears on the right side out of frame, at the same time seamlessly appeared on the left side in the frame.
Any tips are highly appreciated.

I not know how do this with AE animation software but I do this in Blender:

Basic theory (see picture) for real camera or software:
• Want repeat image every n animation frames
• Assume camera view is w × h pixels
• For camera view w pixels wide, minimum need draw picture wide 2w pixels wide
• Copy picture two times and put left/right each other (draw left and right edge of image for can't see edge)
• Shift picture -w pixels for first animation frame relative to camera left edge
• Step size for each animation frame is ∆s = w/n
• Image position = ∆s*(animation frame number mod n), means at every n animation frames shift image back -w pixels (return to start position)
• Use linear interpolation for image position (need select this for Blender)
• Use repeat cycle (for Blender)

Blue dot show shift for each animation frame
If image is wider than camera view (R ≥ w):
• shift picture -R pixels for start animation frame
• step become ∆s = R/n
• shift image back -R pixels
Reverse Direction
• Shift picture 0 pixels for first animation frame relative to camera left edge
• Step for each animation frame is ∆s = –w/n (∆s = –R/n for image R ≥ w), negative direction


text:
Is this upscaling algorithm in place already?
Okay, so my question is, if you were to double the amount of pixels, and the resolution, wouldn't that be the perfect solution to upscaling? Or would that cause problems, but considering it would just be duplicating the amount of pixels instead of stretching them out, would there be possible issues with that? Or does that technology not exist yet? Or better yet would it be pointless?
Thanks for your answers! :)
Example: (I'm not a drawer)

What Program are you using?

Piskel (Just for the example)

A good way to answer this is to look through the wiki on comparison on image scaling algorithms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_gallery_of_image_scaling_algorithms Might provide some insight if you go through and read each of the interpolation types. If you look at neighbor specifically it should answer alot of your questions. I found it quite helpful as you can see what the difference between the various options on the market is visually.
In terms of pixel art I believe there is a scaling algorithm that does what you show in your picture, just this doesn't 'holdup' when dealing with more complex pixel displays...again look at how lousy neighbour is in comparison to the other upscalers.


text:
FFmpeg to create HLS and replace (stitch) segments
I need to create multiple copies of a source video file stamped with a logo. Also, each copy is overlaid with a unique version number, intermittently appearing throughout the video.
Since I’m transcoding to HLS, I thought I could use a master HLS package and stitch the numbered segments in the video, thus transcode only a fractions of the source for each numbered copy.
I created two FFmpeg scripts.
Script one creates the ‘main” HLS video of the whole file, with a logo overlay.
Script two generates 2 segments at specified intervals, which are overlaid with unique numbers.
The final variant playlist looks something like this:
Seg001.ts
Seg002.ts
Seg003_alt.ts
Seg004_alt.ts
Seg005.ts
seg006.ts…
Command to create the ‘main’ HLS package is:
(all vars expanded for debugging. The actual command is dynamic to encompass different input file size, fps, vmaf score…)
$ffmpeg -y -analyzeduration 1000000 -copyts -r 25 -hide_banner -i $inputFile -i $logo -t 120 -filter_complex \
"[0:a]aformat=channel_layouts=stereo,aresample=async=1000[a1]; \
[0:v]setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,yadif=0:-1:1,overlay,setdar=16/9,split=3[v1][v2][v3]; \
[v1]scale=640x360:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease:sws_dither=ed:flags=lanczos[v1]; \
[v2]scale=1024x576:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease:sws_dither=ed:flags=lanczos[v2]; \
[v3]scale=1600x900:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease:sws_dither=ed:flags=lanczos[v3]" \
-map "[a1]" -vn -c:a libfdk_aac -ac 2 -b:a 96k -ar 48000 -bitexact -r 25 -y -f segment -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_format mpegts -segment_time 6 -segment_list path/to/playlist0.m3u8 path/to/segments0.aac \<br>
-map "[v1]" -an -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -muxpreload 0 -vsync 0 -write_tmcd 0 -maxrate 550k -bufsize 1100k -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -forced-idr 1 -sc_threshold 0 -shortest -r 25 -g 75 -profile:v main -level 3.1 -preset medium -tune film -coder 0 -pix_fmt yuv420p -individual_header_trailer 0 -flags +loop+mv4+cgop -flags2 +local_header -movflags faststart -cmp chroma -keyint_min 75 -threads 14 -y -f segment -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_list_flags -cache -segment_format mpegts -segment_time 6 -segment_list path/to/playlist1.m3u8 path/to/segments1.ts \
-map "[v2]" -an -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -muxpreload 0 -vsync 0 -write_tmcd 0 -maxrate 1400k -bufsize 2800k -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -forced-idr 1 -sc_threshold 0 -shortest -r 25 -g 75 -profile:v main -level 4 -preset medium -tune film -coder 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -individual_header_trailer 0 -flags +loop+mv4+cgop -flags2 +local_header -movflags faststart -cmp chroma -keyint_min 75 -threads 14 -y -f segment -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_list_flags -cache -segment_format mpegts -segment_time 6 -segment_list path/to/playlist2.m3u8 path/to/segments2.ts \
-map "[v3]" -an -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -muxpreload 0 -vsync 0 -write_tmcd 0 -maxrate 3100k -bufsize 6200k -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -forced-idr 1 -sc_threshold 0 -shortest -r 25 -g 75 -profile:v high -level 4 -preset medium -tune film -coder 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -individual_header_trailer 0 -flags +loop+mv4+cgop -flags2 +local_header -movflags faststart -cmp chroma -keyint_min 75 -threads 14 -y -f segment -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_list_flags -cache -segment_format mpegts -segment_time 6 -segment_list path/to/playlist3.m3u8 path/to/segments3.ts

After the above run, I run the following command for the ‘child’ (stitched) segments:
$ffmpeg -y -analyzeduration 1000000 -r 25 -hide_banner -ss $from -t $time -i $inputFile -i $logo -filter_complex \
"[0:v]setpts=PTS,yadif=0:-1:0,overlay,setdar=16/9[logo]; \
[logo]drawbox=x=400:y=52:w=210:h=80:t=fill:c=black@1,drawtext=fontfile=$font:text='1234':fontcolor=c1ff30:fontsize=42:x=410:y=76,split=3[v1][v2][v3]; \
[v1]scale=640x360:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease:sws_dither=ed:flags=lanczos[v1]; \
[v2]scale=1024x576:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease:sws_dither=ed:flags=lanczos[v2]; \
[v3]scale=1600x900:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease:sws_dither=ed:flags=lanczos[v3]" \
-map "[v1]" -an -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -r 25 -muxpreload 0 -async 0 -maxrate 550k -bufsize 1100k -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -forced-idr 1 -sc_threshold 0 -shortest -g 75 -profile:v main -level 3.1 -preset medium -tune film -coder 0 -pix_fmt yuv420p -individual_header_trailer 0 -flags +loop+mv4+cgop -flags2 +local_header -movflags faststart -cmp chroma -keyint_min 75 -threads 0 -y -f segment -segment_format mpegts -segment_time path/to/playlist1.m3u8 path/to/segments1.ts \
-map "[v2]" -an -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -r 25 -muxpreload 0 -async 0 -maxrate 1400k -bufsize 2800k -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -forced-idr 1 -sc_threshold 0 -shortest -g 75 -profile:v main -level 4 -preset medium -tune film -coder 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -individual_header_trailer 0 -flags +loop+mv4+cgop -flags2 +local_header -movflags faststart -cmp chroma -keyint_min 75 -threads 0 -y -f segment -segment_format mpegts -segment_time path/to/playlist2.m3u8 path/to/segments2.ts \
-map "[v3]" -an -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -r 25 -muxpreload 0 -async 0 -maxrate 3100k -bufsize 6200k -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -forced-idr 1 -sc_threshold 0 -shortest -g 75 -profile:v high -level 4 -preset medium -tune film -coder 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -individual_header_trailer 0 -flags +loop+mv4+cgop -flags2 +local_header -movflags faststart -cmp chroma -keyint_min 75 -threads 0 -y -f segment -segment_format mpegts -segment_time path/to/playlist3.m3u8 path/to/segments3.ts

The ‘child’ command generates 2 segments which I stitch in the ‘main’ playlist, using #EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY where needed.
The generated playlists look like this:
#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:6
#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:0
#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY-SEQUENCE:0
#EXT-X-ALLOW-CACHE:NO
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:7
#EXTINF:6.080000,
Master_3100_0000.ts
#EXTINF:6.000000,
Master_3100_0001.ts
#EXTINF:6.000000,
Master_3100_0002.ts
#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY
#EXTINF:6.000000,
Master_3100_0003.ts
#EXTINF:6.000000,
Master_3100_0004.ts
#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY
#EXTINF:6.000000,
Master_3100_0005.ts
#EXTINF:6.000000,
Master_3100_0006.ts
#EXT-X-ENDLIST

I also write the master.m3u8 file like this:
#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:6
#EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS

#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,GROUP-ID="a1",LANGUAGE="en",NAME="a1",DEFAULT=YES,AUTOSELECT=YES,URI="96/Master_96.m3u8"
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=550000,NAME="Main",CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=0,AUDIO="a1"
550/Master_550.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=1400000,NAME="Main",CODECS="avc1.4d0028,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=1024x576,AUDIO="a1"
1400/Master_1400.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=3100000,NAME="Main",CODECS="avc1.640028,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=1600x900,AUDIO="a1"
3100/Master_3100.m3u8

In practice, the HLS package plays back fine in hls.js. In Safari/iOS the video starts fine but gets stuck at the first stitched segment (debugger doesn’t show anything).
I believe the problem is that the timestamps on the ‘main’ videos are different from the ‘child’ segments.
When I add -copyts to the ‘child’s input parameters, the command just starts encoding from the beginning of the input file, ignoring the -ss, -to switches.
Also, in the pantos HLS RFC it says that the DISCONTINUITY tag is supposed to help with timestamp discontinuity. It looks like it doesn't.
So my questions are:
How can I copy an input video’s timestamps, while using -ss (before the input)?
Why doesn't iOS work the DISCONTINUITY tag as expected (as written in the RFC) and doesn't recover from timestamp discontinuity?
Any other suggestions of making those commands work in iOS?
Any other creative method to achieve my goal?
Thanks!

Re-encode the selected main segments with copyts. Use a slightly lower CRF if needed.

Thanks @Gyan for a valid workaround. Though I'm looking for a real, stable solution to my problem, if one exists.


text:
Which techniques/filters do improve sensation of speed on a motorcycle?
Introduction
I have already searched for this topic, but sadly most of the time I just find articles about frame rate and/or shutter speed which doesn't reflect what I am looking for, really. This question is somewhat long, but I hope this doesn't bother anyone.
I started using a GoPro to film POV motorcycle shots using a chest mount in 4K, 60FPS, 1/120 shutter speed, Flat color profile, using ND8 filter for overcast and ND16 filter for sunny conditions. ISO is set to 100-400
For post production I use Final Cut Pro X
The filter reel has the following items in the exact order: White balance, Color board, Neat Video Reduce Noise v4, Sharpen, LUT and Vignette
The result of this looks like that:

Thoughts:

It seems like Neat Video is killing some of the road details which improve the speed sensation thing, but without the plugin, the footage would contain allot more noise, which I try to avoid.

At the moment the GoPro Hypersmooth seems to be the only image stabilization option available at the chosen resolution and frame rate. Not sure if there is a not so smooth alternative (plugin or setting) out there.

This video (the intro) here is fantastic as to show what I would gladly try to achieve: Example video

QUESTION:
What can I do while filming or post production to get a better sensation of speed without using Retime Editor? Please point me to helpful tutorials and plugins or simply give hints. Thanks!

I agree with my fellow German dude. Lowering the framerate (until 24) can increase the feeling of uncontrolled speed and momentum. If you already did that and didn't get the effect you were looking for, here's how you can use some trickery to fake it:
Motion blur! It helps selling the effect big time. I recommend using a radial blur which is going outwards from a defined point. Put this point in the center of the screen and use a feathered mask to cut the effect from the center, so the blur only effects the edges of the screen. This way, it appears as if the road is flashing by way faster than it actually did.
Also, when it comes to filming vehicles, it's surprisingly easy to get away with simply speeding up the footage. Don't overdo it obviously, but 125%-135% should look just fine.
Combining all these effects, lowering the frame-rate to 24/25, adding a radial blur towards the edges of the screen and speeding up the footage slightly should give you a convincing effect.

Excellent answer Florian

I just started to notice: Might it be that my footage would have looked much better on a sunny day due to light / shadows alternating while driving?

I would say no, but it's rather a stylistic choice really. I love cloudy skies sometimes because the light will be incredibly soft and pleasant to the eye. Hard shadows can look cool and give you a sharper, more crisp contrast between the shades, but when the material has a lot of movement (like in your example), I prefer a diffused light over a hard one, as it's easier to follow movements when shadows don't jump around too much.

I think you should consider to lower the frame rate or if possible change shutter angle. 60fps make the footage more crisp and take away the effect you looking for.
https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/quick-tip-how-does-shutter-speed-affect-video--photo-12092
Or consider a plug-in to add motion blur.
https://sellfy.com/p/phtl/

Camera lower to the ground always looks faster
Wider image (this example is very wide)
Sound makes a difference. Watch this example muted and then loud)
Ask all the other drivers to go slow. :-]

I especially like the last tip :D


text:
Is there a NLE that supports Variable frame rate?
Now before you quickly jump in and say:
Premier got an update...
Use handbrake...
What I'm asking none of the big players seem to support.
Rendering a video that's frame rate changes through the course of it run time.
There are three line in wikipedia for VFR. One of the sources says:
"More modern formats like MPEG-4 allow variable frame rates as well, where the timebase itself changes between parts of the file. However, most tools don't support that directly"
Are there any programs that fully or partially support this?

Can you give us any more information on what you are trying to accomplish with a variable frame rate video?  In general, there aren't many good uses for them as they are a pain to try to keep in sync since the frame buffer has to run at different timing.  Ultimately, it's display is most likely going to be simplified to a constant frame rate anyway and the only real savings would be a minimal savings for storing long displayed images once vs having tween frames that simply say nothing changed.  It's pretty rare for it to really be worth the complexity.

My understanding is that VFR was more a side effect of older cameras that couldn't necessarily maintain constant frame rate and didn't want to have dropped frames, so instead they just saved frame timing.

What I'm mainly trying to accomplish is greater understanding on how to create a VFR file. I have a Adaptive-Sync display and I would like to try it out on a something I created. Then further down the line I have some projects that I'd like to use their native frame rates as well as CG elements. I have been looking for documentation on this subject, so any links would be appreciated.

I'm not sure what you mean about using native frame rate as well as cg.  The cg would be rendered at the same frame rate as the video.

Sorry, I'll clarify.
Some GoPros don't have supported for 24 FPS. My phone is locked to NTSC. When recording in UHD some cameras only do it in 24 FPS. And in the CG world you can virtually have any frame rate you want.
So for the CG side it's easy: animate the timings of frames I want, then render an image sequence.
S

ah, so you want to do a mixed frame rate video to avoid any pulldowns.  Got it.  Not really sure it's a great idea for consumability, but an interesting experiment for sure.

Vegas supports reading VFR, but I don't think any NLE supports writing them. What you could do is render a CFR video and then apply the steps 2 and 3 from the method at https://stackoverflow.com/a/37893746/5726027

See also the thread https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/30128/upload-edited-video-to-youtube/ for some discussion on VFR - it looks like FB generates it to keep file sizes down, but I didn't see any answers on what tools FB (or anyone) uses, or the availability of this feature in any of the regular commercial tools.

You could render the scenes to single files and combine them in ffmpeg to one .mp4 container.
Allthough Indont know why you would want that.

How? The concat command uses the first video's frame rate to set the output Concatenated video's frame rate and it's constant.


text:
How do I remove video scan lines in DaVinci Resolve (or Fusion?)
I have little-to-no prior video editing experience, but am trying to edit together a video from when a friend and I flew in a full-motion flight simulator for a website.
I shot the video with my DSLR, but unfortunately the frame rate of my DSLR was apparently very close to that of the simulator's projector, which resulted in visible yellow lines moving across the video from bottom to top somewhere around once or twice per minute (presumably the projector's scan lines.)
Unfortunately, re-shooting the video with a different frame rate isn't really a feasible option in this case, as I'd have to travel again to the city with the simulator and it also costs a small fortune to rent it even if I were there. If I had thought about this problem, I'd have shot in a different frame rate the first time, but I unfortunately didn't notice it until after the fact (I was a bit too busy flying the plane to review the video in real time.)
The lines look like this:

The curved yellow line on the runway is supposed to be there. The straight yellow line across the sky is what I'm trying to get rid of.

Again with the straight yellow scan line across the sky ruining the scene. Note the relatively featureless sky.
What I've done, so far:
I'm editing the video in DaVinci Resolve 15 (the free version, which now also includes Fusion) and am trying to get rid of the lines as much as possible.
I can get a key on the lines without too much trouble using Resolve's qualifier tool in combination with a power window and the tracker.
Here are the strategies I've tried for getting rid of the line after keying it:
Color Correction Curves
I've tried using color curves (especially hue vs. saturation and hue vs. luminosity) to remove the yellow hue and match the brightness to the scene. This works well enough for when the line is passing over the ground, as I can turn the line into a shade of grey or white that blends in very well with the ground scenery (white in the case of the runway stripes/numbers, grey otherwise.)
Unfortunately, however, my tinkering with the color correction wheels and curves hasn't been able to produce anything that blends the line well with the sky. I can git rid of the yellow hue easily enough, but I don't know enough about video color correction to get the result to be something that blends in with the white and blue in the sky. I just end up with a grey or black line across the sky instead of a yellow one, which is still no good.
Match Move with a Matte
I've also tried creating a matte by exporting a still of the scene when the yellow line was not passing over the sky. I then fed the matte into a Match Move node and had the Match Move track the scene in order to get the proper scaling, panning, and rotation on the still as the scene progressed (the airplane is pitching, rolling, and yawing a bit, so the sky moves around.) I then keyed the line in the video, inverted the key, and fed both the clip with everything but the line being keyed and the match-moved matte into a layer mixer node so that the line was replaced with the image of the sky behind it.
My node graph for this setup looked like this:

(The key mixer shown is being used in order to blend a few different qualifier and power window based keys together in order to fully track the line as it moved across different colors.)
This strategy worked alright for some of the scenes, though some of the other scenes contained skies that were so featureless that the tracker in the Match Move node refused to track the sky. It would either never track at all or only track 2-3 frames and then give up. Unfortunately, tracking the terrain instead wasn't really an option, as the jet was moving across the terrain quite quickly (and, even when I did try that, the terrain was also rather featureless and not being tracked well.)

So, what strategies would you recommend for getting rid of these lines?
If I could just blur the lines into their surroundings enough to not be noticeable, that would be great, but I'm too much of an editing/color correction novice to know how to do that properly (especially for the sky.)
If there's something in Fusion I could use to get a decent track on the mostly-featureless sky, apply that track to a still without the line, and then composite the video with the lined alpha-ed out on top of the still, that would be great, too.

Also, if there's a relevant tag I'm missing or I've misused a tag, feel free to correct it. Like I said, I'm new to video editing, so I'm not familiar with all of the proper terminology.

It really depends on the footage.  Is the camera moving relative to the screen?  If it is, how much?  If it's not moving that much and there's enough external reference (the corners of the screen, dirt on the screen, static objects in the periphery, e.g.) you could stabilize the camera and then just keyframe the position of a linear gradient matte to match the movement of the stripe.  I imagine the stripe moves at a constant velocity and cyclicly, so the hard part is stabilizing the camera.

@JasonConrad The camera does move some relative to the screen (it was just being held, not mounted, and this was a full-motion sim.) The sky image also moves quite a bit relative to the screen, since it's simulating flight. There's a few degrees of rolling and pitching and a bit of yawing as well. So, the dirt on the screen and windshield move relative to the sky.

Right.  Like I said, it's hard to know without actually looking at the footage.  But theoretically you can forget about the simulation image because the artifact is tied to the real-world, not the simulation.  Sure, it moves, but its movement is a function of the relative positions between real-world objects and their independent frame rates.  And, just to be clear, when I say dirt, I don't mean simulated dirt on the virtual cockpit windshield, I mean a real-world imperfection on the projection screen.  VFX artists use tracking markers, but you'll have to work with what's available.

Also, I should probably say that matchmoving, keyframing, etc are pretty tedious processes which require a LOT of tweaking and refinement under the BEST of circumstances.  Applying those practices here -- especially over durations over a few seconds -- sounds positively masochistic.  I'd only try it if you're looking for a challenge (I'm always making things harder than they need to be for this reason, so take my advice with a grain of salt).  But if you just need to get it done, spend your energy looking for another solution.  Maybe an OFX plugin?

@JasonConrad Yes, very tedious indeed. I'm definitely looking for other solutions, hence the question here. :) Tracking the line itself hasn't really been too much of a problem. It's tracking the sky (in order to do the match move to replace the line) that I've had trouble with. Solutions that don't require tracking the sky or match move are definitely welcomed. I just don't know enough about video editing to know what they are. As far as the windshield, it's not a simulated one, but rather actual glass with dirt and scratches on it. The projector screen is a few feet behind the glass.


text:
Nvenc produces corrupted video
Someone knows how to solve this?

Hardware:

DRIVER: 396.24
CPU: Ryzen 1700
GPU: Nvidia MSI 1050 TI

Settings

Ok, this is a known bug in ssrr: https://github.com/MaartenBaert/ssr/issues/658
SOLUTION: You can use OBS, which is compatible with NVENC.


text:
One long continuous shot, sped-up until it becomes "live"
I have an idea for a video project (that I will need to commission a studio to produce for me), but at this early stage I don't even know whether my idea is feasible.
The idea involves turning (hours of) continuous/uninterrupted footage from a single camera into a short (circa half-hour) film by varying the speed of playback so as to speed over "boring" sections whilst still drawing attention to key moments of interest: that is, some parts might be sped up by as much as 64x, whilst other parts could be slowed right down (even to a frozen frame).  Is this sort of sped-up/slowed-down effect from a single continuous shot known by some particular name?
Where this idea gets more complicated is that playback is to begin whilst the footage is still being shot, becoming real-time/live once it catches up to the present.  Is this sort of transition from recorded footage to live broadcast known by some particular name?
Practicalities
I envisage the recorded footage being transferred from camera to editor in "chunks" (e.g. initially of a half-hour each, reducing in duration toward the end until the feed is live).  Each such chunk could then be worked on to produce a (shorter) "chunk" of final film that is immediately forwarded to the presentation display and enqueued for playback.
When it is time for playback to begin, the enqueued chunks would start playing in turn whilst further chunks continue to be added to the queue.  Once the footage is live, these chunks would amount to little more than a typical video stream (so some small buffer will be required to cope with network and processing delays—but the smaller the delay, the better).
I appreciate that (in order for the different sections of film to playback smoothly and comfortably, without any judder/strobing/etc, yet have sufficient definition to be interesting), various camera settings such as shutter speed will need to be varied according to how that particular section of footage is to be played-back.
I also understand that some computationally expensive interpolation may be required to smooth out the transitions, and this will add delay to the editing process...
Questions
My principal question is whether this idea is feasible, or completely unrealistic?  Perhaps the time that would be required to edit the footage would alone make such a project impossible?
If it is feasible, then I'd like to understand the key risks to the project from the videographer's perspective (aside from network/comms failure between camera/editor/presentation).  What other challenges do you foresee, and how might one tackle them?
I've tried contacting a few professional studios about this idea, but so far haven't had much response.  I've probably approached the wrong sorts of places, who perhaps don't have the resources that would be necessary to turn such a crazy idea into reality.  What sorts of studios should I be looking for, and what capabilities should I ensure they have?

Very interesting. Does the final stage have to be live or could it be "almost" live?

@DrMayhem: What do you mean by "almost"?  A few seconds' delay could be acceptable, but minutes would definitely not be.

The answer above answers half of your question, and yes, it is trivial for anybody who has used a non-linear editor (NLE) such as Premiere Pro, Final Cut, Resolve, etc., to do speed ramp effects.  The film Koyaanisqatsi features many visual effects that include speeding up and slowing down time, which may help you better imagine the possibilities of the medium.  But NLEs are really only for off-line production.
To answer your second question about doing this while actually shooting, the short answer is no, nobody has built an off-the-shelf system for doing this.  The concept of "instant replay" (encompassed in a system such as the NewTek 3Play 425) illustrates how live feeds and recently (immediately) recorded clips can be used together while slowing down the playback rate.  And while it's theoretically possible to speed up playback rate (subject to available content in some buffer), it's not anything anybody has tried to do.  Instead, people edit offline and present a finished product after editing.

"The idea involves turning (hours of) continuous/uninterrupted footage from a single camera into a short (circa half-hour) film by varying the speed of playback so as to speed over "boring" sections whilst still drawing attention to key moments of interest: that is, some parts might be sped up by as much as 64x, whilst other parts could be slowed right down (even to a frozen frame). Is this sort of sped-up/slowed-down effect from a single continuous shot known by some particular name?".

It's called "Speed Ramp", assuming it's a smooth transition and not a 'jump cut'. See "ARRI Ramp Tutorial - David E. Elkins" (.PDF) or ARRIFlex D-21, but it only goes from 1 to 60 FPS.
In summary: Continuous long shot video, with duplicate or low activity, frames deleted; alternatively, manually control the frame rate with smooth ramping.

Use AVISynth on a Laptop with a Camera tethered.
Use a "Duplicate Frame Detector" or Fizick's "GetDupe" and "MvTools V2" to detect motion more precisely and in specific portions of the frame.

The output can be a smooth video of single frame rate from variable frame rate input.
Technical Note: It goes without saying: If you speed up 64x and there's one boring hour then either it will show in less than a minute or take 64 hours to create one boring hour - whichever way, AVISynth can automate the process. If you want a half hour output and there's nothing interesting, so it's sped up 64x, then from the time you start shooting until the time you can go live will be (30*64)-30 minutes ; a 31.5 hour delay, then a half hour video can be streamed live. Of course that's a worst case scenario.
Create one continuous video or chunks that you can join. Whatever mashing you want can be done in AVISynth either directly or with one (or several) of the 1000's of Plugins; if by chance there isn't precisely what you want then the source code is available and you can create a new effect.
There are 10,000's of experts but it's easy enough to do yourself; since you're willing to pay finding someone is all that much easier. There are dozens of Forums where people will help for free.
For a 'hardware only solution' consider a 'motion detecting camera', that will shoot a series of stills at a regular rate while there's motion and slow to a preset value when there's no activity (depending upon the camera and the settings). That will give you 'jump cut video' (no smooth ramping) that you'll need to edit before you can go 'almost live'.


text:
avconv grab DVD with chapter seperations - dvd_nav_packet
I am trying to grab my DVD into an mkv-Container without loosing the predefined chapters on the DVD disk. I suppose, the chapter information is in the "Stream #0:0[0x1bf]: Data: dvd_nav_packet" track - right? Anyhow the Stream is not supprted by avconv... see last line
adi@venus /media/cdrom/video_ts $ ls
video_ts.bup  vts_01_0.vob  vts_02_1.vob  vts_04_0.bup  vts_05_0.ifo  vts_06_0.vob  vts_07_1.vob  vts_09_0.bup  vts_10_0.ifo  vts_10_4.vob  vts_11_0.vob  vts_12_1.vob  vts_14_0.bup
video_ts.ifo  vts_01_1.vob  vts_03_0.bup  vts_04_0.ifo  vts_05_0.vob  vts_06_1.vob  vts_08_0.bup  vts_09_0.ifo  vts_10_0.vob  vts_10_5.vob  vts_11_1.vob  vts_13_0.bup  vts_14_0.ifo
video_ts.vob  vts_02_0.bup  vts_03_0.ifo  vts_04_0.vob  vts_05_1.vob  vts_07_0.bup  vts_08_0.ifo  vts_09_0.vob  vts_10_1.vob  vts_10_6.vob  vts_12_0.bup  vts_13_0.ifo  vts_14_0.vob
vts_01_0.bup  vts_02_0.ifo  vts_03_0.vob  vts_04_1.vob  vts_06_0.bup  vts_07_0.ifo  vts_08_0.vob  vts_09_1.vob  vts_10_2.vob  vts_11_0.bup  vts_12_0.ifo  vts_13_0.vob  vts_14_1.vob
vts_01_0.ifo  vts_02_0.vob  vts_03_1.vob  vts_05_0.bup  vts_06_0.ifo  vts_07_0.vob  vts_08_1.vob  vts_10_0.bup  vts_10_3.vob  vts_11_0.ifo  vts_12_0.vob  vts_13_1.vob
adi@venus /media/cdrom/video_ts $ avprobe vts_10_1.vob
ffprobe version 3.2.10-1~deb9u1 Copyright (c) 2007-2018 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 6.3.0 (Debian 6.3.0-18) 20170516
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version='1~deb9u1' --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libebur128 --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencv --enable-libx264 --enable-shared
  libavutil      55. 34.101 / 55. 34.101
  libavcodec     57. 64.101 / 57. 64.101
  libavformat    57. 56.101 / 57. 56.101
  libavdevice    57.  1.100 / 57.  1.100
  libavfilter     6. 65.100 /  6. 65.100
  libavresample   3.  1.  0 /  3.  1.  0
  libswscale      4.  2.100 /  4.  2.100
  libswresample   2.  3.100 /  2.  3.100
  libpostproc    54.  1.100 / 54.  1.100
Input #0, mpeg, from 'vts_10_1.vob':
  Duration: 00:17:09.44, start: 0.287267, bitrate: 8340 kb/s
    Stream #0:0[0x1bf]: Data: dvd_nav_packet
    Stream #0:1[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, top first), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], 8000 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
    Stream #0:2[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s
Unsupported codec with id 100357 for input stream 0

The important files for me are merged vts_10_1.vob...vts_10_6.vob. In other words:
for var in {1..6}; do cat vts_10_$var.vob >> total.vob; done        #concatenate the files
and afterwards encode total.vob with avconv.
Questions:

Where are the chapter marks saved and how to include them in the mkv?
How can I see the content of "dvd_nav_packet"?
How can I definde my own chapters in a video-file? Is it a kind of a text-file in the container?

Thanks

The chapter marks are part of the DVD metadata that's on the disc (or its ripped contents). It's not contained in the nav packets.
If you want to get the chapters, you're going to have to use a separate application to get them out. There's two applications that I know of that can do it -- dvd_info (which I wrote, see github) and ogmtools.
mkvmerge supports two chapter formats -- the spec one of the XML with lots of detailed information in it, or the simplified OGM format designed for that container, which is a simple chapter name + start time format on each line. I recommend using that one.
Using those two apps, here's how, assuming you're using track 1.
$ dvd_info --ogm -t 1 /media/cdrom/video_ts > chapters.txt
$ dvdxchap --title 1 /media/cdrom/video_ts > chapters.txt

Here's a sample output:
CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=Chapter 01
CHAPTER02=00:00:13.500
CHAPTER02NAME=Chapter 02
CHAPTER03=00:06:04.867
CHAPTER03NAME=Chapter 03
CHAPTER04=00:13:42.667
CHAPTER04NAME=Chapter 04
CHAPTER05=00:22:37.867
CHAPTER05NAME=Chapter 05
CHAPTER06=00:28:29.933
CHAPTER06NAME=Chapter 06
CHAPTER07=00:28:42.433
CHAPTER07NAME=Chapter 07

I don't know how to get the chapter metadata in a matroska file using libav directly, or if it even supports doing that, but mkvmerge certainly can.
$ mkvmerge -o track1.mkv --chapters chapters.txt track1.vob

On a side note, if you don't want to cat the VOBs into one giant file, you can use dvd_copy to extract it and dump it directly into a MKV. You'd still have to mux in the chapters, but it would skip the step of having to use cat. Note that I've only tested this with libav:
$ dvd_copy -t 1 /media/cdrom/video_ts -o - | avconv -i - -codec copy dvd.mkv

Where do you get dvd_copy? I can't find it using file search on packages.ubuntu.com and having such a generic name google is not much help.

Never mind I found it, it's in your github project (beandog/dvd_info).


text:
What's the use-case of the Video Snapshot function on Canon cameras?
While browsing the video settings on my Canon 77D, I came across a peculiar function:

What is the Video Snapshot function?
The Video Snapshot function enables you to shoot short scenes that last for several seconds. The shooting time can be selected from 2, 4, and 8 seconds.
You can enjoy viewing movies as you play back Video Snapshot scenes along with music. Also, by changing the music, you can give your scenes an entirely new feel when you play back.

There is also a similar feature on Panasonic cameras:

Snap Movie
Users can record video in a designated short period of time (2/4/6/8 sec) as they shoot “moving photos”. In this function, rack focusing or addition of a fade effect (color in/out, black in/out, white in/out) are available.

I can understand why someone would want to create a video slideshow with music on their camera, but why are those clips limited by Canon to 2, 4 or 8 seconds? Is this a particular genre that I'm not aware of or perhaps some sort of an Instagram-like website only allows videos in this format?

This is speculation,  so in a comment rather than an answer.  There is limited capacity for the on board android apps to work with, so the features characteristics are a compromise between what the designer wanted,  and what was possible. . The built in functions need to be manageable on a bare bones interface and limited resources.  They cannot replace a full editing suite , and should not be expected to.


text:
How can I create or where can I download (royalty free) sound that goes well with a "bad TV"-effect?

I'm currently doing a movie where I use FCP7s "bad TV"-effect quite a lot to cut within and between scenes. The effect basically emulates a bad TV set where the picture come and go with roll, wave, jitter and color sync artefacts (c.f Battlefield 3 trailer).
Now, I need some sounds to go with these transitions. White noise is a given but I will need clicks, pops and hums to go with that if you understand what I mean. I own the Propellerheads Reason/Record suite so if there are any tutorial for making suitable sounds in these, I'm all ears. Also, recommendations of free sound effects that can be downloaded somewhere are also very welcome.

What I did was to put a mic close to my speakers and then gently shake and twist the sound cable. Probably not healty for my speakers but a perfect way to generate the sound I wanted. Highly recommended :)

AM radio samples would probably be a good starting point:
http://www.freesound.org/tagsViewSingle.php?id=142