Video Pipeline Tip

Hello Folks, just wanted to share a little tip we came up with. Not sure if it's new or not, trawled the forums could find nothing so I'll post it and if you already know then no harm done.
We were looking for a video pipeline solution for a multi screen installation in a new facility.
Basically several plasma screens hooked up to a Mac each via DVI so the Macs act as a playback device for an in house TV program. No presenters just video packages of varying length and type.
Instead of making up the packages and then firing them off in one time line we wanted a pipeline to load up QT movies one after the other seamlessly so alterations could be made quickly and we didn't want to spend any money. Also, some packages are pure motion graphics and they look much better in H264 or DVCPro50 whereas the video material is all DV-PAL.
Automator was no good because even though it could play the QT's one after the other in presentation mode the scaling and closing after each movie was no good in terms of presentation.
So we had to look elsewhere and what did we find?
iTunes6
Thanks to Apple implementing video playback options into the 5th Gen iPod and therefore doing the same with iTunes you can create a video playlist that will run video packages full screen on a loop in any order you like all at the touch of a button.
We have tested it with H264, DVCPRO50, DV, etc, etc and it works like a charm. Just make sure the packages are top and tailed because there is a slight pause when a new video is triggered by the playlist so you need black frames to hide it.
All we need now is an Automator script to run iTunes in full screen video mode and we have the best, free, video pipeline solution money never had to buy!
Like I say, if you already know this then excuse my nonsense, just thought we would share it, and if you did know, why didn't you tell anyone?
;oP
NB: Better to switch off iTunes management feature so it doesn't make copies of the video files in the iTunes folder. Otherwise you will be duplicating all those huge video files!

Update:
Ok we have done some more testing and it seems iTunes didn't like it when the video files were not in the iTunes music folder, the playlist would jump out of full screen when this was the case. It may have been a random glitch but trashing the prefs and switching on iTunes "copy files" in prefs fixed the issue.
Sadly, sharing Movie based playlists doesn't work across the network, probably to protect the video downloads for copyright reasons (we don't have any purchased video downloads as yet to test the theory).
We are quite happy to use iTunes in this way for mission critical video delivery, it appears stable (ran a 6 video playlist with multiple codecs on a loop for a couple of hours with no problems).
I'll check back if we find anymore quirks using iTunes in this way!
cheers
;o]

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Removing Red-Eye from video - Need tips.

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Red eye is the result of a light source on axis with the lens of the camera illuminating is the back of the eye through the cornea. You can only do this with video if you have the light on the cam (so it moves with the camera) or directly behind the cam if the shot is locked off.
I suppose you could open up Color or use the 3 way CC in FCP and isolate on the red (limit effect) and map it to black or grey. If there are other reds in the scene, you'll need to mask the correct areas.
Never done this but don't see a reason why it couldn't work.
x

Unsupported Video Chronicles - Tips & Advise

Hello,
I am finally making a jump to aperture 3 and loving the video support . I would like to know how others are right now dealing with the unsupported video problem.
I am doing it the hard-way right now. I have around 400-500 videos(Thank God that I've bought a kodak Zi8 few months ) which would be unsupported, so before building my library. I am
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Annoying ? Yes Very much
Slow ? Yes Very Much
Alternatives ? Maybe some magical applescript , which can convert the video , use the original file as reference and copy the date modified and other metadeta to it ? Hmm....

My last advise sorenson squeeze is a piece of **. It keeps crashing and the speeds are BLOODY slow.
Visual hub on the other hands works like a charm , same quality and hasn't crashed on me once.
I have finally manged to convert all my 500 vidz to mp4 format with x264 encoding and high quality. I know close this thread

Need to fix bad audio that came attached to the video, any tips?

I have the video and the audio that comes attached to it is not good.Their voices are very low. When I try to make it louder there is this humming noise. When I try to reduce the background noise (it's like a hissing sound) then it sounds like she is in a fishbowl. It says the humming removal is "on"
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately, garbage in - garbage out.

Wow, thanks for multithreading video-pipeline

Hi,
we installed today the fp 11,...19 Beta on our OSX Test machine. The machine itselfs has a ATI PCI card.
In the past we are fighting to decode an mpegTransport Apple HLS format thru our own MediaPlayback Plugin and OSMF. We implement a lot of hacks to decode the m3u8 playlist that includes the mpegTS segments.
In the decode frames we saw a lot of "jitter-refresh-rate", specially in fast moving scenes..
The problem has gone with this beta-version. Also the seeking in HTTP Stream with adaptive bandwidth works very fast and better now.
I dont know who from developer adobe guys has include this, but when i would meet iam i would spend the team a box of six-pack german beer.
If you want to try it out you can please a demo stream here:
http://onlinelib.de/Streaming_Solutions.html
With this solution we have now one videoformat that can be played on any devices and on any webserver!!!!
I have to test now windows.
Gary

Hello,
Thanks for the feedback. Nice to know that the beta fixed the issues you were facing. Please let us know if you face any other issues.

How to make best videos/audios for Creative Zen/Zen Vision W/Zen Vision M/Z

4Easysoft Creative Zen Video Converter is an all-in-one Video Converter for Creative Zen software with high output quality and powerful video editing functions, which can help all the zen users to make the best video/audio effect.
First of all, let’s make clear what kinds of videos/audios can get the best effect in the zen players.
Video:
MPEG, WMV, and AVI (MPEG-4 SP, DivX, Xvid), while MPEG-1, and MPEG-2 are supported, but must be transcoded with the included software.
Audio:
MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, and Audible 2, 3, and 4 formats.
Settings:
Video resolution: 320×240; Video Bitrate: 500 kbps; Audio Bitrate: between 96 to 128 kbps.
Then, let me show you how to make a full use of this powerful converter.
Preparation:Download and install 4Easysoft Creative Zen Video Converter
http://www.4easysoft.com/guide/creative-zen-video-converter/main.jpg
Step 1: Run this software and add video/audio files.
Step 2: Select output video format from the profile drop-down list.
Click the “Profile” button to select the output video format from the drop-down list button.
Step 3: Customize output settings.
Click “Settings” button in the output settings area, you are allowed to customize the output parameters, specify output folder and select output format.
Step 4: Start conversion
Click “Start” button on right bottom of the main interface, you can begin the conversion. All the tasks of conversion will be finished at fast speed and high output quality.
http://www.4easysoft.com/guide/creative-zen-video-converter/steps.jpg
Tips on editing videos:
1: Capture your favorite picture.
Just click the “Snapshot” button to save your favorite image.
2: Merge videos into one file.
Just check the “merge into one file” option if you want to merge the selected contents into one file As default the merged file is named after the first selected file (either a title or a chapter)
3: Select preference
Click the “Preference” button and a dialog pops up, you can select the output destination, the Snapshot foler, the format of the snapshot image. You can also choose to shut down your computer or do nothing after your conversion. You can also select the CPU usage.
4: Trim video
You can get any clip of your video and put it on your zen.
5: Crop video
You can crop your video by selecting your video mode, setting crop values, or drag the frame.
http://www.4easysoft.com/guide/creative-zen-video-converter/tips.jpg
Ok, just enjoy movies and music with your Creative Zen player now!
More useful tools:
MP4 Converter is a powerful MP4 Video Converter which is designed to convert almost any video formats to MPEG-4 standard formats; WMV Converter provides perfect solution to convert common video formats to WMV with the best quality of picture and sound; Apple TV Video Converter is the excellent Apple TV converter software to convert all video files such as AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, MOV, RM, ASF, 3GP, VOB, etc, to Apple TV movies.
Edited by: user11254370 on 2009-6-9 下午11:58

Just wanted to mention - I bought the IR Remote thinking to make the player useful without navigation keys. Now I feel like I wasted more money instead of shifting to some other player by some other company with better customer service.

Video buffer amount

So,
I have an application that is stand-alone and will run on a
kiosk. It is running on a vertically mounted monitor at 768x1366.
Imagine a set of graphic panels all lined up next to each other,
there are 13 of them and each one fills the screen completely. When
a button is pressed, all the panels slide one direction or the
other on the screen and when the correct panel is aligned with the
screen, a video will play in 8 of those cases. The other 5 are just
graphic and the do a little dissolve to add some text. For the 8
panels that have video, I load the videos at the start and the
first frame of video is what is used as it's static state. So when
people press a button and see all the panels go zooming to one end
or the other, they are seeing the first frame of video in most
cases. Make any sense?
The whole application works pretty well, and on my new XP
box, plays smoothly. I am running into a bit of an issue though, as
one of the videos is much larger (file size) than the other ones,
and I am seeing some performance issues because of it I think. My
big question is - how much of a video gets loaded into memory while
it waiting to be played? I have the autoplay to off, and only one
video plays at a time, so the playback is good. But, the sliding is
taking a bit of a hit. Now, I know, It is a pretty processor
intensive thing to be sliding around 8 HD videos at once, but it is
working well. I am just looking to understand a bit more about how
they are loaded into memory and if there is a way to limit how much
each video will use. I really only need the first frame until they
start playing.
If you have any other video performance tips, I would love to
hear them, or perhaps a resource that you know about that I haven't
found - let me know. I am running this project in AS2 (I started it
before learning AS3) on Flash CS3.
- B

You hit right on, the only reason you're seeing the lag
spikes is because you're tween those 8 video objects at the same
time. I'm sure its eating up tons of memory. I would take a new
approach, and tween one at a time, or just change their visibility
value. Event tweening two at a time should help big time. It takes
a lot of mem and cpu for flash to redraw where the videos are
moving to.

Best video format for converting DVD to NAS for widely sharing

Summary: The article shows you with an easy workaround for
copying DVD to NAS for streaming by ripping DVD to NAS friendly video
format on Mac and Windows
I recently purchased a NAS to store all my music/photos etc on. I
can stream stuff to my iPhone/iPad using the NAS software. What I want
to do is rip all my DVDs (over 400) to my NAS, but I’m not sure which
format to do it in, to play nice with my Apple TV2, Xbox 360, iPhone,
iPad etc. I wanna get some advice as to what format to rip in and what
software to use?
Learn some tips from online, I got know that to copy dozens of DVD movies to NAS,
you need to get the content off the DVD disc as a protection-free and
easily readable element for NAS. In this case, at the first place
powerful third-party software for backup DVD to NAS is what you need.
There are many, many DVD ripping tools on the market. I’ve tired a pile of them.
Brorsoft DVD Ripper
is the best one I’ve tried yet. It is capable of ripping DVD to MP4,
AVI, MKV for NAS streaming with no quality loss; it also enables you to
copy DVD main movies for backup onto NAS in .vob format. And what I’ve
learned is that MP4 would be one best target format for it is fully
compatible with nearly all media devices including iPad, iPhone, PS3,
Apple TV, etc. If you are running on Mac OS X, turn to DVD Ripper for Mac. If you haven’t got the software, download it now and let’s start the conversion.
Ripping and copying DVDs to NAS
1. Launch the DVD ripping program for NAS devices . Then
click "Load DVD" to import the DVD files you want to convert. To select
the subtitles you like, simply click Subtitle and select the one you
prefer. P.S. Before start the conversion, you can choose to backup DVD mian movies.
2. Click Format bar and choose your desired format. To store
hundreds of DVD's on NAS, you can rip DVD to .mp4, or .avi, .mkv, etc
compressed format. And click Settings bar, you can adjust the level of
compression to suit the quality you want.
Tip: If you like, you can click “Settings” to change the
video encoder, resolution, frame rate, etc. as you wish. Keep in mind
the file size and video quality is based more on bitrate than resolution
which means bitrate higher results in big file size, and lower visible
quality loss, and vice versa.
3. Press the "Convert" button to start ripping DVD for NAS streaming.
After the conversion, click Open button to find the output files.
Make sure the wireless network connection is accessible among the NAS
and Apple TV, PS3, HD TV or other media players. Then just enjoy the
high quality DVD movies anywhere anytime.
[quote] movies-videos-convert-tips.overblog.com/2014/02/ripping-dvds-to-nas-how-to-copy-dvd-to-nas-for-streaming.html [/quote]

I've always found encoding with Handbrake and choosing the Apple TV2 preset is an excellent place to start and video encoded using that preset will work on my iPhone 4, 4S and iPad 2.
If the files encoded using that preset are too big for one's taste they can always encoded at a lower average bit rate rather than using the default 'Constant Quality' of 20.
Later on I'm sure the Handbrake group will have an AppleTV '3' preset supporting the 1080p format supported by the ATV3 and iPad '3' but using such a preset would not create a file usable on the iPad 2 or the iPhones.

How can I watch this video?

Guys, I have a MacBook (from around Christmas 2007). I downloaded Flip4Mac and have little trouble watching streaming video. I went to a CBS-affiliate website and can't see the video that I want to see. I can watch the featured video fine. But the video that I want to see is one listed below the features. I followed the " downloaded Windows Media Player plugin with no chage. When I click on the link it kicks me over to the "MAC USERS: Video Troubleshooting Tips." I downloaded WMP to no avail.
What can I do?
Here is the website:
http://www.wreg.com/Global/category.asp?C=53326

Welcome to Apple Discussions:
It doesn't play for me either and the help file says Flip4mac is not supported "at this time" so I guess they don't like Macs.
The site says:
"Does the Video Player support Flip4Mac?
Not at this time. To download Window Media Player, click here."
And even that link to DL the player is messed up. It goes to something completely different.
It's a typical website run by typical website personnel who barely manage to get things working.
The main video is flash which is why it plays.
Here is the MS page for whatever it offers:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx
To answer your question - you need to run Winders.
Message was edited by: nerowolfe

Tips for editing VOB files using Pinnacle Studio

Summary: Have trouble importing VOB files into Pinnacle
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quality loss.
I normally receive my stuff in a format I can stick on Pinnacle
Studio, but VOBs are not compatible. What I want to do with the current
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Studio. And what I need is a VOB converter I know.
After getting some reviews online and multiple testing, I found the
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the help from Brorsoft Video Converter.
It is an optimal VOB converter for you, which can help you change VOB
into a different format like MPEG-2, AVI with least quality loss. You
should then be able to import the new file into Pinnacle Studio with
smooth editing without any trouble. It will ensure a perfect VOB
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9/11/12/14/15.
How to Convert VOB to Pinnacle Studio editable format
1. Download, install and run the VOB to Pinnacle Studio Converter; click "Add Videos" icon to load your source .vob videos.
2. Click “Format” bar and choose "Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas
> MPEG-2 (*.mpg)” as output format on the drop-down menu. Of course,
you can also choose AVI, MP4, WMV from “Common Video” as the output
format.
3. Click “Settings” button if you’d like to customize
advanced audio and video parameters like Video Codec, aspect ratio, bit
rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sample rate, audio channels.
4. Click the convert button under the preview window, the
converter will start encoding VOB for importing to Pinnacle Studio. Soon
after the conversion is finished, just click "Open" button to get the
generated files for edit in Pinnacle Studio 14/15/16 perfectly.
Source: How to split large vob files to Pinnacle Studio
[quote] movies-videos-convert-tips.overblog.com/2014/02/how-to-make-video-object-.vob-format-is-it-editable-friendly-in-pinnacle-studio.html [/quote]

If you have the VOB files is it on a pre-existing DVD that will play on a set top box? (i.e. a VIDEO_TS folder with the VOB of your film inside it?)
then you could use Toast or similar to do a copy of it.
Otherwise you can use a program like MPEGStreamclip to demux the VOB back to an m2v and AC3 (Video and Audio file) and use DVD-SP to make a new playable DVD. There would be no loss in quality if you are merely demuxing.

Live Flash Streams issue on Multiple Macs - video frozen, audio only

With live Flash streams on some Macs, the video doesn't play and only the audio does (or more accurately, the video plays for a second or so and then shows a frozen frame while the audio keeps going). We've had this occur on three different Macs so far, but not all Macs we've tested on. We were able to look up the graphics cards on two of them that had issues and they both have both NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT listed in the System Profiler.
Having the user manually disable hardware acceleration fixes the issue, as does pausing and then playing the video. Running Safari in 32 bit mode did NOT fix the issue.
Flash player release notes list this as a known issue. When might a patch for be released? We don't want to disable hardware acceleration for all Mac users because it only affects some of them and thus some / many would be unnecessarily negatively impacted.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/901/cpsid_90194.html#main_known%20issues
Mac users may run into rendering issues with certain live streams due to an incompatibility between the stream encoding and the hardware decoder. We are aware of this issue and are working with Apple to resolve it. Users may workaround the issue by pausing and then unpausing the live stream. Developers can work around this issue by forcing the video to be decoded in software - create two Video objects, attach the stream to the first, then stop it and attach the stream to the second Video object (2819870, 2818959, 2779420).

From Brad Outlaw:
Are you reusing the same Video object for the new NetStreams? Have you tried doing a Video.attachNetStream(null), Video.clear() and then attaching the new (or re-allocated) NetStream object? The video pipeline might be playing out some residual data that was sent to it from the prior NetStream.
Adding those suggestions seems have have done the trick. I had simply been trying to manipulate the NetStream and not the Video. Although I did try attaching a null NetStream to the video at one point, I had not done so with the Video.clear().

Videos on website won't load/play immediately

hello everyone,
i've been trying to find an answer for a week now but without much luck.
using adobe flash catalyst, i recently created a website with 20 uploaded videos (FLV format; ranging from 2mb ~ 40mb each) and when you click onto any one of them, they will load and play. but here's the problem - they won't play immediately (won't load and play at the same time, WHILE being downloaded in the background - unlike youtube), and most of the time when you click on a video, you'll have to wait (the loading bar won't even start downloading until a good 20-30 seconds after clicking play) while some videos load and play immediately.
my question is, what do i need to do so my videos will load/play almost immediately after clicking play, while simutaneously being downloaded in the background? is there a way to preload my videos?
i understand i'll need flash builder to code all this?
i'm new to making websites and i would appreciate all the help given.
kenny

Drat! You might try looking through the Flash Builder forums to see if they might have a video playback tips. There might some property that Flash Catalyst is not exposing or something in the app itself that needs to be changed.
If you have Flash Professional, you could try creating a simple FLV player using it and see what the performance is like from the server.
Chris

Drawing on video

Is it possible to create a drawing on a video. More specifically, I have a clip of someone with a white background and I'd like to draw an object where it looks as though he's sitting inside of a box. I want the actual drawing process to be animated as well. Not sure if After Effects is my "go to" option.
Thanks for your help in advance!

sierracoleman wrote:
I'm a graphic designer and I'm splashing into the world of video editing/effects.
Then you should start here: Getting started with After Effects
If you skip that, you will only become frustrated.
sierracoleman wrote:
- I do want to animate the process of drawing the box - it will be "drawing itself".
There are dozens of tutorials out there for write-on effects. A shape layer with strokes wiggling might do it for you.
sierracoleman wrote:
- Mostly I'd like the portions of the box not to hide the subject, but if you wouldn't mind sharing the other option as well I'd greatly appreciate it.
And you've shot them on white? You've got a couple of options (depending on how the shot looks. You will need to get a copy of the person on their own layer so that they can be on top of the drawing for parts of it.
Method 1: 4 layers total. Bottom to top, they are: footage, box, footage, footage. One of those two top footages is being used as a luma matte for the other.
Method 2: 3 layers total. Bottom to top, they are: footage, box, footage. That top layer is rotoscoped to isolate the person. What's rotoscoping you ask? Animating masks in order to isolate something in video. Tips on how to do it here: After Effects Help | Managing and animating shape paths and masks
Depending on what your footage looks like, this might be easier: Roto Brush in After Effects

Best Video Editing Tool For MBP

Hey Fellas recently i switched from a windows pc to MBP. I have a small business of making motion movies for various clients of mine. On windows based platform i used "Pinnacle Studio 15" for editing my videos And it worked fine there. Now as i switched to MBP, i also transformed to pinnacle studio for mac. But there seems some kind of error when i go make movie option, the movie doesnot proceed at all.
Really frustated for this kind of problem as i have tried many times and also replaced the clips many times but its doesn't work.
Please help me, fast answers would be really appreciated as i have many more projects to cover up.
Thanks

mac-a-damia wrote:
I do not have pinnacle installed on my computer right now. Check this out maybe it can help you http://www.wondershare.com/video-editing-tips/pinnacle-for-mac.html
Thanks for the link mac-a-dania. But these are only tips for running the studio but not the problem that i m asking.
Thanks anyways.

What is the best video quality settings for iPhone 3GS?(converter)

Hey Guys,
I am using a macx video convertor pro, and I am wondering, cuz i want excellent video quality for my videos in my iPhone 3Gs, so what should be the video quality--Q1:how many kbps(what does kbps really do?)Q2: Video resoultion?Q3: should i use high quality engine? Q4: And video conversion tips from you guys.
Please answer the above 4 questions, thank you!
Regards,
Ala.

I guess no one from Apple reads these things? I'd like to know the same thing. I used DVD Fab and it saved it 1.2GB and it looks great on iTunes but is choppy on the iPhone 3GS. Can we have answers to the questions? Some time this year?

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