The customization options for window arrangement are limited in Resolve, compared to some applications.  The customization options are flexible enough to have your timeline on a second monitor, though.  To do this, under the workspace menu, check both Dual Screen-> On and Dual Screen-> Full Screen Timeline. To switch which monitor the timeline's on, go to Workspace-> Primary Display.
Your program monitor can be on either screen by switching which display is "Primary," also.   In the color tab, there are three options for how your program monitor is displayed; Cinema, Enhanced Viewer, or Full Screen Viewer.  These options are found under Workspace -> Viewer mode.  In the edit tab, there is no Enhanced Viewer, but you can get the same effect by closing other panels and using Single Viewer mode.
Besides having different panels open or closed, breaking out Scopes into a floating window (which you can drag to another monitor if you want to devote a monitor to scopes), resizing sections by dragging the divider between them, having tabbed timelines, multiple bin views, FCPX-like hover-scrubbing with strip or icon view and single view program monitor, or a more Premiere-like Source/Program,  there's not much more you can do to customize its layout.  You can't "skin" it like winamp.  You can't move panel positions relative to each other.  In short, everything you need to do your job is in there, with nothing superfluous.
Whether or not BMD plans to add these features is anyone's guess, but their development team is extremely responsive to user feedback on their forums.  They've implemented changes that I've recommended on multiple occasions (the thin red line designating panel focus with the 15.2 update was something I suggested.)

Command +/- is one way to zoom, alt/option mousewheel or two-finger drag is another, dragging on the +/- zoom slider is another.  If you want to adjust track height, so that you can see more stacked layers, click on the "timeline view options" icon in the center of the screen, next to the zoom slider.

There are multiple ways to scale in DaVinci, and a couple of points in the signal chain where the scaling might occur.  You've found edit scaling, but there's also project-wide scaling under Project Settings-> Image Scaling ->Mismatched resolution files.
Then under the color tab, there's input sizing, output sizing, node sizing, and reference sizing.  The order of operations for color page sizing is covered in chapter 119 of the user manual.

Probably not, depending on what kind of effect you're after.  Fusion is to DaVinci what After Effects is to Premiere, except it's built in, and it's node-based, so conceptually it's more like Nuke than AE.  But if you just need simple things like blurs, keys, object removal, lens flares, etc, you can find those things in the OpenFX tab of the color page, or the Effects Library tab of the Edit page.  You can also install any plugin that supports OpenFX.  Genarts Sapphire, BorisFX Mocha, and filmconvert are all popular.   Premiere supports effects presets and templates better at the moment than DaVinci, but Fusion integration is new, and this should change soon.


Tilting videos while not leaving black bars

Make sure your video is in a Sequence.
Go to the Effects tab, and select Horizontal flip.
Drag the Horizontal Flip effect onto your video clip in the timeline.


What you want to do is make a sequence with the same frame size as your source file (in Premiere and other NLEs your project doesnt have a specific frame size, as you can have multiple sequences with different frame sizes in one project)

Open Premiere and Start a new Project (File > New > Project)
Give the project a name and click ok (dont worry about any of the options)
In the New Sequence window click Cancel - this will take you straight into the project without making a sequence
Import your footage (file > Import)
Create a new Sequence from clip by either:

Dragging the footage down to the New Sequence icon (in the project panel) OR

Right click on the footage and select New Sequence from Clip

This will create a sequence that matches the attributes of your footage (frame size, frame rate etc)


Which software gets the fastest rendering times?

I'm not sure that it is necessarily possible to get meaningful benchmarks for video editing render times now.  With the advent of system's using GPU processing for rendering, the already complicated field got even tougher.  There are simply too many variables.  It depends on the performance of particular effects and plugins and what kind of hardware and bandwidth needs there are within the project.  Since the needs of projects differ so greatly, I don't see how a meaningful benchmark could be established unless it was to try benchmarking individual filters within the applications.

In general, the new render engine in Premiere is very fast though.  Even for software only it works quick, but with GPU acceleration, it gets pretty crazy.  Running software only, I can run a full resolution all I frame 1080p 24fps signal with color correction applied through my tower with fairly minimal frame drops.  I'm unfortunately PC only so I can't compare to FCPX.


This expression is not supported for Mask Path Property, because it's a User Defined Property, see the note of the error message.

Workaround

Mask Path animation once

Precompose your layer an with the animated mask (one time) by Selecting the Layer > Right Click > Precompose (and move all attributes in the new composition)
Enable Time Remapping on your new created composition (Right Click on the composition > Time > Time Remapping), this extends the length of the layer to infinity
Add loopOut(type="cycle") expression to the Time Remapping Property by holding Alt and clicking the stop watch left beside the properties name

Time Remapping enabled on the new composition and expresssion applied

Example

Example using 3 keyframes (third is same as first) and using loopOut() only


What is the little blue line above the timeline called?

They call that a "zone" which is something like a selection of the timeline. The video you've linked already shows how it can be used.
I don't know why it's already there at the beginning of the video, it seems intentional and a very short Zone-bar is always there by default. That's maybe to remind the user of this feature but in any case is a strange decision in regard of user experience.
The manual indicates such a zone can also be set via the program monitor. More in the manual.


In the US, fair use, the doctrine of copyright law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without needing to obtain permission first, is measured by four criteria. It doesn't matter whether the work you are including or creating is music, text, or a newscast, the same four criteria apply.

The purpose and character of the work you are including the copyrighted material in. For example, are you using it for educational purposes or are you trying to profit from what you are making?
The nature of the material you are including.
The amount of the work you are including, in relative and absolute terms. Are you including 5 seconds of a 1 hour work or all 10 lines of a poem?
The effect on the market or value of the included work. Are you going to take sales away from the included work?

However, there is no checklist to determine if your use of something falls under fair use. There is no guarantee that if you are, for example, using 30 seconds of a newscast for for educational purposes that will have no impact on the broadcaster's ability to sell commercials that you fall under fair use. Or that you tip the scale at 31 seconds of included material. Or that any commercial purpose of your work isn't fair use. "The only way to get a definitive answer on whether a particular use is a fair use is to have it resolved in federal court."

Historical material is not automatically public domain nor is it automatically available for fair use. Figuring out if a work's copyright is still in force is rather complex. You need to sort through the correct copyright term for the original work and whether any extensions have been applied.

However, any U.S. government work is automatically in the public domain. But there are exceptions to that. You can't just assume that because you found it on a government website that it is a government work. Something, like an NPR broadcast or a medical study, does not automatically become a government work and public domain just because it is partly or fully funded by the federal government.


How to correct tbn for files with ffmpeg?

No need to transcode, it can be done via remuxing.

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -video_track_timescale 30 out.mp4

where 30 is the new tbn value.


Loss of Colour Detail After Premiere Pro Render

First, Youtube re-encodes anything you upload to it's own streaming format(s), creating multiple down-res'd versions from the file you upload.

So it's possible that:

1.) OBS is outputting a higher-bit rate or better codec than what you're outputting using Premiere.

2.) Browsers ignore for the most part (Chome), color profiles for video and photos, this can cause a lot of frustration wondering why colors look different in Photoshop/Premiere vs in Chrome. That said:

3.) From Bridge make sure your Color Settings are synced across all programs under the Edit Menu.

4.) Set to Web Color sRGB.

In the end, the hard truth is that you CANNOT control the "end result" in terms of how your video will look on youtube on any given computer. Because people have different monitors, different browsers, their monitors may be setup to non-sRGB profiles, etc.

It's very much the same as handing someone a Blu-Ray, that you've quality checked on your studio reference monitor to get the tonality you're aiming for. You have no idea what TV they will use when they take it home, and what Picture Profile they will have set, which can drastically alter the image they see.

Obviously however, whatever OBS is outputting is being converted into a format that Youtube is re-encoding to a file which you are more pleased with. The only solution is to try different output settings from Premiere. But honestly, it's a bit of a fruitless endeavor, as you have no control over how other people will see it; due to browser, color profile, monitor setup, etc.


Custom Animated Counter in Adobe After Effects

This will animate between the values in the array, hitting each value precisely at the second mark though the viewer won't be able to notice because the numbers will be moving too fast.

var dataArr = [7609,7758,7916,8063,8217,8382,8545,8701,8871,9049,9241,9386,9533,9722,9911,10055,10196,10321,10327,10451,10646,10854,11005,11195,11411,11583,11740,11904,12051,12177,12308,12404,12484,12558,12637,12725,12805,12882,12982,13088,13212,13340,13486,13674,13840];
var sek = Math.floor(time);
if (sek < dataArr.length - 1){
   Math.floor(linear(time-sek, dataArr[sek], dataArr[sek+1]));
} else {
    "out of data";
}

For bonus points you can add commas or culture-appropriate separators by replacing the line that starts with Math.floor(linear … with:

Math.floor(linear(time-sek, dataArr[sek], dataArr[sek+1])).toLocaleString("en-AU");

where you replace "en-AU" with your locale, e.g. for Chinese Decimal units use "zh-Hans-CN-u-nu-hanidec" and it will look like: 七,六〇九


How can i check if a particular sound I used in my video was copyrighted?

In nearly all countries, copyright protects creative works automatically. Some exceptions and restrictions apply, but unless the author has voluntarily added his work to the public domain or the copyright has expired (common terms are seventy and ninety years after publication or after death of the author), it's safe to assume all songs are copyrighted, including the royalty-free music you've been using.

Whether or not it's okay to upload material that contains this music to youtube, that would depend on the author's consent. Sometimes, the music is released under a blanket licence that allows redistribution. If not, contact the author to obtain permission.


What is this kind of video artifact called (grafitti)

That is neither an artifact nor graffiti. That is a (simulation of) writing directly onto a film leader.


What is algebraic effect of transforms in Adobe After Effects Keyframe Data file?

Have you tried using after effects? You can get a demo, it will give you an idea of the metaphor behind it.

The position of a layer is the position of its anchor point in the comp space. The anchor point is expressed in terms of the layer space and is the point that the layer rotates around and scales from. By default the anchor point of a layer is its center. In both layer space and comp space the origin [0,0] is the top left, and increasing values move the point to the right and down. E.g. for a 1920x1080 comp / layer the point [1920,1080] is the bottom right.


Player support for video DVD stored on a CD-R?

If you're authoring DVDs to be played on DVD players, then this won't work. I checked it out way back when there was a significant price difference between CD and DVD media.

If the end users are all going to be playing on computers you could send them instructions on how to open the DVD media folders, but realistically what you'd save (if anything) on media costs would be eaten up in time spent answering queries from disgruntled users who can't get it to play.

Just for reference - the first site I saw when I searched for "bulk DVD CD media" has 100 DVDs for $19.90 and 100 CDs for $18.90. So the difference in price is 1¢ per disk.


How can I transcode a PAL-formatted videotape in the United States?

You need two things - a PAL VCR and a digital video converter than can speak PAL. The last one I bought (in 2005) was software configurable for (or could autodetect) PAL and NTSC, and several that show up on Amazon appear to be both PAL and NTSC compatible. It looks like VCRs that are PAL compatible are available on both Amazon and EBay.

When acquiring a VCR, pay attention to its power supply requirements. I haven't purchased a VCR in over a decade, so I have no general advice on what to expect. However, if the VCR expects 220-240 V and/or 50 Hz, then you will need an inverter in order to use it in North America (120V @ 60Hz).

Edit: Once you've digitally captured the video, you should be able to play it on a PC or most mobile devices. If you really need to transcode it to NTSC, then something like VLC or Apple's Compressor should do the trick.


Vegas Pro will not properly render PCM audio in avi file on the timeline

I've been able to solve the issue recently with the following command in ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i "input.avi" -c copy "output.mov"

I still have no understanding why Vegas would not work with the AVI. My system does this container rewrap at about 350x, so it's very fast. The only issue is if you have a ton of videos and you create a batch file, you should check your hard drive space before you try it.


I want to add some audio to the end of a video

It sounds like you are looking to do what is traditionally handled by a Non-Linear Video Editing software, or just video editor for short.  There are a number of free and cheap options available.  They lack many of the bells and whistles of more advanced software, but are actually typically easier to use than the more advanced software targeted at professionals.

If you are on Windows, Windows Movie Maker will easily allow you to do what you are trying to do and has a nice, friendly user interface.  Due to stability issues and limited functionality, if you want to get more advanced than very basic stuff, it is worth purchasing a better option, such as Premiere Elements, Pinnacle Studio or something similar in the consumer targeted market though.

If you aren't on Windows, you could use OpenShot video editor which is available for Mac and Linux and should also be able to cover your needs.

As Julian was kind enough to point out in his answer, there is also a list of open source video editors listed on Wikipedia's List of Video Editors, though there is a very wide range in the usability of the products in that list, though most all of them should be able to address your fairly basic needs.

From your comment, I noticed that you were doing some powerpoint slide stuff.  You can actually take an image of that and use it directly in the video editor as well, rather than having to output the video through PowerPoint.


How do I correctly use an ACES workflow with CinemaDNG footage in Davinci Resolve?

You should use BMD Film (Black Magic Design) This is the colorspace used by the Black Magic Cameras.


Canon 600D/ T3i Video Output and Converting?

The default video files made by most Canon DSLRs is an H264 video file in an MOV container.  Decoding high definition video at the data rates that most Canon cameras use is intensive for both memory, disk and CPU unless you have a dedicated decoder chip.  Your iPod Touch uses flash storage (which is fast) and has H264 decoding capability to make it run smoothly.

On the other hand, a lower end desktop in particular is going to have slow hard drives and may not have sufficient power to decode the file on the fly, thus resulting in lag during playback.  Based on the quality level you describe, data retrieval from disk is most likely the problem you are experiencing.  So now with some groundwork set, lets move on to your direct questions.

1) It isn't necessary to convert video you shoot from your T3i.  It's a standard format and will play or be editable on any system capable of playing it.  If you are having issues with the H264 playback lagging on a particular system, you can try converting it to a lower data rate or less CPU/Memory intensive compression.

Either of these options might make the issue worse if you go in the wrong direction (for example, most algorithms that are less CPU intense take more space and vice versa, so if you were CPU limited and you use a higher compression, it might be more jumpy).  You can also simply sacrifice quality to make it play faster and take less space, but this isn't really ideal.

2) Any good transcoder can do the job.  The files that come off the camera are generally pretty high quality and thus should transcode well.  Your choice of encoder depends a lot on the platform you are on.  FFMPEG(MPEG based formats, including H264) isn't that user friendly, but is freely available and works cross platform.  Other options include the free Windows Media Encoder(WMV) on Windows, Quicktime(several formats) on Mac or Windows, Adobe Media Encoder(numerous formats) on Mac or Windows or Microsoft Expression Encoder(WMV).

The basic key for quality conversion is to keep the native resolution (number of pixels) in the video and use a high enough data rate to support the quality.  VBR 2 pass is better than VBR 1 pass which is generally better than Constant Bit Rate, but each takes more time than the latter to encode.

3) Video is BIG.  Really, REALLY, BIG.  Since the camera needs to record fast, fairly limited compression is used.  It sounds like you are probably using All I frame video which is fairly high data rate video.  Keep in mind that you are effectively storing 24 pictures every second, continuously.  If it was truly uncompressed, it would go even faster.  RAW, uncompressed HD video produces 261 megabytes of information PER SECOND! (14 bits per color, 3 colors, 1920 x 1080 pixels per picture, 24 pictures a second.)  Makes 10 minutes on a 4GB card sound a lot better doesn't it?

If you don't need as high of a quality, you can use IBP frame video which will drastically reduce (about 1/5 to 1/6 the size) the amount of space required though it also drops the quality of the video.


A normal film camera has a mechanism for stopping the film in the gate every frame while the shutter is open, then when the shutter closes pulling down the next frame, stopping it, exposing it, and so on. If the film isn't perfectly still while the shutter is open the image will be blurred.

To do this with high speed film is impractical, the forces involved in pulling down the next frame in 1/500,000th of a second and bringing it to a dead stop would simply destroy any film you could put in it. So in a high speed camera the film doesn't stop, instead there is a rotating prism, as stated in the article. The prism bends the incoming light as it rotates, and it does so in a way that the image follows the frame of film as it passes through the camera.

A good article explaining it here, this illustration in particular:

In this illustration the frame of film would be on the right side, moving downwards, following the spot of light.

The reverse of this can be seen in a Steenbeck editing machine that also uses a rotating prism to hold the image on the screen steady while the film moves continuously through the viewer.


ffmpeg - image with zoom - looks low resolution

zoompan, by default, scales output to 1280x720 (and at 25 fps).

Use

ffmpeg -loop 1 -f image2 -i 'IMG_8444_edit.jpg' -vf "zoompan=z='zoom+0.001:s=WxH,scale=hd1080" -c:v libx264 -preset fast -t 5 -crf 22 -y 'zoomout.mp4'

where WxH is your required output resolution from the filter.


Projecting image from computer that is a distance away

It's possible to amplify VGA for long runs, but since that's an analog signal it's usually not the best option. VGA over coax is probably more trouble than it's worth (you'd have to merge the many VGA channels somehow to use the single coax pin, and then reverse it).

VGA over Cat5e is fairly common. You still aren't running an analog signal over 200ft, but there's hardware to convert from VGA to a digital signal and then convert back at the other end with minimal latency. For example, this product, which also has a monitor port at the source end.

A less reliable option, but possibly less pricey if your projector supports it, is wireless projection over wi-fi. But like I said, this may be not reliable enough for theater application.


How to create timelapse video using CR2 RAW files?

Picasa is free software that will do exactly what you're after. It can read a whole range of RAW file types and also creates timelapse videos.

To create your video, first import the folder of RAW files into Picasa and select the folder. Now:

From the menu: Create > Video > From Selection
The Video Maker screen will now appear. In the left-hand pane, make sure the Video tab is selected.
Under Transition Style choose Time Lapse
Set your frames per second using the Slide Duration slider (e.g. 1/25 sec for 25fps)
Set your other options and hit Create Video.

Couldn't be easier!


Based on strace is seems that fuscript binary searches for libpython2.7.so and libpython3.6.so
$ /opt/resolve/libs/Fusion/fuscript -l py3

DaVinci Resolve Script Interpreter
Copyright (C) 2005 - 2020 Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd.

ERROR: Language 'py3' is not available.

E.g. on Debian based systems this could be installed, if you're lucky and the exact version is available for your distribution.
sudo apt install libpython3.6

The binary looks into several paths one of them is /usr/local/lib/libpython3.6.so. According to documentation this could be configured by PYTHONPATH env variable. However it doesn't seem to have any effect.
Using pyenv any Python version can be installed (we need shared libraries - *.so files):
env PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--enable-shared" pyenv install 3.6.11

then create a symlink:
sudo ln -s $HOME/.pyenv/versions/3.6.11/lib/python3.6 /usr/local/lib/python3.6
sudo ln -s $HOME/.pyenv/versions/3.6.11/lib/libpython3.so /usr/local/lib/libpython3.6.so

Finally console should be working (Resolve will need a restart):
$ /opt/resolve/libs/Fusion/fuscript -l py3 -i

DaVinci Resolve Script Interpreter
Copyright (C) 2005 - 2020 Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd.

Cannot read termcap database;
using dumb terminal settings.
Py3>


Should I use Magic Lantern as a beginner?

As someone who just went through the transition of using Canon firmware to Magic Lantern firmware, no. It depends ENTIRELY on what you know. For instance, do you know what shutter speed, ISO, and aperture are? Do you know what effect shooting "wide open" or with a high ISO has on your shot? Do you know how to correctly set your white balance and get correct exposure?

If you're a beginner and you're not familiar with these terms, you may at first be overwhelmed; that's totally normal and OK. But, it is my strong suggestion that you get to know these things and work with the standard Canon firmware before moving to Magic Lantern. Film making is hard enough as it is, no point in making it more difficult on yourself. Once you have a strong grasp of the basics, you can better appreciate/utilize the features that Magic Lantern gives you (recording formats, focus peaking, settings logs, RGB parade, hotkeys, wider range of ISO/aperture values, etc.).


Loading large videos in After Effects takes ages the first time. Any way to improve it?

If performance is sluggish, I would make sure the videos are the same resolution and frame rate as the format you plan to deliver your final video in.
So if the videos you are trying to import are 4K, but you're working in HD in After Effects, I would transcode the videos down to HD.
Also use a non-GOP codec like ProRes instead of h264/mp4.  They perform better when editing, because the software doesn't have to "look ahead" across multiple frames in order to work out how to draw the current frame.


Make clip reference (link to) different media file(s) in Premiere

Right click, set Media Offline

Right click again, Relink Media

Select your new clip.


Not able to edit subtitles in Premiere Pro

The answer depends on whether you want actual captions or just some text in the video. The difference that subtitles/captions are actual streams in the video container or seperate files altogether that can be turned on and off, whereas normal text in the video is part of the video stream, so it's burned in and can't be turned off (which also means the playback decive/software doesn't have to support the subtitle standard that is used, so there's benefits to both methods).

Captions

If you want actual captions, you have very limited formatting options. The way it works is the subtitle file/stream contains only the timecodes and corresponding text for all the subtitles you create and very limited formatting information as well as some metadata. The appearance of the captions (i.e. font family, font size and position) is controlled by the playback device/software. This way, the captions can be optimized for different displays and controlled by user settings (for example, people with bad eyesight can set a larger font size).

If you want to control the display aspects of your subtitles, you can create Open Captions that are burned into the video stream. Make sure to select 'Open Captions' as the standard when you create the captions in Premiere Pro:

If you create Open Captions this way, you have more control over the caption display:

As you can see in the screenshot above (taken in Premiere Pro 2018), you can control the font size, family and style, as you asked. If you create captions this way, you can still export the captions as an individual file (File → Export → Captions…), for example to the SubRip format (.srt). However, this will again only export the timecodes and text, not the display options set by you. If you want to have different font families, sizes et c. in your video, you will have to burn the subtitles in, which you can do if you create them as Open Captions.

Text in Video

If you want the most control over appearance, animation et c. of your text-in-video use Text / Graphics layers. Working with text used to be really tedious in earlier versions of Premiere, but with the new Graphics Workflow it's rather straightforward and elegant. Take a look at this page for an introduction. Keep in mind though that Graphics can't be exported as subtitle streams/files, so they will always be burned in the video stream.


I have planned for a long time to make a video luma stabilizing software, and when I saw this question I gave myself a kick in the butt and built something (hopefully) useful during the night. Now, it's by far a finished and polished product, of course, but if you feel bold and want to give it a shot, here is how you can use it (currently).
The best part: it's free... (and runs locally directly in the browser).
Prerequisites:

You will need After Effects
You video need to be stored as frames/images (they don't need to full size for the analysis though). JPEG, PNG sequences are fine.
You need to run this on a desktop or tablet with somewhat high resolution. It targets FHD but it may work in smaller screens - I have not tried or accounted for responsiveness quite yet...

Go to this web page to start:
https://epistemex.github.io/Video-Luma/
As mentioned, everything will run inside the browser (there is no upload) and will require a newer HTML5 browser. I am using Firefox v59 beta for this myself, but you should be able to use v58 stable as well as Chrome, Opera, Edge, Safari etc (although the latter ones may be slower and I have not yet fully tested with these browsers except Chrome).
Browser Steps

Select all your files/frames from the button at the top of the web page.
Then select the base frame and region to use as analyze area (I hope you don't mind I'm using your video example for these steps). The base frame is to indicate a goal luma for the selected region - also: the bigger the selection the more to calculate and will take longer time, but may also produce better result. Avoid selecting areas with movements (incl. shadow):

Then hit the "Analyze" button and wait until end. How fast it will finish depends largely on your computer specs. There is no escape in this version, but you can always reload the page or close the browser if you feel it will be too slow (in that case consider using lower size frames).

When done you can hit the "PREVIEW" button to get a impression of how it will look. It's not gonna be perfect. Currently I'm just using luma to adjust the values (I plan to support white-balance as well) but you will, depending on the footage, see variations in contrast. Not perfect but hopefully better.

Finally in the web page, hit 1) "Export" and 2) select+copy all the text AS-IS:

After Effects Steps

Next: Start up After Effects and load the sequence into a comp.
Then drop the effect "Brightness & Contrast" on top of your image sequence.
Make sure the play head is at the 1) first frame, expand effects and select the above mentioned effect and its "Brightness" property - then paste (still holding the copy from the browser):

The key-frames should now show in the right pane and you're ready to go! Preview and check if everything looks fine.
Troubleshooting
I noticed a bug in the browser's image loading process which can produce "spikes" in the data from time to time (unclear why but I'm working on it):

The only current way to get rid these is to open the 1) graph panel in After Effects and 2) manually remove those:

I did implement a "Spike filter" button that is activated if these are detected, but there is a chance it will affect the other data as well so I would recommend not using it for the time being.
I have not run exhausted memory tests but the images are loaded one by one directly from disk as to not to fill up the memory too much so you should be able to run through long sequences although they may take some time.
And that's it, let me know if it's useful in your case (or if something went horrible wrong - which reminds me to add a disclaimer: use at your own risk! :) ).


What causes audio sync drift when digitizing VHS?

Audio drift can have a couple of causes, dropped frames (which a TBC can help with), and unstable clocks, where the audio isn't recorded at quite the precise rate it should be, causing drift, as Michael correctly pointed out.
Dropped frames caused by tape dropouts are a problem if the device skips a frame, without skipping the corresponding frame of audio. A TBC helps with this, as it will ensure the vertical sync pulse is there for each frame, even if the tape has quality issues - it will ensure your capture device always sees a frame. LOTS of older PC capture devices I tried were impacted by dropped frames. The most reliable method I found was using a dedicated HDD/DVD recorder unit, all the ones I used would always maintain the correct frame rate (without input via TBC), and the audio would always be in sync. I also sometimes used a MiniDV deck to achieve the same, which has no choice but to always record a frame, and therefore keep audio/video in sync.
Doing it via PC, I've only had success with 1 device, a "Dazzle DVD Recorder HD" that I bought in 2011. It came bundled with a copy of Pinnacle Studio HD, and it all runs on an old Windows XP machine I keep for that purpose. I don't know if it is the hardware or the software (or maybe the combination), but this device has worked for me in transferring tapes and keeping things in sync, and I've not had to buy another device since coming across this one.
If you can find a combo VHS/DVD recorder unit (I'm pretty sure they are no longer manufactured), they are usually the most reliable solution to doing this without a lot of effort. A DVD Recorder (with analog inputs) will also do the job, mine had a HDD which you would record to first, and then output those files onto a DVD. I stopped using the unit when the DVD drive eventually failed. Otherwise you are stuck just trying the various analog USB capture devices on the market, which like I've said, I've found to have mixed results, and only come across one device so far that does the job reliably.


Why do higher frame rates require lower resolution?

I am not an engineer, but I think you've answered your own question.

This is a bit of an oversimplification, but if t is the time it takes to record, process and store a pixel from a frame consisting of p pixels, then 1/(t * p) is your maximum frame rate. So if you increase the framerate above the maximum you need to decrease either t or p. And since t is fixed you have to decrease p - the number of pixels.


Scale texts as the the parent shape layer changes

If you have the cube animation as a rendered file and can't mess around in the original animation, I would try corner-pins. Simply track the corners by hand by keyframing the four corners of the corner-pin to the corners of each face and apply it to your text layer. You might want to precomp the text first and apply the corner-pin onto the precomp, so you're able to rescale and modify the text alone from inside the precomp.


Cropping a Video based on a motion track

Here's one way to do it. I'll assume you have basic motion tracking knowledge already for the sake of brevity.

AfterEffects

Turn on 3D space for your footage layer.
Track the player in your footage. I'm going to guess that you'll have to do a lot of this by hand, but there's not really a faster way to track a player like this.
Apply the track to a Null, including both X + Y values of course. Turn on 3D space for the null as well.
Create a Camera. Default values are fine. They will match your footage, so you initially won't see any change.
Select the Null and press P to open the position parameter.
Here's the tricky part. Alt+Click on the Position stopwatch for your Camera. This will turn the position numbers red, open up an Expression text box, and reveal some new buttons. Click and drag the Pickwhip onto the Null's position parameter.

Your comp should go black. Good, it's working!
Open up the Position twirly for your footage layer (in my comp it's A037C006_160309CZ.MXF). The third value is the Z-depth. Adjust this to taste - the larger the number, the larger the resulting "crop" of your footage. Here I've set it to 1700 for a pretty extreme crop (and this is also 4K footage) - a more reasonable look, in my case, might be more like 2500. For you it will vary depending on the footage.
As you scrub through the timeline you should be perfectly locked onto the player. Unfortunately, depending on how close they get to the edge of the shot, you may see black appearing at the edge. This means you've "cropped" in far enough that you've hit the edge of the frame. You can reduce the crop (move the footage layer closer to the camera, a smaller number) as necessary to fix this.

You may find that your track is a bit choppy. You can smooth it out a bit non-destructively using some of the techniques detailed here.


FFMpeg and HLS, videos need to load in their entirety before they start playing

So it turns out after a lot of research that this is the desired behaviour for Apple's AVPlayer component. Basically, my Internet is so slow here where I live, the component waits until the video has fully downloaded before it starts playing. The best and recommended way around this, is to generate alternate streams for the video before trying to play it. Here is documentation on the m3u8 format and HLS streaming guidelines:

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/networkinginternet/conceptual/streamingmediaguide/Introduction/Introduction.html

I followed the above and generated two extra streams from the original: a 200kbps, 400kbps, and playback now starts almost immediately. Your mileage may vary depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

Alternatively, if you don't have to use something like HLS, you can use plain mp4 files. Make sure that they have -faststart enabled if you are processing the file with ffmpeg.

Update: To simplify this for other developers, I have released an SDK that is able to upload your mov or mp4 files to a cloud service and convert the file to an HLS compatible stream. The SDK can be installed via Cocoapods and you can access documentation and the framework here:

https://github.com/Storie/StorieCloudSDK


What happens when there is a "movie within a movie" or a "film within a film."

It's usually just called "film-within-a-film," "movie-within-a-movie," "play-within-a-play," "play-within-a-movie," or whatever's most appropriate to the situation.  There's a french term which describes it (mise en abyme), but as an english speaker, it's often more practical just to describe the technique however it appears.  The Wikipedia entrance on story within a story gives many examples from film, theater, and literature.  The first example that comes to my mind is Nation's Pride, the film within Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.  Personally, I would call Nation's Pride a film-within-a-film, and I think many other writers would too.


There are lots of add-ons that help with stacking and layering in the way you describe - try pt_shiftlayers for example:

https://aescripts.com/pt_shiftlayers/


What is the difference between 'Set To Frame Size' and 'Scale To Frame Size'?

Scale to Frame Size

Scales the clip to fit the size used in the current sequence whilst retaining the original aspect ratio to fit within the frame. Essentially, the clip has been rasterized to match the resolution used on the current sequence.

Despite adjustments to the size of the clip, the scale setting in the Video Effects panel for the clip will remain as 100%. This isn't a permanent change, the modification can be disabled by unchecking the option in the same way you enabled it.

If I place a photo which has a resolution of 3264 x 2448 and used 'Scale to Frame Size' to fit it into a widescreen 1920 x 1080 resolution, the photograph will be reduced in resolution. If I wanted to zoom in by scaling the photograph back to 100%, I would lose the original quality.

'Scale to Frame Size' can improve performance when scaling down a large clip.

Set to Frame Size

Scales the clip to fit the size used in the current sequence.

Premiere will automatically apply the scale adjustment under the clips Video Effects, which can be adjusted. The clip retains the original resolution.

Here are two identical photographs, the first photo I used 'Scale to Frame Size' and scaled in the Effects panel by 400%, for the second photo I used 'Set to Frame Size' and scaled by the same amount.

You should be able to see a clear difference in quality when scaled.

You probably won't see any noticeable difference scaling UP when using either of the methods.


Final Cut Pro (FCPX)- Scrolling credits speed

The built-in Credit Tile from FCPX does not work like that. As far as I know, the scrolling speed is determined by the duration and the amount of text.
So if you have a long duration and few text the scrolling speed will be slow and vice versa short duration and lots of text fast scrolling. The Tile makes sure that all text is shown in the duration given.
You might consider to try and make your own copy with Motion 5. Left Click on the Tile >> "Open a copy in Motion" or go for a 3rd party Title or Generator.


After purchasing Sony Vegas Pro 12 Premium I can confirm that it DOES include the full version of Sony Vegas Pro 12!

This really is a great deal as it also includes DVD Architect Pro 6.0, Sound Forge Pro 11.0, and CD Architect 5.2.


The biggest trick you will run in to is the 4GB file size limit and the 30 minute record time limit.  You will need to monitor the recording and resume several times or use a third party software like Magic Lantern to overcome the limitations.  As for battery, there is a DC adapter available that you can buy if battery life is a concern.


I'm totally new to AE. What are some things typically done to clean up video and make it look nice?

Common postproduction work:

Color Correction
Reframing (crop out unwanted stuff from images, especially viable if shot in a higher resolution then distribution format)
Stabilization
Speed Changes and Speed Ramps

Personally i doubt that you need to use After Effects for this though, as all of that can also be done in Premiere. If you want to learn After Effects in the process, i'd look into making some nice typography animations which you later import into the final video. There are tons of tutorials on that on the interwebs and / or you can download some After Effects templates to get you started.


How do I change the start/end time of a clip in Final Cut Pro X without changing the duration?

With the Open Clip option, the reason that it's not taking any of the changes is because the Arrow tool is selected. Hit the tool icon and choose Position and it'll start taking your changes.

The Clip Trimmer feature in iMovie does not seem to have an equivalent in Final Cut Pro.

This is unfortunate, because one of the other really cool features of the clip trimmer, is that it shows you the start/end frame as you drag the clip which saves you time.


Can a SONY HXR-NX30U camera record two external audio inputs?

Pages 41-43 of the HXR-NX30U manual tells you exactly how to do this.

First of all, the "superdirectional boom mic" is an accessory that overrides the "builtin mic" (which is much smaller and not a boom mic).

Secondly, if you want to use both the boom mic and a lapel mic, you definitely need to use the XLR adapter, which will override the builtin (non-boom) mic.

If you set the switches correctly so that the boom mic is going to one channel (perhaps Ch 1) and the lapel mic is going to the other channel (perhaps Ch 2), then yes, both channels will be recorded to the media file that the camera records.  And iMovie will see both channels within the clip.  You might have to fight with iMovie to explain that the audio is dual-mono, not stereo, but that's an iMovie question, not a SONY question.

Make sure that if your microphone needs phantom (+48v) power, that phantom power is enabled on that channel.


How can I find duplicate videos by content

You could check out https://theophanemayaud.github.io/video-simili-duplicate-cleaner/ (macOS binaries available)
It's open source, I created it based on vidupe and QT : https://github.com/kristiankoskimaki/vidupe (windows binaries available but no "auto deletion based on specific criterion")
The idea is to extract a few (eg 2, the first and the last) frames, and compare them. If the duration is close, and the frames look similar : you've got a duplicate.
It uses opencv for frame comparison, and ffmpeg for frame extraction (ffmpeg is also for video metadata which is very useful when trying to tell which video to keep !). Since it's open source, you can improve it to fit your needs !


Which ffmpeg command to use convert pngs to video?

temp%d expands to temp0, temp1 ... temp10 ... and so on.

For temp0000, you need temp%04d

and the full command should be

ffmpeg -framerate 60 -i temp%4d.png -i a.mp3 -pix_fmt yuv420p output.webm


This feature was completely removed in CS6. However, you can now use the keys J, K, and L to scrub the footage.


At your price point, I'd have to recommend the Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera, though I don't believe it comes with a lens, so you would still need to buy a lens which would put you over your $1000 budget.

You could get a basic PDAF (phase detect auto focus) enabled video recording DSLR like a T4i along with a semi-decent zoom lens or a fairly good prime for $1000 as well, though the cheaper DSLRs (T4i is only one or two steps above entry level) tend to have pretty strong rolling shutter, which will produce a "jello" effect when panning.

I would recommend staying away from any DSLR that doesn't have PDAF enabled video for a beginner because it would mean having to manually adjust focus while shooting, which is fairly challenging to do well.

The Lumix GH3 is also pretty well regarded in terms of video quality for the price, though the GH3 is a bit older.  I also don't recall for certain if it has the ability to auto-focus on video.  It does produce very nice video quality for the price though.

One nice thing about shooting music videos is that the audio doesn't matter much.  You can use the recorded version of the song for the sound and don't have to worry about sound from the video shoot, so you don't need to worry about a multi-track recorder (which would make your $1000 budget almost completely infeasible.)

You will still additionally probably want to get some lights though as good lighting is also pretty key to shooting music videos, though if you only have a $1000 budget, you are probably best to put it all in to the camera and use whatever lights you can find for now and then buy good lights later when you can.

Overall, $1000 is still very much on the cheap side for getting a rig capable of really professional quality video.  Most people doing even fairly low end professional cinematography have multiple lenses that cost more than your entire camera budget, not to mention the cost of the actual camera.


Change color to look as how a color blind person sees

With these values, I get the results shown below.  Note that your color management settings in Resolve will affect your result, and so will the input color space of your source.  To avoid misinterpreting the color space of an unknown source, I'd recommend using the EBU color bar generator, wrapped in a Compound Clip as a test source.  Wrapping the Generator in a Compound Clip allows you to apply the RGB Mixer, whereas Resolve normally protects test patterns from manipulation.
The values I used were:

R Output:
R=0.5, G=0.5, B=0.0
G Output:
R=0.5, G=0.5, B=0.0
B Output: R=0.0, G=0.0, B=1.0

I also found that unchecking the "preserve luminance" checkbox gave me better results, when I tested against other protanopia images I found on the web.
For this example, I used DaVinci YRGB Color Managed as my color science, with the default rec.709 settings, and set the input color space of your example .jpg to sRGB.  However, when you apply this effect to a video, you should use whatever input space the video happens to be.  Using Resolve YRGB color managed with a known input space will ensure that the transformation is applied linearly (correctly), before being transformed into your desired output space.


what is the best digital output format for miniDV tapes

h.264.

For DV the default settings will probably be fine:

ffmpeg -i 'dvgrab-001.dv' output.mp4

If the footage is interlaced (the ffprobe says it isn't, but if you see combing artefacts then use this):

ffmpeg -i 'dvgrab-001.dv' -vf yadif output.mp4

The original video is anamorphic NTSC 4:3, meaning that it's stretched slightly out when played back, this should be fine with the TV, but if not you can re-sample to make square pixels:

ffmpeg -i 'dvgrab-001.dv' -vf scale=728:540,setsar=1:1 output.mp4

If the video is supposed to be 16:9 but is playing back squashed you can set the Display Aspect Ratio thus:

ffmpeg -i 'dvgrab-001.dv' -vf setdar=16:9 output.mp4

Or resample for square pixels thus:

ffmpeg -i 'dvgrab-001.dv' -vf scale=960:540,setsar=1:1 output.mp4


The help for seeking using ffmpeg explains the problem.

  Seeking while doing a codec copy

  Using -ss as input option together with -c:v copy might not be accurate since ffmpeg is forced to only use/split on i-frames. Though it will—if possible—adjust the start time of the stream to a negative value to compensate for that. Basically, if you specify "second 157" and there is no key frame until second 159, it will include two seconds of audio (with no video) at the start, then will start from the first key frame. So be careful when splitting and doing codec copy.

If you transcode (not copy) then:

  As of FFmpeg 2.1, when transcoding with ffmpeg (i.e. not just stream copying), -ss is now also "frame-accurate" even when used as an input option.

Your options are:

Accept splits on i-frames and work with the output as-is, based on the options used. This is what you have now.
Recompress:

Fast Input Seeking: The -ss parameter needs to be specified somewhere before -i. The input will be parsed using keyframes, which is very fast.

  ffmpeg -ss 00:23:00 -i Mononoke.Hime.mkv -frames:v 30 out1.mkv

Slow Output Seeking: The -ss parameter needs to be specified after -i. This will be done very slowly, frame by frame. As of FFmpeg 2.1, the main advantage is that when applying filters to the output stream, the timestamps aren't reset prior to filtering (i.e. when burning subtitles into a video, you don't need to modify the subtitle timestamps), but the drawback is that it will take a lot of time until it finally reaches that time point.

  ffmpeg -i Mononoke.Hime.mkv -ss 00:23:00 -frames:v 30 out2.mkv

Adjust the start time forward so that when it ends on an i-frame the total duration is close to the desired duration.

Slow Combined Seeking: For this we specify the -ss parameter before and after -i. This approach uses keyframes to seek until 00:22:30, and then seeks frame-by-frame until it reaches 00:00:30 (00:22:30 + 00:00:01), continue increasing the second -ss option until the duration is short enough; unfortunately you'll lose an exact start and end time and the duration may only be approximately close to the desired amount.

  ffmpeg -ss 00:22:30 -i Mononoke.Hime.mkv -ss 00:00:01 -frames:v 30 out3.mkv

Note: Cutting small sections

  To extract only a small segment in the middle of a movie, it can be used in combination with -t which specifies the duration, like -ss 60 -t 10 to capture from second 60 to 70. Or you can use the -to option to specify an out point, like -ss 60 -to 70 to capture from second 60 to 70. -t and -to are mutually exclusive. If you use both, -t will be used.

  If you specify -ss before -i only, the timestamps will be reset to zero, so -t and -to have not the same effect. If you want to keep the original timestamps, add the -copytsoption.

  Cut from 00:01:00 to 00:03:00 (in the original), using the faster seek:

  ffmpeg -ss 00:01:00 -i video.mp4 -to 00:02:00 -c copy cut.mp4

  Cut from 00:01:00 to 00:02:00, as intended, using the slower seek:

  ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -ss 00:01:00 -to 00:02:00 -c copy cut.mp4

  Cut from 00:01:00 to 00:02:00, as intended, using the faster seek:

  ffmpeg -ss 00:01:00 -i video.mp4 -to 00:02:00 -c copy -copyts cut.mp4

  If you cut with stream copy (-c copy) you need to use the -avoid_negative_ts 1 option if you want to use that segment with the concat demuxer. Example:

  ffmpeg -ss 00:03:00 -i video.mp4 -t 60 -c copy -avoid_negative_ts 1 cut.mp4

  Valid values for the avoid_negative_ts variable are:

avoid_negative_ts integer (output)

‘make_non_negative’

Shift timestamps to make them non-negative. Also note that this affects only
leading negative timestamps, and not non-monotonic negative timestamps.

‘make_zero’

Shift timestamps so that the first timestamp is 0.

‘auto’ (default)

Enables shifting when required by the target format.

‘disabled’

Disables shifting of timestamp.

When shifting is enabled, all output timestamps are shifted by the same
amount. Audio, video, and subtitles desynching and relative timestamp
differences are preserved compared to how they would have been without
Shifting.


do TV broadcasts provide localized advertisements by altering the TV photo

What a great idea -- you should enter the marketing field!

I don't know if anyone has thought to do localized advertisements yet, but image post-processing is routinely used, at least on American football broadcasts, to track the field and the marker lines thereupon, so as to provide various forms of in-game analysis.

If they can do that, I'm sure they could turn the field-side displays into green screen to show localized TV advertisements on, but if that happens, then the spectators at the physical location aren't able to see the advertisements! So some of this probably has to do with whether it's the TV station or the Stadium that sells those ads, and whether or not localized broadcast ad revenue would be more lucrative than installed non-processed ads.


FFmpeg Media Source Extension Examples and Adaptive VOD and Live Streaming

Chunkless and Adaptive is a contradiction. You can concatenate chunks, and request with a byte range however. Both HLS and DASH support that mode.


Which DSLR to buy for best Video capture?

Highly recommend taking a look at the Sony lineup, particularly the A7S mk II and the just released A7R mk II (S would be better for video).

The A7S is amazing in terms of low light capability. And the A7R is unmatched in resolving power.

If all your glass is Nikon, you can get a Metabones adapter for roughly $700 which would do the job giving you a Sony to Nikon mount thats tack sharp.

While not reflex, the OLED viewfinder is superb, you really have to see it to believe how sharp it is. And the swing out monitor on the back which rotates up and down, is fantastic for doing handheld video work above head or down low.

All of the new glass that is coming out, 70-200s, L-Series, Zeiss, they are all making their lenses for Sony... the new beast in the low cost camera lineup. (Body under $5000)

A final note, most people think Reflex (SLR/DSLR) is superior to non-reflex, but in fact the opposite is usually true. Compromises must be made for the reflex mirror system and curtains, which mean the engineers must make concessions when dealing with the optics and the plane of view.

In truth, the sharpest cameras ever made, are non-reflex. The Hasselblad SuperWide is considered the sharpest lens ever designed to date (I love mine and still use it to date).  The lack of a reflex finder isnt really an issue as it's wide. With todays digital backs, and a led viewing system- it's really the way to go.


How to convert video to ogv and webm versions with a high quality result?

I have Premiere/Media Encoder plugins for WebM and Theora (OGV) on GitHub. Check the ReadMe for download links. They're currently in beta.

Brendan


How to show the duration in the clip overlay in minutes and seconds instead of frames in Adobe Premiere Pro?

Ok, I figured it out:

Sequence | Sequence properties | Editing mode: HDV 720p | Display format: 29.97 fps Drop-Frame Timecode


After Effects 2020 not importing the required file

This is After Effect's automatic behavior any time it encounters more than one file with sequentially-numbered filenames. It's trying to import them all as entire file sequence. This effectively imports every file, but presents them all as  one single animated footage item, with each file representing one frame.

The solution is that in the "Import File" dialogue box, highlight one or more Illustrator files, and then deselect the checkbox at the bottom named Illustrator/PDF/ESP Sequence.


How to combine so many ffmpeg filters in 1?

Use

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ignore_loop 0 -i watermark.gif -i arrow.png -i Dots.png -filter_complex "[0]scale=750:1334,setsar=1[v];[1]colorkey=0x54FF5F:0.1:0.2[ckout];[v][ckout]overlay=x=705:y=25:shortest=1[gif];[gif][2]overlay=x=310:y=1230[arw];[arw][3]overlay=x=705:y=25" -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -crf 16 output.avi

You should do the concat separately.


How can encode video with images like these (overlay a video over a fixed image) with ffmpeg?

To overlay a half-sized version of a video in the center of an image, use

ffmpeg -loop 1 -i image -i video
-filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/2:-1[ovrl];
                 [0][ovrl]overlay=(main_w-overlay_w)/2:(main_h-overlay_h)/2:shortest=1[v]"
-map "[v]" -map 1:a -c:v libx264 -c:a copy output.mp4

To frame the video:

ffmpeg -loop 1 -i image -i video loop 1 -i frame
-filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/2:-1[ovrl];
                 [2][ovrl]scale2ref=iw*1.2:-1[fr][ol];
                 [fr][ol]overlay=(main_w-overlay_w)/2:(main_h-overlay_h)/2:shortest=1[fv];
                 [0][fv]overlay=(main_w-overlay_w)/2:(main_h-overlay_h)/2:shortest=1[v]"
-map "[v]" -map 1:a -c:v libx264 -c:a copy output.mp4

If you composite the frame onto the background image beforehand, in ffmpeg or elsewhere, you can just use that resultant image with the first command. Of course, you'll lose freedom of movement for the video overlay.


Timelapse video with meta information on every frame

This may only answer the first part of your question:

I found this article on superuser.  It's on extracting the metadata from a batch of images.  They are using ExifTool, a command-line tool for Windows and OS X.

  ExifTool is a platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files. ExifTool supports many different metadata formats...as well as the maker notes of many digital cameras...

You can find ExifTool here.  It looks pretty handy, I'll be installing it today.  It looks like it will output a csv with all the metadata you want.  That csv is what a program would use to burn into your video.

As far as burning the data into your video, I'm not finding anything online that would take any sort of data set and burn it onto a video or even to a jpeg, especially without "Pro" software.

I would be interested to hear your solution to this, if any.  It seems just putting the raw metadata in there wouldn't serve much purpose, because of the framerate.  It'd be nice to see some sort of graphical ebb and flow of the data, again, don't know how it could be done without paid software.


Metadata says the video is 25i, but MPC plays it as 50i

25i and 50i are the same thing. 25i means "25 frames per second, interlaced". 50i means "50 fields per second", the latter implies interlaced video.

Likewise, 30i and 60i are the same thing. Basically, if the number before "i" is larger than 30 then it means number of fields, otherwise it is number of frames. All the existing interlaced systems I know of use 2 fields per frame. There were some systems that used 4 or even 8 fields per frame.

DVD are encoded to produce interlaced output. They also have flags that allow to save space by not repeating unneeded fields or frames. These flags are widely used in 60 Hz DVDs, I don't know how commonplace they are in 50 Hz DVDs. If the original title was a movie, you likely should treat it as 25p, not as 25i/50i or 50p.


select both layers
press "p"
in the text layer, drag the whip (the little curly thing)
drop it on the position, or the anchor of the arrow, depending on which one has keyframes.
voila.

You can also adjust the anchor of the text to shift it and still make it follow the arrow.


That would depend on what software you're using - would you be able to clarify?

In Premiere Pro you can use Essential Graphics to drive your captions (there is a number of captions presets in the EG panel already, just go to Essential Graphics\Captions and Subtitles and select the one that best suits your video) - the editor has plenty of useful options and you can save your styles as 'Masters' and reuse that style for each subsequent video. Alternatively, you can create your own Essential Graphics template for captions via After Effects to have full control over them.

More info on Adobe's help site.


Converting GIMP curves files to Photoshop (.acv) for ffmpeg

I ran into the same issue, so I threw together a Python script (posted and linked at the bottom). It doesn't convert the GIMP curves present into a .acv. But it does convert it directly into an argument for an ffmpeg curves video filter. I had hardcoded the files into the script, but to make it a bit more user friendly I added some instructinos and commandline inputs for the file-in and file-out.

NB: If you are doing a simple -vf you can copy and paste it directly. If you are using a complex filter graph you still need to put the [in] and [out] arguements on either side.

Here's a usage example: I've bolded the parts that you would need to add and ellipsed the very long filter statement.

simple vf: ffmpeg -i videoin.mp4 -vf curves=master="0....1.000" videoout.mp4

part of complex filter that concatenates two videos, color corrects the product, and adds a separate audio track:

ffmpeg `
-i vid1.mp4 `
-ss 0:0:03.04 -i .\vid2.mp4 `
-i .\audio.m4a `
-filter_complex `
"[0:v][1:v] concat=n=2:v=1:a=0 [stitched]; `
[stitched] curves=master='0.0/0.000000 0.01171875/0.008608 `
....0.99609375/1.000000' [stitchedcorrected]" `
-map '[stitchedcorrected]' -map 2:a:0 `
-vcodec libx264 -preset slow `
out.mp4

Hope this is helpful! Let me know if you need any help.

http://pythonfiddle.com/gimp-curves-to-ffmpeg-curves-arg/

import re

#make generator
lower=0
upper=1
length=256
zerotoonestepped256gen = [lower + x*(upper-lower)/length for x in range(length)]

def formatForFFMPEG(values):
    serializedValues = values.split(' ')
    list = []
    for i in range (len(serializedValues)):
        if not list or zerotoonestepped256gen[i] - float(re.match(r"^[^////]*",list[-1]).group(0)) > 0.01:
            list.append('%s/%s' % (zerotoonestepped256gen[i], serializedValues[i]))
    return list

#print instructions
print('This is a tool to convert a color curves map from GIMP to a curves filter that can be inserted into the -complex_filter. Note that you still need to append the input and output streams onto either side of the command.')
#get filename
file = input('Please input the absolute path to the GIMP Color Curve Preset File: ')
out = input('Please enter the output file (file will be overwritten if it exists): ')

#Open the curves file
curvesfile = open(file,"r")
curvesString = curvesfile.read()
foundValues = re.findall(r'(?<=samples 256) [\d. ]*',curvesString)

masterValues = formatForFFMPEG(foundValues[0][1:])
redValues = formatForFFMPEG(foundValues[1][1:])
greenValues = formatForFFMPEG(foundValues[2][1:])
blueValues = formatForFFMPEG(foundValues[3][1:])
alphaValues = formatForFFMPEG(foundValues[4][1:])

commandPrelim = 'curves=master="'

command = commandPrelim + ' '.join(masterValues) + '":red="' + ' '.join(redValues) +'":green="' + ' '.join(greenValues) + '":blue="' + ' '.join(blueValues) + '"'

with open(out, 'w') as out:
    out.write("Final Command\n\n" + command + '\n\n')
    out.write("master\n\n" + ' '.join(masterValues) + '\n\n')
    out.write("red\n\n" + ' '.join(redValues) + '\n\n')
    out.write("green\n\n" + ' '.join(greenValues) + '\n\n')
    out.write("blue\n\n" + ' '.join(blueValues) + '\n\n')
    out.write("alpha\n\n" + ' '.join(alphaValues) + '\n\n')


Make sure the sample rates in both systems are the same. I don't know what OBS is, but if I was using Final Cut for video editing, I would make my project 48kHz, and make sure any external recordings were also at 48kHz. Even with the same sample rates, audio will drift over periods of more than a few minutes. Either sync it up manually in chunks, or use something like Pluralize to do it for you. (Or have a fixed sample clock  between all your devices when you record- probably not possible)


How do I crop out Region of Interest (ROI) from .mp4 video using FFMPEG?

The crop filter arguments specify a crop window of the given width and height whose top-left corner is at co-ordinates (x, y) measured from top-left corner of the input frame. The entire crop window must be contained within the frame. So, to start with, w <= iw && h <= ih.

Then, x+w <= iw && x >= 0 and y+h <= ih && y >= 0. If this condition isn't meant, x or y will be adjusted to auto-center the crop window along that axis, e.g. for a 100x100 input, if w = 50 and x = 60, then x is adjusted to (100-50)/2 = 25.


Extend duration of imported static layers in After Effects

Open the imported comps. Not in the layer source window, just as comps (i.e. double click from the project panel).

Go to the composition settings menu and change the duration to whatever you want.

Drag the out-points of all the layers to the end of the comp (hint, press the end key on your keyboard and then with all the layers selected hit alt+]).

In your main composition you will now be able to drag the end of the photoshop comps to their new length.


Defined Technical Specs for 'Broadcast Quality'

This depends entirely on who you are delivering to. Different broadcasters have different requirements.  Most have a delivery spec sheet that you can request, or that they publish online. e.g. here's the BBC one.


Why HD broadcast camcorder still pictures quality (still frame from video) beat out DSLR?

My guess, what you are seeing is most likely the result of the better color detection and processing with the sensor and image data and the better depth of field provided by a high quality professional lens.

There is far, FAR more to image quality than simple resolution.  The color accuracy of the sensor, the dynamic range, shadow detail, vibrancy and contrast of the processed image, the reduced amount of aberrations as a result of better optics, the better quality of out of focus parts of the image due to better aperture designs, the extra background blur as a result of wider open apertures, etc, etc, all impact the image quality substantially, especially for viewing on a screen.

Unless you are printing the image or zooming in on it, a 1080p HD camera has the same resolution as a DSLR when you are displaying it on a computer screen (since the computer screen itself likely doesn't display much more than 1080p, possibly even less).  So for looking on a screen, the other factors are the only thing that matter and any professional camera will far outweigh it.

Also note that a good DSLR will beat the pants off even a high end video camera in terms of image quality for still images, but you need to have a good quality DSLR and a good quality lens to beat a professional quality video camera (at the 1080p kind of resolution).

You shouldn't expect the image quality to be better on a camera which costs, in total, less than some of the batteries for the massively more expensive video camera, but I'd put the still image quality of my 5D Mark iii and 24-70 f/2.8 II optics ($6,000 total) up against any $100,000 camcorder you want to bring out.  Even for video, Arri cams will beat it, but shooting RAW footage, it's only a slightly noticeable difference to a professional eye between the RAW video that the 5D Mark iii ($3,500) can shoot versus footage from the $50,000 ARRI camera.


After Effects: how to create a color via expressions

From what I'm reading, it looks like it may just be [R,G,B] where each value is a floating point number between 0 and 1.  I'm looking in the Adobe After Effects Scripting Guide.  Every method I can find that accepts a color value simply uses an array like that.

Update: While certain scripting methods take a 3 parameter RGB value, other expressions require RGBA or HSLA.  In these cases, there will be a forth parameter for Alpha (ie, transparency) where 1 is fully opaque (a good default value) and 0 is fully transparent.  If you get an error with one format, I suggest trying the other and if you get unexpected values, check if the input expects HSL or RGB.


Well there are MANY programs that do this but what your talking about is something you want to do manually. Technically you should be able to accomplish this with Premiere Pro, and I don't understand why your having trouble due to the awesome functionality between Adobe programs.

But what you're describing is something you do not want to leave up to a program if at all possible because a program could totally screw it up or would apply things EXACTLY the same so the alignments could be totally off or an assortment of other problems with how it looks. And since you are in premiere you should only have to copy and paste these "duplicate steps" you are talking about.

If its frustrating you so much that you want to automate it have you ever taken a look at the macro tools built into the Adobe Suite? It may help you with what your looking for.


If I have to make this manually, I would do the following:

Create/Draw the blue Logo in Illustrator as its seen in the final frame.
Breakdown and place spread ink into separate layers, like 4 or more.

To make the drawing animation, create a path "using pen tool" along the lines of the blue Logo, make sure that the path is thick enough to cover the lines.
Using Trim Path effect you can animate the path and as it spread it reveals the blue Logo, kinda like a mask.
The spread of ink is not that obvious, I think it was made using opacity. So whenever you reveal a letter or two, keyframe the opacity of the layer that contains spread ink that you made earlier in Illustrator from 0% to 100% which creates a feel like a spread.
I hope what I wrote does make sense.


Premiere: Make music sound like it's coming from huge speakers?

I've had good luck by sampling a bit of the video's audio from another point, and splicing that in.  The tone will be dead-on consistent.  You just have to find a point in the song where it basically repeats itself (or close enough).  If you lost verse lyrics, this gets much more problematic fast.  But if you lost chorus, or instrumental bridge, intro, or outro, you could make a patch that manages to not distract.  It the song was well-known, a forced splice will be more evident, but might not seem your doing (you know?).  At the other extreme, if the song is house music, you're golden: no one will know what it was supposed to do for those two seconds.


h264 compression keeps same number of frames?

I am not sure of my answer. The explanation at the end of it.*

Yes. The number of frames should not change. With one possible exception, I know of.

First of all, normally a compressor takes some steps.

Grab a keyframe
Compares the difference between groups of pixels and if the difference is below one defined parameter it uses the same data to render them.
And now compares the difference between adjacent frames and again, if the difference is below a threshold it uses the same data, using the keyframe as a reference to be compared with.

If the keyframe fails to load you see the glitches, where the image is smushed because you are seeing the "differences" of the frame, but with an incorrect reference image.

The exception is that some programs need to round the number of frames after a keyframe. Let us imagine you defined a keyframe every 10 frames for easy calculations.

Now your clip needs to have 105 frames. Some programs will render the exact number of frames, but some programs could try to render the full "group" of frames attached to the previous keyframe, trying to render 109 frames, or some other could try to end in a keyframe, 110 on this case.

I am not sure about my answer because, although it as happened to me on some programs, I can not recall that it was specifically using the h264 codec.


two pass encoding Cannot write log file 'ffmpeg2pass-0.log' for pass-1 encoding

You have to set the -passlogfile option e.g. -passlogfile my/folder/path/fileprefix. ffmpeg will then write logs to files starting with fileprefix- in my/folder/path/. Set the option and same value in latter passes. The folder path must already exist.


What you are looking for is called a Screen Capture program or Screen Cast program.  A quick Google search turned up gtk-recordMyDesktop as an option that should work for your purposes and appears to be built in to Ubuntu.  This was the site I found that explained more detail on how it is used.  I personally have no experience working with Ubuntu, let alone screen capture on it.


Why I might get this high noise on Sony a7 III with Zeiss 24/70 f4 lens?

You need to define what is acceptable to you.

Record a well illuminated scene and increase the ISO while decreasing the aperture and compare what noise level on your specific camera is acceptable for you, and you will know what are the limitations of your equipment.

In the case of the example video, the noise is "the same" because both moments, the dark zone and the white are filmed in the same settings, therefore we can assume that is the overall noise on your camera on that ISO setting.

There are some programs than can denoise video https://duckduckgo.com/?q=video+denoiser&t=h_&ia=web one that has a good reputation is Neat Video.


FFmpeg change overlay color (with audiovisualiser)

Use

ffmpeg -y -i music.mp3 -loop 1 -i image -filter_complex "[0:a]showwaves=s=1280x175:colors=Red:mode=p2p,format=yuva420p,split=2[w][b];[b]format=yuv420p,drawbox=c=blue:t=fill[b];[b][w]overlay[wv];[1:v][wv]overlay=0:200:shortest=1[outv]" -map "[outv]" -pix_fmt yuv420p -map 0:a -c:v libx264 -c:a copy output_bg.mp4

The showwaves will make the background transparent if the filter can output to a frame format with alpha. yuv420p does not have alpha, so the value of the format filter should be changed to a format that does, like yuva420p. Then this picture is cloned; one copy is made opaque and has a color drawn on it. The other copy with the transparent BG is overlaid on top. Finally, this result is overlaid on the image.

It's better to limit the video stream within the overlay filter, if possible. So, -shortest removed.


Having done both professional photography as well as professional videography, I have a lot of experience in both of these areas.  They have many similarities, but also many differences.

The technical capabilities of the tools have already converged to some level and will continue to do so.  DSLRs are one of the more popular choices for shooting video now due to the low cost and high quality as well as interchangeable optics.  Major TV shows have actually been shot on DSLRs. (The last two episodes of House were shot on the Canon 5D Mark iii for example.)

That said, the fields themselves are no closer to converging than they have ever been.  From the perspective of a photographer, capturing 30 images in a second is largely noise.  There are some environments where it is helpful, such as sports, but in general a photographer is looking for one perfect image while controlling as many variables of that moment as possible.  A videographer on the other hand is controlling the behavior of their camera to capture a scene as it unfolds.

The language of the mediums, while similar in terms of composition and many techniques, such as lighting, is completely different when it comes to how emotion and story is communicated.  Photography cares about capturing the essence of a moment in crystal clarity while video is concerned with capturing the beauty of motion and telling the story through flow.

Similarly, on a technical level, the quality of image we can capture at slower frame rates will be higher for quite some time still (until we are regularly hitting the diffraction limit for practical sensor sizes).  We will get burst capabilities that rival film much sooner, but they will be to large buffers that fill rapidly.

Just at the 35mm format, we need video to be in the upper 20s or low 30s of megapixels before we hit the diffraction limit reliably.  Until that point, the most quality for a photographer will come from shooting the moment rather than just capturing all moments.  Even when we can capture all moments, sorting out the perfect moment from among all the images would be more painstaking than simply capturing the one moment that is needed.

Additionally, trying to capture all moments well detracts from how well you can look for and capture that one perfect moment.  Photography requires focus on the moment while video requires focus on the whole time of the shot.  They are different mindsets with different technical goals and requirements that require a different use even when using the same tools.


It doesn't really look like it is actually being tracked.  It looks like a manual overlay of a line on to it based on the head movement.  It really doesn't look particularly accurate either from what I can tell.  Something like Adobe After Effects (paid) or Black Magic's Fusion (free) can easily be used to accomplish this, though they do both have a learning curve.


Audio Sounds Like It's Skipping in Lightworks

Get a better computer. The fact that the audio sounds fine in other apps means it was recorded fine, and the file represents the audio correctly. When you open it in your editor though, that's a much more complex operation than simply playing the video in an optimized player. So, I think this is a performance issue. I've had this problem myself with cheaper computers, and back when I switched to HD, I had to buy a new machine.


How to make YouTube video with screen projection in background?

I don't think you can achieve this on a live webcast with only a laptop. You will want either:

a dedicated PC with an I7 or better CPU, appropriate video hardware (Blackmagic capture card or comparable) and software switch (Wirecast or comparable), or
a hardware video switch (Blackmagic ATEM 1 M/E or comparable).

Having purchased both types of systems in the past few years, the two options come out to about the same price, and I'm partial to the hardware solution.

Once you have the hardware and software in place, you can greenscreen the entire room, which creates lighting issues, or only a section behind the lecturer and use picture-in-picture to minimize the amount of space that the green-screen requires (and the lighting problems that go with it).

After that, the output of the laptop is just an input to the capture card or ATEM switch.


MPEG-4 is not a container specification. It's a suite of specifications. Parts 12 and 14 define containers (MP4). Part 2 defines a video codec, whose encoder implementations are DivX and Xvid. Part 10 defines another video codec AVC a.k.a. H.264.

You can get a list of codecs, which can theoretically be present in a MP4 at http://mp4ra.org/codecs.html

Whether a given muxer/software offers the feature to include a codec in MP4, or whether a given player accepts a codec in a MP4, depends on the software developer. Generally, MPEG-4 Part 2 should be accepted but players can be finicky about the codec tag and may only play the video if they recognize the tag.

HEVC can be muxed in a MP4 and there's no dedicated or new container for it.


How to technically tell if a video has been sped up or not?

There is unfortunally (or maybe fortunally) no way to see if it is slowed down or sped up if done properly. What you have to look for is their movements. I'm not a guitar player, so I can't tell if it is real, but I think it sounded and looked real.

If you study the people there you can see that they move pretty natural. You can see on several occations that they blink in normal speed, but you also see that the main guitar player looks from place to place pretty rapidly. But from
 my experience with the piano you do everything a little bit faster when you play fast. Because you need to look at what you do, and when you are working hard with your brain and "slowing" everything down to keep up the pace you do things fast. The left hand finger movement also looked pretty natural. If it was sped down it would probably have been unnaturally fast and awquard movements.

Everything looked like it goes in normal speed, even their foots. Normally you have a constant speed on your foot when you tramp the beat. Depending on how slow you play you just increase the time you have your foot flat on the ground. Their foots didn't look like they went up and down too fast. If they had sped it up they would probably have had a small brake holding their foots flat on the ground before tramping the beat again really fast.

Secondly I don't see why a spanish TV programme would slow down their footage or why a good guitarist wouldn't be able to play that.


Try enabling paths and alike by clicking on the button next to the one for your safe areas and rulers.

Can't upload a screenshot unfortunately, Stackexchange keeps crashing when I try...


Copy chapter metadata of input to output for Apple compatibility

A command like the following seemed to do the trick.
ffmpeg -i input.m4v -dn -map 0 -map -0:a:2 -map_metadata 0 -map_chapters 0 -c copy output.m4v


Wattage has nothing to do with lumens, as different instruments provide a wide spectrum of output lumens based on lamp type. For instance, a 1.2K HMI ArriLite would put out more light than a 5000W tungsten lamp. LED, and flourescents are similar, higher output, less watts.

What is critical for greenscreen work is that you use a monitor with a simple waveform scope. When you light your greenscreen, on your waveform monitor you will see basically a horizontal line.

You want to get that line as straight and as thin as possible, at 70-72 IRE. Its fairly challenging the larger the screen (you won't be able to do this with the naked eye).

After your screen is "flat lined". Put in your on camera talent and light them for picture, using dimmers, silks, scrims etc, to cut the light.

If you do it the other way around, you will drive yourself crazy trying to get the screen at flatline 72.

This will give you the best possible key. If you have variance in your IRE (darker corners, even 5 IRE) you will have to use a looser key (meaning more edge artifacting).

I recommend for post KeyLight for AE, Lightwrap for AE.

Also, using a premium screen really makes things easier. Hollywood Rags makes an Ultra Key cloth (order by size) that is ultra bright, the material they use, therefor you need less light to get it to 72 IRE. It really pops.

Last tip most people don't know, based on your Kelvin, use the same Kelvin for ALL lamps. For your hair light; hit your talent from behind, and gel it using 1/8 magenta CTM.   The magenta is complimentary to green, and will give you a clean edge, specifically on the hair.

Hope this helps!


Final Cut - unable to set clip duration to a fraction of a second

:30 is 1s at 30fps, so FCPX rounds it to 1s. For half a second on a 30fps project, enter :15.


What is the most lossless way to rip a laserdisc to a Mac?

A lot of these answers seem somewhat misleading unfortunately.

Forget about getting a capture card.  Practically every one has AGC.  AGC is very similar to macrovision, except it's superimposed onto any video source.  It's impossible to disable unless you use Linux and know your way around hacking drivers.  Some cards on Windows have third party tools to disable AGC, but the quality is extremely questionable and they all seem to use scaling and sub-sampling.

Think your best choice is finding an external device like a Panasonic DMR DVD recorder (these have a very decent comb filter).  If you could somehow find an external device with USB or firewire, I think this is your best bet.

I think 4:1:1 subsampling should be kept away.  I think 4:2:0 is actually better.  4:2:0 is most compatible and least problematic with transcoding and quality loss.  If you get a device with 4:2:0 chroma, make sure it oversamples before subsampling; these seem to give the least quality loss after subsampling, and might be considered transparent sometimes.

For a laserdisc player it's hard for me to answer.  You could stick with a player that doesn't split the composite or audio signal.  These will have a single composite and audio output, with no RF or additional svideo or second composite/audio outputs.  These also have missing features like digital still mode on CLV discs, and probably more common as very simplistic industrial players.  People may recommend something like the HLDX0 or similar, but these are very expensive and actually pass the composite video through various noise filtering and splitting stages; these players are so huge and expensive I think because splitting analog signals introduces immediate quality degradations, which these players supposedly avoid according to their owners.

Avoid scaling at all costs.  You'll get scaling artifacts immediately which isn't usually noticeable.  Instead of 4k output, you should stick with whatever native resolution your capture device uses (usually 720x480).  Let your software or hardware scale later, instead of the encoding and capturing.  Same thing with audio.  If you capture audio, make sure it's bit perfect digital stereo (LD calls for 44050khz according to wiki).  Analog audio should be captured at 192khz 32-bit float at least, and can be compressed later.

Laserdisc video is actually pure analog AFAICT.  RF is passed to a custom modulator and cut-off filters, which send the result to a TBC.  TBC produces the composite video which is an analog signal.  The composite signal can be routed directly to a composite video jack, but almost every player will split this into UHF, comb filter with svideo, and/or secondary composite output.  The only players that avoid that are like those I mentioned previously (LD-V4200 I believe is one, and with a strong signal, albeit with noise).

Laserdisc video quality is a love or hate thing IMO.  The quality is actually very high and with a high end system can be considered better along with its sound, vs DVD.  Only LD's that may seem inferior are widescreen, or those improperly mastered.  Quality is basically 425 TVL always with good chroma.  DVD by comparison is considered 525 TVL before MPEG2 compression.  Unfortunately MPEG2 reduces DVD video quality considerably, and the only advantage DVD has in this situation is a pure digital path with consistent quality (no analog difficulties like noise and interference).  MPEG2 reduces DVD TVL resolution to a variable of maybe 250 to 500 TVL lines at best with considerably less chroma by comparison.  Mpeg2 quality greatly varies depending on the movie, and the movie length unfortunately.  Only exceptions might be "Superbit" DVD releases which are very small in number.  See a DVD and downscaled HD-TV source for resolution and chroma comparison here: [url]http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/[/url]

I hope I may have been of some help.  I think your best bet may be an external device with firewire or usb.  AGC is the biggest problem you'll have to avoid, especially with computer capture devices (USB, PCI, PCI-e, etc).


What are the main limitations on using the following setup to boost frames per second capturing?

You could get twice the frame rate if (big if) the taking times of the cameras were shifted by 1/2 millisec. In other words, the frame R1 is time stamped 0.0010 sec and the frame B1 is time stamped 0.0015 sec, and so on. Sync would have to be centrally driven, and registration would have to be perfect.

That leads to the problem that the frames from camera B would be horizontally reversed WRT the frames from camera R. This could be overcome, just something to consider when trying to register the images.


How do I make the DoTA 2 map work in Source Filmmaker?

Its hard to say what exactly is the issue without an error message.
Maybe you haven't properly exported the maps and or setup SFM for Dota 2 content. There is a nice guide here that goes through the whole process step by step.

You also want to check the cache and local file for both SFM and Dota 2, if an error gets detected re-export the Dota 2 content afterwards.


GoPro Hero 3 + Adobe Premiere Elements 14 black border

You need to select a Custom size, because 1280x960 is not an HD ratio (16:9) but something else (4:3).  The black borders are the program's way of telling you "the image aspect ratio doesn't fit the target aspect ratio, so I'm going to shrink it to fit".  YouTube, for example, will also do this to your video, as will any HDTV.  So unless you have a 4:3 end-to-end pipeline (which you might have if you are "projecting" the video onto a virtual 4:3 screen within some animation), something somewhere is going to have to crop or fill your image in ways you don't like.  The best alternative is for you to make the decision how you are going to fit it into a 16:9 world.


If I understand you correctly, it sounds like you are trying to find a piece of software that can use hardware acceleration to encode video generated by AVISynth.  If that's the case, I'd suggest looking at Handbrake, which is capable of utilizing GPU acceleration and should handle AVISynth sources just fine.


It appears to be RapidForm which has now been bought out (or changed name possibly) to 3D Systems Geomagic.  The website is here.  I found this by looking for mesh refinement software matching the term Rapid and that seemed likely the best match.  In particular, it appears to be GeoMagic XOS.  I don't personally have any experience with the particular software.

Basically the point behind the software is to make refined meshes from a point cloud.  3D scanners like the Kinect don't actually form a mathematical model, instead, they generated large numbers of points at a given distance from the sensor.  These points are formed into a cloud which then has to be modeled into a vector based solid mesh for rendering purposes.

This process is actually incredibly similar to converting a bitmap image into a vector graphic, but it has to be done to produce smooth, solid surfaces in 3d, so it's a bit of a complex and specialized operation.  Software like this allows for the best fit mesh to be found and to ensure that it makes a solid, detailed mesh that doesn't have holes in it that could cause problems with the geometry.


I don't know what you mean by human readable search terms, as opposed to keywords or tags?

But for a meta search directory service I would recommend (know of)
http://www.footage.net/
(If anyone knows of any additional search engine stock video directories, I would love to know about it as well)

Otherwise, ya, you would be going through each service looking for footage.
These are the stock services that I am aware of:
http://www.shutterstock.com/video/
http://www.gettyimages.ca/footage/ <- used by major media outlets
http://www.pond5.com/
http://www.alwayshd.com/
https://www.videocopilot.net/products/ <- geared more to adding effects to clips
http://www.footagesearch.com/

And many more... I am sure others can chime in with their favorite sites.


How to batch process hundreds of videos?

You can achieve all your goals using ffmpeg and sox, these are command line tools for video and audio processing respectively.

I can not provide you with a ready to roll solution, but here are examples for a pre-roll video, audio noise reduction, text overlay and conversion from AVCHD.


How can I mix a video in Full HD (1920 x 1080) with a vid in HD (1280 x 720)

At Premier Pro, see Effect control tab on the top left, select scale. Then you adjust the percentage of size of video match your sequences setting.
If your sequence setting are HD 1280×720 then you 0r FHD 1920×1080p videos all need to scale smaller. Final of your video will be 1280×720. Same to if your sequence setting in FHD then your HD video need to be scale up enlargement, it will blurer the videos, need to add smart sharpen at Effect tab below left to an adjustment layer .


To my knowledge, there's not a comparable feature in Premiere Pro. That sort of "automatic" feature is one more often found in basic/entry-level editors, like the mobile Clip or iMovie. My guess is that this type of feature isn't included in more advanced editors for a couple reasons:

Typically, if you're working in something as advanced as Premiere, you'll want full control over your synchronization with background music. You'd rather do it yourself than have the machine do it for you.
Editors using NLEs like Premiere would rather have more advanced customization and other features than have the software developers spend time adding automation to things (like creating slideshows) that they, as editors, feel they could do better on their own anyway.

Just my take on it. From my experience, if I was making a slideshow requiring zooming/panning of stills, I'd much rather do it manually than let a machine do it. I feel like I can too easily spot an automatically generated slideshow (heads cut off on pans/zooms, etc.).


High resolution recording with component cable

If you are actually using a component cable (3 or 5 connectors with 2 more for audio) then you should be able to do HD signals unless your capture device or source device is limiting you.  Based on the SD resolution limit, it sounds like you may actually be using a composite cable though (1 yellow cable for video and a white and red cable for audio).  Composite cables only go up to SD resolution (more accurately 720 by 480 for NTSC and I forget the exact resolution for PAL but it is 576 horizontal lines.)

If you want to record HD videos using your PC you will need an actual HD capture device.  I'd personally recommend going with something HDMI based since your camera supports HDMI out.  This would prevent quality loss from going to analog and back to digital (component video cables are still analog).  Such devices aren't super cheap though.  Devices like the Black Magic Intensity or Matrox MX02 will handle your needs, but they are in the $200 price range.


What is a simple way to transfer HI-8 tapes to my computer?

"HI-8" is an analog format. You will need a hi-8 player or camera with outputs and an analog to digital converter. Consumer grade devices are typically finicky -you get what you pay for. I've used several of the 60-$80 level in the past and had various issues. Such as: not detecting the source, poorly written drivers, very buggy software, low quality capture.
Here's a list of comon some common devices to help your research:

http://vhs-to-dvd-converters-review.toptenreviews.com/

Mostly these come with a software to allow capture and create a digital file. Some also allow you to burn to a DVD / blu-ray.

A better quality box might be something like this (I haven't tried this unit):
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/349146-REG/Grass_Valley_602029_ADVC_110_Bidirectional_Media_Converter.html

You will need to get software sperately. Most editing software Premiere Pro, etc. Allows you do capture from a source. You will need to have some knowledge of what codec / wrappers, video aspect; to get a good result.


What you're seeing is an inherent problem with sensors that use "rolling shutter". There are tradeoffs in sensor technology among speed, sensitivity, and size, and using a sequential line readout with continuous exposure is a popular choice that's a good compromise for many situations. Unfortunately yours isn't one of those.

What you need is what's known as "total" or "global" shuttering, where the entire frame is exposed at once and read out as a single image. Instead you have a sensor that essentially exposes each line of the array at different times.

So I'm afraid the answer is: use a camera / sensor that employs a different technology. I hope for your sake someone has a solution that allows you to use your existing setup, but I don't expect to see one.


That means there's extra media after the end of the clip.  If you hover the mouse over the intersection of the semi-transparent part and the opaque part, it will turn into a double arrow <-->.  If you then click and drag to the right and play back the file, you'll notice extra media appear as part of your composition.  I.e. something more will happen in the video.  Drag it to the left, and the clip will disappear when the playhead hits that part of the timeline.  The transparency just lets you know that whatever recorded the media file (a camera, for example) recorded something more than what you're seeing play back in the viewer.  In other words, you could potentially extend the edit.


How do I change the audio on a H.264 MP4 without re-rendering the file?

ffmpeg is a good choice for this task. You can do this with this command:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i input_audio.aac -map 0:0 -map 1 -vcodec copy -acodec copy output.mp4


FFmpeg should be able to do this - assuming you don't mind getting down with the command line (there may be some GUI options out there too possibly).

My Olympus E-P3 produces .MTS files - I assume they're similar (AVC/AC3 in a Blu-Ray Video wrapper).

I ran the following command:
    ffmpeg -i 00001.MTS -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mp4 00001.mp4

That just tells FFmpeg to copy the video and audio streams but put them in a new mp4 format (the -f option).
The resultant mp4 still has the same AVC/AC3 combination but now in a MP4 wrapper.

I played both source and output in VLC and they looked the same - obviously you should satisfy yourself that quality has been maintained.
I'll wager that most GUI tools to do this task use FFmpeg under the hood.


Blender, which is free and open-source, can do difference matte keying.

I don't know if it's better or worse than After Effects' keyer because I haven't used it before.


Adobe Premiere CS5 match sequence settings but change codec

FLV is an Adobe container for streaming video. Historically, FLVs usually contained a variety of codecs (such as FLV1, Sorenson..etc) but nowadays it's usually H.264. Which is to say, the video may already be MP4 compatible. You may not need to recompress the video at all, and could simply transfer it from a FLV container to MP4, bypassing Premiere. ffmpeg is a tool that can do this. Download the 32-bit static build from here and the run the following command:

ffmpeg -i input.flv -c copy -movflags +faststart output.mp4

If the source video is not in fact H264, then try

ffmpeg -i input.flv -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -strict -2 -b:a 128 -movflags +faststart output.mp4


https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-scaler.html tells you the sws_dither is the dither algorithm whereas https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#paletteuse tells you to turn the dither off.
The answer to your question is to set
paletteuse=dither=none

BTW, http://blog.pkh.me/p/21-high-quality-gif-with-ffmpeg.html gives you the result of the paletteuse settings.