Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with digitalvideo

Live video from non-FW camera

j-dawg — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:10:58 -0800

New Panasonic camcorder doesn't seem to send out live video through USB2. Do I have alternatives to get the HDMI output into my Mac, or am I back at square one? We're preparing for a work event later this week, and I'm testing my new setup (related in part to this old question).

We just got the new camcorder (a Panasonic HDC-TM20), and I'm quite shocked to discover that the camera does not output it's image and sound through the USB connection live. (The camera doesn't have Firewire.) I did a bit of research on new cameras, and nowhere did I see this limitation mentioned with regard to USB2-enabled cameras, but now that I know what to look for, it seems that this is, sadly, the normal state of affairs.

The camera does HDMI out, but I'm not sure if that helps with my situation. Has anyone had good results using some kind of middle hardware layer to get HDMI into a Mac from a camcorder? Or should I return this camera and start from scratch with a model that has Firewire? (This is for archived webcast quality presentations, so full HD quality isn't necessary in case that's relevant.)

Thanks!

AVI-to-MP4 while preserving creation dates?

philosophygeek — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:06:08 -0800

I'd like to make a script to mass convert .avi files from my digital camera into iPod-sized .mp4 files, while preserving the creation dates from my camera. I'm on a (non-snowy) Leopard mac. My current workflow involves getting my movies off the camera through iPhoto and then exporting/converting the files to .mp4 via MPEG Streamclip. The downside is that the new .mp4 files have the current date/time rather than the time that the movie was taken on the camera, which messes up my organizational system. I'm sure there's a way to automate the creation date conversion, but I don't know how.

Free methods are obviously preferable to paid ones.

This video, it does not play

jeoc — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:37:14 -0800

Help me stop feeling stupid about working with (converting, compressing, and editing) digital video files. I work as a trainer, and my department is increasingly using videos for training. My problem is that I can't figure out how to work with these videos to get them into the format we need. We have a lack of expert resources in my organization, so I need to figure this out myself.

I am typically working with videos that we have recorded in house using a camcorder (.vob and other DVD files) or videos that came from a third party (often .mpg).

I have tried google searching when I have problems, but there is so much conflicting and confusing information out there - I'm struggling to make sense of it. I cannot even figure out what software I should be using to accomplish what I want. I am reasonably computer-savvy, but I'm not an IT professional.

I want to learn how to:
Convert videos into a Windows Media Player-compatible format (pref .wmv)
Compress videos that are too big
Do some basic editing of videos (taking out sections, creating menus)

Please suggest resources (websites, classes, books, neural download) I can use to better understand this stuff and/or software that would make this easier.

USB or Firewire for Maximum Efficiency?

j-dawg — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:55:41 -0800

I'm video recording a long event through software on my Mac, and am using a USB-connected Panasonic camcorder. Since I'll need an external drive for the files, should I choose a USB disk or Firewire disk, or does it matter? I can talk myself into either, but I have no idea. Is USB better since the throughput is going USB-USB? Or is Firewire better so both devices aren't hogging the same controller? Or does it not matter at all, particularly given the software layer in between the capture and the recording (Screenflow, in this case)?

Thanks!

What digital video format is best for the technologically impaired?

latentflip — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:09:53 -0800

I am pre-loading some flash drives with promotional material to give away to students. I want to put three videos on the drives, and I want them to be immediately viewable by anyone, regardless of their level of technical ability. What's the best format? .avi? .mov? .mp4? other?

And if I'm working on a Mac, what's your best recommendation for a piece of software to convert the videos?

How do I get into filmmaking?

fishtacos — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:17:08 -0800

I want to get into filmmaking as a hobby, but I'm not sure where to start. I've long been interested in filmmaking, and played around with camcorders a lot when I was younger. But unfortunately I didn't really pursue this interest much in college, and now (a few years graduated) I'm trying not to regret this. I'm not asking how to hit it big in Hollywood - obviously no one can answer that. But I do want to get seriously involved in filmmaking as a hobby, and given that digital filmmaking and distribution is so accessible these days I think it's a great time to do so.

I've been doing a bit of writing for a while now, though nothing close to a complete script. What I'm really hungry for is to get my hands on a camera though. Unfortunately none of my friends are similarly minded, and I'm not sure where to go from here. I checked out meetup (I'm in Chicago) but didn't find anything that seemed active, and I know there's some filmmaking group that offers classes somewhere in the north side, but they were pretty expensive. Basically I want to find people with my same level of interest and potential commitment - people who want to get together and just make movies. I would easily commit 10+ hours/week of free time to such a project, and even a bit of cash, and while I admit I'm most interested in writing and directing, I have no problem collaborating - I know I have a lot to learn.

Is Chicago just not the right city for me to indulge this wannabe passion? Or is there some underground group of auteurs waiting for me somewhere?

How to edit 15fps .avi files in Final Cut Pro?

cg1 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:36:45 -0800

I have Final Cut Studio 2. I've been asked by my mom to assemble a small edit of all the videos shot on point-and-shoot still cameras during our family vacation this year. When I try bringing the files directly into FCP, it's buggy / i can't edit without problems. I assume there's some conversion I need to do before bringing them in but nothing seems to work. I've tried opening the files in Quicktime and exporting them as .dv and .mov files, then bringing those into FCP. Still, problems persist (audio beeps like unrendered, and when I render, it immediately goes red again - needing render).

There has to be some way of converting these files so I can edit them in something better than iMovie.

It seems a frame rate problem. The camera's 15fps and the timeline is 24. Is there some way of conforming the timeline settings to the footage capture settings, so I'm editing in a 15fps timeline?

Best Bang for the Buck in an Inexpensive Digital Video Camera

Alabaster — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:51:17 -0800

Best bang for the buck in an inexpensive digital video camera? I'm looking to replace a 10-year-old Sony MiniDV camera which was lost. My wife (a teacher) uses it primarily for making film projects with her students. These are burned to DVD for the students and sometimes projected onto a large screen.

We're on a tight budget and are looking for a consumer-grade camera, preferably in the $2-300 range, although this could stretch to $500 if absolutely necessary).

-Video quality must be roughly equivalent to the MiniDV (or better).
-Storage must handle at least 1-2 hours of video at this quality (compression isn't a problem unless it's noticeably degrading to a non-expert's eye).
-Must have decent zooming capabilities
-Storage medium is negotiable. She's accustomed to MiniDV but I think flash/card/hard drive storage storage would be faster/more convenient for sorting through footage and transferring to PC.
-PC interface is also negotiable -- firewire, USB, memory card, or DVD would be acceptable -- again, convenience and speed for transfer and editing (in Premiere Elements) are priorities.
-Built-in mic is necessary, but the option to connect an external mic would be appreciated.

Any suggestions on a small camera that will give us the most bang for $2-300 bucks? Thanks

Help me get the flim school education I missed.

nulledge — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:59:21 -0800

I want to make films. What equipment do I need, and what do I need to know? Nearly a decade ago I was accepted into an undergraduate film program, but for sundry reasons did not attend. I was accepted on the strength of my writing and had a rather meager portfolio of shorts shot on SuperVHS. Now I want to revive this dream. Specifically these are the questions I'm asking myself, also feel free to chime in with the questions that I should be asking myself.

What sort of camcorder should I start out with? I don't think I can justify buying a multi-thousand camcorder, such as a Canon GL or XL to learn on. Yet, I want a camera that would allow me to learn the same concepts and techniques I'd use with a professional camcorder.

What are some good books or resources to learn about digital video production, lighting and editing?

What will I edit on? I need a new computer anyway and I'm eyeing a MacBook Pro. Is this suitable, or should I look at something else and save my money for other equipment?

"synchronized scrolling" for video?

estherbester — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:07:12 -0800

Is there any existing software that'll let you view two or more digital video files locked in sync, say for comparing the content/quality against each other? I'm thinking of something sort of like the YouTube doubler, but with the ability to scrub through all the videos simultaneously - like synchronized scrolling - as well as to control each display individually. And maybe more than 2 videos at the same time.

What would be the best way to do this?

Neighbourhood Poker Tour: How do we record it?

lodev — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:49:27 -0800

Custom poker table, with in-table cams, facecams, dealercam. How to build it yourself? Me and some pokerbuddies would like to build a poker-table sort of like the ones you see on tv, with cameras in the table and on the players faces, so that we can analyse our game afterwards.

How do we build one of those on the cheap? The table won't be a problem, it's the video part we're wondering about. Where do we get the cameras on the cheap, and how do we digitise the simultaneous streams? (For about 9 players we'd need about 20 cameras (facecam + cardcam + table + dealer)).

The platform doesn't really matter, we know Linux, Mac OS and Windows, but we don't know much about the capture cards or digital cameras to use. Anyone has experience with this?

Real-time video manipulaton [mac]

srboisvert — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:48:30 -0800

Anybody have experience doing manipulation of video in near real-time? Advice and general guidance needed. Roughly, recording video and displaying it at the same time and messing with it so things can be seamlessly slowed down and then sped up. The timings would need to be controlled programatically.

Software needed to create a DVD from multiple video sources.

ND¢ — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:31:33 -0800

I am attempting to create a DVD using several different file types. Can this be done, and if so, what software do I need to do it? I am attempting to do my first ever bit of video editing, and I think that I am in way over my head.

My wife and I got married in December of 2005. We bought a JVC digital video camera before the wedding and had friends tape the rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, the reception, and we video-taped some stuff on the honeymoon. These DV tapes have been sitting in our office closet since then, not doing no good to nobody. However, over the last couple of months I have edited these videos in Pinnacle Studio 9 and have studio files (.stu) of the edited videos with titles and music and all that jazz. I am able to create DVD compatible MPEGs of these edited videos. However, these are four separate files, one for each event.

In addition to these, the church where we got married video-taped the wedding service itself and made us a VHS tape and a DVD. The DVD has BUP, IFO and VOB files on it.

Also I made a 43 minute slide show of all the pictures taken by us, the wedding photographer and another amateur photographer that took a lot of pictures during all the events. I made this slide show in Windows Movie Maker, but my version of the program does not allow you to burn to DVD. It may allow you to make MPEGs. I am not sure.

So, when I started this project (with even less knowledge about video-editing than the paltry bit that I have now) I imagined a single DVD (playable in a regular DVD player, this is for parents and grandparents and whatnot) with a menu that you could choose from that would take you to: the rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, the reception, the honeymoon and pictures. I can't do this in Studio or Windows Movie Maker or Nero 7 Lite (those are the ones that I have looked at so far). Is there a program that will let me make a DVD using these different types of files? Is there one that will let me create a menu that I can then have access these different types of files? I am on a PC running XP.

Finally, I searched through the other AskMe questions on video-editing and didn't see anything that matched this, and I suppose I could have asked this question without writing out my whole life history, so I apologize for making you read all this.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Professional transfer of 16mm movies to digital?

Dave 9 — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:11:55 -0800

I inherited some 70-year-old, 16mm home movies (not 8 or Super 8) and am looking for a reliable expert to transfer them to digital video. Many vendors say that they can do this. Can you comment on any from personal experience? (I have seen this thread and the links therein.) Are there any issues I should particularly look out for? Thanks.

Digital Transfer?

i_am_a_Jedi — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:51:58 -0800

DigitalTransferFilter: I have a Hi-8(I think) tape with about 30-45 minutes of video on it from 2001. I would like to get it transfered to a digital format in the DC area. Recommendations? The tape has been stored in a safe (presumably room temp and low humidity) since 2002. I have no way of checking the quality of the footage to see if it is still good. I would like to physically take it to a shop (as opposed to mailing it) and have them transfer it to digital. What I would really like is for them to capture it in DV and drop it on a harddrive for me (ie. bring in my external harddrive). Compressed mpeg2 would be alright, but I'd prefer uncompressed. Any recs on shops in the DC area or experience with harddrive transfers?

How to use After Effects to clean up crappy DV footage?

idledebonair — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:01:10 -0800

How do you clean up ugly DV footage? What are some specific techniques you use in Adobe After Effects to turn amateur DV footage into something cleaner? I'm trying to help a client make an ad, but the footage they gave me is really raw. They want a polished look, even though I explained its never going to look like TV. I just want to come as close as possible given that I have crummy footage.

How can I output unrecompressed DV from iMovie?

BlackLeotardFront — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:20:17 -0800

How can I export DV from iMovie without it being recompressed and pixelated? And no - DV stream isn't doing it. It's not as simple a question as I make it sound - I've tried exporting my DV sequence in almost every format at various levels of quality, including uncompressed with 10-bit color, but every time I export it, it never looks as good as it does in the preview in iMovie. In the editing window, the video is sharper and shows no interlacing artifacts, but no matter how I output the movie (I've tried through FCP and Compressor as well), even as a supposedly unmodified DV stream, it loses detail and becomes pixelated. I also output a DV stream and put it back into iMovie to make sure it wasn't just an iMovie viewing thing, but it looks different in iMovie too once it's been exported. I'm climbing the walls here! I just want it to take the DV info and put it out unmodified but cut and sequenced as I have it in the project - no recompression necessary or desired.

FCP on a Plane... or, rather, a PowerBook

hifiparasol — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 10:09:49 -0800

How are your experiences with Final Cut Pro on a PowerBook G4? Right now I'm working on a few projects using FCP on a G5, but the G5 belongs to a college (I used to work there and still have a good relationship with the DV tech guys), and all I've got is a 1.67 GHz Powerbook G4 running 512 MB of RAM. I've got plenty of storage space for the media files, so that's not a problem, but I've heard (in various places) that FCP just doesn't mate with PowerBooks that well, even when the system requirements are met. I'd rather buy a copy of FCP5 and move away (the town I'm in is pretty dead) than remain tethered where I am. Can I count on my PowerBook to deal with FCP?

iMovie 4: Importing clips larger than 2 GB?

cramer — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 14:55:36 -0800

In iMovie 4, how can I import a 25 minute (>2GB) DV clip without purchasing QuickTime Pro to cut the clip into smaller pieces? I've tried to simply sneak the clip into the Media folder of the iMovie project, but I get a message that says the clip doesn't belong. Is there a way around this? It seems like an arbitrary limitation.

Is QT Pro really my only option?

Which mini-dv/still camera

445supermag — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:39:41 -0800

My 5 year old jvc dvm90 minidv/still camera just gave up. It's my only digital still camera, so I want to get another, but don't have much money now. I was always disappointed by the low light filming any way. So, do I get an equivalent for ~$300 or go for a used "prosumer" like the canon xi, Panasonic 953, etc. for about$450 to $500 if possible(craigslist, ebay)? The camera worked great until last weekend when the power led stayed on whether switched on or not. Then degraded to being totally unresponsive, I guess I have to disassemble it to get my tape out (has christmas video).
I would like my next camera to be good at digital stills and low light. I think some sonys are the best at low light, but seem to be crappy at stills. I don't, however, need multi megapixel stills, 1040x780 fills my laptop screen and a lot of pics get shrunk to 400x300 for my blog.
Any suggestions/information/opinions greatly appreciated.

What's the best intermediate codec to use?

tweebiscuit — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 12:17:13 -0800

I have some video on a DVD that I want to edit in Final Cut Pro. What's the best intermediate codec to use? I don't have space for uncompressed video, and the rest of my footage is DV-quality, so I can afford a bit of quality loss. I've been using Apple Pixlet at 50%, but is there a better choice? There's one listed in QuickTime's export dialog called "Apple Intermediate Codec", but I haven't been able to find much information on it.

Also, what's the best codec that supports alpha channels? (i.e., if I'm keying footage in After Effects but compositing with the background in FCP. I've used Animation for this, but it produces huge filesizes as it's not optimized for video, and is difficult for my system to play back in real time.)

Is there a simple guide somewhere to what codecs are best for what purposes? (i.e., "don't edit in this codec", "this codec is too lossy for intermediate use".) I've done some googling, but for many codecs reviews of compression quality and possible uses is hard to find.

HD video camera-buy now? Or buy a 3CCD camera?

geryon — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 12:02:16 -0800

HD camcorder- buy now? Or wait? Or buy nice 3CCD camera? Next year I will be directing two plays a week. I want to be able to record those shows for posterity and to be able to edit them into a fancy looking demo reel.

I'm trying to decide whether to buy a HD camera now or wait. Or should I just buy a nice 3CCD camera (I've got my eye on the Canon GL2) and not worry that my camera is behind the technology curve?

I'm looking for any recomendations for specific cameras or advice on buying these prosumer cameras. Or if you know a really good looking consumer camcorder, my grad school budget would thank you.

All I know that I need is a high resolution, easy to carry, well-built camera that has good sound and video. Is there anything else that I need to be looking for?

Also, I'm a Mac user, so no weird PC-only formats.

DIY Video

mattr — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 12:53:28 -0800

Just say for instance - I had an MP3 (or some MP3's) and I wanted to create my own video, maybe with bits of video footage from a variety of sources, and some 'slides' or 'captions' - and then burn that whole thing to a DVD that I could play in a nightclub. What would be good software (Win XP) that could facilitate this for me?

Which software do you use for minor digital video editing?

rhapsodie — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 16:28:03 -0800

Which software do you use for minor digital video editing? I'm wanting to crop and color correct a few .avi files on Win2k and/or WinXP, but I'm sure others would appreciate different systems and formats being represented.

Getting Started with Digital Video

kirkaracha — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 15:49:31 -0800

What are some good books or web sites for getting started with digital video? What's a good low- to mid-range camera? (I've just started taking classes, and I've got a G5 with Apple's Production Suite.)