Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and video

Webcam recording softwrae

gocubbies — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:36:47 -0800

I need to record myself giving a presentation for school. My laptop has a built in webcam and microphone. What free Windows software would you recommend for this task?

PleaseDon'tJudgeMeFilter.

halogen — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:30:29 -0800

I have a bunch of HDTV shows recorded on a HD DVR. How can I make a video compilation without knowing anything about video editing? Complication: Linux household. I suppose that step one will involve buying a HD TV tuner for my computer, won't it (our Motorola DVR has all the standard outputs and for some reason, two USB connectors – not sure what for)? Can you recommend a product that will work with my Ubuntu desktop?

Once the tuner has been purchased, what do I need to know about transferring the video from the DVR to my computer? Also, what Linux software would you recommend for video editing?

Should I expect to have to deal with DRM at any point in the process?

The show happens to be Toddlers & Tiaras (Wednesdays are girls' nights) and boyfriend, for some reason, gets a kick out of the ridiculous head-nodding/pouty lips poses that I've been showing off lately. I want to make an collection of the most ridiculous scenes along those lines.

Video Editing Software for Travel Videos

mary8nne — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:42:13 -0800

Can anyone suggest a simple Non-Linear Video Editing Software for Windows XP? One that can accept and output variety of Formats. For editing together Videos (MJPG) taken on a Canon Digital photo Camera. I've been messing around recording a few travel videos on my Canon Isus Camera which seems to take 640x480 MJPG Video (30fps). I thought it might be fun to Edit some together and add music tracks to them (and remove the current sound track where is it just wind noise).

Its not really a serious endeavour so looking for cheap / freeware editing apps for Win XP.

I've tried Windows Movie Maker but it will only allow export as DV (huge files) or this .wmv (WMV9 proprietrary format?) and is a bit chunky - but I did like the graphic time-line you get with WMM compared to the editing in the dark of AVIdemux.

Wanted: video editing software for OSX?

acb — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:49:40 -0800

I'm looking for OSX video editing software to use for preparing live music videos for uploading to YouTube. I want to overlay audio tracks from an audio recorder over video footage from a digital camera, cropping either as needed, and exporting the finished video as MPEG4 or H.264. Final Cut seems like overkill (and costs a fair bit), and iMovie doesn't offer the precision to easily align the separate tracks. Can anyone recommend a good, reasonably inexpensive package that will do the job?

Using the Windows "find" command is getting really tedious...

fvox13 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:23:17 -0800

We need a web-based photo and video storage and tagging system. Does anyone have recommendations? I work in the IT department at a small college, and our Marketing department needs a photo and video storage and tagging system. We can definitely provide them with the hardware, in the form of a NAS in our datacenter, but the software is difficult to find.

Basically, their requirements boil down to a software package that is:
- Web-based, so that staff and consultants can access these files remotely
- Tag-based, so that, as images are added, they can get tagged as "biology" or "commencement 2008" or whatever
- Limited to authenticated users, so that the entire world doesn't steal our pictures and videos
- Able of being hosted internally, due to speed and bandwidth concerns

As IT, we need it to be secure, easy to maintain, and for the authentication piece, it really should do LDAP or Active Directory. If it's written in something common like Python, PHP, or ColdFusion, we can probably add that functionality ourselves.

So, my question to the hive mind is: Is there such a software package in existence? If so, is there an open source package, even if it's a commercial open-source package? We'd like to be able to customize it.

What does, for example, photos.com, or other stock photo websites use for this purpose? If we could buy that type of software, it would meet our needs perfectly.

Simple AV capture program for a Windows laptop?

killdevil — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:06:50 -0800

I need a Windows program that will capture audio from my laptop's mic and video from my laptop's built-in camera, then dump the combined results to disk in some convenient video format. This sort of quick-and-dirty video capture is such an obvious thing to do that I feel sure decent software must exist (how else would the YouTube-loving peoples of the world capture for posterity the gyrations of their cats upon monitors and keyboards, after all?), but Google turns up nothing but terrible-looking junk. Bonus points for free and/or open source. I'm also not averse to paying for trial-ware that I can check out before I commit to anything.

Also, as I'm just hoping to record some lectures for my own review later on, the output doesn't have be production-quality -- it just has to let me see and hear what went on.

Alternatives to FlipShare for Managing Video on a PC

muckster — Tue, 05 May 2009 11:04:00 -0800

Can you recommend software for managing Flip videos on a PC? I recently got a Flip MinoHD, but a) the built-in software refuses to work on my system and b) it's a little too simple, anyway.

I'm looking for something that will let me import, file, play, and tag the clips from the camera. Picasa 3 looked promising, but somehow, playback of the H.264 files stutters (according to the forums, this is a widespread problem.) Tagging is important to me, so FlipShare wouldn't do even if it worked.

Is there anything similar to Picasa or Lightroom for short movies that will work with the H.264 files produced by the MinoHD? Thanks much.

How does one play back 2-channel video?

Artifice_Eternity — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:27:02 -0800

It's becoming increasingly common in the art world to see various forms of multi-channel video: works or installations in which video plays back on more than 1 screen at a time. If I wanted to create a 2-channel video piece, what technical means would be available to me to play back both video channels in sync with each other? Creating 2 synced videos is not a problem for me. I would edit each video separately, but working with a common soundtrack. The mystery is how to play them back together. Anyone know how this is typically done?

I imagine there may be a computer-based solution. Many computers will now support 2 displays; perhaps the right software would be able to send a separate feed to each video output. But I don't know what that software would be, or even what file format would be involved. Perhaps 2 separate conventional files played simultaneously? Or 1 file with a double-wide aspect ratio, split in half down the middle? (If the latter, how the hell would I produce such a file?) Hive mind, clue me in if you can.

Editing Software for HD Video?

not_on_display — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:33:54 -0800

Looking for software with which I can read and edit raw .m2ts video files and later export them as mpeg/avi/whatever. I recently bought a Canon Vixia HF-100 videocamera. It saves the video on an SDHC card as .m2ts files. I'd like to be able to manipulate and edit the raw files without first having to convert them into another format, figuring there would be loss of quality in the conversion. (Is quality loss even an issue? It shoots in nice-quality HD.)

I have a Mac and a PC; the PC has a much better video card, so I'd prefer to use that. Windows Movie Maker does not recognize m2ts files. I don't have the iLife suite on the Mac, so no iMovie.

I would more likely lean toward freeware or open-source software, but I am not above piracy, arrrr. (...unless editing suites are inexplicably cheap to buy.)

Thanks!

Challenging Video Editing Software for PC Question

noir — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:56:42 -0800

Challenging Video Editing question: If I wanted to take video from a multiple number of different sources (off DVD's or maybe Blue-Ray) and produce a single video from those sources (say each video has its own quarter of the screen), which editing tool(s) would be best to perform these tasks? Software must be PC. By best, I mean: * relatively simple to learn, * open source, or relatively inexpensive * produces good quality, quad-screen videos in high enough resolution to look good on typical home televisions, not just computer screens. *Makes it easy to add your own music tracks or soundtrack, or it can use audio from any of the 4 videos as well, preferably both.

What are the best programs that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa?

omaralarifi — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:59:44 -0800

What are the best programs (paid/shareware/freeware/open source) that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa? All sort of video files such as : MJPEG · Motion JPEG 2000 · MPEG-1 · MPEG-2 · MPEG-4 ASP · MPEG-4/AVC · H.120 · H.261 · H.262 · H.263 · H.264 · AMV · AVS · Bink · Dirac · Indeo · Pixlet · RealVideo · RTVideo · SheerVideo · Smacker · Snow · Theora · VC-1 · VP6 · VP7 · VP8 · WMV · 3GP · ASF · AVI · Bink · DMF · DPX · EVO · FLV · Matroska · MPEG-PS · MPEG-TS · MP4 · MXF · NUT · Ogg · Ogg Media · QuickTime · RealMedia · Smacker · RIFF · VOB · AIFF · AU · WAV · FLA · Flash · and others

Note: It does not concern me if it a paid software or free.

Also are there programs that can rip VCD, SVCD, so the I can burn the files into DVD?

Thanks

What sort of software is used to make cool infographic movies?

paul_smatatoes — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:28:03 -0800

Does anyone know which software packages are made to make neat infographic-y movies like these? I'd love to make something along those lines as a cool compliment to The Money Meltdown.

Diavlogs for the masses!

ecmendenhall — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:17:45 -0800

What's the best way to record split-screen video dialogues to post on my blog? I have recently grown enamored of the budget punditry of bloggingheads.tv, which features hour long conversations between wonky writers, bloggers, and thinkers that make for a refreshing alternative to TV talking heads. Each "diavlog" is essentially a glorified split-screen video chat session that appears to be recorded over Skype, iChat or similar, and later edited together.

But why should the upper echelons of the Web commentariat get to have all the fun? I'd like to create and circulate similar conversations on my own personal Internet, but I'm not entirely sure how to do so.

Unfortunately, Google only serves to confuse, thanks to the constantly changing terminology for video on blogs (am I looking for video blogging? Vlogging? Vodcasting? Video podcasts? Vlogcasting? Diavlogging? Streaming vlogocastalogs!?). All the results that do turn up don't seem to indicate a simple way to do split-screen interviews.

It seems easy enough to record an iChat session, edit it into a splitscreen video, and post it to a site like YouTube or Vimeo. But there are also loads of services offering simple video recording and hosting, many of which can even broadcast live. It's hard to believe none of them can do a split-screen chat between two users, or that a utility for something like this doesn't exist out there in the depths of the Tubes.

So what's the best way to bring bloggingheads-style punditry to the people? I use mostly macs, and I'm not opposed to doing this with iChat + iMovie or final cut or something, but I hope the hive mind can come up with some other ideas. Thanks!

can front row be bookmarked?

luriete — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:16:35 -0800

Can Front Row be run in a window, or can videos being played in front row be bookmarked? I hate to have to try to skip back to where i was in a movie or tv show after doing something else...

Help me edit a specific sound out of a home video (DV-AVI)

jluce50 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:32:17 -0800

Is there free video editing software that can edit audio as well? If so, how do I remove a specific sound from my video? I was planning on asking for suggestions on video editing software, but I realized that's been covered and it's not really specific enough for what I need. I basically need two things, 1) video editing software that can edit sound as well (or just some method to edit sound in a video) and 2) some advice on how to edit the sound (see below). Oh, and my budget for this is no more than $0. Well okay, $5.

Here are the specifics. Don't need anything fancy for video editing. Cutting, splicing, standard effects, etc. will suffice. It should be able to accept and save in DV-AVI. As far as advice on sound editing: In this particular video my tripod was making intermittent creaking sounds when I moved the camera and it's quite distracting when watching the video. I'm desperately hoping there's a way to edit the audio track(s) and suppress/remove the creaking sound. I can try to mask it with music or something but I still want to be able to hear the other sounds in the video. I'm somewhat familiar with Audacity if that helps. Please tell me I'm not SOL...

Thanks!

inexperienced geek seeks opengl expert for comfort, support

Popular Ethics — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:29:05 -0800

Any OpenGL coders out there? I want to use my GPU to speed up some video processing, but I know very little opengl. Can you tell me where to focus my research efforts? Here's the application... I want to perform bilinear demosaicing using the graphics card. I'm pretty sure my algorithm is suitable, since it's all element-wise multiplication and addition of matrices, the stuff that GPUs are supposedly good at. The algorithm goes something like this:

1) get an image from the camera's buffer and send three copies to video memory
2) multiply each copy element-wise by a pre-computed masks of 1s and 0s, so that each "colour matrix" contains only the values of red, green or blue pixels. All other pixels are 0
3) interpolate the missing colour values by averaging the neighboring pixels. This can be done without iteration by adding cropped copies of the colour matrices (element-wise) then doing scalar division.
4) Create a texture from the interpolated colour matrices.
5) Create a 2d primitive to cover the camera's field of view and map the texture to it.
6) Render to screen.

I think I can do 1 with glpushmatrix, and I can probably figure out 4, 5 and 6 (though it looks more difficult than I thought it would be). 2 and 3 are harder to figure out. Any suggestions?

After an afternoon of reading, I thought I might be able to process each colour (and each cropped copy using gltexsubimage2d) as separate textures, then add/multiply them together with multitexturing. But ye gods that looks complicated. Surely there's an easier way?

Help me help my videos!

damiano99 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:03:05 -0800

VideoFilter: I have a ton of .mpg video files out of my camcorder. I would like to join them together as one file. It doesn't work using the copy command, I'm assuming because of embedded file data that messes up the indexes within the video footage. Is there a program that will take them and join them together quickly? I don't want to edit them, just join them. So far the only options I've found is to import them all to Avid or Vegas and let it re-render it as a whole which takes forever. The second option was some cheesy software I found that did it but it also took 30 minutes for 10 minutes of footage to join, which seems ridiculous. Does anyone in out there have a blackbelt in video-fu and can help me?

Need help archiving digital home video!

jluce50 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:04:40 -0800

I have a digital video camera and a regular digital camera that both record video in the AVI format. Since AVI files, especially DV-AVI from the video camera, are so relatively large I need to find the best format for archival purposes. "Best format" is defined by me as having decent-but-not-necessarily-spectacular quality, available via free software, and somewhat easy to do (i.e. one app for everything - not one for video and one for audio, no command line, etc.). Help! Up until now I've been converting to WMV using Windows Media Encoder. I like WMV just fine, but there are many problems with this method. WME is VERY picky about the settings. For instance, if I pick anything other than 'File Archive' in the Content Distribution step of the file conversion wizard, it just doesn't work. Even when choosing 'File Archive' it only works about half the time with DV-AVI due to the file size. Apparently it doesn't like really large files.

I've also tried programs such as WinFF and SUPER Video Converter to convert to WMV with no luck at all. Sometimes I get an error and other times it completes the process and leaves me with a 0 KB file, a 6 KB file, or something like that. These both came very highly recommended so I'm not sure what I'm missing here (it's a poor worker that blames his tools, right?). If you were going to recommend installing some obscure (or not so obscure) codec, I've probably tried it already, but go ahead and suggest it anyway.

So, if there's a better choice than WMV that would make my life easier, save some HD space, and maintain decent quality, I'm all ears. I haven't tried it in a little while but my impression is that the software doesn't like converting from the AVI format more than it doesn't like converting to WMV, if that makes any sense. However, if I'm just a bonehead and the problem is me rather than the software please point me in the right direction. There has GOT to be a better way to do this!

Easy to learn VJ software

louche mustachio — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:03:43 -0800

Can anyone recommend some good, intuitive VJ software for a PC? I've been a VJ on and off for about ten years, but up until now have been relatively lo-fi; think elbow deep in a 3/4 inch beta deck, two DVD players hooked up to a mixer, mocked by other VJs (jerks.*snif*)

Now I am dragging myself kicking and screaming into the 21st century and have acquired a lovely little 2.3 Ghz HP tablet for this use and would like some software specifically for mixing, distorting, and other eye-candy fun type activities. Ideally, I'd like something that plays well with other media programs and that has an easy, intuitive user interface. I have a gig in about a month where I will be accompanying a variety of live performers, and want to integrate the shiny new toy with as little swearing and Blue Screen of Death as possible. Cheapness would also be nice, but is not necessarily a priority.

Which software application is best suited for an interactive video project?

itchi23 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:20:14 -0800

Please help me determine the best software (windows) for an interactive video/video game art project. I'd like to have participants use a video game controller to create a realtime animation by cycling through different sprites and "drawing" their paths on a single scene. Or better yet - where can I find someone skilled in programming who might want to collaborate on such a project? I can't seem to determine whether to look at game-construction apps or interactive video apps (vvvv, Processing, etc.) I'm envisioning an interface where the participants can cycle through a small number of different, pre-rendered sprites, "draw" their movement paths on a scene, and when the participant triggers a certain button on the game controller, the sprites begin their movement. Each individual sprite would also have their own unique movements (ie: a butterfly sprite might flap its wings while moving along the path drawn by the participants.)
I can't seem to determine which application would do this the best, and be easiest to program - a game-construction app or an interactive video app, such as vvvv, Processing, etc.
Better yet - is there an online community where artists with little-to-none programming experience can connect with people with a lot of programming experience and cross-collaborate on projects like this?

Video editing software for Win, Mac or Linux

forthright — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:01:57 -0800

Please help me choose newer video editing software for my current situation and needs. In the past I have used Nero Vision Express but that old version does not work on Vista. Plus, I now have multiple PCs (a new dual core Vista tower, a Mac Mini and an old HP 1.6 ghz Tower running Ubuntu).

I am willing to spend some money, but not more than I have to (e.g., don't want to buy 2 or 3 tools if one tool could do it all for less total cost). Of course one option would be to upgrade to the newest Nero.

I am very very Windows knowledgeable, but less so on Mac or Ubuntu. I mention those in case the best solutions exist for those architectures. I am *not* very video knowledgeable (at least not compared to many folks, though I kind of understand codecs).

The tool(s) should be able to input AVI, MPG, WMV, etc. and allow me to edit portions from each to create an overall video, or DVD chapters, or (unless it's pushing my luck) iPod video files. I do *not* currently need any HD capability. I *do* want something reliable, not some hacked together GUI front end to some command line utilities (unless the latter is well thought of and used by many). I want to be able to easily set my cut points, save/preview the project, leave it to encode and/or burn and walk away with confidence.

I did a trial of DivX Author and it seemed user friendly and inexpensive, but not feature rich. The old Nero I own (ver 6) was feature rich (or bloated) and (IMHO) had a poor user interface.

Yes I know, I found plenty of info on Google or dvdrhelp (too much, in fact). But I am asking for kind indulgence from those of you knowledgeable in this kind of thing: would you summarize the current state of affairs given my current situation and needs? Or recommend a product overview or tutorial that answers my question that I didn't happen to find?

I suspect the fact that I am willing to spend money helps, and I have three platforms to choose from (Win, Mac, Linux), but am not willing to spend more than $200 or $250 USD total, so that limits me somewhat.

How do I script video/audio recording on Windows?

esd — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:37:56 -0800

What is the best way to script video/audio recording on Windows? Part of a research project I'm working on involves recording video and audio of subjects using a USB video camera attached to a Windows machine. I would like to set up two scripts: one that begins recording, saving the audio and video to a file that Windows Media Player could later play back, and one that stops the recording. The idea is that the researcher conducting the experiment could simply run the first script when the subject begins and then run the second when she/he is finished.

What is the best way to go about this? I've looked at the wmcmd.vbs file included with the Windows Media Encoder, but it doesn't seem to have exactly the properties I'm looking for—it requires a duration parameter for live video, and doesn't seem to provide any way to stop recording before that time is up.

Any ideas are welcome, including ones that involve commercial software.

What are the best resources for learning how to master the "time remapping" feature of After Effects (CS3)?

jeremias — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:38:28 -0800

What are the best resources for learning how to master the "time remapping" feature of After Effects (CS3)? I know AE fairly well, but have never felt I was in full control of the time remapping feature. I've done Creative Cow a bit and hunted online, but am not too interested in separating the signal from the noise. So I'm looking for proven resources, whether it be books, online tutorial, videos, etc.

Open Source Video

McLir — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 19:57:24 -0800

Who provides the best Open Source video editing? I have edited video in analog and digital (Final Cut Pro) and now I am searching for an open source editor that will do basic tasks.

The features I most want are basic linear editing plus the ability to do overlays.

The material I will tape will not be technically demanding. But it would be nice to have a good tool for some very basic stuff. (Looking to make some educational videos.) Thanks!

Software for AVCHD?

sockpup — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:06:24 -0800

Please recommend consumer level video editing software for working with AVCHD in Windows Vista. My friend was using Pinnacle Studio 8 previously and was reasonably satisfied with it. He's now looking at v. 11 which supports AVCHD but is wondering what else is out there.