Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and codec

What's the best way to dump all information about a video file?

crawl — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:44:22 -0800

What's the best way to dump *all* information about a video file? I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out the difference between some video files. One will stream over the web to my iphone -- the other will not. Another will start playing immediately in flash -- yet another one has to be downloaded completely before it starts to play. As far as I can tell from VLC and ffmpeg, these files are all identical, but clearly there's something different between them. How do I get all the encoding information for the files so I can compare them?

Powerpoint and video - how hard can it be? Suggestions for codecs or video formats that will work, please...

handee — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:41:50 -0800

I have a presentation which includes a number of videos. They don't play. I am assuming this is a codec problem - but as the videos are mpeg-2 maybe this isn't the case (I thought that by going for an old codec they were more likely to work). PowerPoint 2007, XP. I have admin rights so can install extra codecs, and I have linux with ffmpeg/mplayer so I can convert the videos. What should I do?

I want my CCTV

striker — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:03:02 -0800

Video file needs codec to play, which I have; how do I convert it to something that doesn't need this codec? We can save .avi files from our CCTV camera dvr setup. Then for people to view them, they have to install a Geo MPEG4 codec. I would like to be able to do something to convert these files so they can be viewed without this. I want to be able to hand it to a neighbor or police and just have them open in windows media player or whatever.

Sample video file here: http://www.creativemethod.com/cg/cam1.avi
Codec that I use is here: http://www.creativemethod.com/cg/CCTVCodec.rar
What is the simplest way to do this? Thanks!

Wanted: codec for g64 files

DreamerFi — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:47:53 -0800

A friend gave me some video files, about 30Mb in size, that have ".g64" as a file extension, and I've been unable to play them - vlan has shown the top of a partial frame, and that's it. They're supposedly from a fairly recent CCTV system, but I've been unable to find out the manufacturer. Anybody got a clue for me?

Which codecs can I remove?

bwg — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:57:45 -0800

Does anyone know of a way to determine which codecs might be obsolete or no longer necessary? Either an application that scans and reports which ones could be removed, or a list that explains if a certain codec is no longer needed?

Example: if I have IndeoR video 5.10, do I still need 4.5 and R3.2? I understand they're different algorithms, but what's the likelihood of needing 3.2?

Or is 5.10 a version that also decodes 3.2?

Looking for the video conversion gods to smile favorably upon me

dino terror — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:35:17 -0800

If I take a random video file, say Xvid with AC3 audio and I want to convert it to play on my mobile device (say Symbian S60 v3), is this a simple procedure nowadays? In other words, should I invest in converter software and a good video player for my phone, or am I entering a quagmire of codec errors? My phone runs Symbian S60 v3. I purchased CorePlayer for it which has an impressive list of supported formats. For the converter I prefer a Mac based solution.
I am mainly thinking of TV show rips from DVDs that I am either ripping myself or acquiring already ripped to DivX/XviD format.
Several years ago I learned to rip DVDs to VCDs and it was a hell of a procedure. I am looking for a 'one touch' solution or nothing!

open source, real-time, video streaming?

gen — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:17:38 -0800

What options are there for a real-time, open source, video streaming (ogg Theora?) codec/platform/service? I have heard of Flumotion but was wondering if there are others like it in the US or Asia.

Encoding DV for computer playback?

kamelhoecker — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:52:53 -0800

What's the best way to encode DV for playback on Mac and Windows? I'm editing in Final Cut and would like output that doesn't mess with the aspect ration (no fat/squished heads), no interlacing jaggies, and can play on a G4 ibook or Pentium4 without stuttering. (Bonus points if the file size is smaller than DV!) Final Cut outputs .mov files that contain the DV. The problem with these files is that by default "high quality" is off - so you need Quicktime Pro to go into movie options and check a box and resave. (if you don't, you only see half the resolution.) Another problem is that quicktime on windows cannot play the file at high quality without stuttering (Pentium4 mobile). Media Player can play it - but only in low quality (it ignores every other scan line and looks terrible.)

Exporting from Quicktime (6.5 Pro) always gives me nasty interlacing jaggies. (i tried sorensen 3, h263, apple mpeg4...) I can't believe Apple doesn't provide any way to de-interlace.

Are there other options?

Also, if I can squeeze in a related question: What is the correct aspect ratio for NTSC DV on a computer screen? I know DV has rectangular pixels and computers have square pixels - so some conversion is required. 720x480 looks a bit wide (fat heads) and 640x480 a bit too narrow (squished heads).

WinMac Media Player

spaceman_spiff — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:05:34 -0800

Daily Show on a Mac Windows Media Player is, at least on a Mac, nearly unuseable for embedded video, and Flip4Mac likewise (WMP skips and jumps, and F4M never gets past the buffering stage). However, some sites (the Daily Show, for instance) use nothing but. While I am aware that many such clips end up on YouTube, I'd like to use Comedy Central's site instead.

Anyone have a suggestion?

Questionable video codecs; how do I get rid of them and what ones do I need?

Botunda — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 06:56:39 -0800

I have installed a questionable codec pack. Now video doesn't work correctly and I can't burn DVDs. How do I remove the codecs that I installed and what codecs should I be using? I installed "Ace Mega Codecs Pack (Every Video Codec You Will Ever Need)" against my better judgment (alcohol was involved) and now I can't seem to burn DVDs. Also Windows Media Player doesn't want to play any of the movies that I have saying that I don't have the right codec installed when I've played them before on this machine.

So, how do I get these dang'd codecs off my machine without removing the basic ones that I need.

Where do I get the basic ones if I do end up removing them in this process?

Is there a comprehensive list of what I do and do not need based upon my current needs? I just want to be able to burn edit and burn movies to DVD.

Best Codec for Youtube Videos?

sswiller — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:18:54 -0800

What is the optimal Quicktime Codec to use when compressing Quicktime movies for You Tube? I use Sorenson3 encoding because I'm told that this is best for the web, but I wonder if this holds true for Quicktime files that have been uploaded to Youtube or Myspace or Google Videos and converted to Flash. Also, do certain types of content hold up better with one type of codec rather than another? For example, shooting an outdoor basketball game verses an indoor wedding.

DivX to .SWF conversion always converting without a sync.

cheero — Mon, 22 May 2006 21:53:11 -0800

DivX to .SWF conversion always converting without a sync. I have a video that is an .AVI (DVcodec), I converted it to DivX via VirtualDub and later on converted it from DivX to .SWF via (Flash Video Studio 1). For some unknown reason, whenever it gets converted to .SWF, the audio/video are not in sync. The main reason why I did this is because more people can see flash videos rather than DivX (at least my friends group.) I am looking for the correct way to convert this so it does not keep coming out of sync.

I've tried converting the raw file (the avi/dvcodec) one and it converts it to flash just fine, however, the file size is rather large, I am also looking for a way to compress it a little bit.

If it helps, the original avi file (DvCodec) is 270MB. When I convert it to DivX via VirtualDub, the size is knocked down to about 26 with almost no quality loss. So the third step is where I get shafted, which is the conversion to SWF which normally works, but never when I do it via DivX to .swf. Is there an alternative way? Should I convert the original file via VirtualDub to some other codec and then try to do in Flash Video Studio? Or is there another way I should do this entire procedure?

Any help is greatly welcomed. Thank you in advance!

Alternate video format other than DV

cowmix — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:08:58 -0800

What is the best alternate video format to archive DV video. I have about a terabyte (85 hours) of DV footage sitting on my harddrive. I would like to render the footage into a lower footprint (yet high quality) format for storage. My ideal would be if I could use my 300gig external drive for this purpose. I would like to use a format that FCP could later consume and edit with ease too.

What does everyone know about XVID settings that I don't?

chudmonkey — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:50:31 -0800

double-pronged question about working with XVID I download TV shows using BitTorrent on occasion, and I find the bulk of the videos I download are encoded similarly so half-hour programs and hour-long programs are almost always ~175 Mb and ~350 Mb in size, respectively. (with commercials removed, of course.)

I understand the basics of codecs and rendering, have several low-to-high-end apps that can covert video, and have played with the XVID configuration panel, but I just don't know what settings to apply to create video files like the ones I download.

Considering that there are hundreds of identically-encoded videos added to BitTorrent every week, I feel like there must be some standard format or setting being used, and I feel like an idiot for not being able to find anything using Google. Can anyone tell me what I should be doing?

And since we're on the topic, I'm also wondering if there is any means by which someone could erase a few frames from within a XVID-encoded video without having to re-encode the video to save the changes. For example, if I download a show that has 25 seconds of blackness where a commercial break should have been, can I trim out that blackness without having to re-encode?

Convert QuickTime to avi

beniamino — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:07:28 -0800

How to convert QuickTime movies into a Windows-readable format? I have a Mac Powerpoint presentation that contains two video-only QuickTime movies. The presentation needs to run on a Windows PC. I have a Mac with both QuickTime Pro and ffmpegX. I know I need to convert the .mov to .avi using one of these programs, but no codec (MPEG1, MPEG2...) produces a file that is actually viewable in Windows Media Player. What lowest-common-denominator format I should convert the QT files to? Is any extra magic involved?

Converting WMV on a Mac

boombot — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:09:08 -0800

A Google search reveals several possible ways to convert a WMV file to an mpg, or an avi, or a mov, on a Mac. My question is, for someone who does not have QT Pro and is hoping to do this for free, and has no easy access to any machine other than his G5, what is the best way to convert a wmv into something, anything else (mpg, avi, mov)? This is something of a repeat question (24337) but I'm not facing any DRM and do have access to Final Cut Pro 4.

B&W G3 OS9 as television server

juliewhite — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 07:01:52 -0800

I’ve got a B&W G3 running OS9 (actually, mostly gathering dust) - can I slap a big hard drive in it and use it to feed downloaded television to my TV? In particular, is there software for OS 9 that will work with contemporary video codecs? And if you have any particular software to recommend, that would be great.

How to find (or make) a DV reference movie?

danblaker — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:30:46 -0800

I'm looking for a reference movie for testing video codecs, or tips on how to create my own. I'm preparing a comparison of various video codecs, and I need a reference movie to use as a source. Specifically, I'd like one or more sample AVI movies in 1080p resolution that present all of the major codec challenges (e.g., moving from light to shadow; wide spectrum ranges in a frame; rapid movements, etc).

Through google I've found a bunch of static test patterns, but not much in the way of moving pictures. SMPTE has a variety of test movies, but they seem to be focused (no pun intended) on theater projector calibration and are damn expensive. DisplayMate Video Edition seems to produce the kind of stuff I'm looking for, but it can't export movies to uncompressed AVI. I realize these files would be huge, which might explain their absence from the internet; but you'd think they'd be available on a DVD or something. If not, any ideas on how to make my own?

Keynote 2 Video Export Settings

odinsdream — Tue, 24 May 2005 11:55:58 -0800

I'd like to export a Keynote 2 presentation to a video, but all of my attempts result in bad quality and skipping. What settings and codecs should I be using? The default high-quality export gives me a file that seems to stutter on playback. My presentation is about 7 minutes long. I must be able to play this back on a Windows machine in a constant loop. I had assumed VLC would be the best option.

Most of the codec options in the advanced export settings don't work. Do I need to install additional software to use them? I don't mind doing this, but I also don't know how to do it.

What framerate, codec, and other settings should I use to get high quality video from my effects-laden presentation? Filesize isn't a limitation, and my presentation has no audio.