New Video Tool: Video Sheets; 1.5 Final Update

[aazerty]

Hi ,

@newpball : do you think you are alone on this earth ?

I was speaking to "tyloniusfunk" !
If he could do it , it should be a good thing for us .

Regards .

[pippas]

+1 here for 32 bit support.... not really a 'waste of time' if it allows more folk to get to use this App....Not sure why newqball thinks all the effort should move in the direction he wants.....

[newpball]

+1 here for 32 bit support.... not really a 'waste of time' if it allows more folk to get to use this App....Not sure why newqball thinks all the effort should move in the direction he wants.....

It is really not a secret that I am blatantly against supporting obsolete operating systems and old 16 and 32 bit architectures for new software development. If anything it only encourages perpetuation of a bad situation!

I would like exciting new software development to look forward, to look at new opportunities. But don't worry it is likely I won't get my way the author will most likely do the popular thing, ignore what I say, and go out of his way to support XP and 32 bit platforms and receive applause here.

But eventually while his product matures he will find out that a significant amount of his time will be spent to keep supporting those old platforms. Also it may block him from introducing or enhancing opportunities that things like CUDA and OpenCL will offer because some things will simply not work on those old platforms. But unfortunately most people only learn the hard way........

[Cornucopia]

Or, support for XP/32bit will wane more naturally, and just not be forced into obsolescence prematurely. It's not broken (nor a "bad situation") for the rest of us and I'm guessing the only reason it seems to be for you is that you see a newer, shinier toy to play with. It would probably still be even more popular if MS hadn't started its EOL fearmongering propaganda this last year. Actually, it's a testament to them actually making something GOOD - people want to hang onto it.

@Newpball, you seem to think of this all as a zero-sum-gain situation, which isn't necessarily accurate.

Scott

[pippas]

because some things will simply not work on those old platforms.....

And it won't be long before 64 bit Win 7 or 8 are also 'old platforms', and the demands will be for some new all singing and dancing format........didn't I read somewhere that some forms of CUDA support have already been dropped?.....

There are still a lot of folk using 32 bit systems. It's nice that the author of this app has included us as well in his updates. I for one am grateful....

[newpball]

...didn't I read somewhere that some forms of CUDA support have already been dropped?.....

We are drifting but since you ask I think that would be a good thing. CUDA is supported by a whopping one single vendor, proprietary stuff basically. OpenCL by contrast is open! In my opinion NVIDIA missed the boat on it by keeping it to themselves. But admittedly their stuff is efficient and because they have spearheaded MMP they are still the big player.

And yes I am a big proponent of open and royalty free standards!

[Cornucopia]

Well, 64bit is going to be with us for a LONG time.

Witness the timeline (for desktop microprocessor CPUs):
08bit-e.g.8080 = '72-'78
16bit-e.g.8086, 80286 = '76-'90
32bit-e.g.80386, 80486, Pentium, x86/32 = '88-2006
64bit-e.g.AMDx86/64, Intel64 = 2000/2004->

It'll probably be late 2020's before we see growth into 128bit, and the reason for going to such a new platform is less, as most applications don't need that kind of memory space or CPU word size.

Win7 will also be with us for a while (though I believe, thankfully, that Win8 will not).

Less interfering is the overall architecture, but more likely the development platform/language will determine what is compatible and what isn't, and that always seems to be fickle.

Scott

[newpball]

Actually, it's a testament to them actually making something GOOD - people want to hang onto it.

As some people want to hang on to some food in the fridge that's way past its "Best if used by date".

[Cornucopia]

Let me guess, you're the type of person who won't eat a banana if it has any brown spots on it at all, right? (even though it's more flavorful at that point)...

Scott

[Cornucopia]

Getting back on target, I agree with newpball about the preferred use of h.264 (or at least giving one the option between it and DivX/Xvid), as well as the ability to config timestamp or not, it's size, and the thumbnail's dimension options. All good feature choices.

Scott

[tyloniusfunk]

Thanks to all for the helpful discussion so far. I'm bringing on another programmer to help with the project, so some of these more complicated requests will be looked at soon. For now, expect an update with timestamp options soon.

[tyloniusfunk]

Also it seems the new source code is not updated in the source tree.

Working on this now. Might be switching to a different repository altogether.

[tyloniusfunk]

Also it seems the new source code is not updated in the source tree.

Working on this now. Might be switching to a different repository altogether.

The source code for 1.2 is now available on bitbucket. The code link on sourceforge will now take you there.

[tyloniusfunk]

Here is a problem though, the font you use for the timestamp does not scale, if I render a 4K with many thumbs the timestamp is taking the majority of the frame. Best for now would be an option in the ini file to simply allow a user to turn timestamps off completely.


[Attachment 30616 - Click to enlarge]

Timestamps should now scale appropriately and you can turn them off. You can also change their color and I've included a "backing box" for guaranteed contrast.

[newpball]

Any news on the H.264 front?

Here is something weird:

Drag a video from folder X onto VideoCS.exe in installation folder Y. Now it creates a sub folder in X with an old version of this program including an old ini file and then it runs this old version.

Workaround is to copy the video file to folder Y and execute.

Just a little nag here, it's open software so the source code should be available but when I try to access it it tells me I have no access to this repository (and yes I created a free account).

One request that could be very useful for general video stitching. Standard flow is Left-Right, Top-Bottom, it would nice to have a Top-Botton, Left-Right flow option as well.

[aazerty]

Hi ,

V1.2.1 32bit version ( always) not working under XP .

Cheers .

[tyloniusfunk]

Hi ,

V1.2.1 32bit version ( always) not working under XP .

Cheers .

Expanding the user base by supporting other operating systems is top priority going forward, including Mac/Linux. 32bit Win7 is reported working, but I'll see what I can set up for testing XP.

Any news on the H.264 front?

Here is something weird:

Drag a video from folder X onto VideoCS.exe in installation folder Y. Now it creates a sub folder in X with an old version of this program including an old ini file and then it runs this old version.

Workaround is to copy the video file to folder Y and execute.

Just a little nag here, it's open software so the source code should be available but when I try to access it it tells me I have no access to this repository (and yes I created a free account).

One request that could be very useful for general video stitching. Standard flow is Left-Right, Top-Bottom, it would nice to have a Top-Botton, Left-Right flow option as well.

The bitbucket repository is now public, please verify. H.264 is not a top priority at the moment, I had generic errors from it and other formats when initially developing. Maybe it's a frame rate issue, but opencv is a bit opaque here. About the folder/old version issue you report, how are you installing it? Are you using the archive .exe?

[newpball]

The bitbucket repository is now public, please verify.

Verified!

Thanks!

H.264 is not a top priority at the moment, I had generic errors from it and other formats when initially developing. Maybe it's a frame rate issue, but opencv is a bit opaque here.

I'd say, give it a try here, there is quite some expertise on this forum!

H.264 is almost like a must do, DIVX is out!
~ just helping here, I hope you realize that a person who says 'great' to everything does not help you much, he is just a socialite! ~

About the folder/old version issue you report, how are you installing it? Are you using the archive .exe?

I dumped it in a folder and then drag a vid (from another folder, that is important!) on the VideoCS.exe. A sub folder will be created in the other folder with the old stuff. If instead I drag a video from the same folder everything works.

I'll see what I can set up for testing XP.

You know my thoughts about those things so I won't repeat but I strongly urge you do look through the ramifications of trying to support an opencv application on XP.

Once you support it you would not want to disappoint your users by dumping it a little later.

[aazerty]

Hi tyloniusfunk ,

> I'll see what I can set up for testing XP.

By advance many thanks , if you can do it .
If you can't , it won't be a big problem ( for me ) .

Cheers .

[starshipwarrior]

Sorry but new to this downloaded the latest version but windows 7 is asking for the exc program can I get a step by step to make it work and thank you very much for taking the time not only to build it but to make it usable for evryone

[Baldrick]

Sorry but new to this downloaded the latest version but windows 7 is asking for the exc program can I get a step by step to make it work and thank you very much for taking the time not only to build it but to make it usable for evryone

When does it ask that?

You should just extract the content to a folder and then drag and drop any video file onto the VideoCS.exe file.

[tyloniusfunk]

Sorry but new to this downloaded the latest version but windows 7 is asking for the exc program can I get a step by step to make it work and thank you very much for taking the time not only to build it but to make it usable for evryone

When does it ask that?

You should just extract the content to a folder and then drag and drop any video file onto the VideoCS.exe file.

Thanks for addressing this, Baldrick. I hope that resolved the issue.

I'm changing the name to Video Sheets, primarily to avoid confusion with the Video Contact Sheet project.

Also, new version out exposing OpenCV's codec selector and output file extension. The codec selection option didn't work for me when I was initially developing with debug libraries, but I just randomly tried it with release libraries and it worked, so here you go. I haven't had much success, getting various error messages with H.264, but maybe the community here can suggest fixes.

The new version also fixes a memory leak in batch processing and uses static libraries (no .dlls requried).

[newpball]

The codec selection option didn't work for me when I was initially developing with debug libraries, but I just randomly tried it with release libraries and it worked, so here you go.

I noticed you use the fourcc codes (alpha numeric, not numeric as described in the ini file).
You may want to add some examples, not everybody will be familiar with how that is going to work.

I unrared (better use something like 7zip) the file, put a video in the same folder, dragged the video onto the VideoCS exe and got "video file cannot be loaded" error.

[tyloniusfunk]

The codec selection option didn't work for me when I was initially developing with debug libraries, but I just randomly tried it with release libraries and it worked, so here you go.

I noticed you use the fourcc codes (alpha numeric, not numeric as described in the ini file).
You may want to add some examples, not everybody will be familiar with how that is going to work.

I unrared (better use something like 7zip) the file, put a video in the same folder, dragged the video onto the VideoCS exe and got "video file cannot be loaded" error.

The codec code is the integer produced by openCV's fourCC function. It is wholly numeric.

What operating system are you using? I haven't found the issue you've mentioned with the old version being created or had issues with "video file cannot be loaded".

[newpball]

What operating system are you using? I haven't found the issue you've mentioned with the old version being created or had issues with "video file cannot be loaded".

Windows 8.1 64bit.

Hopefully others can test it as well to see if they also have the problem. Right now I cannot use the application it fails on all videos.

The most likely thing that happened is that you forgot to include some libs that are standard available in your path but not on other people's machines.

I would recommend you always test with a standard Windows VM setup outside your development machine.

With respect to fourcc, it does mean "four character code" for a reason!
Just saying!

Looking at your code you use atoi() to convert, I think you should expect characters!

[tyloniusfunk]

The most likely thing that happened is that you forgot to include some libs that are standard available in your path but not on other people's machines.

It's the ffmpeg library. Open CV doesn't include a version precompiled for static linking. I'll look into it, but in the meantime I've updated the sourceforge files to include the .dll or you can just copy over from a prior version.

[newpball]

The most likely thing that happened is that you forgot to include some libs that are standard available in your path but not on other people's machines.

It's the ffmpeg library. Open CV doesn't include a version precompiled for static linking. I'll look into it, but in the meantime I've updated the sourceforge files to include the .dll or you can just copy over from a prior version.

Yes it works by including opencv_ffmpeg2410_64.dll

Commenting out codec_code gives me:

[mp4 @ 000000f0774605a0] Tag DIVX/0x58564944 incompatible with output codec id '
13' ( [0][0][0])
Error : M:\Software\Video\VCS\main2_vcs.mp4 cannot be loaded with 1482049860.
Press any key to continue . . .


And other fourcc four character code in the .ini file does not work.

Using 0 for prompt with default out_extension gives:

...cannot be loaded with 0.

Using 0 for prompt with out_extension=mp4 gives a crash.

[tyloniusfunk]

Commenting out codec_code gives me:

[mp4 @ 000000f0774605a0] Tag DIVX/0x58564944 incompatible with output codec id '
13' ( [0][0][0])
Error : M:\Software\Video\VCS\main2_vcs.mp4 cannot be loaded with 1482049860.
Press any key to continue . . .
.

I believe this is because the default DIVX codec (1482049860 by OpenCV's CV_FOURCC function) wants to write to a .avi; it won't open a .mp4 for writing, apparently.

And other fourcc four character code in the .ini file does not work.

codec_code is a "4cc numerical code" (intentional and specifying), literally a four character code numerical code generated by OpenCV's CV_FOURCC function. For example, CV_FOURCC('D', 'I', 'V', 'X') returns 1482049860, which is what you see in the first error you describe.

Using 0 for prompt with default out_extension gives:

...cannot be loaded with 0.

Using 0 for prompt with out_extension=mp4 gives a crash.

Using codec_code=0 with output_extension=avi or ;output_extension should give

you aren't seeing something like this? I have noticed some extensions skip the prompt for some reason.

Can you give more details about the crash?

[newpball]

codec_code is a "4cc numerical code" (intentional and specifying), literally a four character code numerical code generated by OpenCV's CV_FOURCC function. For example, CV_FOURCC('D', 'I', 'V', 'X') returns 1482049860, which is what you see in the first error you describe.

Right, exactly my point, you cannot expect customers of your tool to translate the four character code to numeric code.

So it should accept four characters [A..Z]. For instance for H.264 the value X264 should be valid (assuming the library is available).

I am not sue why you are beating around the bush with this one.

Here is a list of registered fourcc codes:

http://www.fourcc.org/codecs.php

[aazerty]

Hi tyloniusfunk ,

> I'll see what I can set up for testing XP. <= 32b
What about your project ?

What I am doing is not the best way !

@echo on
ffmpeg -i "finale_plus_45a.ts" -ss 00:09:0.0 -to 00:10:00.0 -vcodec libx264 -acodec libvo_aacenc "D:\Clips\vid_09.flv"
ffmpeg -i "finale_plus_45a.ts" -ss 00:10:0.0 -to 00:11:00.0 -vcodec libx264 -acodec libvo_aacenc "D:\Clips\vid_10.flv"
...
ffmpeg -i "finale_plus_45a.ts" -ss 01:43:0.0 -to 01:44:00.0 -vcodec libx264 -acodec libvo_aacenc "D:\Clips\vid_103.flv"
ffmpeg -i "finale_plus_45a.ts" -ss 01:44:0.0 -to 01:45:00.0 -vcodec libx264 -acodec libvo_aacenc "D:\Clips\vid_104.flv"
pause
:fin

Cheers .