get playhead position in clipboard

[jshupert]

Friends,

I wish for a player where I can
seek within a video file -- copy the current position to clipboard.
So that I can paste it into a text document.

is there such a player?

these would be files with or without time code.

thanks

[jagabo]

VirtualDub has a "copy source frame number to clipboard" feature.

[raffriff42]

VirtualDub is very good, and a proper NLE like Premiere or Vegas has more features...
But what about using a regular media player?
My first thought was to use the MPC-HC Navigate, Go to feature, and copy the current time & frame number from there, but then...

Did you know MPC-HC has an Edit list Editor? I didn't until stumbling on it just now.
Here's how it works (AFAICT)

• Set up some hotkeys (there are no menu items). Options, Player, Keys: scroll down.
• For example, I set mine up like this:
• - Ctrl+F12: Toggle EDL Window
• - Ctrl+F9: EDL new clip
• - Ctrl+F10: EDL set In
• - Ctrl+F11: EDL set Out
• - Ctrl+Shift+F12: EDL save
• Open a movie. Press Ctrl+F12 to show the Edit list Editor.
• Drag the Editor to a position you like - docked or undocked.
• Press Ctrl+F9 to create a new clip (edit list item)
• Press Ctrl+F10 to mark In. You can press it multiple times while finding the right frame.
• Optional, press Ctrl+F11 to mark Out.
• Press Ctrl+F9 to start another clip. If you didn't mark Out, an Out point is added automatically.
• Repeat as needed. An EDL is built, looking like the screenshot.
• Ignore the nonfunctional GUI controls, such as User, Hot Folder and the Name column.
  This feature is not completely coded. It does work though.

• Save the list with Ctrl+Shift+F12 and close MPC-HC (the file is not created until MPC-HC is closed)
• A new file should appear in the movie folder, named <movie file>.edl
• Open this file in a text editor. You get a list of times like this:

00:00:01,971	00:00:04,422			
00:00:06,881	00:00:08,211			
00:00:08,643	00:00:09,628			
00:00:10,181	00:00:10,991			
00:00:15,019	00:00:19,057

If you need frame numbers, you can get them using a spreadsheet etc. (frame=time*fps)

Test thoroughly before using this for anything important! And don't blame me if anything goes wrong!
Tested in MPC-HC version 1.7.10 64-bit. Since this is an undocumented feature, it may come and go in various builds.

[jshupert]

dar -- i just down loaded MPC-HC

when I do ctrl & F12 ... i get zip
should I get a diff vers??

MPC-HC (Nightly, 64-bit)
------------------------

Build information:
Version: 1.7.10.252 (e91b41e)
Compiler: MSVC 2015 Update 3
Build date: Jul 8 2016 01:12:35

LAV Filters:
LAV Splitter: 0.68.1.25
LAV Video: 0.68.1.25
LAV Audio: 0.68.1.25
FFmpeg compiler: MinGW-w64 GCC 6.1.0

Operating system:
Name: Windows NT 10.0 (build 14393)
Version: 10.0 (64-bit)

Hardware:
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU W3565 @ 3.20GHz
GPU1: NVIDIA Quadro 2000 (driver version: 21.21.13.6909)
GPU2: NVIDIA Quadro 2000 (driver version: 21.21.13.6909)

[sneaker]

when I do ctrl & F12 ... i get zip
should I get a diff vers??

Read carefully. You need to set-up hotkeys first. The keys raffriff42 uses are only suggestions.

[raffriff42]

I suggest you start with VirtualDub (post #2) and see if that is enough for what you are doing. It's simple and needs no special software.

Set up a hotkey (yes, hotkeys again) Options, Keyboard, Video.CopySourceFrameNumber. I use Ctrl+F.

If that works well for you, the next step would be to create a macro to copy & paste the frame number into Notepad with one command. Here, I've written one for AutoHotkey. You're going to have to learn a little AutoHotkey (AHK) - it's well worth the effort. Super-useful program.

; ** Ctrl+M ("[M]ark"): copy current frame from VirtualDub; paste in Notepad
;    (vdub must be in still frame, not playing)
^m::
{
    SetTitleMatchMode, 2

    ;; VirtualDub must be running
    IfWinNotActive, ahk_class VirtualDub
    {
        return ;
    }
    ;; ...and must be in still frame mode
    IfWinExist, dub in progress
    {
        return ;
    }
    ;; Notepad must be running 
    IfWinNotExist, ahk_class Notepad
    {
        MsgBox, , Copy Frame Number, Notepad not running!
        return ;
    }

    ;; press vdub hotkey (Ctrl+F) to copy frame number 
    ;; >>> you need to set this hotkey beforehand <<< 
    SendInput, ^f
    Sleep, 100

    ;; enter comment (optional) and Enter or Cancel 
    InputBox, notes, Copy Frame Number, Add a comment (optional) and press OK, , , , , , , , %clipboard% -
    if ErrorLevel 
    {
        ;; cancel
        return ;
    }
    clipboard = %notes%


    ;; switch to notepad  
    WinWait, ahk_class Notepad, 
    IfWinNotActive, ahk_class Notepad, , WinActivate, ahk_class Notepad, 
    WinWaitActive, ahk_class Notepad
    ;; scroll down 
    SendInput, ^{END}
    SendInput, {ENTER}
    ;; type clipboard contents 
    SendInput, %clipboard%
    Sleep, 100

    ;; switch back to virtualdub, ready for next frame number 
    WinWait, ahk_class VirtualDub, 
    IfWinNotActive, ahk_class VirtualDub, , WinActivate, ahk_class VirtualDub, 
    WinWaitActive, ahk_class VirtualDub,

    return ;
}