Audio and video editing?
 

Hi,

Reviewing the available packages in the repositories (extras, devel, etc), I have found that the tools available to create audio editors and / or video.

Is not there a project to create graphics applications allow editing audio and / or video?

I've tried with command in xterm but my colleagues do not like using command in cli.

In case anyone is interested in creating an application that allows support recommend for added effect on the files to work.

Thanks to this community that gives us so much support for Maemo users.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

i'd love to have video editing... not much, just cut clips and put them together again. i could live without any effects or transitions. it's just that when you record a few videos, you usually want to take the best shots, make a movie, add a sound track and then upload this final version instead of sharing each single clip...

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

There are a bunch of Linux video editing software out there.. I do not know how difficult it would be to port them but i am guessing it would take a great deal of the n900's resources.

The best would be to "ssh -X" to you linux desktop computer and let it do the work. Though i don't think it would be impossible with a port. Especially if the video was intended to be small.

Maybe something could work on Easy Debian.. don't know if the sound problem is solved there.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

i remember somebody once said pitivi would be a good candidate for porting, because it's simple and based on gstreamer.
otoh, from my experiences on the desktop, the application isn't ready for every day use even on the desktop and would need quite a lot of work UI-wise for the n900...

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

The idea of using remote software or Web applications went through my head.

But depend on the Internet and not always available, is also increasing energy consumption by using wireless connection.

Easy to use Debian is an alternative but its use is heavy.

It would be better to use a palicación gstreamer, ffmpeg, mplayer, etc ... to facilitate its use by any user.

I've done some testing with mplayer and gstreamer-tools but I can not see the originals and the results on the fly.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I think that a candidate easy to carry and well known would be VirtualDub.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Personally I prefer to edit on my laptop because of the bigger screen, and use Avidemux. It's available for all major platforms and can be found at the link below. I only use it for simple frame-editing, changing portrait to landscape and such.

http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

It might be a candidate to port though, if you really want to edit directly on your n900, as it is based on GTK+.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I also prefer to edit on my Desktop but there are times when the need arises for me when traveling, etc..

With the BT keyboard (especially a TV) I have replaced my laptop just about anywhere

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

For video work I recommend using "ffmpeg" is in the repositories but installing from console or by using Fast Application "in advanced mode, and audio use" sox ".

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I will try to give examples to work from CLI.

Merge two videos (must have the same encoding):
videoA.mpeg cat videoB.mpeg> video_temp.mpeg

To ensure that you can join them in mpeg always works with many formats do not work.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Creating final video in the desired format from the result of the union.

ffmpeg -i -sameq video_temp.mpeg video_end.avi
*-> "-sameq" is an option that forces the ffmpeg for the final video has the same quality as the videos of entry, (the same resolution, same bitrate, etc).

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Example of conversion to another format:

ffmpeg-i-sameq videoA.avi videoA.mpeg

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Main options de ffmpeg

• `-f fmt' → Force format.
• `-i filename' → input file name
• `-y' → Overwrite output files.
• `-t duration' → Restrict the transcoded/captured video sequence to the duration specified in seconds. hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported.
• `-fs limit_size' → Set the file size limit.
• `-ss position' → Seek to given time position in seconds. hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported.
• `-itsoffset offset' → Set the input time offset in seconds. [-]hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported. This option affects all the input files that follow it. The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by 'offset' seconds.
• `-timestamp time' → Set the recording timestamp in the container. The syntax for time is: now|([(YYYY-MM-DD|YYYYMMDD)[T|t| ]]((HH[:MM[:SS[.m...]]])|(HH[MM[SS[.m...]]]))[Z|z])
  
  If the value is "now" it takes the current time. Time is local time unless 'Z' or 'z' is appended, in which case it is interpreted as UTC. If the year-month-day part is not specified it takes the current year-month-day.
  
  
• `-metadata key=value' → Set a metadata key/value pair. For example, for setting the title in the output file: ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title="my title" out.flv
• `-v number' → Set the logging verbosity level.
• `-target type' → Specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv", "dv50", "pal-vcd", "ntsc-svcd", ... ). All the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type: ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg
  
• Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know they do not conflict with the standard, as in:
  
• ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg
  
• `-dframes number' → Set the number of data frames to record.
• `-scodec codec' → Force subtitle codec ('copy' to copy stream).
• `-newsubtitle' → Add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream.
• `-slang code' → Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Sample is 30 seconds of video from minute one:

ffmpeg -i video_original.avi -ss 60 -t 30 video_end.avi

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

you should be able to cut videos with ffmpeg, too, shouldn't you? i assume ffmpeg supports some kind of -from mm:ss -to mm:ss switch for the input file(s)?

one could go one step further then and actually re-encode videos if they're not in the desired output format... like if you recorded one video in low quality and another one in high quality and want to append a few seconds of the high quality video to the low quality clip.

and then, of course, you would separate sound and video and re-mix them for the final movie... like using one of your mp3 files as a soundtrack... or using the soundtrack of clip 1 throughout the movie even though some parts of the video are being replaced by other clips...

oh, sorry, i was dreaming. (in fact - i'm already made up a GUI for it in my dreams... ;) ...)

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Your dreams "YES" are possible, I also hope to create a GUI for it.

See the previous post.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

In fact, the more I think of it: The GUI might even be simple. Old S60 phones have a very simple one, and it could be slightly improved for Maemo.

You have a "list" of thumbnails, one for each clip you want to use. (The list could be a real list or a grid like the thumbnails in the media player or - which I'd prefer - thumbnails laid out horizontally.)

In the application settings, you specify the output format. (fps, resolution, ...)

you click on a thumbnail to enter the start/end values for this clip. (=use from 00:32 to 00:36) Also, there's an option 'use original sound', 'continue using sound from previous scene' or 'select audio file for soundtrack'.

That's it. The GUI generates parameters for ffmpeg. Parameters for video quality may be fixed to the recording options supported by the N900 (or could support one "very low quality" setting as output for email/MMS).

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I dreamed too long - you had completed two long posts while I was typing. :D

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Example of how to remove the audio track of a video:

ffmpeg -i VideoA.avi -an Video_end.avi

*-> "-an" indicates that the final video will have no audio track

Example of how to add the audio track of a video:

ffmpeg -i AudioA.wav -i VideoA.avi Video_end.avi

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

there was a video/audio editor concept video for n900. it was on these forums now i cant find it, saw it sometime back. it was quite mind blowing, it had a complete GUI

does someone else recall or can find a link?

--------------

EDIT: i did find the link

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/219349/mkp.swf

its creating a video from taking individual images, nonetheless it gives a great interface idea for it.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

nokia n8 has a pretty capable video editor. Since apparently things are suppose to be for a cross-base platform. Lets see how things pan out.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

just wondering.... couldn't the same functions (play file from starttime to endtime, re-encode file to new resolution, split and re-mix audio and video, ..) be achieved via gstreamer? i'd feel more comfortable with ffmpeg and/or mencoder, because i'm used to them, but then gstreamer is built into maemo and if it could maybe do all this, why add another dependency?

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

one of the many concepts/applications for the N900 that just - well, are waiting in the pipeline. ;)

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

ok, tried ffplay from the ffmpeg package today to view videos i recorded with the device. big disappointment, though i should have expected this: most gnu/linux players (including mplayer and ffplay) dont correctly play files recorded by the n900. you get nasty artifacts. i assume this affects the usage of these file as input for any any kind of video editing. (the only player i found so far that can handle these files is vlc.)

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

very true. I always import files to laptop and use Sony Vegas for editing. Its not fathomable that cellphones can have full blown editing capabilities but we do need something on the lines of that concept video for sure.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

on my n95 8gb i could edit video files.
i could cut them,change the audio,and write a text which comes up if the video ends.
it was great cause i made some real funny videos with it and was able to save it as original and as modified and play them on my desktop.
i guess from the hardware the n900 should be able to do these basic things if the n95 can.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

Hi, I've been looking for a solution to just edit my N900 videos on my desktop. I have been unsuccessful.
When I try using avidemux, I get problems with the audio becoming out of sync.
If I use kdenlive, the editing is painful because the preview is almost unwatchable with inaudible sound due to choppyness, and the final video has artifacts in it (no matter what format I render in)
I tried converting the video with ffmpeg first, in the hope that I could then edit without artifacts, but no luck there. The converted video also comes up with artifacts. (I also spent time in the #ffmpeg irc channel trying different command options suggested by others... always artifacts.)

My last resort, Sony Vegas does NOT support mp4 videos. I am at a loss for what to do. I've spent countless hours trying to make something work... but I finally gave up last week.
All I want is a tool to do simple editing for my N900 videos, on any platform. Can anyone who is doing this successfully share their story?

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

actually the gstreamer-based idea just became more realistic for me: i noticed gnonlin is available in -testing.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

stupid question but:
will you test it for us?
dont want to install trash...
thanks:)

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I would love to test it, but I'm not familiar with GStreamer and the command line tools you could use with it. So I may return here with results as soon as I understand GStreamer, but... that could be either tomorrow or in 6 months. :)

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I think GStreamer is better but I find less documentation tool and I see it initially more difficult than ffmpeg.

Maybe we should try to take small tutorial to get tips Gstreamer until a GUI.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

A tutorial would be highly appreciated; also, maybe if those of you who know Python well could have a look at it? See the last 3 paragraphs of this post for the reason why. ;)

I tried to inform myself and get an idea about GStreamer; plus, I wanted to write a shell script as a proof of concept that would take 3 seconds from video A, 3 seconds from video B and encode them to a new video C.

The good news is: I found out GStreamer is much, much more powerful than I had originally thought. It would allow things like recording live audio comments to your edited videos or even picture-in-picture effects, showing your face on the upper right while you comment what's being shown on the main video. It supports conversion (framerates, 16:9 crop to 4:3 etc.), still images as part of the video, text overlays etc etc. ... in theory. If the N900 is powerful enough to handle it and if all the components are installed.

Another advantage seems to be that a lot of the components I did find are installed on the N900 seem to make use of the DSP or are nokia-specific; I simply assume (without knowing ffmpeg and mencoder) that this would help encoding performance-wise in comparison to these two other alternatives.

Last of the good news is that I even got one simple thing working from the command line on my N900 - the playback of one video file I had recorded:

gst-launch is the command, the rest are parameters. This does nothing but play back a file, without any manipulation.

One site I found, the Gstreamer Cheet Sheet, gives you an idea of how huge and complicated these gst-launch command lines can become; the syntax isn't really nice. ;)
But then, if you write an application using GStreamer, you would use it's API and construct the monster one item at a time.

Now for the bad thing - and what I couldn't get to work yesterday:

Once I ran into a problem, I couldn't identify what exactly I'd been doing wrong because the error messages don't mean nothing to me. I copypasted code from the web that involved the gnonlin-component (which is what we need for editing videos) and tried to run it on my desktop (Ubuntu) - errors, errors and no help.
Of course part of my particular problem seems to be that most useful examples about editing videos with Gstreamer and gnonlin are published in Python, not as gst-launch command lines. I don't want to learn Python now while I try to understand Gstreamer... too much. ;)

Maybe people with a solid knowledge of Python could better understand the examples available and apply the necessary changes to make them run on the N900.

I found this page promising.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I think GStreamer is more powerful but less intuitive, we become accustomed to over the Syntaxis type ffmpeg.

Gstreamer trying to understand how it works:

There are three basic components: 1 src (input); 2 Filters, convertors, demuxers, muxers and codecs, 3 º sink (outputs).

Everything is based on an input connected to another element, can be a black box (filters, convertors, etc), or an output.

The tickets we recognize that contain the string "src" and outputs the string "sink."

example: gst-launch-0.10 v4l2src! xvimagesink

To find the available inputs, outputs, and plugins will use the command "gst-inspect." This command lists all available plugins and a brief description of what they do.

If you want more information and to manage parameters write "gst-inspect <<object>>." For example "gst-inspect vertigotv" showing a result ...

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I actually did get a simple "cut and merge" running on my ubuntu PC during the weekend, using Gstreamer's gnonlin component; I still don't know what I do (I copy and paste from the web and then use trial and error to change it until it works), so ATM I can take pieces of video and put them together - but they're missing the original soundtrack. I'll have to check that. Next thing would be to get it running on the N900 with gnonlin installed from extras-testing.

Re: Audio and video editing?
 

I think GStreamer is more powerful but less intuitive, we become accustomed to over the Syntaxis type ffmpeg.

Gstreamer trying to understand how it works:

There are three basic components: 1º src (input); 2º Filters, convertors, demuxers, muxers and codecs; 3º sink (outputs).

Everything is based on an input connected to another element, can be a black box (filters, convertors, etc), or an output.

The tickets we recognize that contain the string "src" and outputs the string "sink."

example: gst-launch-0.10 v4l2src ! xvimagesink

To find the available inputs, outputs, and plugins will use the command "gst-inspect." This command lists all available plugins and a brief description of what they do.

If you want more information and to manage parameters write "gst-inspect <<object>>." For example "gst-inspect vertigotv" showing a result ...

If we look shows that it has the ability to work with video signals and RGB type.

This forces us to make a video to rgb before or filter would not work.

Another detail is that you tell which codec to use when working with video or audio, well now we no longer "decodebin" to find out if the codec used in audio / video knowledge and leads to the default output.

It is important to understand that to link all plugins should be used pipes are represented by the symbol "!".

Example:
If we look shows that it has the ability to work with video signals and RGB type.

This forces us to make a video to rgb before or filter would not work.

Another detail is that you tell which codec to use when working with video or audio, well now we no longer "decodebin" to find out if the codec used in audio / video knowledge and leads to the default output.

It is important to understand that to link all plugins should be used pipes are represented by the symbol "!".

Example:

We will play only one video file video / audio.

gst-launch-0.10 filesrc location=/home/usr/MyDocs/.videos/9.mp4 ! decodebin ! xvimagesink

Now we will apply a dizzying effect on the image and in real time.

gst-launch-0.10 filesrc location=/home/usr/MyDocs/.videos/9.mp4 ! decodebin ! queue ! ffmpegcolorspace ! video/x-raw-rgb ! vertigotv ! xvimagesink