New Filter: DVInfo

[medp7060]

Is it possible to make this filter work with Motion JPEG avi?

[Boulder]

Originally Posted by WarpEnterprises

After some thought it turned out to be trivial AND general, check it:

http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/#dvinfo

Thanks, I owe you one

I'll try it as soon as I get home from the holidays.

[WarpEnterprises]

@Wilbert: of course, just forgot the code.
@medp7060: no, it's really DV-specific.

[Boulder]

I'm sorry but I can't get it to work as I want to..

I tried this script:

video1="i:\dvnauha.avi"
AVISource(video1).DVInfo(video1,"rec_time",fix_format="%d",threshold=1,autoframes=50,font="Arial",x=500,y=500,text_color=$FFFFFF,size=24)

I'd like it to output the date and time when the day of month changes but it doesn't do that. Am I misunderstanding the syntax?

[WarpEnterprises]

does it display
- always
- never
- at wrong deltas

You should use a very big threshold (10000) as it starts to display when the jump is bigger than threshold OR the fix_format changes).
Does it display anything if you DON'T use fix_format and set threshold=0 ?

[Boulder]

Originally Posted by WarpEnterprises

You should use a very big threshold (10000) as it starts to display when the jump is bigger than threshold OR the fix_format changes)

Thank you, that one fixed it. I thought that threshold was in this case used for determining the fix_format change threshold. It works perfectly

[tacman1123]

I'm trying to write a file that shows the frame number, rec_time and tc_time whenever there's a break in the timecode. DVInfo will display that information when the threshold is passed, but I can't figure out how to get it into a variable that I can use.

What I'm looking for is something like

rec_time = GetDVInfo(file, "rec_time") 
tc_time=GetDVInfo(file, "tc_time")
WriteFile(..."frame_count, rec_time, tc_time)

The other problem I'm having is that even displaying the tc_time and rec_time it's showing up on my files as "No time code" and "no recording date", yet when I put that same file through other programs, I see both. I'd be happy to send my AVI file if that would help debugging.

Thanks!

Tac

[WarpEnterprises]

Which filter-plugin exactly are you talking about?
Mine is dvinfo.dll and the function is "dvinfo".
Please post the hole script.

[tacman1123]

This displays "No Record Time":

LoadPlugin("c:\as\plugins\dvinfo\dvinfo.dll")
filename="c:/avi/p474_090115_064745_000.avi"

DirectShowSource(filename)
DVInfo(filename, "tc_time + chr(32) + rec_time + chr(32) + current_frame")

What I want is a way to get the rec_time and tc_time as variables, then I can do whatever, including creating a file, that has the frame number, timecode and record_time:

WriteFile(output_filename,   "tc_time + chr(32) + rec_time + chr(32) + current_frame")

Even better would be a way to trigger it based on some threshold, the same logic that dvinfo uses for the threshold, so that what I'd end up with is a file with the timecode breaks.

This would be similar to the scene detection that's used for finding scene changes:

# creates a csv file of the current frame and YDifference() when YDifferenceFromPrevious is greater than some threshold
threshold=18
a=video
a=a.WriteFileStart(filename, """video_fn + " " + string(threshold)""", append=false)

a=WriteFileIf(a, filename, "YDifferenceFromPrevious() > threshold", "current_frame", """ ":" """, "YDifferenceFromPrevious()")

[Gavino]

Originally Posted by tacman1123

What I want is a way to get the rec_time and tc_time as variables, then I can do whatever, including creating a file, that has the frame number, timecode and record_time

Since DVInfo sets tc_time and rec_time as (string) script-level variables, I think this ought to work (haven't tried it though):

LoadPlugin("c:\as\plugins\dvinfo\dvinfo.dll")
filename="c:/avi/p474_090115_064745_000.avi"
output_filename = " ... "
DirectShowSource(filename)
WriteFile(output_filename, "tc_time", "rec_time", "current_frame")
DVInfo(filename, """ "" """)

WriteFile has to come before DVInfo in the script because of the order in which frames are fetched from the filter chain (as with ScriptClip, etc).

[tacman1123]

Great, thanks, getting closer now, here's my script:

LoadPlugin("c:\as\plugins\dvinfo\dvinfo.dll")

filename="p468_090108_074859_437.avi"

tc_filename="timecodes.txt"

DirectShowSource(filename)
WriteFileStart(tc_filename, """ "Frame:Timecode file for " """, """filename""", append=false)

WriteFile(tc_filename, """current_frame""", """ ":" """, """tc_time""")
DVInfo(filename, "tc_time + chr(32) + rec_time + chr(32) + current_frame")

The problem is that I'm not getting the rec_time or tc_time, either in the file or displayed on the screen. I'm certain both are in there, becasue I see them in 2 other other programs I'm using. This is timecodes.txt

Frame:Timecode file for p468_090108_074859_437.avi
0:no timecode
1:no timecode
2:no timecode
3:no timecode
4:no timecode
5:no timecode
6:no timecode
7:no timecode
8:no timecode
9:no timecode
10:no timecode
11:no timecode
12:no timecode

I think I'm using the most recent DLL:

12/23/2005 07:49 PM 122,880 dvinfo.dll

I've saved the smallest file I could create (about 1.5 Meg, but very short) to

http://entrevistasargentinas.com/p46...074859_437.avi

The dv_date that another library I'm using shows:

tc: 00:00:00 12 dv date: 08/01/09 08:48:21

Is it the file? The codec? Something else? As always, thanks for the help!

Thx,

Tac

[alexzeit]

Dear All,
Like in the thread above from 3rd February 2006 I'd like to output date and time when the day of month changes. I use:

DVInfo(file, "rec_time",  size=40, x=40, y=500, rec_format="%d.%m.%Y", autoframes=100, show_error = false, fix_format = "%Y%m%d", threshold=100000)

It works fine except one thing:
In some places I have transitions, and in this places DV does not contain Date/Time information. After such places DVInfo display Date although day of the month was not changed. Is there way to ignore places in DV where date/time information is missing?

[WarpEnterprises]

@tacman1123: the plugin cannot read the info, I don't know why. Is it made with a HDV-camera?

@alexzeit: try this version:
http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterpri...oremissing.zip
The original version sets the time string to "" when there is no timecode, this version simply does nothing.

[alexzeit]

@WarpEnterprises: Thank you very much the new version works fine.

[tacman1123]

"the plugin cannot read the info, I don't know why. Is it made with a HDV-camera?"

No, basic SD video camera, Canon ZR500 I think. I know the timecode is there (other programs see it), but I guess its some codec for internal formatting issue.

Do Quicktime MOV files also have DV Timecode info in each frame? Other formats? I'd love to solve this problem, I'm trying to write a script to sync up some data, and having access to the clock time (according to the camera) would be great.

What software do you use for importing a tape via firewire? Maybe the software I'm using isn't writing the right format.

Thx,

Tac

[JohnnyMalaria]

I've had a look at the example .avi and it does not contain any time/date etc. I've used our own two products and dv_date. Ours both scour the DV stream for all VAUX recording time/date packets, AAUX recording time/date packets and timecode packets.

Is the sample exactly as captured or has in been created from a larger file? With most software, extracting a small clip destroys any time/date info. Also, if capturing live (instead of from tape), you won't have any timecode and, unless the clock has been set, the time and date will be missing, too.

[fvisagie]

Hi All,

I'm a scripting newbie, with a big project ;-). What I need to do is cut and splice a big DV AVI file, in the process creating a text file with the retained frames' DATECODEs to generate DVD subtitles with.

This thread seems to indicate that DVInfo might have the answer. I have a few questions, though:

1) I don't want permanent DATECODE inlays, but selectable DVD subtitles istead. DVInfo.htm suggests that timecode and recording date are printed on the clip, though. How do I avoid that in the clip output by AVS to the encoder?

2) DVInfo.htm's Trim example solution unfortunately contains the code from the splice example. I'll appreciate some guidance on the correct approach for using DVInfo with Trim, please.

3) For the permanent subtitle inlays which I do want, where in the script do I position the TextSub filter in relation to Trim and DVInfo?

Many thanks in advance,
Francois

[Gavino]

Originally Posted by fvisagie

1) I don't want permanent DATECODE inlays, but selectable DVD subtitles istead. DVInfo.htm suggests that timecode and recording date are printed on the clip, though. How do I avoid that in the clip output by AVS to the encoder?

Using DVInfo(filename, """ "" """) will suppress writing on the clip, while still setting the run-time variables current_frame, tc_time and rec_time. These values (or any values derived from them) can be written to a text file with WriteFile. (See WriteFile example at post#30 above.)

2) DVInfo.htm's Trim example solution unfortunately contains the code from the splice example. I'll appreciate some guidance on the correct approach for using DVInfo with Trim, please.

As long as you put DVInfo after the source filter and before the trim, it will work. Yes, the doc is wrong, the example should read:

LoadPlugin("c:\myprojects\dvinfo\release\dvinfo.dll")
file1 = "c:\myprojects\type2a.avi"
Avisource(file1)
DVInfo(file1, "rec_time")
Trim(1000,2000)

3) For the permanent subtitle inlays which I do want, where in the script do I position the TextSub filter in relation to Trim and DVInfo?

Can you explain this more, please? I thought you said were creating a text file to use in a separate script.

[fvisagie]

Originally Posted by Gavino

Can you explain this more, please? I thought you said were creating a text file to use in a separate script.

Hello Gavino,

Thanks for your help so far. What I wrote is indeed a little confusing, because two sets of subtitles are involved.

The first set is for selectable DVD DATECODE subtitles which I hope to create with DVInfo (as mentioned in my initial post).

The second set exists already and contains background information text which in this case I actually want to inlay into the video during serving.

I've tested TextSub with this in my usual little script and it inlays text exactly the way I want it. I'm just not sure how to construct a script that serves trimmed footage and renders the DATECODES of that to text and also correctly inlays these TextSub inlays into the trimmed video stream.

I hope this explains it better?

[Gavino]

Originally Posted by fvisagie

I hope this explains it better?

Yes, indeed, sorry for not understanding first time.

Assuming the timecodes in your subtitle file are relative to the original clip, then TextSub should come before Trim.

It doesn't matter whether TextSub comes before DVInfo or after, since they will work independently (and because TextSub doesn't alter the frame numbers, like eg Trim does).