Embedded Video Improvement

Wayne,

You are Da MAN! I want to Give you a BIG Thumbs Up!

Anyone who wants to use this function needs buy Wayne a Cyber Beer because, his stick-to-it-ness has made this possible. I'm not sure why it works, so I'm going to study his code to figure it out, but, I just tested it on IIS without UrlReWrite and it passed with flying colors.

This should be a part of the base install. Flash video, Gallery2 and Waynes FIX is fantastic.

Slightly OT
I was wondering what you and everyone is using to encode your flash video? And if anyone has figured out a way to go straight from VOB to .FLV?

Cheers again to Wayne, King for a Day!

__________
Banta

Congrats, I look forward to using this feature in my gallery. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and as for that beer, if you are in upstate NY ill buy you one.

Experimenting with this I have realized a couple of things.

1) This should be obvious but, I can sometimes be the villiage idiot. The animation size must be specified.
I have hard coded my .FLV files to always be 320x240, now I do not need to specify size everytime. But, if I have a movie that requires a different size, I can overwrite it with the animation size setting. Cool!

2). The MetaData must be injected into the movie. Some flv encoders automatically inject it, some don't.
When you play your movie in an external player, if you don't have a seek bar, you do not have any metadata and I don't think it will play in your Gallery. I use this simple free program to do the job FLV MetaData Injector Grab the GUI also if you're not comfortable with command prompts.

Anyhoot, just an observation.

Ok, took a look at this today.. seems to be in good shape.
I know I recommended way back when to use GalleryAnimationItem (keep flash stuff together), but now I think it should go in GalleryMovieItem because I'm changing that item type to be used for video/* mime types instead a list of particular mime types.. so video/x-flv will become a GalleryMovieItem. I'll also be moving GalleryMovieItem/GalleryAnimationItem out of core and into a "video" module.. so we'll put the flvplayer there.

The big question: which flvplayer to use... where did the one attached in this topic come from? The controls look nice, but it doesn't have any visual indicator for buffering. Also without knowing its source we can't verify we are allowed to use it. Another player that we can use is flowplayer. This indicates buffering (though with english text.. how to localize?), but requires a kludge to pass the movie URL (it wants a base URL and filename, and auto-appends .flv to the filename).. but it does work.

yeah, figure out the commandline params for size detection and frame-to-jpeg and we'll get that support added to ffmpeg module!

I wanted to go straight from a VOB file to an FLV file and figured out how to do it using FFMPEG and a simple text file. Below is the outline on how it is done. Hope this is of some benefit.

I also am not familiar with Gallery FFMPEG Module. What is it suppose to do? If it can be customized to perform the outline below, that would be a trick mod. Anyaway, here goes.....

OK, In this example I am going to encode an entire DVD that contains separate sitcom episodes. The end result will be each episode in the .FLV format. The great thing about this example is that
every tool we'll use is free and readily available. The second nice thing about this is that we are going to go straight from the VOB file to the .FLV format so, there is no need to do an
intermediate encoding first. This saves time and quality by not stepping on the file too many times. This is a very straight forward process and is easy to do. You'll be surprised how fast you
can get your movies into small, quick playing .FLV files.

So, let's do it.

Firstly, grab a DVD that you want to work with and get yourself a copy of DVDSHrink HERE if you don't already have it. We need to get the VOB's off of the disk and onto our hard drives.
We could go straight from the DVD if we wanted to, but, with this method, we are assured we are not getting any garbage that we do not need, such as previews,
subtitles, alternate audio etc..

STEP 1. GET VOB's ONTO YOUR HARD DRIVE
Launch DVD Shrink and choose OPEN DISK

Choose your drive that your DVD is in and let it do it's analysis on the disk. This will take but only a moment.

My preferences are as follow.....

Select EDIT>PREFERENCES

Select the OUTPUT TAB and make sure that SPLIT VOB FILES INTO 1GB SIZE CHUNKS is NOT CHECKED

Select the STREAM SELECTIONS TAB and CHOOSE THE LANGUAGE YOU WANT.
Also, in the STREAM SELECTIONS TAB, make sure that DISABLE ALL SUBPICTURES EXCEPT MENUS AND FORCED STREAMS is CHECKED

Click OK to close the Preferences Dialog.

Select Re-Author at the top. We're only going to copy what we need to the hard drive.

Under Main Movie, on the right side, DRAG the titles that you want to encode to the left side. In my example of a sitcom DVD with Multi Episodes, there are 6 titles, but for a feature
film, there will only be one.

Once you have your selection dragged to the left side, you can preview any of the selections by selecting it and hitting the play button on the built in viewer. When your sure you have what
you want, go ahead and hit BACKUP!

Select a target folder for your files and MAKE SURE CREATE VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS SUBFOLDERS IS NOT CHECKED.

Select OK and your DVD selection is copied to your hard drive.

STEP 2. Converting to FLV
This is the cool part. Open your favorite text editor, I use TextPad. Insert the following code....

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\gui\ffmpeg.exe" -i "C:\PATH\OF\YOUR\VOB\3rd Rock\Season 1\Disk1\VTS_01_1.VOB" -t 60 -b 160 -r 15 -s 320x240 -hq -deinterlace -ab 80 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -croptop 10 -cropbottom 2 -cropleft 6 -cropright 6 "C:\PATH\FOR\YOUR\CONVERTED\FILE\Disk1\converted\3rdRock_Season1_Episode1.flv"

Make sure this is on ONE LINE and save it as a BATCH FILE. I call this one FLVCONVERT_4-3.BAT because the video I am encoding is in 4:3 format. I will make a separate BATCH FILE for
each scenario. For now, lets have a quick look at that code and what it is doing. You need to set some of these parameters to match your set up.

1). "C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\gui\ffmpeg.exe"
This is the path to your FFMPEG executable.

2). -i "C:\PATH\OF\YOUR\VOB\3rd Rock\Season 1\Disk1\VTS_01_1.VOB"
The "i" states which file you are encoding. Make sure your path to the VOB you just created is correct.

3). -t 60
This indicates that we only want to encode 60 seconds of the video. This if for testing and wiil be removed after we tweak the code to produce the output we want.

4). -b 160
Thats the bitrate. The lower it is, the smaller the resulting file will be. Higher numbers produce better quality, but much larger files. Since this is going to stream over the web, I
chose this as acceptable. Experiment with this, but remember, you will be encoding only 60 seconds. If you double it and your filesize jumps up 2 megs, and hour long feature will be
120 megs larger.

5). -r 15
This is the framerate

6). -s 320x240
This is your output size

7). -hq
This produces a higher quality encode.

8). -deinterlace
Deinterlaces a video. This is necassary for some things, like television episodes, but often not for feature films. If you have horizontal lines noticable in your encoded file,
you probably want to deinterlace.

9).-ab 80
Audio Bitrate

10). -ar 44100
Audio Rate 44100hz

11). -ac 2
Stereo

12). -croptop 10 -cropbottom 2 -cropleft 6 -cropright 6
Crop values. This is important because there is no need to encode the black bands that appear on all DVD's. They just take up precious space. In this example there is not much
to crop off, but on a feature film that is presented as 1:85 ratio, there is plenty to remove. It is good practice to remove the black borders.

13). "C:\PATH\FOR\YOUR\CONVERTED\FILE\Disk1\converted\3rdRock_Season1_Episode1.flv"
Finally, we have the path of our output file.

Once you have these parameters set, save the bat file and double click to run it. A DOS window pops up and VIOLA, you get a 60 second .FLV file after only a few seconds of encoding.
Very fast. View it and once your satisfied with the results, remove the -t 60 parameter and run it again. This time you will encode the entire video. An entire sitcom episode, 23 minutes,
starts off at over 750 mb becomes 39mb with these settings. and took about 5 minutes to encode.

If your DOS widow pops up and suddenly disapears, and you get no video encoding, something obviously went wrong. The most common issue I have run into is odd numbers. For instance, ffmpeg
seems to prefer -cropbottom 2 over -cropbottom 1. Odd numbers present odd problems. There is porbably a better explaination than this. Another issue could be bad paths in the parameters.

The last thing to do is inject the MetaData. Our gallery will not play the file without the MetaData injected. I use the free program in the link in my other post. However, it is NOT open source.
If we ever find a way to embed this into Gallery, we would need to inject the MetaData. Fortunatley, there is also this program, which IS open source and works well
FlvTool2

Hope this was helpful. While there are ways to get much better video quality using the On2 codec, this is the only way I figured out to go straight from VOB to FLV. Also, the file sizes are much
smaller and the encoding seems much faster. If you need top quality regardless of file size, then the On2 codec is the only way to go. It is truly amazing. Rivals anything out there IMHO.

One last note, if you need to run a batch of a bunch of files, say overnight, it is simple to set up. Just place additional SINGLE lines in your BATCH FILE and they will encode one after
another, like this.....

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\gui\ffmpeg.exe" -i "X:\PATH\OF\YOUR\VOB\3rd Rock\Season 1\Disk1\VTS_01_1.VOB" -t 60 -b 160 -r 15 -s 320x240 -hq -deinterlace  -ab 80 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -croptop 10 -cropbottom 2 -cropleft 6 -cropright 6 "C:\PATH\FOR\YOUR\CONVERTED\FILE\Disk1\converted\3rdRock_Season1_Episode1.flv"
"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\gui\ffmpeg.exe" -i "X:\PATH\OF\YOUR\VOB\3rd Rock\Season 1\Disk1\VTS_02_1.VOB" -t 60 -b 160 -r 15 -s 320x240 -hq -deinterlace  -ab 80 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -croptop 10 -cropbottom 2 -cropleft 6 -cropright 6 "C:\PATH\FOR\YOUR\CONVERTED\FILE\Disk1\converted\3rdRock_Season1_Episode2.flv"
"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\gui\ffmpeg.exe" -i "X:\PATH\OF\YOUR\VOB\3rd Rock\Season 1\Disk1\VTS_03_1.VOB" -t 60 -b 160 -r 15 -s 320x240 -hq -deinterlace  -ab 80 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -croptop 10 -cropbottom 2 -cropleft 6 -cropright 6 "C:\PATH\FOR\YOUR\CONVERTED\FILE\Disk1\converted\3rdRock_Season1_Episode3.flv"

Also, this isn't limited to VOB files, I think you can throw anything at it.

Easy Peasy!

Mindless, I just tried the same. I get a toolkit error. Either it is a windows&ffmpeg problem, or its the On2 codec I use to encode my flv. On2 was mentioned as experimental in ffmpeg docs. I will try with the sorenson codec later.

I created a Flv module from the Swf module(which I updated to work with 2.1).
This Flv module attemps to get the dimensions, upon failure it sets a default of 320x240 as per Banta's request.

I used the thumbnail module to set a default thumb, and the Flv module does the rest.

So if anyone's interested I'm attaching the Flv module, and also the updated Swf module.

See my examples in my gallery here.

Due to IE's recent "click here or we won't show it to you security update" I decided to externalize the script like the others.
A friend had to tell me that he could not see my movies to find this out - been so long since I used IE

So here's the new code:

- Wayne

Yeah, you know it does not seem to make much difference, after a little testing. I guess the only way to externalize would be to call in an external js.

I guess it does not matter much.

Sorry, just trying options.

In IIS I had to add the mime type for flv video/x-flv Had to do the same with the new divx format when I added their new webplayer (which we should add to gallery while we're at it).

Also why don't you try using your IP address instead of localhost. And set that in IIS control panel.

Some perms that are important in IIS are: g2data - IIS_WPG should have full control, IUSR_MACHINENAME should have read/write/exec, and more recently IWAM_MACHINENAME the same as IUSR.

I downloaded the precompiled for win32 ffmpeg package from gallery.sourceforge version 4.8 I think.
unpack ffmpeg to c:\ffmpeg give IIS_WPG full control, IUSR_MACHINENAME read/exec. If you add c:\ffmpeg to your system path(same with imagemagick and netpbm) gallery will auto config.
Path to ffmpeg in gallery admin: c:\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe
in modules\ffmpeg\classes\FfmpegToolkitHealper.class add $relevantTypes['flv'] = 'flv'; around line 140 reinstall ffmpeg module, and test it in admin and save if successful.
So far I have yet to get ffmpeg to create any thumbs for flv, if you use the older sorenson codec, you would have a better chance. I use flash8 which uses the new On2 codec which ffmpeg does not support.

Good luck,

- Wayne

I have much of this ready to commit to the codebase, so soon all you'll need to do is get a nightly snapshot. Unfortunately we are in limbo between CVS and Subversion and unable to commit anything right now. The "swf" module above is already obsolete, that code has been committed (you don't need a separate module.. all of imagemagick,netpbm,gd will get dimensions of swf).

Ok, this is kindof whacky Not sure why this is happening but, as I stated above...

1). When running this under IIS, my movies will not play UNLESS I specify in ghe CONFIG.PHP..
$gallery->setConfig('baseUri', 'http://localhost/gallery2/index.php');
However, when this is set, I cannot add or delete items.

If I specify...
$gallery->setConfig('baseUri', 'http://localhost/gallery2/main.php');
I can add and delete, but not play the movies.

Changing to IP instead of localhost and configuring IIS with the flv MIME type did not change this behavior.

any further ideas I might try?

Well, I'll be Damned, IT WORKS!
Getting FFMPEG Module to work was the tough part. But, once I had that activated, and added the relevantTypes parameter you outlined, ( Uninstall ffmpeg and reinstall ), I was delighted to see the thumbnail was created when adding a new .flv file to the Gallery. Cool Beans! This is coming along nicely.

Now, for anyone who is having the headaches learning how to get the ffmpeg.exe recognized in the ffmpeg module under IIS. Here's how I did it. There are lots of places saying what needs to be done, but I found very little on clear instructions for, shall I say, Dummies ( referring to myself .

1) Find cmd.exe on your computer. On my XP machine, this was
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe

2)cmd.exe Right Click>Properties
Select the security tab ------SCCREEEAACHHHH! No security tab? No problem!
If you do not see a security tab, do the following..
a).Open Windows Explorer
b).Tools>Foler Options
Select the View Tab and UNCHECK Use Simple File Sharing
Viola - Security tab is now available.
3). Select Internet Guest Account from the Group or User Names: section
4). Place a checkmark in READ and READ & EXECUTE
5). Apply and Restart IIS

Go back and configure the ffmpeg module. Your ffmpeg.exe should be recognized now. If your adding the relevantType for FLV after this, remember to uninstall and re-install the module. Don't worry, ffmpeg.exe WILL get recognized again.

Congrats, you have just enabled your ffmpeg module and opened up a big security hole on your machine. But hey, it works!

Hope this helps someone who runs into the same issues.
__________
Banta

The flvplayer I attached some time ago came from :
http://coppermine-gallery.net/forum/index.php?topic=16818.0 (must be logged to see the attachment)

This seems to be a modification of this one:

http://www.peldi.com/fmswiki/index.php?title=FLVPlayer

And its probably licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License:

http://www.peldi.com/fmswiki/index.php?title=TwoWay

I really like this player.. the skin can be easily changed.. but I guess that license is not compatible with the GPL.

Wayne,
I tested out your player. Nice work.

Couple of things I noticed when viewing your example. The preloader (gallery image) was
on the screen longer than I expected. When the movie started to play, the buffer showed 25% was
already loaded. I am not sure if this is something that can be worked out, but I think the movie
should begin to play as soon as enough info has been downloaded. On my local test, 15% was loaded
on a full length movie before the movie began to play. But, this was no longer of a delay than before.

When a movie begins to play, the controls are visible immediately. On first mouseover, they become invisible,
requiring a second mousover to make them visible again. Then, they remain on stage even on mouseout. The way the
old skin was working was similar, as the controls were visible as the movie started to play. However, they did
disappear and reappear as expected. IMHO, this was not right either. I think that the controls should only be visible
on mouseover, ever. Or better yet, they appear when the movie starts and then fade to 0% alpha so that the user knows that they are there.
When embedding a movie in Flash the traditional way,(in the Flash authoring environment)there is
the option to make the skin invisible on start of movie play. Is it possible to make your player skin only on mousover?

I really like your controls. They are far better than what we are working with before. I also like the addition of the
FF and RW, as well as the start over option. Plus, your control looks better. The only other observation I have is the
weight of the player. It is 60k as opposed to 16k on the previous player + skin. I suspect the majority of the added
weight to the player is due to the Gallery graphic for the preloader. Is it possible to get the weight of the player
down, even if the preloader just uses text or turning the Gallery image into a vector? If needed, I can convert the logo
into the vector. The latest Illustrator has some sweet tracing tools that work better than Flash's native bitmap tracer.

Anyway, I think this is on a great track and that you have done, once again, excellent work on this.
I want to thank you for your efforts. I don't think I would be in the process of converting hours and hours
of home movies into FLV format if you hadn't worked to figure this out.

Banta,
I was not really happy with the size myself, got it down to 36k. Also changed the bufferclip a bit, and only buffering 10 seconds now.
The controls are now hidden onload by default.
Some other scaling issues resolved too.

Mindless,
we could pass an array. $lang(play,pause,stop,replay......) right?
I was just wondering where the localization files are, what they look like, and example coding.

- Wayne

Nice player. I would like to suggest being able to seek later in the video, and have it pause/rebuffer, and continue from that point. Similar to google.

As im playing with it, watching one of your movies, it would be useful to be able to skip to the middle of the movie and start playing from that point.

Also i think the mouseover for the controls popping up and leaving needs work. seems if i mouse on, they turn on, then i mouse off, nothing happens. then i mouse over again they'll turn off. they should only be visible when your hovering, then as soon as you leave they should fade out.

looking great though, I can't wait to start converting my videos over. Might I suggest Riva FLV encoder (its free) to users who wish to encode their videos locally before upload. (though it would be really nice to see a server side processor.)

This sound too good to be true. Gallery is going to support Video properly, finally! O.o
I can't think of anything else Gallery can't handle well now beside Document files. Perhaps the summer of code idea about the CMS will get that done as well. I deeply appreciate your effort (Suprsidr, Banta, mindless, etc) on this so far. Keep it up!

you can try putting together the code snippets from above, or you can wait a bit longer and try a nightly snapshot.

How about a button that will let people download the video file easily? At least, make that optional for the webmaster to implant?

@suprsidr:

great work!

I just think it would be better if the controls are shown when the mouse pointer is anywhere over the player and not only on the area where the controls appear.
I've also found a minor bug: when the video ends and you use the "replay" button from the controlbar, the big "replay" button that appears when the video ends never disappears.

Ok, so here it is.... player_final
Added play/pause action to the screen, fixed the bug, and increased the controlBar rollon to 10px from the edge all around (meaning the rolloff is 10px outer rim).

Happy flv'n
-Wayne

maybe the ffmpeg module is not working and you have to set the height/width manually?

The core changes are in place in svn and I have the flashvideo module just about put together. It uses suprsidr's player by default but in the PHP file it has some instructions to use FlowPlayer or FLVPlayer instead (G2 admin must go get the player and then uncomment a few lines in the PHP class). Thanks suprsidr, should have this in place very soon!!

Flashvideo module now in svn! Update from svn now to try it, or get tomorrow's nightly snapshot.

it requires core api 7.9, which means you need current svn.