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Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 08 Sep 2020 18:35
by joel_graff
So I'm trying to convert an AVI file to something else. It's an AVI created in VLC, capturing input from a VCR and I'm having two strange problems.

First, VLC refuses to apply any filters I've selected (both in the preferences and in the effects / filters dialog).

Second, After it's done writing the file, it pops up a dialog and asks if I want to overwrite the file it just created. If I click yes, it writes it again. So far as I can tell, this is an endless loop.

I've run VLC from the terminal and observed no errors or warnings in the output.

Any suggestions?

Incidentally, I'm using the latest snap-packaged version of VLC on ubuntu 20.04

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 09 Sep 2020 18:55
by Rémi Denis-Courmont
You might need to turn off hardware acceleration, depending on the filters.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 10 Sep 2020 21:39
by joel_graff
You might need to turn off hardware acceleration, depending on the filters.
Unfortunately, disabling hardware-acclerated decoding in the preferences had no effect.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 11 Sep 2020 17:25
by Rémi Denis-Courmont
Check the logs then.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 04:36
by joel_graff
Check the logs then.
Did that and, unfortunately, it didn't reveal much apart from a few warnings. I only had one filter active - color extraction.

https://pastebin.com/dp8ZepaF

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 17:58
by Rémi Denis-Courmont
Problem is that you're using streaming output instead of playing.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:20
by joel_graff
Ok. So apparently, it's not sufficient to just choose "convert/save" from the File menu and proceed through the dialogs. I take it there's a setting elsewhere I need to change? I poked through the preferences and nothing jumped out at me...

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 15 Sep 2020 17:26
by Rémi Denis-Courmont
Filters preferences are for playback, not streaming output. This is working as expected.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 15 Sep 2020 19:08
by joel_graff
Right. But the question is, how can I get filters to apply to a file conversion and not just playback within VLC?

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 01 Dec 2020 17:58
by acffilterece
VLC is a media player. It is not a filtering/converting/transcoding framework. Please use FFmpeg for this purpose.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 02 Dec 2020 12:05
by Lotesdelere
It is not a filtering/converting/transcoding framework.

Wrong, VLC also has these abilities.

Re: Converting files in VLC and applying filters

Posted: 02 Dec 2020 21:10
by acffilterece
It is not a filtering/converting/transcoding framework.

Wrong, VLC also has these abilities.
It definitely does, the point I was attempting to make was that that doesn't appear to be its primary purpose and that I personally find FFmpeg to be better-suited for this purpose. Thanks!