Saving Apple Keynote to movie file

[markformac]

There are several postings online recommending VLC Player use to save Keynote speaches. Most say this isn't possible, but it is....I've done it myself.

Here are the instructions if you don't have them.

I have no problem saving small streaming video files. However, when a large (over an hour) video is being saved, I received an error with QuickTime. Is there something I have to do to tell VLC Player the video is complete and to finish the movie being saved?

[The DJ]

What is the filesize of the movie in this case ?

[Vadar[]]

http://macworld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/mw/
It's about 1hr 36 I believe.

from the HTMl, the main MOV is a reference QT file at http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/jan/ ... 50_ref.mov
which appears to contain several objects .. - the stream appears to be in rtsp://a2047.v1412b.c1412.g.vq.akamaistream.net/5/2047/1412/2_h264_350/1a1a1ae555c531960166df4dbc3095c327960d7be756b71b49aa1576e344addb3ead1a497aaedf11/mw_2006_2_350.mov

It is H.264, 320 x 176, Millions AAC, Stereo, 16.000 kHz
'Quality 100' - appears to play at up to 500Kbps but averages much lower. about 10fps on my older, slower g4 733.

I had no luck at all .. with wizards, manual setup - nothing I tried - will read the Poster's Instructions (thank you kindly) and give it a try, however - even though it looks very much like what I was doing - after I abandoned the 'wizard' method').
I appeared to get everything from empty files to codec or other errors if I tried no transcode, QT MOV Wrapper ...raw, not raw... etc etc..

Interesting process, tho : what's the 'timeshifting' box on the open network stream ? When I select http/rtsp etc... the URL goes at the top of the box, yet there's another place for the URL beside the http/rtsp selection box .. - is there a reason ? IN ADvanced output settings, I browse for file. Should I not use the 'raw' box - seeing as it's already QT h264 ? (I don't, then later, do..))and no 'play locally' to reduce cpu load ? (Ditto) when I do this, the output file has a .TS extension (despite me choosing 'QT') and appears to remain at 4KB in size - altho the VLC Controller shows the time passing. - this is true even if I refresh windows, get info on the output or even Dupe the file. - It is as if it's simply saving the QT ref movie not the stream data. etc.. [Thinks: is the file size only going to be updated after 1hr36 ? will I wait and see? maybe not. -
MORE FOLLOWS..

[Vadar[]]

No - I dump the '4K' file to a hex editor. It contains 16 Bytes:"......

I stop the process after a while .. check file size - the same. get info. ditto. But this time, when I dump to a Hex editor it has data! - What looks like a MOOV hdr ... the last few bytes of which are : "avcCMM3ˇ‡


So, I decide to go back, try the 'wizard' method again with various options to see if I can limit the time/file size for the tests .. >90mins each is not a good prospect!...


I *love* this App: it can open/play/get you info on just about *anything* - but I'm obviously going to have to invest a LOT of time getting to know its quirky workings and hidden mysteries ! *grin*

[Apparently, Mplayer (for Mac/*NIX) should be able to do this too ... it looks even harder to Drive - even with the GUIs around...Will have to look into it, anyway.]

I *am* gonna get this bl00dy file...

See y'all in a while

[Vadar[]]

As above,- and set to 'local play' - The summary looks fine: input stream, 1-10, no transcode, QUOTE MRL: :sout=#duplicate{dst=display,dst="standard{mux=mov,url=sat932,access=file}"}"/END QUOTE


it runs just fine. the output is apparently that 4k file again. Hex editor shows the same 1260 byte HDR...

Quicktime reveals: AAC, Stereo, 16.000 kHz
H.264, 176 x 176, Millions time/length zero/zero.

176 x 176! 16KHz - strange ..

[Vadar[]]

I should have mentioned, when it plays/captures to file.. I hear the audio but no Vid window opens..

I show message window and it's full of 'stuff'
Starts:
main warning: trying to send non-dated packet to stream output!
main warning: trying to send non-dated packet to stream output!
main warning: trying to send non-dated packet to stream output!
main warning: output date isn't PTS date, requesting resampling (-56418)
main warning: buffer is 56418 in advance, triggering downsampling
main warning: trying to send non-dated packet to stream output!

Last msg repeats many manytimes ..
then
main debug: EOF reached

a bunch of stuff that looks normal... - just progress msgs about codecs, ffmpeg, etc.. then:
main warning: no more input stream for this mux
some more 'normal' shutdown msgs,

then L
access_output_file debug: file access output closed
main debug: unlocking module "access_output_file"
main debug: unlocking module "stream_out_standard"
main debug: destroying chain done
main debug: unlocking module "stream_out_duplicate"
main debug: destroying chain done
macosx debug: input has changed, refreshing interface
main debug: thread 44097536 joined (src/input/input.c:386)
main warning: Unable to find parent !
main: nothing to play


*shrug*

[Vadar[]]

Fascinating - all the 'wizard' stuff gets you now where - you hear sound, see no vid. resilts are empty/junk.

Open Network stream
works and plays just fine .. UNTIL you click 'advanced output' and choose file.
Then it goes to hell :

" main: no suitable access module for `rtsp://a2047.v1413b.c1413.g.vq.akamaistream.net/5/2047/1413/2_h264_110/1a1a1ae656c632970267e04ebd3196c428970e7ce857b81c4aab1677e445aedc3fae1b4a7bafe013/mw_2006_2_110.mov'
".

Just like that.

I'm on 10.4.4, VLC 0.8.4.

Any ideas appreciated.

[The DJ]

It's not supported to capture H264 streams yet. It works sometimes, but this will be rare.

Also the "local display" should be avoided whenever you try to record.

[Vadar[]]

see, that fascinates me : it can play em but not save 'em ?

Some strange quirk of the architecture ? iT can decode to 'video'/pixmaps but not even just 'passthrough' the data ??

And the

'Also the "local display" should be avoided whenever you try to record...'

was *just* because when yr trying to get stuff to work you try ALL the combos - cos , who knows. right ? - I noticed that The Wiz would often Play local' when I had it OFF and v/v ...

*shrug* ..

[The DJ]

OK, you want the technical explenation... Video packets can have both DTS and PTS.

DTS: Decoding timestamp
PTS: Presentation timestamp

They often differ quite a lot. In order to display things VLC only needs the PTS. However in order to save streams VLC needs both the PTS and the DTS. RTSP streams only send the PTS. For other types of video, VLC can reconstruct the DTS. However H264 is so complicated, that it requires a quite complicated analyses of the video stream to reconstruct this DTS. This is not yet implemented in VLC yet unfortunately.

[Vadar[]]

Thank you for so many things - including the fact that we all have this amazing piece of software to use, thanks in large part to you and other people like you.

I very much appreciate the Tech explanation : [Probably why bloody Jobs/apple switched to 264 ] I *like* to understand things - I used to develop quite complex software myself and can genuinely appreciate what a monster this one must be [ and perhaps also how cleverly its architecture must have been designed for it to be SO 'PORTable' at all..]. I guess I still don't understand why a 'Raw Passthrough to disk' wouldn't be a workable prosepect - or is 'raw' a misnomer: i.e does that mean RAW decoded VID rather than RAW untouched input stream ?? It seems that if the app can read and present the stream as is from the network... then it oughta be able to do the same from the network stream saved to disk as it arrives ..i.e is some kind of 'piping' an option ?

Rusty as I am, I'd really like to set aside some time to study the source, the way it's constructed, how the pieces fit together and so on... I'd even like to help in some way, so I'll check that out too... It probably won't be in code cutting because OO is *not* my thing ... I'm a procedural/structured type - going all the way back to mainframe sytems/OS programming right thru CPM, micros, DOS, peeces, early windoze .. and even early Mac /CodeWarrior (great name, wasn't it ?) ... but maybe i can help out with docs and howtos .. and FAQs, and 'recipes' .. - perhaps even a few 'wizards' a la Cleaner .. - anything that'd make the *power* of this amazing app more useable/accessible for most users ...- Even me : I'd use MPlayer (and VLC, I spose - for more advanced things) a whole lot more if it was even slightly more accessible/comprehensible (without a 4 week study ...

One (friendly) question: why not have a default "I can't do this/that' or 'I don't DO this very well' message ? - in most apps it doesn't matter much but in something like VLC you can invest frustrating *hours* finding that out...

Is there anything other than the 'message' window that'll give me a better User level OR 'debug-type' look at what's going on ? - My last attempt at Macworld-> file (no idea how) yielded a 70meg file .. - that played quite a while - then automagically became a 4k Mov HDR only file again after I closed the App somehow...

Aint life grand ?

Thanks again.

[The DJ]

It's not RAW. you have to write the video and audio into a fileformat for storage.
Our lousy reporting is from the fact that VLC is originally designed as a CLI app for these kinds of things, and for users who know what they are doing.

We are slowly improving upon this. btw.

THIS:
main warning: trying to send non-dated packet to stream output!

Indicates the issue. However by itself it is not a problem (once) however having this on many packets is of course. That's the problem.

[Vadar[]]

It's not RAW. you have to write the video and audio into a fileformat for storage.

Errr .. then what IS 'RAW' - seeing as it's on the same list *grin*
I mean, sure, you have to write in *some* 'format', you're doing that even if you use a hex editor to write random bytes in a way that the Host OS will recognise a 'a file'. But, there *are* plenty of 'RAW' file formats/storage methods it's usually just 'shorthand' for 'whatever comes from the device/network/stream/serial port/thingie...' without being interpreted or altered by the program and whether the App understands it or not - it can be a very useful thing to do because you can use an App which can communicate with X to capture data for a program which *can't* (communicate with x) but which *can* interpret/manipulate that particular type of data. As in : I can use an FTP Client to download a lousy, poorly encoded/formatted Mpeg file full of garbage data and timecode breaks without any trouble. The FTP client doesn't 'understand ' MPEG but I can *then* use a neat program like the Mac OS X MPEG Streamclip (or one of many *NIX and MS Windows™ Apps) to read it, fix the data and timecode breaks and output it in a useful form without recoding/transcoding.. the use here, of course would be to use VLC to capture the raw stream containing (muxed ?) H264 and MP4 audio in a file and then feed the file into something which can interpret it - Mplayer or even Quicktime, perhaps.. That's why I was interested in what 'RAW' meant.

Our lousy reporting is from the fact that VLC is originally designed as a CLI app for these kinds of things, and for users who know what they are doing.

*grin* that's mildly vicious... I didn't describe your reporting as lousy and - believe it or not - I *do* know what I'm doing, most of the time. I've been known to do quite complex things on occasion [drinking malt whiskey whilst doing backward somersaults on trampoline springs to mind ! (sic)] and have even *invented* things no-one else ever did before...I just haven't spent much time with VLC, mplayer and live streams...

We are slowly improving upon this. btw.

Definitely - The wizard is an impressive start - right down to the Warning that it's not a good idea to 'Play local' whilst capturing to file... In my last post (sounds grim!) I said: I *love* this App.

I was actually offering to help - as much as time/resources permit. My programming may be 'rusty' but I have 'writing/communication skills' - from tech docs, user manuals etc, thru speeches, Articles, Stories, training courses - even personally explaining the very complex to the 'general public' in an effective & 'entertaining' way [You ever try explaining 'Dynamically Adaptive MultiCarrier Quadrature Amplitude Modulation and Spread Spectrum technologies in Communications' to the Masses ? *smile*.]
e.g. ATM, if the thing the user's trying to 'play' doesn't exist, they are likely to see something like :
[/quote]no suitable access module for `rtsp://a1215.v14111.c1411.g.vq.akamaistream.net\5/1215/1411/3f8f1f38/1a1a1af156c5f364d84e7cdd4dbd298ebc\1f8efb2a9d0265da4cb1e04fb22655be32a7157aed/windows_ref_300.mov'

If you believe this is a Bug ....

Rather than the more familiar

Error 404 - Not Found
The [whatever] you have requested is unavailable on this server... it may have moved or been captured by alien forces ...

I *know* it'll be there if you open message window, scroll back thru (sometimes/often) a lot of Debug & other stuff but the user is almost guaranteed to simply see "no suitable access module.. exists" and act on that, rather than realising they made a simple typo.

It'd be nice if - as with some other Apps (mostly those which are just 'shell GUIs' for *NIX cmd line stuff) to be able to see the actual command-line string that VPC 'generates' (or would generate) for a particular function & group of settings .. - as in the wizard, say - with it's IN and OUT points and other options. I find this helps me learn more about how the CMD line is used to do different things - because wading thru the docs can get very time-consuming... - maybe there IS a way - I certainly haven't read ALL the docs yet.

In the case of H264 - and perhaps other Codecs/functions not completely supported it'd be good to see a msg like the one you posted : "VLC doesn't DO THIS very well, if at all ATM ...,

Maybe I'll just do a LOT more reding around the Forums, Docs etc, find out how this whole 'project' thing works, see what's going on and see where I might be able to contribute. But gee, I'd sure like to be able to capture those streams to disk....

Thanks again.

[Vadar[]]

looks like I screwd up the placement of the QOUTEs in the last - apologies - I'm sure all will be able to see what I wa attempting .. - this forum software is pain *mean* sometimes ..

[The DJ]

Yes, the problem however with this is that with just 10 devs doing most of the work, there is very little time to focus on things like this

BTW:
RAW means: raw video/audio stream. You can store an mp3 stream raw. However you cannot save video AND audio as raw at the same time with VLC. it would mix them up into one file (which would be kinda pointless). You need to save it to a container fileformat

[Vadar[]]

It'd be nice if - as with some other Apps (mostly those which are just 'shell GUIs' for *NIX cmd line stuff) to be able to see the actual command-line string that VPC 'generates' (or would generate) for a particular function & group of settings .. - as in the wizard, say - with it's IN and OUT points and other options. I find this helps me learn more about how the CMD line is used to do different things - because wading thru the docs can get very time-consuming... - maybe there IS a way - I certainly haven't read ALL the docs yet.

does your response mean

1. there isn't a way to see that "actual command-line string that VPC 'generates' (or would generate)" ??

2. This would be the same answer whatever platform VLC is running on ?

3. you don't need/want any assistance with Docs, Wizards etc. ?

Thank you,

[I really must figure out where the bloody 'edit' function for my posted messages IS ... :]