Digital movies and editors -- do it yourself?



   Occasionally, I need to correct a delay in the audio in a video. I have become acquainted with all kinds of software for modifying and playing media such as movies, images, and music.
   Sometimes a video will have an audio track that is not loud enough. I have a software to correct that problem.

   I have installed and used video editors to convert from one file format or codec tro another. My preference, currently, is for Matroska containers using HEVC-x265 compression and AC3 or FLAC audio encoding. The Matroska file trype can contain separable subtitles and audio in several languages. Separable means one or more of any can be removed from the file. All excess language audio tracks and subtitles can be removed for local use. This saves some on disk space.

   I have several Apple iPhones. Sometimes, I use these phones as movie cameras. I used one to make a movie of shadows on my solar panel array. I needed to study the play of shadows to determine the best place, or places, for the array. I also have two iPhone apps. One lets me create a sped up version by deleting sections of the movie. I have another aqpp that places a timestamp on the movie screen to let me know when that particular frame (moment)  took occurred.

   I'm developing a technique and lab to modify one film using another copy of the film. The difference may be in screen dimensions. If a film has a color scheme/palette that differs from one I find more desirable, I want to be able to modify the colors in one film by using the colors in a copy of the same title that is smaller or has foreign audio dub, or some other undesirable feature. The idea is to get the 'best of both worlds' by editing the movies or creating a new movie with the desirable characteristiccs of both.

   In another instance, a movie may have hard coded subtitles. These subtitles, text form of the audio track that appears on the screen top or bottom. Eliminating or reducing the effect of hard coded subtitles would preserve the desirable characteristics of both. This would recquire the ability to slectively, overlay the two movies. A small section of a smaller screenversion can be enlarged and replace the corresponding area in the larger screen version. This would remove the hard coded subtitles. Most instances of hard coded subtitles can be resolved by simply locating the same file without hard coded subtitles. However, in a few instances, perhaps a rare file, only one or two copies different exist. In that case the technique would prove very useful.

   A word on scale. Movies can be watched on many devices. cell phones, digital tablets, laptop and desktop computer screens, and ordinary television. In each case, the requirements of the film screen resolution ( size/dimensions) varys. Larger devices can display more detail. a cell phone cannot display the amount of detail a television screen can. The excess detail can be removed for a phone. this makes the file size much, much smaller. A file that is formatted for a 50" television screen can be between 2Gb and 50Gb in size. After the file is reduced, the size is closer to 100Mb. A reduction of 500 to 1 can occur. This works out well for people who want to watch a film on their phone. That is 10 movies per gigabyte of phone space where a single movie for larger devices typical runs 2 gigabytes.

   Players: Video player software makes thge viewing experience better or worse, depending on the software design. A search of available players will bring up lists of popular software.
   Money: To pay or not to pay. All of the software tools I've mentioned, and more, come in free versions. Some of the free software is better than paid verson. Sometimes, if not more frequently, this is not so. Usually, if one is selective, an equivalent can be found in the freeware/open source community. I donated to one, paid for another, and the software I have settled on, is free.
   Most of the time, I have found free software that equals or excells paid software. I always find something(s) that get(s) the job done.

For those unfamiliar with the details of computing, here is a list of free software that is well done.

Office software
  Open Office
  Libre Office
Audio player
  WinAmp
Image viewers/editors
  Lilyview (no longer available, but one of the most advanced made.)
  Gimp
  Irfanview
  XNView
Video players
  GOM
  POT
  VLC
Audio CD ripper
   EAC
Audio editor
   Audacity
   Nero Video Editor
Video editors
   Microsoft Expressions 4
  AVIDemux/AVISynth
  VirtualDub (.AVI files)
   Windows Movie Maker
Video rippers
   MakeMKV
   Handbrake
   MKVToolnix/MKVExtract
   WinDVD
Notepad programs
   Notepad++
   Scintilla WSCITE (may be legacy by now)

There are others. This is where search skills become handy.

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