How-to: Progressive chroma glitching with MPlayer


These are some notes on the procedure to create and record the video glitching effects documented previously: http://oioiiooixiii.blogspot.com/2014/09/mplayer-loop-entropy.html

Software used ------

POSIX o/s (GNU/Linux)
Avidemux (2.5.4)
MPlayer (1.1-4.8)
yuv2lav (mjpegtools)
ffmpeg (2.5.4)

Create video segment ------

1.   Open video file in Avidemux
2.   Disallow all attempts Avidemux makes to improve video editing (regarding frame accuracy).
      - This functionality has been "fixed" in later versions of Avidemux.
3.   Locate section of interest in video, and find nearest key-frame.
4.   Place start point one or more frames past this key-frame.
5.   Select endpoint, making sure the range contains no key-frames.
6.   Save video, with video output codec is set to "copy".
7.   Open video in MPlayer to test it, and include loop forever argument
      - $: mplayer saved_file.mp4 -loop 0
      - audio can be muted by including: -ao null

Capture MPlayer output -----

8.   Create a fifo named "stream.yuv"
      - $: mkfifo stream.yuv
9.   Pipe raw fifo stream to yuv2lav, which converts it to usable mjpeg
      - $: cat stream.yuv | yuv2lav -o glitched_video.avi &
10. Initialise MPlayer with finite amount of loops, and use yuv4mpeg as video output.
      - $: mplayer -nosound -noframedrop -vo yuv4mpeg saved_file.mp4 -loop 100
11. Both processes will end when MPlayer loop finishes.
12. Review outputted video, and delete fifo when done
      - $: rm stream.yuv

Decimate framerate ------

To reduce the run-time of video, allowing a quicker overview of the chromatic changes, the frame-rate of the video can be decimated with ffmpeg. In the example code below, the input video is played at 100fps and captured at 25fps as raw yuv video. Any choice of variables and codec can be used here (except copy).
     - $: ffmpeg -r:v "100/1" -i glitched_video.avi -an -vf fps="25/1" -vcodec huffyuv output.avi



* Steps 8 to 10 do not need to be run concurrently, doing so however, keeps disk space usage to a minimum.
** yuv2lav requires video dimensions to be a multiple of 16 (1280x720, 640x480 etc.). This can be overcome with MPlayer scaling arguments: -vf scale -zoom -x 768 -y 432
*** ffmpeg can be used to convert raw yuv video, however yuv2mpeg produces video in I420p colour space, which is not currently supported by ffmpeg. An ffmpeg solution for everything above would be desirable.

full length (100 loops) glitched video: https://youtu.be/TpIM5Vp00c4
original source video: https://youtu.be/nr_-mARA--8?t=2m18s

Draghi's Political Union



Draghi says "yet", but perhaps more interestingly, also says "Euro area". What of those EU countries not using the Euro? Will they not bask in the glory of the United States of Europe?

source: https://youtu.be/Gu29Hrfu7f0?t=3m29s

Matteo Renzi's English



Matteo Renzi: "My English is absolutely incredible and beautiful ... The answer will be in English; we are destroyed now."

context: https://youtu.be/ID16XyJjJ6Y
context: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

What is a Flashdance?

A flashdance happens when the Abobe Flash plugin stops responding, and your whole computer locks up. You throw the keyboard on the ground and (with much gusto) "dance" upon it shouting: "You fucking cunt! You fucking cunt!"

Europe by Satellite - European Council, Dublin, 13 Dec 1996



Not terribly exciting, just something from my old VHS archives. It's a recording of the holding screen and music for the EbS (Europe by Satellite) live feed of the European Council meeting in Dublin, December 1996. Youtube has mangled most of the wonderful analogue sparklies.

Finding stuff like this (live satellite up-links in particular), was the real novelty of owning motorised-dish satellite television back in the 1990's. All kinds of things were live and unencrypted, like behind-the-scenes at news and sporting events. In the case of Europe by Satellite, live streams can now be found online.

link: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/

Tony Blair, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Putin walk into a bar....

Tony Blair, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Putin walk into a bar, and begin discussing the methods they use for assassination. Tony Blair says: "I make it look like suicide in the woods". Barack Obama says: "I make it look like dangerous driving in the city". Vladimir Putin says: "I shoot them with a fucking gun outside my front door. Fuck you, bastardos! Nostrovia!"