UX Talk: Amped FIVE's Change Frame Rate filter

The Change Frame Rate filter was introduced into FIVE in 2014. It's functionality is quite simple. You can adjust a file's frame rate, targeting a specific frame rate or a specific time.

For today's post, I have some old files that I use in my Advanced Processing Techniques class. The old DVR that is the source of the class' files only had enough processing power to generate a file that covered 1 minute per camera. Each camera view's recordings were stored in separate 1-minute chunks of data, in separate folders, in a crazy folder scheme. Using Concatenate would be a nightmare as the video files are all named the same.

When creating a proxy file for these files, FFMPEG does not recognize the fps tag in the container. Thus, it defaults to 25fps - which is not correct. Notice the screen shot above. At 25fps, the total time is about 10 seconds. Yet, the file captured 1 minute of time. Obviously, the frame rate is wrong. This type of use case is exactly why I like having this functionality in my toolset. I can manually enter the Total Time value and FIVE will calculate the resulting Frame Rate (ish).

The (ish) - the caveat - using this filter is not without it's problems and pains. Being divorced from the Amped team means I can show you the problems and work-arounds without getting in trouble from the boss.

For this project, you might be tempted to load each 1-minute file, use the new Timeline filter, then change the frame rate as the final step (after using Timeline). The problem here, and the reason I feature this in training, is the high variability in the number of frames within each of the one minute long data files. Thus, I'd want to utilize the Change Frame Rate filter in each minute's processing chain in order to accurately represent time. It's a slog, but it's doable.

If you're a savvy user, you might be thinking, "Hey Jimmy. Just copy the filter instance from one chain and paste it into the other chains." You might think that. You'd be wrong. It doesn't work that way. If you copy / paste the filter, it retains the settings from the source and doesn't update itself with the destination chain's values. You'll want to change the values, but it still won't update. So, it's best to just use a new instance of the filter for each chain.

Another issue with the filter (I'm hoping that all of this gets fixed, in which case I'll post an update to this post) deals with the way in which users enter values in the Total Time field. In the screen shot below, you'll notice that the Frame Rate is 3.7415. I got this incorrect value because of the way in which I edited Total Time. I selected only the "tens" and changed it to zero, the "ones" value was already zero so I left it alone. Doing so caused an incorrect result. To get a correct result, you'll need to select the entirety of "seconds" (or minutes / hours if applicable) and make the change. Yes, I know, this is a lot to keep track of.

Incorrect

Correct

If you've restored the frame rate in each processing chain separately, combining the processing chains with the Timeline filter will be necessary. You might think that doing so will result in a file where the Total Time for each chain will add up to a nice round number in the Timeline filter's results. Again, you would be wrong.

For my project, I have 15 files in 15 folders. Each file represents 1 minute. Each file gets it's own processing chain. Each chain is adjusted to 1 minute of total time. Each chain's frame rate is somewhere around 4fps (see above).  But, in combining the chains with the Timeline filter, the program seems to favor the frame rates. The resulting duration, after using the Timeline filter, is not 15 minutes. It's closer to 14 minutes. Timeline seems to do some simple math in spite of all the work that I did in each processing chain - accounting for total frames and frame rate - ignoring the declared Total Time per chain.

These are the types of questions I ask when validating a tool. They're also the types of things that I check when validating a new build / release of a known tool. I don't assume anything. I test everything. In testing - I found this issue.

Does one frame per second make a difference? Maybe not. But, in my project, the uncorrected difference is 1 minute in 15 - or 4 minutes per hour. That's significant. Given that other filters, like Add Timestamp, rely upon correct timing, yes - it will make a difference.

So, do you process everything and change the frame rate on the combined results?

Or, do you change the frame rate in each processing chain, then correct the results after combining the chains utilizing the Timeline filter? You'll get a different frame rate for each - thus the "ish." Which is correct? Your validation of your individual case will tell you. Because of the variability, my results can only advise you of the affect, they can't inform your results or your experiments other than that.