Skipping Unchanged Scenes in Network Camera Recordings with VLC
When it comes to network camera recordings, there are often instances where the scene remains unchanged for a significant period of time. For example, when a camera is monitoring an empty parking lot or a quiet street at night. In such cases, saving every single frame of the video can result in large file sizes, making it difficult to store and manage recordings.
Introduction to VLC
VLC is a free and open-source multimedia player developed by the VideoLAN project. It supports a wide range of file formats, codecs, and streaming protocols, making it a popular choice for playing and managing media files. One of the lesser-known features of VLC is its ability to skip unchanged scenes in video recordings, reducing file sizes without losing any important information.
Skipping Unchanged Scenes in Network Camera Recordings
To skip unchanged scenes in network camera recordings using VLC, follow these steps:
- Open the VLC player and click on the "Media" menu.
- Select "Open Network Stream" to enter the network camera's IP address and stream parameters.
- Once the stream is loaded, click on the "Tools" menu and select "Effects and Filters".
- In the "Adjustments and Effects" window, select the "Video Effects" tab and then the "Crop" sub-tab.
- Check the "Skip frames" checkbox and adjust the "Threshold" slider to set the minimum amount of change required for a frame to be saved.
- Click "Save" to close the "Adjustments and Effects" window and start recording the stream with the selected settings.
Code Example
The following code example demonstrates how to skip unchanged scenes using VLC's API:
#include <vlc/vlc.h>
int main() {
// Initialize VLC
vlc_player_t *player = vlc_player_new();
vlc_media_t *media = vlc_media_new("network-cameras-stream-url");
vlc_media_player_set_media(player, media);
// Skip frames with a threshold of 100
vlc_video_set_key_input(vlc_media_player_get_vlc_instance(player), true);
vlc_var_set_int(&player->p_intf->p_vout->cfg, "skip-frames", 100);
// Start playing the media
vlc_media_player_play(player);
// Wait for the user to stop the recording
while (vlc_object_is_player(player) && vlc_media_player_get_state(player) != VLC_PLAYER_STOPPED) {
usleep(50000);
}
// Release resources
vlc_media_player_release(player);
vlc_media_release(media);
vlc_exit(0);
}In the code example above, the "skip-frames" variable is set to a value of 100. This means that if the difference between two consecutive frames is smaller than 100, the second frame will be skipped. You can adjust this threshold to match your specific use case.
- VLC is a free and open-source multimedia player with support for network camera recordings.
- Skipping unchanged scenes in network camera recordings can significantly reduce file sizes without losing important information.
- VLC allows skipping unchanged scenes by adjusting the "Skip frames" setting in the "Crop" sub-tab of the "Video Effects" tab.
References
-
Type: Software
Name: VLC
-
Type: Article
Name: Advanced VLC Usage - Video Effects
-
Type: Article
Name: Skip Frames Based On Difference | VLC Wiki
URL: https://wiki.videolan.org/Skip_frames_based_on_difference