Vlc Player Mac Frame By Frame



VLC has the ability to extract the frames from a video and will handle virtually anything you can throw at it. This tutorial will show you how. See this tutorial if you are using an old version of VLC (pre-Rincewind). Create a folder to store your frames and copy the path to it. For Mac OSX/Linux users, this must be the full path (no ). VLC media player requires Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later. It runs on any 64bit Intel-based Mac. Previous devices are supported by older releases. Note that the first generation of Intel-based Macs equipped with Core Solo or Core Duo processors is no longer supported. Open VLC media player and click on the Tools from the menu bar and click on the Preferences.

Downloaded more than 3 billion times, the VLC Player has grown tremendously. It supports 48 languages and is available across all the platform including Linux, Windows, Android, Mac OS, iOS, Chrome OS, Windows Phone and Apple TV. VLC Media Player supports various plugins and is a modular platform and therefore supports, all the video formats. High-res videos are always large in file size, bitrate, frame rate, resolution, and etc. The higher they are, the more difficult it is for VLC Media Player to decode and play the video file, notably on devices with hardware limitation issue, not to mention smooth and satisfactory playback.

While watching movies and playing audio using VLC, the navigation bar is an important tool. It helps us to navigate the media that is currently playing. We can click on a spot in the lengthy navigation slider and boom, we go are closer to the scene that we’re looking for. But this process can be done with more accuracy. We can use the left and right arrows and hotkeys available in VLC Media Player for elegant navigation. In this way, we can efficiently get to the exact spot in a lengthy movie.

Using Hotkeys

We have found that using hotkeys (or shortcuts) is the best and the most effective way in navigating long video or audio files. Suppose, you are watching a movie or listening to a podcast while writing down notes. If something is missed and needs to be re-played, it is not always convenient to pause and go back using the interface’s navigation slider. Well, hotkeys to the rescue.

The simplest way is to press the left and right arrow keys. The left key will take us 10 seconds behind. The right key will take us 10 seconds forward. Pressing them more than once will do the trick. But we are not limited to 10-second jumps. We can actually do very short(3 seconds), short(10 seconds), medium(60 seconds), and long jumps(300 seconds). The length of these jumps can also be defined.

To specify jump sizes in VLC’s interface, follow these steps:

  • Go to Tools > Preferences
  • Click All under Show settings to go to Advanced Preferences.
  • Navigate to Interface > Hotkeys settings
  • Specify the respective jump sizes in seconds
  • Hit Save.

These are the jump lengths by default-

  • Very short jump length: 3 seconds
  • Short jump length: 10 seconds
  • Medium jump length: 60 seconds
  • Long jump length: 300 seconds

The default Windows hotkeys for the four jumps forward and backward are-

  • Very short backward jump: Shift + Left
  • Very short forward jump: Shift + Right
  • Short backward jump: Alt + Left
  • Short forward jump: Alt + Right
  • Medium backward jump: Ctrl + Left
  • Medium forward jump: Ctrl + Right
  • Long backward jump: Ctrl + Alt + Left
  • Long forward jump: Ctrl + Alt + Right

Jump to Specific Time

There are also additional features like the Jump to Specific Time [CTRL + T] (accessible from Playback > Jump to Specific Time) in VLC for Windows. If we know the exact timeframe of the scene that we want to jump to, we can punch in the hours, minutes and seconds and hit go.

Hit Go and it will take us to the exact spot in the media file.

Fine Tuning and Reaching the Exact Frame with Frame Forward

When we are paused in a scene and we know that the exact frame of the video is a few frames ahead, we can use the frame forward option. Just hit the E shortcut key. It will take us ahead one frame at a time. The movie has to be paused otherwise it will be paused after pressing the hotkey. Another way to access the frame forward feature is from the advanced controls.

The advanced controls are brought up by going to View > Advanced Controls. With the frame stepping button, we can do a frame by frame navigation in VLC. But sadly, there is no frame backward button. So, while we can easily navigate ahead one frame at a time, we cannot go back to the previous frame. It is a highly demanded feature but it unavailable in VLC.

Custom Bookmarks

We might not remember the exact scene every time. To solve the problem, there is the Custom Bookmarks feature. When a media file is open, go to Playback > Custom Bookmarks > Manage [CTRL + B].

Ensure that the media pointer is at the correct time. Hitting Create will remember the time in the bookmark. Multiple bookmarks can be set for a single file. Once, it is all set up, close the dialog. The next time Playback > Custom Bookmarks is accessed, the saved bookmarks will be there. Click on them and the video position will be navigated automatically to the previously saved position. But sadly, the bookmarks are lost once the media is closed or when the player is crossed off. It should be thought of as a temporary feature for a single playback session.

Loop from point A to B Continuously

Suppose, we want to watch a certain scene of a movie repeatedly. Let’s say the scene is from 10:00 to 12:22. We can loop between these two points continuously with VLC Media Player.

The feature is accessible from the advanced controls (View > Advanced Controls). We need two points to loop through continuously. Make sure the movie’s pointer is at the right spot. Define the first point or “A” as you click the A-to-B loop button for the first time. After you reach the second point, define “B” by clicking the A-to-B button again. Now hit the same button again. The movie (or audio) will repeat from the defined points A to B position repeatedly. It is an interesting way to watch the desired scene repeatedly in VLC Media Player.

Advanced Tutorial: Playing Multiple Parts/Sections of a Video (or Audio)

With this special hack, we can play only the desired parts or sections of a video in VLC Media Player. It will allow us to skip the undesired sections. It is like the A to B loop that we discussed before but we have multiple parts that we go through. So, we have to figure out the exact timestamps for the start and end times of the video portions.

The output of skipping and playing certain portions of a media can be understood with the above screenshot. Here we are playing three sections. We need to figure out their timestamps in seconds The timestamps for 12:20 would be (12*60+20) = 740. For 13:30, it would be (13*60+30)=810. The rest of the timestamps are 1568 to 1702, and 2716 to 2810.

Vlc Advance Frame By Frame

Now, we open up notepad or something similar. Note down the full name of the video file like video.mp4. Then, we input the following code

#EXTVLCOPT:start-time=740
#EXTVLCOPT:stop-time=810
video.mp4
#EXTVLCOPT:start-time=1568
#EXTVLCOPT:stop-time=1702
video.mp4
#EXTVLCOPT:start-time=2716
#EXTVLCOPT:stop-time=2810
video.mp4

The time points in your video file can be different. The code can be modified as per the requirement. Save the file as play.m3u. Or something else as long as it has a .m3u extension. It will be saved as a playlist file and VLC will recognize the M3U playlist file.

Video

Vlc Frame By Frame Shortcut

Note that the start-time and stop-time values have been changed as per our previous calculations. The video.mp4 line should be changed to the file name like movie-name.mp4.

Vlc Frame Number

Now, put the play.m3u file in the same folder as the video file. Open the play.m3u file using VLC. It will do the trick and play multiple portions of the video in one go. You can enjoy your favorite scenes exclusively from a long movie using this trick.

We hope that the different tips and tricks presented in this post helped you out in one way or another. We have shown you multiple ways to enjoy a good playback session through VLC Media Player. Please let us know about anything related in the comments. Happy playing.

“Can you trim video within VLC media player? I heard that VLC media player could edit videos like trimming video and cropping video. But where can I find these video editing features? How can I trim and crop video with VLC media player?”

As one of the best free media player tools, VLC media player is widely known for not only playing videos from different sources but also practical editing features. You can use VLC media player to cut/trim or crop any videos to create video clips. You could use VLC media player to get the desired video clip out of target video files. However, VLC media player is a little bit complicated for novice users, even some veteran users might not be familiar with these editing features. Some people might want to trim and crop video with VLC media player but have no idea how to do these. Well, in the below content, we would show you detailed steps on how to trim and crop video files within VLC media player.

Part 1: How to Trim Video with VLC?

Firstly, let’s learn how to trim video on VLC media player. VLC media player software helps you cut any video at any point you want from the beginning to the end. This feature allows you to make smaller clips from a big video or cut video songs from playing movies for easy sharing with friends and family. The trimming feature within VLC media player actually makes use of the internal recorder, which lies in the advanced controls and enables you to record desired clips from source video files easily.

Now follow the steps to know how to use VLC as a video cutting tool to trim video within VLC media player in detail:

  1. Launch VLC media player and then add source video files into VLC for playback.
  2. From your normal VLC screen, on the menu bar, go to 'View > Advanced Controls' option.
  3. You could then see a recording button appear above your normal player control buttons.
  4. Play the video or scroll around to the starting point from where you want to trim.
  5. Click the red record button to start recording.
  6. After you reach the ending point, hit the record button again.
  7. VLC media player would then complete trimming video clips.

The trimmed video will be saved in your “My Videos” folder in Windows. In Win 7 it is found under C:UsersUsernameVideos folder if Windows is installed in C: drive. For other OS just visit your documents folder or your user folder and find the default videos folder. You will easily find your edited video there.

Part 2: How to Crop Video with VLC?

It’s quite simple to trim video within VLC media player as the internal recorder completes the recording easily. However, it would be a little bit complicated to crop the video with VLC media player. Well, don’t worry. We here will show you the detailed steps on how to crop a video within VLC media player.

You need to follow the below steps to learn the guide on how to crop a video with VLC media player. Of course, you need to firstly get your source video files ready for cropping within VLC media player.

  1. Download and install VLC media player on your computer.
  2. Open your VLC media player.
  3. Load the video file that you want to crop by dragging your file into the vlc media player or by clicking on 'Media > Open File' and search for the video that you want.
  4. Then, decide on what area of the video you want to crop. For example, 5 pixels on the right, 15 pixels at the bottom, etc.
  5. After deciding on what area you want to crop, now find its pixel values. Go to 'Tools > Effects and Filters' or press 'Ctrl + E' on your keyboard to call out the window quickly.
  6. Once you are in the 'Adjustments and Effects' window, click on the 'Video Effects' tab.
  7. Under 'Video Effects' tab, open the 'Crop' tab to access its options.
  8. Now, adjust the pixel values manually while looking at your video. While you are adjusting the pixel values, you should see the changes that it will make to your video. You can adjust it by typing the pixel values or you can manually set it by pressing the up and down button (it is more efficient this way). After getting the pixel values, write it somewhere because we will need it later on.
  9. Now that we have our values, close the 'Adjustments and Effects' window and go to 'Tools > Preferences' tab.
  10. After opening the 'Simple Preferences' window, tick the radio button of 'All' under the 'Show settings' section.
  11. After clicking it, all the options will be displayed immediately. Now, scroll down and look for 'Video' option.
  12. Then double click 'Filters' to display its sub-options. Now select the 'Croppadd' option, this will open up the 'Video cropping' filter which will crop your video.
  13. In the Video cropping filter and under the 'Crop' section, type in the pixel values that you have written down.
  14. Click again the 'Filters' option, this will display a lot of filters available. Now, tick the Video scaling filter because this is the filter that we will use to apply to our video. After enabling the filter, hit 'Save' to save all your changes.
  15. Now we will save the video that we just cropped. Click on 'Media > Convert/Save'.
  16. Click 'Add' and select the video file that we want to crop.
  17. Select the video and click 'Open' button to load the file.
  18. Now that the file has been added, click the drop-down button and select 'Convert'.
  19. In the 'Convert' tab, click on Edit selected profile. This will open up extended settings.
  20. In the 'Profile' edition, click on the 'Video codec' tab to access its options.
  21. Under 'Video codec' tab, click on 'Filters' option then scroll down. After finding the Video cropping filter, tick its checkbox by clicking it, then hit 'Save' button.
  22. Now, click on 'Browse' button to look for a place to save your file and name the file to your liking.
  23. After all is set, click 'Start' button to begin the process.

After the process is complete, you have completed in cropping your video using vlc media player. After cropping our video file, you may need to revert all settings from cropping to normal. Go to 'Tools > Preferences' option or press 'Ctrl + P' keys in your keyboard. You then need to go to the 'Simple Preference' window, and click the 'Reset Preferences' to reset all the changes that we made earlier. Click “OK” button when VLC ask you for you if you are sure.

Part 3: Trim and Crop Video with Best VLC Alternative - Leawo Prof. Media

You could see that VLC media player is quite complicated to crop video files. Is there an easier way to trim and crop video files? Of course yes. You could use VLC alternatives. Leawo Prof. Media is the best VLC alternative for you to not only play back media files of various kinds, but also edit videos like trimming, cropping, merging, etc. In fact, as a professional media converter suite, Leawo Prof. Media offers more editing features than VLC media player, like adjusting effect, rotating video, adding image or text watermark, applying 3D effect, removing noise, etc.
What’s more, Leawo Prof. Media not only edits video files, but also Blu-ray/DVD movie files as well, regardless of disc protection and region restrictions. Meanwhile, as an all-inclusive media converter suite, Leawo Prof. Media enables you to convert Blu-ray/DVD/video/audio/ISO image files, burn video/photos to Blu-ray/DVD, download online videos, copy and back up Blu-ray/DVD movies, etc.
The below guide would show you how to trim and crop video with the best VLC media player alternative in detail. Firstly, download and install Leawo Prof. Media on your computer.

Step 1: Launch Leawo Prof. Media

Launch Leawo Prof. Media and then click “Convert” button on the sub-menu to enter the “Convert” module.

Step 2: Add source video files

Under the “Convert” module, you could directly drag and drop source media files, or click “Add Video” button to browse and load video files from your computer.

Step 3: Set output format

Hit the button next to the “Add Photo” button and then click “Change” option to enter the “Profile” panel. Choose output format from “Format” or “Device” group according to your needs.

You can adjust the output video and audio parameters like video codec, video bit rate, aspect ratio, resolution, audio codec, sample rate, bit rate, channel, etc. To do these, just click the “Edit” option on the drop-down panel next to the “Add Photo” button.

Step 4: Trim video

Leawo Prof. Media enables you to trim video files so as to get desired video clips. In each loaded video title, click the “edit” icon to enter the editing panel, where you could see multiple editing features on the left panel: Trim, Watermark, Crop, Effect, 3D, Remove Noise, etc. Open the “Trim” tab, dag the left limiter and the right limiter on the playbar to trim video clip and get rid of unwanted clip. You could also set the values of the “Start Time” and “End Time” below. Click “OK” to save trimming.

Step 5: Crop video

Open the “Crop” tab and then you could crop video size to remove black margin or unwanted parts.
You can firstly choose a Zoom style, and then drag the handlers of the frame on the left 'Original Preview' window, or modify the parameters below for an accurate result to crop video size and remove black margins. Click “OK” button to save cropping effect.

Step 6: Set output directory and start converting

Vlc Play By Frame

On the main interface, click the green button of “Convert” and then click the “Save to” option to set a directory to save output trimmed and cropped movies and hit the “Convert” option to start converting. Leawo Prof. Media would save the trimming and cropping effects and output it for you.

You then only need to wait for the conversion to complete. It won’t take you long to get desired video files.

Shortcut

Part 4: Conclusion

With VLC media player, you could play back and edit video files in various ways. However, you could see that Leawo Prof. Media is much easier for you to trim and crop video files. It could also play back video files for you. The amazing thing is that Leawo Prof. Media handles not only regular videos, but also Blu-ray/DVD content. You get better digital entertainment.





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