= Video files =

A video file consists out of TWO seperate elements:
 * container
 * codec
 
The container holds the digitally encoded data and the codec
is capable of decoding/encoding this digitally encoded data.

Veejay supports the AVI and the Quicktime container ,
with the following codecs:

Quicktime:
 * mpjeg,mjpa,jpeg,dmb1
 * dvsd, dv, dvcp, dvhd

AVI
 * mjpeg, mjpa,jpeg,jfif,dmb1
 * dvsd, dv, dvcp, dvhd
 * i420, i422, yv16, hfyu

Raw DV
 * PAL / NTSC dvsd

Veejay can only deal with video files that consists entirely
out of whole images (only I-frames).
The codecs below will only work if all frames are I-frames.
Otherwise, veejay will abort with an error message.

AVI / Quicktime:
 * xvid, mp4v,divx,dxsd,mp4s,m4s2
 * div3,mp43,mp42,mpg4
 * avc1,h264,x264,davc,svq1,svq3,avc1


=== Wich codec to use ===

MotionJPEG ( mjpeg) is the veejay codec of choice for most applications, it gives you a good tradeof between compression, quality and compatibility. If you want speed, use AVI yv16 or i420 while recording to new samples.

Tools that support MJPEG:

 * [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ http://cvs.cinelerra.org/]Cinelerra
 * [http://www.kinodv.org/ http://www.kinodv.org/]Kino
 * [http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/ http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/]Linux video studio
 * [http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/ http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/]mjpegtools
 * [http://www.mplayerhq.hu http://www.mplayerhq.hu]Mplayer, and mencoder
 * [http://lives.sf.net http://lives.sf.net Lives]


=== Wich resolutions to use ===

Veejay can do:
 * pal: 720x576
 * ntsc: 720x480
 * 1/4 pal: 360x288 
 * 1/4 ntsc: 360x240

If you load multiple video files on the commandline, make sure that all files
have the same resolution and audio properties.


=== How to convert ===

Veejay can convert dv video to mjpeg for you, however, I prefer to use mplayer for this, wich has more flexibility.

From "anything" mplayer can play to mjpeg, use:
{{{
 $ mencoder -ovc lavc -oac pcm -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -o <outputfile> <inputfile>
}}}
To scale on the fly, use: 
{{{
 $ mencoder -ovc lavc -oac pcm -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -vf scale=352:288 -o <outputfile> <inputfile>
}}}
consult mplayer documentation about other options, such as cropping and filtering out blocks in video.

a quick hint for bulk encoding a bunch of capture.dv files:
{{{
 $ for i in `ls *dv`;do mencoder -ovc lavc -oac pcm -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -o `echo $i | sed s/.dv/.avi/` $i; done;
}}}
=== What is this dummy mode ===

Dummy mode opens up a 'color stream' to start veejay without a video file.

If you use a video file, veejay will take that file's properties as default settings for the whole session.