Notes » video

Automatic License Plate Recognition

Alex — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:32:56 +0000

http://sourceforge.net/projects/licenseplate/ (haven’t tried this one)
http://javaanpr.sourceforge.net/ (this one needs to be adapted to US license plates)

Modeling Physically Realistic Human Motion from Monocular Video Sequences

Alex — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:58:58 +0000

Xiaolin Wei and Jinxiang Chai developed a program that tracks human bodies in videos to create animated 3D models (which can then be viewed from any angle). It will be presented at Siggraph in Los Angeles.

Download a PDF or download the video.

Via New Scientist.

Living Room Media Players / Centers

Alex — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:28:09 +0000

The Boxee Box by D-Link

Another option would be to use an Home Theater PC (HTPC), more expensive but also more versatile.
http://www.linuxtech.net/features/best_linux_htpc_motherboards.html has some good tips for building your own.

Viewing webcam (v4l device) with mplayer

Alex — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:56:55 +0000

With my Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000, I use this:

Live video:

mplayer -fps 30 driver=v4l2:width=960:height=720:device=/dev/video0 tv://

Or to grab a single jpeg frame from the command line:

mplayer driver=v4l2:width=960:height=720:device=/dev/video0 tv:// -nosound -vo jpeg -fps 1 -frames 1

Flash crashes/hangs Firefox when switching to fullscreen

Alex — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 06:08:24 +0000

The best solution/workaround I found is to create an executable script (eg: start_firefox) with the following lines (1, 2):

#!/bin/sh export LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/libGL.so.1" /home/alexb/apps/firefox/firefox
chmod +x start_firefox ./start_firefox

Another solution is to disable the hardware acceleration in Flash (probably a bad solution):

Right click on the embedded Flash window inside Firefox (flash video)
Settings…
go to the first tab
un-check “Enable hardware acceleration”

Now you should be able to go full screen…

Here is the version of the software I was using.

Flash v10,0,15,3
Firefox 3.0.5 and 3.5.2
NVIDIA video driver 180.22
Kernel 2.6.27.7-smp

Stream Internet video content directly to your TV w/ VuNow

Alex — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:15:01 +0000

Verismo’s VuNow allows you to stream Internet video content directly to your TV. The MediaMVP was a similar device, but was used to get content off your computer (unless you use something like MVPMC). According to Verismo, it’s simple to use and easy to install. We can find out on December 15th for $99.

VuNow™ Features

Verismo’s VuNow is the only solution that provides everything a consumer wants. Access to the broadest online content, simple to use, easy to install, and compact in size — all at an affordable price.

A Standard Definition and a High Definition model of the VuNow PoD that can connect to any TV
Support for wired or wireless connectivity
Navigation using a TV-friendly and intuitive User Interface
Watch YouTube™ videos on TV by categories
Search for videos with the powerful built-in video search engine
Choose from a large selection of movies and download from CinemaNow™
Download videos using BitTorrent™ protocol
Watch videos directly from popular websites by categories
Watch Live TV Channels from around the world
Access to Personal Media such as video, music, and photos from the home network stored on a PC, Networked Attached Storage device, or even on a connected USB storage device

Verismo’s VuNow

Compile MythTV 0.21 Slackbuild for Slackware 12.1

Alex — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:52:37 +0000

with the latest ffmpeg installed, I add to temporarily move the following directories in my home directory for the MythTV compilation to go smoothly:
/usr/include/libavcodec/
/usr/include/libavformat/
/usr/include/libavutil/

Linux: record a Screencast w/ sound using ffmpeg

Alex — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:05:38 +0000

How to record a screencast with sound from the sound server (e.g.: ALSA) using ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/audio -f x11grab -s 800x600 -r 15 -i :0.0 output.avi

Lights, Motors, Action! (TM) Stunt Show, Hollywood Studios (MGM)

Alex — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:38:31 +0000

Lights, Motors, Action!(TM) Stunt Show, Hollywood Studios (MGM), – Click here for this week’s top video clips

Fireworks at Epcot Center, Disney World, Florida

Alex — Thu, 10 May 2007 23:16:04 +0000

Part 1 of 1

Part 2 of 2

They were filmed on 03/31/07.