Digital Video Thumbnails Tool

[Mike Lee]

Hey, that even surprises me! I've never attempted to process so many files at one time. Strange though, I had set it up to create a 4x4 array, not two columns as you describe. That kind of thing can happen if I don't have a sample video file to experiment with. But as long as you're happy...

Might I know what kind of camera(s) these files originated from, so that I can put them on the "supported" list? Thought maybe I should be documenting that kind of thing.

[David Rice]

I just finished the 436 Gig hard drive. About 60 hours of HDV 1080 60i. video. Thumbnail Tool created all the thumbnails for all the video in 33 minutes!

Camera's:

Canon Hv10
Canon Hv20
Canon Hv40
Canon Xh-a1
Canon EOS 60D .mov

Video 1080 60i, 24p and 30p and .mov

Are you sure you want to give Thumbnail Tool way?????

Dave

[Mike Lee]

I'll say it too, WOW. The job is done. I bet you never expected to do that so easily. I know who to use as a reference should anyone else want to know how well, or how fast, it works.

[David Rice]

OK, I finally made it choke. Sony XDCAM MXF will not work. I had a few MXF files from a XDCAM I borrowed once.

Dave

[Mike Lee]

I expected that eventually you'ld hit upon a codec it couldn't handle. You sure have used a number of different cameras over the years. Is there anything else I could possibly do for you, or are you satisfied with what you have?

[David Rice]

I have done all my HD which was shoot over the last six years. I have a hard drive somewhere if I can find it, that has all my old VHS,super vhs, and dv digitized in avi files. When I find it, I'll let you know how it did.

With batch processing of large folders of video at one time. It doesn't take long to create thumbnails. It's so much easier now to find video clips, it's unreal.

Could I offer your Thumbnail Tool from my Alaska Video Blog at alaskavideo.blogspot.com?

Thanks!

Dave

[Mike Lee]

Dave,

This is a real success story. Certainly, feel free to make it available on your blog. I need to first come up with a generic version (without an artist name in the metadata area). I suppose that if a user date/caption stamps his thumbnails he could always enter his name at that time. I'll give you a download link when the generic is available.

It sounded as if you REALLY needed this tool!

Mike

[David Rice]

I'll wait for the generic.

Dave

[Battle Vaughan]

Thanks for doing this, Mike! Man's a genius!

[Mike Lee]

Dave,

The generic version, like the original demo, but without my name stamped in the metadata area.
Updated the help file, minor tweaks.

Movie Thumbnailer Express setup.zip - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

An actual sample: 3740d.jpg at Free Image Hosting

Battle,

Thanks a lot for the compliment. That means something to me.

[Battle Vaughan]

Question: if you want to create a file of jpegs from finished work stored on dvd's, where would the files go? I tried it, program said the thumbnails were done, but (because it is a closed disk) they couldn't be written back to the disk they came from....where did they go? If into limbo, would you consider adding an output-file-designation feature?

I can see making a synopsis disk of just thumbnails, which could serve as a directory for a larger filing system....

[Mike Lee]

Battle,

You surmised correctly, they went into limbo. Actually I hadn't considered that scenario, although I should have. I will work on offering an output directory option, or at the very least, a dedicated folder in the My Pictures folder. Thanks for the suggestion. That's exactly why I need feedback, I can't think of everything myself!

Mike

[Battle Vaughan]

Ahh, you did the heavy thinking, we're just complicating your life.....!

[Mike Lee]

Battle,

I've created a new version which does allow you to save thumbnails in "My Videos\Thumbnails" It will create this folder automatically if you choose to save to that location, versus the source folder. Also, there are now two versions, one for XP and one for Vista/7. This was necessary with this new version, to keep user input to an absolute minimum. The Vista/7 version is available from the previously posted download link. The XP version will be available soon.

I like it, hope you do too. If only Dave's success can be mirrored by other users...

Mike

[Ralph Gereg]

Hi Mike, This is an aewsome tool you've created! I've been looking for something very similar to this for a verrrry long time! :)

I just have a couple of questions for you....

1) how do you access the help file?

2) in the generic version (as per your quoted post), can I change it to more than just the two thumbnails created? I'd personally like to select say 4 thumbnails... perhaps 1 at 1/4th, 1/3, 1/2 and then 2/3 into the clip? As a suggestion though I'm not sure how much effort it would be to produce... perhaps a setting to allow the user to modify how many clips are taken and at what percentage into each file the thumbnails should be taken from.

Again, this is an awesome tool... thanks so much for sharing it!

Originally Posted by Mike Lee

Dave,

The generic version, like the original demo, but without my name stamped in the metadata area.
Updated the help file, minor tweaks.

Movie Thumbnailer Express setup.zip - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

An actual sample: 3740d.jpg at Free Image Hosting

Battle,

Thanks a lot for the compliment. That means something to me.