Top 10 Best Video Tools You Don't Want to Miss
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Ombi
Create a smoother end-to-end experience for the users who are accessing your media servers using this simple and straightforward app.
Ombi is a tool designed to help Emby, Plex Media Server, Sonarr and other media servers' users to take charge and host their own user management, request and notification system. Consequentially, if you are sharing a server with family and friends, then you can allow them to request new movies and TV shows via a user-friendly interface.
Enables users who view your content to make requests more conveniently
While the application does not require installation, but rather a simple archive decompression, it is important to note that the developer recommends you do not place in Program Files or Program Data, as this automatically locks the database. The tool can be used as a standalone app, but can also be installed as a service, if this makes all the more convenient for your use.
The idea behind the application is to provide you a simpler user management system that permits you and the users who access your content to better manage the requests. While the users can make requests regarding entire series, TV show seasons or perhaps a single episode or movie, you can offer them custom notifications, for instance. A further noteworthy feature is that users can benefit from a more secure authentication using best practices.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that the tool can be integrated with several popular media servers, including DogNzb, Couch Potato, Radarr, Sonarr, Emby and Plex Media server.
A tool that provides a front-end request system to popular media servers
In addition to making requests to fresh multimedia content, movies or TV shows, the program allows users to post or leave notes regarding the potential issues they encountered. Therefore, you can find out immediately if there were problems with the audio, codecs and other potential issues that you could address later on.
In the eventuality that you are sharing media content via Plex or Emby and would like to manage user access and requests simpler and faster, then perhaps you can consider giving Ombi a try.
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Time-Lapse Tool
An application especially created for both amateur and professional photographers and videographers who want to create time-lapse videos.
Time-Lapse Tool is an application that you can use to create a time-lapse from a sequence of photos located on your computer.
Using this tool, the process is a simple as it can be. To create a time-lapse all you need to do is load your photos into the application, set the framerate along with other settings and you’re ready to export the movie. The interface is very well designed, granting you quick access to all its features for an efficient workflow.
With Time-Lapse Tool you can export the videos at various resolutions in formats such as Apple TV, H262, Windows Media Play 8, MPEG 4 and Motion JPEG. The different export resolutions and aspect ratios that the application provides you makes it very practical for when you need to display the movies on specific devices.
Time-Lapse Tool uses exif data from the images found in a selected folder and is able to automatically group them into sets of photos from which you can create the time-lapse. This is a very practical feature because a timelapse is often composed out of hundreds if not thousands of photos and you don’t want to pick each one.
To be sure you get a quality video, you can use the multitude of effects that the application offers. You can enhance your photos using brightness, contrast, saturation, directional blur and HUE adjustments, as well as pixelate and the popular tilt-shift effect which you normally obtain using a special camera lens.
Time-Lapse Tool also allows you to upload the video directly to YouTube. You don’t even need to add the clip details as the application provides you with the option to set the resolution and enter it’s name and description.
As far as creating time-lapse videos, both from a practical and quality point of view, you can rest assured that Time-Lapse Tool offers both.
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Sayatoo SubtitleMaker
Easily create video subtitles that can be applied to karaoke songs or various other media, with this comprehensive piece of software.
If you are looking for a simple way to create video subtitles for your karaoke songs, you may benefit from an application like Sayatoo SubtitleMaker (formerly known as Sayatoo KaraTitleMaker). It allows you to record lyrics and save them to KAX or AVI files, which can be processed in various video editors.
Import lyrics and audio tracks
The interface has a dark theme that can be changed into a lighter or blue version. To begin with, you can load a TXT or LRC file that contains lyrics for a particular song. You can write them manually within the application, but importing them can save you a lot of time and effort.
You can then load the song you are recording the lyrics for, enabling you to play it while you are recording the subtitles. This way, they can be synchronized perfectly with the audio track. Additionally, you can set actors and determine whether or not their names should be displayed in the output video file.
Edit subtitle layout and add visual effects
Sayatoo SubtitleMaker enables you to arrange lyrics on one or two rows and move them to any position on the screen. It's possible to modify the font type, color and style, apply a shadow effect, as well as slant or rotate the text. It is also possible to add multiple types of transitions between lines and specify which effect should be used to animate the lyrics.
Additionally, the application allows you to insert various types of signal indicators, consisting of a volume icon or a custom image file.
Simple interface, but lacks documentation
Sayatoo SubtitleMaker features a relatively intuitive user interface, which offers easy access to its basic functions. It also allows you to modify various advanced settings, which can be difficult to understand, however, since there is no documentation is included besides some daily tips and tricks. Overall, if you are looking for a straightforward application, designed to help you create video subtitle files for karaoke songs, you should try this.
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Resolume Arena
Create, mix and improve video clips and add new, custom effects that synchronize with the music's BPM by taking advantage of this complex software solution.
Resolume Arena is a powerful and professional tool that allows you to combine audio and video material in order to create high quality visuals for outdoor and indoor shows.
It’s a very well suited application if you’re a performer that wants to add high definition video to audio output. It offers automatic beat matching which enables you to mix multiple tracks together and overlap the visuals.
The interface of Resolume Arena isn’t that of any usual application though it has a lot of similarities to audio production and video editing tools. This doesn’t mean that the application is hard to use, that’s not the case, but you do need to read the manual and put together a few project before you start to get a handle on how you can obtain the best results. And even so, with the large amount efects, features and tools that it offers, it can still surprise you when you think you know everything.
Like with any other multimedia project, you first add the files that make up the projects. Resolume Arena offers you a classic built-in file browser that lets you easily locate videos and tracks on your computer and allows you to insert them using a simple drag and drop action.
Since the application is aimed to deliver impressive live performances it focuses on providing quick access to audio and video effects. The changes can be applied to the entire composition or to a selected layer. For any clip you load, it’s possible to rotate it , change its opacity, scale and position. To be able to do this while overlapping multiple videos, Resolume Arena doesn’t use an embedded video accelerator or enhancer to help you out but instead it relies on your video card.
Resolume Arena offers you a very large set of features which include MIDI and OSC compatibility, clip transitions, crossfading and DMX input.
With the above to consider and much more to discover, Resolume Arena is truly a powerful video and audio mixing application that can certainly help create outstanding performances.
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Cypheros TS-Doctor
Scan, fix and convert a large number of video streams that pass through a receiver, regardless of the recorder format (TS, MTS or M2TS).
Cypheros TS-Doctor is a software solution aimed at those who want to analyze and fix a media stream that is captured by satellite, cable and DVB receivers.
Comprehensive interface
For an application that can remove commercials, verify and clean streams, edit TS packets, demux and convert to MKV, DVR, AVCHD and Blu-ray formats, it displays a more than user-friendly interface.
The main window is separated into ‘Analysis’, ‘Identified Streams’ and ‘Timeline’ sections which provide all the initial information you need about a processed stream. To load a file you can simply drag it over the ‘Identified Streams’ area and once you release the mouse button, Cypheros TS-Doctor immediately starts to do its job.
As soon as it finishes the analysis, it displays results for stream details, garbage, PID, PAT and PMT scans, as well as for PCR, PMT and Start/End checks.
Powerful editing tools
Cypheros TS-Doctor comes with a wide range of tools that you can use to perform various modifications to the source files. One that is definitely worth mentioning is ‘Detect commercials’ which can automatically search for the unwanted interruptions inside the stream in a number of ways and removes them.
If you wish to eliminate a portion that is not identified as a commercial, then you can use the ‘Raw Cutter’ and remove exactly what you want, with high precision. Moreover, you are also able to use a file merger, SRT time changer, TS format convertor and those are just the standard tools.
If you’re an expert on the matter, Cypheros TS-Doctor supplies you with the means to edit TS packets, demux and remux streams and much more.
Process and repair DVB streams
To sum things up, though there are a lot of details to go through, it’s safe to say that if you’re looking for a straightforward tool that can handle a large number of transmission standards, file formats and receivers then you should try Cypheros TS-Doctor.
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Penguin Subtitle Player
Load and play subtitles when watching movies locally or on the web, adjusting the look and feel of the window for minimal intrusion.
It seems that people are less and less willing to download movies, shows or series in order to watch them on the computer, with many resorting to online services that enables you to view a video without too much trouble and especially without storing it on your system.
However, when watching videos in a language other than your own, the need for subtitles is evident, all the more so when the website you are using does not support them, or it only offers them for other languages.
With Penguin Subtitle Player, you can render subtitles independently of the video software, be it a local program or a browser, enabling you to enjoy the movie and understand everything being said.
The benefits of relying on standalone utilities
A noteworthy aspect of this application is that fact that you do not need to install it on your computer for it to function. You can just download and unzip the archive, then run the executable.
An added advantage is the fact that Penguin Subtitle Player can be run from removable memory devices, such as USB sticks, with no traces left behind in the host’s registry, something which will sit well particularly with the IT advanced individuals.
Open and render SRT subtitles independently of your media player
The application supports only SRT format files. It allows you to load a file manually, by browsing through your computer and loading it into Penguin Subtitle Player, or by drag and dropping it onto its main window. A popup window will then require you to confirm the automatically detected encoding type, or select it from a drop-down menu, should it be incorrect.
It will then begin rendering the subtitle, so it is up to you to synchronize it with the video you are watching. Visual features can be adjusted, so you can easily change the color, size, style and font of the subtitle, while the background can have a varying degree of opacity or a different color.
A user-friendly tool for playing subtitles in SRT format
Lightweight as it is, Penguin Subtitle Player has minimal impact on your system resources. It enables you to watch subtitles movies even when a subtitle is not available on your favorite streaming website, and you can customize its appearance with no effort.
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BluffTitler
Create 3D animations and presentations, add them special effects and export them as videos on your computer with the help of this powerful application.
We live in the times in which multimedia content is pretty powerful, and everything needs to be animated and look good. In this regard, BluffTitler is developed as a software solution that helps you create 3D titles and effects for your videos.
Create and adjust text, projection, and light
The user interface of the program is easy to navigate through. You can start a new show, as well as set the background color, show duration and resolution.
Thus, you can easily input text in a box and configure it (e.g. "Center", "Vertical Align Center", "Solid"). Also, you can adjust its position, rotation, font size, color, transparency, spacing and writer (via x, y, z coordinates).
Furthermore, you can switch the layer to camera mode and set options to, for example "Perspective Projection", "Solid" and "Render All", as well as adjust position, rotation and field of view.
You can also go the "Ambient Light" layer and configure its settings (e.g. "Point Light", "Flare is always visible”), as well as adjust light color and position.
Animate your project and include effects
In addition, you can set the animation action for all these aforementioned features, such as constant speed, accelerate, decelerate, pumping, ping pong and none.
Plus, you can preview the animation, create, copy and paste a key, add a picture, plasma or particle layer, attach particles to the active layer, as well as change the picture and effect.
Moreover, you can use the "Undo" and "Redo" buttons, play in full screen mode, create and organize favorites, save and load presets, toggle between the "easy" and "pro" version, export as picture, movie or template, and more.
BluffTitler takes up a moderate amount of system resources, includes a well-drawn help file that keeps the first-time user in mind, and didn't pop up any errors during our tests.
Unfortunately, the free version displays a watermark and doesn't allow you to save a show. Also, the features could have been better organized, so that locating them would be very easy.
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All in all, BluffTitler is a very good application for creating 3D titles, effects for videos. It can be even be used by novices.
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Audials Movie
Try a user-friendly application that allows to convert your media files, play movies and video streams, copy DVDs and CDs, and record video streams, TV shows, podcasts, and many others.
Audials Movie is a high-performing application and video converter that works smoothly, has a sleek-looking GUI, and offers a wide variety of features and options for recording video streams from popular providers such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Video, or Hulu.
Getting started with a multi-feature utility and creating extensive libraries
Installing the program does not impose any difficulty. When starting it for the first time, the tool is optimally configured. Audials Movie is always up for the task and executes queued requests fast — whether you need it for recording video or audio content, for downloading online media resources, or for previewing and converting video and audio (individually or in bulk, with audio extracted separately or not).
One can create separate libraries and organize their video and audio content in dedicated groups and subcategories. For example, you can separate your materials into sections for video streaming (from video streaming services), podcasts, TV (movies, series, or shows), or video portals (such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and others).
Convert, record, re-record, import, and export videos from your collections
Audials Movie offers a lot of options for handling your videos and audios in the most comfortable and optimal way possible. The app has all the needed built-in features for allowing you to play and convert your movies, podcasts, audios, and other videos in different formats. It supports a wide variety of formats such as AVI, AAC, OGG, MP3, MP4, 3GP, WAV, CAF, AU, AIFF, FLAC, 4K, and others. Plus, you can choose your output quality and adjust the bitrate.
Furthermore, you can even copy DVDs/CDs and import or export individual items, multiple playlists, and collections. Selectively, you can split the audio from video, separately save the videos' thumbnails, add and edit the tags of any piece, normalize the audio components by adjusting the decibels, or burn your files to a CD/DVD.
Final thoughts
All things considered, Audials Movie is a truly impressive tool that enables access to a complex multimedia management system. It has plenty of features and customization options to facilitate the download, conversion, playback, and recording of all your favorite movies, shows, documentaries, concerts, or podcasts.
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DCP-o-matic
Effortlessly and swiftly create comprehensive DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) with the help of this intuitive open source application.
Creating a digital cinema packages, or DCPs, usually involves a rather complex step-by-step workflow and can be painstakingly laborious without the right tools.
You could go for the more popular options for DCP creation such as Adobe Media Encoder, easyDCP, OpenDCP, and CuteDCP, most of which are paid apps or you could give DCP-o-matic a change.
DCP-o-matic offers you a comprehensive, open-source, community-powered alternative for creating DCPs using videos, subtitles, images and sound files that can be played on most DCI-compliant projectors from modern cinemas.
Works on all major OSes and comes with support for some of the most popular media formats
A noteworthy advantage stems from the fact that DCP-o-matic is not limited to Windows, as it also comes with support for macOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Centos.
We would also like to point out right from the start that it's capable of working with a wide array of video formats such as MP3, MOV, AVI, VOB, WMV, MKV and a lot of other popular picture (JPEG, PNG, TIFF), audio, and subtitle formats.
Sports a novice-accessible user interface
The fact that this app has been designed to be as straightforward and as pragmatic as possible becomes apparent right from the second you lay your eyes its non-impressive interface. It may not look the part, but rest assured that the app's intuitive layout and its decent feature set make it worthwhile solution for creating DCPs.
There are two, self-explanatory main tabs. The first one is more useful when it comes to loading, creating and manipulating DCP content. For instance, you can easily load all the files required for building your DCP as well as thoroughly-manage various video, audio, subtitle, and timing-related parameters. The second tab, while more simplistic, is home to more advanced features such as DCP settings and encryption-related options.
One of the best open source solutions for DCP creation
Taking everything into account, DCP-o-matic is a very capable and quite efficient piece of software that should come in handy for most users that are not doing this at a professional level.
Best of all, it's incredibly straightforward to use and, to make things even better, a comprehensive manual is available on the app's website, which should help you speed up the learning process by a large margin.
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NukeX
A node-based compositing application that allows you to create complex scripts in order to create high quality multimedia content.
In the eventuality that you are working on projects that require high-quality graphic elements and animations, then there is a good chance that you are looking for a solution that allows you to play around with VFX in a flexible environment.
NukeX is a comprehensive application that provides you with state-of-the-art tools to craft, edit and animate stunning graphic elements using node-based visual effects.
Comes with a stylish and well-organized interface
First off, you should know that the application requires a high-performance computer in order to run and render processes properly. The program comes with a feature-rich, yet well-structured interface that enables smooth navigation between the various composition and editing functions.
The interface is comprised of several panels, including a preview one where you can analyze the effects and modifications you add thoroughly. You should know that the app includes an extensive toolbar that contains an impressive amount of tools to create, edit and render high-quality graphic elements and graphs.
Enables you to write your own scripts from scratch
Thanks to the numerous functions it comes with, the program allows you to create your own image processing operations. Consequentially, you can write the code once and then run it into the application so you can optimize it fully and make sure it works on a wide variety of devices.
Among the tools that allow you to create impressive animations and advanced compositions you can count vector generators, particles, PrmanRender, FurnaceCore, LensDistortions and a fully integrated Camera Tracker, just to name a few.
You will be glad to learn that the program can be connected to the asset management software you are working with, an option that can make the workflow in a team smoother. Moreover, it can promote the collaboration and improve communication among the artists who are part of a team.
Includes a detailed help section and various tutorials
Granted, some users might feel intimated by the plethora of tools available and there is also a good chance that you are not might not know how to use them all. You should rest assured that the program comes with an extensive help menu that provides explainations on what each function does in detail.
Moreover, the app includes quick links to Nukepedia, a platform that contains a knowledge base and various tools that you can find useful for your different projects. Alternatively, you can access the training and tutorials and learn how to create various tweaks for you VFX effects.
An excellent app that supports creativity
In the eventuality that you are trying to obtain some stunning effects for your next game release or you want to make a few edits to a movie or documentary, then perhaps NukeX might be of help.
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