[Kdenlive-devel] Default title length

[Alberto Villa]

On Wednesday 31 March 2010 16:29:22 John T. Mertz wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 7:17 AM, Alberto Villa <avilla at freebsd.org> wrote:
> > imho - just imho, as a user - if i'm working with frames:
> > 1. i set N frames and i want them to be N forever. i don't want the
> > program to change them for me. if i want 2 seconds, i would work with
> > timecode 2. it's my responsibility to take care of this
> > 
> > if something has to be done, i vote for adding a notice on profile
> > changing. there is already one if i remember correctly (that isn't
> > really a suggested operation): conditionally adding some text to that
> > one would be trivial
> 
> You brought up a point which I hoped would be quietly swept under the rug
> :)
> 
> I both agree and disagree with this.  Typically, I don't want
> something I set to change automagically.  In this case, however, I am
> curious whether the benefits of storing such a setting in a way that
> can be automatically adjusted for different frame rates outweighs the
> fact that the user would have to set the default setting again within
> the new project settings in order to achieve the desired results IF
> they care about the frame count more than the real time consumed by
> the default duration.  IMO, I think most users will be more concerned
> with the real time than the frame count when switching between project
> formats.
> 
> Personally I think the benefits outweigh the negatives.  In the case
> of video, timecode and/or frame count is a count of time, relative to
> the time base of the video format.  50 frames in PAL has a longer
> duration, in real time, than 50 frames of NTSC video.
> 
> If the 50 frames is stored in fractional seconds, then it will always
> be translated as 50 frames in PAL video, so in your typical working
> scenario, you will always have the 50 frame (2 second) duration that
> you want.  If you switch to 24P or 60i, then the duration will remain
> 2 seconds and the frame count will adjust accordingly.
> 
> Generally speaking, I agree with you and if I am working in a single
> project frame rate, then I want my 50 frames of video to always be
> exactly 50 frames.  But when I look at the bigger picture, really what
> is more important to me is that in a PAL project my 50 frames be
> equivalent to 2 seconds of video.  If I switch to NTSC at 30 fps, then
> I have to go and change the setting to 60 frames to get the same
> duration as I had in my PAL project.  IMHO I would prefer my default
> value of 50 frames to equal 2 seconds in the PAL project, and to also
> equal 2 seconds in the NTSC project, even though the frame count will
> be different.
> 
> Also, you can get in to trouble by just storing frames as the default
> duration.  For example, in its default configuration, kdenlive ships
> with a default duration of I believe 5 seconds for the default Title
> duration.  If this were stored in frames, then it would be 125 frames
> @ 25fps.  However, if the user (such as myself) normally edits in
> NTSC, then I will probably switch to a default project setting with 30
> or 60 fps video.  At 30fps, the default 125 frame duration becomes
> 4.17 seconds, and at 60fps it becomes a mere 2.08 seconds.  To the
> user, this will look like a bizarre default duration to have in a
> video application.
> 
> If kdenlive stores either timecode OR frames, then it has to manage
> getting timecode for either type of value when the default setting is
> retrieved, which is easily doable but would perhaps make it more
> complicated than it is worth.

you must forgive me. i don't know how, but i think i've replied with another 
question in mind :S
what i wanted to say is: i think we should store timecodes
-- 
Alberto Villa, FreeBSD committer <avilla at FreeBSD.org>
http://people.FreeBSD.org/~avilla

	SAFETY
I can live without
Someone I love
But not without
Someone I need.
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