Video overlay and playback

[twe]

Video overlay and playback

When culling photos I sometimes accidentally mark a photo for deleteion, and later notice that it was a video file ! The Viewer will only display a still image, and it would be very usefult if Imatch could automatically place an "overlay" on top of all video files so it is immediately obvious that it is not a still image. Ref Faststone Image viewer does this, see attached file.
I know there at lots of technical and legal issues with integrating video players\codecs in Imatch, but would it be possible to just launch the default media player "on top" like Faststone does, and when closed, continue browsing files in the Viewer ? Would that bring up any legal issues ? It would be fantastic if Imatch could handle video files like Faststone does.

As of now in IM2017, the handling of video files are a bit weak, and I suppose more and more of us photographers use mobile phones and dslrs for video recording and have a lot of videoclips to manage as well as photos. Would love to use Imatch for viewing, deleting, labeling videos as we do photos...but it is not easy.

Quick Viewer will not easily identify that a video is beeing displayed, only a still image. Would like an "overlay" on all videos there too. (Like a "play" button overlay)
Example of issues with video in the Viewer:
If I select one photo in File Window and press ENTER, Imatch will launch The Viewer and let me browse all photos...and while viewing photos, if I notice a video file, I hit CTRL+ENTER and it will launch default media player and play the video (great!), BUT the Viewer is now CLOSED and when I close media player, I can not continue browsing in the Viewer, because it is closed, I'm back in File window, and the initally slected photo and the current video file is selected, so if I just press ENTER to get back to the Viewer....I will be in a "loop" of just 2 files...   Room for improvemnets here.

Tried to use annotations on video files myselft, but since I use visual proxies (jpg for NEF files), annotations does not work well in the Viewer.... 
So I create this feature request for better video management with overlays, and possibility for continued browsing in the Viewer aften launching default media player.

[ben]

+1 for videos "run in the viewer"

[Mario]

Why don't annotations work well in the Viewer for Video files?

A "This is a video" indicator would be doable.

The Viewer closees because it is full-screen and the topmost window and would maybe overlap whatever application you launch.
Also, the Viewer consumes a lot of resources while open and can block one or two gigabytes of memory, plus associated DirectX resources on the graphic card.
There are potential issues with exhausting DirectX resources or interference when a user starts Lr or Ps or other 'demanding' application using DirectX directly from the Viewer.

There is no special treatment for specific file formats (e.g. .MP4) in the Viewer. Ctrl+Enter launches whatever application is associated with the current file (as determined by Windows) and closes the Viewer so the user can see whatever app he has launched.

[Mario]

+1 for videos "run in the viewer"

This will never happen. There are so many patents involved with video files, I leave that to open source applications like VLC or KODI or whatever media player is installed in Windows. Pressing <Ctrl>+<Enter> to open/view the selected video from the Viewer or the File Window is not too much effort I think.

[twe]

Why don't annotations work well in the Viewer for Video files?

I work with NEF files and use JPG as visual proxy.  So when trying to use annotations on Video files i get warning "Please disable visual proxies when working with annotations".

I would really appreciate if Imatch would handle video files the way "Faststone Image Viewer" does. Browsing images in fullscreen in faststone is fine, and when a video files is display you get an overlay "play" button, click on that and "Default Windows Media Player" is launced on top, and when closed, you can CONTINUE to browse images.  Why cant't Imatch do the same ? 

Imatch 2017 is promoted with "Improved Support for Videos and Movies.
Video becomes more important all the time. All modern cameras can produce HD or even 4K video streams. IMatch users asked for improved video support in IMatch 2017"

I do not regard the new "animated previews" as an answer to that users asked for improved video support..... sorry.

[Mario]

Please don't write your answers as quotes. It makes them hard to read.

Annotations must be made to the original file, not a proxy. Reason: IMatch stores the annotations linked to the file for which they are created. Especially important for annotation types which are mapped back into file metadata as well.

IMatch 2017 has indeed improved video support. I'm sorry that you don't feel that way. I do, because it can now render thumbnails and previews for much wider range of formats. It has animated previews. It extracts more metadata and can more reliably pull a duration by looking at the actual video frame data.

According to your description the only difference between the IMatch Viewer and FastStone is that IMatch closes the Viewer to conserve resources and unlock files before opening a file in another application (like, Media Player). This means that you have to re-enter the Viewer by pressing <Return> after you have closed the Media Player.

And that IMatch does not indicate that a file is a video by displaying some sort of "play" icon overlay.
His makes sense. But I bet when I just add this, users will complain about the obstructed view on video files. So this needs also switchable.

IMatch displays files via WIC and DirectX for optimal performance. Files currently in the Viewer Cache can thus be locked, Since IMatch closes the Viewer when you open a file from it in another application, this was never a problem so far. It may be when the Viewer should be kept open, though.

Also, the Viewer is configured to be the topmost and foreground window. IMatch would have to dynamically change that to allow other applications to run undisturbed while it remains open. And then undo that and go back full-foreground again after the other app has closed? IMatch would then also need to monitor the other app.

All this is doable I guess. Just quite a bit of work in the details.
Let's see how many users support your request for the "Keep Viewer open" while opening files in other applications.

[twe]

According to your description the only difference between the IMatch Viewer and FastStone is that IMatch closes the Viewer to conserve resources and unlock files before opening a file in another application (like, Media Player). This means that you have to re-enter the Viewer by pressing <Return> after you have closed the Media Player.  open" while opening files in other applications.

As described in original post, after closing media player, pressing <Return> will open Viewer with only 2 images. Only first(initial) and last video image will be selected, so not possible to continue browsing. After closing media player, the next photo must be selected and sendt to the Viewer to continue browsing.

[Mario]

I select 10 files a and go into the Viewer. I navigate to the 5th file and press <Ctrl>+<Enter> to open it in an image editor.
The Viewer closes, all 10 files are selected. The 5th file is focused. After clicking on file window caption bar to make it the active window, I press <Enter> to open the 10 files again in the Viewer. The Viewer starts with the 5th file. Looks OK to me.

But when you only select one image and thus open "all" files in the Viewer, operation is different. The Viewer will keep the initial file and the last viewed file selected when you close it that way.

So you can control the behavior precisely.
Just press <Ctrl>+<A> to select all files (or the files you want to view) before going into the Viewer.
When you then close it with <Ctrl>+<Enter> the selection and focused file remain and you can re-enter it via <Enter> later.