MLV App - All in one MLV Raw Video Processing App [Windows, Mac and Linux]

[2blackbar]

Sure, its what i did, side by side to unchanged M and 5D2. corrected is last one with HSL settings:

[reddeercity]

rec709 is 16-235, and hows that different from setting Adobe standard and 16-235 output?

Adobe is full range (0-255) (photo color space) there more head room in the mids & highlights  compared to rec709 which is video color space .
Or to say Adobe Standard is very close to Rec2020 (4k video space) but in photo color space there more head room in general
but at the cost of always mind full of your output viewable color space .

My experience is that sRGB works best.

Agreed !
I use a 1080p per-calibrated 10bit sRGB (98% accurate) grading monitor , in After Effect CS6 , FCPX & my go to grading/FX app
Autodesk Smoke for Mac 2012  ,
I use Blackmagic UltraStudio SDI, USB 3.0 for FCPX & A.E.CS6 , for Autodesk Smoke for Mac i use my AJA Kona PICe card
to grade with so i work with either True Apple ProRes 4444XQ (full range) (FCPX), Tiff/DXP and some times prores in Smoke for mac
and last but not least good old Cdng in After Effect from mlv app .
I do wish MLV App. would have support of external monitor though devices like BM UltraStudio etc. ... to a calibrated monitor then i would use mlv app 100% of the time
as it is , i can only use it for low priority work that's not mission critical (i still have high hope for mlv app!)

In my opinion and from experience with Resolve , it does a big disservice to Magic Lantern Raw .
Being trying out Assimilate Scratch , I got a free 6 mouth licence and it way better then blackmagic resolve hands down !

[allemyr]

In my opinion and from experience with Resolve , it does a big disservice to Magic Lantern Raw .
Being trying out Assimilate Scratch , I got a free 6 mouth licence and it way better then blackmagic resolve hands down !

Ok I understand, and I know Resolve is not that easy to setup to get good result, in terms of color and quality. Maybe it depends what camera you have for quality. I can imagine lower resolution then 1080p can get some slight worse result or maybe you record croprec at higher resolution. Good luck with Assimilate Scratch, it was a very expensive software when I last checked. But I can't understand how that gonna be different then Resolve. If you set Resolve up correctly you can get same result as ACR or MLVapp but you can easily cut and edit in it. You can check my latest grade video if you want. The colors is a 100% match to what I see in Resolve and the quality is good I think. Maybe I should get a screenrecording app for Windows and try making a tutorial for all the settings mostly and workflow. Now when I solved my workflow I don't look at buying any other camera then keeping my old Canon.

[ilia3101]

Yes resolve has a huge amount of options, adobe works great by default. You can get good results with both.

[ricardopt]

Hi everyone, one of my main dificulties/weaknesses with magic lanterm is color grading the raw videos, mlvapp has received lots of attention in the color grading "section" but for some like me there's to many options, i know its sacrilege to say "to many options", i find that when i export mlv to cdnglossless or use mlvfs and import the dng sequences in Resolve and Premiere they have a more pleasing color to me, i find it easier to finish the colorgrading from that starting point, the problem is that editing cdng sequences brings my pc to a halt, i dont have any problems editing prores...my question is...is there a way to export to prores "using the color profiles" that are used when converting to cdng?

Thanks

[masc]

@ricardopt: Leave all options as they are for standard. Default is fine. Just use whitebalance/tint and exposure. You should already get a pleasing picture. All other options are additional for special cases. CDNG has no color profile, as it is RAW. If MLVApp already has too many features, you should not use Resolve... 

[ricardopt]

Hi Masc, thanks for your help, Resolve/Premiere/hitfilm/kdenlive/shotcut are not complicated if you only use them to "lightly" edit the footage, for example: cut, stabilize,add title and small color edit, Resolve has indeed a lot of options in the color grading area but apart from that it looks and is used like any other regular NLE.

Will try your suggestions, thanks.

[ricardopt]

Hi again, just figured out what was wrong with the colours...i recorded the videos on a sunny day and used 5600k as whitebalance but i was getting the wrong colour/cast in mlvapp, converting to cdng was giving better results but something was off, after so many tests i decided to play with the WB value in mlvapp and after some tests i found out that using 5600k was the problem, the colours were back to normal if i use 4600k, dont know what happened since i read here and on other forums that 5600k is good for sunny days.

Thanks everyone.

[2blackbar]

Guys its me again with another quest 
I made some tiny customisation of MLVApp code about half year ago:

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     if( m_codecOption == CODEC_H264_H_MOV || m_codecOption == CODEC_H264_H_MP4 || m_codecOption == CODEC_H264_H_MKV )
            quality = 13;
        else
            quality = 23;

And its the code responsible for compressing medium setting of h.264 export in MLVApp but what i would like to do is actually have third option in MLVApp for h264 and probably for h.265, and when i choose this option ( lets call it CUSTOM quality ) then i have a box where i can input my own quality value.
Where should i start ? Probably clone existing medium value and add a window to accept my own number with quality setting.
Its just i have no clue how to add this window that will accept my own values.
Does it need changes in several different places in MLVApp or just in export window code ?

[masc]

@2blackbar:
Small summary: you need to do many changes, in more than just the export window. You need to add a spinbox to the export dialog, then this values needs to be set when calling the dialog and needs to be read when closing it. If you have another setting than h.264 or h.265 (and other than ffmpeg), grey it out or hide it. The setting has to be integrated into preset saving/loading feature.
In MainWindow class, you need another member to hold this value. This value should be saved into registry when closing the app and needs to be read from registry when opening the app. In the end the simple part: integrate this member at the place where you customized already.

So... there is some work to do for this little change.

[2blackbar]

I see, this kind of customized input would be very helpful, is there any other way to do it so i can give it my own quality values to h.264 and 265?
I have the project opened in qt creator.
how to fix the errors ?


Ok its fixed itself i can compile, not sure what happened, and its wrong again, cant open mlv file, its crashing.
I dont know what is it, its compiling without issues, then i copy new mlvapp.exe to folder where older mlvapp exe is with all its required files, but it doesnt work, crashing when loading mlv or crashing when starting program.
Now it compiled properly and opens mlv properly.
I have not clue what the hell happened and wahts is going on.one time i get many errors, other time it compiles fine after i reopen qt creator.

[masc]

What you show are no errors, these are warnings. No problem. Warnings = yellow, Errors = red.

If you compile MLVApp yourself, you also have to deploy it yourself, or you go the same way the official binaries were build. This means your binary needs the correct libraries. And if the application crashs on startup, I am very sure you use the wrong libraries. The binary always needs the libraries of the same version it was build with. The official static MLVApp version includes the libraries in the .exe.
So best bet is to start your compiled binary from QtCreator, because it provides the correct libraries automatically.
In MLVApp menu there is an action called "About Qt" under Help: it shows the currently used libs. These libs MUST be identical to your compiler settings in Qt Creator.

[2blackbar]

I cant see any libs mentioned in mlvapp help - about qt

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How to make the exe to be 25MB , mine is only 6 MB , all i did was opening mlvapp.pro  file in qt creator and change to release on bottom then hit the hammer
that compiled with warnings but just 6mb, where in the source are these libs mentioned ( so i can look them up )that make up 25mb file mentioned? Id like the file to be 25MB and be self contained.
Currently master branch hangs on opening mlv file, i copied it to old folder with libs for 1.9 release ( i skipped 1.10 and 1.11 but they dont have any libs in zip, theyre self contained 25mb files )
Looks like the dlls files are version 5.13 , i have QT 5.14
Im downloading 5.13.1.0 , hope this will help but id prefere to learn to adapt to new qt versions.

[masc]

This is how the dialog looks here. I have 5.11.2 here, you'll have a different one. Look just one line above your quote.

If you use a standard Qt version, then all is right you get. You should get around 6MB. The libs are mentioned in the .pro and Qt automatically knows what .dll to use. There is a deployment application (command line) in Qt to automate the copy process of all necessary dlls.
The 25MB version is static. You have to build/compile your own Qt framework for that. Bouncyball did that on Linux for crosscompiling the Win64 version. I failed when trying the same. In the end this was too much work for the same result for me. For the official releases it is nice to have.

[2blackbar]

yeah i have 5.13.1 in about qt, but i have this issue only with master for 1.11 , i got 1,10 and 1.9 sources , they compile fine without errors on opening mlv files , they just dont have transocde that i need for dngs.
I have installed QT 5.14 and thats i compiled with qtcrator from that version, but im downloading 5.13 , i dont know if it will help.Strange that 1.10 works and 1.11 doesnt.
Ah from folders in qt i see its qt 5.12 , not 14 like it shows in qt creator.Anyway we will see if 5.13 will help.

[2blackbar]

It didnt help, still crashing when opening MLV file in compiled 1.11 , something must be very different between 1.11 and 1.10 because compiled 1.10 works fine.
Wheres the list with required files  that are used with 1.11 ?
IT says that 1.11 is using QT version 5.9.1, its 6 hours of downloading for me, is it gonna make a difference ?

[masc]

I don't really understand what you do. You downloaded the tagged source code from 1.11, 1.10 and 1.9? Or the master?
Currently I would recommend to not try the master, because we started some new development and nobody tried it on Windows yet. The tagged sources of the official versions can be compiled and we know they work.
The Qt version you use don't really cares. As I already wrote, the toolchain version must be identical to the used libs next to the exe file. I know it works with 5.6, 5.7, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11 and 5.13, because I tried compiling and tested it without problems (5.10 and 5.11 bring some minor graphic problems). Do you start the application from QtCreator with the green triangle button?
If the application crashes at some point after showing the GUI: try to compile a "Debug" version and start with debugger (the green triangle with bug button). It is able to tell us the line of code of a crash.

[2blackbar]

Yup, downloaded source of 1.11 from releases page, same thing after compilin 6mb file and copying it to folder where 1.10 and 1.9 is and works but that 1.11 exe is not working , hanging when opening mlv file.
There is definitely something very different in that 1.11 release. Without knowing what it is or what files are embedded into 25mb version im stuck.
Unless someone has dlls for 6mb version of 1.11 exe.
So.. i will do this, i know there was 1.9 version that had transcode and import which was remoevd for 1.10, i will compile that one, cause i compiled it before.Cant compile 1.11 succesfully for now.
This turned it off ?

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    if( !QFileInfo( QString( "%1/raw2mlv.exe" ).arg( QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath() ) ).exists() )
        ui->actionTranscodeAndImport->setVisible( false );
What i wanted to have is most recent version with transcode and import but changing h264 quality so medium is at 20.But i have to settle for 1.9 or edit that code above myself for 1.10
Yeah that was it, i changed that line to true in 1.10 build.

[Luther]

Master might be broken on Windows. I've tried multiple configs and still wasn't able to compile. Some notes for reference in the future:
- Fist error was not detecting clang. Just install using chocolatey.
- You have to change the default compiler. Go to Tools > Options > Kits. Then click on the one you're using and choose the C and C++ compiler.
- Chocolatey doesn't seem to create PATH Env to clang binaries. You have to add manually.
- Second error: float.h is not up-to-date in MinGW binary release (it seems). I replaced it using this version and it worked. The path to the original is something like "C:\Qt\Tools\mingw730_64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include"
- Third error: the debugger failed. Don't know if it was specific to my machine. I tried directly linking lldb instead on the 'Kit'. The path to it is "C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin\lldb.exe"
- Some people pointed to use the mkspec called "win32-clang-g++". Just update on the 'Kit'.
- After all that, still multiple errors while compiling. Before I got angry and gave up, I tried to read some of the debug messages. Tried to change from clang.exe to clang-cl.exe (which seems to have better compatibility for some reason). No success. The issues seemed to be related to the linker, because way too many libs were not recognized. So I tried to find to find a way to use LLVMs own linker (lld), but I couldn't find a way to make qtcreator use it (or cmake, I dunno).


Windows is such a piece of shit for developing. QtCreator is bloated and buggy. Such a nightmare. I miss when software used to just be easy to compile as writing "sudo make".

[masc]

Yup, downloaded source of 1.11 from releases page, same thing after compilin 6mb file and copying it to folder where 1.10 and 1.9 is and works but that 1.11 exe is not working , hanging when opening mlv file.

Maybe I did not write it clear enough: don't copy it anywhere for testing! Start the compiled application using QtCreator!!! And you did not write anything about the content in those folders. If just one library file in your folder is missing or has the wrong version it will crash the application!!! So: don't do it. Not for the beginning!

There is definitely something very different in that 1.11 release. Without knowing what it is or what files are embedded into 25mb version im stuck.
Unless someone has dlls for 6mb version of 1.11 exe.

I think I explained alredy: 6MB = dynamic version, 25MB = static version. You use a dynamic framework, so you can get only a 6MB version. The dynamic exe WON'T / CAN'T WORK in the folder of a static version!

This turned it off ?

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    if( !QFileInfo( QString( "%1/raw2mlv.exe" ).arg( QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath() ) ).exists() )
        ui->actionTranscodeAndImport->setVisible( false );
What i wanted to have is most recent version with transcode and import but changing h264 quality so medium is at 20.But i have to settle for 1.9 or edit that code above myself for 1.10
Yeah that was it, i changed that line to true in 1.10 build.

These lines only switch an action invisible if the necessary file raw2mlv does not exist. If you delete the lines, the action will be shown but it can't work if raw2mlv isn't there. Changing to true makes no sense either.

Master might be broken on Windows.

The latest changes were made for Unix only. Windows support comes later, if it doesn't work out of the box. Better play with official 1.11 for now. (Edit: master compiles and works without problem also on Windows 32bit, while 64 bit produces a crash on startup)

@Luther: if you just install Qt with mingw32 or mingw64 you don't have to change anything in settings for beeing able to compile MLVApp. MLVApp project is made for working with QtCreator standard settings on Windows.

Windows is such a piece of shit for developing. QtCreator is bloated and buggy. Such a nightmare. I miss when software used to just be easy to compile as writing "sudo make".

Windows... yes, but that's nothing new. QtCreator is one of the best environments and works like a charme, as long you don't destroy the settings. Where is the problem to open a project and hit a compile button. Sorry. Even typing "make" is more difficult. And you can do that in command line instead using QtCreator, if you like, and you will come to the same result.

[reddeercity]

Problem with mlv app 1.10 back to 1.8 on windows 7 , keeps crashing on export of dng's in fast pass or lossless .
I can render a  file to prores  or any compressed format etc. ... but for the last 2.5 hrs I've tried all version to  get any dng out .
It on 1x3 from my 50D , I import the file thought the menu in MLV App. adjust w/b & black level and then stops working on export
even lockup my desktop , had to reboot to get back to windows7 . It did export once the 1x3 50d file but exported as 1376x576
instead or 4128x1776 , the 1x3 file is 1376x1776 .

I have no problem exporting the 1x3 dng's with mlvfs quick mount , so  there's no problem with the file .
this has happen before with files from my 5D2 when i couldn't export dng's  in fast pass or Lossless
in either 3x3 ,  1x1 or 3x1 but that was when i was doing drop & drag on the mlv app. GUI window .
When I started to import thought the drop down menu that problem stop . Now on version 1.10->1.07
i'm finding this problem again on my 50D now , I just wanted to export the 10bit dng's with the 1x3 flag so i can work in A.E.
I can export with mlvfs , but the files get too bloated (10->16bit) or i can use mlv_dump to get the 10bit dng's but i
would like to get them out of mlv app because it's much easier .

Here 8 Crash Log's MLV_App_CrashDumps.rar
from different version from 1.70 to 1.10 on Windows 7Pro , AMD 8350 8 core , SSD OS , 8 GB Ram , 2x 580GTX video cards .
I tried off the USB 3.0 CF Card Reader also tried from a spare ssd work drive (500GB) Sata 6 and tried from SSD OS to Work SSD drive still no Joy .
 

[2blackbar]

Interesting details, Im kinda OK now as 1.10 works for what i want , raw2mlv and transcode in it works too.
masc 1.11 works when debugging, doesnt crash on opening mlv but where from now? How do i get proper dlls for 6mb version 1.11 thats deployed, i have these dlls but they work for 9 and 10, not for 11, even if all 3 are compiled bythe same QT in the same day .
I opened MLVApp 11 in dependency walker but well, is there a way to automate getting right dlls ?

[masc]

@reddeercity: I can't find any problem exporting DNGs here. Works without problem, also for 5D2 MLVs with the settings you mentioned. Could you please upload a small MLV which makes problems for you? Would be cool for analysis.

@2blackbar: You find the libs in the Qt intallation folder. But it is better to use windeployqt (a command line Qt tool which automatically deploys your project).

[2blackbar]

Ill try this trick, copy all dlls, run mlvapp and then try to delete all dlls, it will leave the ones in use
https://wiki.qt.io/Deploy_an_Application_on_Windows
Also did

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windeployqt --dir E:/mlvap  E:/mlvap/MLVApp.exe
Then copied missing dlls manually like vcruntime from mlvapp 1.10
maybe that the issue? whre should i get vcruntime dlls  from, its c++ but how to find the right ones
--
didnt work.Ill pass for now.

[masc]

@2blackbar:

You can automize it with QtCreator. Build a custom process step like this:


All is deployed with that, when trying to start the app via Creator. Just one single lib is missing: libgomp-1.dll. You'll find it in C:\Qt\Tools\mingw730_64\bin