Startup Idea: Video Transcoding Application for Freelance Videographers
Hi there. I'm a freelance videographer who's been working in the field since 2009. (I previously sent you an idea about syncing video and sound hat's recorded separately with newly-cheap DLSR camera technology.)
One big pain point in a low-budget filmmaker's workflow is video transcoding. Often, folks have multiple cameras and camcorders in one shoot when they want to have more than one shot. Or, they'll use footage from different cameras. When it comes to importing all of the footage from the cameras into the editor, there can be a big headache. This is a huge and pervasive problem that I've continually looked for software and learned computer skills to cope with since I've done this work.
The cause is that each camera and camcorder manufacturer uses their own godforsaken proprietary video format (and hardware and even connecting plugs in some instances - Sony, I'm looking at you!) and there does not exist one simple solution for getting video into an editor. Some formats can go in their raw state straight into the editor without problem; more commonly, you have to either use a capture software - with Final Cut Pro 7, an example of the last generation of professional video editing software, you had a 'capture' function that could do some transcoding on the spot to import but this did not cover all scenarios. There's a range of free software to meet this need - Mpegstreamclip is by far the best, vlc sometimes useful, I've resorted to ffmpeg as well and had to learn some command line for that. It's not super accessible and still doesn't cover all scenarios.
With Final Cut Pro X, they've improved the ease of importing footage, eg, DSLR footage goes in seamlessly now - but I've still run into headaches with it. Now and again I'll have some footage that's totally intractible to my existing tools and I have to spend hours looking for a solution. Often these are less ideal solutions and don't allow me control over video parameters such as frame size, video and audio bit rate, codec, container, and interlacing. It's so frustrating.
The ideal solution would be a video multitool priced right for low-budget filmmakers that aren't going to drop a load on really expensive tools. capable of taking videos and allowing custom controls over.