If I have an MP4 video file, can it skip the conversion process and load directly into Opus?
Yes. Opus will accept a single MP4 file which can be uploaded directly, skipping the conversion process. You could either convert and concatenate the native files you have offline, or get the videographer to send across a single MP4.
In order for the Video & Audio to play and sync in the browser, and for designation clips to get exported correctly, we must ensure that the MP4 file has the correct codec/format before uploading. At present, this is a .mp4 with AAC audio & H.264 video codecs. Please note that the MDB file is still required to ensure the video syncs after upload.
Once you have the single MP4 file with the correct codecs, you can drag and drop the file into the Video Upload dialog - and choose “Skip transcoding for playable MP4”.
NOTE: the dialog will not accept multiple MP4 files; it needs to be a single file in order for the "skip transcoding" option to be selectable.
After clicking ‘Upload’, the file will upload in the dialog as normal, and after it completes, it will confirm completion with the following message:
NOTE: It can take some time after the upload completes for this message to show, depending on the file size. It is important to wait for this message, otherwise the video will not get added to the transcript correctly.
BEST PRACTICE: There are a number of tools out there that allow for the conversion and concatenation of multiple files into an .mp4, should you wish to perform the conversion offline yourselves. As stated above, it is important that the output file has the correct codecs and retains the quality of the original files. Opus 2 Support uses ffmpeg in house (which replicates how Opus functionality converts the files), which we run on Linux. We are happy to send you the commands and automated script we use for this. (We use these options: -y -vcodec libx264 -x264opts bitrate=768:keyint=30 )