41

Note- This is not a duplicate. This question, as it says in its title, is specific to VLC. The other question is a general question about video playing programs generally. So, not a duplicate

I am trying get milliseconds shown in VLC.

I read that I should download this extension http://addons.videolan.org/content/show.php?content=149618

(there was a download link on that page, not sure if it's quite right, like I don't know if I downloaded some lite version that I shouldn't have but I downloaded this)

http://addons.videolan.org/CONTENT/content-files/149619-time-lite.lua

and put it in "VideoLAN\VLC\lua\extensions" creating the extensions subdirectory if it doesn't exist. I did that.

closed VLC, started it again.

It is listed under the View menu. I notice it doesn't get checked. even when I click it - I don't know if it should. The same is true for the VLSub extension below, it doesn't get checked when clicking it. Maybe that is normal and extensions are already enabled.

But my problem is, it doesn't show miliseconds, which is what i'm after.

VLCnomillisecondsscreenshot

barlop
  • 23,380
  • 43
  • 145
  • 225
  • I can only suggest you email them direct? I'm sorry I can't help, or tell you anything but the obvious :( – Dave Feb 10 '14 at 09:38
  • 3
    Possible duplicate of [video player that shows milliseconds](https://superuser.com/questions/964808/video-player-that-shows-milliseconds). Flagged this question because of this review: https://superuser.com/review/first-posts/670683 – Ramhound Jul 06 '17 at 22:14
  • 4
    AT Ramhoudn And as for the contents of their now deleted post/answer, which you reviewed, It basically says MPC is much better That's subjective and factually wrong. Better at some things, sure. But VLC has always been good at supporting a wide variety of formats, and i've found it open things when MPC can't.. So the idea that MPC is just better full stop in every area leaving no reason to use VLC.. is a)Very subjective by this site's standards, so not considered a fact on this site and b)It's wrong! VLC can be better in some ways, just as MPC can be better in some ways. – barlop Jul 06 '17 at 23:44
  • 1
    This seems ridiculous that you need an extension to see milliseconds in a video player. – wisbucky Aug 11 '21 at 03:44

6 Answers6

8

With VLC, I have found two approaches for determining milliseconds.

Approach 1. Addon: Jump to time (Previous Frame)

  • Install Jump to time Previous Frame via the macOS menu VLC > Addons Manager or the Ubuntu menu Tools > Plugins and extensions > Addons Manager tab > Extensions. In VLC 3, click the "Find more addons online" button. The online install page is addons.videolan.org/p/1154013.

    Note: Jump To Time version 3 extension may need to be manually installed. At this time (2023.02.23) the Addons Manager is installing version 2.1.

  • Restart VLC.

  • Use the menu is under VLC -> Extensions -> Jump to time (Previous frame) to open the dialog below depicted. [Note: older VLC placed the extension under the View menu.] The Jump to time (Previous frame) Get time >> button updates to show HH:MM:SS,mmm.

    (Note: this is a different dialog then Jump to time in the Playback menu).

enter image description here

Approach 2. Calculate/Estimate

One can estimate milliseconds based the MM:SS that is displayed as follows:

  • Stop slightly more than one second prior to the point of interest.
  • Use the Next frame e hot key to count frames after when the seconds display changes values to the point of interest.
  • Use the Frame rate from the Media Information Window > Codec Details tab to convert to an approximate milliseconds value.
  • frame_count / frame_rate = 0.mmm seconds
    The margin of error will be: 0.5/frame_rate = 0.mmm seconds
marc-medley
  • 437
  • 1
  • 7
  • 11
  • 1
    On newer versions of VLC for macOS, the menu is under VLC -> Extensions -> Jump to time (Previous frame) v2.1. – ThomasW Jun 12 '19 at 06:47
  • 3
    For others looking at the `Jump to Time` option. I tried it (v2.1). Its interface is messed up. Moving the video to 1 second mark (00:01), it tells me I am at `288:53:20,000` (could be off a little each time. Apparently, it means `288 hour, 53 min and 20 sec`. – some user Jan 25 '21 at 01:46
  • 2
    This does not work. Several hundred milliseconds of real time correspond to several hundred hours in the `Jump to time` user interface. – BurnsBA Jun 28 '21 at 17:34
8

Maybe an alternative solution for some people. Instead of VLC, import the video into avidemux. It shows milliseconds:

enter image description here

and you are able to jump from Keyframe to Keyframe:

enter image description here

mgutt
  • 858
  • 1
  • 14
  • 29
8

According to mederi, the author of the Time extension, the var.add_callback( ) and var.del_callback( ) Lua functions are no longer available in VLC 2.1.

Unless VLC is patched to add the removed functions the script will not work as written.

earthsound
  • 116
  • 4
  • I'm successfully using the Time extension (v.3.2) with VLC 3..011, fwiw. However the Time extension seems rather buggy (it gives me two different time values for the same frame depending on how I jump to that time... ugh). And the `[En]` format specifier doesn't work consistently either (I looked at the source-code of the extension and it's using a very wrong method for implementing time format strings, ugh) – Dai Nov 02 '20 at 05:49
3

(It looks like the extension works again nowadays.)

Download Time v3.2 extension from its homepage: https://addons.videolan.org/p/1154032

Extract the contents of Time_v3.2_(intf).zip to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\

Start VLC > then in the menu View > Time v3.2 (intf) > click on Start.

Then restart VLC, play a video and enjoy the miliseconds precision info :-)

Stano
  • 141
  • 3
  • 1
    that is so ugly https://i.imgur.com/e9mTCxb.png and then it starts overlapping and if you pause and push the left or right arrow then it turns into this https://i.imgur.com/ElpAzYb.png – barlop Aug 22 '20 at 16:20
  • ugly... maybe a little but you can change the format/position of the timestamp so it works well enough. – alv Oct 11 '22 at 09:06
  • Change font appearance in the VLC > Preferences > Subtitles / OSD settings. – marc-medley Feb 26 '23 at 00:03
2

Here is an alternative that works much better if you need to notedown multiple timestamps.

  • Open the video
  • Open Window > Bookmarks
  • While viewing the video, click Add and you can even Edit to name it appropriately
  • Repeat until you identified all timestamps (see screenshot).
  • At the end use File > Save Playlist" to save it as an m3u file
  • Look for a line like this in the m3u file: #EXTVLCOPT:bookmarks={name=1,time=1085.800},{name=2,time=1286.050},{name=1,time=1385.050}

Bookmarks window

Update:

To help find the Window > Bookmarks menu, here are a couple of screenshots on how the menu looks on my system when VLC (I got it from official site and installed no plugins) is opened:

Screenshot of menu bar showing Window:

Menu bar

The expanded Window menu showing Bookmarks:

Window menu

haridsv
  • 649
  • 1
  • 8
  • 18
  • where is window..bookmarks?! Not in VLC 3.0.11 https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wt8Zw.png – barlop Jan 31 '23 at 21:01
  • I am using `3.0.17.3` on Mac and I see `Bookmarks` under the top level menu called `Window`. What OS are you using? – haridsv Feb 01 '23 at 10:05
  • Win7, but VLC on win10 would be same. It'd be more useful if u included a screenshot showing where it says Window, so we can see what other items there are alongside that menu option. Look here I just looked for an img of VLC on google images https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#/media/File:VLC_media_player_3.0.12_(released_in_2021-01).png and I don't see "Window". Can u include a screenshot like I did in my first comment? And btw this is the window menu on OSX https://images.macworld.co.uk/cmsdata/features/3624124/minimise_window_osx.jpg – barlop Feb 01 '23 at 13:07
  • I know with OSX there's one menu at the top a general one and it changes depending on what application is active. So maybe VLC on osx has a "window" menu particular to it. But it'd help if you included a screenshot – barlop Feb 01 '23 at 13:13
  • It could be that what you are opening there isn't VLC at all, but an osx bookmark manager https://www.simplehelp.net/2020/02/11/how-to-add-bookmarks-to-a-video/ i'm not sure if that bookmark window is something with VLC or not. It might be an OSX thing that interacts with VLC. Anyhow, as mentioned, screenshots would help . – barlop Feb 01 '23 at 13:15
  • Added screenshots per request as an update. – haridsv Feb 02 '23 at 06:53
  • BTW, per this official doc, bookmarks should be a built-in feature: https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_HowTo/Save_bookmarks/ – haridsv Feb 02 '23 at 10:23
  • The first sentence of the article you link to says loading bookmarks is broken and last worked in version 0.8!! Anyhow, what you are describing isn't viewing milliseconds while a video plays It's just setting up an accurate bookmark – barlop Feb 02 '23 at 18:08
  • Yes, I noticed it, but I think it is only referring to loading them back from the m3u file. However loading worked fine for me, perhaps the doc is outdated. On viewing the milliseconds, it looks like I misunderstood your requirement, I thought you were looking for a way to get the timestamp of a position with millisecond accuracy for external use, because that was exactly what I was looking for when I found your question. I hope this solution will still be of use for others. – haridsv Feb 03 '23 at 05:34
1

  1. Get the Setup for VLC media player v 2.0.x. It will not work on v2.1.x or v2.2.x. (You are advised to get VLC v2.0.9). After downloading, install the file by following the instructions shown.

  2. Go the VLC media player add-on page and download the time extension. by clicking on this Time Extension

  3. Extract the time extension downloaded, open the Time v2.0 (intf), there are three files:

    Looper_intf.lua
Time v2.0 (intf).png
time_ext.lua

  4. Go to the location where you installed VLC Media Player (usually C:\Program Files\VideoLAN)

  5. Open the VideoLAN folder, open the VLC folder and then open the Lua folder

  6. In the Lua folder, open the extension folder and paste the time_ext.lua file

  7. Go back to the Lua folder, open the intf folder, paste the looper_intf.lua file

  8. Open VLC Media Player, go to View on the menu bar, and select Time V2.0

  9. Leave the settings the way they are and click on Save. VLC Media Player will request to restart - close and reopen VLC Media Player.

  10. After restarting VLC media player, load a video into the VLC Media Player. Your video should show in the top right hand corner the video time in hr:mm:sec.millisecond format (which represents hours:minutes:seconds.milliseconds)

You can check the complete tutorial here: http://www.latestsolution.com/2016/06/Show-VLC-Timing-In-Millisecond.html

Gaff
  • 18,569
  • 15
  • 57
  • 68
Awojide Oluwamayowa Timothy
  • 41
  • 1
  • 2