---
layout: default
title: Video Timeline Setup
---

<p>
  No configuration is required if you intend to run everything on a single 
  machine, and if you acquired Ardour from 
  <a href="http://www.ardour.org"
  title="http://www.ardour.org">http://www.ardour.org</a>.
  Everything is pre-configured and included with the download/install.
</p>

<h2>Single Machine</h2>
<p>
  If you compile Ardour from source, or have installed it from a 3rd party 
  repository, three additional tools will need to be installed manually,
  which are used by Ardour to provide video features:
</p> 
<ul> 
  <li>xjadeo (the video monitor application): <a href="http://xjadeo.sf.net"
  title="http://xjadeo.sf.net" rel="nofollow">http://xjadeo.sf.net</a></li>
  <li>harvid (a video decoder used for the thumbnail timeline): <a
  href="http://x42.github.com/harvid/" title="http://x42.github.com/harvid/"
  rel="nofollow">http://x42.github.com/harvid/</a></li> 
  <li>ffmpeg, ffprobe (used to import/export video, extract soundtracks and 
  query video information): <a href="http://ffmpeg.org" title="http://ffmpeg.org"
  rel="nofollow">http://ffmpeg.org</a></li> 
</ul>
<p>
  Ardour requires xjadeo &ge; version 0.6.4, harvid &ge; version 0.7.0 and ffmpeg (known to work versions: 1.2, 2.8.2)
</p>

<p>
  The Ardour development team is in control of the first two applications. ffmpeg
  however can be a bit of a problem. To avoid conflicts with distribution packages, 
  Ardour looks for <code>ffmpeg_harvid</code> and <code>ffprobe_harvid</code>.
</p>
<p>
  All four applications need to be found in <code>$PATH</code> (e.g. 
  <code>$HOME/bin</code> or <code>/usr/local/bin</code>). For convenience the 
  binary releases of harvid include ffmpeg_harvid and ffprobe_harvid, but if 
  your distribution provides suitable ffmpeg commands you can also just create 
  symbolic links:
</p>
<kbd class="cmd lin">sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ffmpeg /usr/bin/ffmpeg_harvid</kbd>
<kbd class="cmd lin">sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ffprobe /usr/bin/ffprobe_harvid</kbd>   
<p>
  Binary releases are available from ardour.org as well as an installer script: 
  <a href="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/tools/videotimeline/install_video_tools.sh" 
  title="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/tools/videotimeline/install_video_tools.sh"  
  rel="nofollow">install_video_tools.sh</a>.
</p>
<p>
  The easiest way to install the video-utilities is by running the following 
  line in a terminal:
</p>
<kbd class="cmd lin">sh -c &quot;$(curl -s -L http://git.io/tVUCkw)&quot;</kbd>

<h2>Studio Setup</h2>
<p>
  Please read the info in the previous section to familiarize yourself with 
  the tools involved first. Setting up a proper A/V post-production studio 
  can be a complicated task. As much as we streamline and simplify the 
  <em>single machine</em> setup, the <dfn>studio setup</dfn> is focused on modularity.
</p>

<ul class="fixme">
 <li>TODO:</li>
 <li>Synchronization ardour → video-display-box should be accomplished by external 
 means jack-transport(netjack), MTC, LTC 
 (<abbr title="Open Sound Control - &quot;postmodern MIDI&quot;">OSC</abbr> and/or 
 ssh-pipe work but introduce additional latency + jitter)</li>
<li>Ardour launches <code>XJREMOTE</code> (environment variable, default &#039;xjremote&#039; which comes with xjadeo).
</li>
<li>Either use a custom shell script that ssh&#039;es into the remote box and launches/controls xjadeo there, selects the sync-source and passes though communication between ardour ⇔ xjadeo via ssh (xjadeo is launched stopped with the session).
</li>
<li>..or override xjremote&#039;s behavior – instead of  IPC with a local running xjadeo-process, using <abbr title="Open Sound Control - &quot;postmodern MIDI&quot;">OSC</abbr> for example. xjadeo would run permanently and Ardour will just tell it to load files and set offsets via <acronym title="Open Sound Control - &quot;postmodern MIDI&quot;">OSC</acronym>. see <a href="http://xjadeo.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=xjadeo/xjadeo;a=blob_plain;f=contrib/xjremote-osc" title="http://xjadeo.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=xjadeo/xjadeo;a=blob_plain;f=contrib/xjremote-osc"  rel="nofollow">xjremote-osc</a> example script.
</li>
<li>If the video server runs remotely, Ardour needs to be configured in Ardour &gt; Preference &gt; Video (hostname of the video-server).
</li>
<li>
Ideally the machines have a common shared folder (NFS or similar).  Ardour&#039;s import (audio-extract) and export (mux) functionality depends on having access to the video file.  Also Ardour's video-import transcodes the file into a suitable proxy-format that allows reliable seeking to any frame…
</li>
</ul>