Documentation:Modules/time

This page is obsolete and kept only for historical interest. It may document features that are obsolete, superseded, or irrelevant. Do not rely on the information here being up-to-date. Additional information: This filter has been merged with the marq filter in version 0.9.0.

Module: time
Type	Video sub-filter
First VLC version	0.8.0
Last VLC version	0.8.6
Operating system(s)	all
Description	Overlays date and time on the video
Shortcut(s)	time

Allows overlaying date and time information on the video.

Options

The option for the time picture subfilter in version 0.8.6 are the following:

• time-format <string> : Time format string (%Y%m%d %H%M%S) default value: "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
• time-x <integer> : X offset default value: -1
• time-y <integer> : Y offset default value: 0
• time-position <integer> { 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 6, 9, 10 } : Position default value: 9
• time-opacity <integer [0 .. 255]> : Opacity default value: 255
• time-color <integer> { 268435456, 0, 8421504, 12632256, 16777215, 8388608, 16711680, 16711935, 16776960, 8421376, 32768, 32896, 65280, 8388736, 128, 255, 65535 } : Colour^(key) default value: 16777215
• time-size <integer> : Font size, pixels default value: -1

Usage

There are two ways to use the time module: over screen output or display; and over transcoded output.

Screen output or display

To overlay the current time over vlc screen output or display, use the --time-? options (where ? means "format," "x", "y" etc; i.e. --time-format).

In this example, the time will be displayed in white on the lower right hand corner of the viewable output of a transcoded stream and sent to a multicast IP address with the associated SAP announce.

% vlc input_stream --sub-filter=time --time-format %Y-%m-%d,%H:%M:%S --time-position 9 --time-color 16777215 --time-size 12 --sout "#transcode{venc=ffmpeg,vcodec=mp4v}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=rtp{mux=ts,dst=239.255.12.42,sdp=sap,name="TestStream"}}"

In this example, the time will be displayed as 2007-6-19,10:09:33. In addition, the time will only be displayed on the visual display of the input_stream. It will not be part of the transcoded output.

Transcoded output

To overlay the current time over the transcoded output, enable the transcode module subpicture filter or sfilter option.

In this example, the time will be displayed in white on the lower right only in the transcoded output.

% vlc input_stream --time-format %Y-%m-%d,%H:%M:%S --time-position 9 --time-color 16777215 --time-size 12 --sout "#transcode{venc=ffmpeg,vcodec=mp4v,sfilter=time}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=rtp{mux=ts,dst=239.255.12.42,sdp=sap,name="TestStream"}}"

Note that this is accomplished by removing the --sub-filter=time command line option and adding the sfilter transcode module option. If the --sub-filter=time is included vlc will overlay the time over the overlay transcode time, essentially overlapping it.

Also note that the --time-? command line options are "global;" i.e., they affect the way the time overlays both the display and the transcoded output.

Source code

• modules/video_filter/time.c (vlc/vlc-0.8.git)

Appendix

For the option --time-position:

Integer alignment mapping

Integer	Alignment	Comment
0	Center
1	Left
2	Right
4	Top
8	Bottom
5	Top-Left	4 + 1
6	Top-Right	4 + 2
9	Bottom-Left	8 + 1
10	Bottom-Right	8 + 2
3	n/a	contradictory
7	n/a	contradictory

Colour key for --time-color

Sample	Integer code	Colour
	-268435456	Default
	0	Black
	8421504	Gray
	12632256	Silver
	16777215	White
	8388608	Maroon
	16711680	Red
	16711935	Fuchsia
	16776960	Yellow
	8421376	Olive
	32768	Green
	32896	Teal
	65280	Lime
	8388736	Purple
	128	Navy
	255	Blue
	65535	Aqua

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