Documentation:Modules/marq

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

The marq sub-filter can be used to display text on a video. The time filter was merged with this filter in version 0.9.0, adding time format string recognition.

There are two methods of specifying position: coordinate and numbered positions. VLC 0.8.6d and prior only permitted well-formed coordinate pairs, falling back to numbered positions.
Since [34c0fe95c2e6fc7aade6a4950fd2b3c89c1220f3] the marq module permits zero, one or two coordinates and zero or one numbered positions, allowing these methods to be intermixed. This means it is easier to e.g. provide a 100-pixel margin between a marquee and the bottom right corner.

Options

• marq-marquee <string> : Marquee text to display. default value: VLC
• marq-file <string> : File to read the marquee text from. default value: NULL

Position

• marq-x <integer> : X offset, from the left screen edge. default value: 0
• marq-y <integer> : Y offset, down from the top. default value: 0
• marq-position <integer> : Marquee position: 0=center, 1=left, 2=right, 4=top, 8=bottom, you can also use combinations of these values, eg 6 = top-right. default value: -1

Font

• marq-opacity <integer [0 .. 255]> : Opacity (inverse of transparency) of overlaid text. 0 = transparent, 255 = totally opaque. default value: 255
• marq-color <integer> { 0x000000, 0x808080, 0xC0C0C0, 0xFFFFFF, 0x800000, 0xFF0000, 0xFF00FF, 0xFFFF00, 0x808000, 0x008000, 0x008080, 0x00FF00, 0x800080, 0x000080, 0x0000FF, 0x00FFFF } : Color^(key) of the text that will be rendered on the video. This must be an hexadecimal (like HTML colors). The first two chars are for red, then green, then blue. default value: 0xFFFFFF
• marq-size <integer [0 .. 4096]> : Font size, in pixels. 0 uses the default font size. default value: 0

Misc

• marq-timeout <integer> : Number of milliseconds the marquee must remain displayed. 0 means forever. default value: 0
• marq-refresh <integer> : Number of milliseconds between string updates. This is mainly useful when using meta data or time format string sequences. default value: 1000

Examples

Example command line use (VLC 2.0.0 and newer):

% vlc --sub-source="marq{marquee=test,color=0xFFFF00}" somevideo.avi

This example displays yellow test text in the top left corner of video

VLC 0.9.0 - 1.1.13

$ vlc --sub-filter 'marq{marquee=$t ($P%%),color=0xFFFF00}:marq{marquee=%H:%M:%S,position=6}' somevideo.avi

This command line will show the stream's title ($t) and current position ($P) in the upper left corner and the current time in the upper right corner. The single quotes ' enclose our $ characters to prevent them from being interpreted as Bash variables.
On Windows the command line would be:

> "%PROGRAMFILES%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --sub-filter=marq{marquee=$t ($P%%),color=0xFFFF00}:marq{marquee=%H:%m%s,position=6} somevideo.avi

VLC 0.8.6d and prior

% vlc --sub-filter=marq --marq-marquee="Obvious Watermark" --marq-position=0 --marq-size=50 --marq-opacity=25 --marq-color=0x008000 somevideo.avi

This command will show centered transparent green text. Text sized too large to fit the video window will not appear, and may crash VLC.

time

The time module has different command-lines than the marq module. This not-functional command snippet overlays a white 12-point time display in the lower left of an input stream or video:

time:

% vlc input_stream --sub-filter=time --time-format %Y-%m-%d,%H:%M:%S --time-position 9 --time-color 0xFFFFFF --time-size 12

marq equivalent:

% vlc input_stream '--sub-source=marq{marquee="%Y-%m-%d,%H:%M:%S",position=9,color=0xFFFFFF,size=12}'

marq equivalent (long form):

% vlc input_stream --sub-source=marq --marq-marquee="%Y-%m-%d,%H:%M:%S" --marq-position=9 --marq-color=0xFFFFFF --marq-size=12

additional marq example:

% vlc input_stream '--sub-source=marq{marquee="%c (Week %V)",color=0xFF0000,opacity=216,size=16,position=4,timeout=500,refresh=1000}'

This overlays a 25%-transparent flashing red 16-point locale-dependent time representation with week number at the top of the input stream or video.

Gallery

• 

  Marq can be chained, allowing several marquees to be displayed at the same time.

See also

• Documentation:Format String
• Documentation:Modules/rss

Source code

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

Appendix

• ^ --marq-color

Colour key

Sample	Colour	Hex code
	Black	0x000000
	Gray	0x808080
	Silver	0xC0C0C0
	White	0xFFFFFF
	Maroon	0x800000
	Red	0xFF0000
	Fuchsia	0xFF00FF
	Yellow	0xFFFF00
	Olive	0x808000
	Green	0x008000
	Teal	0x008080
	Lime	0x00FF00
	Purple	0x800080
	Navy	0x000080
	Blue	0x0000FF
	Aqua	0x00FFFF

This page is part of official VLC media player Documentation (User Guide • Streaming HowTo • Hacker Guide • Modules)
Please read the Documentation Editing Guidelines before you edit the documentation

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.