Video header data, Scrub it?

[braddiddy]

I have some things to share, that I'd like to know, if anyone knows, what kind of header information can be in these video files? Is there a possibility of a timestamp or an authorization number, or userid, or anything in there that could trace a clip back to a purchaser?

I'm thinking it would be good to wipe suck data, but not sure if it's necessary or haw would be easiest to do it. I know mpc could dump to raw video, then I guess re-encoding it back would do it, but it would take awhile.

Trying to get a feel for what people think and do.

[braddiddy]

Does anyone else take any such measures?
Am I overthinking it?

[submittome7]

I think you might've mistaken this forum (squeezequeens) for the elite coding hackers forum (it's a joke, I'm just saying that what you're mentioning is probably going over 95% of this forums user's heads)

[braddiddy]

Probably. I guess I'll try to research a little more. I'll either figure something out or throw caution to the wind.

[voayer]

Reencoding solve the problem and remove IP information from the file.

[braddiddy]

Thank you.
What is the best to re-encode to?
Can it then be converted back to the original type and retain the original size and quality?

[voayer]

Thank you.
What is the best to re-encode to?
Can it then be converted back to the original type and retain the original size and quality?

No offense, but if you ask question like this, maybe you shouldn't reencode. Reencoding is not quite rocket science, but still requires some knowledge. By reencoding is no way back. Original data is lost. But if you set the program to use the same resolution and the same bitrate as the original, there shouldn't be any significant quality loss. You can always keep the original and upload (share) reencoded version.
Btw....i use avidemux for this. But there are probably more user friendly video converters on net, available for free.

[braddiddy]

Thank you for sharing.

I understand that converting can result in a loss of quality, which is unrecoverable.
I'm not trying to drop resolution and upscale it back or anything that stupid. Any compression would ideally be read before converting and compressed back for an identical result.

I do understand that a cd can have it's cdda tracks ripped into wav, flac, ape, and many other formats without any quality loss, so long as the same rates and bitdepth are kept.

When I asked what I could convert to, I intend on the same framerate and resolution, and wondering if there's something like a Bitmap file is for images, in that it contains a perfect image (within it's resolution and bit depth) although with a large file size. Then if converting back to the original would result in identical video and audio data, I would do it.

It gets more complicated as some familiar file extensions don't necessarily tell you about the data itself but the extension is a "container" file that has within it video data that different codecs play, if I even stated that correctly.

I'll definitely check out the program you mentioned. Thank you for that.

[voayer]

Well....if you use the same bitrate, resolution and framerate as original, shouldn't be no quality lose. If you use good converter. Try to avoid these "all in one" converters, because quality of generated video realy sucks. I usually use bitrate 3000-4000 kbps for 1280x720 and 6000-7000 kbps for 1920x1080 videos. By 25-30 f/sec. By 50-60 f/sec bitrate should be at least 50 % (or more) higher. Because it is more frames to convert.
Sometimes you have to correct audio/video synchronisation, because converters sometimes miss few video frames at the beginning, in the meanwhile audio track is complete and that's why you get audio/video delay. With avidemux you can easily repair this issue.

[braddiddy]

I didn't like the idea of converting up and back. I could read some of the header data in plain text with a hex editor (camera type, date, etc) I would think some of what seems like gibberish could contain some info that should be removed, but I didn't bother trying to figure out what to edit, or, maybe easier, pull the video from the file without the header.

Throwing caution to the wind, I hope I don't end up in prison. I'm not sure how how long I'd last.