Thumbnail for video.

b-grinnerb-grinner Registered Users Posts: 457 Major grins
edited January 31, 2014 in SmugMug Support
Hi

I just uploaded video to my web site. The thumbnail is blank. Is there a way to attach a thumbnail to the video?

Thanks and I look forward to your reply.
...The Cyberphotog:D

__________________________
http://www.cyberphotogs.com

Comments

  • tobemetobeme Registered Users Posts: 308 Major grins
    edited October 6, 2013
    There should be a thumbnail to the video. It is just a video will take longer time to process. Once it is processed, the thumbnail will pop up.
  • DavidWoofDavidWoof Registered Users Posts: 16 Big grins
    edited October 30, 2013
    I'm seeing this as well - any videos I upload just end up with a black thumbnail. It maybe that it's now taking the first frame in the video, whereas in the past, it took one from some way into the file.

    It's several days since my uploads, so it's not an issue with processing time. I don;t want to have to create a manual thumbnail for each video, so....

    Any suggestions?
  • guyguy Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2013
    Yes I e mailed support about this several months ago when this started happening in Legacy. Not all the time but very often SM now chooses the very first frame for the thumbnail which is often blank! It would be nice if we actually had a choice of thumbnails like we do with Facebook or Youtube but I'm not holding my breath. The only solution I have found is to choose the option "make a custom thumbnail for this video" & then follow the steps.
    guy.smugmug.com
  • DavidWoofDavidWoof Registered Users Posts: 16 Big grins
    edited October 30, 2013
    I was hoping that wasn't the case! The custom thumbnail process is a real pain in the rear...
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited November 2, 2013
    If the video starts with a fade in from black, it usually results in a black preview image. That's a known bug. Until the bug is resolved, the only workarounds are to either not use the fade in option or to replace the preview image after the processing is done. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • guyguy Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited November 2, 2013
    rainforest1155 wrote: »
    If the video starts with a fade in from black, it usually results in a black preview image. That's a known bug. Until the bug is resolved, the only workarounds are to either not use the fade in option or to replace the preview image after the processing is done. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

    Sebastian, it's not only a fade in problem. Of the 3 last movies I've uploaded none had a fade in or anything placed before the first Video Clip. After processing only 1 had a thumbnail the other two were blank!
    guy.smugmug.com
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2013
    guy wrote: »
    Sebastian, it's not only a fade in problem. Of the 3 last movies I've uploaded none had a fade in or anything placed before the first Video Clip. After processing only 1 had a thumbnail the other two were blank!
    Looking at your recent uploads, the only video I was able to locate, had a proper preview image in place. Do you have a specific example for us to look at?
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • guyguy Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2013
    rainforest1155 wrote: »
    Looking at your recent uploads, the only video I was able to locate, had a proper preview image in place. Do you have a specific example for us to look at?


    Sebastian, almost all of those recent videos have custom thumbnails that I had to put there because SM did not generate one.

    Next time I upload a video & get a blank thumbnail I'll report it here before fixing it.
    guy.smugmug.com
  • guyguy Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2013
    rainforest1155 wrote: »
    Looking at your recent uploads, the only video I was able to locate, had a proper preview image in place. Do you have a specific example for us to look at?

    Here is a specific example for you Sebastian, I just uploaded this short Video, it does not have a fade in from black inserted before the camera video but the SM preview image is black!

    http://guy.smugmug.com/Outdoors-Hikes-Climbs-etc/Mt-Hood-Hikes/Salmon-River-to-Frustration-Fa/n-vXjNQ/i-HmHgHJ4
    guy.smugmug.com
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited November 20, 2013
    guy wrote: »
    Here is a specific example for you Sebastian, I just uploaded this short Video, it does not have a fade in from black inserted before the camera video but the SM preview image is black!

    http://guy.smugmug.com/Outdoors-Hikes-Climbs-etc/Mt-Hood-Hikes/Salmon-River-to-Frustration-Fa/n-vXjNQ/i-HmHgHJ4
    The link didn't work for me, but I was able to locate the video. It looks like the video also starts out with an almost completely black screen and fades in. Here's a snapshot off very first frame of the video:
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/283274/sc4/20131120115529-00346x2911255.jpg
    While the screen may not be completely black and there are a few (very dark) details, for our system it's a fade in from black all the same and therefore it gets thrown off.

    The only way I know to avoid the preview image issue right away, is to start out with the video right away with no fade in (not even one done by the camera).
    I've tested it with your video cutting off 5 seconds from the beginning and uploading that to my test account. The resulting video preview wasn't black anymore.
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • DavidWoofDavidWoof Registered Users Posts: 16 Big grins
    edited December 22, 2013
    This is all very well, but is the problem going to get fixed anytime soon, given how long it's been around for?
  • pekrpekr Registered Users Posts: 54 Big grins
    edited January 31, 2014
    I am having the same kind of issue myself too. Not sure I want to produce my video again. Even bad facebook let's you select from few images it can find in the video ;-) But what is even worse, I tried to upload snaphsot image as a thumbnail, but when editing the gallery, I can't see any option in the Edit menu called Replace Video Preview, as is suggested in the following doc: http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93302 . Is that help section old and no more actual?

    Update: OK, found it. I need to use wrench tool in different Edit menu, namely in the one, where you are reviewing the video in lightbox. Kind of confusing at best, should be available directly in Edit menu when editing gallery. However - once added initial thumbnail image, you can't recognise it is a video, unless you click on it. Smugmug should imo definitely work on a proper solution, offering user several images from the scenes of the video ...

    Thanks,
    Best regards,
    Petr
  • ChancyRatChancyRat Registered Users Posts: 2,141 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2014
    [QUOTE=pekr;1938690Smugmug should imo definitely work on a proper solution, offering user several images from the scenes of the video ...
    [/QUOTE]

    While I like the idea of offering 3 options aka Youtube, I would not want that to replace the current option to upload an image. I use that feature to add a title slide. In other words my title slide is not anywhere in the video itself so could not be one of the 3 random choices. Losing that option - no no no please.
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