how can I view milliseconds with VLC? (and why is this method not working?)

Note- This is not a duplicate. This question, as it says in its title, is specific to VLC. The other question is a general question about video playing programs generally. So, not a duplicate

I am trying get milliseconds shown in VLC.

I read that I should download this extension

(there was a download link on that page, not sure if it's quite right, like I don't know if I downloaded some lite version that I shouldn't have but I downloaded this)

and put it in "VideoLAN\VLC\lua\extensions" creating the extensions subdirectory if it doesn't exist. I did that.

closed VLC, started it again.

It is listed under the View menu. I notice it doesn't get checked. even when I click it - I don't know if it should. The same is true for the VLSub extension below, it doesn't get checked when clicking it. Maybe that is normal and extensions are already enabled.

But my problem is, it doesn't show miliseconds, which is what i'm after.

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5 Answers

According to mederi, the author of the Time extension, the var.add_callback( ) and var.del_callback( ) Lua functions are no longer available in VLC 2.1.

Unless VLC is patched to add the removed functions the script will not work as written.

1

With VLC, I have found two approaches for determining milliseconds.

Approach 1. Addon: Jump to time (Previous Frame)

• Install Jump to time Previous Frame via the macOS menu VLC > Addons Manager or the Ubuntu menu Tools > Plugins and extensions > Addons Manager tab > Extensions. In VLC 3, click the "Find more addons online" button. The online install page is here.

• Restart VLC.

• Use the menu is under VLC -> Extensions -> Jump to time (Previous frame) to open the dialog below depicted. [Note: older VLC placed the extension under the View menu.] The Jump to time (Previous frame) Get time >> button updates to show HH:MM:SS,mmm.

  (Note: this is a different dialog then Jump to time in the Playback menu).

Approach 2. Calculate/Estimate

One can estimate milliseconds based the MM:SS that is displayed as follows:

• Stop slightly more than one second prior to the point of interest.
• Use the Next frame e hot key to count frames after when the seconds display changes values to the point of interest.
• Use the Frame rate from the Media Information Window > Codec Details tab to convert to an approximate milliseconds value.
• frame_count / frame_rate = 0.mmm seconds
  The margin of error will be: 0.5/frame_rate = 0.mmm seconds

3

Maybe an alternative solution for some people. Instead of VLC, import the video into avidemux. It shows milliseconds:

and you are able to jump from Keyframe to Keyframe:

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(It looks like the extension works again nowadays.)

Download Time v3.2 extension from its homepage:

Extract the contents of Time_v3.2_(intf).zip to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\

Start VLC > then in the menu View > Time v3.2 (intf) > click on Start.

Then restart VLC, play a video and enjoy the miliseconds precision info :-)

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1. Get the Setup for VLC media player v 2.0.x. It will not work on v2.1.x or v2.2.x. (You are advised to get VLC v2.0.9). After downloading, install the file by following the instructions shown.

2. Go the VLC media player add-on page and download the time extension. by clicking on this Time Extension

3. Extract the time extension downloaded, open the Time v2.0 (intf), there are three files:

   Looper_intf.lua
   Time v2.0 (intf).png
   time_ext.lua

4. Go to the location where you installed VLC Media Player (usually C:\Program Files\VideoLAN)

5. Open the VideoLAN folder, open the VLC folder and then open the Lua folder

6. In the Lua folder, open the extension folder and paste the time_ext.lua file

7. Go back to the Lua folder, open the intf folder, paste the looper_intf.lua file

8. Open VLC Media Player, go to View on the menu bar, and select Time V2.0

9. Leave the settings the way they are and click on Save. VLC Media Player will request to restart - close and reopen VLC Media Player.

10. After restarting VLC media player, load a video into the VLC Media Player. Your video should show in the top right hand corner the video time in hr:mm:sec.millisecond format (which represents hours:minutes:seconds.milliseconds)

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You can check the complete tutorial here:

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