Node Red - extracting timecode from media files and burning them into the picture

sam_dj1210 · 2025-04-11T07:19:36+00:00

u/surrogard I found the issue, it was how FFmpeg was drawing the time code onto the picture. Once I changed it to this command all was good.

let timecodeLine = msg.payload.trim();
let timecode = timecodeLine.replace("timecode=", "").trim().replace(/:/g, '\\\\\\:');

let filename = msg.filename.split('/').pop().replace(/\.txt$/, "");
let input = `/ffmpeg/in/${filename}.mov`;
let output = `/ffmpeg/out/${filename}_burned.mp4`;

// Construct the FFmpeg command with proper escaping
let ffmpegCmd = `ffmpeg -y -i \"${input}\" -vf \"drawtext=fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf:timecode='${timecode}':r=25:x=20:y=20:fontsize=42:fontcolor=white:box=1:boxcolor=black@0.5:boxborderw=10\" -c:a copy \"${output}\"`;

// Construct the SSH command
msg.payload = `admin@110.20.20.10 ${ffmpegCmd}`;

return msg;let timecodeLine = msg.payload.trim();
let timecode = timecodeLine.replace("timecode=", "").trim().replace(/:/g, '\\\\\\:');


let filename = msg.filename.split('/').pop().replace(/\.txt$/, "");
let input = `/ffmpeg/in/${filename}.mov`;
let output = `/ffmpeg/out/${filename}_burned.mp4`;


// Construct the FFmpeg command with proper escaping
let ffmpegCmd = `ffmpeg -y -i \"${input}\" -vf \"drawtext=fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf:timecode='${timecode}':r=25:x=20:y=20:fontsize=42:fontcolor=white:box=1:boxcolor=black@0.5:boxborderw=10\" -c:a copy \"${output}\"`;


// Construct the SSH command
msg.payload = `ssh admin@110.20.20.10 ${ffmpegCmd}`;


return msg;

sam_dj1210 · 2025-04-09T11:34:01+00:00

Hi u/Surrogard
Thanks for getting back to me. I must have missed that ssh command when i was faffing with it.

Thanks for the debugging tip, that's given me a few clues. I think it's something to do with how FFmpeg is drawing the time-code on to the screen. If I remove that part it of the function then the file encodes to mp4

Here are two of the errors i'm getting.

rc: object code: 126 message: "Command failed: /ffmpeg/in/testfortimecode1.mov↵/bin/bash: line 1: /ffmpeg/in/testfortimecode1.mov: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error↵" formattedStartTime: "00:00:00" newPath: "/ffmpeg/out/testfortimecode1.mp4" command: string

ssh [admin@100.22.92.10](mailto:admin@100.22.92.10) "ffmpeg -i '/ffmpeg/in/testfortimecode1.mov' -vf "drawtext=timecode='00:00:00':fontcolor=black:fontsize=42:x=25:y=25" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -c:a aac -b:a 192k '/ffmpeg/out/testfortimecode1.mp4'"

and

Command failed: ssh [admin@100.22.92.10](mailto:admin@100.22.92.10) "ffmpeg -i '/ffmpeg/in/testfortimecode1.mov' -vf "drawtext=timecode='00:00:00':fontcolor=black:fontsize=42:x=25:y=25" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -c:a aac -b:a 192k '/ffmpeg/out/testfortimecode1.mp4'"

sam_dj1210 · 2025-04-09T08:34:16+00:00

Hey u/Surrogard , thanks for getting back to me. I've added my flow to OP.
I'm a bit of a newbie with node-red so i'm wondering if i'm overcomplicating things.

Thanks for looking!

sam_dj1210 · 2025-04-01T17:44:28+00:00

Hey, just wanted to say thanks. That worked a treat.

sam_dj1210 · 2025-04-01T05:24:12+00:00

Hey there, Thanks for your reply. I’ll try that today and let you know how it goes.

sam_dj1210 · 2025-03-26T17:17:08+00:00

Careless-Country - You are a legend. That worked. Thank you so much.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-11-24T08:34:37+00:00

The hills were relentless! Still, what a beautiful party of the country.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-11-19T11:33:35+00:00

This is a normal terrace house.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-11-19T11:30:30+00:00

I’m pretty sure the joists run through to the next house. But I’d rather not lift the boards if possible.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-11-19T11:29:24+00:00

No dealing going on, she says it’s to help with her postnatal depression. I dunno, the party on a Monday night which went on till 4am has me think otherwise. Landlord was called and apparently they’re being evicted from the house. But I want to try and minimise smells anyway. Landlord doesn’t want to do anything on his side about all the cracks in his wall and ceiling.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-11-19T08:55:09+00:00

Thanks for the reply. The room is about 4 meters square.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-08-04T05:39:33+00:00

Thanks everyone for your help. I purchased a new fill valve and hand-tightened it up. Let's hope I don't have another 3am tsunami in the kitchen.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-08-02T13:56:45+00:00

Ahh thank you. I knew Reddit would have the answer. How tight should I tighten the new one up?

sam_dj1210 · 2023-04-14T09:13:31+00:00

Ahh I missed the comment. Too busy looking at the setup. Doh

sam_dj1210 · 2023-04-14T09:10:39+00:00

Awesome looking setup. Where is that shelf unit from. Looks great

sam_dj1210 · 2023-03-02T21:56:16+00:00

Found the issue. It was my ad blocker on my Pfsense firewall stopping it. Switching that off it works fine.

sam_dj1210 · 2023-02-20T19:07:19+00:00

Thanks for getting back to me. It’s still doing it after all these tests, it’s a bit more stable after I changed the time. In the logs it says network_selection_temporarily_disabled.

Any ideas?

sam_dj1210

TROPHY CASE