How to record video using Sphinx?

[yoshi]

Hello. My name is Yoshi.
I am running a simulator called Sphinx on Ubuntu, and I would like to record videos.
I have checked the documentation, but I couldn’t find any configuration options for recording.
If it is possible to configure recording, please let me know how to do it.

[ocrave]

Hello Yoshi,

It can be found in the documentation: Record and visualize cameras - 2.12.2

[yoshi]

Thank you for your response, ocrave.
Based on reading the document, it seems that only still images (in PNG and HDR formats) can be saved.
I actually tried opening the web dashboard to confirm, and it appears that other file extensions cannot be selected.
Is it not possible to capture videos in formats like MP4?

[ocrave]

The dashboard method is less efficient than the sphinx-cli method, so I recommend using sphinx-cli camera (first method).

Once you get your images in PNG format, you can use this python script to create an MP4 file with ffmpeg:

import glob
import os
import subprocess
import sys

if __name__ == '__main__':

    indir = sys.argv[1]  # path to png images
    outpath = sys.argv[2]  # path to mp4 file

    # rename all single frame files
    template = os.path.join(indir, 'frame_%08d.png')
    for idx, orig in enumerate(sorted(glob.glob(f'{indir}/*.png'))):
        dest = template % idx
        os.rename(orig, dest)

    # merge them into an mp4 file
    ffmpeg_cmd = f'''
        ffmpeg -y -i {template} \
                -c:v libx264 -profile:v high \
                -crf 20 \
                -pix_fmt yuv420p \
                -s 1280x720 \
                {outpath}
    '''
    process = subprocess.call(ffmpeg_cmd, shell=True, executable='/bin/bash')

Note that you can also use olympe to record video streams, but it will not work with special cameras:

https://developer.parrot.com/docs/olympe/userguide/advanced/streaming.html

[yoshi]

Thank you for your prompt reply.
Also thank you for providing the Python script.

I am interested in developing a program to manipulate the video settings of Anafi.
So, I am looking for a way to check the videos for debugging purposes.
I would like to try the method you suggested using Olympe, as it would allow me to see a representation similar to the videos created by the actual drone.
Thank you very much for your kind instruction.