Hi everyone.

I really hope someone can assist me here.

I need a software program that will allow me to alter the speed of Mpegs and AVIs etc as they are playing. It needs to allow me to slow the speed right down and freeze frame, and then to play the clip backwards. Preferably with the sound working.

I need to be able to play the clip at variable speed both forwards and backwards, as easily as possible - hopefully with just a slider bar, or something like that.

It is quite complicated why I need this - basically, my son, who is Autistic, gets fixated on various things from time to time. Currently he wants to see all his film clips backwards as well as forwards. He wants to swap speeds and directions of play very quickly. His films are stored in Mpeg, mpg and AVI format on an external HDD.

Is there an editing tool, or video player that will allow me to do this. It can be freeware - but I do not mind paying if I have to.

I hope you can help and advise me. Looking forward to your replys

Jim

Hi Jim

I am sure we can find something that will do this. If the guys around here cannot recommend anything can I suggest you post a question in this forum Gizmo's Best-ever Freeware Forum

In the 'I want a software package that..... section

That forum specialises in freeware and someone there may have a suggestion as well. I know of several free players but its the instant reverse play with sound thats going to be difficult. Most will only offer a rewind function.

If such a player does not exist then another route could be to make two copies of the film, one which plays normal and the other reversed, however that all depends upon if your son can choose between the two files.

Hopefully someone else around here may have some other ideas. All the best.

Shrimpy

Premier Elements 7 would allow you to load in your films and then save them in reverse if that is any use at all. The audio and video plays backwards then, but that does not achieve what your really after I think.

Windows movie maker may allow you to do a similar thing but I dont have access to that at present. Normally comes free with Windows.

Thinking about this a little more it occurred to me that Premier Elements 7 would itself allow you to do what you want.

You would import your film. Place it onto the timeline and then you can play it from the timeline using the hot keys in the program. With just three user selectable keys you can play forwards and backwards and stop with sound and at different playback speeds. To go faster just press the same key again. This is using something called the jog shuttle function which editors use to quickly find the right spot to edit.

Why I didnt remember this at the time I have no idea

Now most editing software will probably allow you to do this so you don't have to go the PE7 route. However PE7 comes via download with a free 30 day trial, so you could see if your films work with it ok or not. Also there is a lot of online support available for it, here included. I can explain how to get started if you have any trouble using it. If you like it dont buy the download version, get the boxed version on DVD from Amazon or elsewhere. It is easier to re-install if you need to.

With something like PE7, it would also allow you to produce your own films with all sorts of effects, colours, sounds etc which may also be useful?

Hi Shrimpy.

Thank you very much for your reply. After a bit of investigation, I have
found that VLC media player can play video at different speeds by using a
slider bar - it streams with audio as well, but this only goes as far as
"zero" speed - it will not go into reverse! But at least that is half the
battle.

Thank you for your information on Premier Elements 7. My older lad uses
Adobe Premier at university, so I take it PE7 is part of the same software
family (?). He will be able to give me help in loading it on and using it I
am sure. I am going to have a go with the freeware in a moment however.

I will ask my question on the forum you suggest too.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply, and for your advice.

Kind regards