mostlylucid.consoleimage.video 4.5.1

mostlylucid.consoleimage.video

Real-time video to ASCII art rendering using FFmpeg for .NET 10.

Full documentation and examples on GitHub

Video Render Modes

ASCII	ColorBlocks	Braille
Shape-matched characters	Unicode half-blocks (2x res)	2x4 dot patterns (highest res)

Features

• Zero setup - FFmpeg auto-downloads on first use
• Hardware acceleration - CUDA, DXVA2, VideoToolbox, VAAPI
• URL streaming - Play from HTTP/HTTPS sources
• Time range playback - Start/end time control
• Multiple render modes - ASCII, ColorBlocks, Braille
• Handles images too - JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP all supported

Quick Start

using ConsoleImage.Video.Core;

// Simple one-liner - FFmpeg auto-downloads if needed
await VideoPlayer.PlayAsync("video.mp4");

// With render mode
await VideoPlayer.PlayAsync("video.mp4", new VideoRenderOptions
{
    RenderMode = VideoRenderMode.ColorBlocks
});

// Stream from URL
await VideoPlayer.PlayAsync("https://example.com/video.mp4");

// With cancellation support
using var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
Console.CancelKeyPress += (s, e) => { e.Cancel = true; cts.Cancel(); };
await VideoPlayer.PlayAsync("video.mp4", cancellationToken: cts.Token);

VideoRenderOptions

var options = new VideoRenderOptions
{
    // Render mode
    RenderMode = VideoRenderMode.Braille,  // Ascii, ColorBlocks, Braille

    // Playback control
    SpeedMultiplier = 1.5f,     // 0.5 = half, 2.0 = double speed
    LoopCount = 3,              // 0 = infinite
    StartTime = 30,             // Start at 30 seconds
    EndTime = 60,               // End at 60 seconds

    // Performance
    TargetFps = 24,             // Override video FPS
    FrameStep = 2,              // Skip every other frame
    UseHardwareAcceleration = true,
    BufferAheadFrames = 5,

    // Display
    ShowStatus = true,          // Show progress/info line
    UseAltScreen = true         // Use alternate screen buffer
};

await VideoPlayer.PlayAsync("video.mp4", options);

Video Information

var info = await VideoPlayer.GetInfoAsync("video.mp4");

Console.WriteLine($"Duration: {info.Duration}s");
Console.WriteLine($"Resolution: {info.Width}x{info.Height}");
Console.WriteLine($"FPS: {info.FrameRate}");
Console.WriteLine($"Codec: {info.VideoCodec}");

Advanced: Direct Player Control

For more control, use VideoAnimationPlayer directly:

using var player = new VideoAnimationPlayer("video.mp4", options);
await player.PlayAsync(cancellationToken);

FFmpeg Auto-Download

FFmpeg downloads automatically on first use:

• Windows/Linux: From BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds
• macOS: From evermeet.cx/ffmpeg

Cache location:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\consoleimage\ffmpeg
• Linux/macOS: ~/.local/share/consoleimage/ffmpeg

Hardware Acceleration

Auto-detected per platform:

• Windows: DXVA2, CUDA (NVIDIA)
• macOS: VideoToolbox
• Linux: VAAPI, CUDA

Supported Formats

• Video: MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, WebM, and any FFmpeg-supported format
• Images: JPG, PNG, GIF (animated), WebP, BMP, TIFF

Related Packages

• mostlylucid.consoleimage - Core image rendering ( dependency)
• mostlylucid.consoleimage.spectre - Spectre.Console integration

License

Public domain - UNLICENSE