Adding video to an ebook in Sigil

[mgardner]

I see that support for audio and video were added to Sigil in version 0.6.1. I'm trying to figure out how to add videos to my ebook, and I couldn't find any kind of documentation on this forum or elsewhere that told me what the tags are supposed to look like, and there was no functionality that I could find for adding video tags in the application itself. I tried putting in tags formatted according to html5, and Sigil complained that it wasn't valid xhtml. Can anyone point me to some description of the proper way of including video in my ebook with Sigil?

[DiapDealer]

There might be a slight difference between "no longer eliminates video and audio tags" and "support for video and audio."

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by mgardner

I see that support for audio and video were added to Sigil in version 0.6.1. I'm trying to figure out how to add videos to my ebook, and I couldn't find any kind of documentation on this forum or elsewhere that told me what the tags are supposed to look like, and there was no functionality that I could find for adding video tags in the application itself. I tried putting in tags formatted according to html5, and Sigil complained that it wasn't valid xhtml. Can anyone point me to some description of the proper way of including video in my ebook with Sigil?

Short answer is, you can't.

Create the epub, using placeholder tags. Then you'll have to edit the ePUB by hand, using an HTML editor (or you can use ePUBtweak). If the former, explode the ePUB; if the latter, it will explode it for you. Open the file(s) in which you've placed the placeholder tags. Replace the placeholder tags with the "<video>" tags, or what-have-you, and then SAVE. You'll have to put the actual video in the eponymously-named folders.

With regard to what the tags should be or say, I'll recommend that first, you pay a visit to w3schools.com and brush up on those tags, and then you'll need to read the documentation for whichever retailer you're aiming at, to be ungrammatical. Each retailer (device) is different. If you're working for iBooks, the most likely culprit, read the iBooks Publisher's Asset Guide, and they'll detail the exact tag usage, and what types of audio/ video you have to use.

OK? Hope that helps.

Hitch

[user_none]

0.6.2 allows you to add video directly in Sigil just like adding an html page or image (at least it should and if it doesn't then that's bug). 0.6.2 does not support playing the video (or audio) in book view or code view. 0.7.0 will.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There might be a slight difference between "no longer eliminates video and audio tags" and "support for video and audio."

Indeed. FlightCrew for example has not been updated to support EPUB 3 and video is an EPUB 3 feature. Right now 0.6.2 is still EPUB 2 with some EPUB 3 feature support.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by user_none

0.6.2 allows you to add video directly in Sigil just like adding an html page or image (at least it should and if it doesn't then that's bug). 0.6.2 does not support playing the video (or audio) in book view or code view. 0.7.0 will.



Indeed. FlightCrew for example has not been updated to support EPUB 3 and video is an EPUB 3 feature. Right now 0.6.2 is still EPUB 2 with some EPUB 3 feature support.

Hell, really? I thought we were still limited to doing it the old fashioned way! Cool--thanks, guys.

ETA: Seriously, thanks. We do a fair number of these, and having this capability will be SUPER.--H

Hitch

[mgardner]

Thanks, Hitch, for the response, that does help.

Originally Posted by user_none

0.6.2 allows you to add video directly in Sigil just like adding an html page or image (at least it should and if it doesn't then that's bug). 0.6.2 does not support playing the video (or audio) in book view or code view. 0.7.0 will.

What format should the video be in to add it like this? I tried it with an MP4 (using the add image button), and it didn't work. When I tried adding the MP4 by right-clicking on the video folder, it stuck it in the audio folder instead. I'll try it again later today and see if I can figure it out (I'm using 0.6.2 on linux, by the way; I just mentioned 0.6.1 above because that's where video tags were mentioned).

Also, if it doesn't support playing the video, will a thumbnail or anything show up, or will the place be blank in the book view?

[user_none]

Originally Posted by mgardner

What format should the video be in to add it like this?

webm and h.264 are the recommended formats per the EPUB 3 spec.

Originally Posted by mgardner

I tried it with an MP4 (using the add image button), and it didn't work.

What about the description add image would make you think it deals with video.

Originally Posted by mgardner

When I tried adding the MP4 by right-clicking on the video folder, it stuck it in the audio folder instead.

Sigil's add functionality currently works off of file extension.

Audio extensions:

• aac
• m4a
• mp3
• mpeg
• mpg

Video extensions:

• m4v
• mp4
• mov*
• ogg
• webm

* mov was added to the video list after 0.6.2 was released.

Originally Posted by mgardner

Also, if it doesn't support playing the video, will a thumbnail or anything show up, or will the place be blank in the book view?

This is a limitation of the version of Qt Sigil uses because not all HTML 5 features are supported. 0.7.0 will be using Qt 5 which has added HTML 5 support.

[mgardner]

Originally Posted by user_none

What about the description add image would make you think it deals with video.

Because you said "0.6.2 allows you to add video directly in Sigil just like adding an html page or image", and the add image functionality is the only thing remotely similar that I could find in the UI. Is there any documentation anywhere that I could look at to know how I'm supposed to add video directly? The wiki doesn't have anything I could find, and the user guide is pre 0.6.0.

I figured out the codec issue - I thought I was using mp4, but apparently it was an mpg from my camera. I converted the file, and now it shows up in the right spot. So all I need to know is, is there functionality to add the video tags already in Sigil, and if so, where is it, or do I need to do as Hitch said and add the tags myself after figuring out the particular format that I need?

Thanks for your help.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by mgardner

Because you said "0.6.2 allows you to add video directly in Sigil just like adding an html page or image", and the add image functionality is the only thing remotely similar that I could find in the UI.

File, Add, Add Existing. It only imports the file into Sigil.

Originally Posted by mgardner

is there functionality to add the video tags already in Sigil, and if so, where is it, or do I need to do as Hitch said and add the tags myself after figuring out the particular format that I need?

There is nothing like insert (not add) image for video or audio. The format for audio and video is:

<audio controls="controls" src="../Audio/audio.ext"></audio>
<video controls="controls" src="../Video/video.ext"></video>

However, both the audio and video tags have a lot of options. They are block level tags and can have many different sub tags. They also have various attributes that control how they display and how users can interact with the objects. Due to this isn't not easy to add something like the insert image feature for audio and video.

[mgardner]

Originally Posted by user_none

The format for audio and video is:

<audio controls="controls" src="../Audio/audio.ext"></audio>
<video controls="controls" src="../Video/video.ext"></video>

However, both the audio and video tags have a lot of options. They are block level tags and can have many different sub tags. They also have various attributes that control how they display and how users can interact with the objects. Due to this isn't not easy to add something like the insert image feature for audio and video.

Thanks. I had tried using html5 video tags (as shown here: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_video.asp), but there are some differences in the format you gave that I never would have figured out.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by mgardner

Thanks. I had tried using html5 video tags (as shown here: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_video.asp), but there are some differences in the format you gave that I never would have figured out.

This one is specific to EPUB and much more helpful.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by user_none

This one is specific to EPUB and much more helpful.

And, seriously, even though I didn't know 0.6.2 had enabled this functionality (who loves ya, user_none, meme, etc.!), I meant what I said about reading each retailer's explicit specifications for the video. They're not the same. Make sure you read and target the retailer upon which you intend the v-book to be seen.

Sorry about the original misinformation, truly.

Hitch

[x-li-x]

Hi, I downloaded the new Sigil Version 0.7.0 and tried to insert audio (mp3) and video (mpeg4) files into Sigil.
It was quite easy to insert them, but the EPUB Validation says that audio and video are no valid elements.

The HTML Code looks like:
<audio controls="controls" src="../Audio/Audio.mp3">Audio</audio>
<video controls="controls" src="../Video/Video.mp4"></video>

The EPUB Validation says:
attribute 'controls' is not declared for element 'audio'
attribute 'src' is not declared for element 'audio'
no declaration found for element 'audio'
element 'audio' is not allowed for content model '(p|h1|h2|h3|h4|h5|h6|div|ul|ol|dl|pre|hr|blockquo te|address|fieldset|table|switch|form|noscript|ins |del|script)'

The same messages apear for the 'video' tag.

When I try to open the EPUB (with video or audio tags) on the iPad it says that the file could not be downloaded. When I delete the audio an video tags it works perfectly.
I can open the EPUB (with video or audio tags) on my desktop with Azardi and Adobe Digital Editions but the videos don't play.

So, the new Sigil version does support audio and video. But the validation not?
And there seems to be a problem on the iPad with these audio and video tags.

Do you run into the same issues when trying to open an EPUB created with Sigil with audio and video on the iPad?

Thank you for your help!

[user_none]

There is a difference between supporting audio and video and it being compilant for EPUB 2. You can add audio and video but it's still invalid because Sigil does not yet support EPUB 3.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by x-li-x

Hi, I downloaded the new Sigil Version 0.7.0 and tried to insert audio (mp3) and video (mpeg4) files into Sigil.
It was quite easy to insert them, but the EPUB Validation says that audio and video are no valid elements.

The HTML Code looks like:
<audio controls="controls" src="../Audio/Audio.mp3">Audio</audio>
<video controls="controls" src="../Video/Video.mp4"></video>

The EPUB Validation says:
attribute 'controls' is not declared for element 'audio'
attribute 'src' is not declared for element 'audio'
no declaration found for element 'audio'
element 'audio' is not allowed for content model '(p|h1|h2|h3|h4|h5|h6|div|ul|ol|dl|pre|hr|blockquo te|address|fieldset|table|switch|form|noscript|ins |del|script)'

The same messages apear for the 'video' tag.

When I try to open the EPUB (with video or audio tags) on the iPad it says that the file could not be downloaded. When I delete the audio an video tags it works perfectly.
I can open the EPUB (with video or audio tags) on my desktop with Azardi and Adobe Digital Editions but the videos don't play.

So, the new Sigil version does support audio and video. But the validation not?
And there seems to be a problem on the iPad with these audio and video tags.

Do you run into the same issues when trying to open an EPUB created with Sigil with audio and video on the iPad?

Thank you for your help!

As I think I said in my post on December 24th, I mentioned that not all audio and video tags are identical, for all devices. Did you match up your coding to the iBooks Asset Guidelines for those tags? Is your video compatible, for that matter, H264 m4v?

Do you have a poster image? I don't see your height and width settings for the video, either? Or a width for the video control?

Hitch