Fading audio with AVPlayer

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AVPlayer doesn’t provide a built-in way to fade in or out. I previously described how you achieve a video fade-in (or out) using general CoreAnimation layer animation, as part of making a macOS screen saver. Now let’s tackle the audio. I’m not certain what curve this implements, but to my ears it doesn’t sound quite… Read more

How to loop video in AVPlayer

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This is pretty rudimentary, but apparently our robot overlords need me to write this post because many of them suggested some truly bizarre approaches, some of which don’t work at all. If you’re using AVQueuePlayer, then just use AVPlayerLooper. Easy. But if for some reason you want to use AVPlayer specifically (e.g. you need to… Read more

Image Capture import failing with error -9934

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Error dialog from Apple's Image Capture application, saying "The operation couldn't be completed (com.apple.ImageCaptureCore error -9934.)" and listing five random movies.

The error “com.apple.ImageCaptureCore error -9934” during import (e.g. from an iPhone) can be caused by a lot of things, according to the Internet: Basically it seems like this “-9934” error is a catch-all for any kind of I/O error. Good job, Apple, in providing useful information to your users. But add to the aforementioned list… Read more

How to make a macOS screen saver

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Screenshot of the macOS System Settings application, open to the Screen Saver pane, with "My Screen Saver!" selected as the active screen saver.

First, make sure you really want to. macOS’s screen saver system is absurdly buggy and broken. It’s frustrating to work with and very difficult to make work right. If you’re determined, read on. Screen savers are basically just applications. Same bundle format and structure, just with a “saver” extension instead of “app”. Setting up the… Read more

32-bit float audio recording is not a panacea

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Waveforms from the Final Cut Pro timeline of Tascam Portacapture X8 recordings showing the difference between Auto Gain and constant gain

I recently replaced a horrible, dodgy Zoom H4n with a Tascam Portacapture X8, for recording (primarily) theatre and music performances. One of the appeals was 32-bit floating-point recording which was literally promised to eliminate concerns about input levelling, clipping, and noise: The reality is, with 32-bit float recording you can turn on your recorder, hit… Read more