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• Six Best Amplitude Alternatives

  10 décembre 2024, par Daniel Crough

  Product analytics is big business. Gone are the days when we could only guess what customers were doing with our products or services. Now, we can track, visualise, and analyse how they interact with them and, with that, constantly improve and optimise. 

  The problem is that many product analytics tools are expensive and complicated — especially for smaller businesses. They’re also packed with functionality more attuned to the needs of massive companies. 

  Amplitude is such a tool. It’s brilliant and it has all the bells and whistles that you’ll probably never need. Fortunately, there are alternatives. In this guide, we’ll explore the best of those alternatives and, along the way, provide the insight you’ll need to select the best analytics tool for your organisation. 

  Amplitude : a brief overview

  To set the stage, it makes sense to understand exactly what Amplitude offers. It’s a real-time data analytics tool for tracking user actions and gaining insight into engagement, retention, and revenue drivers. It helps you analyse that data and find answers to questions about what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.

  However, as good as Amplitude is, it has some significant disadvantages. While it does offer data export functionality, that seems deliberately restricted. It allows data exports for specific events, but it’s not possible to export complete data sets to manipulate or format in another tool. Even pulling it into a CSV file has a 10,000-row limit. There is an API, but not many third-party integration options.

  Getting data in can also be a problem. Amplitude requires manual tags on events that must be tracked for analysis, which can leave holes in the data if every possible subsequent action isn’t tagged. That’s a time-consuming exercise, and it’s made worse because those tags will have to be updated every time the website or app is updated. 

  As good as it is, it can also be overwhelming because it’s stacked with features that can create confusion for novice or inexperienced analysts. It’s also expensive. There is a freemium plan that limits functionality and events. Still, when an organisation wants to upgrade for additional functionality or to analyse more events, the step up to the paid plan is massive.

  Lastly, Amplitude has made some strides towards being a web analytics option, but it lacks some basic functionality that may frustrate people who are trying to see the full picture from web to app.

  Snapshot of Amplitude alternatives

  So, in place of Amplitude, what product analytics tools are available that won’t break the bank and still provide the functionality needed to improve your product ? The good news is that there are literally hundreds of alternatives, and we’ve picked out six of the best.

  1. Matomo – Best privacy-focused web and mobile analytics
  2. Mixpanel – Best for product analytics
  3. Google Analytics – Best free option
  4. Adobe Analytics – Best for predictive analytics
  5. Umami – Best lightweight tool for product analytics
  6. Heap – Best for automatic user data capture

  A more detailed analysis of the Amplitude alternatives

  Now, let’s dive deeper into each of the six Amplitude alternatives. We’ll cover standout features, integrations, pricing, use cases and community critiques. By the end, you’ll know which analytics tool can help optimise website and app performance to grow your business.

  1. Matomo – Best privacy-friendly web and app analytics

  Privacy is a big concern these days, especially for organisations with a presence in the European Union (EU). Unlike other analytics tools, Matomo ensures you comply with privacy laws and regulations, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

  Matomo helps businesses get the insights they need without compromising user privacy. It’s also one of the few self-hosted tools, ensuring data never has to leave your site.

  Matomo is open-source, which is also rare in this class of tools. That means it’s available for anyone to adapt and customise as they wish. Everything you need to build custom APIs is there.

  

  Its most useful capabilities include visitor logs and session recordings to trace the entire customer journey, spot drop-off points, and fine-tune sales funnels. The platform also comes with heatmaps and A/B testing tools. Heatmaps provide a useful visual representation of your data, while A/B testing allows for more informed, data-driven decisions.

  Despite its range of features, many reviewers laud Matomo’s user interface for its simplicity and user-friendliness. 

  Why Matomo : Matomo is an excellent alternative because it fills in the gaps where Amplitude comes up short, like with cookieless tracking. Also, while Amplitude focuses mainly on behavioural analytics, Matomo offers both behavioural and traditional analytics, which allows more profound insight into your data. Furthermore, Matomo fully complies with the strictest privacy regulations worldwide, including GDPR, LGPD, and HIPAA.

  Standout features include multi-touch attribution, visits log, content engagement, ecommerce, customer segments, event tracking, goal tracking, custom dimensions, custom reports, automated email reports, tag manager, sessions recordings, roll-up reporting that can pull data from multiple websites or mobile apps, Google Analytics importer, Matomo tag manager, comprehensive visitor tracking, heatmaps, and more.

  Integrations with 100+ technologies, including Cloudflare, WordPress, Magento, Google Ads, Drupal, WooCommerce, Vue, SharePoint and Wix.

  Pricing is free for Matomo On-Premise and $23 per month for Matomo Cloud, which comes with a 21-day free trial (no credit card required).

  Strengths

  • Privacy focused
  • Cookieless consent banners
  • 100% accurate, unsampled data
  • Open-source code 
  • Complete data ownership (no sharing with third parties)
  • Self-hosting and cloud-based options
  • Built-in GDPR Manager
  • Custom alerts, white labelling, dashboards and reports

  Community critiques 

  • Premium features are expensive and proprietary
  • Learning curve for non-technical users

  2. Mixpanel – Best for product analytics

  Mixpanel is a dedicated product analytics tool. It tracks and analyses customer interactions with a product across different platforms and helps optimise digital products to improve the user experience. It works with real-time data and can provide answers from customer and revenue data in seconds.

  It also presents data visualisations to show how customers interact with products.

  

  Mixpanel allows you to play around filters and views to reveal and chart some useful customer trends. (Image source)

  Why Mixpanel : One of the strengths of this platform is the ability to test hypotheses. Need to test an ambitious idea ? Mixpanel data can do it with real user analytics. That allows you to make data-driven decisions to find the best path forward.

  Standout features include automatic funnel segment analysis, behavioural segmentation, cohort segmentation, collaboration support, customisable dashboards, data pipelines, filtered data views, SQL queries, warehouse connectors and a wide range of pre-built integrations.

  Integrations available include Appcues, AppsFlyer, AWS, Databox, Figma, Google Cloud, Hotjar, HubSpot, Intercom, Integromat, MailChimp, Microsoft Azure, Segment, Slack, Statsig, VWO, Userpilot, WebEngage, Zapier, ZOH) and dozens of others.

  Pricing starts with a freemium plan valid for up to 20 million events per month. The growth plan is affordable at $25 per month and adds features like no-code data transformations and data pipeline add-ons. The enterprise version runs at a monthly cost of $833 and provides the full suite of features and services and premium support.

  There’s a caveat. Those prices only allow up to 1,000 Monthly Tracked Users (MTUs), calculated based on the number of visitors that perform a qualifying event each month. Beyond that, MTU plans start at $20,000 per year.

  Strengths

  • User behaviour and interaction tracking
  • Unlimited cohort segmentation capabilities
  • Drop-off analysis showing where users get stuck
  • A/B testing capabilities

  Community critiques 

  • Expensive enterprise features
  • Extensive setup and configuration requirements

  3. Google Analytics 4 – Best free web analytics tool

  The first thing to know about Google Analytics 4 is that it’s a web analytics tool. In other words, it tracks sessions, not user behaviours in app environments. It can provide details on how people found your website and how they go there, but it doesn’t offer much detail on how people use your product. 

  There is also an enterprise version, Google Analytics 360, which is not free. We’ve broken down the differences between the two versions elsewhere.

  

  GA4’s audience overview shows visitors, sessions, session lengths, bounce rates, and user engagement data. (Image source)

   

  Why Google Analytics : It’s great for gauging the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, tracking goal completions (purchases, cart additions, etc.) and spotting trends and patterns in user engagement.

  Standout features include built-in automation, customisable conversion goals, data drill-down functionality, detailed web acquisition metrics, media spend ROI calculations and out-of-the-box web analytics reporting.

  Integrations include all major CRM platforms, CallRail, DoubleClick DCM, Facebook, Hootsuite, Marketo, Shopify, VWO, WordPress, Zapier and Zendesk, among many others.

  Pricing is free for the basic version (Google Analytics 4) and scales based on features and data volume. The advanced features (in Google Analytics 360) are pitched at enterprises, and pricing is custom.

  Strengths

  • Free to start
  • Multiple website management
  • Traffic source details
  • Up-to-date traffic data

  Community critiques 

  • Steep learning curve 
  • Data sampling

  4. Adobe Analytics – Best for predictive analytics

  A fully configured Adobe Analytics implementation is the Swiss army knife of analytics tools. It begins with web analytics, adds product analytics, and then wraps it up nicely with predictive analytics.

  Unlike all the Amplitude alternatives here, there’s no free version. Adobe Analytics has a complicated pricing matrix with options like website analytics, marketing analytics, attribution, and predictive analytics. It also has a wide range of customisation options that will appeal to large businesses. But for smaller organisations, it may all be a bit too much.

  Mixpanel allows you to play around filters and views to reveal and chart some useful customer trends. (Image source)

  

  Adobe Analytics’ cross-channel attribution ties actions from different channels into a single customer journey. (Image source)

   

  Why Adobe Analytics : For current Adobe customers, this is a logical next step. Either way, Adobe Analytics can combine, evaluate, and analyse data from any part of the customer journey. It analyses that data with predictive intelligence to provide insights to enhance customer experiences.

   

  Standout features include AI-powered prediction analysis, attribution analysis, multi-channel data collection, segmentation and detailed customer journey analytics, product analytics and web analytics.

   

  Integrations are available through the Adobe Experience Cloud Exchange. Adobe Analytics also supports data exchange with brands such as BrightEdge, Branch.io, Google Ads, Hootsuite, Invoca, Salesforce and over 200 other integrations.

   

  Pricing starts at $500 monthly, but prospective customers are encouraged to contact the company for a needs-based quotation.

   

  Strengths

  • Drag-and-drop interface
  • Flexible segmentation 
  • Easy-to-create conversion funnels
  • Threshold-based alerts and notifications

  Community critiques 

  • No free version
  • Lack of technical support
  • Steep learning curve

  5. Umami – Best lightweight tool for web analytics

  The second of our open-source analytics solutions is Umami, a favourite in the software development community. Like Matomo, it’s a powerful and privacy-focused alternative that offers complete data control and respects user privacy. It’s also available as a cloud-based freemium plan or as a self-hosted solution.

   

  

  Umami’s dashboard reveals the busiest times of day and which pages are visited when.(Image source)

   

  Why Umami : Unami has a clear and simple user interface (UI) that lets you measure important metrics such as page visits, referrers, and user agents. It also features event tracking, although some reviewers complain that it’s quite limited.

  Standout features can be summed up in five words : privacy, simplicity, lightweight, real-time, and open-source. Unami’s UI is clean, intuitive and modern, and it doesn’t slow down your website. 

  Integrations include plugins for VuePress, Gatsby, Craft CMS, Docusaurus, WordPress and Publii, and a module for Nuxt. Unami’s API communicates with Javascript, PHP Laravel and Python.

  Pricing is free for up to 100k monthly events and three websites, but with limited support and data retention restrictions. The Pro plan costs $20 a month and gives you unlimited websites and team members, a million events (plus $0.00002 for each event over that), five years of data and email support. Their Enterprise plan is priced custom.

  Strengths

  • Freemium plan
  • Open-source
  • Lightweight 

  Community critiques 

  • Limited support options
  • Data retention restrictions
  • No funnel functionality

  6. Heap – Best for automatic data capture

  Product analytics with a twist is a good description of Heap. It features event auto-capture to track user interactions across all touchpoints in the user journey. This lets you fully understand how and why customers engage with your product and website. 

  Using a single Javascript snippet, Heap automatically collects data on everything users do, including how they got to your website. It also helps identify how different cohorts engage with your product, providing the critical insights teams need to boost conversion rates.

  

  Heap’s journeys feature combines funnel and path analysis. (Image source)

   

  Why Heap : The auto-capture functionality solves a major shortcoming of many product analytics tools — manual tracking. Instead of having to set up manual tags on events, Heap automatically captures all data on user activity from the start. 

  Standout features include event auto-capture, session replay, heatmaps, segments (or cohorts) and journeys, the last of which combines the functions of funnel and path analysis tools into a single feature.

  Integrations include AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure, major CRM platforms, Snowflake and many other data manipulation platforms.

  Pricing is quote-based across all payment tiers. There is also a free plan and a 14-day free trial.

  Strengths

  • Session replay
  • Heatmaps 
  • User segmentation
  • Simple setup 
  • Event auto-capture 

  Community critiques 

  • No A/B testing functionality
  • No GDPR compliance support

  Choosing the best solution for your team

  When selecting a tool, it’s crucial to understand how product analytics and web analytics solutions differ. 

  Product analytics tools track users or accounts and record the features they use, the funnels they move through, and the cohorts they’re part of. Web analytics tools focus more on sessions than users because they’re interested in data that can help improve website usage. 

  Some tools combine product and web analytics to do both of these jobs.

  Area of focus

  Product analytics tools track user behaviour within SaaS- or app-based products. They’re helpful for analysing features, user journeys, engagement metrics, product development and iteration. 

  Web analytics tools analyse web traffic, user demographics, and traffic sources. They’re most often used for marketing and SEO insights.

  Level of detail

  Product analytics tools provide in-depth tracking and analysis of user interactions, feature usage, and cohort analysis.

  Web analytics tools provide broader data on page views, bounce rates, and conversion tracking to analyse overall site performance.

  Whatever tools you try, your first step should be to search for reviews online to see what people who’ve used them think about them. There are some great review sites you can try. See what people are saying on Capterra, G2, Gartner Peer Insights, or TrustRadius. 

  Use Matomo to power your web and app analytics

  Web and product analytics is a competitive field, and there are many other tools worth considering. This list is a small cross-section of what’s available.

  That said, if you have concerns about privacy and costs, consider choosing Matomo. Start your 21-day free trial today.

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  &lt;script type=&quot;text/javascript&quot;&gt;<br />
           if ('object' === typeof navigator.languages &amp;&amp; navigator.languages.length &amp;&amp; navigator.languages.indexOf) {<br />
               var lang = navigator.languages;<br />
               if (lang.indexOf('de') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('de-DE') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('hu') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('el') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('fr') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('tr') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('uk') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('en-gb') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('no') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('nb') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('nn') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('sv') !== -1<br />
                   || lang.indexOf('it') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('nl') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('pl') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('da') !== -1 || lang.indexOf('es') !== -1) {<br />
                   document.getElementById('matomoDataCenterEU').style.display = 'block';<br />
                   document.getElementById('matomoSignUpFormContainer').className = 'prefix-10 grid-60 tablet-grid-100 mobile-grid-100';<br />
               }<br />
           }<br />
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• MOV to ACVHD conversion via Spring Boot and FFmpeg leads to file system error

  31 décembre 2024, par epicUsername

  I am experiencing an issue on a personal project that seeks to convert HEIC to JPG files and MOV files to AVCHD format. The HEIC to JPG conversion works, but the MOV to AVCHD does not, which is where my problems lie.

  


  The intent is to do this with Spring Boot and FFmpeg, using a simple interface done in WindowBuilder.

  


  The relevant bits are the pom file :

  


      <dependencies>&#xA;    &#xA;        &#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>jmagick</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>jmagick</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>6.6.9</version>&#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;&#xA;        &#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>net.java.dev.jna</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>jna</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>5.7.0</version> &#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>net.java.dev.jna</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>jna-platform</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>5.7.0</version>&#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;        &#xA;        &#xA;&#xA;&#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>org.bytedeco</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>ffmpeg</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>7.1-1.5.11</version>&#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>org.bytedeco</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>javacv</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>1.5.11</version>&#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>org.bytedeco</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>ffmpeg-platform</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>7.1-1.5.11</version>&#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;        &#xA;        <dependency>&#xA;            <groupid>org.bytedeco</groupid>&#xA;            <artifactid>javacpp</artifactid>&#xA;            <version>1.5.11</version>&#xA;        </dependency>&#xA;    </dependencies>&#xA;&#xA;

  


  and the main file with the event handling for the application, based on the interface :

  


  package home.multimeida.mmconverter;

imports...

public class MMConverterInterface extends JFrame {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        
        try {
            System.setProperty("jna.library.path", "absolute/path/to/gstreamer/bin");
            // Gst.init("GStreamer Test");
            System.out.println("GStreamer initialized successfully.");
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            System.out.println("Failed to initialize GStreamer.");
        }
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    MMConverterInterface frame = new MMConverterInterface();
                    frame.setVisible(true);
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }

    /**
     * Create the frame.
     */
    public MMConverterInterface() {
        
        // convert button
        
        btnConvert.addActionListener(e -> {
            
            try {
                
                if (sourceFileLabel.getText().equals("No file chosen...") || destinationFolderLabel.getText().equals("No folder selected...")) {
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Please select both an input file and a save location.", "Validation Error", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
                    return;
                }
                 
                File sourceFile = new File(sourceFileLabel.getText());
                File destinationFile;
                 
                if (rdbtnNewRadioButton.isSelected()) {
                    
                    System.out.println("Converting HEIC to JPG...");
                        
                    String outputFileName = sourceFile.getName().replaceFirst("[.][^.]+$", ".jpg");
                    
                    // Call your conversion logic here
                    
                    destinationFile = new File(destinationFolderLabel.getText(), outputFileName);
                    
                    convertHeicToJpg(sourceFile, destinationFile);
                    
                } else if (rdbtnNewRadioButton_1.isSelected()) {
                    
                    if (sourceFileLabel.getText().equals("No file chosen...") || destinationFolderLabel.getText().equals("No folder selected...")) {
                        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Please select both an input file and a save location.", "Validation Error", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
                        return;
                    }
                    
                     // Validate source file
                    if (!sourceFile.exists() || !sourceFile.canRead()) {
                        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Source file does not exist or is not readable.", "File Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                        return;
                    }
                    
                    // Validate destination folder
                    String destinationPath = destinationFolderLabel.getText();
                    if (destinationPath == null || destinationPath.isEmpty() || !(new File(destinationPath).isDirectory())) {
                        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Invalid destination folder.", "File Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                        return;
                    }
                    
                    System.out.println("Converting MOV to AVCHD...");
                    
                    String currentDate = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd").format(new Date());

                    // Extract the file name without the extension
                    String baseName = sourceFile.getName().replaceFirst("[.][^.]+$", "");

                    // Sanitize the base name (replace invalid characters with '_')
                    baseName = baseName.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z0-9-_]", "_");
                    
                    String sanitizedFileName = baseName + "_" + currentDate;
                    sanitizedFileName = sanitizedFileName.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]", "_"); // Allow alphanumeric, '-', '_', and '.'

                    destinationFile = new File(destinationPath, sanitizedFileName);
                    
                    
                    /*
                    // Ensure the destination file is writable
                    if (!destinationFile.canWrite()) {
                        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Output file is not writable.", "File Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                        return;
                    }
                    */
                   

                    convertMovToAvchd(sourceFile, destinationFile);
                    
                } else {
                    
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Please select a conversion type.");
                    
                }
                
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Error: " + ex.getMessage(), "Conversion Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            
            
        });
        
        // cancel button:
        
        btnCancel.addActionListener(e -> {
            System.out.println("Operation canceled.");
            System.exit(0); // Close the application
        });

    }
    
    public void convertMovToAvchd(File sourceFile, File destinationFile) {
        avutil.av_log_set_level(avutil.AV_LOG_DEBUG);
        
        

        AVFormatContext inputFormatContext = null;
        AVFormatContext outputFormatContext = new AVFormatContext(null);
        AVCodecContext inputCodecContext = null;
        AVCodecContext outputCodecContext = null;

        try {
            // Validate input file
            if (!sourceFile.exists() || !sourceFile.canRead()) {
                System.out.println("Source file does not exist or is not readable: " + sourceFile.getAbsolutePath());
                return;
            }
            
            // Validate output file path using the validateFileCreation method
            if (!validateFileCreation(destinationFile)) {
                return; // Exit if destination file validation fails
            }

            // Validate output file path
            if (destinationFile.getParentFile() == null || !destinationFile.getParentFile().exists()) {
                System.out.println("Output directory does not exist: " + destinationFile.getParentFile());
                return;
            }
            if (!destinationFile.getParentFile().canWrite()) {
                System.out.println("Output directory is not writable: " + destinationFile.getParentFile());
                return;
            }

            // Open input file
            inputFormatContext = avformat.avformat_alloc_context();
            if (avformat.avformat_open_input(inputFormatContext, sourceFile.getAbsolutePath(), null, null) < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to open input file: " + sourceFile.getAbsolutePath());
                return;
            }

            // Find stream information
            if (avformat.avformat_find_stream_info(inputFormatContext, (PointerPointer) null) < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to retrieve input stream information.");
                return;
            }

            // Find video stream
            int videoStreamIndex = avformat.av_find_best_stream(inputFormatContext, avutil.AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO, -1, -1, (AVCodec) null, 0);
            if (videoStreamIndex < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to find video stream in input file.");
                return;
            }

            // Initialize input codec context
            inputCodecContext = avcodec.avcodec_alloc_context3(null);
            avcodec.avcodec_parameters_to_context(inputCodecContext, inputFormatContext.streams(videoStreamIndex).codecpar());

            AVCodec decoder = avcodec.avcodec_find_decoder(inputCodecContext.codec_id());
            if (decoder == null || avcodec.avcodec_open2(inputCodecContext, decoder, (PointerPointer) null) < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to open video decoder.");
                return;
            }

            // Allocate output format context
            if (avformat.avformat_alloc_output_context2(outputFormatContext, null, "mpegts", destinationFile.getAbsolutePath()) < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to allocate output format context.");
                return;
            }

            // Initialize output codec
            AVCodec encoder = avcodec.avcodec_find_encoder_by_name("mpeg2video");
            if (encoder == null) {
                System.out.println("Failed to find MPEG2 video encoder.");
                return;
            }

            outputCodecContext = avcodec.avcodec_alloc_context3(encoder);
            if (outputCodecContext == null) {
                System.out.println("Failed to allocate output codec context.");
                return;
            }
            
            if ((outputFormatContext.oformat().flags() & avformat.AVFMT_GLOBALHEADER) != 0) {
                outputCodecContext.flags(outputCodecContext.flags() | avcodec.AV_CODEC_FLAG_GLOBAL_HEADER);
            }


            //outputCodecContext.codec_id(avcodec.AV_CODEC_ID_MPEG2VIDEO);
            outputCodecContext.codec_id(encoder.id());
            outputCodecContext.codec_type(avutil.AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO);
            outputCodecContext.width(1920);
            outputCodecContext.height(1080);
            outputCodecContext.pix_fmt(avutil.AV_PIX_FMT_YUV420P);
            outputCodecContext.time_base(avutil.av_make_q(1, 25));
            outputCodecContext.bit_rate(4000000);
            outputCodecContext.gop_size(12);

            if ((outputFormatContext.oformat().flags() & avformat.AVFMT_GLOBALHEADER) != 0) {
                outputCodecContext.flags(outputCodecContext.flags() | avcodec.AV_CODEC_FLAG_GLOBAL_HEADER);
            }

            
            
            if (avcodec.avcodec_open2(outputCodecContext, encoder, (PointerPointer) null) < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to open video encoder.");
                return;
            }

            // Create output stream
            AVStream videoStream = avformat.avformat_new_stream(outputFormatContext, encoder);
            if (videoStream == null) {
                System.out.println("Failed to create video stream.");
                return;
            }

            avcodec.avcodec_parameters_from_context(videoStream.codecpar(), outputCodecContext);
            
            System.out.println("Destination file path before trying to open the file is: " + destinationFile);

            if ((outputFormatContext.oformat().flags() & avformat.AVFMT_NOFILE) == 0) {
                // Ensure the output path has the correct extension
                String outputPath = destinationFile.getAbsolutePath().replace("\\", "/") + ".avchd";
                System.out.println("Normalized output path: " + outputPath);

                // Try opening the output file
                int ret = avformat.avio_open(outputFormatContext.pb(), outputPath, avformat.AVIO_FLAG_WRITE);
                if (ret < 0) {
                    BytePointer errorBuffer = new BytePointer(avutil.AV_ERROR_MAX_STRING_SIZE);
                    avutil.av_strerror(ret, errorBuffer, errorBuffer.capacity());
                    System.out.println("Failed to open output file: " + errorBuffer.getString());
                    return;
                }
            }


            // Write header
            if (avformat.avformat_write_header(outputFormatContext, (PointerPointer) null) < 0) {
                System.out.println("Failed to write header to output file.");
                return;
            }


            // Packet processing loop
            AVPacket packet = new AVPacket();
            while (avformat.av_read_frame(inputFormatContext, packet) >= 0) {
                if (packet.stream_index() == videoStreamIndex) {
                    if (avcodec.avcodec_send_packet(inputCodecContext, packet) >= 0) {
                        AVFrame frame = avutil.av_frame_alloc();
                        while (avcodec.avcodec_receive_frame(inputCodecContext, frame) >= 0) {
                            if (avcodec.avcodec_send_frame(outputCodecContext, frame) >= 0) {
                                AVPacket encodedPacket = new AVPacket();
                                while (avcodec.avcodec_receive_packet(outputCodecContext, encodedPacket) >= 0) {
                                    encodedPacket.stream_index(videoStream.index());
                                    avformat.av_interleaved_write_frame(outputFormatContext, encodedPacket);
                                    avcodec.av_packet_unref(encodedPacket);
                                }
                            }
                            avutil.av_frame_unref(frame);
                        }
                        avutil.av_frame_free(frame);
                    }
                }
                avcodec.av_packet_unref(packet);
            }

            // Write trailer
            avformat.av_write_trailer(outputFormatContext);
            System.out.println("Conversion completed successfully.");
            
            if (avcodec.avcodec_send_frame(outputCodecContext, null) >= 0) {
                AVPacket encodedPacket = new AVPacket();
                while (avcodec.avcodec_receive_packet(outputCodecContext, encodedPacket) >= 0) {
                    encodedPacket.stream_index(videoStream.index());
                    avformat.av_interleaved_write_frame(outputFormatContext, encodedPacket);
                    avcodec.av_packet_unref(encodedPacket);
                }
            }

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            // Cleanup
            avcodec.avcodec_free_context(inputCodecContext);
            avcodec.avcodec_free_context(outputCodecContext);
            avformat.avformat_close_input(inputFormatContext);

            if (outputFormatContext != null && outputFormatContext.pb() != null) {
                avformat.avio_closep(outputFormatContext.pb());
            }
            avformat.avformat_free_context(outputFormatContext);
        }
    }
    
    private boolean validateFileCreation(File destinationFile) {
        // Check if the parent directory exists and is writable
        File parentDir = destinationFile.getParentFile();
        if (parentDir == null || !parentDir.exists()) {
            System.out.println("Parent directory does not exist: " + parentDir);
            return false;
        }
        if (!parentDir.canWrite()) {
            System.out.println("Cannot write to parent directory: " + parentDir);
            return false;
        }

        // Check if the file exists and is writable
        if (destinationFile.exists()) {
            if (!destinationFile.canWrite()) {
                System.out.println("Destination file is not writable: " + destinationFile);
                return false;
            }
        } else {
            // If the file doesn't exist, try to create it to verify writability
            try {
                if (!destinationFile.createNewFile()) {
                    System.out.println("Unable to create destination file: " + destinationFile);
                    return false;
                }
                // Delete the file after successful creation to avoid residual files
                destinationFile.delete();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                System.out.println("File creation failed: " + e.getMessage());
                return false;
            }
        }

        return true;
    }
    
}




  


  A few caveats :

  


  


  1. I did explore FFmpeg and GStreamer for this project. GStreamer was inconclusive, with available version for it that were too old for use with my current state of STS4.27 and Java 17, even if this version of Java is under long-term support...

     


  


  2. I've used AI to tell me about the options and suggest ways to build this thing, since multimedia handling is very far away from my skillset. I don't have a good conceptual grasp of video formats and how they transfrom from one to another.

     


  


  


  The issue, as I have identified it, occurs at these lines :

  


   // Ensure the destination file is writable
                    if (!destinationFile.canWrite()) {
                        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Output file is not writable.", "File Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                        return;
                    }


  


  ^^ And this, while temporarily commented out for testing, it meant to compensate for an issue that occurs here in the conversion function :

  


   if ((outputFormatContext.oformat().flags() & avformat.AVFMT_NOFILE) == 0) {
                // Ensure the output path has the correct extension
                String outputPath = destinationFile.getAbsolutePath().replace("\\", "/") + ".avchd";
                System.out.println("Normalized output path: " + outputPath);

                // Try opening the output file
                int ret = avformat.avio_open(outputFormatContext.pb(), outputPath, avformat.AVIO_FLAG_WRITE);
                if (ret < 0) {
                    BytePointer errorBuffer = new BytePointer(avutil.AV_ERROR_MAX_STRING_SIZE);
                    avutil.av_strerror(ret, errorBuffer, errorBuffer.capacity());
                    System.out.println("Failed to open output file: " + errorBuffer.getString());
                    return;
                }
            }


  


  The idea here is that the avio_open() function requires the use of the a valid file path that it can open to be able to write it.

  


  Padadoxically, the file conversion seems to work, but the project crashes with a fatal error in the console :

  


  Selected file: E:\TestConveresions\sample_960x540.mov
Save location: E:\TestConveresions
Converting MOV to AVCHD...
Destination file path before trying to open the file is: E:\TestConveresions\sample_960x540_20241231
Normalized output path: E:/TestConveresions/sample_960x540_20241231.avchd
#
# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
#  EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x00007ffcffb0868b, pid=11020, tid=14436
#
# JRE version: OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-21.0.5+11 (21.0.5+11) (build 21.0.5+11-LTS)
# Java VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-21.0.5+11 (21.0.5+11-LTS, mixed mode, emulated-client, sharing, tiered, compressed oops, compressed class ptrs, g1 gc, windows-amd64)
# Problematic frame:
# C  0x00007ffcffb0868b
#
# No core dump will be written. Minidumps are not enabled by default on client versions of Windows
#
# An error report file with more information is saved as:
# E:\STS4 Workspace\MMConverter\hs_err_pid11020.log
[80.882s][warning][os] Loading hsdis library failed
#
# If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit:
#   https://github.com/adoptium/adoptium-support/issues
# The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code.
# See problematic frame for where to report the bug.
#
[AVFormatContext @ 000002528adcea40] Opening 'E:\TestConveresions\sample_960x540.mov' for reading
[file @ 000002528ae51c40] Setting default whitelist 'file,crypto,data'
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] Format mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 probed with size=2048 and score=100
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] ISO: File Type Major Brand: qt  
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] Unknown dref type 0x206c7275 size 12
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] Processing st: 0, edit list 0 - media time: 2002, duration: 400410
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] Offset DTS by 2002 to make first pts zero.
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] Setting codecpar->delay to 2 for stream st: 0
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] Before avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 1320742 bytes read:38225 seeks:1 nb_streams:1
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 7(SPS), nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] Decoding VUI
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 8(PPS), nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 7(SPS), nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] Decoding VUI
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 8(PPS), nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 6(SEI), nal_ref_idc: 0
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 5(IDR), nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] Format yuv420p chosen by get_format().
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] Reinit context to 960x544, pix_fmt: yuv420p
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] no picture 
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] All info found
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 000002528adcea40] After avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 51943 bytes read:90132 seeks:2 frames:1
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 7(SPS), nal_ref_idc: 3
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] Decoding VUI
[h264 @ 000002528ae62780] nal_unit_type: 8(PPS), nal_ref_idc: 3
[mpeg2video @ 000002528ae8e700] intra_quant_bias = 96 inter_quant_bias = 0



  


  If I refer to the error log, I get this. It is partial, as I'm not sure SO will take all of it (quite long), but still might have enough to be relevant :

  


  Host: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz, 8 cores, 31G,  Windows 11 , 64 bit Build 26100 (10.0.26100.2454)


---------------  T H R E A D  ---------------

Current thread (0x00000252d030b340):  JavaThread "AWT-EventQueue-0"        [_thread_in_native, id=14436, stack(0x000000a4e2b00000,0x000000a4e2c00000) (1024K)]

Stack: [0x000000a4e2b00000,0x000000a4e2c00000],  sp=0x000000a4e2bfdf30,  free space=1015k
Native frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code, C=native code)
C  0x00007ffcffb0868b

Java frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code)
j  org.bytedeco.ffmpeg.global.avformat.avio_open(Lorg/bytedeco/ffmpeg/avformat/AVIOContext;Ljava/lang/String;I)I+0
j  home.multimeida.mmconverter.MMConverterInterface.convertMovToAvchd(Ljava/io/File;Ljava/io/File;)V+1120
j  home.multimeida.mmconverter.MMConverterInterface.lambda$2(Ljavax/swing/JRadioButton;Ljavax/swing/JRadioButton;Ljava/awt/event/ActionEvent;)V+347
j  home.multimeida.mmconverter.MMConverterInterface$$Lambda+0x000002528c0c7778.actionPerformed(Ljava/awt/event/ActionEvent;)V+13
j  javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(Ljava/awt/event/ActionEvent;)V+84 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(Ljava/awt/event/ActionEvent;)V+5 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(Ljava/awt/event/ActionEvent;)V+34 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(Z)V+117 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(Ljava/awt/event/MouseEvent;)V+35 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Ljava/awt/event/MouseEvent;)V+64 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(Ljava/awt/event/MouseEvent;)V+23 java.desktop@21.0.5
J 2581 c1 java.awt.Component.processEvent(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (220 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa62719c [0x00000252fa627020+0x000000000000017c]
J 2580 c1 java.awt.Container.processEvent(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (22 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa627d9c [0x00000252fa627cc0+0x00000000000000dc]
J 2406 c1 java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (785 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa670f14 [0x00000252fa670040+0x0000000000000ed4]
J 2325 c1 java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (129 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa64e93c [0x00000252fa64e8a0+0x000000000000009c]
J 2608 c1 java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Ljava/awt/Component;ILjava/awt/event/MouseEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (372 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa61c364 [0x00000252fa61b9e0+0x0000000000000984]
J 2578 c1 java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Ljava/awt/event/MouseEvent;)Z java.desktop@21.0.5 (268 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa628a54 [0x00000252fa6284c0+0x0000000000000594]
J 2474 c1 java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)Z java.desktop@21.0.5 (73 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa699bbc [0x00000252fa699a60+0x000000000000015c]
J 2325 c1 java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (129 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa64e914 [0x00000252fa64e8a0+0x0000000000000074]
J 2473 c1 java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (23 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa699654 [0x00000252fa6994e0+0x0000000000000174]
J 1838 c1 java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;Ljava/lang/Object;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (139 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa3bec64 [0x00000252fa3beb20+0x0000000000000144]
J 1837 c1 java.awt.EventQueue$4.run()Ljava/lang/Void; java.desktop@21.0.5 (60 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa3c0504 [0x00000252fa3c0460+0x00000000000000a4]
J 1836 c1 java.awt.EventQueue$4.run()Ljava/lang/Object; java.desktop@21.0.5 (5 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa3c0a04 [0x00000252fa3c09c0+0x0000000000000044]
J 1778 c1 java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(Ljava/security/PrivilegedAction;Ljava/security/AccessControlContext;Ljava/security/AccessControlContext;)Ljava/lang/Object; java.base@21.0.5 (22 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa4601d4 [0x00000252fa45ffa0+0x0000000000000234]
J 1832 c1 java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Ljava/awt/AWTEvent;)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (80 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa44f14c [0x00000252fa44eae0+0x000000000000066c]
J 1846 c1 java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(I)V java.desktop@21.0.5 (106 bytes) @ 0x00000252fa3ba544 [0x00000252fa3ba2e0+0x0000000000000264]
j  java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(ILjava/awt/Conditional;Ljava/awt/EventFilter;)V+35 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(ILjava/awt/Conditional;Ljava/awt/Component;)V+11 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(ILjava/awt/Conditional;)V+4 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Ljava/awt/Conditional;)V+3 java.desktop@21.0.5
j  java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run()V+9 java.desktop@21.0.5
v  ~StubRoutines::call_stub 0x00000252fa08100d

siginfo: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005), writing address 0x0000000000000000



  


  If anyone has a perspective on this, it'd be appreciated.

  


  The catch 22 in this project is that pre-creating the file is not a good idea, since avio_open has a purpose in-built method for that (I tried). Error checking everything about Java's File class in terms of setting pathways and creating and deleting files is not problematic. Likewise, permissions are all fine (Full Control in source and target folders) ; I've tested default C drive folders, which have restritions, to a separate volume and removable media, to no effect. Likewise, FFmpeg requires a forward slash, "/" in file paths, whereas Java does the backslash, generally. That's been handled with the replace method in the above conditioning, also to no effect.

  


  The basic contradiction in the project seems to be that the error tries open a file that does not exist, with a valid source and destination file, and if I try to create a placeholder file wiht an acvhd extension at the event handling for the Convert button, it still errors out ; meanwhile, FFmpeg allegedly handles the file creation at its core, but requires a valid path to be passed ; I've tried with and without a filename, with and without an extension. I'm not able to resovle it.

  


  The excessive error handling conditions are in an effort to isolate the problem, which I think I've done.

  


  There also seems to be a compatibility between mpegts and acvhd, which is why I also had that format specified in the conversion function, without result.

  


  I also have the idea to be able to do this without having to install any libraries locally or having to set path variables, which is an aspect that both GStreamer and FFmpeg have.

  


  Nearest suggestion I've found is this : integrate ffmpeg with spring boot

  


  AI remains hopeless for resolving this issue.

  


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  Matomo is built on a simple truth : your data belongs to you, and you should have complete control over it. That’s why we’re excited to launch our new BigQuery & Data Warehouse Export feature for Matomo Cloud, giving you even more ways to work with your analytics data. 

  Until now, getting raw data from Matomo Cloud required APIs and custom scripts, or waiting for engineering help.  

  Our new BigQuery & Data Warehouse Export feature removes those barriers. You can now access your raw, unaggregated data and schedule regular exports straight to your data warehouse. 

  The feature works with all major data warehouses including (but not limited to) : 

  • Google BigQuery 
  • Amazon Redshift 
  • Snowflake 
  • Azure Synapse Analytics 
  • Apache Hive 
  • Teradata 

  You can schedule exports, combine your Matomo data with other data sources in your data warehouse, and easily query data with SQL-like queries. 

  Direct raw data access for greater data portability 

  Waiting for engineering support can delay your work. Managing API connections and writing scripts can be time-consuming. This keeps you from focusing on what you do best—analysing data. 

  

  With the BigQuery & Data Warehouse Export feature, you get direct access to your raw Matomo data without the technical setup. So, you can spend more time analysing data and finding insights that matter. 

  Bringing your data together 

  Answering business questions often requires data from multiple sources. A single customer interaction might span your CRM, web analytics, sales systems, and more. Piecing this data together manually is time-consuming—what starts as a seemingly simple question from stakeholders can turn into hours of work collecting and comparing data across different tools. 

  This feature lets you combine your Matomo data with data from other business systems in your data warehouse. Instead of switching between tools or manually comparing spreadsheets, you can analyse all your data in one place to better understand how customers interact with your business. 

  Easy, custom analysis with SQL-like queries 

  Standard, pre-built reports often don’t address the specific, detailed questions that analysts need to answer.  

  When you use the BigQuery & Data Warehouse Export feature, you can use SQL-like queries in your data warehouse to do detailed, customised analysis. This flexibility allows you to explore your data in depth and uncover specific insights that aren’t possible with pre-built reports. 

  

  Here is an example of how you might use SQL-like query to compare the behaviours of paying vs. non-paying users : 

  				
                                          <xmp>SELECT  
  
  
  
  custom_dimension_value AS user_type, -- Assuming 'user_type' is stored in a custom dimension 
  
  
  
  COUNT(*) AS total_visits,  
  
  
  
  AVG(visit_total_time) AS avg_duration, 
  
  
  
  SUM(conversion.revenue) AS total_spent  
  
  
  
  FROM  
  
  
  
  `your_project.your_dataset.matomo_log_visit` AS visit 
  
  
  
  LEFT JOIN  
  
  
  
  `your_project.your_dataset.matomo_log_conversion` AS conversion  
  
  
  
  ON  
  
  
  
  visit.idvisit = conversion.idvisit  
  
  
  
  GROUP BY  
  
  
  
  custom_dimension_value; </xmp>
  
                                  
  			

  This query helps you compare metrics such as the number of visits, average session duration, and total amount spent between paying and non-paying users. It provides a full view of behavioural differences between these groups. 

  Advanced data manipulation and visualisation 

  When you need to create detailed reports or dive deep into data analysis, working within the constraints of a fixed user interface (UI) can limit your ability to draw insights. 

  Exporting your Matomo data to a data warehouse like BigQuery provides greater flexibility for in-depth manipulation and advanced visualisations, enabling you to uncover deeper insights and tailor your reports more effectively. 

  Getting started 

  To set up data warehouse exports in your Matomo : 

  1. Go to System Admin (cog icon in the top right corner) 
  2. Select ‘Export’ from the left-hand menu 
  3. Choose ‘BigQuery & Data Warehouse’ 

  You’ll find detailed instructions in our data warehouse exports guide.  

  Please note, enabling this feature will cost an additional 10% of your current subscription. You can view the exact cost by following the steps above. 

  New to Matomo ? Start your 21-day free trial now (no credit card required), or request a demo. 

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