<p>I have CCTV footage exported from a motion activated camera system. When the camera is not active the exported file keeps time by overlaying a black rectangle on the most recent captured image, and then repeating that single frame until there is action again. (Kinda dumb.) </p>

<p>I want to get rid of all of the no-action frames. I have successfully used mpdecimate in the past to remove duplicate frames, but that always keeps the first frame in the duplicate sequence. In my case I want the first frame gone too.</p>

<p>Is there a straightforward solution to this?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-02T07:52:20.917Z
That first frame isn't a duplicate, since due to the black rect, it is different than the previous frame. Is the black rect always drawn in a fixed position and size each time?
Gyan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-10T01:20:50.100Z
It is. It's automatically inserted as a timekeeping placeholder over the static "frame where movement last ended." If it would be helpful to see, I can upload a portion of the clip for you to see. Thank you for your help.
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How can I delete ALL duplicated frames with ffmpeg and mpdecimate?
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# How can I delete ALL duplicated frames with ffmpeg and mpdecimate?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-01)

I have CCTV footage exported from a motion activated camera system. When the camera is not active the exported file keeps time by overlaying a black rectangle on the most recent captured image, and then repeating that single frame until there is action again. (Kinda dumb.)

I want to get rid of all of the no-action frames. I have successfully used mpdecimate in the past to remove duplicate frames, but that always keeps the first frame in the duplicate sequence. In my case I want the first frame gone too.

Is there a straightforward solution to this?

**Tags:** video, ffmpeg

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: That first frame isn't a duplicate, since due to the black rect, it is different than the previous frame. Is the black rect always drawn in a fixed position and size each time?  
> **username_0**: It is. It's automatically inserted as a timekeeping placeholder over the static "frame where movement last ended." If it would be helpful to see, I can upload a portion of the clip for you to see. Thank you for your help.  

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## 0 answers

