Ares Save Video

Every H3 long-video loop has a boring dependency at its centre: at the end of each round, something has to write an actual video file to disk, in a place the next round can find it. Ares Save Video is that node. It takes a VIDEO, encodes it, and drops it in ComfyUI/output - then hands the same video straight back out so you can keep using it.

What it does, honestly

Here's the thing worth saying plainly: core ComfyUI already ships a Save Video node that does almost exactly this, down to the folder_paths.get_save_image_path call and the metadata block. If you're on a recent ComfyUI you could use either one. There are three reasons to reach for this one in an H3 loop:

1. It's an output node, so it's part of the executed set - the graph runs the branch you're actually looking at, every queue.
2. Its filename_prefix is what Ares Load Last Video searches on. Keeping the save and the load on the same string is the thing that makes the loop predictable.
3. Its output passes the video through unchanged, so you can save and keep using the clip - trim it for the next reference in the same round, without a duplicate decode.

The pack also ships a small frontend tweak (a stylesheet and a resize observer) that keeps the video preview letterboxed instead of stretched inside the node, so tall clips don't get squashed. Cosmetic, but it's the kind of thing that makes the pack feel looked-after.

Inputs and outputs

video is the only required input - the thing you decoded after sampling.

filename_prefix defaults to video/ComfyUI and accepts ComfyUI's formatting tokens, so video/h3_clip_%date:yyyy-MM-dd% works and gives you one dated folder rather than a flat pile. If you're looping, this is the field to think about, because the prefix tags the file that the loop will pick back up.

format picks the container: auto, mp4, mkv, or webm. Leave it on auto unless you have a reason - auto resolves to mp4, which is the container everything else in the pipeline expects.

codec is a two-stage dropdown, and it's where the quality knob lives. Choose auto and the node keeps a broadly compatible H.264 stream without asking you anything. Choose h264 and a second encoding choice appears: auto, or re-encode - which reveals a crf field, default 23. Lower CRF means higher quality and bigger files; 18–20 is where you go when you care, 23 is fine for a reference clip the next round is going to re-encode anyway. Don't drop it to 5 and then wonder why a 15-second clip is 400MB.

The single output is video, unchanged. Wire it onward if you want (into Ares Trim Video for the same round's continuation reference), or leave it dangling - the save has already happened.

Install

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/SuperWJ062/ComfyUI-ares_MiniMaxH3_IntelligentPrompt

Restart ComfyUI and the node shows up under the Ares category as "Ares Save Video". No requirements.txt, no pip step: the pack leans on torch, folder_paths and comfy_api.latest, all of which ship with ComfyUI. It does need a reasonably current ComfyUI - the node is written against the io.ComfyNode schema API and simply won't import on a stale install. ComfyUI Manager can install the pack by title too, though brand-new packs sometimes aren't in the registry yet.

No models are bundled, which for this pack really means: the H3 weights (~42.5GB) are a separate download, and their community licence excludes the US, EU, UK and South Korea. Worth a look before you build a client project on it.

Where it trips people up

Saving to temp isn't saving. Ares Load Last Video and anything else that scans the output folder only see files under ComfyUI/output. If you're pointing a prefix at a temp path, the loop will never find its own clip.

The metadata rides along - the prompt and workflow are embedded in the container unless you launched ComfyUI with --disable-metadata. That's a feature (your mp4 is self-documenting) and also a hint that these files grow.

You get one file per round. That's the design, not a bug: round 7's continuation needs round 6's file to still exist. A 20-round loop leaves 20 mp4s in output/video. Fine - just know that now rather than in three weeks.

CRF does nothing unless you pick re-encode. On the default auto/auto path the field isn't even shown, and inventing a value elsewhere won't apply.