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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    77

    how to convert videos on linux - $20

    hello,

    i dont really need creating or coding anything, just need some suggestions for existing package or way to go to do this:

    1. need to convert videos in linux enviroment -- so a command line utility -- shud have good speed

    2. NEED TO SUPPORT ALL FORMATS & ALL CODECS (etc .avi/.mpeg/.mov/.wmv/.asf ...)

    3. need to generate screenshot from video for given time (0.0s, 14.3s, last frame, etc) -- also -- need to support screenshot for .SWF (if possible)

    i know transcode can handle this but there are patent issues around ffmpeg which transcode is builtaroud so i dont want to use anything wihch can be considered illegal.

    you can point me to paid package as well, but free will be much more appreciated cos theres usually much more control.

    i'll pay $20 via paypal if u can suggest something meeting above requirements.

    i'll also be really glad for any comments or help or places to search as i didnt have luck finding anything.

    just last question, wud this be easier if set up on windows platform ?

    thank you very much.

    -dex
    Every line ends in rhyme

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Lansing, MI, USA
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    I actually had a lot of luck using the conversion tool that Mplayer provides. I used this to convert realplayer files to avi's so I could watch them without RealPlayer. The speed at which it works will completely depend on the type of system you have though
    Jacob - WebOnce Technologies - 30 Day 100% Satisfaction Guarantee - Over 5 Years Going Strong!
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    77
    if u mean http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/index.html, that one is built around FFMPEG

    ----------------EDIT-------------------
    Please post urls with ur suggestions.
    It is enough if the program will meet points 2) 3) so dont have to write vidoes (tho if have this too, will be great)

    To sum it up, "Program to create screenshot of video in any of most used formats/codecs"
    Every line ends in rhyme

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Lansing, MI, USA
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    Ok, wasn't sure of the linage of it, just was letting you know it worked very well for me
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Canada
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    There is no way you'll get decoding of anything but open standards (ie. mpeg & some basic AVI codecs, xvid, etc) without running into patent and legality issues. You can probably build mplayer without mpeg support and not include the win32codecs package, but it won't be very useful. Bottom line, you need to relax this requirement if you want software that will be useful.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    77
    webonce: yes thanks for suggestion but its not really it.
    e404: i think there should be no problem with decoding, the software can use codecs installed on system... which make me think, this may be easier to do on Windows platform.
    Every line ends in rhyme

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Canada
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    Doing it in Windows is probably more difficult, though less amgiuous legally. Windows just doesn't have the available software or easy scripting capabilities that are there on linux. You're probably either dealing with scripting GUIs (which is not easy, of course), or writing some video for windows code from scratch, which will undoubtedly be a lot of work for a skilled developer.

    The bottom line is that while Microsoft won't endorse third party code that decodes their codecs, none of these projects have been bothered by them (VLC, mplayer, etc.), and further AFAIK you wouldn't have any legal liability for using them. Reverse engineering for interoperability purposes is explicitly allowed by copyright, however the DMCA and patent issues may apply, though I suspect even these are moot.

    The easiest solution to your problem is probably to use mencoder (distributed with mplayer), or maybe transcode which I've never heard of. It's extermely powerful software and definitely does what you require. Patent issues or no, this will not affect you.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    77
    e404: actually in windows u can just interface with codeds so it isnt really coding the codecs from scratch. u can use directshow or something similiar. but windows is the second way i'd like to go.

    yea transcode can do all i need, but it has patent issues.

    but thanks for answering anyway.
    Every line ends in rhyme

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Canada
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    1,097
    Software patents are bogus anyway. I honestly don't see what your problem with them is. You're not liable, and the software works and does what you want. As I said, the bottom lines is that if you want to do this on a non-Microsoft platform you're going to run into these issues. Period. Even on Windows, you'll run into them. For example, VirtualDub had to pull support for ASF files after being asked by MS to honour their patents. VirtualDub is another solution you may want to consider, but I doubt it's easily scriptable.

    I did try to write some VFW code once, and while it was trivially easy to embed a player component in an application, extracting the raw data and encoding with a different codec would be a fair bit of work, though not an insurmountable task. Utilising AviSynth may be a more useful approach for you, there may be command line tools available and with WSH you can probably hack something together, it's a very powerful framework. There are probably patent issues there too though, especially if you want to decode mpeg.

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