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ffmpeg posts

Filed under: Utilities, Video, Macintosh

Videomonkey video converter for Mac picks up where VisualHub left off


With the discontinuation of VisualHub, one of the most popular video conversion apps for OS X, someone had to release an app to fill the void. That app might be VideoMonkey, which builds on VisualHub's source code and concept to convert videos to and from a number of popular formats. VideoMonkey actually improves on VisualHub in some ways, especially because it's a native Cocoa app, where VisualHub was built around AppleScript.

VideoMonkey uses the FFMpeg encoder for most of its work, but it also has the ability to combine with other tools and automatically figure out how to convert even some weird filetypes. For example, if you edit a WMV with Quicktime Pro and save it, VideoMonkey understands how to separate the audio and video and recombine them in a new format of your choice. This all goes on behind the scenes: for the user, it's a 1-click process. If you loved VisualHub, and you're looking for a replacement, VideoMonkey is all that and more.

Burn downloaded videos easily with DVDCoach Express



One of the most frequent questions I get asked by retail customers is "Where can I get a program that burns my movies?" Nine times out of ten they actually mean "the movies I downloaded with Limewire."

If you're in the same boat and need a nice, simple app to convert and burn your downloaded video files to DVD, take a look at DVDCoach Express.

It's a free application for Windows that utilizes ffmpeg to handle conversion duties. The process is straightforward: drag your videos onto the file pane, set your encoding options, and start your task. Options are kept to a minimum: you can select PAL or NTSC, 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, and the encoding quality.

DVDCoach's simplicity is key, because I've already got enough software support calls to answer.

On the high setting, four 150mb clips converted and burned in about 40 minutes. It runs on XP and Vista, and didn't have any issues on my x64 install.

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, Open Source

Audacity 1.3.6 Beta adds support for editing WMA, M4A audio files

Audacity 1.3.6
Open source, cross-platform audio editing application Audacity 1.3.6 beta is out, and it adds a handful of new features that make it even more useful. One of the most attractive new features is support for using FFmpeg to import and export audio files in a wide range of formats, including WMA, M4A, and AC3. You can even import audio tracks from video files using FFmpeg.

Here's how to set it up. First you need to install Audacity 1.3.6 beta, and then find the preferences menu under the edit tab. Next, click the Import / Export option. If you already have FFmpeg on your system, click the find library button and locate the avformat-52.dll file. If you don't have FFmpeg yet, click the download button and a web browser window will open up with instructions for downloading and using the plugin.

The latest version of Audacity also has a few other tweaks, like improved performance when laoding uncompressed audio files and the ability to link audio and lable tracks so that labels move properly when you move an audio track.

[via Making Music]

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Quick Media Converter converts media... quickly

Quick Media Converter
Quick Media Converter is a Windows utility that will let you convert practically any audio or video file from one format to another. MPEG to H.264? No problem. WAV to OGG? Sure, why not.

Now let's get something out of the way here. Quick Media Converter is basically just a fancy front end for the open source, command line FFmpeg media encoder. But it's a really useful front end. The utility offers you two interfaces: an easy mode and an expert mode. In easy mode, you can choose from a number of predefiined formats. So just select the media files you want to convert, and click the Audio, Quicktime, WMV, DiVX, Xbox, PS3, or Wii button to create a file optimized for your system of choice.

In Expert mode, you have much more control over the code choices and settings. For example, in easy mode, there's no way to convert a FLAC file to OGG. But you can do that in expert mode.

The program also includes a bundled copy of CamStudio for making screencapturs which you can then convert to other formats using Quick Media Converter. In a nutshell, Quick Media Converter doesn't do anything that MediaCoder doesn't. But if you're looking for an even easier to use alternative, this program might be worth a look.

[via TechnoBuzz]

Filed under: Audio, Video, Features, Linux, Open Source

Flipping the Linux switch: ZOMG! ffmpeg!

Small SoundConverter screen shot.The plain truth is I don't like working with media files. Watching them, or listening to them, sure, I'm just as into that as the next girl. When it comes to actually converting them from something captured off an external device or my screen, though, my stomach turns. It's not an aversion that's peculiar to Linux. I hate using the Windows for those same tasks. Since I don't have access to a Mac, I can't vouch for the ease of media conversion on them, but I can safely say that as ubiquitous as Quicktime is, I have very little luck working with (or viewing) Quicktime files on any machine with any operating system in my possession.

Linux presents special challenges with media file conversions. The good news is that though some of the tools might be a little tricky to decipher, they do a great job with conversions and tend to encompass a wide range of file types. Some tools can be used with GUI front-ends, and some I've found are just a lot faster and easier to bang out a command in a terminal window. Many of these tools are either installed by default in a number of Linux distributions, or can be added with a few clicks through the distro's repositories.

So I admit it was with a whole lot of fear and loathing that I decided to include screencasts in a recent post on KDE. My video grab software was working wonderfully, but it saved my files as .ogv. That wouldn't be a problem if I weren't hosting it elsewhere, and if the conversion software on that site didn't require it be in a format other than .ogv. And Ogg files, being funny beasts, aren't always the easiest things to convert.

And certainly, they aren't the only things you'd want to convert in Linux. So let's shake down how it's done.

Read more →

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