How to Install Transcoder (video converter) in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal?

Not that long ago, just forget about converting, but heck, even the playback of multimedia files were a daunting task in GNU/Linux. Although this has nothing to do with developers skills :) but as everyone knows, since most of the codecs are proprietary ones... GNU/Linux was always a bit "shy" on her support for those.

But as the time passed on... thanks to some hard work of many developers now we have not just players but a whole bunch of multimedia frameworks (Phonon, Gstreamer, etc) which are sometimes decodes the proprietary codes, even efficiently than their official decoders!.

Okay, before I go off topic let me start the post right away :D. Transcoder is a GTK+ built GUI front-end that uses the ffmpeg multimedia library that lets you convert a huge list of multimedia files (both proprietary and open-source) with ease!.

Main features...

*. A simple GUI that looks clean and professional.

*. Supports multiple codecs (both audio and video) such as: Theora, H.264, Xvid, MPEG1/2, FLV, Vp8, AAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Amr, direct stream copy (means copy the audio/video content to a new container without encoding) etc.

*. Change video resolutions.

*. Change video and audio bi-trate according to your preference.

*. Change frame-rate and aspect ratio.

*. Audio volume Gain, sample rate and channels.

*. Embed subtitles.

*. Add/manage a lit of multimedia files with ease.

When you convert a file, Transcoder also gives you an option called "slower" which puts the converting process in a bit low priority so it'll still convert but you'll still be able to use other apps since the "standard" way of converting consumes almost 100% of your CPU thus slows down the PC/Laptop.

You can install Transcoder in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (might also work in 10.10 and 10.04, haven't tested it though) by first downloading the ".deb" package (supports both 32/64 bit platforms) from this Transcoder's home page.

Once the download completes, just double click on the .deb file which should open-up the Ubuntu software center. Then simply follow on screen instructions and USC will take care the rest for you :).

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traGtor - ffmpeg Encoder GUI for GNU/Linux (one of the best!)

I maybe wrong on this one but I think the origin of the Qt written KDE desktop actually comes from the German programmers. But the point is for good or worse..., unlike with Gnome, KDE has a philosophy that make sure the desktop and almost all the other applications come with a lot of options/features by default.

This was visible from the birth of KDE. But then again the reason for all those features is actually has nothing to do with the toolkit since it's the ideas and believe systems that define us thus even by a slight change of the "philosophy" any toolkit can be used to make a very powerful, features-rich application nonetheless.

In that sense, if you were looking for an easy to use yet powerful multimedia converter that comes with a GUI (hopefully :P) which is written in GTK+, then look no further, I don't know about you, but I've found it. It's called "traGtor".

Main features...

*. As said, this is actually a front-end that uses the ffmpeg multimedia library (one of the most efficient ones as well). So all the codecs supported by ffmpeg can be converted using traGtor.

I don't know about the manipulative history... but you gotta respect the way of the Germans... they really know their shi* :D

*. Change audio/video codec, bitrate, crop (my favourite and one of the important ones if you care about optimizing the output quality and size), and resize (enter values manually).

*. Edit audio sample rate, edit tags, change channels, 2-pass encoding (for the optimal results).

*. Change the output container (MKV, AVI, etc).

*. Change ratio and De-interlace.

By default it uses the German language... you can change it to English by Clicking on that "6th" tab under "Sparche wahlen" (don't know what that means though :/) choose "en" as shown in the screenshot.

*. If you know a bit about ffmpeg (command line) then you can enter additional encoding settings as well... and these are few of the features to mention.

You can install traGtor in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal by following the below instructions.

It's not supported by the Ubuntu repositories at the moment but I'm pretty sure they'll be added when considering the amazing capabilities of this utility. So we have to add their repository first.

Open your GNU/Linux Terminal window and enter the below commands.

wget http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/PublicKey

sudo apt-key add PublicKey

rm PublicKey

echo "deb http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/ /" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

Now we can install it using the "apt-get" command as usual.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install tragtor

As said, you have to have the ffmpeg multimedia codecs pack (library actually) to do the actual work. If you haven't already, you can install ffmpeg by using the additional commands, again in your Terminal window.

sudo wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get --quiet update && sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get --quiet update

Then we can install ffmpeg in Ubuntu 11.04 and the id3v2 (MP3 tag editor) by using the next command.

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

sudo apt-get install id3v2

That's it. Now you've installed TraGtor and all its dependencies thus you can start converting any audio/video under the sun in Ubuntu Linux! :D.

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Install OggConvert in Ubuntu - A Theora Video Converter for GNU/Linux

As a GNU/Linux user if you haven't heard of Theora... then it is a lossey video compression format, one of the earliest projects created to compete against the proprietary multimedia codecs such as WMV/MPEG-4, etc.

Although in its early stages it didn't support HD (well, it wasn't a big deal those days anyway) but with recent versions the video codec Theora can even handle HD resolutions as well.

I also remember in those early days there wasn't much GUI front-ends (there wasn't any!) available ... all we had those days was the command-line tool that Theora developers gave you. I remember vividly trying that command-line tool for the first time to convert a .MPG file and, although the output wasn't the best of its kind, but I was already impressed by its performance. 

Time has passed and these days Theora has become a very powerful video compression tool nonetheless. As said it can handle HD videos too, but it tends to give better results at lower video resolutions (it's optimized for that).

Anyhow, if you want to convert a lot of other (both proprietary and free) multimedia formats into Theora ... then Oggconvert is a pretty decent application. The reason for that "decent" is because, the application does lack few features that are essential if you're serious about getting the best possible results.

Main features...

Not recommended for professionals... but can be pretty handy for everyday usages...

*. Oggconvert, GUI is written in GTK+ toolkit (Python is the programming language) and is very easy to use.

*. Comes with "sliders" by using them you can switch between audio and video quality (defined by numbers - see the above screenshot).

*. If you want to change the container format, then click on the "Advanced" button and it'll let you use Ogg, Matroska and WebM formats.

*. Drag n Drop support + it uses the Gstreamer multimedia framework. So if you've installed the proprietary Gstreamer codecs... then Oggconvert can convert almost all the popular multimedia files!. 

Well, that's about it. But as mentioned earlier, it would've been better if we were given the ability to crop, resize and enter video (especially) and audio bitrates manually... since they are the most important factors which define the quality of the output file, apart from the video compression format (codec) itself.

Anyhow, if you use Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (including 10.04 and 10.10) you can easily install OggConvert by entering the below command in your Terminal.

sudo apt-get install oggconvert

Don't worry. If you haven't done already, this will automatically install the Gstreamer proprietary codecs dependencies too. Enjoy!.

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How to Install Acidrip in Ubuntu - The Best DVDRipper for GNU/Linux! (I think :/)

Without any particular reason, sometime ago I really wanted to know about DVD ripping (including encoding) using nothing but my GNU/Linux powered Laptop. Those days I used some older version of Ubuntu Linux and unlike these days there weren't any PPAs or lot of applications to do that.

On the other hand I didn't have faster internet connection, so my options were really limited. So I went for the obvious ... MPlayer which is easy to setup and takes little space. Unlike many other player in GNU/Linux, MPlayer is one of the oldest and the most powerful. It's not just a player but even comes with a built in encoder called Mencoder.

But the sad thing about Mencoder is that it's a command-line app. But to be honest if you only have a decent knowledge about DVDRipping (like me :D) even then, you'll be amazed by its capabilities. From Video cropping to resizing, adding several enhancers... oh you name it.

I always wondered how great it will be if there is a decent GUI written in GTK or Qt (for KDE geeks) for Mencoder which should enable the GUI itself to easily become one of the most popular ones within the GNU/Linux community thanks to the power of Mencoder.

I'm pretty sure there are dozens of 'em but Acidrip is bloody amazing!. So let me give you guys few of its...

Main features..

*. Load a DVD directly or load a copy of it from your HDD.

*. Calculate your final file size (700MB, etc and bitrates of audio and videos will be automatically adjusted, can manually override of course).

*. Auto detect crop or manually change values, resize video resolutions.

*. Select chapters. 

*. Add post and pre video filters to enhance the quality of your Rip.

*. Change audio/video bitrate, use a different codecs (xvid/lavc, etc) and other advanced codec values (some video related settings such as optimizing the rip for a cartoon or changing audio bitrate related options, audio gain which is very useful for some DVD audio tracks, etc).

*. Video previewing (including cropping values, etc).

*. Single pass or two pass (or more, seriously, two pass is more than enough :P) encoding.

*. Remove/Add or extract subtitles to separate file.

*. Queue support... few of the main features.

But Acidrip lacks a small thing. It's actually not that it doesn't have it... it do but unless you know about it... I don't think a newbie will know how to use it. For instance, the more lower the video bitrate that you trying to go for the lower the quality of the DVDrip will be.

In those cases we can use several built in filters in Mencoder which are generally known as post-processing filters. Although you can insert them in Acidrip but unless you know the command (text lines) that activates these post-processing effects (which are very effective, sometimes), most won't be using them.

So lets hope the cool Acidrip developers would let the users add these post-processing effects with ease in the future releases.

Anyhow, in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 10.10 or 10.04 you can install Acidrip (0.14, current version) by using the below command in your GNU/Linux Terminal.

sudo apt-get install acidrip

That's it.

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Format Factory - An Excellent Multimedia Converter for MS Windows!

Although unlike with GNU/Linux, with Microsoft Windows doesn't make it that harder to "deal" with multimedia files by default... from DVD rippers to advanced video converters/suits... you can find almost anything for Windows because of its popularity.

But one of the problems with Windows is that, although you're flooded with "options" yet most of them aren't that free. Or the free ones aren't that "capable" either. Anyhow, if you were looking for one of the best multimedia converting utility that's totally free + comes with a lot of features by default, then I highly recommend Format factory!.

Format factory is actually another front-end that's written for the one of the best cross-platform multimedia players called MPLayer... which it uses to play the audio/videos and for the encoding tasks, it uses the built in encoder for MPlayer called MEncoder!.

So FF is actually a GUI but the rest assured, it certainly makes your life easier since MEncoder, by default (despite all of its features) is a command-line tool. Format Factory comes with a full codec pack of its own, so you don't have to manually download them either.

DVP ripping (can convert individual videos as well...)

From things to converting audio to audios, videos into different formats (including - bitrate changing, cropping, resizing, change aspect ratio, add remove subtitles, etc) to DVD ripping, it's a full featured converting suite. If you have a PSP or iPhone, etc then FF comes with a built in presets for that as well. As said before, the best thing about it is, it's completely free!.

Again, this is only for the Microsoft Windows users (Supports XP/2000/Vista and Windows 7), if you want to give it a try, then please visit this official Format Factory web link. Good luck.

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