Multimedia

Kino 1.1.0

Input Formats

Format	Works?	Workaround
AVI	yes
FLV	yes
MPG	yes
WMV	no	ffmpeg -i file.wmv -sameq file.mpg

General processing

Kino is a good way of producing videos for YouTube. My general strategy is:

1. Use Kino to import files
2. Do the editing
3. Export the results in DV format. Don't worry if Kino produces individual DV files
    Click the Export button
    Click the DV tab
    Ensure the "Auto Split Files" is unchecked
4. Convert the files to MPG format using a command like
    ffmpeg -i capture001.dv -sameq -s 320x240 output.mpg

mjpegtools

mjpegtools is an Ubuntu package - set of tools that can do recording of videos and playback, simple cut-and-paste editing and the MPEG compression of audio and video under Linux - it looks like to can use it to stitch jpeg files into a movie. Some experimenting which doesn't seem to work too well:

Suppose I have a file called foo.jpg, which I want to make an MPG file of. I do

cp foo.jpg foo00.jpg

jpeg2yuv -f 25 -I p -l 250 -j foo%02d.jpg | mpeg2enc -o foo.mpg

This does create a file of 10 seconds long, but seems to create problems for tools like Kino or Cinelerra. So it doesn't appear to be a perfect solution.

Links to other sites

Applications

Note that I have tried hardly any of these things - so don't be surpised if they're disappointing.

Cinelerra - heavy-weight video editor, aimed at professionals. The grandaddy of video editors for Linux. Not especially intuitive or stable, IMHO. [Added 27-Jan-2008]

Cinepaint - motion picture image painting and retouching tool [Added 27-Jan-2008]

DVEdit - create video media via Python script files [Added 26-Nov-2007]

Gaupol - editor for text-based subtitle files - v0.9 seems very flakey and unusable. Use Jubler instead. [Added 20-Dec-2007]

Gneve - Gnu Emacs Video Editing. That's right, Emacs can now edit video. [Added 07-Mar-2009]

Jahshaka - a video and film compositing, editing and special fx system that uses OpenGL & OpenML hardware rendering to give operators real time interactivity. The system is cross platform, and also includes full CG, paint and image processing modules. I haven't managed to compile it yet. It seems to rely on a lot of dependencies that isn't in Ubuntu [Added 16-Jan-2008. Updated 17-Feb-2012]

Jubler - subtitle editor. Excellent at what it does - very intuitive and powerful. [Added 27-Jan-2008]

kdenlive - non linear video editor for the KDE environment running on Linux. It is based on the MLT video framework which relies on the FFMPEG project. [Added 26-Nov-2007]

Kino - basic and simple editor, and more stable than Cinelerra and Kdenlive. Works on DV format, but can import from a variety of formats. [Added 27-Jan-2008]

LiVES - video editor and "VJ" tool [Added 27-Jan-2008]

MLT - open source multimedia framework, designed and developed for television broadcasting. It provides a toolkit for broadcasters, video editors, media players, transcoders, web streamers and many more types of applications. The functionality of the system is provided via an assortment of ready to use tools, xml authoring components, and an extendible plug-in based API. [Added 26-Nov-2007]

pitivi - written in python - v0.10.3 very buggy and feature-lacking. Use kino or OpenMovieEditor instead. [Added 20-Dec-2007]

Vivia - Video Editor. They last posted news on 2007-04-12 [Added 26-Jan-2008]

WinFF - GUI front-end for ffmpeg. Works on Linux and Windows. I haven't actually tried it, though. Update 12-Nov-2007: Compiles using Lazarus/Freepascal - although I couldn't get a compile on Nov 2007.

Listings

Sites which catalogue links of links

Launchpad - search results for items relating to video

Programming Resources

Libraries for you to use, and information

DVEdit - python library for DV files. As at 27-Jan-2008, the website says "DVEdit temporarily withdrawn. Version 0.2 coming soon" [Added 27-Jan-2008]

PyMedia - python module for wav, mp3, ogg, avi, divx, etc. file manipulations. Can also be used in conjuction with PyGame to play videos. I have used it to stitch together JPEG files to make a short video. I'm pleased to say "it works". Good for when scripting something is just plain easier than using a GUI. [Added 27-Jan-2008]

Xvid - created to promote the adoption of open standards, namely MPEG-4 video, and to permit the interoperable creation and exchange of digital video between different software applications and a wide range of devices. [Added 27-Jan-2008]

Author:  Mark Carter
Created: 14-Nov-2007
Updated: 17-Feb-2012