Updates: ffDiaporama 1.2, GNOME Pie 0.5, SMPlayer 0.7.1

ffDiaporama is a multi-platform application for creating videos from photos or movie clips. It supports various transition effects, titles/annotations, music and more.

ffDiaporama 1.2 introduces tags and chapters as well as lossless rendering. There are also more supported formats (flac, wma, etc.), performance improvements and bug fixes. Check out THIS page for a complete changelog.

Download ffDiaporama (There are no Ubuntu 12.04 packages yet)

GNOME Pie, a slick circular application launcher for Linux, has reached version 0.5. The new version introduces slice labels (a caption for each slice), making the slices more discoverable. The labels can be enabled/disabled from the GNOME Pie preferences.

Other changes:

• a new theme
• a wobble-effect was added to all existing themes
• sub-pies are now opened at their parent’s location
• slices which open another pie have a little arrow in front of their name, indicating that’s just a link but no final saction.

For more info, check out the official GNOME Pie 0.5 release announcement.

To install GNOME Pie in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:simonschneegans/testing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-pie

For other Linux distributions, see the GNOME Pie page @ Github.

SMPlayer 0.7.1 has been released with improved YouTube support: the previous version has added support for playing YouTube videos and the latest SMPlayer 0.7.1 comes with a new tool that lets you search for YouTube videos too. This is done through an external application called SMTube, which should now be installed automatically with SMPlayer.

Other changes in the latest SMPlayer 0.7.1 include:

• Now it's possible to change the opensubtitles server
• By default the screenshots are saved in the user's pictures folder instead of the SMPlayer's config folder
• bug fixes

To install the latest SMPlayer 0.7.1 in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install smplayer

For other Linux distributions and Windows, see the SMPlayer download page.


There were also some recent updates in the WebUpd8 PPAs, like Minitube 0.7.1 or gThumb 2.14.2 - check out ppa.webupd8.org for WebUpd8 PPAs updates.

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Install VLC 2.0 In Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

VLC 2.0 "Twoflower" has been released with faster decoding, support for more video formats, a reworked web interface, experimental BluRay Discs support (without menus) and more.

VLC 2.0 highlights:

• Major Video Core and Outputs rework and rewrite
• Almost every video filter can now be transcoded
• Experimental Blu-Ray Discs support using libbluray
• Support for VDR recordings folders
• HTTP Live Streaming playback support
• Mpris v2 support so it can make use of the Ubuntu Sound Menu, etc.
• PulseAudio audio input support
• One can now use ffmpeg-mt in conjunction with vlc, to split decoding load on multiple cores. H.264, VP3, VP8, JPEG-2000, Mpeg-4 ASP/DivX and RV3/RV4 are notably concerned.
• Experimental Hardware decoding using Broadcom CrystalHD cards
• New module for decoding EBU subtitles (.stl)
• Support for Lagarith Lossless video codec
• Support for images/cover art in wma/wmv/asf files
• Improvements in .ape files metadata reading and writing
• Major improvements in Matroska (mkv) chapters/segments handling and seeking
• Multiple Qt interface and Skins2 improvements
• Rewrite of the web interface, using jQuery
• Support for Vorbis and Theora in RTP

Complete list of changes, HERE.

Install VLC 2.0 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

The latest stable VLC 2.0 can be installed in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/vlc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

To upgrade from an older VLC version, instead of the last command above, use:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If you get a mplayer related error, reinstall mplayer and it should work.

VLC 2.0 is already available in the Ubuntu 12.04 repositories, so if you're using Precise, install VLC via Synaptic / Software Center.

Update: here's a how-to on getting encrypted blu-ray discs to work on VLC 2.0, for Windows, Mac and Linux - see HERE. Note that using the PPA in this post, libaacs.so.0 should already be installed.

Keep in mind that Blu-ray is considered experimental in the latest VLC 2.0, so it may not work with all discs or it may be buggy.

Unfortunately, there's no stable VLC PPA for older Ubuntu versions.

via LFFL

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Movgrab: Command Line Video Downloader

Movgrab is a command line tool for downloading video clips from websites such as YouTube, Daily Motion, Break.com, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Liveleak and others.

Movgrab features:

• proxy support
• write the download to std-out so you can easily play the video in an external application
• lets you pick the preferred video/audio formats for sites that offer more than one
• generic downloader which means Movgrab might be able to download videos from other websites not listed as supported
• can resume downloads (use "-r" - only works when writing a single file)
• fork into background (use "-b" flag)
• written in straight C so it has no dependencies

Full list of supported websites: 

• YouTube
• Metacafe
• Dailymotion
• Vimeo
• Break.com
• eHow
• 5min.com
• vbox7
• blip.tv
• Ted
• MyVideo
• ClipShack
• MyTopClip
• RedBalcony
• Mobando
• Yale University
• Princeton University
• Reuters
• LiveLeak
• Academic Earth
• Photobucket
• VideoEmo
• VideosFacebook
• Aljazeera
• Mefeedia
• IViewTube
• Washington Post
• CBS News
• Euro News
• MetaTube
• MotionFeeds
• Escapist
• Guardian
• RedOrbit
• Sciive
• Izlese
• uctv.tv
• royalsociety.tv
• British Academy
• Kitp
• Dotsub
• Astronomy.com
• Teachertube.com
• Discovery
• Bloomberg.com

Using Movgrab

To download a video using the default options, simply run:

movgrab 'URL'

Where 'URL' is the URL of the video you want to download, e.g. "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QP-SIW6iKY". It's a good idea to use quotes for the URL, in case it contains special characters.

To specify the filename, use "-o" flag, like this:

movgrab -o VIDEONAME.mp4 'URL'

To be able to resume a video download, use "-r":

movgrab -r 'URL'

If you want to specify the video format and quality, firstly you'll need to get a list of supported video formats. Example:

movgrab -T 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QP-SIW6iKY'

Which should return something like this:

Formats available for this Movie: webm:640x360 flv-h264:640x360 mp4:480x360 flv:400x240

Now you can specify in which format to download your video. Let's say we want to download the video in webm, with a 640x360 resolution:

movgrab -f webm:640x360 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QP-SIW6iKY'

Now, let's say you want to watch a video using mplayer, without having to download it firstly - since Movgrab can write the download to std-out, all you have to do is run:

movgrab -o - 'URL' | mplayer -

Example:

movgrab -o - 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QP-SIW6iKY' | mplayer -

For more options and info, run "movgrab" (without any flags) in a terminal.

Install Movgrab

Ubuntu users can install Movgrab by using the main WebUpd8 PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install movgrab

For Arch Linux, get the latest Movgrab via AUR.

And finally, for any Linux distribution, download the source from HERE, extract it and compile it:

./configure
make
sudo make install

application seen on UpUbuntu

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Minitube 1.7 Released (PPA)

Minutube, a simple application which you can use to download and play YouTube videos without Flash, has reached version 1.7.

Among the most important changes in Minitube 1.7 are:

• Clickable usernames in the playlist (so you can see more videos from a certain user/channel)
• "Manually start playing" option
• "Stop after this video" option
• Window "Float on Top" option
• Ability to skip to the previous video

The new version also supports passing an YouTube URL or even a search query via command line which means you can for instance create an Unity lens that opens videos in Minitube (like the one for VLC), browser extensions, etc.

The latest Minitube 1.7 is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA so to install it in Ubuntu, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install minitube

To download pre-compiled 32bit Linux binaries or get the Windows or Mac OSX builds, see the Minitube download page.

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Make A Video From Pictures And Music Using ffDiaporama

ffDiaporama is a multi-platform application for creating videos from photos or movie clips. It supports various transition effects, titles/annotations, music and more.

The application has been created by one of the Videoporama developers (by the way, the Videoporama development has stopped), but unlike Videoporama, ffDiaporama is written in C++ instead of Python.

ffDiaporama features:

• supports images, videos and music (wav, mp3 or ogg)
  
• animations such as zoom, rotation or Ken Burns Effect
• configurable transition time
• titles (text) / annotations
• cut video clips
• preview video before rendering
• filters for images and videos (conversion into black and white, etc)
• image and video correction (luminosity, contrast, colors, etc)
• presets for the video output

ffDiaporama suppors various resolutions: from QVGA (320×240) to Full HD (1920×1080) with 4:3, 16:9 or 2.35:1 aspect ratios. The available rendering video formats are: avi, mpg, mp4 and mkv.

The application is great for creating videos from your holiday pictures or even advanced presentations, but it's a bit confusing because it comes with a huge list of options (for ffDiaporama online help, click here). You don't have to use all the available options obviously, so you can create a video with effects between each photo, titles and music in just a few clicks, but something like a basic video wizard would be nice.

Here is a video created using ffDiaporama by its developer:

ffDiaporama 1.1 has been released recently, bringing various improvements to the video rendering process or image quality, as well as new features such as keyboard and mouse shortcuts, option to select multiple files when inserting a new object, drag and drop support for the timeline, option to only render part of the slideshow, new transitions and more. Click HERE for a full changelog.

Download ffDiaporama (packages available for Ubuntu, Fedora, ArchLinux, OpenSuse, Mageia, Mandriva, Gentoo and Windows).

via Ubuntips

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Get Your Webcam To Work With Google Plus Hangouts Or GTalk

If your webcam doesn't work (it's not detected) with the new Google Plus Hangouts or with Google Talk Video, here's a possible way to get it working.

Before proceeding, make sure Google Talk plugin is installed.

Both Google Plus Hangouts and Google Chat Video use the Google Talk Plugin for which we'll apply a 'fix' similar to an old Skype work-around (preloading v4l1compat.so):

Ubuntu 32bit:

sudo apt-get install libv4l-0
sudo mv /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real
echo '#!/bin/sh' | sudo tee /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin
echo "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real" | sudo tee -a /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin
sudo chmod +x /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin

Ubuntu 64bit:

sudo apt-get install lib32v4l-0
sudo mv /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real
echo '#!/bin/sh' | sudo tee /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin
echo "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real" | sudo tee -a /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin
sudo chmod +x /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin

And then restart your browser.

Please note that you may need to repeat the process if you upgrade to a newer Google Talk Plugin version.

The instructions above were tested on Ubuntu but should work on other Linux distributions too (though the v4l1compat.so file location may be different).

Revert the changes

To revert the changes, run the commands below:

sudo rm /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin
sudo mv /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin

[via AskUbuntu]

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Arista Transcoder 0.9.7 Released With Revamped UI, Ability To Edit, Manage, Export Presets [PPA]

Arista Transcoder is a really cool video converter for GNOME. It comes with a huge list of presets: from iPod, iPhone, PSP, Playstation 3 to Android, Nokia, DVD and lots more. It supports MP4, WebM, Matroska, AVI, Ogg, FLV (codecs - video: H.264, VP8, MPEG4 / DivX, MPEG2, Theora, Flash Video / audio: AAC, Vorbis, MP3, FLAC, Speex, WAV) formats and it can rip straight from DVD or v4l (Video 4 Linux) devices too.

A new Arista Transcoder version (0.9.7) was released yesterday with a revamped user interface ( now you can click on a device in the "Live preview" to select the preset for it), the ability to edit and manage device presets, export presets and lots of small fixes.

(Arista - Live Preview)

Arista is one of the easiest to use multimedia transcoders for Linux thanks to its huge list of presets. All you have to do is select a video, your device and click "Create". It also comes with a Nautilus extension so you can simply right click a video, select the format and start converting the video:

But of course, if you want to customize the presets, that's possible: click the "i" button and you can edit the audio/video codec, container, etc. (starting with the latest version - 0.9.7):

Install Arista Transcoder 0.9.7 in Ubuntu

Because I couldn't find any PPA for Arista Transcoder 0.9.7 and I had some time last night, I've created a PPA for Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal and 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (it didn't work on Ubuntu 10.04 in my test). The PPA will only provide Arista.

Add the Arista PPA and install the latest 0.9.7 version in Ubuntu 11.04 or 10.10 using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/arista
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install arista

Also install the following packages to get support for most formats:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

If you want to install the Nautilus extension, use the command below:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-arista

Using Arista 0.9.7 in other Linux distributions

If you don't use Ubuntu and Arista 0.9.7 is not yet available in your distro repositories, you can download Arista from here, extract it and double click the "arista-gtk" file. To make sure you have all the Arista dependencies installed, you may want to install whatever Arista version is available in your Linux distribution repositories (install it just for the dependencies).

Thanks to Daniel G. Taylor for the tip!

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