PurplePaste

These notes are part of my presentation "PEG Access Centers and New Technology" at the Northeast Alliance for Community Media Conference on November 17.

Video Compression and Transcoding

Handbrake

• Extract (rip) video directly from a DVD
• Creates an MPEG-4 video file
• Mac only
• http://handbrake.m0k.org/

iSquint

• Convert nearly any video file format to MPEG-4
• Intended for iPod users; includes an "Optimize for TV" setting for higher quality encoding
• Mac only
• http://www.isquint.org/
• iSquint has a big brother, VisualHub (http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/), a $23 program that extends the capabilities of iSquint

FFMPEG

• The Swiss Army knife of video conversion tools, can transcode between nearly any video file formats
• Very powerful, but the interface is overwhelming, and not very intuitive
• Mac (FFMPEGX): http://www.ffmpegx.com/
  • Free to use; $15 registration
• Windows: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=434

Video Playback

VLC Video Player

• Can handle many different media formats
• Open-source software for Windows, Mac, Linux
• http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

QuickTime

• Apple's de-facto media player
• Available for Windows and Mac
• Pro version ($30) adds encoding/export support, full-screen playback, and simple editing capabilities
• Additional plug-in ($20) adds MPEG-2 support
• http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html

Democracy Player

• "Internet Television" in a desktop application
• Subscribe to video feeds with RSS
• Open-source software for Windows, Mac, and Linux
• http://www.getdemocracy.com/