transcoder recommendation: Avidemux

[Tom Metro]

Merry Christmas.

Todays software stocking stuffer is Avidemux:
http://www.avidemux.org/admWiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

   Avidemux is a free open-source program designed for multi-purpose
   video editing and processing, which can be used on almost all known
   operating systems and computer platforms.

I originally installed it with the intention of using it for simple 
video editing (like chopping out commercials), but have yet to use it 
for that. Instead, after trying many times unsuccessfully to transcode a 
particularly challenging video using traditional FFmpeg and Mencoder 
command line tools, I gave it a spin, and was surprised at how easy it 
was to produce correctly formatted video on the first try.

It's the first GUI transcoding tool I've tried that seems to do the job 
well. Particularly useful is that you can save your transcoding 
settings, so they can be easily reapplied to other videos.

I had assumed it was just a well done GUI wrapper for the usual command 
line tools, but I read here:
http://avidemux.org/admWiki/index.php?title=Common_myths#Avidemux_dependencies_.E2.80.93_MPlayer.2C_Transcode.2C_FFmpeg.2C_MJPEG_Tools

   ...Avidemux does not need external software for reading and writing.
   Some people believe it uses MEncoder, Transcode, FFmpeg or MJPEG Tools
   for encoding. This is completely false, even though it contains some
   borrowed code from these projects. ... It is not a GUI for MEncoder...
   Avidemux does not use any external video decoders. ... Avidemux does
   not use external FFmpeg. ... it uses libavcodec [from FFmpeg] and
   other libraries (which are used by MPlayer/MEncoder)...

Not that duplication of code is necessarily a good thing, but the use of 
libraries, rather than command line tools, makes the integration with 
the GUI tighter, and leads to a more self-contained installation that 
has fewer dependencies on other software installed on your machine.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/