linuxgeek: Re: [LINUX_Newbies] how to learn to convert a video HELP from Scott inside Videofiles

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Re: [LINUX_Newbies] how to learn to convert a video HELP from Scott inside Videofiles

On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 02:06:18PM +0100, 'highskywhy@yahoo.de' highskywhy@yahoo.de [LINUX_Newbies] wrote:
> thank You for help.

> > It was hard to tell quality, as it was a three second file of a background.
>
> Im sorry.
>
> I dont want to waste engery for upload or download.

No problem. As long as you can tell from the file whether it's working or
not, it is sufficient. (If we get it working, I'd love to see one of the
stories though.)

>
> Im sorry
> We are using Linux now for 4 years
> never a man could help
> but
> when we know a command like ls
> then we read the man.

That is frequently the case. The documentation is getting better and
better, but man pages can often be complex. There are various ffmpeg
tutorials around. One problem is that the developers frequently change
options, sometimes making it easier, sometimes harder. Generally, if I'm
trying to do something with ffmpeg, I will google the topic and can usually
find a tutorial that explains that particular part.

> >
> > ffmpeg -i myfile.mpg -vcodec libx264 -acodec wmav2 myfile.wmv
> > >
> *
> I ll print that all and study it slowly.

The most basic ffmpeg command is ffmpeg -i myfile.something
myfile.somethingnew

The -i is for the input file. If you want to convert, for example, an mkv
file to an mp4 file, you can just do ffmpeg -i myfile.mkv myfile.mp4. It
will convert the format. Generally, one does specify things like codec as
we've been doing with your files but if you don't specify, it will usually
just copy it.

> >
> > To get bit rate and such, you can run the command
> >
> > ffmprobe -hide_banner myfile.wmv, which gives a lot of information
>
> This command can anylyse any video file like avi or mp4 or wmv?

Yes (and audio files as well).

> > > > D.V.L. wmv3 Windows Media Video 9
> > > >
> > > > D meaning that it can decode, but as there is no E, it means it can't
> > > > encode it.
> > > >
> > > > That is a deprecated video format, and I think there may have been an
> > > > ffmpeg patch for it years ago, but I can't find it.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > YES
> > > thats it.
> > > Our wmv is deprecated.
> >
> > Even so, it seems that at least some versions of ffmpeg can encode it
> > something else.
>
>
> What is the meaning of
>
> "some" versions?

It seems that each version of Linux has its own version of ffmpeg, and one
can also just build ffmpeg from source. However, doing some more looking,
it seems as if encoding to wmv3 would be difficult, so if the other format
I mentioned in the later email works, use that.

--
Scott Robbins
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