After I got audio
recording for linux working just enough to be dangerous, I decided
to start playing with video. This is a rough document of what I have
found in the process of trying to do video capture, image processing,
and movie making with Linux.
There is a free demo version available for download, but the real
version costs $85.00 (US) or 149 (DM).
I have used the MainConcept product quite a bit. In fact, I have a
list of issues (or bugs) with the software that you can browse
here.
In May 2007, MainConcept decided to discontinue development of MainActor.
I still have it and it still works, but I am looking at other packages now.
jahshaka
The worlds first OpenSource Realtime Editing and Effects
System. Jahshaka takes advantage of the power of OpenGL and OpenML to
give its users exceptional levels of performance. I haven't tried it yet.
There are references that the software, at least some of it, works under
Linux, but I can't say for sure. This is a professional suite of software
that the big boys use to make real movies with. So don't be surprised
if you are expected to by thousands of dollars for it.
listing of video software for linux.
The Linux Hardware Support Page
TV frame grabber cards that work under linux
Multimedia hardware for GNU/Linux
The GNU VideoCD Image
Maker/Ripping Tool
Things you need...
I use a Hauppauge
WinTV Theater model 495.
It cost me about $140.00 US.
The Bt8xx
chipset from
Conexant (formally from
Brooktree Corporation) is a very popular chip used on many
TV cards from STB, Diamond, ATi and many others.
Here is a list of
video capture cards utilizing the Bt8xx chipset known to work with Linux.
I have a new computer in the works to support IEEE1394 as that is the
new way of things.
That's my super-fancy term for a VHS/VCR. I use a
Sony
SLV-99HF 4 Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR.
I think I purchased it for around $400.00 US.
I also use my cable-TV source connected directly to the Hauppauge card.
I use a Creative Labs,
AWE 64 Gold (Model CT4390)
ISA Bus card. Until just recently there were not any good quality
PCI sound cards. With
Creative Labs'
new "Live" series cards using the EMU10K1 chipset, PCI soundcards
are now of good enough quality, and cheap enough, to do good sound
recording. And of course, they work well under Linux.
I also use the OSSFree sound drivers for linux.
As for line controlling software, there are lots, gmix is one
that comes with Gnome. It is
fully featured but is not very precise. kmix comes with, you guessed
it, KDE. It is more precise then
gmix, but is harder to read (all symbols, no words).
mixer,
is a command-line program that is very precise, and easy to use if you
like that sort of thing.
I use Slackware-8.0
Linux-
2.2.18
with the
bttv and
i2c
drievers. I use XawTV-3.37
for viewing television and for screening video clips from the VHS.
I have some notes on what I needed
to do to get all these drivers to work together.
For video editing, I have found two usefull software packages:
MainActor and
Broadcast 2000. Broadcast 2000 has been superceeded by
Cinelerra
which I have not had much luck with yet.
I use a PentiumIII/667MHz with 448MB of PC-100 SDRAM. An
Adaptec
29160 SCSI controller with IBM
Ultrastar drives. Video editing and
recording takes up a lot of CPU time and requires large, fast hard drives.
Useful Software
xawtv
Is a simple, yet very useful, X program for utilizing a TV card. It's written
in Xaw, so you don't need the latest GTk or XML libraries for it to work.
I got it working with all 50 cable channels I get in full-screen and stereo
sound.
Non-Linear Editing Software
MainActor
from MainConcept GmbH is a professional multimedia processing package
consisting of MainActor Sequencer, a timeline-based video sequencer,
and MainActor Video Editor, an animation composing and editing program.
It is available for both Linux and Microsoft Windows.
Broadcast
2000
is software licensed under the GPL. It can do high
resolution audio and video editing. It has trouble reading many
movies I have colected from other sources, but it has its own video
capture module to create your own movies. You will want to use XFree86 4.0 or greater.
Lives
LiVES began as the Linux Video Editing System. Since it now runs on
more operating systems, LiVES is a Video Editing System. It is
designed to be simple to use, yet powerful. It is small in size, yet
it has many advanced features. I haven't tried it yet.
Alias|Wavefront
Alias|Wavefront is the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology
for the film, video, games, interactive media, Web3D, industrial design
and visualization markets.
Useful Links
Today's Date: Monday, 06-Feb-2012 23:31:53 MST
Last Modified: Tuesday, 23-Jun-2009 11:36:11 MDT
K. Scott Rowe