Audio / Video tools

I do a lot with audio and video editing and I wanted to share some of my favorite cross-platform tools with my readers:

Rip audio/video from a DVD: HandBrake. The latest version (0.9.4) is faster than previous versions and it can handle extraction of individual DVD chapters. Oh, did I mention it's free?

Convert video to DVD MPEG-2 format: Avidemux. This is an amazingly powerful tool. My only complaint is that the latest version removed the "Auto > DVD" wizard because it assumed the user community would create complicated scripts to perform the same functionality (or better). To date, I haven't found a suitable replacement script, so I've stayed on version 2.4.4. Also, since it's a Linux port, Windows users need to manually add the file extension when saving files ('.mpg' for DVD files). Yeah, it's free as well!

Convert problematic MKV files to MPEG: FFmpeg. A little background... Matroska (mkv) is one of the coolest audio/video containers around. It's extremely versatile and compact with excellent quality. However, it can be a little problematic (especially with audio sync issues). If you find a problematic mkv file (e.g. Knighty Knight Bugs) and Avidemux chokes on it, I recommend you convert the mkv file to mpeg using the free FFmpeg utility and then manipulate it with Avidemux. The FFmpeg command-line is below (thanks, jamos!):

ffmpeg.exe -i "C:\video.mkv" -vcodec mpeg2video -sameq -acodec copy -f vob -copyts -y "C:\video.mpg"

...more to come...

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