Playing and/or converting .webm videos

[mikeb]

Reason to convert?.... unless you have a graphics card and software to take advantage of it cpu usage I find is 3-4 times more than say x264....really not good for higher resolutions.

ffmpeg I used....but not ffconvert as its defaults are way, way to slow (1fps compared to around 15fps on the same machine/same file) so a bit of googling to for a command line that gives you the result you want. Push up x264 to 22 quality factor and I never notice the different before and after and it's not unusual to find low res video online expanded and encoded as high which results in a messy blocky playback, which when downsized again I find restores the sharpness.

Just my experience.

Been messing with Min browser and that included html5/webm handling and its statically built so should support regardless of the system its on.

mike

[nic007]

Reason to convert?.... unless you have a graphics card and software to take advantage of it cpu usage I find is 3-4 times more than say x264....really not good for higher resolutions.

ffmpeg I used....but not ffconvert as its defaults are way, way to slow (1fps compared to around 15fps on the same machine/same file) so a bit of googling to for a command line that gives you the result you want. Push up x264 to 22 quality factor and I never notice the different before and after and it's not unusual to find low res video online expanded and encoded as high which results in a messy blocky playback, which when downsized again I find restores the sharpness.

Just my experience.

Been messing with Min browser and that included html5/webm handling and its statically built so should support regardless of the system its on.

mike

Hi, mike. You remember that old VLC you compiled which is on the Puppy 412 site? Well, Im actually using it with Racy. It has most of the audio codecs and only mp4 (I think) so a bit limited as far as video is concerned...but the pet/sfs is only about 7MB and it is standalone (codecs are built in). Would be nice if more video codecs could be built into this minimalised version of VLC..or if the payer could be linked to using the ffmpeg codecs which most puppys have any way. The newer VLC versions come in pets of 50/60MB, very heavy. I like VLC because the equalizer/booster is excellent.

[mikeb]

Hi, mike. You remember that old VLC you compiled which is on the Puppy 412 site? Well, Im actually using it with Racy. It has most of the audio codecs and only mp4 (I think) so a bit limited as far as video is concerned...but the pet/sfs is only about 7MB and it is standalone (codecs are built in). Would be nice if more video codecs could be built into this minimalised version of VLC..or if the payer could be linked to using the ffmpeg codecs which most puppys have any way. The newer VLC versions come in pets of 50/60MB, very heavy. I like VLC because the equalizer/booster is excellent.

easier said than done... for that build I hacked in a later ffmpeg which sorted out some mp4 videos that did not play. Thing is ffmpeg and vlc are the same devs (or where ) so versions are pretty much tied togather and any later VLC releases use qt4 hence the size increase. You can save some space by removing never-to-be-used codecs but not many.

A much better option is mplayer which can work on much older systems yet support such as webm. It can used shared ffmpeg or compiled statically. Thing is the gnome-mplayer usually supported here is a bag of crap and its own gmplayer graphical interface is much more stable and gives nice skins with little space penalty. Not sure why but my builds have not reached the 412 site as yet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m1mtyfiiyw2io ... i.sfs?dl=1
This one is older but drops into 412....without webm but might want to try it anyway..

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wo6z4i3xi6fe2 ... 4.sfs?dl=1
This should work but its lucid or newer but static so less system dependant.

I did manage to make a package of the later one that worked on 4.12 but its not uploaded at the moment.

mike

[ITSMERSH]

@ITSMERSH
You will need a ffmpeg version of this century
ffmpeg 2.8.11 contains the needed codecs e.g.

Code: Select all

 DEV.L. vp8                   (decoders: vp8 libvpx ) (encoders: libvpx )
 DEV.L. vp9                   (decoders: vp9 libvpx-vp9 ) (encoders: libvpx-vp9 )

Also a recent browser has no problems to play these videos.

Is the browser independent of relying on ffmpeg for playing VP9 (in other words, if your browser is new enough will it play vp9 and you do not need ffmpeg installed)? Seems to be the case. BTW - how do you get Youtube to playback at that high quality?

Thanks.

Though, my Puppy doesn't have ffmpeg. Instead it has avconv .

Code: Select all

sh-4.3# avconv --version
avconv version 9.16-6:9.16-0ubuntu0.14.04.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the Libav developers
  built on Aug 10 2014 18:19:26 with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1)
Unrecognized option '-version'.
Error splitting the argument list: Option not found
sh-4.3# 

[nic007]

Hi, mike. You remember that old VLC you compiled which is on the Puppy 412 site? Well, Im actually using it with Racy. It has most of the audio codecs and only mp4 (I think) so a bit limited as far as video is concerned...but the pet/sfs is only about 7MB and it is standalone (codecs are built in). Would be nice if more video codecs could be built into this minimalised version of VLC..or if the payer could be linked to using the ffmpeg codecs which most puppys have any way. The newer VLC versions come in pets of 50/60MB, very heavy. I like VLC because the equalizer/booster is excellent.

easier said than done... for that build I hacked in a later ffmpeg which sorted out some mp4 videos that did not play. Thing is ffmpeg and vlc are the same devs (or where ) so versions are pretty much tied togather and any later VLC releases use qt4 hence the size increase. You can save some space by removing never-to-be-used codecs but not many.

A much better option is mplayer which can work on much older systems yet support such as webm. It can used shared ffmpeg or compiled statically. Thing is the gnome-mplayer usually supported here is a bag of crap and its own gmplayer graphical interface is much more stable and gives nice skins with little space penalty. Not sure why but my builds have not reached the 412 site as yet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m1mtyfiiyw2io ... i.sfs?dl=1
This one is older but drops into 412....without webm but might want to try it anyway..

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wo6z4i3xi6fe2 ... 4.sfs?dl=1
This should work but its lucid or newer but static so less system dependant.

I did manage to make a package of the later one that worked on 4.12 but its not uploaded at the moment.

mike

Nah, it's okay. It supports more formats than I thought at first, only really webm missing. I do have MPlayer (default player for Racy) but as said I prefer VLC due to the superior equalizer. Anyways, I've made an SFS of the old VLC pet. Got the size down to 6,2MB.

[norgo]

@ITSMERSH
Checked just right now the avconv version ( 9.18-6 ) of Tahrpup 6.0.5.

avconv version 9.18-6:9.18-0ubuntu0.14.04.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the Libav developers
built on Mar 16 2015 13:20:58 with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1)
DEV.L. vp8 On2 VP8 (decoders: vp8 libvpx ) (encoders: libvpx )

Result: no vp9 decoder/encoder

If you need a multimedia machine maybe it's a good idea to use a more suited distribution.
Maybe Slacko 700 ?

FFmpeg and Mplayer installed by default ( H264, H265, VP9 .... )
SMplayer, SMtube latest version ( youtube downloading and watching no problem )
Qt5 as single module available, Avidemux, Audacity, latest Seamonkey ....

[ITSMERSH]

Hi norgo.

I'm using my own build based on Tahr 6.0.2 which is pretty well setup for everything related to Audio, Graphics, Office and Video. On my Youtube channel (T.A.E.R.S.H.) one can view three videos created with that built called LazY Puppy Art Studio (a remaster of my T.O.P.L.E.S.S. LazY Puppy 5).

I have tried a few versions of Slacko some time ago, though, I didn't like them.

Here's the list of LazY Puppy Art Studio's Audio Programs only:

aeolus
ams
amsynth
ardour3
audacity
beast
BRP_PACU
calfjackhost
canorus
dino
din
drumkv1_jack
fmit
freqtweak
gtick
gtklick
gnome_wave_cleaner
helm
hexter
horgand
hydrogen
jackeq
jack-keyboard
jack-rack
jamin
jkmeter
jmeters
jnoisemeter
lmms
meterbridge-start
mscore
muse
mx44
nekobee
nootka
nted
ocenaudio
patchage
paulstretch
petri-foo
phasex
qjackctl
qmidiarp
qmidiroute
qsynth
qtractor
rakarrack
rosegarden
rtsynth-alsa
rtsynth-jack
samplv1_jack
scolily
seq24
sineshaper
slgui
specimen
spek
stretchplayer
sunvox
swami
sweep
synthv1_jack
terminatorX
tetraproc
timemachine
timidity
traverso
tuxguitar
wavesurfer
yoshimi
zita-at1
zita-bls1
zita-mu1
zita-rev1
zynaddsubfx

I doubt Slacko would come with all that programs and being able to run them, so the user could make use of them?

The one and only "issue" so far was the .webm videos, as sometimes I'm stumbling over videos uploaded as .webm only. The conversion with download-helper failed all the time and download only failed as well to convert them after download.

A bit of research pointed out that I would need to have

libwayland-egl.so.1
libwayland-egl.so.1.0.0

installed. After installing everything is fine now.

[mikeslr]

Hi ITSMERSH,

I'm not sure if it will help with .webms, but rockedge published a ffmpeg pet for tahrpup. http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 361#850361

Avconv is a fork of ffmpeg. Ubuntu used it in Trusty tahr, but by the time Xenial Xerus was published switched back to ffmpeg.

Before rockedge posted, I had used your PaDS to put together an ffmpeg sfs, then converted it to a pet. I discussed doing so in this post, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 469#845469, which has a screenshot of the debs which were needed.

So, if rockedge's ffmpeg isn't able to handle webms, perhaps the screenshot may be of some assistance if you choose to construct a newer version, maybe using debs from xenial xerus's repo with any necessary symlinks.

mikesLr

[musher0]

Hello all.

Please forgive lateness coming to this thread.

Has anybody tried playing webm videos with ffplay? Normally, ffplay is
compiled along with the ffmpeg libraries. To my knowledge ffplay can
play anything.

BFN.

[OscarTalks]

Puppies such as Tahr 6.0.5 have the libav/avconv package in place of ffmpeg
Tahr has avplay in place of ffplay
This plays a .webm video in which the video codec is vp8
However it will not play .webm videos which use the newer vp9 codec
The VLC 2.1.6 in Tahr 6.0.5 does not have the vp9 codec either
I guess it is depending on the older libav libraries

When you compile MPlayer, it downloads the latest ffmpeg snapshot at the time and statically links it in, so you have the latest codecs on board.
The mplayer package for tahr-i686 that I linked to in my earlier post definitely does play vp9 because I tested it. If using the gMPlayer GUI you have to make sure that the video output preference setting is set to something suitable like gl or xv though.

[musher0]

Thanks for the info, OscarTalks.

[slavvo67]

I added a dependency called libvpx3_1.5.0-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb somewhere along the line. I think it was either so VLC could play Webm or Mplayer (or both). I just can't recall. You should be able to find it with a websearch. I'll search it out of my libraries if need be.

[rockedge]

I use openshot to create webm video from mpeg avi shot by my drones.
I use this in Tahr 32 64 Xenial 32 64 but not Bionic I have been having issues getting an openshot instance to run under it

all these OS listed above open vlc and play the webm I only use webm to embed them using wordpress sites.

I can use openshot to convert to and from webm. I also use the static builds of FFMPEG which run great on most puppies.

[Mike Walsh]

@ mikeslr:-

The first thing I discovered is that although webm videos on youtube are easy to find --just plug webm into the youtube's search box-- Google-Chrome won't let you download them.

Been the case for a long time, Mike. YouTube is part of Google; purchased by them back around 2006/7, I believe. Google don't want you downloading videos from YouTube, and playing them at your convenience, on the software of your choice. They want you to use the web technologies they've built-in to Chrome to consume the site's content. And, of course, it all helps to boost the number of 'hits' for YouTube, and the usage stats for the Chrome browser.

And that's why they've carefully made sure you will not find one single video downloader in the Google App Store capable of downloading YouTube videos or music.....they'd be shooting themselves in the foot. Think about it.

It's all part of 'Big Brother' Google's plan for ultimate world domination, mate!


Mike.

[B.K. Johnson]

Hi All
I'm coming in on this late and probably missed some of the nuances in the thread. However, here is my experience FWIW.

My standard setup was tahr-6.0.6, VDH-6.x, Firefox pre Quantum. I reluctantly upgraded to Quantum 6.0.1, then VDH 7.3.4, and CoApp 1.2.3. I was unable to save downloads from Jazz on the Tube whether they were webM, mkv, or mp4. Updated VDH 7.3.5 and to VhdCoApp 1.2.4 but still no success. VDH support is at Google Groups and I don't do Google anything.

Up until yesterday, I had installed and have working tahr-6.0.2, with Firefox-6.0.1, VDH 7.3.5, and VdhCoApp 1.2.3. I was able to save webM, mp4, mkv and convert them to mp4 and mp3 from within VDH using VdhCoApp. Last night, I was required to update to VdhCoApp-1.2.4-1_i386. Chose the tar.gz system-wide install. Done successfully. All is working well.

Confirming that neither VLC (2.1.6), nor DeaDBeef on tahr-6.0.2 play webm files.

mpv included in stretch 7.0.0a1 plays webm files but I don't like the program. I don't intend switching between tahr and stretch just to play the downloads with mpv, so unless or until there is a vlc pet/sfs, I'll continue with Vdh-7.3.5 to download, and convert.

[nic007]

Just a note: If you are running a new browser, you should be able to view VP9 (webm) videos. I downloaded a VP9 file and found that I could not view it with the VLC version 2 that comes with Tahr (it only plays VP8 webm files). However, the file plays fine when opened from my new Seamonkey browser. The browser's zoom function also works well to resize the video.

[Mike Walsh]

Evening, all.

Just as a side-note to all this, and bearing in mind that Tahr uses avconv in place of ffmpeg, I've done the following on my Tahr 6.0.6 setup:-

Tahr does have ffmpeg.....but it's merely a sym-link to avconv. I've reversed the process.

I've deleted avconv, and the ffmpeg sym-link. In their place, I've used a fairly new build of ffmpeg, which Fredx181 sourced when wiak was building/tweaking WeX last year, and which was incorporated into the all-in-one 'portable' version of WeX that Fred put together afterwards. The modern build of ffmpeg, @ 30 MB, accounted for the majority of WeX-portable's size.

I then created an 'avconv' sym-link to ffmpeg, so if any of the built-in Tahrpup apps go looking for avconv, they'll actually be using ffmpeg instead.

Code: Select all

ln -s /usr/bin/ffmpeg /usr/lib/avconv

So far, during testing various things, Tahrpup doesn't seem to be in the least bit perturbed at being re-directed. Apparently, it's finding a 'matching set' of everything it expects to find.....and appears to be quite happy.

If anybody wants to try this in 32-bit Tahrpup 602/605/606, you can find a copy of the ffmpeg-3.1.2-i686 .pet package here:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YDqa2P ... sp=sharing

This will overwrite the sym-link with an actual build of ffmpeg. Then, delete avconv, and create a sym-link called 'avconv' pointing to ffmpeg instead.


Mike.