Tutorial - ffconvert 1.2

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don570
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Tutorial - ffconvert 1.2

#1 Post by don570 »

I've installed ffconvert 1.2 in my Right click option
pet package. So it's time I learned how to
use it right :lol:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67013

On this thread there is some tips. Feel free to add your own.

First you should install the presets package that
I have made. It will give you additional presets
that can be useful.

Edit: Feb 18 2012 -- Updated preset package with
some improvements described below
Attachments
ffconvert_presets-1.2.pet
Addition presets for ffconvert
(711 Bytes) Downloaded 1149 times
Last edited by don570 on Sat 25 Feb 2012, 18:54, edited 2 times in total.

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don570
Posts: 5528
Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

Hints ffconvert

#2 Post by don570 »

After installation of my presets package -->

new presets will be placed in the folder
/root/.config/ffconvert/presets

General procedure:

Choose a preset, click 'Load' and click 'Convert"


You can make adjustments to the numbers in the fields
before you click 'Convert' if you're an expert. :lol:

Here are some notes on usage of my presets....

AIFF2WAV will convert .aiff .aif(or mp3) to .wav
keeping the same number of channels and good sound quality

WAV2AIFF converts a .wav to .aiff
keeping the same number of channels and good sound quality

convert2avi
will convert various video formats to .avi

convert2flv
will convert various video formats to .flv

wav2mono_11khz
converts wav file to just one channel. The
sound quality is low but acceptable.
The file can still be easily edited with mhwaveedit.
The file size is very small.


wav2mono_44khz
converts wav file to just one channel and the
sound quality remains high


_______________________________________________

To convert a .wav file to mp3 there are two presets
that Shinobar has given the user

MP3 Audio ----> high quality stereo music

MP3 Audio(mono) ---> meant for good quality mono,
file size is much smaller

______________________________________________
Last edited by don570 on Sat 18 Feb 2012, 18:01, edited 3 times in total.

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don570
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Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

#3 Post by don570 »

MORE HINTS AND ADVICE

When you click on the 'Save' button you
are saving a preset permanently. It is stored
in a file located in the folder
/root/.config/ffconvert/presets.

The saving of a preset doesn't function very well.
A preset file is saved but it must be completed
by the user. Look at other preset files to
see how this is done.


Hint: For better sound quality you may increase the bit rates
but this usually increase the file size noticeably.

___________________________________________

Note on the abbreviation 'le' and 'be'

If you look closely at the codecs you might see these
abbreviations.

'le' means Little Endian which is the way that
DOS and Linux stores a file on a hard drive

'be' means Big Endian which is the way that Apple writes a
file to a hard drive.

This ordinarily shouldn't make any difference to a computer user
however when the AIFF file format was created by
Silicon Graphics and Apple computer they decided to
write the file the opposite way that Microsoft writes
the WAVE file. This makes the file formats incompatible
even though they are essentially the same.

Mhwaveedit does have a way of switching a file that it
is opening from little endian to big endian
( a setting in its preferences). If you
ever have a file that is difficult to convert from AIFF to WAVE
you can try that setting in mhwaveedit.

________________________________________
Last edited by don570 on Sat 18 Feb 2012, 20:17, edited 5 times in total.

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don570
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Location: Ontario

get soundtrack from a video file

#4 Post by don570 »

Get soundtrack from a video file

Let's say you want the audio from a video file.
That is easy to do with ffconvert.

Just right click on a video file and select ffconvert. It launches.
The usual window opens. You should now select an audio
preset. I have selected MP3 Audio ( see image).
Click 'Load'.

Image


The window has changed. The Video section has vanished(a feature!!)
An audio codec (libmp3lame) will now be used when you click 'Convert'.

The resulting file is the audio portion of your original file.

______________________________________________________

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don570
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Location: Ontario

special characters in file names

#5 Post by don570 »

ffconvert uses ffmpeg to do the conversions.

I've noticed one problem with ffmpeg. There
are certain special characters in the file name
that will make the program fail to convert.

I don't have a complete list of these characters
but suffice it to say that the special characters that
programmers use in commands should be avoided.

_________________________________________________

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don570
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Location: Ontario

#6 Post by don570 »

I updated the presets package to version 1.1

Here's the details

1) I now use option -vn for audio files
since Shinobar does a check for this option when loading a preset
to avoid using the video section.

2) I changed wav2mono_44khz conversion to
make sure it was high quality

User avatar
don570
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Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

#7 Post by don570 »

New version 1.2 of presets

Added new preset

WMA2WAV to convert wma audio to wav

Note that there is a preset for CD quality audio that does the
same thing but users maybe confused by that preset.

___________________________________________

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don570
Posts: 5528
Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

ffconvert 1.3 tested

#8 Post by don570 »

Version 1.3 has a different interface.

I tested it by converting a mp3 file to a wav file

In the opening window I set my destination folder.

Next I set the preset by clicking on 'Preset' tab

I choose Group=mp3 Preset=MP3 Audio
I clicked on 'Apply' button to load
the presets from preset config file which has been previously stored.

Image

I checked the details by clicking the 'Detail' tab
They were wrong so I adjusted them (see image below)
I want wav to be the format of the output file

Image

Now I click 'Convert' button and everything should go smoothly :lol:

To do multiple conversions the best method is to create your own preset
with a text editor (as explained above)

...0r I found that if the Apply and Save buttons aren't clicked then
then the previous settings of the conversion will be automatically
entered in the boxes, making multiple conversion simple.

I have never tested batch conversion...

_________________________________________________

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