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Good News For Creating Quicktime On Linux

Posted by timothy on from the keen-oh-kino dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It's now possible to capture DV Quicktime files in Linux, splitting automatically at any predetermined size, and seamless importing the files to Windows (may be possible with Macs too but I don't have one to test with). The new version of Kino is out and it supports Quicktime." This requires that you specifically configure Kino to handle QuickTime, at least in this version. Read on below for a few notes about the submitter's experience with Kino, Cinelerra, Cinestream and other A/V editing tools.

"I've been finding Kino handy for capturing from VHS and Hi-8 because the auto-split avoids sync issues with large files. Cinestream (Windows NLE) can't seem to keep long captures in sync when I use my Sony DVMC-DA1 box but capturing in Kino has been a simple un-attended workaround. Now that it captures in Quicktime, it's even better because I can feed the Quicktime files directly to Cinestream with no pre-processing, and the quality is very good.

If you also install Cinelerra, you can also view some types of Quicktime in Linux. Cinelerra is an awesome multi-track NLE with several supplied effects/transitions/filters, but it also includes "X movie," which plays DV files captured with Cinestream as well as some other types (but nothing with Sorenson).

Both Cinelerra and Kino can open and edit Quicktime files from Cinestream.

Oh, what about audio? I've been trying a program called " Ardour" which is a real-time 24-track hard-disk recorder on Linux. Of course it's useful for "simpler" things too like a precision audio editor.

Check out the screenshots.

So Linux is coming a long way as a viable platform for high-quality editing (with nice interfaces too). And since it and the apps are free, that goes a long way. Microsoft said in a recent filing that it may be forced to lower prices due to competition from free software. Maybe one day the only people who pay for an editing package will be those who need support or buy it preconfigured with hardware."

6 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Why is this `good news` ? by GMC-jimmy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With the existance of DivX, Xiph.org and many others.

    Not saying there aren't any, but I have yet to see a QuickTime video that matches the quality of some of the other formats. A visit to TheForce.net has given me this opinion.

    --
    __________________________________
    Free your mind - Flush your toilet
  2. I'm sorry... by labratuk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...if this sounds like a rather open ended question, but we have MPlayer playing pretty much any a/v codec on the planet right now, and we have decent video tools (esp. Cinelerra). What's stopping people getting together to make it possible for all the codecs being used universally?

    ie- So that you're able to open sorenson encoded files seamlessly in cinelerra, and encode/save out to various divx mutations.

    Come on people, we're so close!

    I unserstand that libavcodec does this with many files (mpeg derivatives), but not the *ahem* less legal ones.

    I can't wait until the day I plug a Firewire dv cam into a mandrake box, a dv cam icon pops up on the desktop and allows joe to edit away to his heart's content.

    --
    Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
  3. Apple's Legal Department by Entropy_ah · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone else think that Apple is going to shit a brick over this? I'm sure they don't mind Linux users being able to view Sorenson encoded files because they arn't really loosing anything, Linux users just otherwise wouldn't view these files. But now people have an option to make quicktime moves without paying for Apple software. (I'm saying this assuming that Apple dosen't make any free Sorenson encoding programs)

    --
    my other penis is a vagina
  4. File format is open by benwaggoner · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, QuickTime the file format is completely documented and open.

    Apple's implementation is propritary, as are some of the codecs. But as a file format, it is radically better than AVI for doing media authoring.

    An open source implementation would be good forever.

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    My video compression blog
  5. quicktime?? by itzdandy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    is quicktime the prefered format for video? i prefer Xvid(open source, high quality, high compression).

    its very nice to have so many options available, especially on linux now. i have been using crossover plugin to play quicktime movies on my linux box but now ill be able to play them native.

    good work.

  6. LiVES by Salsaman · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Can I put in a quick plug for my own program, LiVES. ?

    It uses mplayer to open video files, so anything that mplayer can open, LiVES will let you edit.