Internet is like Ocean. It may have something near but often we start looking very far. Google search engine does not make it any easy. A fortnight ago a friend handed me a DVD with .flv video files. His DVD player was unable to play .flv files. On further investigation it was discovered that DVD player was able to play .avi format without problems. Now this friend knows about computer as much as we do about Saturn. Obviously it fell upon me to convert the files.
As a Linux user I never had to bother about file formats. It plays and runs all files. Generally my recommendation is to try Linux side by side with windows. But this guy is living example of sweet seventies. I had to do it.

Searching for right program

When I searched with google for video converter, the first choice it gave was for ‘ffmpeg’, a command line converter. After installation of ffmpeg on Ubuntu, the first message broadcasted was that it was obsolete. It was suggested that ‘avconv’ is better option. Again the command line options were too complicated. I could not convert a single file due to some unknown error.
Another suggestion was to install and use ‘avidemux’. This also did not work. Now next suggestion was to install a GUI program called ‘ConvertMe’. After installation, clicking the shortcut from menu was futile. It simply did not work. Starting ‘convertme’ from Terminal did fire it up and after giving details of file to be converted, it simply hanged. It remained in that state for over 14 hour when it was to be killed. (I am a patient person.)

Transmageddon

Next choice of program was ‘transmageddon’. An impressive name for an impressive application. Continue reading →