Video playback issues on Ubuntu 12.04....

[pixiebells]

Hey all, I'm new and yes, here for help as a novice.

So, after I started to use Ubuntu 12.04, I went to their software center and downloaded Avidemux; both GTK+ and QT.

My issue is this:

I downloaded clips from a movie and have successfully cut then, I have 16 individual files. Every time I open a video on either version of Avidemux, it warms me about B frames and losing quality.

When I hit "cancel" and play each file separately, I have no issues. But when I put them together as one long video at first it worked properly but as soon as I saved it, parts of it went gray and also the color quality changed which was distracting. I've been working on this for several days and am so close to being done.

I know absolutely nothing about how to used this; which features will fix this, etc. so any help in English which is so plain it might sound condescending would be perfect for me. If anyone is willing, I'd be more than happy to send or post my video to any of you who are experts to take a look at it to see exactly what I mean. (I tried attaching it here, but it was too large to do so.)

My only restriction is that I won't pay for any software or program. I do, however, have all kinds of time.

Thanks!

~ Stephie

[Jan Gruuthuse]

If you're on amd64 bit use this avidemux Cli/QT/GTK 2.6 64-bit deb download ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
If on 32-bit consider building yourself: Compiling Avidemux 2.6.x
Use Qt version.

[pixiebells]

I appreciate your reply, but the link to the thread gave me more links which didn't lead me anywhere else, and I read the second one about building my own version, and I have literally no idea what they were saying. I downloaded this program 4 days ago and can't understand pretty much any of the programming or what it means.

[Jan Gruuthuse]

The Ubuntu you've installed is this the Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 32 bit or Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 64 bit on a 64-bit CPU computer (Intel like core I3, I5, ..., AMD Athlon, ..., x86-64?
If you use a 64-bit version you could follow the 1st link. It should have brought you on the 1st page of that posting.

Unsigned & compiled on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit ...
Current r8166: avidemux Cli / Gtk / QT 2.6 64-bit deb ubuntu 12.04 LTS  download (10.3 MB)

that link should have brought you to last posting of the thread with a download link at rapidshare.
click on that green button [⬇ download], this should start the download of avidemux3_2.6.0_64bit_r8166_12.04_debs.tar.gz: kind of box that needs unpacking. When this is downloaded: right mouse click on this file in your download folder. And select in the pop-up window: extract here. This then creates a folder in your download folder: avidemux3_2.6.0_64bit_r8166_12.04_debs. In that folder now you find the installation files (8). Double click on these in this order:

• avidemux3-core-2.6.0-r8166-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-plugins-COMMON-2.6.0-8166-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-qt4-2.6.0-8166-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-plugins-QT4-2.6.0-8166-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-cli-2.6.0-8166-Linux.deb

Software center should open and you should allow these to install.
When these 5 are installed: you open a terminal and give this command:

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/usr/bin/avidemux3_qt4 this would start avidemux 2.6 and should solve the 1st issue you mention:

Every time I open a video on either version of Avidemux, it warms me about B frames and losing quality.

can't understand pretty much any of the programming or what it means.

Avidemux is a very basic video cutter and joins clips of the same type (container, video and audio codecs) and converts from one type of video to another.
more details can be found here in the Avidemux wiki documentation
If on 32-bit it is more complex and you need to issue more commands from the terminal (sudo apt-get install program_name) and that is an other story. Installing more programs like these:

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ii  build-essential             11.5ubuntu2                 Informational list of build-essential packages
ii  fakeroot                    1.18.2-1                    tool for simulating superuser privileges
ii  g++                         4:4.6.3-1ubuntu5            GNU C++ compiler
ii  gcc                         4:4.6.3-1ubuntu5            GNU C compiler
ii  gettext                     0.18.1.1-5ubuntu3           GNU Internationalization utilities
ii  liba52-0.7.4-dev            0.7.4-16build1              library for decoding ATSC A/52 streams (development)
ii  libaften-dev                0.0.8+git20100105-0ubuntu2  audio AC3 encoder - development files
ii  libasound2-dev              1.0.25-1ubuntu10.1          shared library for ALSA applications -- development files
ii  libdca-dev                  0.0.5-5                     decoding library for DTS Coherent Acoustics streams (development)
ii  libdts-dev                  0.0.5-5                     backward compatibility place-holder for libdca
ii  libfaac-dev                 1.28-0ubuntu2               AAC audio encoder (development)
ii  libfaad-dev                 2.7-7                       freeware Advanced Audio Decoder - development files
ii  libglib2.0-dev              2.32.3-0ubuntu1             Development files for the GLib library
ii  libgtk-3-dev                3.4.2-0ubuntu0.4            development files for the GTK+ library
ii  libgtk2.0-dev               2.24.10-0ubuntu6            development files for the GTK+ library
ii  libmad0-dev                 0.15.1b-7ubuntu1            MPEG audio decoder development library
ii  libmp3lame-dev              3.99.3+repack1-1            MP3 encoding library (development)
ii  libopencore-amrnb-dev       0.1.2-1                     Adaptive Multi Rate speech codec - development files
ii  libopencore-amrwb-dev       0.1.2-1                     Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband speech codec - development files
ii  libpng12-dev                1.2.46-3ubuntu4             PNG library - development
ii  libqt4-dev                  4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.2          Qt 4 development files
ii  libqt4-opengl               4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.2          Qt 4 OpenGL module
ii  libqt4-opengl-dev           4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.2          Qt 4 OpenGL library development files
ii  libqt4-script               4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.2          Qt 4 script module
ii  libsdl-sound1.2-dev         1.0.3-4                     Development files for SDL_sound
ii  libsqlite3-dev              3.7.9-2ubuntu1.1            SQLite 3 development files
ii  libvdpau-dev                0.4.1-3ubuntu1              Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (development files)
ii  libvorbis-dev               1.3.2-1ubuntu3              The Vorbis General Audio Compression Codec (development files)
ii  libvpx-dev                  1.0.0-1                     VP8 video codec (development files)
ii  libx264-dev                 2:0.120.2151+gita3f4407-2   development files for libx264
ii  libxml2-dev                 2.7.8.dfsg-5.1ubuntu4.1     Development files for the GNOME XML library
ii  libxv-dev                   2:1.0.6-2build1             X11 Video extension library (development headers)
ii  libxvidcore-dev             2:1.3.2-6                   Open source MPEG-4 video codec (development)
ii  make                        3.81-8.1ubuntu1             An utility for Directing compilation.
ii  pkg-config                  0.26-1ubuntu1               manage compile and link flags for libraries
ii  subversion                  1.6.17dfsg-3ubuntu3         Advanced version control system
ii  yasm                        1.1.0-1                     modular assembler with multiple syntaxes support
So if you're up to it, let us know and we can try to guide you through this.

[pixiebells]

I started trying the 64 bit and it didn't work; I found out I have a 32-bit system. I've heard of bootstrap and I know the file types are listed as tyz or something to that effect, but don't know how to use it or what any of that meant.  As in, I'm not sure what a terminal is in this case or how to do any of these things where I overwrite commands in a Notepad document, unless it's explicitly telling me exactly what to type where. I'm lost otherwise. (My BA in art and theatre has thus far proved unhelpful.)

When I tried uploading it to YouTube to see how well I could edit it there, it asked if I wanted them to adjust some of it for me. I said yes and it resolved the problems--sort of. It got rid of the gray screen which made it much better, but the color quality from different clips kept changing, which was distracting. I have all the clips in excellent quality and I don't want my first video ever to be poor quality.

In any case, using the software itself hasn't been a problem at all--it's fairly basic like Fotoflexer which I've used for a couple years now. Also I've done well with Audacity, which I've been using for months without any issues. It's the more technical aspects which I can't figure our particularly well.

I almost want to be lazy enough to bug some of my friends to edit it for me, but I'll keep trying on my own first.

Suggestions?

[Jan Gruuthuse]

Yes, mean has build and provided downloads for 32-bit ubuntu 12.04 LTS in the nightly builds. Thanks mean.
You can find these here: Index of /nightly/precise32
download the 4 files and install in this order:

• avidemux3-core-2.6.0-r####-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-plugins-COMMON-2.6.0-####-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-qt4-2.6.0-####-Linux.deb
• avidemux3-plugins-QT4-2.6.0-####-Linux.deb

by double clicking these downloaded files the software center should open and ask permission to install these.

Terminal is a command line window that opens where you can pass commands.
You can open this by simultaneous pressing these keys on the keyboard: [Ctrl][Alt][T] and start avidemux by giving this command:

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avidemux3_qt4
you could also download the attachment, move this from your download folder to the desktop and unpack it on the desktop.
The content is a small file named avidemux 2.6 QT terminal.desktop.
If the name stays like that:
right click on avidemux 2.6 QT terminal.desktop
select Properties at bottom of popup window
switch to tab [Permissions]
tick the Execute: box [v] Allow executing file as program.
you now should have a link that starts avidemux QT.

Let us know, if this did help you on your quest?

ps #### is the revisionnumber of the build, so you can keep track if there is an update