CVID
----
Original author: david.hollister@gmail.com
cvid is primarily a front-end for mencoder. It does also provide other
features as well, depending on the installed software packages. For
example, in addition to simple encoding, cvid is:
Non-linear editor (Requires libpng and/or libjpeg)
Authoring front-end (Requires dvdauthor and optionally mkisofs)
AVI merge tool (Requires transcode 1.1.x)
This program is released under the GNU PUBLIC LICENSE, version 2. See the
COPYING file for licensing details.
The INSTALL file contains generic instructions for installing a "configure"
based application. In addition to the information in that file, the following
options are available:
--enable-debug
The default is no. If this option is chosen, cvid will be built
with debug enabled. This is useful for analyzing core files should
cvid crash (heaven forbid).
--enable-darwin-32bit
This option is only for use on Mac OS X. It ensures that the
resulting binary will be built as a 32-bit executable rather than
what seems to be the default; 64-bit.
REQUIREMENTS
------------
In order for cvid to function at all, the following requirements must be met:
Operating System:
-----------------
cvid was primarily developed and tested on Solaris 11. It should,
however, run on any POSIX-compliant OS.
cvid has been tested at various points during development and was known
to work on the following:
o Solaris 11 (OpenSolaris releases ought to work as well)
o Gentoo Linux (of course, any reasonable Linux distro should work)
o Mac OS X 10.6.8
Required software components/packages:
--------------------------------------
mplayer (1.0rc3+ - slightly older versions may work)
GTK+ 2.16+
Cairo 1.8+
Pango 1.24+
libpng 1.2
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE
----------------------------
To allow decoding into JPEG images for much faster decodes and encodes
when editing:
libjpeg62
To allow encoding with H.264 video codec:
x264 >= 0.57
To enable the merging of AVI files:
transcode (only tested with 1.1.5)
For decoding AAC audio:
faad2 >= 2.7
For encoding AAC audio:
faac >= 1.28
For decoding/encoding MP3 audio:
lame >= 3.98.4
For DVD authoring:
dvdauthor >= 0.6.18
For creating ISO images from dvdauthor:
mkisofs (only tested with 3.00)
SUPPORTED FORMATS
-----------------
Although mplayer supports a myriad of audio and video codecs and container
formats (especially when compiled with ffmpeg support), cvid supports a
small subset of these. The goal is to cover the bases for the most popular
and best supported codecs and containers. The supported formats are:
CONTAINERS:
AVI (The mencoder 'native' container)
MPEG
Matroska (.mkv)
VIDEO CODECS:
H.264 (via x264)
MPEG-2 (via libavcodec)
MPEG-4 (Xvid compatible via libavcodec)
AUDIO CODECS:
AAC (via libfaac/libfaad)
AC-3 [a.k.a. a52 or Dolby Digital] (via libavcodec)
MP3 (via lame)
PCM
BUGS
----
Undoubtedly. If any are listed here, they were known issues at the time of
the latest release. If you find a bug, please check the bug tracker to see
if it has already been reported. If not, file a bug.
POTENTIAL FUTURE WORK
---------------------
It seems every day come ideas on things to change either for cosmetic reasons,
additional functionality, etc. Here are a couple of items that have been on
the "To Do" list for a while now:
o The help "system" could probably stand to be re-written. It would be much
more handy to be able to keep all the text in a text file rather than
compiling it in, and it would also be useful to be able to embed images.
o Ability to encode (and possibly edit) multiple input files into a
single output file
o Ability to use the "Add chapter" button from the edit window and have
those chapters used during authoring.
o Some sort of batch mode to allow queueing of jobs
o Better problem detection during mplayer/mencoder excecution
o Subtitles
o Ability to playack sound during editing
o Ability to edit AVI files without decoding to images by using
avisplit/avimerge. avisplit may need to be modified, so perhaps take
the associated code and just integrate it with the necessary changes?
o Adjust brightness and possibly other related options from editor
