OStatic

Video editing software for Linux is, to put it nicely, quirky. Some editors only work with specific file formats, some work nicely for basic video editing but can be wildly temperamental on seemingly identical machines, and some are powerful to the point of overkill for the average user.

PiTiVi is a non-linear video editor based on the GStreamer multimedia framework. After hearing some positive comments, and seeing development efforts really picking up on the project, I decided to take it for a spin. It is very much in development, but not in the traditional sense. It feels very stable, and the interface isn't confusing or a hindrance. It is, at the moment, very basic when it comes to functionality. There are not plugins or extensions currently available (though feature requests are welcome). However, the project has taken the time to plan its path forward -- and with the basics down, I can't see why real headway won't come quickly.

Chris Blizzard kindly drew my attention to an update on the improvements being made on the Theora encoder. Though the details given about the advances made are very technical, the end result is visible in the examples shown on the update page.

Blizzard nicely sums up the essence of these updates: Overall, regardless of bitrate, the Theora encoder is showing significant improvement, and is even creating higher quality streams than those encoded with H.264 at numerous bitrates. It's also become evident that at least some of the previous testing that showed Theora lacking were performed with utilities that didn't necessarily mesh well with Theora in the first place (ffmpeg2theora, when linked with a recent version offfmpeg, did not produce the same issues).

Monday evening, the Linux Foundation's Amanda McPherson revealed the identities of the lucky finalists in the We're Linux video competition . The contest, launched in January, received over 90 submissions from Penguinistas worldwide. Finalists were determined based on community voting and input from a panel of open source and media personalities.

The winner and two runners-up will be announced tomorrow at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit. The overall winner will be traveling, courtesy of the Linux Foundation, to Tokyo, Japan in October to participate in the Linux Foundation Japan Linux Symposium (which is co-located with the Linux Kernel Summit this year).

In late December, the Linux Foundation announced its I'm Linux promotional video contest. Though early submissions were welcomed, today is the day the contest officially gets under way, sporting a new name and a panel of judges hailing from all over the open source and media industries.

I've been doing some thinking since writing about kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman's statement that Linux supports more devices than any other operating system. Readers made some good comments, and after some time spent wrestling with my (yes, supported) webcam, I can venture an additional suggestion as to why it doesn't always seem that way, beyond Kroah-Hartman's theory of a non-supported device becoming personal.

In the case of my webcam, and in the case of one commenter, it seems the problem isn't necessarily the device driver. At lower levels, the drivers work. It's the layers of programming, interaction, and demand piled on the driver that makes the device feel broken. It is difficult to tell for sure, though, exactly what is causing that break.

A common lament from home videographers is that Linux lacks video editors. It's not exactly true. There's Kino, which edits video and acts as a frontend to dvgrab. Jahshaka edits videos, and uses openGL to add special effects (though many say Jahshaka's strength is its user interface). Cinelerra is a professional grade editor, and while someone working with video regularly might find this is the only option, those needing simple edits and common effects will find it overkill.

There's another alternative for those needing a basic video editor. Open Movie Editor seems plain compared to Kino, but works with more file formats (with fewer hassles). It has a Jahshaka-like interface, without its occasional installation quirks.