The Mobile Media Converter (MMC) is a free video and audio converter for converting between popular desktop media formats like MP3, Windows Media Audio (wma), Ogg Vorbis Audio (ogg), Wave Audio (wav), MPEG video, AVI, Windows Media Video (wmv), Flash Video (flv), QuickTime Video (mov) and commonly used mobile devices/phones formats like AMR audio (amr) and 3GP video. iPod/iPhone and PSP compatible MP4 video are also supported.

Simple UI, great functionality

One thing that I like about MMC is that it is simple in design and does not contain any extra stuffs to misled its users. Regardless you are using Windows, Linux or Mac, you will get the same interface throughout. There is a +/- button for you to add/remove file(s), a button to select the output destination, a dropdown bar to select the output format and a Convert button to start the conversion. That’s it.

Its simple design is by no mean an indication of a lack of functionality. On the contrast, it is packed with plenty of features that you will find it useful.

Supports a variety of media formats

Be it video or audio formats, MMC has covered it all. It is able to convert between the commonly used formats, such as OGG, MP3, WMA, WMV, MP4 WAV, AVI etc. Unless you are using a device that required a special codec, MMC should have you covered.

Batch conversion

MMC supports batch conversion of videos/audios. Simply add a bunch of videos/songs to the application and it will batch convert them and save them all in the same folder.

Advance setting

Most of the time, you won’t have need for this, but if you are keen to change the output bitrate, codec, channel, size etc, then this is the place to go to.

Youtube downloader

We have previously covered several Youtube downloader desktop apps. Here’s another one to add to your collection.

The best part about this is that after downloading the Youtube video, you can convert it to the format that you want, or just to extract the mp3 track in the video. This is great if you just want to get the music out of the video.

Trim/crop

If you think that is all, then you are wrong. MMC also allows you to trim/crop your video before converting. One thing though, this functionality is hidden on its interface and you have to perform extra steps to edit the video.

On the Video entry, right click your mouse. You should now see the options to Trim/Crop. The Trim function is for you to determine the start and end length of the converted video while the Crop feature allows you to change the aspect ratio of the video.

Suggestions for Improvement

One thing that I found lacking is the ability to stop the operation once the conversion start. While testing this out, I accidentally clicked the Convert button and the conversion starts without showing a prompt. Neither does it provide a Cancel button for me to stop the operation. I have two choices: wait for 30 minutes for the conversion to complete or to kill the application completely. I choose the latter. It will be great if it stop the operation in mid-way.

Another thing that is lacking is the support for subtitle files. For converting movie to iPhone format, until it supports adding of subtitle files to the video, I will still stick with my XviD4PSP . Other than that, this is one of the best media converter that I have come across so far.

What do you think?

Image credit: Houkwing

Mobile Media Converter

Below, I have come up with a great list of software that you can use to handle your video/audio files in Linux. All the software listed are compatible with any of the Linux distros out there. The installation instructions and screenshots are based on Ubuntu, so if you are on a different distro, you will have to change the command accordingly.

Handling VideoCD

Play VCD in Linux

Basically, most, if not all, multimedia players out there are able to play VideoCD. Personally, I would recommend using VLC since that is the only multimedia player you ever need to play all kind of audio/video files.

In Debian-based Linux distro,

sudo apt-get install vlc

Create VCD

CD burner software such as Brasero and K3b are capable of creating VCD or SVCD on the fly.

For K3b, you have to make sure that the source file is in mpeg format. There is no restriction in Brasero.

Ripping video from VCD

The easiest way to rip a VCD movie to mpeg format is via K3b.

Install K3b

sudo apt-get install k3b

Open up the K3b and go to Tools -> Rip Video CD

Alternatively, VLC also allows you to transcode the VCD movie into another format.

Open the VLC. Click on Media->Convert/Save.

For more detailed instruction, check out how to easily transcode media files with VLC

The command line way

If you prefer the command line way of doing thing, here is the instruction.

sudo apt-get install vcdimager

Insert the VCD to the CD-ROM

In the terminal, type

vcdxrip -C

Note that the C in the above command is a Capital C.

This will instruct vcdxrip to rip the movie from the VCD in the CD-ROM.

Extracting audio from VCD

Using the VLC method, you can easily rip the audio file from the VCD.

Under the Convert/Save option, click on the Audio Codec tab and check the Audio box. If you are converting to mp3, select MP3 from the dropdown box, else select the format that you want to convert to. Input the file name (with the extension) and click Save.

Handling DVD

Watching DVD in Linux (particularly Ubuntu)

Ubuntu does not allow you to play DVD movie due to legal and technical restrictions. You have to install the ubuntu-restricted-extra package and run the libdvdread3 installer script. Check the tutorial for detailed instruction.

Rip DVD

For ripping DVD, I personally use Handbrake. It comes with several preset profiles, including iPhone and PS3, that you can use to quickly rip the DVD into your desired format.

To install handbrake, download the deb file here.

Another software that you can use is AcidRip. It is packed with useful features, but arranged in a messy way. I have quite a hard way navigating through the options. One good thing about this software is that it is included in the repo, so you can easily install it clicking here or by using the command:

sudo apt-get install acidrip

(Note: To rip DVD, your computer must first be able to support DVD playback. Refer to the above instruction to enable DVD playback in your Linux machine.)

Create DVD (DVD authoring)

If you are looking to create your own DVD with menu, chapters, subtitles etc, two of the best software that I have tried are DeVeDe and Mandvd. Personally I prefer ManDVD as it gives you more customization options and a detail walkthrough of the whole DVD creation process. However, if you are looking for a software that you can use quickly without much configuration, then DeVeDe is the one to go for.

To install ManDVD, download and install the deb file from GetDeb.

To install DeVeDe, click here, or in the terminal

sudo apt-get install devede

One good thing about DeVeDe is that you can also use it to create VCD as well.

Handling Video Files

Converting from one format to another

Both Handbrake and VLC are able to convert your video files from one format to another, but if you are looking for a small application just for converting videos, you might want to try out Winff. This is a small frontend GUI for the FFMPEG library and will work with most file formats.

Installation instructions for the various distro can be found here.

Editing video files

Avidemux, Kino and KDEnlive are three great video editing software that are both powerful and easy to use. Avidemux is Gnome-based while Kino and KDEnlive are KDE-based.

Subtitle editor

For those who wanted to create your own subtitles for your video files, Gnome-subtitles and Aegisub are two simple software you can use to edit your own subtitles. Gnome-Subtitles is a simple and lightweight application for simple subtitles creation and editing. Aegisub provides more functionality such as  subtitles dragging, scaling and rotating. There is even a karaoke template that you can apply to your music video.

Inserting subtitles to your video files

There are two ways that you can use to insert subtitles into video files: Softsub and Hardsub.

Softsub are separate instructions, usually a specially marked up text with time stamps to be displayed during playback and it is usually controlled on the player side. Hardsub is when the subtitle text is irreversibly merged in original video frames, and so no special equipment or software is required for playback.

Quoted from Wikipedia

For Softsub, VLC has a feature that allows you to load a separate subtitles files while watching the video. In VLC, go to Tools-> Preferences. At the left bottom under the Show Settings, click All. At the left pane, go to Video->Subtitles/OSD. On the right pane, input the location of the subtitles file into the field Use Subtitles File.

For Hardsub, you can use Avidemux to embed the subtitles file into the video.

In Avidemux, first load the video file. Next, go to Video->FIlters. On the left pane, select Subtitles. Choose the appropriate subtitle option and add it to the Active Filter pane.

Update: On the main screen, you have to select a video encoder before the subtitle filter can take effect. Thanks to J.M for reminding.

Handling Audio files

Extracting Audio CD

In Gnome, the SoundJuicer does a good job in converting your audio CD to the format you want. In Ubuntu, if you want to extract your CD to MP3 or Flac format, you will have to first install the required codecs.

Alternatively, you can also use K3b to rip audio CD.

Creating audio CD

Brasero and K3b can achieve this task easily. Select the Create audio CD option and drag and drop your music files into the container. It will automatically convert them to audio CD format.

Converting audio files from one format to another

I have previously covered Sound-converter which is a great software that supports conversion to most audio formats.

Editing audio files

Needless to say, Audacity is the best candidate for this. You can also use it to convert audio files from one format to another.

What else have I left out?

Mac OS X has the share of multimedia players to choose from, and Apple itself has already provide Mac users (as well as Windows users) with Quicktime – a great general formats multimedia player if I may say so. It should be enough to cater our multimedia need. But there are formats still unsupported by Quicktime making it a little less than perfect.

Here are two free add-ons you can use to complete Quicktime.

1. Perian

This little app is said to be the “Swiss army knife” for Quicktime because it adds the ability to play many more previously unsupported multimedia formats such as: AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, VFW, MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, (still following me?), and many others. The complete list is available at their site, should you be so curious.

Personally, the one ability Perian gives to Quicktime that I like most is the support for SSA/ASS and SRT files. That, my friend, is the ability to show subtitle for a movie. If you have a movie file and compatible SRT file with the exact similar name within the same folder, the subtitle will appear on the screen simultaneously with the movie.

This is very helpful for those with hearing disability, or those whose native language is different from the one used in the movie. Few of my friends use the subtitle ability to learn different languages.

Surely not every movie comes with subtitle file, but you can try finding the SSA/ASS of SRT files on the net. If you find the compatible one, rename the file to match the movie file then put the movie and the subtitle file inside a same folder.

2. Flip4Mac

The so called complete – Perian – still have one thing missing: the support for Microsoft’s MWV (video) and WMA (audio) formats. So, in order to make Quicktime really complete, we need one more help from Flip4Mac.

The plugin is available for free from Telestream’s site and after installing it, Quicktime can  play WMV and WMA with no problem. But to be able to import those two format, users have to buy the pro version.

3. The alternative – VLC

As an alternative, instead of adding plugins to enable Quicktime to play more formats, Mac users can use VLC (Video Lan Client). This free open source multimedia player always comes up at the top of recommended list. This application has been discussed here several times already.

There are many advantages that VLC has compared to plugin-ized Quicktime, such as the ability to act as multimedia stream server within a speedy network (LAN, WAN, or high speed internet connection), but one that I find most convenient is that users can directly open discs (CD, VCD and DVD). Use File –> Open Disc menu or the shortcut Command + D.

Do you know and use any other plugins for Quicktime, share your experiences and thoughts using the comment below.