Customer Reviews

Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming Images, Audio, and Video

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I've spent the last few days going over this book and experimenting with the different hacks on my Fedora Core 4 workstation. I use Fedora Core 4 almost 100% of the time at home, and I've felt the need to manipulate and use multimedia objects for a long time now, but didn't have the practical knowledge at my fingertips to do so. For example, how do I take a screenshot? This book answers this and other questions.

Now I understand how to use ImageMagick, take screenshots, and work with mplayer. I've implemented some hacks with gratifying results and experimented with bits and pieces of other hacks. For example I installed mplayer and the software bits needed to import video from a camcorder with a Firewire (1394) port. Mplayer is now running smoothly, and I'm waiting for a convenient camcorder to come my way so I can plug it into my 1394 port and let it rip. These hacks really seem to work, and they are quickly implemented. The authors of the various hacks give brief explanations that help build multimedia skills. Each hack is written with great clarity.

This book will gently introduce you to the power of scripting in Linux. Simple 1- or 2-line scripts pepper the book, and by using them you can quickly get the effects you want without having to spend long periods of time learning how to do the same thing on a GUI interface. Now, I can dump all 300+ photos from my 1 Gb flash card into a new folder and then use a script to resize them to a size small enough for a web page and for sharing with other folks. Try doing that to hundreds of photos on a GUI interface! With the suggested scripts, you can let the computer do the work, not you, and you can congratulate yourself on your smarts. Each script is carefully explained in plain language. I especially like Rankin's discussion of how to set up a digital camera and download all the photos from it automagically.

Today the Linux desktop is every more GUI-friendly. It is very easy to use; some of my friends have used it without realizing they were on Linux. I can see thumbnails of all my imported photos on Gnome -- it just works. I can expand the thumbnails into new windows with the actual photo. I can plug a compact flash card into my card reader and Gnome will recognize that, too, and offer to download the photos in the card. I can and often do edit photos with the Gimp and email them to my relatives. This books discusses all these things except possibly the emailing bit.

I began to realize that my hard drive is way too small for all the media I hope to work with. I recently ordered a 400 Gb drive to solve this problem.

This book shows you how to work with your media at no cost to you. It rolls up a lot of useful knowledge right at your fingertips. I can't think of another source of well-thought out media hacks either on the internet or in the documentation that comes with your Linux distribution. Every person wanting to work with media on Linux ought to have this book. Rankin and the other hack contributors have done a superb job.

Most versions of Linux have minimal multimedia abilities without the installation of additional software. Of course there is a lot of Linux software out there that can be used to change your Linux installation into a powerful multimedia computer with amazing capabilities. And, since it is Linux, it can be done at minimal or no cost for the software. Author Kyle Rankin details how to install and configure these products in this book. To keep the information organized he breaks it up into chapters on Images, Audio, Video, Broadcast Media, and Web. Working through the hacks you soon discover everything from how to rip a CD, convert file types, and edit a sound file to how to build a MythTV system where you can record television, watch videos, listen to music, and play arcade games from one system. There's even a tip for automatically removing commercials from digitally recorded television shows. When you are trying to figure out how to get your Linux system to do something special in the area of multimedia this is the first book you will want to turn to for answers. Linux Multimedia Hacks is highly recommended.

I got this book at a local Linux talk given by the author about a week ago. This book really opens my eyes to see how much resource there is for multimedia on the Linux platform. It's a must-have if you are serious about multimedia, even if you are not a heavy Linux user. As you see, a software dies on Windows PC when the software company (or Microsoft) stops supporting it (or the software company goes under), because you only have the binary code. But the Linux software lives on because you can always pick up the source code from the open source (that is if it's an open source project, of course. Fortunately, most of the Linux software are). Bottom line: this book does what it says ! I am very happy with it !

I bought this book to learn how to use menconder under linux (ubuntu), but only two pages were about this topic and with no hacks, just a few known commands that couldn't help me.

It's a good book for the price you pay, but I think is just for people who is new in Linux.

If anybody can recommend a good book for "advanced" mencoder I'll be glad to buy it.

Thank you.

Do you want to master the entertainment possibilities of Linux? If you do, then this book is for you! Author Kyle Rankin, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that takes the best of Linux's multimedia tools and shows you step by step how to use these tools to do cool things you would not have thought possible with images, audio, and video.

Rankin, begins by defining hacks that are specifically for images. Then, the author describes hacks for all things video. Next, the author shows you how to get the most out of video tools under Linux, which are some of the best in the industry. The author then gives you tips for accessing and creating your own web broadcasts. Finally, he shows you hacks to help you tweak your web browser under Linux so it can get the most out of the multimedia Web.

For the most part, this most excellent book allows you to look for hacks based on the multimedia type. More importantly, with this book, you'll be able to move quickly beyond anything you previously thought was possible, without spending a small fortune on commercial software.

Kyle Rankin's Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools For Taming Images, Audio, And Video covers a program which typically disappoints multimedia fans with what seems like shortcomings in playing DVDs or MP3 files. Overcome these seeming detriments with a book which tells how to tweak and build Linux multimedia entertainment systems. Both newcomers and advanced users of Linux learn how to edit images, audio and video, manage music, burn DVDs and VCDs, and much more. Linux Multimedia Hacks isn't just one developer's knowledge base: it reflects contributions from many Linux experts - even the software creators themselves.