Rendering videos in Linux

One thing I have found difficult with my transition to Linux, has been video editing. Kdenlive is easy to use, however once I get to the rendering process all bets are off.
Too often I run into issues with my HD videos having bars on the side/top, poor quality just so I can get a respectable file size...
Well I think I've found out how to properly render a video in Linux so I have both quality and size!

You are going to need two programs to do this (or one if file size doesn't matter).
Kdenlive and Arista Transcoder. You should be able to find both of these programs in the software manager. Arista came pre-installed with Pinguy!

I have done this with a video that is 1280 x 720, and on a 24" HD monitor. Results might be different depending on your monitor as non-HD monitors may still show large bars on the top and bottom.

Working in Kdenlive:
Step One - Before adding any videos to the project tree, hit the 'New' button at the top left.
In the profile drop down menu, select the option that best suits your video. In my case my video is 720p, so I went with the "HD 720p 30 fps" option.
Now add your video like usual to the project tree.

Step Two - Edit as you normally would.

Step Three - Now time to render your video.
I use the 'H.264' option, however I believe you can get away with using the MPEG-4 option as well since they both will be .mp4 files.
When it comes to choosing which option to use with H.264, this is up to you. I find using at least 6000k yields good results. Best to try rendering the same video a few times with the different choices to see what works best for you, then remember that for future uses.

Single or double pass?
Again, you can get away with a single pass but personally I use the '2 pass' option.

Please note that using 2 pass will result in slightly longer rendering times, as well the higher the 'k' you use the larger the file.

Now that your file has been rendered, you should be able to play it without any bars on the side, top or bottom (again depending on your monitor). It should be full screen or at least nearly full screen!

My rendered file size is 117 MB. In my opinion this is too large for a video that is only 1m:40s long.
I like to have the smallest file size possible without losing too much video quality. Having a 60GB monthly cap (going up to 80GB in a couple of months!) I don't want large uploads.
Despite having a 1TB + 500GB + 60GB hard drive(s), I also don't want large files wasting space on my hard drive(s).
If you want a smaller file size, follow the next step. If size doesn't matter then you should be done!

Working with Arista Transcoder:
Step Four - Select your source (video file).
For device, make sure 'Computer' is selected.
For the preset, I use 'Live Input'.
Hit the 'Add to Queue' button at the top left then name/save it wherever you'd like.

Now your file size should be considerably smaller without much loss in video quality!
My video went from 117 MB down to 24 MB.

You also have the option to select WebM if your uploading to Youtube. This is ideal since Youtube renders most videos now in the HTML5 (WebM) format, which means they won't have to re-render the file.

To render in WebM format do the following:
Select your source (video file).
For device select 'Web Browser'.
Make sure the preset is set for 'WebM'.

Hit the 'Add to Queue' button at the top left then name/save it wherever you'd like.

The WebM file will be slightly larger then your mp4 (live input) file, however not by much. My WebM file is 32 MB, only an 8MB difference. Like I said above, since YouTube is switching to HTML5, WebM files are ideal for uploading to that site.

Hopefully this works for you, as I was going mad trying to get rid of those bars and get a good quality video with a small file size!

Windows v. Linux - Video rendering (time, size, quality)

I have been using Sony Vegas for a couple of years now with Windows 7. I can't say I have any complaints with it.
Since joining the Linux world, I have obviously made the switch to kdenlive. Seems like the more popular and easy to use video editing program.

I did a little comparison with Windows & Linux.
I rendered the same file which was 312 MB.

With Sony Vegas in Windows, the rendered file went down to 70 MB and took a little over 17 minutes to render. While rendering I couldn't do anything else as it was far too slow.

In Linux, my Kdenlive rendered file was 117 MB and took a little over 12 minutes. While rendering I was surfing the internet as if I wasn't doing anything else.
After the rendering was complete I used a program called Arista Transcoder which then rendered the file down to 24 MB (with no noticeable video quality loss). This process took just under 2 minutes.

Who wins?
Quality - Draw. You'd have to spend too much time looking hard at each video to see a difference in quality between the one rendered with Sony Vegas and the one rendered with Kdenlive & Arista Transcoder.

Time to render - Linux. Although with Linux it took two steps, it was still about 2-3 minutes faster then with Windows.
Plus while rendering in Linux you can check your email or do whatever else you like on the internet without any noticeable performance decreases!
I suppose the plus with Windows is I had 17 minutes to clean or do whatever else I had to get done around the house, but for the most part the computer was far too slow during the rendering process to even surf the internet.
I should note this might be different for everyone. My PC is an AMD triple core processor with 8GB RAM.

File Size - Linux. If you don't use Arista Transcoder, then Windows would win, but Arista Transcoder shrinks the file size considerably with little to no noticeable loss in quality.

The Switch

With yesterday marking the 17th day I've been with Linux, I have yet again opted to switch distros.
Although I started out with Mint, I went briefly to Ubuntu 11.04, back to Mint and I think I have found my home...

Pinguy OS.

I was reluctant to switch as my monthly bandwidth cap is already over the 55% mark, however I felt like it was the right time and fortunately I had already downloaded it a few days ago (and saved the ISO).
All I had to worry about was updates and the odd program I had to install, which thanks to Pinguy isn't much.

The only faults I could find while reading about Pinguy is that it's 'bloated'. Yes it includes a lot of different programs, however most of them I would have installed anyways, plus I discovered a few programs I never heard of before. Of course having said that, some people find Mint & Ubuntu to be bloated.

Arguably the leading cause for the switch now was stability. Mint felt a little buggy at times. Nothing serious just minor annoyances. Pinguy on the other hand felt fast and stable.

For an operating system that includes as much as it does, it runs quite fast.

Two noticeable differences between Pinguy & Mint, where Mint is the winner would be:
1. Mint uses less RAM. Conky on Mint stayed around the 800-900MB mark, where as I'm a little over 1GB on Pinguy. Having 8GB of RAM installed this makes little difference personally.
2. Start-up time. I never cared or payed attention to how my Windows booted up until I installed Mint. From boot menu to opening the browser it is about 30-40 seconds in Mint.
I find Pinguy to be about 50 seconds, still faster than my Windows 7 but only slightly.
Like I said though, boot times aren't a deal breaker for me.

I love that Pinguy uses Mint Update and menu, but also has the gnome global menu, Ubuntu Software Centre and many other of the pluses Ubuntu has that Mint may lack.

Perhaps minor, but one thing I love with Pinguy over Mint...Apt! When I went to the Adobe flash website, it gives the option for an Apt download, which Pinguy installs with no problem. Mint doesn't offer this (of course both Mint & Pinguy include flash).

As someone who uses Kdenlive, initially getting it to render MP4's can be a headache. I did manage to find an easy solution in Mint. In Pinguy, I didn't have to do a single thing to it as everything needed was installed!
Again, I did find an easy work around for Mint & Ubuntu, but I love that in Pinguy I didn't have to do a single thing!


Pinguy also maintains a blog with up to date news, tips and downloads.
Through the blog I managed to get the new Firefox before it was released (not beta). I installed the new Linux kernel (3.0.0.8-generic) without issue...actually it's much better with it!

I hope I don't jinx myself, but I'm absolutely loving Pinguy and the way it's running so far!

My Desktop (updated)

PT: PhotoFilmStrip

Program Thoughts:

I was sent a link for a program called PhotoFlimStrip two weeks ago, actually before I was in Linux.
It is a cross platform (Linux & Windows) program for creating movies or slide shows of your pictures.

I only recently tried it out, and I did so on my Linux Mint setup. I don't believe you can get it from the software manager, however for those using a Debian based system, there is a download on the website for a .deb file, so if your like me and prefer a single click way to install things, this program does it.

Here is a video I did showing how easy it is to create a video:

One thing to note about adding audio. When you render the video, it will adjust the length to however long the audio if, which means if you have six pictures and a four minute song, prepare for a four minute video with six slowly moving pictures.

Best to gather your images first, then trim your audio in a program such as Audacity to however long you want your video.

What is great is you can render your video in HD. Keep in mind this can take quite some time.
The first time I tried rendering with the original file sizes of my pictures, it took 5 minutes for 3 pictures.

I resized my pictures to around 800 x 600, which sped up the rendering process (though won't be HD).

Here is a short video I made to see how it turned out:

With the exception of how long it can take to render HD images, I'm quite impressed with how easy and basic this program is, yet produces a beautiful video!

Drum roll please...

So I have been debating between which Linux distro I was going to stick with. I was with Mint 11 since the last Friday of July, and recently tried out the new Ubuntu (11.04).

Well my decision is in and actually already complete. I have reinstall and will be running Linux Mint!

As a newbie I love it too much. There is so much I prefer with Mint, from small things such as adding desktop icons to the speed.

Of course with Ubuntu 11.10 suppose to be released in late October, this isn't to say I won't consider upgrading to that. From what I've read it sounds like a big improvement.
But then again who knows what's in store for the next Mint?

Seeing as I'm new to the Mint world, will Mint be releasing an 11.10 in November? or will it be a 12 sometime next year?

Getting back the desktop in gnome 3

If you are having a hard time seeing the video, check it out in HD here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qrq0sMvQvc