I have been using Handbrake for quite sometime now but have recently increased my usage due to my acquisition of an Apple TV. The Apple TV is only capable of playing video files that are supported by iTunes. These supported video formats do not include AVI (well not without a Jailbreak and aTV Flash, but I will save that for another time) which is the current format of majority of my movies and TV shows. Due to this flaw in the Apple system I have been forced to convert all my unsupported videos to a format supported by iTunes. Enter Handbrake!
Handbrake is an open source video transcoder available for Windows, Mac and Linux and comes equipped with various conversion setting presets. Handbrake can convert a single video file, a queue of video files or a DVD video in a few simple steps:
- Select the source video file or DVD title/folder
- Select a destination for the converted file
- Select a conversion preset or configure the specific audio/video settings
- For a single file conversion click the Start button or click Add to Queue if you wish to convert multiple files. Click Start once you have added all videos to the queue
- The conversion process will start and notify you once all videos in the queue are complete
Note: For greater compatibility with iTunes, enable the ‘Use iPod/iTunes friendly (.m4v) file extension for MP4′ setting
Handbrake is by far the best free MP4 video transcoder that I have come across. Let me know your opinions or alternatives that you may use in the comments.
I was asked by one of the staff members at the school I work out how to convert MP4 files to AVI. The staff member needed a quick, simple and free way of doing this so that the files could be imported into Windows Movie Maker. A quick Google search and I came across a nice little program called MP4Cam2AVI.
MP4Cam2AVI allows you to convert and/or join MP4 or MOV files to AVI in four easy steps:
- Browse to the location of the video file/s you wish to convert.
- Select the video file/s from the listing.
- Select the appropriate action to perform on the video/s (Join or Batch Convert).
- Select the Output directory and start the conversion.
The resulting video file/s can now be imported into Windows Movie Maker.
I have been looking around for a free FLV video converter (video to FLV) for a while now. I have found a few different ones, but none have been as easy to use as Any Video Converter (AVC). Simplicity is a must as I will more than likely be guiding users with varying levels of IT knowledge to use this application.
The application can convert a video in three easy steps (using default settings)…
- Add the video file/s
- Select the video conversion profile
- Encode the video/s
The following is a detailed guide to the above steps:
1. Add the video file/s:
- Press the ADD VIDEO button.
- Browse to the location of the video/s that you wish to be converted.
- Select the video/s and press the Open button.
2. Select the video conversion profile:
- Select Flash Video Movie (*.flv) from the Profile: drop-down menu.
3. Encode the video/s:
- Press the ENCODE button and wait for the process to complete.
Required (FREE) Software:
1. Start 
from the Start Menu (Start -> All Programs -> MobaPhoto).
2. Once MobaPhoto has loaded, select Batch photo resizer from the displayed menu.
3. Use the file browser to browse for and add the images you would like to convert. You can add entire folders or individual images to the list:
Adding folder/s:
- Select the folder/s that contains the images that you would like to convert.
- Click the
button to add all the images in the selected folder/s to the list.
Adding image/s:
- Select the image/s that you would like to convert.
- Click the button to add the image/s to the list.
4. Once you have added all the required images to the list, click the 
button.
5. Select Optimzed settings for uploading online from the drop down list.
6. Select or create a folder for the converted images to be saved to and click .
7. The files will now be converted and saved into the specified folder.
Our Junior School has recently been exploring stop motion animation. TIGS students and non TIGS students have recently participated in a series of iTag workshops, one of which was a stop motion workshop.
What was used?
- Anasazi Stop Motion Animator (Available for free here).
- USB Webcam (Logitech Quickcam).
How is it done?
- Set Anasazi preferences.
- [Options] -> [Capture Options] -> “Movie will run at [10] fps.
- [Options] -> [Capture Options] -> [Video Format...] – > “Resolution: [640 x 480]“.
- [Options] -> [Capture Options] -> [Compression...] -> “Compressor: [Full Frames (Uncompressed)]“.
- [Special] -> [Video Windows Size...] -> “Size in Pixels (width x height): [640] x [480].
- Capture frames.
- Click [Start] to start capture -> then [Grab] to capture subsequent frames.
- Click [Done] and save your video when done.
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