VirtualDub is one of those utilities concerned with video files.
It can be used to change a file from one format to another. Very handy if you want to make the file more accessible by changing the codec involved.
It can also be used to append files e.g. you downloaded a movie and it came in 3 pieces. In my case, I use the TV card I wrote about. This saves the file as an uncompressed AVI file with uncompressed audio. Changing these are a dawdle with this program.
Right, lets start at the beginning……..always a good point to start at J
VirtualDub can be found at most download sites on the Net specializing in DVD ripping or movie editing. Use a search engine and simple type in VirtualDub……..
The download file is less than a meg. Now a lot of time wasted getting it …even for those of us stuck on a 56k modem , thanks to BT.
As you can see , VirtualDub is released under the GNU license.
The program is downloaded as a zip file. Installing is a simple matter of unzipping where you will.
Running the program gives you the following view……
Again, a deceptively simple GUI. Here are some grabs of the menus.
As you can see from all the grabs, a helluva lot of stuff to figure out, especially if, like me, you are only trialling it.
Fortunately, as you can see from the help menu, there is a large amount of information available about the program and how to use it. Simply let the program take you to the knowledge base for instance to see how to guides. Alternatively, you can simply launch the help file which details the workings of the program and explains lots of the options. I would recommend a lot of reading beforehand .
This is a very involved program and you could easily destroy your favourite clip if you aren’t careful.
This isn’t a small program, but it is fast!!
The program is dependent of how fast your processor is, so a newer ,faster processor definitely helps if you intend working with this.
However, I use an Athlon processor running at 750mhz. It may be on the slow side nowadays, but it still manages to stream data (as in converting an audio or video stream ) reasonably fast. I have had values of up to 130 odd frames per second. On the kids P.C. which uses a P4 at 1900mhz, the results are a lot faster J
I’ve no intention here of actually trying to explain all the menus (even if I knew what everything did), so I’ll simply try and show how to convert a file.
Firstly, I load a file made using the TV card……in this case an advert from one of the channels.
A quick look at the properties of the file gives the following………
As above, a large AVI file for 29 seconds of video. If I had captured it at its highest rate and at the best quality of sound, you can imagine the size of the resultant file.
OK, lets change it to something that makes it a bit smaller. I downloaded the Divx5.0 bundle from Cnet, so lets see how that performs.
Firstly, we go to the video menu and select compression. I selected the DivX5.0 codec as I said earlier.
I then go to the audio menu and select full processing mode.
I also selected compression and used the codec for DivX audio. This brought up a submenu where it asked what quality I wanted. I chose 20kbps.
This should be good enough for me.
Now simply select “save as AVI” from the file menu and choose a name.
Not exactly rocket science ,is it? Wonderful what programmers can make easy nowadays.
Once I have done that, the program goes and does all the hard work………
Yummy, look at that for a result….. 94.7 fps. Wow, this program can shift.
Reloading the file, lets have a look at the file properties now…..
A slight difference, I’m sure you’ll agree. The filesize went from
44.1 mb down to 2.82mb.
As you saw from the grabs, it didn’t exactly take a lot of time either.
Give this program a try and see what you think yourselves. It is free, small and has a very fast engine.
If you want to append, edit videos or simply to compress them, this is the mutts nuts!!!
As I said, the program has far too many options available to it for me to even attempt to do justice to it. Try it and explore it yourselves.
