Free utilities that make the production suite sweet.
When setting up a computer system for post-production work its easy to focus on the big tools; the NLE's, DAW's, Imaging and Authoring systems. But very often the tools that really make production workflow efficient, flexible and successful are the small utilities and add-ons, many of which are free.
Here's my latest list of free utilities for production.
Mpeg streamclip
Cross platform encoding tool that is extremely effective. Will read program and transport stream formats and transcode to a host of MOV and AVI wrapped files.
http://www.squared5.com/
DVD Shrink
Shrink is the long standing Windows-based tool for ripping and recompressing DVD's. Of course many may use such a tool for illegal copies but with a good feature for selective DVD extraction its perfect for extracting individual scene clips. Such clips are great as examples for developing a films design or for those teaching filmmaking to demonstrate techniques and ideas.
http://www.dvdshrink.org/
Mac the ripper
For Mac users who don't have access to shrink Mac the Ripper is your best option for DVD extraction. Though it lacks the detailed extraction of Shrink it can rip by DVD chapters.
http://www.mactheripper.org/
VLC
When you've finally hit the wall and can no longer tolerate the absurdities and incopetantcies of the QuickTime player (like its inability recognize widescreen anamorphic flags) move yourself on to VLC and never look back. VLC pays just about every format known to humankind. No mess, no fuss, just a better media player for all OS's. Lean, mean and effective.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Java aspect ratio calculator
This is a simple java app that runs directly without installing and allows you to quickly calculate pixel dimensions based on 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. Just plug in a horizontal measurement and the utility will calculate the vertical dimension (or vise versa). Great for scaling videos for online deliver in correct ratios. Cross-platform.
http://www.wideopendoors.net/design/aspect_ratio_calculator.html
Zipeg
There are near countless archive formats around (zip, rar, iso and so on) and Zipeg, available for Mac and windows, is free and unzips them all.
http://www.zipeg.com/
Video space widget
For Mac users the Digital Heaven VideoSpace calculator runs a very useful widget. Elect your video format (hdv, dvcpro, dv, prores, uncompressed, xdcamhd, imx) and the duration and the widget will do an immediate calculation o the fie size.
http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/videospace/
Gspot
If you wrestle with online video, downloaded video and video scrounged in all manner of weird and wonderful codecs Gspot is your best friend. A simple drag and drop of the file will reveal everything you need to know about it - data rate, codec, format and what application you may need to open it. Windows only.
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
Posted at 12:00AM Mar 21, 2008
by Mike Jones in general |
