The MPEG4 video encoding process makes use of block motion compensation to achieve compression. The motion compensation process serves to produce the intra frames which are the frames between keyframes. I’ve always been fascinated by this process and was delighted to find out that my favorite video player, mplayer, allows one to visualize this process. [...]
Categories: linux,ubuntu,video
Tagged: linux, motion compensation, mpeg4, mplayer, video, video compression, visualization
Generating thumbnails/screenshots of a video is useful in many ways. Youtube and many other video sites use this to show a preview of the video as a small thumbnail. Google video captures a series of thumbnails from a video at various time intervals to show a better video preview.
Every once in a while, someone comes up with a way of doing things in an extremely obvious and simple way. When this happens, a zillion others say, “of course that’s the way to do it!”. Songza is a music search engine and jukebox that is dead simple to use. You should try it to [...]
Categories: web
I am a huge fan of the science fiction genre. Arthur C Clarke is one of my favorite science fiction writers after Isaac Asimov. It saddens me to have learnt that he has passed away. Most people get reminded of “2001: A Space Odyssey” when they hear the name Arthur C Clarke. I get reminded [...]
Categories: books
Tagged: arthur c clarke, novel, rendezvous with rama, science fiction
A couple of weeks back, I went shopping looking for a TV tuner card that is compatible with Linux. Googling had told me that “Hauppauge” card was known to be compatible. However, I could not find it anywhere in the market (SP Road, Bangalore, India). On going to one of the shops, I found a [...]
Categories: gutsy gibbon,linux,video
Tagged: home theatre pc, HTPC, linux, mencoder, pinnacle pctv 50i, television, tv tuner card, tvtime