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 First published in New Zealand Macguide Magazine - Issue 24
Even with some of the most powerful multimedia programs, you're faced with trying to do something slightly complex or perhaps quirky, which the program can't handle. It might be the fast conversion of one file into another format or simply to try and view a file that many of the applications you have seem to struggle to show you. The following programs (listed alphabetically) are some of the applications that can help you during multimedia development and are often brilliant at doing the quirky stuff really fast.
 Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
This is an open source audio recording and editing program that I've started using more and more. Not only is it free to use, but it is a cross-platform program, so you can help those PC users who need to do a little bit of audio mixing and editing and teach them how to use it also. The program can import WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files and export in Wav and Vorbis. With the download and install of an additional piece of open source software you can also export in MP3 format. Although it won't win any prizes for its design and interface, once you've gotten past this, it'll become a valuable piece of software on your Mac. D-Vision (http://www.objectifmac.com/) A nicely designed application that allows you to encode in Divx 3, Divx 4, Xvid and H264 format, although it does not support .mov or .dv files. It has an interesting task management feature for working with a number of files and has some nice cropping and scaling features. D-Vision is a program that I have installed, although I rarely use it as other programs provide a few more options and are more versatile. DivX Doctor II (http://www.3ivx.com/divxdoctor/) Not the world's most exciting program but a handy one nonetheless. DivX Doctor takes AVI files that have been encoded using DivX and makes MOV files that play nicely on your Mac. Whilst such a change isn't always necessary, it's a great way to quickly change the form of a file to something your Mac prefers or that you can make use of in other programs. DVD Imager (http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html) Imager is a simple program for creating Video DVD disk images, which you can then use with programs such as the Disk Utility application to burn multiple DVDs. A recent option added to the program is the ability to add DVD-ROM content for inclusion. The application will now also copy an entire DVD into a disk image. This is really handy if you have a DVD that you've made in the past and that you now want to burn off a few more copies. Apple's Disk Utility will do it for you, but DVD Imager will create the disk image through a very simple drag and drop. It does not allow you to duplicate commercially purchased DVDs, which would be inappropriate.  FfmpegX (http://homepage.mac.com/major4/)
This is a tool that I find very handy and is well worth the $15 USD registration fee. FfmpegX is that performs the complex tasks (according to the authors) of more than 20 open source audio and video tools combined. Whilst the program wouldn't win awards for its beauty, the fact that the program is at version 0.0.9t should give you an indication that the author doesn't even consider it a fully complete application worthy of a "Version 1.0" label. FfmpegX is able to handle an incredible number of formats and is able to covert files to DivX, AVI, H.264 MP4, MOV, DV, 3GP, Sony PSP, MP2, MP3, AAC, AC3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VCD, DVD, KDVD and more. Wow! It includes a bitrate calculator to control best image quality and target file size, an automatic crop tool, video tools such as split, join, fix, mux, demux and (like other applications mentioned) can create DVD image files from VIDEO_TS folders. I'm also really pleased to see that the ffmpegX site offers very simple tutorials on how to use the tool for tasks such as how to encode a movie for playback on a Sony PSP, or how to convert a Final Cut Pro project to VCD. Forty-two (http://www.kaisakura.com/fortytwo.php) This application is the free version of two more complex shareware products. Once again it is a product that has a very simple interface and is designed to perform just a small set of tasks. In this case, forty-two allows you to convert a DVD into either an AVI movie, a folder of files or a DVD disk image on Mac OS X. The process is very easy, just drag and drop a DVD onto the open program, say what it is that you want produced (VCD, DVD etc) and the program will carry out the conversion for you.  iDVD Companion (http://www.apple.com/applescript/idvd/companion.html)
This is a curious piece of software because Apple has effectively never updated it or link to it on their site any more. However, search and you'll still find it hidden away at the link mentioned. Released in 2002 the program was intended to highlight the strength of AppleScript whilst providing a useful tool for iDVD 2 users. It's such a simple program and a handy little tool, that I still use it to this day with iDVD 5 when working on the layout of an iDVD screen, although sometimes it can have some glitches. Featuring simple options such as aligning all selected buttons on an iDVD interface left, right, top or bottom, or nudging object around the iDVD screen, this handy utility helps when making a design where you've chosen to deactivate iDVD's "Snap to" option. You can even enter specific co-ordinates at which you want to place buttons. Whilst I'd suggest the Companion program has features that would sit beautifully within iDVD itself (tools for aligning buttons etc would be fantastic) in the meantime, if you are as fussy as me with getting things lined up nicely, then download this old but great piece of Apple freeware. MPEG2 Works 4 (http://www.mpeg2works.com/) A regularly updated piece of shareware, MPEG2 allows you to perform many tasks similar to ffmegX. It can convert movie files in to an MPEG2/MPEG1 DVD/SVCD/VCD ready movie and export MPEG1/MPEG2/VRO/VOB/TiVo/Hitachi VOB and VRO to QuickTime formats, as well as PAL/NTSC conversion. Some of the tools in MPEG2 are very useful and allow the splitting of files between discs as well as batch processing. You might like to toss up between this product and ffmegX, but I tend to chop and change between the two on a regular basis. MPlayer OSX (http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/) MPlayer is a fantastic player for watching video files that has recently seen some nice updates for Mac OS X Tiger users specifically. MPlayer features playlist, supports playback of MPEG 1-4, DivX, AVI, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, Real Media, QuickTime Movie, MPEG layer 1-3, AC3, and Windows Media audio as well as displaying subtitles of some formats. MPlayer OS X is based on MPlayer for Linux. VCD Builder (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15509) A free program for creating VCD and SVCD disc images from pictures and MPEG movies, the program sadly hasn't been updated for over a year. Still, it's very easy to use and the disc images can then be burned onto a CD-R using Toast or the Disk Utility application. Note that the program will not convert movies into MPEG format…you need to do that yourself first. VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) VLC is a multimedia player for various audio and video formats such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX as well as being able to play DVDs, VCDs and handle various streaming protocols. According to the website, it can (strangely in some respects) be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. The fact that the project develops a player for OSX, Linux, Windows and BSD makes the program very well received. Even more so on the Mac, it allows you to play DVDs from any region, meaning that you can ignore those frustrating messages to change your region setting and swap and use as many different DVDs as you would like. After you have installed VLC make sure you go into System Preferences and set DVD settings to open VLC rather than the standard DVD player. My experience is that it's not full proof. My Austin Powers DVD from Germany (Region 2) didn't play (so Felicity Schickfick) but Lawrence of Arabia purchased in the States (Region 1) worked fine. Bringing it all together Because of the Unix code underpinning the Mac operating system, we are now able to experience a huge range of free or reasonably priced tools that pack a mighty punch and are based on code developed throughout the open source community. Some of the applications such as the superb ffmpegX application may not look stunning or even seem that easy to use, but some of the options hidden away, such as cropping and resizing of video clips, are often seen as the domain of commercial products. With a little bit of effort, a little learning and a lot of experimenting, you may find yourself with some valuable tools you'll come back to time and time again. Published by kind permission NZ Macguide - © Parkside Media
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