Category Archives: multimedia

OpenELEC 8.0.4 Kodi-focused Linux distro now available for PC, Raspberry Pi, WeTek, and more by https://is.gd/LB6phO

If you are looking for a dedicated media box for your living room or bedroom, the first thing you should consider is Kodi. This is a media center software package that delivers a very focused consumption experience.

…OpenELEC…… can run on traditional PC hardware, but also Raspberry Pi, and, my favorite — WeTek boxes. Today, version 8.0.4 achieves stable release. It is a fairly ho-hum update, focusing mostly on fixes and stability.

from https://is.gd/LB6phO

Selected by Galigio via Computer Borders

Try Lib-Ray: “Sintel” Lib-Ray PROTOTYPE v0.2

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The following text comes from: http://www.archive.org/details/sintelLib-rayPrototypeV0.2:

‘The Sintel PROTOTYPE of the Lib-Ray free/open fixed media format for high-definition video without DRM or other “anti-features”. Since it is a prototype, it comes with no guarantees about stability or compatibility, but it is best viewed using Google’s Chromium web browser in full-screen mode on a system with a 1920×1080 “full HD” screen. Some features do not yet work even on this configuration, however, as they require elements of HTML5 that are not yet implemented. Because it’s a short movie, the ISO is relatively small (2.1 GB), and it will fit easily onto an inexpensive single-layer DVD-R disk”.

More details about the project are also available from the Lib-Ray site: http://lib-ray.org.

A new multimedia open-source standard to replace DVD and Blu-Ray DRM limitations: Lib-Ray

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At the beginning we astonished because the video quality on DVD was something of incredible. Then Blu-Ray destroyed all the standards we were used to enjoy while watching our movies. During last 7 years the home theatre industry has developed its standards in a geometric way but the DRM topics have increased our technical barrier between people who legitimately bought DVDs and Blu-Rays and the possibility of creating backup copies.

The war between DRM and hackers is absorbing. When a new standard of DRM has been developed we wait to know how much time will pass before someone can crack it. And it is only a matter of time because it is not technically possible to create the perfect barrier against multimedia supports when, by definition, the key to decrypt the files is somewhere in the disk or on the media player. During last years, the reverse engineering has increase the chances we have to deeply understand and rewrite proprietary software.

Lib-Ray is a “new” ambitious project to create a new open source multimedia standard which could be able to challenge DVD and Blu-Ray. The developers describe Lib-Ray as “multimedia website on a disk”. The manual you can download from Lib-Ray websites, describes in details all the structure you have to create on the disk for your files. Lib-Ray runs on java libraries and html5 structure and its framework is represented by Inkscape, Gimp, Audacity, xiph.org, Flac and code from Mozilla and Chromium.

In few words, you don’t need a specific hardware to run Lib-Ray disks but each computer with a Chromium browser and a bunch of open source software will be able to perfectly play your disks (as simple as genial!).

Last but not least, on the Lib-Ray website you will also find a Downloads page dedicated to dedicated manuals, libraries and one interesting template.

How to Install Sopcast for free live TV in Ubuntu

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Sopcast represents one of the most popular technologies for live TV streaming, being based on the famous p2p system. However, until recently, there was no version of this software for Ubuntu and Linux in general. But now every single user can enjoy live TV right on their desktop or laptop computer with this absolutely amazing program.

In order to install Sopcast on your machine, here is what you need to do:

1. Open a new terminal. This is a classic step and is used in most of the installation processes you will encounter in Ubuntu.

2. In order to add Sopcast to Synaptic (the package administrator software integrated into Ubuntu) you will need to type the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jason-scheunemann/ppa

3. The next step is related to the update of the sources list. This can be done with the following command, which needs to be typed into the same terminal in order to achieve the right effects:
sudo apt-get update

4. Now you will need to run Synaptic in order to finalize the process. This is usually done through the System menu (System -> Administration -> Synaptic). Alternatively, you can use the following simple command:
sudo synaptic

5. Look for the Sopcast package and install it. A very important step at this point is to not forget about all its dependencies. If you do not install everything, then Sopcast will not run correctly or not at all.

This is basically all you need to know if you want to install Sopcast on your machine. Whenever you need to run the player you can find it in the Application menu -> Multimedia -> Sopcast. You will surely enjoy the great variety of the channels available for every user through this system.

CD Burning Applications for Ubuntu

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There are not many applications for recording optical media under Linux. On the other hand, applications for Windows that allows a user to write a CD or DVD are numerous, but the most important difference is that those available on Linux are free and / or open source, with some exceptions. But all have basically the same purpose – to write or copy a disk.

In the world of Linux, the most common applications for burning optical media are usually pre-installed with the operating system chosen by the user. If not, they can be downloaded and installed easily on almost any platform.

Here are some of the most common such programs for Ubuntu:

Applications for Gnome / GTK

Brasero

Brasero is one of the most popular tools in the world of burning CDs. It usually comes pre-installed in most distributions that use Gnome. Brasero provides the user with a very friendly and simple interface while keeping all the important features needed by a user. Brasero is an application that requires minimal resources, providing maximum functionality, all integrated in one intuitive interface.

GnomeBaker

GnomeBaker is another GTK application with the same functionality as Brasero, but with a different interface. GnomeBaker gives the user an interface similar to Nero and K3B. The difference in use depends on the visual tastes.

X-CD-Roast

X-CD-Roast is an application to burn discs with its basic functions, but comes with a relatively primitive interface. Many users might find its interface as hard to use.

KDE Applications

K3B

K3B is probably one of the most popular programs available in the Linux world. It has many advanced features and options that would satisfy most users of such a program. It is available for both KDE and Gnome. Generally, K3B is regarded as the Nero of Linux.

How to install XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

XBMC: the best multiplatform, open source media-player on the web.

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Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we added a brief post about XBMC, the best open source (GPL), free entertainment hub you can find on internet. XBMC is really easy to install (for Linux users, especially in Ubuntu) and its features are very intuitive and simple to configure. Moreover the graphics themes are very attractive and it is able to manage many multimedia formats, “playlists, audio visualizations, slideshow and weather forecast functions”. It is also possible to add many interesting third-party plugins that you can find through a simple google query (XBMC plugin). Last, but not least, XBMC is a multiplatform software, in fact the download page contains four different versions for Windows, XBox, Linux and MAC OSX. When we compared XBMC to the Windows Media Center we did not notice any loss in this open-source media center and, honestly, we were positively impressed by all the XBMC featured we tested. Recommended!

Project Neon: the fastest way to install Amarok 2.0 on your Kubuntu!

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), Frank has added an interesting post about Project Neon which is the best solution for people who desire to have the new nightly builds service for Amarok. Following the simple instructions contained in Project Neon you will able to enjoy the last developing packages for Amarok 2.0 without waiting the release of the stable version. Project Neon also provides simple instructions to install Amarok 2.0 on your Ubuntu in just five minutes. Last but not least, it is necessary to remember that Amarok 2.0 is not in its final version yet and it could potentially create some serious problems on your PC. To install it just add:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/project-neon/ubuntu hardy main

in your sources (/etc/apt/sources.list) and the install it using the following command lines:

$ sudo apt-get uptdate

$ sudo apt-get install amarok-nightly

Enjoy it!

FLAC: our favourite multiplatform (Linux, Windows, MAC OS X) Free Lossless Audio Codec!

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It is true! MP3 format is the most common format we normally use in our everyday applications but MP3 is a lossy compression algorithm and it is not comparable with the quality of uncompressed audio formats as Monkey’s Audio, ALAC, WMA. This week, in our Freeware page, we posted a brief review about some particular features of FLAC: a multiplatform (Linux, Windows, MAC OS X) Free Lossless Audio Codec. Nowadays, FLAC is well and constantly supported by many music player producer. We compared FLAC and MP3 formats using the “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major – Allegro” by Bach and the results were very interesting. For common listeners (as us) the audio quality was, more or less, the same but when we asked to a couple of friends (authentic music “hooligans”) to describe the difference between the two music files (FLAC and MP3) they spent more than 15 minutes of their (and our) time talking about “tones”, “pizzicato” and something else that I really do not remember at the moment! After the listening, when we compared the file extensions, we discovered that the FLAC file was five times bigger than the MP3 (25.6MB vs 5.1MB)… To conclude, we really think that FLAC represents a fantastic (and the best) lossless format for home stereo systems. On the other side, if you are not a music purist, MP3 could be the best choice for listening music on portable audio devices.

Neo1973 will work with Openmoko and Qtopia

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Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted some updated news about Neo1973: the new opensource mobile based on openmoko which will be on sale during this month or at the beginning of December. Neo1973 is also able to run the Qtopia platform (used for the Greenphone project) and it will cost ca. 500 Euros. During the last months some few feature have been improved or added: “802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, SMedia 3362 graphics accelerator, two 3D accelerometers, Samsung 2442 SoC, and 256MB Flash”.