Convert videos to VP6 codec format using MENCODER

This post shows how to encode a video file into VP6 codec, using mencoder program.

As a result we will create a FLV (Macromedia flash player) media file (instead of an avi file)


We will get "On2 VP6" video codec driver from a windows dll.

Mencoder is a tool provided by MPlayer to encode movies, and convert between file formats and codecs.

INSTALL MENCODER

First we obtain mencoder tool.

In debian:
$ sudo aptitude install mencoder

Current mencoder version when this article was written:
Version: 2:1.0~rc4.dfsg1+svn34540-1+b1

Another way to get mencoder could be installing from source code.

OBTAIN BINARY CODECS

Binary codecs come separately from mencoder. We can download them from MPlayer pages:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/

To see if a codec is supported:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/codecs-status.html


I have an amd64 architecture but I have to download ESSENTIAL CODECS for X86 anyway:
$ wget www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/essential-20071007.tar.bz2
$ tar xvjf essential-20071007.tar.bz2

The windows dll we need is this (check it does appear):
vp6vfw.dll


Next we place binary codecs in a directory where mplayer or mencoder can access them:
$ sudo mkdir /usr/lib/codecs
$ sudo cp -v essential-20071007/* /usr/lib/codecs/
NOTE: if you installed mplayer from source location could be: /usr/local/lib/codecs

CONFIGURING VP6 SETTINGS

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TVAnts on Ubuntu

TVAnts is a peer to peer program that allows you to share live streams instead of files.
Although these streams can contain any sort of media they are mostly used for watching live football matches and other events on PCs.


TVAnts pages:

www.tvants-ppstream.com
Official TVAnts page is written in chinese: tvants.com


Installing TVAnts:

Download TVAnts setup program: ( I have obtained this address from official TVAnts page.)
$wget http://88.191.73.231/~cali/tvants/TvantsSetup.exe

We need wine to run TVAnts setup program because it is a microsoft windows executable:
$sudo aptitude install wine       # if you have not already installed wine program.
$wine "TvantsSetup.exe"

It will install itself, and then we will be able to exec the program:
$wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/TVAnts/Tvants.exe
or
$wine 'C:\Program Files\TVAnts\Tvants.exe'


Watching TV:

You will need at least one server at server tab.
e.g: list.tvants.com

At search tab you will be able to search for hundreds of channels.
Select some and add them to channel tab.

NOTE: Do not worry about error messages related to windows media player, we will use mplayer.

You can watch the channel you have selected runing in the console:
$mplayer -framedrop mms://localhost:16900/1
Last "1" means first channel from your selected channels list.
NOTE: Whenever you add a new channel this number increases in one, even if you delete previous unused channels.


NOTE: TVAnts is a peer to peer system so you should open 16800 port on your box to share streams you are watching with other users.

NOTE: You can also watch the tv streams using vlc instead of mplayer.