How to Convert videos to the Ipod format

thin liquid film (TLF) is an application which allows linux users to quickly and easily convert video files into a format suitable for playing on the video capable ipods (i.e. 5th and 6th generation ipods).

TLF uses the FFmpeg engine and allows batch processing of any number of files, displays detailed information about source video files, saves default settings for future sessions, has configurable output quality settings, and displays a progress bar.

It is written in pyqt, so it should work with a default KDE installation, and is very easy to install.

Features include:
    * Batch process any number of files
    * Display detailed information about source video files
    * Change output settings for one or many files
    * Save default settings for future sessions
    * Configure output quality settings
    * Choose between mpeg4 and h264 as output codec
    * Choose between 320 and 640 output video width, while maintaining aspect ratio
    * Choose between 1 or 2 pass encoding
    * Show a preview the encoded video
    * Progress bar to show encoding progress
    * Add pre-encoded files for transfer to the ipod
    * Uses ffmpeg as the encoding engine
    * Upload encoded files to your ipod directly
    * Set file information for upload to your ipod
    * Add files to existing or new video playlists on your ipod
    * Add files for encoding via the included servicemenu

Download : here

Requirement:
* pyqt - these are the python bindings for qt. These are now part of the standard kde modules, so if you've got kde, then you should have pyqt;   

* ffmpeg - this is a very standard linux package, and should be part of your distributions standard install, or at least in their repositories. However, you need to make sure that ffmpeg has been compiled with support for xvid and h264 codecs. See below for details on how to tell;

* libgpod python bindings - this is not essential for the enocoding part of the application. However, without it, you will not be able to upload to your ipod. These python bindings are part of the libgpod package, which is a dependency of both gtkpod and amarok. If you've got either of those installed, then you should have the python bindings. However, some distributions (like *ubuntu) keep the bindings in a second package, so you may have to install them separately;

* mplayer - this is not essential, but is a requirement for previewing the encoded video files;   

* a 5G ipod - although, you can use TLF without an ipod, I'm not sure why you would bother :), unless you want to convert your home videos for your friends :).

Installation:
 You will then need to untar the file. You can do that with this command:

    * tar -jxpf tlf-version.tar.bz2

You'll need to replace version with the correct version number of the tarball you downloaded. Then change to the resulting directory. TLF comes with an installation script called install.py. You need to run this script as root. To change to root, type:

    * su
    * Password:

You will be asked to enter your password, and then you should be root. If you use *ubuntu, there is no root account, so you'll need to run the script like this:

    * sudo ./install.py
    * Password:

The install script does not require any input. It installs all the files necessary for TLF to /usr/local/thinliquidfilm. It will create an executable file called thinliquidfilm in /usr/local/bin, which should be in your path, and will install a TLF servicemenu entry for konqueror. You will have to manually add a menu entry to TLF in kde or gnome.