AMV files in Linux – revisited

I just did a re-write of one of my most popular hits on this blog. It was all documented in the comments of the script’s page but it’s a bit of a mess so here’s the definitive step-by-step walkthrough to converting your videos to AMV format in Linux (I use Ubuntu 10.04) If you can’t make out the pictures in this post click on them to make them bigger – remember, they’re only pictures, not real dialog windows… ;oP

1. Open a terminal window
2. sudo apt-get install subversion
svn checkout http://amv-codec-tools.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ amv-codec-tools
cd amv-codec-tools/AMVmuxer
make build
Allow this to finish, it takes a good few minutes
3. sudo apt-get install nautilus-actions
4. cd
gedit
5. Paste the following code into that file
   #!/bin/bash
for uri in $@; do
INFILE=$uri
FORMAT=${INFILE:(-4)}
OUTFILE=${INFILE/$FORMAT/.amv}
cd ~/amv-codec-tools/AMVmuxer ;
./ffmpeg/ffmpeg -i "$INFILE" -f amv -r 16 -s 160x120 -ac 1 -ar 22050 -qmin 3 -qmax 3 "$OUTFILE" ;
zenity --title "$FORMAT to .amv File Conversion Complete" --info --text="${INFILE/file:\/\// } has converted \n\nCheck ${OUTFILE/file:\/\// }";
done
   …save file as ‘convert to amv’ and close the file
6. back in the terminal…nautilus-actions-config-tool
7. In the window that pops up, click new and make it look like this (don’t worry about the shred file and wipe free space stuff, we’re only interested in the Convert to amv stuff):
   
   
   note the different tabs that are open, also note where quotation marks have been used
8. Save the configuration
9. Close the nautilus actions configuration tool window
10. Close the terminal window
11. In nautilus navigate to a file you want converted
12. Right click on it, you should see this menu itemgo ahead and select that
13. After some time, how long depends on the size of the file, you’ll get a dialog box looking something like this
14. Go ahead and play the file (I use GNOME MPlayer for amv files “sudo apt-get install gnome-mplayer” but vlc plays them too. You may need codecs.)

Hopefully that’ll be you sorted but there are a few points to note…

1. Spaces in file or path names – it can’t handle them
2. You can do multiple files on the one click, it’ll do them one at a time
3. Some file types won’t convert without messing with ffmpeg – notably mp4/mp3/3gp – these can be made to work but that’s outside the scope of this, importantly flv files convert perfectly so your youtube downloads will work ;oP
4. This was written using Ubuntu – I can’t be certain it’ll work with other distros

go stick your amv files onto your iteddy or ipod-esque thingy and play to your hearts content!