Open Source Software Reviews - Media

xdTV

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 02:55:40 -0500

xdTV is a free software, which helps you to watch and stream TV. It uses the video4linux API and interacts with aleVT for teletext and Nxtvepg for NextView. xdTV: CVS[concurrent versions system] is a tool used by many software developers to deal with changes in their source code trees. It helps to store not only the present version of source codes; it also records all types of changes that have taken place on the source codes.

Blender

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 06:32:30 -0500

Blender is open source software for creating 3D modeling, animation, rendering, postproduction, interactive creation and playback. The source code is written in Python and the software offers consistent interface across all platforms.

Grip

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 05:50:54 -0500

Grip is a CD player and CD ripper for the GNOME desktop. It provides the ripping capabilities of cdparanoia built in. However, it can also use external rippers such as, cdda2wav. Grip also provides an automated front-end for MP3 encoders (presets for lame, bladeenc, l3enc, xingmp3enc, mp3encode, and gogo), allowing you take a disc and transform it easily straight into MP3s.

Ampache

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 06:54:41 -0500

Ampache is a web-based tool for managing, updating as well as playing various audio files through web interface. This PHP-based tool enables the web users to view, edit and play audio files via HTTP/IceCast/Mps or Moosaic.

Freeciv

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 07:10:39 -0500

Freeciv is a free multiplayer strategy game. It is the re-implementation of the famous Microprose game os Civilization. In this game, each player becomes the leader of a civilization.They fight against each other to become the greatest civilization.

white_dune

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:52:37 -0500

white_dune is a graphical VRML97 editor, simple NURBS/Superformula 3D modeller and animation tool. VRML97 (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) is the ISO standard for displaying 3D data over the Web via browser plugins ("HTML for realtime 3D"). It has support for animation, real-time interaction, and multimedia (images, movies, and sounds).

Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL)

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:42:08 -0500

SDL or Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library. With SDL, it is easy to write portable games for Linux (x86, Sparc, PPC, Alpha), Solaris (Sparc), Win32 (95, 98, NT), BeOS (x86), and MacOS (PPC).

KNOPPIX

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:57:37 -0500

KNOPPIX is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, as well as sound cards. It also supports SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals.

LAME

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 07:29:58 -0500

LAME is an open source MP3 (that is, MPEG-1 audio layer 3) audio compression application. LAME is a recursive acronym for LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder, although the current version is a stand-alone encoder.

ALSA

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 07:13:46 -0500

ALSA or the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture provides audio and MIDI functionalities to the Linux operating system.

ALSA is a collection of several modules. The first is a fully modularized sound driver, which supports modules like autoloading, devfs, isapnp autoconfiguration, and gives complete access to analog audio, digital audio, control, mixer, synthesizer, DSP, MIDI, and timer components of audio hardware.

Cdrecord

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 00:14:36 -0500

Cdrecord software allows creating both audio and data CDs. This software is currently known as Cdrtools.

Cdrecord is used to record data or audio compact discs on an Orange Book CD-Recorder. Cdrecord creates home-burned CDs with CD-Write/CD-Read-Write recorder. It works as a burn engine for several applications. However, Cdrecord has several advantages over Cdwrite, the popular CD writing tool. While Cdrecord provides full multisession support and human-readable error messages, Cdwrite cannot support these features.

Xine

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 08:27:28 -0500

Xine is a free, GPL-licensed multimedia playback engine. This high performance software plays back CDs, DVDs and VCDs. It also supports a large number of multimedia files like AVI, MOV, WMV, MP3 etc.

Mplayer

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 08:23:49 -0500

MPlayer is a movie and animation player, which runs on a wide range of codecs and file formats including MPEG, DivX, Windows media, Real Audio and Video, QuickTime and Vivo.

Xine

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:30:33 -0500

Xine is a free, GPL-licensed multimedia playback engine. This high performance software plays back CDs, DVDs and VCDs. It also supports a large number of multimedia files like AVI, MOV, WMV, MP3 etc.

This easy to use and portable Xine software plays multimedia files from local disk drives as well as displays multimedia files streamed over the Internet.

Xine is based on a modular, advanced, multithreaded architecture composed of xine engine, input plugin, output plugin, decoder plugin and post effect plugin.

Xine consists of a number of features :

Xine is free, fast, portable and reusable

MPlayer

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:27:57 -0500

MPlayer is a movie and animation player, which runs on a wide range of codecs and file formats including MPEG, DivX, Windows media, Real Audio and Video, QuickTime and Vivo.

A wide range of output drivers supports MPlayer. It works well with X11, Xv, DGA, Open GL, SVGAlib, DirectFB etc. However, other drivers like GGI, SDL, VESA etc. and some low level card-specific drivers like Matrox, 3Dfx and ATI are also supported by MPlayer.
Since most of the drivers support software or hardware scaling, movies can be viewed in full screen with MPlayer. Additionally, MPlayer supports displaying through some hardware, MPEG decoder boards like the Siemens DVB, DXR2 and DXR3/Hollywood+.