Download YouTube videos - A list of online file conversion tools

In the last couple of years, Flash has fast risen to the top as a very popular form of sharing video, audio and data content online. But creating Flash content has a big drawback which is that the end users need to install a proprietary closed source software stub (Adobe Flash Player) to view the content. To be honest, Adobe has already released a native Flash player for Linux and the Linux version is updated in tandem with the Windows and Mac version so it is a good thing. More over Adobe has been consistently improving and adding new features to its Flash player.

But those who do not like to have Adobe Flash player installed in Linux or those using other Operating systems such as the BSD's can make use of online resources to convert the Flash video files to a number of formats. Some of them which I have found useful are as follows :

1. ConvertTube.com - This online service converts YouTube videos to a variety of compatible file formats and provides a link for download.
2. Media-Convert.com - 100% Free online file conversion which includes images, audio, video and documents.
3. Vixy.net - This service allows you convert a Flash Video / FLV file (YouTube's videos,etc) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file online. It is using a compressed domain transcoder technology (outline in Japanese). It converts FLV to MPEG4 faster and less lossy than a typical transcoder.
4. Flv2Mp3.com - This online service converts Flash audio files to Mp3 format.
5. Zamzar.com - Use this online service to save and convert YouTube videos and Flash videos from numerous other sites.
6. Viloader.net - This is another online service which allows you to convert media files from one format to another.
7. Hey! Watch - Hey!Watch is a simple and robust encoding platform for both individuals (B2C) and companies (B2B). It allows conversion of videos to a variety of formats. But you need to register with them first to start using their service.

How to create a custom DVD from multiple video formats

I have always found it a hassle to convert a video file from one format to another in Linux for lack of (or rather, not being aware of) a good Free video conversion suite. I have tried converting an Avi file to another format such as mp4 using some software but the results were far from satisfactory. I take it that it has more to do with the settings I selected than the fault of the software I used.

Axel has written a quite detailed article explaining how to create a custom DVD using a Free video conversion software called DeVeDe. What is really interesting about his article is that he shows the exact settings he used in the conversion - a big factor if you want your converted video file to have more or less the same quality. In fact my experience shows that you need to get the ratio of number of frames per second with respect to resolution of the video right else the quality of the video might suffer.

Fig: DeVeDe software interface

He has used the Windows version of DeVeDe but this is a software which is available for Linux as well. For example, in Ubuntu, you can install this software using the command :

$ sudo apt-get install devede

You need to have Mplayer, Mencoder, DVDAuthor, VCDImager, MKisofs and all the proprietary codecs installed though since DeVeDe is just a front-end. More over since DeVeDe is a Python script, it requires Python as well. For more details on the actual steps required to convert a video file from one format to another, do read the guide.