Nearly two weeks after it was first reported that Anvsoft was violating the GPL, they continue to plagiarise Free Software such as mkisofs, cdrdao, dvdauthor, spumux, id3lib, lame, mpeg2enc, and mplex; by distributing a program called DVD Photo Slideshow, which includes the aforementioned GPL software, in violation of that license.

UPDATE!!! ... the issue now seems to be resolved, and I have personally verified that this software does now include a copy of the GPL, however I have yet to establish whether or not Anvsoft provide the corresponding source for that GPL software. I will update this entry as I get further information.

Situation critical | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk

Situation critical

The BBC's desperate attempt to lead the new media revolution has been fraught with controversy, delays and huge costs. Bobbie Johnson asks how it all went wrong

Monday May 14, 2007
The Guardian

Save this script somewhere, e.g. /usr/local/bin/podit, then chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/podit

Usage: podit /path/to/file

Update: Apparently ffmpeg's parameters have changed yet again [sigh]. Depending on what version of ffmpeg you are using, you may need to make the following changes:

Update 1:
-vcodec h264 is now "-vcodec libx264"
-acodec aac is now "-acodec libfaac"

Update 2:
-me is now "-me_method"
-loop is now "-flags +loop"
-slice is now "-flags +slice"
(To set both the above, use "-flags +loop+slice"
-part[xxx] is now "-partitions +parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8"
-brdo has gone. This is automatically set if "-subq" is 7 or higher
-chroma is now "-cmp +chroma"

Also ... nobody noticed that "aspect_ratio=xxx" was missing from the variables section (as it stood, this script would not have worked, but just produce an error "invalid aspect ratio")? Oh well, it's fixed now :)

Thanks to FakeOutdoorsman for update 1, and various sources for update 2.

#!/bin/bash
# Name:    podit
# Summary: iPod H264 640x480 video transcoder script 
# Version: 1.1.4
# Date:    2009.10.12
# License: GPLv3+
# URL:     http://slated.org/howto_transcode_h264_for_ipod_with_ffmpeg
# © Homer, 2007 - 2009
#
# Requires: ffmpeg
# Requires: gpac
# Requires: perl-DateManip

I've just read on Digg that Channel4 are going to be offering a content download service. Great eh? Only problem is it's for Windows users only. Hmmm, maybe not so great.

Show your support for this issue at http://slated.org/ch4_microsoft_bias_vote.

So, in that great Slated tradition, I put metaphorical pen to paper, and sent yet another "letter" of complaint ... as follows: