howto install thin liquid film ...

requirements ...

thin liquid film (TLF) requires:

• 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 :).

the trouble with ffmpeg ...

As I said above, you need a version of ffmpeg that has been compiled with support for the mpeg4 and h264 codecs. You can work this out with the following command:

You'll get a very long output, but at the top, you'll find some output that looks like this:

I have highlighted in bold the two entries you should be looking for, namely --enable-xvid and --enable-x264. If you don't see these, then you'll need to get a copy of ffmpeg for your distribution that is compiled with support for these, or else compile it yourself from source. I know that the standard *ubuntu ffmpeg package does not include support for the required codecs. There is a very good tutorial on compiling ffmpeg for *ubuntu edgy here it should be applicable to all debian based distros, and should be a good guide for other distros.

installation

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

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:

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:

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.

If you have any issues with installation, please post to the forums.

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