avidemux Updates and Notes
The main problem on Linux is that some key elements are still locked away despite being essential to get fully operational services. One key element is codec's for video and audio which are key to actually playing recordings back. In the last couple of months I have been having problems playing back recordings from the Linux based TV box which is still happily recording even HD material off-air. The problem was that it's using the older patented software, and there has been some compatibility problems between openSUSE and Packman versions of the libraries. The bottom line is that I need the Packman builds in order to handle the .ts material from the TV box, Claude has just navigated me through checking that everything is using the correct versions ... from Packman. While this sorted vlc, mpv Media Player and SDPlayer, avidemux was still having a problem with playing the actual sound. Again Claude switched me to checking the sound system and it became obvious that it was not actually connecting. It had been working using a package from Packman I think, but THAT is no longer available, and somehow I'd picked up a build which basically did not have the right sound interface. Flathub has version 2.8.1 and that is working, but is quite old. The avidemux project does have a a new build, 2.8.2 which is not actually released yet, but they were directing me through terabox to download which kept trying to install a 'PC Desktop' before I could start a download. It did not work ...
I've found the current home for the code on github, and from there there is a link to the files on the project website nightly builds for an appimage and the 20260419 build is now running nicely.
The problem with the build I was trying to use from the openSUSE community projects is that it did not have pulseaudio or the other sound driver options, only 'dummy' which made the level meters work, and 'oss' which didn't and caused an error when trying to play. The latest build has a list of options under Edit->Preferences->Audio Tab and the only thing I needed to do was to select pulseaudio as the Audio Device for it to appear on the Playback Stream list. It still did not actually play because I have two Playback Devices enabled and itneeded the Sound Card rather than the HDMI output. Playing with settings in the Sound System Settings I can toggle between devices, but there is an option for a virtual device which outputs to both which is now enabled. The computer is linked to the TV next door, and so I need the HDMI link to that to get the surround sound passed through with videos that have that option, otherwise I would just be using the speaker system on the desk.
There are some links to avidemux used to trim adverts from the TV recordings and I need to find them ...