Tagged: ffmpeg quick hacks

My FFMPEG book ‘FFMPEG Quick Hacks’ paperback edition published – $22 on Amazon USA

 Indian price unknown as online retailers continue to be restricted by the pandemic hysteria lockdown.

After I published the Kindle eBook version, I asked the developer handling FFMPEG.org’s Twitter account to review my book. The developer mentioned that the review will take some time because he was busy with several other things. Meanwhile, I had made several rounds of review of the manuscript. I found a few mistakes and added a new content. Because I had promised to make the ebook free after one year, there is no chance of the book being bought by a traditional publisher. There was no reason to delay the paperback so I decided to it on Amazon.com as well.

This is a full-color paperback. My B/W jokebook 400 Fresh Clean Jokes For Everyone had only a few pages that required color but that would have increased the price several times so I dropped the idea of a color version. For a book on video editing, a B/W version would have been cheaper but the loss of detail would have been too high.

In other news, the new 3D book cover images look neat – made using GIMP.

26-page ‘FFMPEG Quick Hacks’ book sample PDF available with full TOC

Full-colour but totally flat

One of the difficulties in writing for a topic like FFMPEG is the vast amount of detail to cover. How much should a writer write about and how much should he leave out? I felt that the book could be as big as a Bible and still not be enough. My approach was to leave out unnecessary technical details and pursue the goals that the reader seeks to achieve. Will my gamble pay off? To help the reader decide on that before buying the book, I have provided a 26-page full-color sample PDF of the book.

Other things in favour of the book are the neat formatting and page design (not exported from Microsoft Word), rich illustrations and subtle but sophisticated learning cues. By the end of the book, the reader will be confident of reading the documentation and solving problems on his/her own. If this level is reached, then the book’s purpose has been met.

FFMPEG book

My FFMPEG book ‘FFMPEG Quick Hacks’ eBook published – 140-page full-color print-replica for Kindle

Costs from Rs. 70 in India and $2 in US

I discovered FFMPEG many years ago and have often marvelled about its versatility and user-friendliness. It is intriguing that its awesomeness is not so well-known. To change this, I wrote a tip-and-tricks article on FFMPEG some years ago for a magazine. I wrote several blog posts on using FFMPEG too. For my personal use, I had created several Nautilus Action Configuration scripts that automated FFMPEG tasks. When I wanted to write a follow-up article with more FFMPEG tips and tricks, I thought it would be a better idea to publish a book so that all of this knowledge could be found in one place.

In this book, I provide an easy introduction to FFMPEG without going through all the boring confusing technical details. However, I will provide enough information for you to know what needs to be done in situations that FFMPEG users often find themselves in. Those who need in-depth information can check online FFMPEG documentation and media format specifications. This book is for those who need an easy-to-read tutorial and a desk-side ready-reference

FFMPEG book

Back cover of the book ‘FFMPEG Quick Hacks’

When I started writing this book, I was only planning to write about what I knew of FFMPEG but to make it really worthwhile to the reader I began forcing myself to learn more stuff from the documentation. I ended up with a lot more FFMPEG knowledge now than before.

Ebook Before Paperback

I have asked the Twitter handle @FFMPEG to privately review the book before I publish it as a paperback. @FFMPEG agreed to review the book if it was free. I have told him the book will become free after one year because I want to prove that my FOSS toolchain to create professional quality books is successful. The 140-page FFMPEG book is available as a print-replica Kindle ebook now for $2.

Online FFMPEG Demo Videos

A book can have only pictures. To demonstrate videos, you need to have videos. Here is a online playlist of some videos I created to illustrate the book.