This is a simple script I’m using to convert the videos I take on my Canon S90 for posting online using a flash player.

#!/bin/bash
# Convert videos from Canon S90 to flash-playable streaming format
for file in "$@"
do      
        filename=$(basename $file)
        filename=${filename%.*}
        # Convert the audio stream to AAC
        ffmpeg -i $file -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac temp_vid.mp4
        # Move the H.264 MOOV atom to the beginning of the file for progressive streaming
        qt-faststart temp_vid.mp4 $filename.mp4
        rm temp_vid.mp4
        # Create a screenshot
        ffmpeg -i $filename.mp4 -f image2 -vframes 1 $filename.jpg
done

Use this script to compile the latest version of mplayer in Ubuntu and save yourself some headaches. Resolving compile dependencies in Ubuntu is daunting at best, especially when you’re dealing with multimedia apps. You might end up with some unneeded dependencies, but it’s better than resolving them individually when the configure commands complain.

I use this to scale and crop my higher quality album art for embedding in my audio tags.

#!/bin/bash
# aa.sh
# Scale and crop album art for embedding in music tags

if [ -z $1 ]
	then
		echo "Usage: `basename $0` image_file"
else
	convert $1 -resize 300x300^ -gravity center -extent 300x300 folder.jpg
fi