Windows only: While many media players happily play subtitles that are separate from a video, you can still embed subtitles directly into a ripped or downloaded movie file with free utility DivXLand Media Subtitler. With support for over 30 different subtitle formats and 15 different video formats including MPEG, DIVX, and XVID, you'll rarely come across a combination of subtitle and video you can't combine. Subtitler made short work of applying English subtitles to the nearly 60 years' worth of Godzilla movies I threw at it. If it can handle a lifetime of a man in a rubber lizard suit it can definitely handle your foreign film collection. If you find yourself with a big pile of foreign films but a short stack of subtitles, check out recently reviewed Subdownloader to find subtitles for your media. For a solution that adds the subtitles as you are creating a DVD of the movie file, check out this tutorial for DVD Flick. DivXLand Media Subtitler is a free download for Windows only.

Read More »

Windows only: Free software YouTube File Hack is a standalone application and Internet Explorer integrated menu item that downloads videos to your desktop from the popular video sharing site. Simply run the application, enter the URL of the YouTube video you want to view offline, and press the Download button. When all is said and done, you'll have an FLV file for watching offline (we recommend the free VLC player to do so).

Read More »

The p2p-next project, which is trying to develop a system for broadcasting video user peer-to-peer file sharing, has released the first version of its SwarmPlayer and is seeking testers to assess how the software performs as the user base grows. There's currently only a small amount of content to watch (including a BBC weather report live webcam from Amsterdam), since the purpose is testing rather than creating a broadcast network. SwarmPlayer is currently Windows and Linux, but a Mac version is said to be due shortly. [SwarmPlayer via BBC]

Windows only: Our favourite iPod video conversion software maker Videora now offers an iPhone 3G version. Convert all types of video files like AVI, DivX, XVID, FLV, X264, VOB, MPEG, and DVDs into a format that your iPhone 3G can play (that is, MPEG-4, H.264). Videora iPhone 3G Converter is a free download for Windows, and requires the .NET framework to run. For more on video conversion, check out our top 10 free video rippers, encoders, and converters.

Read More »

One of the most creative uses of Flickr video support is the "stabilised video collage," a beautiful way to capture a scene in a multi-frame moving portrait, as shown. Out of respect for the producer's copyright, we didn't embed the actual video example in this post, just a reduced thumbnail—so go here to see it in action. Then check out a how-to video on making your own collage, which involves combining two videos into one frame using Motion for Mac. Neat!

Read More »

Most home movies are jammed-together affairs, but anyone can make their videos better with a little schooling in the basics of story-telling. The Wikiversity has a free multi-part "Film School" that focuses on the kinds of tips just as helpful to unofficial wedding videographers as aspiring auteurs. Learn the basics of framing, editing in "L cuts," and when and where to cut a scene. Some of it does get a bit technical for DIY directors, but you'll pick up enough to have real pride in the next set of home-burned DVDs you send out.

Read More »

Windows/Mac/Linux: Free, open source application BananaSplit divides DivX or Xvid AVI videos into user-defined chunks. There are plenty of reasons you might want to split a video using this app, but the two most obvious that come to mind are to highlight a small section of a long video or to share a large video over the internet when you're limited by filesize constraints. BananaSplit is free, cross-platform, requires Java. For a quick howto, head over to Simplehelp's step-by-step tutorial for BananaSplit.

Read More »

There was once a time when ripping and backing up DVDs was limited to those with hours to spend weeding through convoluted tutorials and difficult-to-use software. Today, a handful of full-featured, easy-to-use DVD ripping tools can back up virtually any DVD in a snap. We've highlighted several of them before, but for this week's Hive Five, we want you to tell us about your favourite DVD ripping tools. Hit the jump for details and to nominate your favourite DVD ripper.

Read More »

Photo-sharing site Flickr throws its hat into the ring with YouTube and Google Video and becomes a photo and video sharing site today. Flickr Pro members (only) can now upload up to 90-second video clips to the site, and everyone, pro member or not, can view and comment on the clips. The reason for the 90-second limit? The Flickr Video Help pages explain:

Read More »

Readers are submitting their best life hack for a chance to win an autographed copy of our new book, Upgrade Your Life. Here's our latest winner.
Reader Matt grabs songs from YouTube videos the way we used to hit the cassette deck record button while listening to the radio back in the 80's. Well, not really. Matt does it by downloading the YouTube clip .FLV file and converting it to MP3. After the jump, get the steps and tools you need to do it yourself.

Read More »