Free tools for video manipulation and piece of writing in Linux aren't that serious to breakthrough if you cognize where on earth to gawk.
Here are my favorites:
Avidemux is a do away with video skilled worker planned for undemanding cutting, filtering and cryptography tasks. It supports umpteen record types, together with AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a motley of codecs. Interestingly, it's at your disposal for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and Windows lower than the GNU GPL legal document. I haven't proven Mac OS X and Windows versions, but the system runs penalty lower than Ubuntu Linux (Dapper Drake).
For report conversion, there's FFMPEG, which is free-but you'll have to learn to use it done the dictate dash. Unfortunately, the MAN folio for the system isn't thoroughly absolve.
To recover few of you the preoccupy of reckoning it out, here's a high-speed tutorial.
Let's say you poverty to individual a record named MYVIDEO.AVI to the mpg format, which is the format based by the K3 CD roaring program. After start FFMPEG (you can use Synaptic Package Manager), natural event up Terminal.
From the instruct line, journey to the case where the file is kept. So you might type:
cd /home/user/Converts
to go to the book where the directory is kept.
Then kind the following at the order line:
ffmpeg -i MYVIDEO.avi -target ntsc-vcd MYVIDEO.mpg
and hit Enter. That should get the changeover program started, and you ought to see whatever matter gyre by in the Terminal porthole. Don't unexpectedly snuggled the window, because that will finish the changeover. You can lessen it, all the same.
To individual an avi record to SVCD format, you would type:
ffmpeg -i MYVIDEO.avi -target ntsc-vcd MYVIDEO.mpg
There's a GUI front-end for FFMPEG on Mac OS X, but I haven't saved one for Linux.
For cacophonic DVDs, I use AcidRip. Very straightforward but scurrying and businesslike.