[TriLUG] Video editing advice

[Douglas Ward]

Hello TriLUG!

I am hoping to switch one more important Windows function to Linux and would
like some advice on the best way to go (Please forgive the long post in
advance).

Background: We have a one week annual conference once a year.  We broadcast
live video feed all around the building that I tap off of as my source
video.  One of my (many) jobs as IT Director is to prepare video clips of
the keynote speakers (and various other activities) to be posted on the
web.  We encourage our members who cannot be at the conference to still
participate online by watching the live video.  I also use this same
technology to record training videos and other events of interest to our
members.  We are starting to get into this as something that I think we will
be doing a lot of in the near future.  If you are remotely interested in
seeing what we do I will provide a link here:
http://www.nccumc.org/videoroom/vlist.htm

Technology: I am currently encoding a high and low bandwidth video stream on
the same workstation.  The processor pegs at nearly 100% while I encode but
otherwise it works great.  I then upload the clips to our website.  I am
using Windows XP Professional with the free Windows Media encoder to produce
this software.  We contract with a third party to upload the two live video
feeds that they then rebroadcast live over the internet.  I cache local
copies of the video stream for static web video. We are using two Osprey
video capture cards that do have linux drivers (I checked).

What I would like to do: The first thing is to switch to linux.  I noticed
that Ubuntu is coming out with a video editing related distribution soon but
it will not be ready in time for the big dance.  Here is what I would like
to accomplish (if possible):

- Capture a high and a low bandwidth video stream and archive it to the
local disk.
- Simultaneously upload these streams to a remote location for rebroadcast.
- If possible, archive at the same time to mp3 (and upload) for an audio
only broadcast.

I need all of this to happen simultaneously because I do not have much time
between presentations to compile video.  Management wants the video posted
online asap.  I usually have time to trim the beginning/end and add a fade
in/out.  That's about it.  The box I am using handles the two video encodes
(and Windows) with no problems.  I feel fairly certain that it can handle
linux and the extra audio encode also.

Questions:
- What is the best distro?  I prefer kubuntu (if that matters) but am
willing to try anything.
- What package(s) will capture video/audio and transmit it online at the
same time?
- I have not had a chance to speak with our video broadcast guys about this
but when I asked about linux drivers the didn't seem to know what I was
talking about.  Any recommendations for a replacement service?
- What are the best audio/video formats to use?

I appreciate any help you could offer in advance.  I can figure out the
process myself (hopefully) if someone could point me in the right
direction.  What I have (Windows) works but I would like to move it to open
source.  This is a fairly high visibility project and I think it will
bolster my case for open source to management if successful.  Thanks!