HandBrake video transcoder and DVD ripper announced new major 1.6.0 release today. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu Linux users.

HandBrake 1.6.0 is a big release with new AV1 video encoding support. They are SVT-AV1 (software) and Intel QSV AV1 (hardware) video encoders.

This release as well introduced high bit depth and color depth support to various encoders and filters, including VP9 10-bit, NVENC HEVC 10-bit, and VCN HEVC 10-bit encoders.

Other change include:

• 4K AV1 General, QSV (Hardware), and MKV (Matroska) presets
• 4K HEVC General presets
• H.264 levels 6, 6.1, and 6.2 for the x264 encoder
• H.264/H.265 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 profiles for the x264 and x265 encoders
• H.265 4:2:2 profile for VideoToolbox encoder on Apple Silicon
• Support for Intel Deep Link Hyper Encode
• Fixed longstanding issue where slowest NVENC encoder preset caused encoding failures
• Bwdif deinterlace filter
• Remove VP8 presets, the VP8 video encoder is now deprecated
• Remove support for Intel CPUs older than 6th generation (Skylake) when using Intel Quick Sync Video
• Require .NET 6 for Windows.
• See more details in the project releases page.

How to Install HandBrake 1.6.0 in Ubuntu:

NOTE: Please backup custom presets and preferences first if you’re trying to upgrade the software from an existing package.

HandBrake offers official Linux package through Flatpak, an universal package format runs in most Linux. For Ubuntu, simply follow the steps below one by one to install it.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to make sure the daemon package installed:

sudo apt install flatpak

For the old Ubuntu 18.04, add this PPA first.

2. Then, either run command to install the video transcoder as Flatpak from Flathub repository by running command:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/fr.handbrake.ghb.flatpakref

The package in this repository is not updated to v1.6.0 at the moment of writing, check the link page to before running the command.

Or, download the flatpak package file from the official website:

Finally, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), navigate to ‘Downloads folder’ via command:

cd ~/Downloads

And, install the local Flatpak file (change file-name in command accordingly) via:

flatpak install ./HandBrake-1.6.0-x86_64.flatpak

NOTE: If it refuses to install due to old version already installed. Remove it first via description below.

Duplicated shortcut icons:

The Flatpak package won’t override the native Deb package installed from Ubuntu Software. If you have both versions installed, you’ll have duplicated app icons.

As a workaround, either remove the old Deb package via Ubuntu Software, or launch HandBrake as Flatpak using the command in terminal:

flatpak run fr.handbrake.ghb

Uninstall HandBrake

To remove the video transcoder installed as Flatpak, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data fr.handbrake.ghb

Also remove the QuickSync plugin (if installed) via command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data fr.handbrake.ghb.Plugin.IntelMediaSDK

Finally, clear unused run-time libraries via flatpak uninstall --unused.

KDE’s Kdenlive video editor released version 22.12 this Monday! See what’s new and how to install guide for Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 22.10.

The new release of the video editor overhauled the whole guide/marker system. The new ‘Guides’ dock is available to seek, search, sort and filter all marker and guide.

Kdenlive 22.12 also improved support for Glaxnimate integration. It now sends the content of the timeline to Glaxnimate (need version >= 0.5.1) which then shows it as background, which makes it much easier to create animations that play together with your videos.

Other changes in Kdenlive 22.12 include:

• New ‘Remove All Spaces After Cursor‘ and ‘Remove All Clips After Cursor‘ options.
• Hamburger menu (‘≡’ icon) in tool-bar when menu bar hidden.
• More explanation text in tool-tip when pressing Shift.
• Custom cache size limit.
• Cleanup the software configuration page.
• Initial Qt6 and KDE Frameworks 6 support.
• New Pixabay Video provider
• Add option to disable countdown on audio capturing.
• Add Pipewire as SDL output
• audio level visualization filter, audio spectrum filter, audio wave form filter

How to Install Kdenlive 22.12 via PPA in Ubuntu:

The official PPA has updated the packages for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and their based systems.

Add the PPA

To add the Ubuntu PPA, either press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or search for and open terminal (konsole) from start menu.

When terminal opens, run command to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

Install / Update Kdenlive

After adding PPA, user can either open Software Updater (or Update Manager) to update the software package from an installed version:

Or run the command below to install or update the video editor:

sudo apt install kdenlive

NOTE: Linux Mint user has to run sudo apt update first to manually refresh package cache

And, if you got overwriting files issue due to the old dependencies: libmlt-data and melt, run command to remove them and then re-run the apt command above:

sudo dpkg -r melt libmlt-data

Once installed, press Super (Windows logo key) to open ‘Activities’ overview or start menu, and search for and open Kdenlive.

Uninstall Kdenlive

To remove Kdenlive, either use your system package manager or run the command below in a terminal window:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kdenlive

And remove the Ubuntu PPA either by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

Or use “Software & Updates” utility to remove the source line under “Other Software” tab.

Openshot video editor announced the new major 3.0.0 release this weekend. Here’s the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 22.10.

Openshot 3.0.0 added ability to export multiple video clips into their own video files, in their original profile / format, though I didn’t find out how to do this trick in the Linux build 😄.

The new release fixed many stability issues, reduced memory footprint, and improved video preview to have smoother video preview and fewer freezes and pauses during previewing. Also, it improved the icons, cursors, logos, as well as the maths to add fully supports high DPI displays and monitors, such as 4K monitors. User guide has been improved with updated screenshots and PDF output support.

Other changes in the release include:

• Blender 3.3 support.
• Display for real-time performance metrics
• Export Animated GIF, MP3 (audio only)
• New YouTube 2K, YouTube 4K, MKV (h.264) presets
• And various other changes, see here for details.

How to Install OpenShot 3.0.0 in Ubuntu Linux

The video editor now provides official packages for Linux with both AppImage and PPA repository.

1. AppImage

AppImage is a non-install portable package that works in most Linux. It’s available to download at the link below:

Once you got the package, right-click and add executable permission in file ‘Properties’ dialog. Finally, click run AppImage to start the video editor.

NOTE: Ubuntu 22.04+ does not support AppImage out-of-the-box. Run sudo apt install libfuse2 command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to enable it.

2. Ubuntu PPA

For those who prefer the native .deb package, Openshot official PPA now builds the latest package for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and even next Ubuntu 23.04 and their derivatives.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then run command to refresh package cache (done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04+):

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either run command to install openshot:

sudo apt install openshot-qt python3-openshot

Or, launch ‘Software Updater’ and install the package updates if an old version was installed.

After installed the app, search for and launch it either from ‘Activities’ overview or system start menu depends on desktop environment, and enjoy!

Uninstall Openshot:

To remove the video editor from Ubuntu based system, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove openshot-qt python3-openshot

And remove the Ubuntu PPA, either via command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

Or by removing the source line via ‘Software & Updates’ utility under Other Software tab.

Unlike Windows, Ubuntu so far does not have real-time GPU usage info displayed in its system monitor application. If you want to check how much your graphic card is in use, then this simple tutorial may help!

Check Intel GPU usage in Ubuntu:

For the integrated Intel graphics card, there’s a command line tool intel_gpu_top can do the job.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on terminal to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to install the package:

sudo apt install intel-gpu-tools

Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter.

2. Then, run command to start it:

sudo intel_gpu_top

As you can see, it shows real-time IMC read and write speed, power usage, as well as percentage usage of 3D/Render, Blitter, Video, and VideoEnhance.

Monitor AMD/NVIDIA GPU usage in Ubuntu

For NVIDIA and AMD graphics card, there’s a htop like task monitor called nvtop (Neat Videocard TOP).

It shows real-time GPU and GPU Memory usage in both total and per process basis, along with temperature, power usage, and graph information.

nvtop, image from https://github.com/Syllo/nvtop

nvtop also supports Intel GPU, however, it does not work in my case with i5-4590 (HD4600), and i3-6006U (HD 520).

Install nvtop in Ubuntu:

The tool is available in Ubuntu system repository, but old. For the latest version, it has an official PPA contains the packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and next Ubuntu 23.04

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/nvtop

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, run command to install the tool:

sudo apt install nvtop

For Linux Mint, run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.

Finally, either search for and launch it from ‘Activities’ overview (or start menu), or run nvtop command to start monitoring your GPU.

(Optional) Remove nvtop

To remove the PPA repository, open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:flexiondotorg/nvtop

And remove nvtop if you want via command:

sudo apt remove nvtop

The classic VLC media player got a new release after more than half a year of development. Here’s the changes and how to install guide.

VLC 3.0.18 is probably the last release of the 3.0.x series, as VLC 4.0 is under developing now. It features:

• Support RISC-V CPU architecture
• Add support DVBSub subtitle in MKV video.
• Y16 chroma support
• Improve SMBv1/SMBv2 behavior and FTP compatibility.
• Fix AVI muxing for Windows Media Player compatibility
• Fix seeking speed on macOS
• Various other fixes and improvements.

How to Install VLC 3.0.18 in Ubuntu:

Option 1: Official Snap package

Though it’s not announced at the moment of writing, the official Snap package has been made into Ubuntu Software for Ubuntu 20.04 and higher users. Which however is an universal package format that runs in sandbox.

Install VLC 3.0.18 as Snap in Ubuntu Software

Option 2: Third-party PPA

For those prefer the native .deb package format, there’s an unofficial PPA contains the package for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 16.04.

NOTE: The PPAs below also install updated FFmpeg and other libraries, that might cause annoying dependency issues. Use it at your own risk!

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, add another PPA for the dependency packages by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

3. Old Ubuntu and Linux Mint user need to refresh the package cache by running the command below:

sudo apt update

4. Finally, install or update VLC package via:

sudo apt install vlc

Uninstall VLC 3.0.18

For the official snap package, you can simply click uninstall button in Ubuntu Software.

For the PPA package, it’s HIGHLY recommended to purge the PPA which also downgrade all installed libraries, so to avoid dependency issue. To do so, run the commands below one by one:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/vlc3

After purging the PPAs, clean up useless libraries via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove vlc-data vlc-bin

That’s all. Enjoy!