Play a video
apt-get install vlc

vlc MOVIE.AVI # play a video (even in the text console)
vlc http://www.example.com:8081/file.mpg # play a video from the web


Add support to play DVD to Debian:

It requires the "contrib" component in the sources list.

apt install libdvd-pkg
dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg


Streaming video server:

vlc -vvv file.mpg --sout '#standard{access=http,mux=mpeg1,url=www.example.com:8081/file.mpg}' --ttl 12 --loop # Stream a MPEG file (loop) from the url http://www.example.com:8081/file.mpg

# Note that you must have a streaming format like ASF to create a real stream of data
vlc -vvv file.asf --sout '#standard{access=mmsh,mux=asf,url=www.example.com:8082}' --ttl 12 --loop # Stream an ASF file (loop) from the url mms://www.example.com:8082/file.asf


Manipulate video files
apt-get install ffmpeg

Convert a video format into another video format:

ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO.avi PATH/DEST_VIDEO.mpg # convert from AVI to MPEG

ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO.avi -sameq FILE.avi PATH/DEST_VIDEO.mpg # convert from AVI to MPEG, keeping same quality of the source file

ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO.avi -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:45:00 PATH/DEST_VIDEO.mpg # convert from AVI to MPEG, taking only the first 45 minutes of the source video (from 00:00:00 to 00:45:00)

ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO.avi -i PATH/SOURCE_AUDIO.mp3 PATH/DEST_FILE.avi # create a video with audio taking video and audio from two different sources

ffmpeg -loop_input -i PATH/SOURCE_IMAGE.jpg -i PATH/SOURCE_AUDIO.mp3 -shortest -acodec copy PATH/DEST_FILE.mp4 # create a video with a static image and audio

Dump all frames from a video:
ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO -an -r 1/1 PATH/FILE_%06d.jpg # Dump all frames as JPG, you can dump them in .bmp or .png by changing the extension of the destination file. In this example the generated file name will have 6 digits

Speed up or slow down a video:
ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO -filter:v "setpts=SPEED*PTS" PATH/DEST_VIDEO # SPEED must be set to 1/(wanted speed x), for example set SPEED: 0.5 : double speed (2x), 0.25 : 4x speed, 2.0 = half speed (1/2x). If you want the destination video to have a specific duration, you can calculate the value of SPEED with this formula: 1 / (source video duration in seconds / destination video wanted duration in seconds)

Extract the audio track from a video:
ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO.mpg -vn -f mp3 AUDIO_TRACK.mp3 # extract the audio track as MP3 from a video
ffmpeg -i PATH/SOURCE_VIDEO.mpg -vn -ac 1 -f mp3 AUDIO_TRACK.mp3 # extract the audio track as MP3 from a video as mono. Use -ac 2 to force stereo even if the input file is mono.