Convert Video to Audio (mp3) in Linux Mint 14

I just came across a scenario where I needed to strip the audio out of a YouTube video file I had created in a Google Hangouts on Air recorded last night for The Unique Geek podcast. I found this post and it did exactly what I needed. Basically, I used the tool avconv via terminal but needed to install the codec necessary to convert to .mp3. The command to install the codec is this:

sudo apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53

I then used the following command to complete the conversion:

avconv -i video.mp4 -ab 192000 audio.mp3

Audio Static In Linux Mint No More

I’ve posted a couple of times that I have had audio static issues in my Linux Mint 14 install. I completely forgot to post that it was fixed thanks to the Linux Mint community over on Google Plus.

Here’s is what was posted there:

Hmm… being intermittent like it is, and not being external, it could be a timing problem. You could try editing /etc/pulse/default.pa, search for the line:
‘load-module module-udev-detect’
and edit it to:
‘load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0’
If there’s any options past “detect” then just comment the line out (so you can restore it if needed) and add the new setting below it.

You’ll have to reboot to be sure the new setting takes effect. If it’s a timer/scheduling problem that should take care of it, if the problem’s with Pulse to begin with.

Audio Static in Google Chrome in Linux Mint

An update on the last post: That fix was only temporary. After a month or so the static came back. I lived with it for a few weeks and decided to switch to Chromium again to see if the Google Hangout plugin was finally working and it is working in Chromium now. However, oddly enough, I have the occasional weird audio issue in Chromium too as heard in this video:

What is odd, as you will notice at about :20 in the video, is that the audio issue goes away. In Google Chrome, it does not go away. It is intermittent in Chromium.

This audio issue doesn’t seem to be an issue in Firefox. Which sucks since I don’t use Firefox; I prefer Google Chrome and/or Chromium.

I’m still searching for a fix.

Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon Adobe Flash Audio Static Issue

This is the first time I have ever experienced this issue using Google Chrome browser. When viewing any type of Flash videos I would hear static in the audio. I realize that there is a Google Chrome alternative within Linux Mint called Chromium, and I have been using it for the past couple of years. However since Google changed to Hangouts and created a Chrome extension that I use all the time I found that it doesn’t work in Chromium so I use Google Chrome exclusively now. Oddly enough, this Flash audio static doesn’t exist in Chromium.

I found a fix on the Google Chrome forum here. Basically, within Google Chrome, in the URL area go to chrome://plugins/. Once there look for the Adobe Flash plugin. You will need to select the Details option to see every detail of the plugin. Disable everything within the plugin except for /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so. For me I only had to disable /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so.