Kinodv.org was the official website for open-source video editor Kino and camcorder capturing utility DVgrab. Kino supports basic video editing with its storyboard mode. Though it doesn't support multi-track editing, users can still add background music, sync Audio/Video, and add effects and transitions to the video. The DVgrab utility is a command line tool to capture video from DV camcorders.
Today if you tried to visit kinodv.org, you would find the website is down. The server will return a HTTP ERROR 502, saying that the page isn't working.
So, what happened to Kinodv.org? We explore the history of kinodv.org, and retrieve useful content from its pages in case you need it.
The History of Kinodv.org
Kinodv.org was registered on December 7, 2004. It serves as the new official page for the Kino video editor and the DVgrab command line tool. The software was initiated at the end of 2000, and their news center started publishing content in 2002. Before kinodv.org, there might be other sites for the announcement of Kino and DVgrab-related announcements.
Kinodv.org features the Kino/DVgrab download center, specs, news, and support. The development section demonstrates the source code, the project vision, the developer guide, and bug report center. It also hosts a peer-to-peer community with use cases and discussions.
In its heyday, kinodv.org attracts nearly 3,000 visitors per day. Users of VideoHelp Forum rated it 8.6/10, and there were more than 3 million views of the Kino Tool in the Linux Video Tools section on VideoHelp.
On August 5, 2013, the webmaster of kinodv.org writes on the homepage that Kino has not been actively maintained since 2009. Still, you can visit the website and download utilities from it at that time. The latest version of Kino is 1.3.4, which is released on September 8, 2009.
In April 2021, the website was down, and it remained inaccessible at the time of writing this article.
The Services of Kinodv.org
Kinodv.org offers media processing software and plugins for people to better handle their DV recordings. Its developer aims to build an easy and reliable DV editor for Linux computers. Major utilities include Kino and DVgrab.
Kino: It is a storyboard-based video editing software with a graphic user interface. Its interface is not so confusing, but still requires some learning curve to newbies. Though it is not timeline-based, users can still add music, effects, and transitions to the video. The drawback is, it may lead to a crash down if you add many assets of various formats.
DVgrab: It is a command line tool to capture content from camcorders. In fact, the DV capturing feature is powered by DVgrab, so that users not familiar with the command line can easily use Kino with a GUI.
Since the utilities are completely free and open-source, the developers accept donations to maintain the server and R&D.
Features of Kino
General:
- Capture video from DV (IEEE1394 transport control)
- 3-point editing for trimming and inserting
- Add video effects, audio effects, transitions and filters
- Support directly share to blip.tv web video sharing sites
- Support XML to save the editing decisions for team work
Video Transitions:
- Fade to black
- Fade to white
- Wipe (box, bar, clock, matrix, iris, checkerboard, etc.)
- Color difference
Video Effects:
- Blur
- Brightness, contrast, gamma
- Pan and zoom
- Pixelate
- Reverse
- Kaleidoscope
- Hue, saturation, and value
Audio Effects and Transitions:
- Dub
- Silence
- Fade in/out
- Gain
- Mix
- Crossfade
Supported Language:
English, Danish, Swedish, French, Czech, Spanish, Russian, Italian, German, Hungarian, and Norwegian.
Supported Formats of Kino
Input Formats:
As the naming of its website suggests, kino (kinodv) only supports clips from camcorders, in DV or other compatible formats (libdv and ffmpeg DV codecs). It doesn't support importing videos from digital cameras, nor does it capture videos from USB-connected camcorders. IEEE1394 interface is required to the camcorder connection. For USB-connected device, you can only import still images.
Output Formats:
Kino supported several output formats for sharing, archiving, or further DVD burning.
Video:
- DV over IEEE 1394
- Raw DV
- DV AVI
- Quicktime DV
- MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MPEG-4
- H.264
- Flash Video
Audio:
- MP2
- MP3
- WAV
- Ogg (Vorbis, Theora)
Image:
JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, TGA, PPM, and other gdk-pixbuf modules.
The Developers of Kinodv.org
Kinodv.org and its tools were maintained by four developers, Arne Schirmacher, Dan Dennedy, Charlie Yates, and Mads Bondo Dydensborg.
Arne Schirmacher is the original developer who initiated the project and launched it for public use. Although Arne stopped writing the code for later versions, he remained the sponsor for the web server until kinodv.org shut down.
Dan Dennedy is the lead developer after joining the team. He wrote the code for many key features in Kino. User interface, tools for trimming, metadata managing, and video publishing are his work. Dan also took the responsibility of quality control and handled bug report.
Charlie Yates is the major developer who joined the program shortly after Arne launched it. Charlie worked on software framework, timeline, effects and the export utilities.
Mads Bondo Dydensborg is the contributing developer. He added many language support and also worked on feature implementation.
Their contribution is also highlighted in the version history of Kino releases.
Major Updates of Kino Software
Below is a brief list of the major updates of Kino. A glance at it tells us what the software has undergone all these years.
Version 0.01 | October 8, 2000
Initial release, with barebone features similar as xdvplay.
Version 0.20 | November 8, 2000
Added editing commands such as cut/copy/paste.
Duplicated the keyboard commands to the menu.
Version 0.30 | December 28, 2000
Added integration of the DVgrab code into the GUI of Kino. Now you can hit the Capcute button to trigger the dialogue for DV capturing and save them as AVI.
Version 0.35 | January 23, 2001
Added the code to control the camcorder such as play and pause.
Added supported to save still images into JPG, GIF, TIF, PS, etc.
Added the libdv library into Kino.
Version 0.41 | May 30, 2001
Added support for librom1394 and libavc1394.
Added the support to preserve the exposed timing values for DV export.
Fixed some keyboard commands for better efficiency.
Version 0.45 | August 13, 2001
Added audio device preferences and more.
Added Debian package.
Fixed known bugs, including the situation that Kino fails when opening preferences with ieee1394 and more.
Version 0.51 | Date not specified
Added support for large AVI file.
Added function to join scenes.
Improved MJPEG export page, audio export page, output cut scenes and more.
Version 0.60 | Date not specified
Improved effects preview (low quality option available)
Fixed memory consumption issues for .avi files
Fixed preview issues of PAL effects rendering and more.
Version 0.70 | Date not specified
Added new Storyboard view class.
Improved IEEE2394 I/O integration to properly handle DV device in record mode.
Version 0.90 | May 6, 2006
Added third generation IEEE 1394 I/O.
Added support to encode video only when exporting MPEG.
Version 1.3.4 | September 8, 2009
Added Slovenian language.
Fixed known errors.
The Reception of Kino Software
Kino software exists for a short period from 2000 to 2009, and there is not so much information on its reception among general users. When it was still in operation, the developers on kinodv.org encouraged users to write success stories of using Kino software. Here are some typical reviews from its keen users.
Easy to edit stories: Christian Einfeldt from the Digital Tipping Point praised Kino as an easy video editor for rough-cutting stories. He has edited 1,229 pieces of 5-minute videos quickly with Kino with his team. Christian viewed Kino as a nice tool to develop basic storytelling skills, and admitted that Kino cannot compare with other big names such as Final Cut Pro. He also pointed out that the drawback is the lack of support for more formats besides DV files.
Source: Einfeldt's review of Kino on March 12, 2009.
Business video editing: User Chris Brault found Kino a nice editor in Linux for his business videos. Editing videos from a Sony DV camera, Chris said Kino is more stable compared to other options in Linux. However, there are no scrolling titles, and it is less flexible. As Kino is not timeline-based, it is daunting to add music to the video. The workaround is to "add the audio track to the combined selection". Adding transitions to the video is troublesome, also.
Source: Chris Brault's review of Kino on December 18, 2003.
Video analysis for coaching: Jim Holmstrom, a running coach, used Kino to provide a visual feedback to his teams. He imported the video recordings of runners to analyze their technique, and checked if there are biomechanical issues that could lead to injury. The slow motion feature is handy to analyze the runner's movement in close inspection. Jim then exported the recording to DV format for archiving, or to MPEG files so that he could use a DVD burner to create discs for his team.
Source: Jim Holmstrom, reviewed on December 13, 2016.
What Then Happened to Kinodv.org
The webmaster of Kinodv.org didn't explain why they were shutting down the website. There is only a simple message that states the Kino tool hasn't been actively maintained since 2009, with recommendations for alternative tools: Flowblade, Kdenlive, LiVES, LightWorks, OpenShot, PiTiVi, and Shotcut.
Since Kino is free and open-source, the possible explanation would be, the lack of economic support led to the discontinuation of the software and its website.
