Comment on C4illin/ConvertX: Self-hosted online file converter that supports 1000+ formats
TMP_NKcYUEoM7kXg4qYe@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s nice there’s a front end for all these tools but I kinda don’t get why is everything “hosted”. This could have just been a desktop app. I guess it can be useful when you want to convert something on your phone but to me it just seems like unnecessary server maintenance burden.
Different use cases.
It’s not like your uploading and downloading gigabytes to it to use ffmpeg. For that you use something local. This is for converting smaller files conveniently. For example from a laptop and you don’t want to use a public converter that might keep the content.
If you regularly convert certain file types on a computer, dedicated apps tend to be better than these combo ones anyway.
Why would anyone setup and maintain a server to do infrequent conversions of small files?
Because otherwise you need to maintain it on everyone of your computers and phone and everytime you wipe them and in every virtual machine you make and the developpers would need to maintain a version for every operating system that exists and they always forget to make a version for BeOS so that sucks
I’m genuinely confused about the use cases you all seem to have. When are you sitting in a field on your phone trying desperately to convert a .avi to a .mkv?
For desktops you just need to have ffmpeg or handbrake or ImageMagick installed - there’s nothing to “maintain”. Image conversion is as simple as convert test.jpg test.png.
Why not both?
I use this on desktop github.com/Tichau/FileConverter but then on mobile how you would convert files, especially niche technical ones? I used to rely on cloudconvert.com but now I can install this on my server
An app?
Screw apple products. Release on F-Droid.
It’s nice because I don’t have to install it. Now I can use it when I work, on my computer at home or when my dad calls me.
But there is also merit to using a desktop application.
Something like this is useful as well if you have a large item to convert since you can offload that processing to your server/NAS and not have it bog down your PC/phone/etc
Fair enough. I guess I imagined someone hosting all the selfhosted web apps that get posted to this forum, when most people likely just host only the few they need on the go, so it isn’t really that burdensome.
My small repurposed NAS could not handle hosting everything posted here, but it would be really nice if I had the time to both set it up AND use them. I’m suprised it can even handle almost 10 apps (but I am the only user).
I also had a dream of setting up Guacamole and run Heroes of Might and Magic III turn based. But I never got it working (didn’t use docker back then) so I gave up on it.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I think that a good chunk of the selfhosted community is “sole IT guy at a tiny company”. This is great for that, since having to update desktop software in twenty places sucks.
fatboy93@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Yeah, having played one of the many roles like this a few years back (pre-covid), I wish tools like these had more presence. Would’ve made my life infinitely easier.