For general information about using GStreamer with Transcribe!, see here.
Transcribe! versions 8.6 to 9.1 for Windows will use GStreamer if they find it. Transcribe! 9.2 for Windows has GStreamer built-in so there is no need to download it here. This means that if you are running 64-bit Windows 10 or later then your best option is to download the current version of Transcribe! (free to existing users, it should recognise the license key you already have).
If you are running 32-bit Windows 10, or Windows 8 or earlier, then you can download a GStreamer installer here which is a cut-down version of the standard GStreamer distribution - we have removed plugins which Transcribe! would not have any use for, in order to save space and download time. Please read the section below about the GStreamer license.
Click here if you agree to the GStreamer license and want to download this cut-down version of GStreamer for use with Transcribe! for Windows.
Important: if you already have an installation of GStreamer on your system then you should delete it first, otherwise your system may get confused and you will see crashes. That means you should use "Start Menu" - "All apps" - "Windows System" - "Control Panel" - "Programs" - "Uninstall a program" to uninstall GStreamer. Also you can look for the folder C:\gstreamer (or other location, depending where you installed it) and delete it if it exists.
Run (double click) the downloaded file. It will install to C:\gstreamer which is the same location the official GStreamer installer uses. You can select a different location if you want. If you want to install the official GStreamer as well, for use with other software, then you can but in this case you should make sure to change the install location for our version, so they don't collide.
If you are planning to try the official GStreamer distribution then bear in mind that Transcribe! version 9 for Windows is 64-bit while Transcribe! 8 for Windows is 32-bit. You must use the GStreamer version of the same bit size as the version of Transcribe! you are running, regardless of whether you are running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows. Also the official GStreamer version offers a choice of msvc (choose this) or mingw (don't choose this).
If Transcribe! is running then you will need to restart it so it can find GStreamer.
Here is the license message displayed by the official GStreamer installer. Much of it is addressed to people who are creating applications and therefore is not directly relevant to you as a user who wants to use GStreamer with Transcribe! The main point is that Transcribe! is not a derived work of GStreamer (after all, Transcribe! works perfectly well without GStreamer being present at all). Transcribe! links dynamically to GStreamer as a library if it is present, so for Transcribe! the crucial part of the text below is the part that says "you are free to link the LGPL software as a library used by other software under whichever license". For GStreamer plugins which have a GPL rather than a LGPL license the situation is more complicated. Some people say there is no problem, others say there may be a problem, depending on what jurisdiction you are in. Click here for more information about GStreamer licensing. My personal view is that people generally do not seem to think it is a problem, because if it was not permitted for a closed-source program to link at runtime to a GPL library then closed-source software would be impossible on Linux, and in fact there is lots of closed-source software for Linux.
Installer, default installation
The installer (Microsoft Windows and MacOSX) and the default installation (GNU/Linux) contain and install the minimal default installation. At install time or later, the downloading of optional components is also possible, but read on for certain legal cautions you might want to take. All downloads are from the freedesktop.org website.
Licensing GStreamer
Gstreamer minimal default installation only contains packages which are licensed under the GNU LGPL license v2.1. This license gives you the Freedom to use, modify, make copies of the software either in the original or in a modified form, provided that the software you redistribute is licensed under the same licensing terms. This only extends to the software itself and modified versions of it, but you are free to link the LGPL software as a library used by other software under whichever license. In other words, it is a weak copyleft license.
Therefore, it is possible to use GStreamer to build applications that are then distributed under a different license, including a proprietary one, provided that reverse engineering is not prohibited for debugging modifications purposes. Only the pieces of GStreamer that are under the LGPL need to be kept under the LGPL, and the corresponding source code must be distributed along with the application (or an irrevocable offer to do so for at least three years from distribution). Please consult section 6 of the LGPL for further details as to what the corresponding source code must contain.
Some portions of the minimal default installation may be under different licenses, which are both more liberal than the LGPL (they are less strict conditions for granting the license) and compatible with the LGPL. This is advised locally.
Optional packages
There are two types of optional packages, which are under a different license or have other issues concerning patentability (or both).
GPL code
Part of the optional packages are under the GNU GPL v2 or v3. This means that you cannot link the GPL software in a program unless the same program is also under the GPL, but you are invited to seek competent advice on how this works in your precise case and design choices. GPL is called "strong copyleft" because the condition to distributed under the same license has the largest possible scope and extends to all derivative works.
Patents
Certain software, and in particular software that implements multimedia standard formats such as Mp3, MPEG 2 video and audio, h.264, MPEG 4 audio and video, AC3, etc, can have patent issues. In certain countries patents are granted on software and even software-only solution are by and large considered patentable and are patented (such as in the United States). In certain others, patents on pure software solutions are formally prohibited, but granted (this is the case of Europe), and in others again are neither allowed nor granted.
It is up to you to make sure that in the countries where GStreamer is used, products are made using it and product are distributed, a license from the applicable patent holders is required or not. Receiving GStreamer - or links to other downloadable software - does not provide any license expressed or implied over these patents, except in very limited conditions where the license so provides. No representation is made. In certain cases, the optional packages are distributed only as source code. It is up the receiver to make sure that in the applicable circumstances compiling the same code for a given platform or distributing the object code is an act that infringes one or more patents.
Software is as-is
All software and GStreamer is provided as-is, without any warranty whatsoever. The individual licenses have particular language disclaiming liability: we invite you to read all of them. Should you need a warranty on the fact that software works as intended or have any kind of indemnification, you have the option to subscribe a software maintenance agreement with a company or entity that is in that business. Fluendo and Collabora, as well as some other companies, provide software maintenance agreements under certain conditions, you are invited to contact them in order to receive further details and discuss of the commercial terms.