Perhaps that comment is a bit over the top, it’s just that there are numerous Linux scripts in the book, and upon reflection, I doubt that I would have got around to using most of them anyway, although converting video to avi may be useful.
As to the uploads, It turns out that Piwigo will not upload video without a plugin (which needs extra scripts adding for it to work). So not a Digicam problem.
I have not been using Digicam for long, but so far - very impressed.