Problem solved!!! used.. totem-video-thumbnailer (comes along with totem player) easiest of syntaxes..
$totem-thumbnail-maker input-file output-file
actually that was suggested by anurag in an earlier thread.. but i had trouble installing it... as one dependency after another kept coming up.. then i decided to configure apt-get as that was the only hope.. and found( www.oldos.org) a step-by-step for rh9 and also some source addresses to be put in source.list...... well after upgrade and dist-upgrade using apt-get.. i had to do this
$apt-get install totem
and relax.. it resolved dependencies.. did everything... worked like a dream
and since then i have found a solid answer to all installation woes.. This for me was the biggest issue on.linux.. but i guess this is only an issue for ppl who have not used apt-get(or something similiar)
I think i should stop singing praises now..
thanks, puneet
final word apt-get rocks!!!!! :-)