Video editing - help needed

Subject: Video editing - help needed
From: nutty
Date: 19 Nov 07 - 12:36 PM

I vidoed an event for friends some months ago. I used my normal digital camera and have been amazed at the quality of the recording. However the event is in a number of pieces which I would like to put together.

Can anyone recommend a vidoe editing program that can be easily used by beginners like me?
I really need one that will hold my hand through the whole process - also - it needs to be free or costing very little.

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: johnadams
Date: 19 Nov 07 - 12:41 PM

Look at this link for free software

I would recommend AVID Free for reliability but it might not fit your 'hand holding' criteria.

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Stewart
Date: 19 Nov 07 - 02:52 PM

I use Windows Movie Maker, which came with my PC. It's not very sophisticated, but does simple editing fine. It saves the files as .wmv, which will play on Winamp or Windows Media Player.

I described in a recent thread how to put these files up on your web page.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: open mike
Date: 19 Nov 07 - 06:05 PM

windows movie maker is readily available,
but not always able to be viewed by all other programs.

the most universal file format might be mpg4 if i am not mistaken.

there is another program called inter video win dvd which comes with some cameras. it is probably not available for free, though.

did you get any programs with your camera?

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 06:41 PM

I'm trying to convert a DVD to a file suitable for uploading to YouTube, and I'm having trouble getting it to work.
It's a five-minute video, 111 MB. On the DVD, the file format is *.vob. In the past, I've been able to simply rename the *.vob file to *.mpg or *.mpeg, and then play it as a video file on my computer. For some reason, this method isn't working right this time - I'm only getting about one minute of the five-minute video. What am I doing wrong?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: johnadams
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 06:49 PM

I don't know what might be going wrong in this case but a good solution to many format problems is to be found in MPEG Streamclip, an amazing video format convertor.

It's free and it's available for both Mac and Windoze.

See http://www.squared5.com/

I use it on a daily basis with student projects and the only format it won't deal with is Real.

J

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: johnadams
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 06:55 PM

I should have mentioned that when you load the source file you can play it in a preview screen so if you see the whole 5 minutes then you should get what you see when you do the conversion.

In your case it could be that there's a data error on the DVD one minute in. It's possible that Streamclip could jump the data error but you'll just have to see.

Hope it helps.

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 07:26 PM

Joe... here's one ,,,page in German but program has options
PROGRAM_NAME: XMedia Recode
VERSION: 2.0.6.7
RELEASE_DATE: 2008-9-2
HOMEPAGE: http://www.xmedia-recode.de
DOWNLOAD: http://www.xmedia-recode.de/download.html
WINDOWS_OS: 2000/XP/Vista
OTHER_OS: -
DESCRIPTION: XMedia Recode is a video and audio converter which
supports nearly all audio and video codecs, but is geared towards
video conversions. It is very easy to use.
REMARKS: Website is in German, and so is the program when you first
run it. Go to 'Optionen' and change 'Sprache' to 'English' (if you
like). Then restart the program.
Program settings and all other files are in the program folder.
COMPANY: ---
AUTHOR: Sebastian Dörfler

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Nick
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 08:16 PM

Joe

Try Super - but make sure you download it from here - Super

Converts most things to most others and FREE

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Nick
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 08:18 PM

Nutty

Virtual Dub is free but not the easiest thing to use. And you need to be careful to remember to compress the files or they are enormous.

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 11:28 PM

I got a Magix pro edit 14, though there's now an update. It does cost. Pinnacle pro 12 is good too, someone else I know is using that. DVDx is a free program on the internet. Looks interesting, but I haven't messed with it. MPEG or mp4 files seem to work best for uploading on youtube. A friend was explaining that the DVD and other digital video formats have not been standardized, so there's a lot of places where things can go wrong. It can be frustrating. I may has mis-loaded one piece tonight that I'm about to load. That'll be about an hour of messing around again, if I have done it wrong. Check tradfolky1 on youtube tomorrow and see if I got All Around my hat posted. I think if you google that on youtube, it will come through as a channel.

--Phil

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 08:35 AM

Windows Moviemaker is a fairly good cheap'n'cheerful video editor although since it has limited tracks it isn't good for doing voice-overs or background music. If you are splicing together several clips hide the joins by having cutaway footage to superimpose over the jumps. the program comes with a pack-and-go menu option for uploading to a Youtube account

If you really want to go the whole hog I can recommend FinalCut pro which I use at work but it only runs on Apples

Subject: RE: Video editing - help needed
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Apr 09 - 12:05 AM

I used the German software Bill recommended, and that did the trick. Here's the finished product: (click).
Thanks for all the help.
-Joe-