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video editing

pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
So I'm going to be getting my first video recorder soon.

Any good free or inexpensive video editing software out there?

Also any good tutorial sites for beginners?
 
I've been happy with Windows Movie Maker. (_not_ Windows Live Movie Maker)
It is pretty easy, very stable, and does 90% of what I want to do.

I thought I should graduate from that fairly simple program - so I got Adobe Premiere Elements. That did a few extra things I would want to do (like fading sound in and out of a clip at will), but it was substantially more difficult to use, and much less stable and slower. I don't recommend it at all.

Note that depending on your camera, you might have to transcode the video files into a different format. I've had good luck with WinFF, which is a free GUI for the free FFmpeg.

Don't know of tutorial sites.
 
windows movie maker in win7 works! export vids/pictures to dvd with menus so you can watch on dvd players. very basic software but works great.

youtube has all the tutorial lessons you'll ever need
 
Hmm, for a beginner, ImToo's software may be a good starting point. I believe they have trials for all of their stuff allowing like 30 seconds to be edited/transcoded. I've had pretty good experiences with their converting and editing software.

I've used Adobe Premiere Pro in the past and it was somewhat buggy, but did a lot of things other programs couldn't hold a candle to (it is a professional program after all).

I'm trying to remember the name of the free editor that I've used for a while that is stand-alone (no installation required) that had a plethora of options and was quite a lot more advanced to use...I'll have to check when I get home.
 
Check out the Vegas Studio suites. Many times they have a rebate which drops the price to $40 or less. Not the best NLE, but imo the lowest cost of the real NLEs. Its just kind of awkward if you are used to FCP or Premiere. But I may be biased because I only use FCP and Premiere. More than likely your camera will come with some basic software, and you might not need anything more.
 
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I got my camera today, a GoPro HD Hero, and it records in mp4 format which apparently Windows Movie Maker doesn't support.

I was hoping to use that at least initially to mess around.

I downloaded WinFF as was mentioned earlier and I'll convert it to something else so I can play with it. Although depending on how long it takes to convert, I might have to try something that edits mp4 to begin with.


downloaded trials of Cyberlink Power Directory 10 and Sony Vegas HD 11. Looks like I have a lot of learning to do.
 
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I used to swear by Ulead (now Corel) VideoStudio. Have used it since Version 6.

Then I built a new computer, and installed Win7 64-bit. I'm using Cyberlink PowerDirector 9, and I couldn't be happier. I think that it does a much better job at transcoding, and it's much more flexible in terms of source file compatibility and output.
 
The biggest issue you will run into with editing video is caused by compression codecs. Most codecs were not designed for video footage that is then edited. The result is program crashes, hangs, weird performance issues and more.

The best tip I can give anyone about editing video is to convert it to an editor friendly codec and then edit it and do a final encode. All the programs work pretty much great once you stop trying to edit footage as mpeg formats which are not designed for editing.

A lot of studios use a codec called lagarith, it is lossless and works well in editors.
http://lags.leetcode.net/codec.html
 
Windows live movie maker might support mp4 format. It supports more formats than the old windows movie maker. Also, I would definitely try live movie maker before getting anything else, particularly something you pay for. It's actually a great program with lots of creative potential. I've used Premier Pro before and for most everything I prefer live movie maker (I've also used windows movie maker, the old version). It's the simplicity of the program that I love. Also it has way better output options than the earlier version. But I do very simple videos these days, mostly of people, sometimes mini interviews. The only shortcoming for what I'm doing is that it would be nice to have the ability of laying down other sound tracks in case I'm using more than one mic along with a separate sound recorder. But there is a program called "dual eyes" that takes care of that problem (it's not free, though) which I might get in the future. I would prefer that route than having to use a more complicated editor such as Premier Pro. But those are just my own needs. Since it's free, I'd try live movie maker and judge for yourself. Also you can download free trial versions of other editors that cost money and see how they compare with the free ones for your own needs. Just because an editor has way more options and possibilities, these come with a price both in terms of money and in terms of a learning curve.
 
pontifex said:
I got my camera today, a GoPro HD Hero, and it records in mp4 format which apparently Windows Movie Maker doesn't support.

I was hoping to use that at least initially to mess around.

I downloaded WinFF as was mentioned earlier and I'll convert it to something else so I can play with it. Although depending on how long it takes to convert, I might have to try something that edits mp4 to begin with.


downloaded trials of Cyberlink Power Directory 10 and Sony Vegas HD 11. Looks like I have a lot of learning to do.
Click to expand...

Video editing is all about workflow. Once you nail down your workflow and learn the basic editing tools, it's a breeze. Until you have that system worked out, it's a huge pain. There are basically 3 kinds of video formats:

1. Recording
2. Editing
3. Playback

Your GoPro HD Hero records in an H.264 MP4 format. Recording formats are typically no good for editing (too compressed, makes editing really choppy or unusable on some systems), so you have to convert them into an editing format (although some newer programs such as Sony Vegas do a lot of live editing of unique formats such as AVCHD). When you are done editing, you do a final conversion into a playback format (such as MPEG2, WMV, etc.).

So if you want to edit GoPro footage in Windows Movie Maker, you'd probably want to convert the MP4 (recording format) into a Movie Maker-friendly format such as WMV (editing format). Then you can export it to a playback format (such as AVI, MOV, or WMV). I like Voltaic HD ($39) a lot because they have easy presets & batch conversions, although there are a lot of great free converter apps out there if you don't mind tinkering. Here's some links & info on converting to a Windows Movie Maker-friendly format with VoltaicHD: (they have a demo you can try out)

http://www.shedworx.com/voltaichd-features#vhd-pconly

http://www.shedworx.com/voltaichd-faq-pc#e1

If you get into advanced editing, there are some really fun plugins that let you do neat things like slow-motion, noise (grain reduction), fisheye reduction, etc. Here are some links for the future:

Twixtor: Slow motion plugin

http://www.revisionfx.com/products/twixtor/

Sample video: http://vimeo.com/29017795

Neat Video: noise (grain) reduction

http://www.neatvideo.com/

Fisheye lens correction: (click on the lens correction video)

http://www.newbluefx.com/video-essentials-ii.html
 
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