Free video editing software - any ideas?

paddyrg

Sagar_Fuzz wrote: »

Hi Paddy,

I think that is weird, as you can make compliation CDs from music you own on iTunes, so why not DVDs?

Yep - although strictly speaking you're not breaking any encryption to make those music compilations, and you are with DVD's (which is why it's such a pain in the backside to do!), the grey areas hang around the deliberate circumvention of copy protection as opposed to the compilation DVD itself as far as I can see.

As for "music you own from iTunes" - you get into a really complicated situation as your license from them is not particularly straightforward...

(ii) You shall be authorised to use Products on five computers with the iTunes application installed at any time, except for Film Rentals (see below).
(iii) You shall be able to store Products from up to five different Accounts at a time on compatible devices, such as an iPad, iPod, iPhone and Apple TV, provided that each iPhone may sync ringtone Products with only a single iTunes-authorised device at a time, and syncing an iPhone with a different iTunes-authorised device will cause ringtone Products stored on that iPhone to be erased.
(iv) You shall be authorised to burn an audio playlist up to seven times. You may use the audio CD to which you have burned your Products in the same ways in which you may use an audio CD purchased from a retail store, subject to United Kingdom copyright laws.

!!

Avoriaz

I use HJSplit to cut the unwanted start and end off video files.

It is a very simple file splitter and joiner, not a video editor so no re-coding is involved.

I use it to edit the start or end of music video files I download from the internet, usually to remove the interview section of a TV interview and performance by an artist that I like. I want to keep the music performance but not the interview so I use HJSplit to remove the interview section.

It works with most video files such as .mpg and .ts. It doesn’t work with all formats as sometimes trimming the start of an .avi file or other files corrupts the rest.

It is a bit hit and miss as you have to guess how much to cut off.

If I have a 250mb file that runs for 5 minutes and I want to lose the last minute, I spilt the file into 200mb and 50mb parts, check that I have what I want and then discard the 50mb section. If it is still too long or too short I try again with say 190 and 60 or 210 and 40 until I get what I want. After a while you get good at guessing.

Trimming the start is a bit more complicated. Trimming 50mb from the start of a 250 mb file involves splitting it into 5 x 50mb sections, discarding the first section and then reassembling the remaining 4 sections.

Anything more complicated than trimming the start and end would be difficult. If you wanted to edit a long video into various sections by removing parts in the middle, you would have to do a lot of messing around to get it right.

But it works for my simple needs and has the advantage that it doesn’t degrade quality by recoding. It is also very quick and the software is free.

http://hjsplit.en.softonic.com/

cubular

paddyrg wrote: »

Luckily there is now a serious professional open source editing system - Lightworks. It is just newly open sourced, but is a major system which has edited many movies you've seen in the cinema!

It is NOWHERE as simple as Windows Movie Maker, but anyone serious about video editing should have a look. Its nearest competitor is Avid, it is a serious bit of kit. It uses a slightly different interface than you'll be used to, but is wonderfully powerful and capable at the price (£0!)

Wow, that sounds really impressive, i will have to recommend that to my friend who is into video editing, cheers!! :rotfl:

paddyrg

cubular wrote: »

Wow, that sounds really impressive, i will have to recommend that to my friend who is into video editing, cheers!! :rotfl:

Indeed it is really impressive, this has more heritage than FCP or any of the other consumer systems, although the interface is a little different (but I expect more traditional interfaces to be designed as time goes by). I'm working on some video tutorials with a buddy in the US - timezones and 3000 miles are slowing us up, but it is absolutely worth downloading the quickstart guide with the software. The system just feels high quality already, although technically it's a beta still, but based on decades of commercial development and optimisation.

It's a huge deal, bigger in some ways than Open Office within the video world...it will be a bit of a game changer I think. And say you use Lightworks, people take you seriously, whereas Vegas or Cyberlink etc are (possibly unfairly) disregarded.

webvideo

Windows movie maker is free for WMV and avi file formats only.
If you want to import any formats files, I suggest try the tool Photo MovieTheater which is easy to use and can burn to DVD. Download from etinysoft.com