Advice on free video editing software

Kinoko · Mon 16/06/2008 12:44:29

I'm just looking to play around a little with some video editing software. Nothing serious yet, so I'm looking for something free. Do you guys have any recommendations?

Candall · Mon 16/06/2008 12:52:40

Blender has a pretty substantial video editor built in.

Nikolas · Mon 16/06/2008 17:55:13

Adobe premiere...

*ahem*... :p

Actually I use this which is quite good, mainly as screencapture, but I do recall having some editing capabilities. And it once was commercial, so... it is rather good to what it is.

Nikolas · Mon 16/06/2008 17:59:03

Also:

http://www.envisageworks.com/website_content/Downloads/programs.html

TwinMoon · Mon 16/06/2008 18:34:01

I was going to mention VirtualDub but the program Nikolas mentioned in his first post looks a lot better.

Oh wait, you can't get it for free anymore

So virtualdub is a good free program (but with a steep learning curve).

Nikolas · Mon 16/06/2008 19:04:35

EDIT:

Damnit! It's out!

Sorry... didn't check the registration link.

evenwolf · Mon 16/06/2008 19:47:33

I don't know anything about free editors. But I've found that Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, and Final Cut are all on an equal playing field. The learning curve is almost exactly the same.

deadsuperhero · Mon 16/06/2008 20:38:58

There's a couple free ones for Linux that I think have Windows ports:

PiTiVi
LiVES
Kino
KDEnlive
Cinelerra
Open Movie Editor

Kinoko · Tue 17/06/2008 04:51:06

Thanks guys! I think I'll check out Virtual Dub for the time being.

jetxl · Tue 17/06/2008 15:20:31

I'm also seeking a new video editor since the one I use is crap (Camtasia).
Anybody know something about http://jahshaka.org/ ?
The editor looks good but slander like this

Quote"We are pleased to announce that the jahshaka project has been liberated from its evil benefactors and is now free to get back to its roots and start building the high end visual effects tools it set out to deliver!"

makes me not trust the software.

Phemar · Tue 17/06/2008 17:18:10

Magix Movie Edit, although not free, is very good and extremely easy to use. Also it's very versatile so you can do a lot of stuff with it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/duckstudios, (some stuff my friend and I have done with it.)

LGM · Tue 17/06/2008 17:20:26

Jahaska looks promising... But the windows version is buggy as hell.

Kinoko · Thu 19/06/2008 11:51:45

Hmm, I'm not sure Virtual Dub is what I'm after, actually.

Specifically, what I'm after is something that can handle, among other things, recording straight from webcam and also creating animation (so, inserting pictures etc).

DazJ · Fri 20/06/2008 17:36:43

You might be better off downloading the full software demos such as Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas etc and building up a better idea of the software that you'd like to use.

InCreator · Fri 20/06/2008 20:10:55

Sony Vegas is powerful and easy to use enough to buy it.

There was a period in my life where I tried almost any better-known video editor available and Vegas raised high above all others. Adobe Premiere and Ulead Videostudio are second best ones. Vegas and Premiere seem to lead the monopoly, and divide the fans. Other programs don't get even close, as much as I've tried.
Ulead seems to be more oriented to beginners and wizard-like approach, but also packs alot of power once you learn to use it.

If you want simple and yet very powerful tool, better rack up some money. I don't believe that there's equal freeware to any of named three.

Kinoko · Sat 21/06/2008 17:17:07

Hmm, okay. Thanks very much for the advice! This was all very useful.

Ishmael · Sat 21/06/2008 17:26:08

Quote from: InCreator on Fri 20/06/2008 20:10:55
Sony Vegas is powerful and easy to use enough to buy it.

Does it still crash every hour or so?

InCreator · Sat 21/06/2008 18:07:46

Crash? I don't know what you're talking about. Video editing is a long, time-consuming process, and I've used it nearly 3 or 4 years, I think. Starting from Vegas 6, and using 8 now. You can imagine how much hours I've spent using this program. In 3 different computers too.

Crashes during all this time?
Zero.

I stuck to Vegas because I needed something that can easily capture video from my MiniDV camera. Vegas autodetects and rips. Premiere had 4- or 5-page wizard to even start capturing, and even then managed to mess the process up somehow. So, lack of random errors and problems is main thing why I use and recommend Vegas. Strange that your post tells exact opposite.

Premiere had some hardcore crashes though, but Adobe software has always been computer-choker. Both hard-disk and processor. Their drawing software (PS2) takes quarter gigabyte. Crappy document format (PDF) reader - 175MB on my computer. nearly 200MB to open up a document, which also opens at a pace that makes me wonder if the specifics of my computer really are what salesman said them to be and not 10 years older in technical sense... So, I'm quite anti-adobe, but if there would be no Vegas, I'd use premiere.

Maybe you tried running it on 286 or simply had some crappy half-installed codecs or something. Nothing to blame on program.

Ishmael · Sat 21/06/2008 18:22:16

A friend of mine, don't know his computer, had it crash constantly atleast in the past. I've used it for a few hours or so (2GB ram, 100GB free disk space, 2.2GHz dual core processor etc. so I doubt it's hardware) and had it crash, lock up or just generally go haywire several times.

Kinoko · Thu 26/06/2008 07:00:53

Okay, I'm thinking of getting one of the big programs soon enough but for a very quick project I want to do...

Is there a free editor which allows me to:

- Record from webcam
- Add music
- Double the speed of the video
- Output as AVI or something that youtube will accept.

Very specific I know! I have a thing I'd like to do today or tomorrow.