OK, I'm trying to find a good or even decent video editing program that doesn't cost and arm and a leg. I have just a few videos on my computer that I want to edit and cut into smaller pieces and the slice the pieces together. I managed to find a free prgram that I can use to cut videos into smaller clips but it won't splice the clips together and to be honest it sucks because most of the time it screws up the sound in the clips it makes. Someone let me use their really expensive editing program and it worked great but I don't want to spend that kind of money on something that I will rarely use. I only have 3 full length porn movies (where I want to cut out all of the bad acting and get right to the good stuff! lol) and a couple webcam vids that I want to use the program for. Anyone have any suggestions??

Try VirtualDub. Free, works great, lots of add on filters. I use it a lot even though I have Adobe Premier.

Hello Zapper469,

i am using Pinnacle Studio 9.4 for making DVD´s with animated Menue´s and editing videos.
Now there´s a higher and even better Version of this Programm available, the version 11...
This Programm isn´t much expensive, is easy to use and works solid and fast.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Home/

If you want it a little bit more professional there´s Ulead Media Studio Pro the best choice.
This Programm offers same features like much more expensive Programs for a really good price.

http://www.ulead.com/msp/runme.htm

I use both programs since many years, and it works great...


kind regards from good old germany

I have a Matrox RT2500 capture card (gettin' a little long in the tooth now as it's 4 years old or so) and I use Adobe Premiere (v6.1) for editing (bought at the same time as the card). Note: neither the card nor the program are cheap. I paid a couple grand for this card and the program. Premiere is one kick-ass relatively easy to use program, though. I have a great tutorial video that came it. It's now know as Adobe Premiere Pro and the newest incarnation is coming out on July 1st, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3

I'm not a tech expert, but someone who edits a lot told me about Avidemux. It's free and easy to use, and seems to give good results.

 http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

If your file is an AVI file there is a free trimmer called AVItrimmer.

It works only for AVI files and, as the name tells it, it is a trimmer not an editor.

It is very fast, efficient and light. I use it to cut chunks out of a movie.

If I downloaded a 90 minutes movie (about 800 Mb) and want to keep only 2 different scenes, I use it to cut everything before and after each scene and get 2 files of about 150 MB each.
Then I used the Movie Maker to edit a bit more precisely because it sucks on big files (and on a lot of other things too) but it is free and it's enough for my non-professional needs.

SolveigMM Avi trimmer
http://www.solveigmm.com/?Products&id=AVITrimmerCOM

For simple edition (cut by frame + add filters): Virtualdub +avisynth

For a more pro edition (add transitions, HQ effects, work with virtual clips, work with several audio & video tracks...): Ulead MSP or Premiere Pro

Or you can use both, make the hard wotk on MSP, Premiere and serve the timeline through DebugMode FrameServer to Virtualdub or TMPGEnc for encoding.

A good DVD Author for me is DVD-lab PRO 2 (www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/dvdlabpro.html) and is really cheap considering all the advance features that offer.

These are all good suggestions. TGB_72.

Personnally my needs are limited so I like to stick with free softwares.

I read a lot about VirtualDub and tried it, but this software is the most complicated one to understand that I have ever seen (al least complicated for me). I get discouraged very rapidly and never managed to do anything. I really prefer more userfriendly softwares, specially that I am not very good with computer stuff.

There is now a software baesd on VirualDub that is called VirtualDubMod. It is supposed to do the same things but a bit easier.

Did you hear about it ?

Thanks.

Yes I use it since long time ago, first of all VirtualDubMod is based on VirtualDub source code, in fact is like some kind of VirtualDub on esteroids, meaning that it support additional input/output formats and containers (mpeg2, ac3, dts, mkv, ogm...) and it have a few other cool features.

The interface of VirtualDubMod is the same one of Virtualdub, so if you found yourself lost with VirtualDub probably it will happen the same or even worst (due to the additional features) with VirtualdubMod. Plus VirtualDubMod has not been updated since 2005 so it's based on an old buggy version of VirtualDub.

I've to tell you that VD is one of the most easiest free editors out there, it's not big deal paddy111;

- You run the prog an open or drop in VD the avi or mpeg file that you want to edit (you could import any file format and do lot of other cool things if you learn avisynth scripting)

- Then you can navigate the movie frame by frame or by keyframes (use the controls)

- The edition is simple, set the portion of the video that you want to remove (for example comercials) using the "start/end point" and press delete. Do the same as many time as you need, then select in the menu video "full procesing mode".
If you want to apply some filter (resize, deinterlace, color adjustments... go to "video=>filters=>add).

-Select in video=>compresion the codec that you want to use to encode the output video (xvid, divx, huffyuv...) and set the parameters of the codec (passes, bitrate, matrix...). If you want to recompress the audio too then go to audio=>compresion and select the audio codec & bitrate (for example: mp3 128kbps)

- Once you have the video edited, filters applyed (if needed) and output setting configured (audio & video codecs) go to "File=>save as" and save it. Done.

This is a simple/fast description of how to edit quickly a video. My recomendation is that if you're totally newbie on this (meaning that even the most common terms used in video editing are unknown to you) look for help, tutorials and faqs in forums like doom9 or digital-digest.

For a "1, 2, 3" DVD to other formats my favorite GUI (that also use avisynth, VDMod and besweet among other great softs) is Staxrip.

Hope that this help you, regards.

seablonde:

I'm not a tech expert, but someone who edits a lot told me about Avidemux. It's free and easy to use, and seems to give good results.

 http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

Zapper, if you just want to cut out parts of a movie, Avidemux is simple for that (and it's not just for .AVI, almost all formats too). You just scroll through the movie until you find the beginning of the clip you want to make, and mark it [A. Then you scroll or play to where you want it to end, and mark it B]. Then, click Save, name the file, and it's done in about 30 seconds. (At the beginning, if it prompts you to do stuff, I just say Yes usually, and wait for it to do that before proceeding.) It's all simple, especially for a tech dummy like me. PM me if you need anything or better yet, post here, this thread is bookmarked.