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Video editing/conversion software?


Steve Dold

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I've been taking some videos with my Canon SD-450 that are stored in .AVI (Quicktime) format. A ten-second video that's 30 fps, 640X480 is something like 20 megabytes.

I noticed that the "Lifted" video on the Swoard/Extremecarving site is only about 15 MB and is a much longer video, but the quality still looks good. I think it's an MPEG file, but I'm not familiar with the MPEG (or any other) formats. I assume it's smaller because it's compressed.

Do you guys recommend any software I could use to make these AVI files smaller? It would also be great if they didn't rely on Quicktime to run. I assume I want MPEG-something?

Thanks! - Steve

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For beginner Window users Windows MovieMaker is easy and free solution to create easy films for internet. Quality depends only from bitrate selected.

You can also select size of file you want to create and sw selects bitrate for that. I prefer using wmf for net distribution due it is easy for users and quality is good, all our films in flegmatic side are on wmf format.

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I just started editing videos myself on my computer. A friend gave me a copy of Pinnacle's Studio 7, and after trying it I went and bought the new version (Studio 10) at the store. Its a bit pricey, $49 after a rebate if you buy it before the end of Jan, but it is really powerful and easy to use. You can download from your video recorder in DV(avi) format, or directly in MPEG/MPEG2 if you want to save space. It is drag and drop for editing the entire movie, and that includes vid clips, stills, title scenes, music. Once done it gives you the option of saving it in any or multiple formats as well. I was advised to save it to the HD in avi format, but the current standard on DVD's is MPEG2 and it saves a ton of space and you can upload it or burn to DVD or CD at that point. Pretty cool stuff, but pricey.....however, I have about 20 hours of video of my kid that the wife wants on DVD so for me it will be worth it.

Dang....must be typing with all thumbs today..had to do some serious editing :)

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Sorry bout that, it looks that MovieMaker is only for XP :eek:

I dont use it anymore cause i switched to Vegas, but if you have short time need then most of packages work free for 30 days even the more pricey ones :)

but be aware that if you use real good (and expencive) one, then when you have constant need, you are in troble :ices_ange

But note also that if you film with dv-cam you need firewire card to transfer film to pc and most card come with quite good free of charge older version of video editing sw.

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Dang, yep, it's only for XP.

I have another computer running SuSE Linux 9.3, maybe GNU has something.

So far I haven't done anything with DV, only my Canon digital camera. I do have a thing made by Dazzle that I used to use to take NTSC video and convert to digital, I think it might have been MPEG. Maybe something came with that.

It's a lot of fun taking these videos, I should finally get a real video camera and pitch my old 8mm camera. I like the vids some of you guys have made, like Dave's Mt. Bachelor one.

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Well, I said it was pricey at $49 because most of my friends look for the free thning first and foremost. I actually paid $170 becasue I got the version that included the PCI firewire and punchout boards and has HD editing(only 720p and 1080i, no 1080p yet). If you already have the firewire port you can get the barebones software for $79 with a $30 mail in rebate. :biggthump

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Timinor filmed all that, sent me a DVD, and then I used google to find a DVD ripper...ripped to Divx (which I believe is full bandwidth, not sure...I do music not vid) then converted to .wmv (smaller file size) and used MovieMaker to add the music and do the effects and stuff.

I have a music prog called Cubase SX that will do video but Im sure it is pretty rudimentary

Sonic Foundry VEGAS is supposed to be sick, too...

maybe just google for "video conversion" or "video editor" or something along those lines.

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Steve

Going back to initial question. The two ways you can make avi files smaller is either DiVX encoder, or Windows Media Encoder (i.e. wmv - which if you set for progressive download works great for the web).

Some editing software will enable you to export files in different formats if you load certain codecs into the system.

I would recomend getting both encoders plus QuickTime Pro which does a nice job in converting mpeg4, QT, into avi/dv stream and back.

When it comes to editing software ...at home I use Avid Xpress Pro HD which is a great software that doesnt cost that much when you consider its capabilities. (ProHD ~$2500, and SD/DV ~$1500).

Avid also makes nice free software - Avid Free DV. Works with any DV camcorder/deck that has firewire. It is fully functional but (if i remember right) is limited to only 2 vid tracks and 2 layers. You also get 10 or 15 effects (no cheezy wedding video effects:))

The only editing software that I know of that runs on Linux is Discreet's Smoke, but the price tag on a complete system is ~$15K. I'm pretty sure that there are other programs I just don't know of any:(

New Vegas (even though I havent had the chance to see it in person) looks very nice, and new feature (vectroscope/waveform, keyframes, basic color correction,and HDV editing) make it look finally like an editing software and not like ACID's older brother.

$trider if you want to work with HD/HDV footage I would get a better software and fast computer with plenty of disk space :))

-matt

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I'm always surprised when I read about video editing software and some suggest pricey software. I don't do much video editing, but for avi, there are plenty of free software. If you want to only reduce the file size, use divx and virtualdub. If you want more possibilities, there are plenty of other free software that will do the job. Your starting point should be http://www.doom9.net/ they have lots, if not not too much information on video editing/conversion.

For Linux, there is Cinerella, but that may be much, but there are other, I would need to dig up the name and links.

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Derf, there is a huge difference between the pricey software and the software you get for free (it's not even like comparing paint and photoshop). We could disscus whats pricey for video software but it could turn out that it depends on how you look at it :) Nowdays the $1500 video software has capabilities of $100,000 software from 10yrs ago, so it doesn't seem like much for what you get:).

I would not suggest anybody buys a software for $1000 if they are just gonna resize, make few simple cuts, and add fades - for that there is plenty of free software ....starting with moviemaker and ending with something that actually looks like video editing soft - Avid Free DV.

I feel that it is best to put everything together/cut it in a decent software and then look for ways of converting it the way you need it.

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We used Sorenson Squeeze software.. its a bit like the swiss knife of video conversion: does batch too ( get many conversion format for same clip ) render at once... It uses the great sorenson coded for good quality despite small size ( QT format)...Many web agencies use squeeze to get videos ready for CD roms or websites.

On a tighter budget, QT ( quicktime) pro is awsome and powerfull, and uses the same sorenson codec.

Nils

NB: we edited and produced all our movies on mac or pc using Imovie ( free ) or Vegas Video software on the PC. Imovie has a few flaws ( not good slow motion) but is quick as hell ( extremecarving and stoked were done on imovie)

and the other were done with Vegas Video.

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We use an Avid Xpress Pro, and a Media 100 for our video work.

I also highly recommend the Avid DV Free software mentioned earlier.

It may take a bit of training to get the basics of video editing,

but it is very powerful software considering the price.

Once the video is captured, we use Autodesk "Cleaner" for encoding video for web. Kinda pricey -retail is like $600 but it's one of the best/fastest I've ever worked with. Cleaner 6 (For Mac) or CleanerXL 1.5 (PC)

For web formats, I prefer the Mpg1 or Mpg4.

.avi's with Divx work well also as well as long as the viewer isn't put-off by

downloading the extra software/codec.

.wmf has a pretty nice quality, but I've never been too fond of it because of playback in Windows media player - Quicktime's biggest strength for me was having the ability to "scrub" through the video or step through frames using the arrow keys. (I have begun using this technique with our snowboarding team to provide riders with video feedback.)

~Karl

Computer Animator / G-team Race Coach

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