Hey does anyone know of a good (and free) video editing program.

What I need :

Decent AVI output with good quality
Record gameplay from a video game
Sound dubbing (will be using Audacity)

I'm a newb, I know nothing about this, and this is only to toy around. But I'm a quality whore and don't want video compression with pixels the size of my pinky.

Well, for recording gameplay I'd use FRAPS. If that slows it down too much (doubtful from what I know of your computer), you can always use the old trick: S-video out from the video card in the gaming computer and into another computer for capturing.

Can't help you much with the other stuff though; I have Premiere for more advanced stuff where I need to do more editing, and I just use Windows Movie Maker for when I need to throw together something really quick (and don't mind WMV output).

Meh the bloody FRAPS program crashes in Oblivion and I don't have another computer handy

Ive been using Cinelerra for some video projects at the office and it works like a charm.

Bah.

That isn't for windows.

Ah I don't use linux

On another notes, I fixed FRAPS. Was a wierd conflict with the record shortcut key

Now to find a good video editing proggie

Besides Cinelerra, there isn't a good free video editing program, unless you want to use VirtualDub, which REALLY isn't meant for "editing" videos, only compressing them. Your best bet might be to use Windows Movie Maker (bleh) and export at the highest quality AVI file you can, then use VirtualDub to compress it.

How much does Premiere go for these days?

lots, $800+ according to their site.

its what i used in college though, i can tell you its awesome.

If possible, find someone with a college discount and get it that way. It's like $200 or less.

If you still can't afford that, try Premiere Elements, although it is pretty limited compared to the full thing.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]If possible, find someone with a college discount and get it that way. It's like $200 or less.

If you still can't afford that, try Premiere Elements, although it is pretty limited compared to the full thing.[/QUOTE]

I'll see if I can just buy it through my company. I'm pretty sure I can pass it unnoticed, seeing as this a big company and why buy adobe software all the time.

Wow, Cinelerra looks awesome. I just compiled it from souce, since they don't have a debian package. (I'm on kubuntu breezy) I can't get it to install. I type sudo make after the compile, but it gives me errors. I don't mean to derail the thread, but what am I doing wrong?

I also couldn't get alien to work on those rpms either.

[edit]
OOOO! Never mind I think I found a binary.
[edit2]
Oh Right! Working. Thanks for spreading the word about it gbk.

Actually, Windows Movie Maker 2 isn't all that bad. It definitely can get the job done, and it can export AVI files. If you have $50, I would recommend VideoFactory 2.0 or MovieBlast.

I looked into a couple of free programs when my father needed one to put together a video he made because the program that came with the digital camera (Ulead Video something) sucked bad. The one I found for Windows was Wax.

Hey jepman... um... don't use premiere. It blows.

This man speaks lies.

Seriously.

Premiere is insanely powerful, and very, very nice. Its only flaw is how it handles DivX (or how it doesn't, really). But just work with it carefully, and use VirtualDub for compression, and it is sweet sweet heaven.

Windows movie maker friggin broke for me and won't fix

premiere rocks .. I used to have it but I got a new computer a couple years ago and uh .. couldn't reinstall it =_=

Yeah right. Premiere is next to useless.

Use Vegas or Avid.

Way to back up an argument. "It just sucks!"

If you're gonna argue that, at least provide some reasoning.

Premiere is a standard almost like PS. Surely there are also people who think PS sucks, but that's hardly a reason to avoid it, when millions use it happily.

There is a reason the first answer usually is Premiere, and it even isn't the same reason why most machines have Windows...

Hahahaha. Premiere is to Final Cut, Avid, and Vegas what Paint Shop Pro is to Photoshop.

It's a lousy program, with minimal features, and virtually no output options.

I mean honestly. Look at what premiere can do. Look at what Final Cut, Avid, and Vegas can do. They're two different tiers of software.

Right, they are.

Premiere is top tier, with Final Cut.

Vegas and Avid are second tier.

Premiere has a multitude of options, actually useful effects (not just OMG PURTY COLORS annoy crap like in Windows Movie Make or Vegas), PLENTY of output options (pretty much all you need, really), a super-intuitive interface, etc.

Final Cut is the only program that can rival it, and unfortunately, its Mac only.

Wanna actually list stuff you don't like next time, Bill?

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Right, they are.

Premiere is top tier, with Final Cut.

Vegas and Avid are second tier.

Premiere has a multitude of options, actually useful effects (not just OMG PURTY COLORS annoy crap like in Windows Movie Make or Vegas), PLENTY of output options (pretty much all you need, really), a super-intuitive interface, etc.

Final Cut is the only program that can rival it, and unfortunately, its Mac only.

Wanna actually list stuff you don't like next time, Bill?[/QUOTE]
Hahahaha! Oh my god! Avid is second tier? You are out of your mind. I love how you put Windows Movie Make(r) and Vegas in the same category. Vegas costs over $800 and was the first non-linear editing software able to use high definition other than Avid, which you have labeled as being "second tier" as well.

The fact of the matter is, by saying Vegas and Avid are second tier, you have discredited anything you have to say. Avid is the most used editing software in the industry, followed by Final Cut Pro, and now that Vegas 6.0 has been released, it'll soon surpass Premiere as well.

Here's how wrong you are. In the animation department of my school, PC is the platform of choice. There's a reason for that. Us Animation Opus is the software of choice, and it has the easiest scanning apparatus of any package. It's PC only. Maya, also, in the 3d department, the platform is PC only.

Both of these departments are in the Time Based department. All video editing is done in Final Cut Pro 5, which as we all know, is a Macintosh program. Want to know why we go through the trouble of switching platforms mid process?

Premiere is cheap, buggy, and lacks features by the boatload. See, in the REAL video world, we like to do a thing called "color correction" and we don't want to have to go through after effects to do that properly since we also don't want to have to re-encode our video files and lose quality.

So unless you shoot perfectly white balanced and exposed video footage (read: you don't) then you need adequate software. This isn't even mentioning the fact that the tool set is rudamentary at best, with the availability of filters, transitions, and anything beyond an archaic text generator being non-existent, Premiere is clearly not the best choice for non-linear editing.

You know those guys in Hollywood? They use avid. Want to know why? It has hardware coupled with it that creates a physical print of the timeline, eliminating the need to digitally encode the footage. Hey... guess what... it looks like it's the only editing software out there that can do that. That's why everyone that has the resources to afford an avid editing suite uses one.

I've used all of the programs. All of them. Avid, FCP, Vegas, and Premiere. Premiere is CRAP!

It's like a half assed mix of Virtual Dub and Windows Movie Maker.

The sad part is, by saying Avid is second tier, you have proved to me that you are thouroughly uneducated. Thouroughly. Wow.

Plus, Final Cut > Premiere


(from my experience)

Odd, because I don't see that same thing happening.



All the colleges/universities here use Premiere, NOT Avid, NOT Final Cut (we even have Mac labs and dont use it), and certainly not Vegas.



The latest version of Premiere has a boatload of color correction settings, a whole freakin window of it. I daresay, where did you get your info, just playing around with it?



The idea is that text would be done in Illustrator (Which is far superior to what any video editing program could provide) and import it into Premiere directly. Arguing that Illustrator isn't as good as these video editing programs will "Automatically discredit anything you say". I'm allowed to do that since you did, right?



That's a big assumption.



Useless banter



More useless banter.



OK.

Yes, MB, this is correct. Of all of the pro/semi-pro NLE software, premiere is actualy dead last as far as quality software goes.

1. Ok. I'm sorry you don't see it happening. Look around.

2. Are you taking "video editing 113" at a local community college? Or did you recieve your training by mail?

3. HOLY ****!!!! A whole window? Where do I sign up to throw money away on Premiere! I'm not impressed.

4. Haha. Wrong again. You wouldn't use a NLE program to do actual text anyway. No NLE program would have anything more for text than a basic text generator.... my point is, Premiere doesn't have anything more than useless features that pale in comparison to those of other editing suites.

Also, bringing graphics and images into After Effects would be a lot smarter for... well... anything....

5. Well under "5" I'll cover the rest of your nonsense. By calling the fact that I have experience using all of the programs "useless banter" you're not making a lot of sense.

Also, by saying Avid is not used in more professional applications than any other NLE is denying the truth. It's a FACT. Not an assumption. Not an opinion. Fact.

You're wrong.

Bill and MB...a film student and a design student several years into college...vs amateur kid in high school. This will turn out well.

Emon, I'm just stating facts, and making comments that can be backed up with evidence and experience.

This differs from CM's approach which seems to be "omg... adobe makes the BEST programs for EVERYTHING!!!"

Bill is right, though exaggerating and lacking tact.

Dude, there's no other way for me to act.

You don't act shocked with a dog licks his own balls do you? That's just how he is.

Looks awesome. Can I grab this with apt-get or do I have to download binaries or source?

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but theres a website called Machinima... it might come in real handy.

Thanks for the tip, Gold. I'm definatly checking that out.

What compressors should I be using in Virtual Dub? It was suggested that I used the Cinepark codec by Radius but I'm getting huge files.

The video is a 1.5 minute trailer at 720x480. Best weight I got yet was at 200mb and that was at 50% quality.

You can, but you have to some sources to your apt sources.list. The ones for my particular linux system are:

ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sid main
http://www.kiberpipa.org/~gandalf/ubuntu/breezy/mjpegtools ./
http://www.kiberpipa.org/~gandalf/ubuntu/breezy/cinelerra/pentium4/ ./

I think the appropriate sources for your system can be found on the cinelerra website. Also, I find that kiberpipa's uptime can be shaky. So just try it the next day if it doesn't work right away.

Hmmm... I don't know but you could try the microsoft 2.1 mbps codec, but I think thats for WMV only, not sure. Mpeg is a good format, but if you want .avi, try divx.

I mean to stick this on putfile.com or youtube.com, will divx compression be allowed on there?

Whats the best format for youtube/putfile anyways?

Note to everyone : Yes I'm asking dumb questions, but I am a video editing newb, first time I even this stuff.

Mpeg - 4 encoding is the only way to fly.

well... take your 200mb file, import it into win movie maker and then save the movie file as .wmv, that should work.

Is there some place I should be downloading that codec, because I don't have that option in either VDub or Premiere.