So what's a good simple video editing software?

Hi troops-

So I got these Mobius HD movies from my flights at LDRS. I want to edit out several minutes of it sitting on the pad waiting to fly and also the "here's eleven minutes of some blades of grass" stuff I got after landing. Any suggestions for (preferably freeware) editing software?

All I want to do is edit out these long stretches. Nothing fancy.

The files are *.mov format and I run Windows 7, if it matters. Thanks!

-Carl

For short and simple, Windows Movie Maker is free with at least some versions of Windows 7. It starts to bog down and crash if you have larger files. It works fine to edit a single Möbius video though. I also have purchased Power Director for more complicated production. It allows split screen, multiple tracks and audio editing, but can't say it is significantly better than other tools as I have not tried them.

Carl, I am sure there were a few minutes of weeds,reeds, and general swamp type action. For those wondering, I was assisting Carl with getting this rocket on the pad, and in the recovery of it.

To answer the question at hand. Windows Movie Maker might be an option. I have not used the current version so I am not sure if it supports the file format.


Mark Koelsch
Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

Carl, I do not think, after looking into it, that Windows Movie Maker will handle .mov files. I have done a little research and there is a package called Wondershare Video Editor that has gotten some good reviews. Possibly worth a look.






Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum

There is an open source player called VLC available here https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html it will play multiple formats, and you can record with it. So play your video, and record the parts you want to keep. I think you could pause the recorder, fast forward your video, then resume and put all your clips into a single file. It is pretty nifty for converting one format into another.

it also makes nice screen shots from video. you can play DVDs with it, and I found out Sunday you can open up a youtube video with the network stream dialog, record or screen cap youtube videos! i did that to capture the Apollo 11 landing off the CBS broadcast as part of a "while it happened" project over on nasaspaceflight....

rocketguy101 said:

There is an open source player called VLC available here https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html it will play multiple formats, and you can record with it. So play your video, and record the parts you want to keep. I think you could pause the recorder, fast forward your video, then resume and put all your clips into a single file. It is pretty nifty for converting one format into another.

it also makes nice screen shots from video. you can play DVDs with it, and I found out Sunday you can open up a youtube video with the network stream dialog, record or screen cap youtube videos! i did that to capture the Apollo 11 landing off the CBS broadcast as part of a "while it happened" project over on nasaspaceflight....

Click to expand...

I didn't know you could do all that with VLC. Guess I'll have to play around with it a little. I've been using it for years to watch videos and DVDs and such - didn't realize it had capture functionality. Thanks!

I picked up Adobe Premiere Elements this past spring. It has worked well, for me.

-Kevin

I have playing around with the free version of the Youtube video creator, its okay and could be more user friendly- but, you can add audio and breaks . I used the photo /video creator for some stuff I was doing for the P-1 Offshore guys a few weekends ago, Keeping in mind this is only a 480x640 res for the initial video editing-so the pics dont look their best, but it give you an idea. The HD version rocks.

https://youtu.be/BHLcdjnUKNw?list=UUPJF23bN6rNbUf6eZ43mWtA

rocketguy101 said:

There is an open source player called VLC available here https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html it will play multiple formats, and you can record with it. So play your video, and record the parts you want to keep. I think you could pause the recorder, fast forward your video, then resume and put all your clips into a single file. It is pretty nifty for converting one format into another.

Click to expand...

Thanks David, but are you sure VLC lets you 'snip' long chunks of a video it's currently playing and save the snips as a new, continuous video?

I've found the record button (hidden under advanced controls) but it seems to do nothing when I push/release it while playing one of my files. Am I missing something here?

Thanks...

(and thanks to everyone else who replied, unfortunately Windows Movie Maker doesn't like my video card and won't run)

All my vids are done on Wondershare which works tolerably well. It doesn't like big complex editing but would easily do what you want.

If you want to see a relatively complex vid my other half and I did one for my Perseus II -( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgKN6v7PXCI ) that vid takes wondershare to its limits really because it was starting to go a bit weird by the end with bugs showing up that we couldn't get round - mis synched sound etc. Its still great for most stuff. We have the '$' version but it was only about $30 from memory so not really that expensive.

We are planning on getting something a bit more solid later on as we both like messing with videos.

Here's what I use - not freeware - but at about $26 it's cheap for all you get.

-Works with all the file formats.
-Lots of extra bells and whistles.
-does NOT have a steep learning curve.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051M6IPI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

cvanc said:

Thanks David, but are you sure VLC lets you 'snip' long chunks of a video it's currently playing and save the snips as a new, continuous video?

I've found the record button (hidden under advanced controls) but it seems to do nothing when I push/release it while playing one of my files. Am I missing something here?

Thanks...

(and thanks to everyone else who replied, unfortunately Windows Movie Maker doesn't like my video card and won't run)

Click to expand...

Sorry, looks like you are right. I turned on the controls so I have a red record button, but no pause. When I hit it repeatedly, it creates a new video each time. Go to "My Videos" (I think that is the default...) and look for files named "vlc-record-yyyy-mmm-ddd-HHhMMmSSs..."

Astro-Baby said:

All my vids are done on Wondershare which works tolerably well. It doesn't like big complex editing but would easily do what you want.

Click to expand...

I tried Wondershare and couldn't stand it, especially some of the annoying extra junk it wanted to install.

-Kevin

I like VideoPad by NCH. Or is it NHC? Either way it is good software. It comes in various tiers of functionality ... The lightest is fine for my needs. Free trial then it is commercial. Worth the money. Very stable.

I did a lot of research before finally deciding to go with the Cyberlink PowerDirector series (starting way back with v8 years ago) based on features, ease of use, use of GPU hardware acceleration of video rendering, etc.

https://www.cyberlink.com/products/...earch-ca_0_1&gclid=COu67eWF478CFQmraQodlEUAwA

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F2DC1D4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20