Help Video editing software for Windows 7

[DaveC426913]

I need to do some editing of videos I've got in .VOB format from a minicam.

I need to do the usual fading, video marking in and out, and inclusion of still slides.

One of the more sophisticated things it looks like I need to do is to crop dynamically over time (i.e. crop the video down to half-screen but be able to follow a speaker walking around on-stage) so that I can put the speaker up along with their slide show.

I'd like to get some recommendations for video editing software. This is for Windows 7, needs to be free or cheap (<$99).

I tried 'Video Spirit Pro' but it has some serious shortcomings.

Suggestions?

 

[NobodySpecial]

You can get windows movie maker - it's still free but it's been moved to the windows-live downloads.

For simple editing and format conversion I use virtualdub or avidemux (both opensource).
For complex conversion you can use this with avisynth - a scripting language for video streams

 

[DaveC426913]

If this is going to be burned to DVD, what format should I be outputting my files to?

I want to avoid multiple generations of conversion. From source to final to DVD.

So it's not necessarily about what format they'll be in when on the actual DVD, I'm asking if there's an intermediate format for the final files on my HD before I burn them to DVD. I don't think I want to burn my editing project directly to DVD.

 

[NobodySpecial]

If you have lots of HD space then just saving uncompressed (ie YUV420) is best.
I think the windows stores stuff in it's own format. But normally the editors will just store a list of points in the original files to cut and it works from those.

Final format on the DVD is Mpeg2 but you need some software to make the VOB files etc

 

[DaveC426913]

If you have lots of HD space then just saving uncompressed (ie YUV420) is best.

Do most video editing suites save to this format? A quick Google hints that this is a very rare format to be used in the editing process.

Any idea how much storage ~10 hours of uncompressed video will use?

I think the windows stores stuff in it's own format. But normally the editors will just store a list of points in the original files to cut and it works from those.

Right well, that simply means I keep the video editing projects around until aready to burn directly to the DVD. I don't trust that, but if it works...

And it's more than cutting. I've got to dovetail video, audio and slides.

Final format on the DVD is Mpeg2 but you need some software to make the VOB files etc

? Why do I need to make VOB files?

VOB files are what I'm starting with, true, but if I'm outputting to uncompressed, then burning to MPEG, where does VOB fit in?

 

[DaveC426913]

You can get windows movie maker - it's still free but it's been moved to the windows-live downloads.

For simple editing and format conversion I use virtualdub or avidemux (both opensource).
For complex conversion you can use this with avisynth - a scripting language for video streams

Hm. I don't think this is going to be simple. The horrific job of recording I did (camera moving, speaker moving) suggests that I've got a lot of post work to do. (see diagram)

 

[Pianoman14]

How about Sony Vegas + DVD Architect? It does a great job of editing audio as well.

 

[waht]

Check out the AVS:

http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Editor.aspx

It costs about $60, and will give you peace of mind.

 

[NobodySpecial]

Do most video editing suites save to this format?

It's the color space that mpeg is based on - before the compression - but only takes up 1/2 the space of raw RGB.

VOB files are what I'm starting with, true, but if I'm outputting to uncompressed, then burning to MPEG, where does VOB fit in?

If you just want to save avi files on a data DVD for a computer to read you don't - but if you want to make a video DVD then you need to make the DVD structure.

 

[DaveC426913]

If you just want to save avi files on a data DVD for a computer to read you don't - but if you want to make a video DVD then you need to make the DVD structure.

OK, but I don't understand the relationship between VOB and MPEG2.

 

[DaveC426913]

Check out the AVS:

http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Editor.aspx

It costs about $60, and will give you peace of mind.

I will definitely check that out. I saw a download but did not see a $ or a way to pay. Maybe after I download?

 

[NobodySpecial]

OK, but I don't understand the relationship between VOB and MPEG2.

MPEG2 is the compression algorithm, it just contains the image pixels.

You then need a container format that tells the player the image size, frames per second etc and combines any audio or subtitle tracks. That's the .avi or .mp4 (or .wmv, .ogg, .mkv ...) wrapper.

On a DVD video disk the audio, video, subtitle data is contained in VOB (video object) files along with a separate IFO file that describes the format.