Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and editing

Video edit to include only action parts

ben5757 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:41:12 -0800

What is the easiest way to edit a video file to only include the footage when there is movement in a defined area?

Video-Editing for Dummies!

newfers — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:39:04 -0800

I'd like to make a presumably simple video in the style of a series of opening credits for a tv show. What's my cheapest way to do it, and how? I am attempting to make a short video for friends, and my idea is to have a 1-minute video playing and at 4 points during the video, a photo appears in the center of the video, with the friend's name underneath.
Each pic appears briefly, disappears (or twirls or shrinks, whatever - doesn't need to be anything special)... and then the next pic appears, until all 4 are done. It's kind of like a series of badly done opening credits.

Before I go ahead and purchase Premiere Elements, is there another easier or cheaper method to do this very thing, and if so, can you give very basic instructions? The only media I will be using will be the video clip and 4 image files to be placed within the video as it plays.

I use a PC primarily, but also have a MacBook Pro, so if iMovie can do this, I'd be happy, but I don't see the option as I played with the program. I'd prefer a PC solution, or a platform agnostic solution.

Can I recreate Pixar (tm) in my basement?

tropikal — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:31:43 -0800

When it comes to editing and producing video, is it the CPU or the GPU the makes all the difference? I've read many different things and I work with video all the time and it seems that CPU power is what makes the difference when doing final processing and transcoding. Only GPU stuff is the GUI during editing. Rest after... The main reason I ask is, right now I use a 2.O Ghz Core 2 Duo Think pad, works fine but not great, and if CPU is the best way to process then would I be able to use something like an old IBM xSeries say this or maybe this Both of which are a lot cheaper than a "real" desktop PC or Mac and have more processing power to boot. I can deal with the size, and make mods for fan noise. Just not sure if it would actually work. Anyone actually do this? Know of someone IRL who has, maybe a link?

r/e/m/i/x/t/h/i/s/v/i/d/e/o

nitsuj — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:41:27 -0800

Okay, so how are people making those video remixes that are ever so popular right now? I can see it happening a few different ways:

1) They rip the original video from YouTube and pull it into Final Cut or whatever, and edit the sound bites and video with the music (made in some other program, presumably).
2) They rip the video from YouTube and bring the audio only into an audio/music program, and then re-edit the video to match the audio.
3) Some other way I'm not thinking?

What software are people using?

clip my clips

sandra_s — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:40:42 -0800

Possibly NSFW links. I need to make preview clips of a LOT of video files. What can I do to take existing WMV and/or MPG files and chop out say 10 seconds for a preview...Automatically. I have about 500 video files ranging in time length from one minute to 30 minutes.

Ideally, I'd like to take the 2 seconds of each file from the 20% mark, 40% mark, 50% mark, 60% mark and 80% mark so I have a 10 second "preview" clip of the entire clip.

Anyone know a program that can do this or something similar automatically? I'd even go for something that would let me pick any 10 second linear chunk in the video.

One other thing, all of these clips are adult in nature and total several dozen GB, so uploading them to an online service is not feasible.

TIA

How can I add annotation/text overlay to a video clip, in order to draw attention to items within the clip? Something a little more advanced than YouTube's annotation system, though.

newfers — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:45:42 -0800

I would like to add text annotations and other information to a video clip, as it plays. Other than the very basic YouTube method, is there any other way? I have a short video clip taken this past weekend, at a large camping event. In the video, I was flying in a helicopter over our camping area. I'd like to annotate the video, maybe freeze it briefly as it plays, circle our campsite with an onscreen marker of some sort, perhaps even add small ground-based pics of our site, superimposed over the video briefly.

Can anyone please give me any suggestions on which software might best help me accomplish this task? The cheapest software options are best, but I'm more interested in the best, PC-based software for the job, at any cost.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions on how to accomplish these tasks (in general terms, of course - not expecting a full tutorial!), I'd appreciate your efforts...

Video Editing Software for Travel Videos

mary8nne — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:42:13 -0800

Can anyone suggest a simple Non-Linear Video Editing Software for Windows XP? One that can accept and output variety of Formats. For editing together Videos (MJPG) taken on a Canon Digital photo Camera. I've been messing around recording a few travel videos on my Canon Isus Camera which seems to take 640x480 MJPG Video (30fps). I thought it might be fun to Edit some together and add music tracks to them (and remove the current sound track where is it just wind noise).

Its not really a serious endeavour so looking for cheap / freeware editing apps for Win XP.

I've tried Windows Movie Maker but it will only allow export as DV (huge files) or this .wmv (WMV9 proprietrary format?) and is a bit chunky - but I did like the graphic time-line you get with WMM compared to the editing in the dark of AVIdemux.

How can I stop iMovie from stretching out my iPhone videos?

chinese_fashion — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:59:23 -0800

How can I stop iMovie from stretching out my iPhone videos? I just got the new iPhone 3gs, specifically for the video function. And the vids look great, with this one exception: when I import into iMovie for a little editing, iMovie automatically rescales the video to fit the window, making everyone look all squat and wide and effing up the playback speed.

How can stop this from happening? I'd be fine with the requisite black bars on either side of the thing, just to keep the aspect ratio right.

I'm a pretty low-knowledge noob to video editing in general, iMovie's as far as my skills go. If anyone can suggest another (hopefully) free program or workaround, please please do.

Thanks!

"Rotate image 90 degrees" for VIDEO?

rexruff — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:42:40 -0800

Is there software that will "rotate image 90 degrees" for VIDEO ? Y'know how basic digital still cameras do video now? (Canon Powershot A590) Well, I was doing video and turned the camera on its side to grab a tall shot, like a dummy, as if it was a still. So now my video is on its side. Do you know of any video transfer software that will rotate my (one particularly beloved) video ninety degrees counter-clockwise?

I know, I know, laugh all you want....

Final Cut Nightmare

drjimmy11 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:24:38 -0800

Final Cut Nightmare I have a movie of my own on DVD and in the form of an ISO file. Yes, really, my movie, I made it a few years ago, then lost the original footage and Final Cut project.

I'm trying to cut it up into clips in Final Cut and upload it to the web. This is JUST A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.

Things I tried:
1) installing handbrake on the Mac. Just doesnt work at all. Software doesn't work.
2) installing Mac the Ripper on the Mac. This utterly worthless piece of software seems to only want a disc, not an ISO. it does not acknowledge my burnt DVD in the drive.
3) installing Handbrake on the PC, ripping with various codecs, transferring to the Mac. After a bunch of tries I found one that sort of works. However, the file, which is only 300mb or so, when imported into Final Cut is unusable. Won't play back, can barely do anything at all without a beach ball. This is on a Quad core Intel Mac pro with 8gb of RAM.

is there anything I can do to make this awful experience better? Is there some format i can rip the ISO to that will actually work? Is there another program, for PC or Mac, that can simply snip bits out of a long video clip, and that's it? Anything, please please please.

Video editing n00b

gnutron — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:08:47 -0800

Please recommend a free, reliable program that will allow me to crop and edit .mp4 videos. I have a Sanyo Xacti that takes video in .mp4 format. I am looking for a free, reliable program that will allow me to crop these video clips. Other editing features could be nice, too - although I imagine trimming the beginning and ends off of clips will be the primary task.

I'll be using DVD Flick to create .iso files for burning. Programs that allow me to edit the clips and create isos would be worth considering, too.

How to import AVI video files in Adobe Premiere Pro?

meta.mark — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:41:22 -0800

When I import an AVI video file I recorded on a Canon digital camera to Adobe Premiere Pro, it only shows up as a still picture with audio. Why does it do this and how can it be solved? We are creating a music video as a school project and we need Premiere to add effects. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

70s style character intro freeze-framey thingie?

drjimmy11 — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:32:24 -0800

70s style character intro freeze-framey thingie? I need some examples (ideally on Youtube) of a technique used in film to introduce characters. it's kind of like the intros from Trainspotting, where there's a freezeframe with the character's name printed on it.

Except that there's also colorization on the freezeframe. I'm thinking of this kind of 70s style where the background goes to a solid color, there's a thick, usually white border around the character, who himself stays in normal color (or is maybe colorized too). I want to say it's been used in martial arts films, but I could be off on that.

Does this make sense to anyone? I'm pretty sure this exists and I have not hallucinated it. Any links to video would be fantastic!

thanks!!

What graphics card do I need?

drjimmy11 — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:35:18 -0800

What graphics card do I need? I am doing some fairly advanced video editing on my Intel Mac Pro tower (about 2 years old). i thought I had the setup I needed- quad core, 8gb RAM, eSATA external drives.

But I'm getting an error message, specifically calling out my graphics card as not being able to render certain effects with the "size and depth of video" I'm using. In addition, I would like to be able to use my Oleva flatscreen tv as an external monitor, and cannot currently do so due to lack of compatible outputs from the computer.

Is there a card i can buy that will solve both these problems? Also, do I replace the current card, or just add a new one in an empty slot? I know a fair bit about computers, but my ignorance of graphics cards is almost total.

thanks!

Online video editing

mrunderhill — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:28:24 -0800

Is there a web based video editor that can upload directly to youtube? I'd like to run a simple video editing contest on my website. Is there a way for people to edit videos online without using desktop software?

Thanks!

HD animated maps for video?

nitsuj — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:54:58 -0800

What's the easiest way to create HD-quality (1080x) animated maps for use with video? iMovie '09 has the nifty little map feature, but I use Final Cut Express and don't want to plunk down the extra cash for another editor. Is there a similar -- perhaps a bit more professional and detailed -- solution for creating animated maps for importing into Final Cut Express?

Ideally this would be a standalone program that creates the maps and outputs them into a format that is easily ingested by Final Cut Express.

(Other details: Final Cut Express 4, OSX.5.6, 2.4GHZ MBP + 4gb RAM)

Video editing for a ten year old?

lee — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:46:50 -0800

What's a simple to use, inexpensive or free video editing software (PC/Win XP) for a ten year old? He makes these movies, that I love, mostly by himself and is very frustrated that he can't edit them. He uses a Canon powershot digital camera that records AVI files 320 X 240. I know, he should really get a mac, til then what could he use? He has tried Windows Movie Maker and his ten year old self was not impressed. Thanks

Video Card for AVCHD editing

Eiwalker — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:16:32 -0800

Would a video/graphics card allow me to be able to edit my avchd (.mts) files from my new Canon HF100 camcorder? When I try to play my files, a lot of frames get skipped. They play at about 2 frames per second, skipping all the rest. Nor can I edit.

Worse: the Canon ImageMaker 3 software that came with the camera has the option of burning straight from the camera to a DVD, but when I try this option the application goes into "not responding" mode.

My rig is Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz, 4GB ram, no video card. But the ImageMaker 3 software says you can burn to a DVD with a Pentium 4 1.49 Ghz, 512GB ram, and sound card compatible with DirectSound. So maybe I just need a cheap sound card to be able to do that.

To play or edit, you need at least a Pentium D 3.0 Ghz cpu or an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 Ghz cpu, and a sound card compatible with DirectSound. A cheap sound card would meet the sound standard. But what about my having a Pentium 4 instead of a Pentium D? Do I need a better cpu, or can I make up for the deficiency by getting the right video card? I'm poor. Might this $26 card do the trick?

Here are the specs:
Model
Brand GIGABYTE
Model GV-R435OC-512I
Form Factor Low Profile
Interface
Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16
Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer ATI
GPU Radeon HD 4350
Core clock 650MHz
Stream Processors 80 Stream Processing Units
Memory
Memory Clock 800MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 64-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 10.1
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0
Ports
HDMI 1
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
General
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2560 x 1600
Cooler With Fan
Dual-Link DVI Supported Yes
HDCP Ready Yes
Packaging
Package Contents GV-R435OC-512I
Driver Disk
User's Manual
L-P Bracket

Editing Software for HD Video?

not_on_display — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:33:54 -0800

Looking for software with which I can read and edit raw .m2ts video files and later export them as mpeg/avi/whatever. I recently bought a Canon Vixia HF-100 videocamera. It saves the video on an SDHC card as .m2ts files. I'd like to be able to manipulate and edit the raw files without first having to convert them into another format, figuring there would be loss of quality in the conversion. (Is quality loss even an issue? It shoots in nice-quality HD.)

I have a Mac and a PC; the PC has a much better video card, so I'd prefer to use that. Windows Movie Maker does not recognize m2ts files. I don't have the iLife suite on the Mac, so no iMovie.

I would more likely lean toward freeware or open-source software, but I am not above piracy, arrrr. (...unless editing suites are inexplicably cheap to buy.)

Thanks!

Challenging Video Editing Software for PC Question

noir — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:56:42 -0800

Challenging Video Editing question: If I wanted to take video from a multiple number of different sources (off DVD's or maybe Blue-Ray) and produce a single video from those sources (say each video has its own quarter of the screen), which editing tool(s) would be best to perform these tasks? Software must be PC. By best, I mean: * relatively simple to learn, * open source, or relatively inexpensive * produces good quality, quad-screen videos in high enough resolution to look good on typical home televisions, not just computer screens. *Makes it easy to add your own music tracks or soundtrack, or it can use audio from any of the 4 videos as well, preferably both.

I'm trying to edit a home video before uploading it to Utube and the sound quality sucks.

dthm42 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:47:05 -0800

I recorded it using the web cam on my HP Touchsmart PC and the playback makes a distorted, squelch sound every time there is a loud part in the video. What's the best way to keep the original soundtrack, but remove the feedback noise? Also, is there a way to adjust the recording levels to improve audio on future projects?

Efficient video editing workflow starting from a DVD.

jedicus — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:46:46 -0800

How can my video editing workflow be more efficient and avoid time-consuming conversion between formats? Part of my job involves taking videos of presentations and uploading them to our project website. My current workflow (on a unibody MacBook) looks something like this:

1. Rip DVD to mpeg-4 using HandBrake. This typically takes twice realtime.
2. Import mpeg-4 into iMovie '08. This typically takes 9-10x realtime.
3. Perform minor edits, almost always just removing silence or presentations that are not ours.
4. Export to mpeg-4. This typically takes 11-12x realtime.
5. Convert to FLV using ffmpegx. This also takes a pretty long time.

The presentations are usually about an hour long, which makes this process take about a full day. Clearly the conversion times are killing me. What techniques or different programs do I need to make this workflow go faster? Note that I have no choice but to start with a DVD video and end with FLV, but the intermediate steps are open to change.

How much should I charge for video editing?

burhan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:03:53 -0800

How much should I charge to create a promo video for a friend? I've been ask to edit footage to create a short promo video for a friend of mine who is a professional performer. She has all the video she wants me to use, and is content to have me use my Mac to produce a final product. Our market in Calgary is such that video production companies are not taking 'small' jobs from people as the demand from oil and gas, as well as other markets have

I am not a professional by any means, but am extremely proficient in video editing. The footage has already been shot, so it looks like some straightforward work.

I expect the video to be about 10min long when done, and will require going through 3 hours of her footage.

Obviously, the general rule of thumb (1hr per min of video) may not apply, as I didn't generate the video and as such have no idea what there is, and since it's not 'my vision'.

What is a fair rate to charge given I am not a professional?

With thanks!

What video editing software is best for me?

nitsuj — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:42:29 -0800

What video editing software is best for me? I've got a Macbook Pro (2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, OSX.5.5), and I'm looking to edit HD video (from this camera). I'm fairly new to the Mac, but on Windows I was very proficient in Adobe Premiere. I've never worked with HD.

Looking through the Apple site, I see a bunch of different versions of Final Cut (Pro, Express, Express HD, etc) and I'm not sure which, if any, would be good for me -- considering I'm a Premiere guy. Is there anything about Final Cut that would make me want to switch to it in my situation?

Also: Does my Mac have the specs to edit HD footage well?

I'm doing prosumer level work -- nothing too fancy.

Not Getting Famous on YouTube

tmcw — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:24:55 -0800

I have a song I composed / recorded / etc. I'd like to make simple video by cutting together fragments of public-domain films with this song. I have a MacBook. How to get to point B? iMovie is crashing on every import. iMovie seems to crash every time I open the "Import Movie" dialog. Not a sign of quality software.

I don't want to spend much/any money on this. I've tried writing a quick app in Processing.org to do this, but the movies I'm working with are 100-200MB mpg files, and that fills up Java's heap very, very quickly - I can't imagine throwing FFT analysis on top of that.

Are there are any open-source or cheap applications that allow fairly basic video editing capabilities like this? Anything possibly designed for VJs or very nonlinear editing like this will be? I'm a little miffed that there hasn't been an obvious, slick answer to this like there has been for 99% of my mac artsy-software needs.

Thanks for any help!