Video editing

I have seen some pretty stupid things on the road this year. It'll only get better worse when the snow hits. To capture these idiots on the road I have a dash cam. I've tried a small assortment of video editing programs and have met with little success making a compilation of clips. The problem is the user, not the program. I'm looking for the most basic, stupid-proof, meat&'taters editing program you may know of. Any help you can offer is appreciated.

If Windows Movie Maker won't work for you, try Fake Webcam - Play video as webcam, apply effects on webcam.. Really simple, really basic. Does not do fancy stuff, but what it does do, it does well, and pretty easily.

Edit: ignore the link text, just go to it for Kate's.

This works well -- VLC

These links are also handy...

Car Cam Central

Dash Cam Talk

Redress said:

If Windows Movie Maker won't work for you, try Fake Webcam - Play video as webcam, apply effects on webcam.. Really simple, really basic. Does not do fancy stuff, but what it does do, it does well, and pretty easily.

Edit: ignore the link text, just go to it for Kate's.

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Requires registration and Facebook 'like'.

So I pick a movie clip, and....



...so I'm looking for like an 'execute' button, or a 'format' button, or basically anything to tell it that that's the file so go ahead and do it's thing so I can edit the file. It's just sitting there. I'm clicking through the other tabs and not seeing what it wants me to do to get to a window where I can edit.

So I click 'preview' thinking that'll run the movie and maybe open a useful window, when it give me this:



I don't know what that means, or what it expects me to do about it. It couldn't do something. Got it. If this was someone at work I would hand them a tape measure and say "go get it, then". Is there a "now go do what I told you and quit being a whiny bitch" button somewhere or....

Simpleχity;1065253519 said:

This works well -- VLC

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Ok I'm not seeing where to even begin with this one. I got a file to open, and it played. I didn't want it to play, I wanted to edit. I tried using the button on the bottom while it played and it closed the whole movie. I'm not seeing any kind of 'import file' button or such.

The 'Help' menu wanted to talk about formats. I just want to know how to get started. If there's a how-to-use section in Help, I failed to see it.

The editor I've met the most success with so far is Movavai. By "most success" I mean using it is fairly stupid-proof. However, I can't seem to get it to show the movie, it displays a blank, black screen. There IS audio, but no video. When I play the movie back on Windows Media or my Droid, the whole movie is there. I think this tells me it's not the camera or the memory card the media is on. Should I be trying to format the movie?



Funny thing is it worked great as a free trial. Once I paid to have the water mark removed it stopped rendering clips.

Simpleχity;1065253519 said:

These links are also handy...

Car Cam Central

Dash Cam Talk

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I already own a camera. What I'm looking for is program to edit the videos my camera has taken, I'm not looking for another camera.

I'm sorry for any attitude that comes across. These clips are important to me. I mentioned the stupid drivers because I think that's what most people can relate to. Most of the shots I want to capture, though, is stuff for my kids. Stuff I do in the Guard, some neat stuff at work, when I pass a centipede (a kind semi truck with 19 axles) on the road, that sort of thing. I haven't seen my boys in forever and we like sharing pictures of various things. I really need to learn how to do this, so when the program throws up an error I don't understand without also telling me what to do about it, or just sits there instead of telling me what to do next, it kinda wants me to teach my computer how to fly.

Jerry said:

I'm sorry for any attitude that comes across. These clips are important to me. I mentioned the stupid drivers because I think that's what most people can relate to. Most of the shots I want to capture, though, is stuff for my kids. Stuff I do in the Guard, some neat stuff at work, when I pass a centipede (a kind semi truck with 19 axles) on the road, that sort of thing. I haven't seen my boys in forever and we like sharing pictures of various things. I really need to learn how to do this, so when the program throws up an error I don't understand without also telling me what to do about it, or just sits there instead of telling me what to do next, it kinda wants me to teach my computer how to fly.

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If you have some disposable funds or want to give someone an idea for Christmas this might be an idea. It retails for about $300, but since I work for a school I can get it for $200 through education software outlets.

I plan on using to make tech support videos for work that I can post on our YouTube channel.



https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia....aKI7gNB2eU0yLzFwTA1_y9mBw8rhOj-R9zBoCzoPw_wcB

WorldWatcher said:

If you have some disposable funds or want to give someone an idea for Christmas this might be an idea. It retails for about $300, but since I work for a school I can get it for $200 through education software outlets.

I plan on using to make tech support videos for work that I can post on our YouTube channel.

https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia....aKI7gNB2eU0yLzFwTA1_y9mBw8rhOj-R9zBoCzoPw_wcB

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Make sure to set up your Patrion account. I already feed $ to a couple channels.

Jerry said:

Make sure to set up your Patrion account. I already feed $ to a couple channels.

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Not sure what you mean by that. I'll be doing screen captures of computer software intermixed with Powerpoint slides of text and then doing an audio overlay for instructional purposes. I would be the creator.


>>>>

WorldWatcher said:

Not sure what you mean by that. I'll be doing screen captures of computer software intermixed with Powerpoint slides of text and then doing an audio overlay for instructional purposes. I would be the creator.


>>>>

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Patreon is to YouTube as GoFundMe is to Facebook. You make your YouTube channel, then you set up a Patreon account fo that channel. Viewers pay you.

Jerry said:

Patreon is to YouTube as GoFundMe is to Facebook. You make your YouTube channel, then you set up a Patreon account fo that channel. Viewers pay you.

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Ahh... thanks.

These are work related videos that would be for employees. I wouldn't expect any additional compensation for that, even though I'd be using my computer and software. The video's would be posted to the work YouTube channel and I'd put links on our HR "Video Tutorials" page.


But it's nice to now there is an account like that. I could see myself setting up a private YouTube channel and creating application based "How To" videos.



>>>>

Did Windows Movie Maker not work for you? What kind of editing do you want to do? How much money are you willing to spend? Adobe Premiere is as simple or as in-depth as you want it to be, you'll just have to fork over some money.

Slyfox696 said:

Did Windows Movie Maker not work for you?

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I was unable to locate Windows Movie Maker that is compatible with Windows10. If you have a link to Windows Movie Maker that IS compatible with Windows10, I would appreciate seeing it. Windows Movie Maker 12 is the most recent version yet is 3 years behind the modern OS. We live in the information age where being even a week out of date is unacceptable, and forget about 3 years. 3 years behind may as well have been made in the 1800s for all the good it will do.

Edit: I just tried downloading Windows Movie Maker. It is incompatible with Windows10, and also wanted log-in information of which I do not have.

Slyfox696 said:

What kind of editing do you want to do?

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Basic cuts from longer videos, then merge said cuts into a single compilation. If I were to pass by a cool tractor my son would like, for example, I would like to cut just that 5-second clip from the 2hr dash-cam video. I would like to then add that 5 second clip onto an existing compilation of similar clips. Any assistance you can offer is appreciated.

Slyfox696 said:

How much money are you willing to spend?

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I just tried a free trial that worked great. Upon buying the product, it stopped working. I will not pay for programs that do not work. Price is not a consideration for a program that does what I want it to do. Function, not price, is the priority.

Slyfox696 said:

Adobe Premiere is as simple or as in-depth as you want it to be, you'll just have to fork over some money.

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I will not pay for a program before trying it.

Jerry said:

I was unable to locate Windows Movie Maker that is compatible with Windows10. If you have a link to Windows Movie Maker that IS compatible with Windows10, I would appreciate seeing it. Windows Movie Maker 12 is the most recent version yet is 3 years behind the modern OS. We live in the information age where being even a week out of date is unacceptable, and forget about 3 years. 3 years behind may as well have been made in the 1800s for all the good it will do.

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Meh, you want a simple video editing program. If it opens and it saves your video, I wouldn't worry about the date of its release. I still use Adobe CS 3 sometimes, even though I have CS6. The basics of video editing haven't changed that much in 3 years.

I don't care if you don't use it, I'm just saying I wouldn't get too caught up in the age thing. If you are interested, here's a link to a page about it in Windows 10. It says Movie Maker is not supported, but they provide a link to it, which suggests it probably will work.

Where is Movie Maker in Windows 10? - Windows Help -

Basic cuts from longer videos, then merge said cuts into a single compilation. If I were to pass by a cool tractor my son would like, for example, I would like to cut just that 5-second clip from the 5hr drive video. I would like to then add that 5 second clip onto an existing compilation of similar clips.

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Okay, that shouldn't be too difficult, I wouldn't think.

I just tried a free trial that worked great. Upon buying the product, it stopped working. I will not pay for programs that do not work. Price is not a consideration for a program that does what I want it to do. Function, not price, is the priority.


I will not pay for a program before trying it.

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Adobe's programs are the class of the media world (at least when it comes to general consumer use). There are plenty of video tutorials out there which you can basically substitute as a demo. I have used Adobe Premiere Pro many times and can vouch for its quality. I understand Adobe Premiere Elements is also good. Adobe Elements is just like Adobe Premiere Pro, just with a lot of the stuff only hardcore users use stripped away. I would think it'd work for you.

At one point, Adobe CS2 was being given away for free (it's older now, but it's the same essential program and would do what you want). You might see if you can still find a free copy of that. Otherwise, you might search for a few YouTube videos to see if Adobe Premiere (Pro or Elements) would suit your needs.

Slyfox696 said:

Okay, that shouldn't be too difficult, I wouldn't think.

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I didn't think it would be too difficult either, hence my frustration. I thought I could crop out a clip I wanted and save it. Nope. Apparently there's a lot of extra steps required. I thought I could just add it onto a compilation. Nope, apparently there's a conspiracy against me saying I have to format this and emulate that. So many added complications.

And then something gives me an error without telling me what I'm supposed to do about it.

And then something just sits there like I'm a mind reader and know what to do next.

And then tech support gets mad when I call them.

Well if any of this **** just worked in the first place there wouldn't be an issue.

Jerry said:

I didn't think it would be too difficult either, hence my frustration. I thought I could crop out a clip I wanted and save it. Nope. Apparently there's a lot of extra steps required. I thought I could just add it onto a compilation. Nope, apparently there's a conspiracy against me saying I have to format this and emulate that. So many added complications.

And then something gives me an error without telling me what I'm supposed to do about it.

And then something just sits there like I'm a mind reader and know what to do next.

And then tech support gets mad when I call them.

Well if any of this **** just worked in the first place there wouldn't be an issue.

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:lol:

Isn't technology wonderful?

What file format is your camera video in? Is it a .wmv or a .mp4 or .mkv or...what? And I'm not just asking out of curiosity, it could matter.

Slyfox696 said:

[emoji38]

Isn't technology wonderful?

What file format is your camera video in? Is it a .wmv or a .mp4 or .mkv or...what? And I'm not just asking out of curiosity, it could matter.

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The default is MP4. I have a new camera in rout that's a different format.

Video format is more or less gibberish to me and I don't recall the new camera's nominclatur. All I know is sometimes it's important to change a video's gibberish to another gibberish so the video and player feel better about themselves and do their job. Just like politics.