Best simple, cheap editor for AVI video? VirtualDub?

[Studly]

I'm just beginning to capture old camcorder videos to AVI files via WinDV. I'm using a newer Windows 10 PC.

Now I just need to do real basic editing: primarily trimming the ends, removing dead spots in the video, boosting low sound levels (if that's easy to do), etc.

Is VirtualDub the best choice? Is it easy to learn? I see Vdub mentioned on these forums a lot. Or do you recommend something else?

Thanks for the help!

[redwudz]

WinDV captures to DV video format. Even with VD, you need to add a codec if you want to output in the same format. I use Cedocida DV Codec. DV is very structured, so you have to use it's format. But you can convert easily to different formats after capture.

VD is a great tool, though it has a bit of a learning curve. Though for most operations, it's easy enough and well worth learning for the huge amount of filters available. Some here:http://codecpack.co/download/VirtualDub-Filter-Pack.html
I haven't used this site, so be careful. It does seem to have most available filters.

There is also AVIDemux, which is somewhat similar to VD but a bit newer and maybe easier if you don't need so many filters.

[LMotlow]

By camcorder, do you mean an analog camcorder? If you captured analog home video to lossy DV, you've already lost some quality and gained some compression noise.

Simple cut and join edits are all you can do; these simple operations will avoid further lossy re-encoding. Audio can be boosted by any editor, including VirtualDub, without re-encoding the video track.. But any change in the image (color correction, denoising, cropping, resizing, etc.) will require more lossy re-encoding. VirtualDub can do the work, but it's not as easy to use as cheapies like Movie Studio or Movie Studio Platinum, sold at heavy discounts everywhere.

I assume you realize that DV-AVI is PC-only playback. It isn't supported by external players or the internet, so you will have to go through another lossy re-encode if you want a more universal format, whether you edit or not.

VD is a great tool, though it has a bit of a learning curve. Though for most operations, it's easy enough and well worth learning for the huge amount of filters available. Some here:
http://codecpack.co/download/VirtualDub-Filter-Pack.html I haven't used this site, so be careful. It does seem to have most available filters.

There is also AVIDemux, which is similar and a bit newer and maybe easier if you don't need so many filters.

DV is OK for simple cut and join edits. Any "filtering" means re-encoding. It's become standard ops around here to insist that multiple lossy re-encodes is better than just one, especially for noisy analog sources. If one lossy encode is "great", two is better, and three might just be the pinnacle of success. Why not go for four?

If you believe that, you're in the right forum.

I hear AviDemux is a decent DV editor, but don't use any filters.

[redwudz]

Using WinDV, you aren't 'capturing'. WinDV is a transfer program. Same as a hard drive transfer. The main difference is the exact format.
DV has a strict format: https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?D#DV

Pay attention to 'Type 1 and Type 2".

'Filters' should only used when really needed. If your video is pristine and clean, you don't need filter and the re-encoding that does cause quality loss.
But some video files are messed up and you can't hurt them by a bit of filtering. Either way, don't work on the original file, only a copy.

[Studly]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! Are there any other programs people recommend for simple editing, besides the ones mentioned above, if not VirtualDub?

[usually_quiet]

I remember there were some people here using Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (and lower) for doing simple edits on DV files and exporting DV AVI. I don't believe Windows Movie Maker Live allows exporting anything other than WMV or MP4 files.

[transporterfan]

For editing the video (any Type) you might want to try:
http://www.solveigmm.com/en/products/avi-trimmer-mkv/

To edit the audio (increase or decrease volume, add music, narration etc) concatenate all your video to a single file and demux the audio. Load the audio file into Audacity, edit (keeping in mind that you do NOT add or remove sections but overwrite the area you wish to change; adding or deleting a section will change the duration of the audio and alter the sync), save your changes and mux the new audio with the video file.