Newer Video Editors / Encoders...?

[The.King]

Hello folks, it's been a while since since my last post, I hope the old guard are all still going strong.

I was browsing through the forums recently for help & info and it prompted me to ask you guys a question...

As time has moved on, I'd take a wild 'stab in the dark' to say that a lot of software has too, and I'm pretty much out of the loop at this point. I have used a number of different free tools over the years, always with a GUI, as I never had the time to get my head around command-line stuff like avisynth - (not for the want of trying), or VirtualDub. For the most part, I've used StaxRip, Hybrid, VideoReDo & MeGUI briefly, and eventually (don't shoot me for this) I've used Handbreak and Avidemux the most.... (along with MkvMerge). They serve my needs for the most part and although not as 'feature rich' as others perhaps, they are less complex, the GUI's are intuitive enough, and they require minimal set-up time. But I have been wondering if there is anything better out there these days?

I use Handbreak for re-encoding / compressing files (taking 4.5GB files down to 1.8GB without killing the bitrate / quality much). And Avidemux mostly for trimming or splitting multiple lengthy files into individual files. (Although the latter is not great [time accurate] for this, as it's all contingent on landing perfectly on the next keyframe. Although I believe all programs are restricted by this.) I'm predominantly working with .mp4 / .mkv files and either x264 or x265.

I have searched through the following links before posting this: https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/video-encoders-h264-vc1 and https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/video-editors-h264-avc and I can see there are some new options as well as some of the old reliables.

The question being, is there any Freeware (with a GUI) available today that can improve on Handbreak or Avidemux for minor editing / encoding of .mp4 / .mkv? It would be great to get your thoughts.

As always, thanks in advance for any input.

[videoAI]

Try Losslesscut .. it has a modern GUI with dark theme &
can:
1- Cut [Frame accurate & lossless]
2- Join [lossless]
3- Rotate (Quick) [lossless, no encode for quick rotate, mp4/mkv]
4- Multiplex (add/remove tracks [V/A/S/CH])
5- FPS change
6- Detect Silent/Black scenes
*Lossless=No quality loss

Still looking for a modern app for cropping video.

For editing try:
Clever FFmpeg GUI

[The.King]

Try Losslesscut .. it has a modern GUI with dark theme

Still looking for a modern app for cropping video.

For editing try:
Clever FFmpeg GUI

Hi,

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I tried LosslessCut but I didn't see it offering any benefits or improvements on AviDemux in terms of making precise cuts in lengthy videos. (Gives the same option for not starting a cut on a keyframe etc., but the resulting video still has the same artifacts at the start as a result... which seems to be inevitable. I'll live with that.)

Also had a look at Clever FFmpeg GUI, but in all fairness, it's certainly not the most intuitive GUI I've ever come across. (I was never a fan of no preview window / visual for video files either.) It has great reviews online and seems to offer most of the same functionality as others, so I'm sure it's great... it just wasn't for me.

I guess things haven't progressed too much in terms of newer software with decent GUI's and so, the search goes on. For now - I'll stick with Handbreak, Avidemux & mkvmerge, until something better comes along. Thank again for your input.