Looking for good, simple software

[gorcq]

There are an incredibly large number of video-edititing programs on the internet, and most of them are probably crap. So I thought I'd ask for help in finding something that works.
Does anyone know of a good program that I can use for chopping up video files? I'm looking for something as simple as possible; when I need finesse, I already have another program for that.
The best would be if it could directly edit the original file, instead of creating a separate file with the edits in it. If my movie was on celluloid, I'd be looking for a pair of kitchen shears and a bright light. Unfortunately, that doesn't work to well on digital video files.
I work mainly with AVI files, and sometimes with MPEG. Any suggestions?

[Baatfam]

For just simple cutting and joining AVIs I use VirtualDub....
https://www.videohelp.com/virtualdubedit.htm

HTH,
Bob T.

[gorcq]

I downloaded that program, but when I try to install it I just get a messagebox complaining that it is "not a valid win32 program." Not very useful, but thanks, anyway. Any other suggestions?

[redwudz]

Sounds like you DL'd the 64bit version instead of the 32bit. I use VirtualDub Mod most of the time, it allows me to input MPEGs along with AVIs. It can't encode MPEGs except for YMPEG but it's great for converting MPEGs to AVI format and is a little more versatile that plain VD. For MPEGs, Cuttermaran is also freeware and simple to use.

EDIT: I might mention also that VD has an incredible amount of filters available and you can frameserve the filtered or edited output directly to an encoder program, elimininating the the in-between file. Saves HD space and time.

[gorcq]

Ok, now I've got the right one. Although I was looking for something that could edit the original file, this seems to work well enough -- except that the audio in the resulting file is off by at least five seconds. Is there anything I can do about this? Why does it occur in the first place?

[etecnifibre]

Mpeg2VCR works well for Mpeg files, and very easy to use.

[gll99]

Ok, now I've got the right one. Although I was looking for something that could edit the original file, this seems to work well enough -- except that the audio in the resulting file is off by at least five seconds. Is there anything I can do about this? Why does it occur in the first place?

If your input is avi did you remember to use directstream copy after your cuts instead of full processing mode. That way there is no re-encoding and not only will it be very fast but it should have no effect on the audio synch.

[gorcq]

No, I didn't, but that doesn't seem to help at all, assuming I'm doing it right, now.

[gorcq]

My mistake, I used a messed up file. Works perfectly on good files. Thanks fo your help!