Turning Video Into Clips Question

[creaper2]

I have a few videos on my hard drive and want just a few sections of them, but I want to split them into like 1-2 minute clips so the best parts are easier to find since I am dealing with 40-50 minute videos. I am trying to make a Basketball Mixtape of how I arose as a Basketball Player (From Grade One til Now) and played for a Divison 1 Team that won the USA National Championship. This is for a School Project so I need help fairly soon. Thank you in advance to anyone who helps out.

Chris

[redwudz]

What format are those 'few videos'? That decides the editing programs to use most times. You can drop one into Gspot 2.70 to see what they are.

If they are AVI type, you could try VirtualDub or VD Mod. If they are MPEG, then maybe the payware MPEG-VCR. There's not many freeware MPEG editors out there. Cuttermaran or maybe MPEG StreamClip.

More info will get you more answers.

And welcome to our forums.

[creaper2]

Well the Files are AVI. And thanks for the welcome.

[creaper2]

Can you somewhat explain how to use VirtualDub and how I can use it t cut it into sections?

[redwudz]

This is a bit basic, but should get you started:



The 'M' is the markin/markout where you select your cut. You can use 'Edit>Cut' to remove that clip, then go to the end of your video and paste it. After you have done all your cuts and pastes, select what's left of the unwanted video by markin/markout and delete it. All your clips will be left over. That's one method. Another is to use markin/markout and delete or cut everything you don't want and the leftover will be your clips. Sounds a bit backwards, but it works.

The 'K' is to jump to keyframes. If you are using DV, they are all keyframes and editing can be done anywhere. Compressed formats like Xvid only have keyframes every 300 frames by default, so accurate editing is difficult. The newest VD has 'smart rendering' and that will allow you to cut anywhere. Without smart rendering, Xvids can only be cut at keyframes unless you want to re-encode it all.

The 'S' is for scene detection. Handy for finding breaks like commercials.

Most all the icons will tell you what they do if you hover your mouse over them.

It's fairly easy to use once you play with it a bit. You can save it out as a 'Direct stream' copy at any time, then add all your clips back in and arrange them as wanted. None of this will damage the original video as long as you use a different filename when you save.

Some guides for VD: https://www.videohelp.com/oldguides/virtualdubedit and there are lots more at the bottom of the VD toolpage: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Virtualdub

I should mention if your video is DV, you can also use Windows Movie Maker to edit and output as DV-AVI, then encode that with a different program. WMM is a fairly easy to use editor, but doesn't accept most AVI except for DV.

Hope that helps a bit. The guides do a better job than I did at explaining it all.

[creaper2]

Thanks, and what if I just want to save the clips separately, so I can insert them where I would like and not all together into the movie.

[redwudz]

Select the clip with the markin/markout, then, 'Edit>Copy', then, 'File>Save As...'. Make a new filename for each. Use 'Direct Stream copy' mode. I would use the keyframe key if possible to set your cuts, or you may have sync problems with some AVI formats when you put them back together.

I use VD Mod most times, but the other versions should work about the same.

You can add your clips back in by opening the first one and using 'Append' for the rest. You also can name them sequentially in the order you want them displayed and VD should add them all in automatically. They would all need to be in the same folder.

[creaper2]

Ok. Also, can you tell me of a good free movie maker that supports .avi?

[creaper2]

And I also want to turn VHS's into DVD's (like home movies and old basketball films), can i use this: http://cgi.ebay.com/VIDEO-CAPTURE-AV-S-VIDEO-LINE-IN-TO-USB-2-0-ADAPTER-US_W0QQitemZ12...ayphotohosting
with a program to record them to a drive so I can turn them into a dvd?

[redwudz]

Actually, if you have DV for your video format, Windows Movie Maker isn't a bad choice for a simple editor. Just output as DV and encode that to MPEG-2 for DVD.

There are some all-in-one editors/authoring programs out there, but I don't use them, so others would need to give advice on that. I prefer the individual programs. Ulead, Sony and others are popular. Some are listed here, though we don't have a specific category for those type of programs: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-editors-advanced Most have trial versions, but the learning curve can be steep with some.

****************************

I'm not familiar with that particular device you linked to for VHS to DVD, but most often those type of devices get you low to moderate quality. The only thing I see of interest is 'Video Decode: Phillips SAA7113'. Others more familiar with that particular hardware may be able to give you more specific information.

Unless you are using a laptop, I would look into something like a Hauppauge 150 PCI card before I got that device. It has a hardware encode to MPEG-2 video, the same as a DVD. Takes very little CPU power. Then you would need a MPEG editor to edit. That's their economy card. They also have USB type units. The company has a good 'track' record and I would recommend them over most any 'no name' unit. http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr150.html

If you think a lot of this info is vague, you're right. There are like 1001 ways to do all this, both hardware and software. It does take a bit of study to get the combination that will do what you want for a price you can live with.

[creaper2]

I am really not sure how to export it as DV because it is not a choice with VirtualDub and then how would I encode it to MPEG-2?

[mats.hogberg]

To save as DV from VirualDub, you need the Panasonic DV codec.
Then you encode the DV with some mpg encoder (like TMPGEnc, MainConcept & cetera) as step 2.
Or better yet - Frame serve from VirtualDub to the encoder to avoid the intermediate (huge - ~13 GB/hour) DV AVI file.

/Mats

[creaper2]

Thanks. Let me give that a try and if I have trouble I will post back.