Advice for simple, free video-editing software for a newbie

[belltown]

Hello, I am new to video editing, and this is what I would like to do:

I have some DVDs each containing about a dozen video clips (chapters) averaging 17 minutes each. I would like to extract each video clip as a separate file and convert to an mp4 file. I would also like to trim down the video clips to 15 minutes each (the maximum allowed by YouTube), then upload to my YouTube account.

I've figured out how to copy the DVDs to my computer. I also figured out how to use Handbrake to extract each chapter and convert to an mp4 file. What I need help with is figuring out a simple solution to edit the mp4 videos; all I really need to do is chop out a few minutes from each clip.

I'd prefer something simple that works under WIndows. Any recommendations would be welcome.

[Baldrick]

avidemux.


You could also use avidemux to open the dvd directly, cut, save as 15 minutes mp4 or mpg clips.

[usually_quiet]

Editing the MPEG2 video from the DVD's VOBs is a better idea. It would give you a little more precision. Convert to MP4 afterwards. AVIDemux is one program that can edit VOBs and export MP4.

[Edit]Beaten again. You are too fast, Baldrick.

[belltown]

Thank you, Baldrick and usually_quiet. That's exactly what I was looking for. I followed your advice and input the VOBs directly, editing them to cut out unneeded content then save as as MP4. It seems to work very fast and generates very manageable file sizes (40MB for 15 minutes of MP4 vs. 250 MB for 15 minutes of WMV using Windows Movie Maker).