Help editing (cutting) videos using Nero 9 Vision (or better suggestion)

[natalia25]

Have the full "deluxe" Nero 9 suite. Nero Vision is supposed to be able to edit videos, but after reading all documentation, playing around - I wonder if it really has the ability to cut multiple sections (scenes), out of a video - all through out the vid. Yes, I can get it to trim some off the beginning or end of a video using the "scissors" (cutting) tool, but can't figure out how to make multiple, NON contiguous cuts using the scissor tool, then "join" the remainder. Or export what's left to some other prgm to join the pieces, if it can't join them.

Anyone know if Vision (Nero 9) actually has this ability?

When I make a 1st cut, moving the "Start" marker & "End" marker, & cutting the section between those, that's as far as I get. It cuts the section, but I can't cut a 2nd scene - say 5 min farther ahead from the 1st cut. On the 2nd cut attempt, it keeps wanting to cut the entire rest of vid. The manual is no help on this process & can't find a tutorial on Nero's site. I played w/ it a long time - got nowhere.

Either there are "secret" buttons / options to push, after 1st cut but before 2nd one, that will allow this to work, or Vision doesn't have ability to cut out several sections, at various places throughout a vid.
It has an "automatic" commercial detection function (that I never used), that obviously can cut sections at multiple places. And I assume it rejoins the remaining video parts, after cutting out commercials. But that may not be how the manual "scissors" cutting tool works.

If someone knows how to make it work for cutting multiple scenes or found a tutorial, I'd appreciate the help.

I suppose if Vision can't do this (or do it w/o going crazy), I'd appreciate recommendations on fairly simple video editing tool(s). I'm an advanced computer user, but not advanced at video editing.
Not trying to do anything fancy - just cut out "unwanted" minutes, here & there in videos. Cuts don't have to be down to a single frame basis - just rough cuts. Then join the remaining pieces after all cuts are made.

I'm looking for something as simple as possible & still get it done, as this isn't professional work. Nor am I trying to win art prizes.
Video formats (as they exist) will vary - wmv, mp4, mov, mkv, etc. If Vision can't handle this job, & no other one tool will handle simple editing on most of the common formats, I don't mind using more than one.
Thanks.

[Cauptain]

CYBERLINK POWER DIRECTOR





Claudio

[natalia25]

What's that? Trouble over at the old Power Director place?

No idea what you're indicating, or if just a Power Director salesman.

[nic2k4]

I haven't seen NV9, I used the versions from Nero 6,7 and 10 and I can tell you that if 6 and 7 were the same 10 is totally different. In any case you're right, you can't cut in the middle of a video with Nerovision. What you need to do is trim the beginning of your video, then trim the end to the point where you want to start to cut-out the middle. Switch to storyboard mode and re-insert the entire clip from the basket into the second square on the storyline. Trim off the beginning of the video to where you want the end to cut-out the middle. Then trim the end of the clip as needed to either do another cut-out or just clean the end.

NV6 & 7 had a bug with audio levels, everytime you would insert a clip the volume would be set to 33%. You may need to double click the clip on the storyboard/timeline and adjust the volume to 100%.

If you have the CODEC, Nerovision will handle any video.

[budwzr]

What's that? Trouble over at the old Power Director place?

No idea what you're indicating, or if just a Power Director salesman.

Not saying anyone here is a paid PD fanboi, but....

Power Director does hire sales people to post beauty messages in forums, so you're right to be wary, and not just jump in on something.

Sony Vegas Studio line is very popular, and they don't pay out spiffs like that.

[natalia25]

Thanks. I wrote a reply, then the forum software screwed me by saying it couldn't be posted because "the token had expired," or something. I was still logged in.

Anyway, cut to the chase. I'll have to re read your instructions while looking at Vision, but honestly it sounds like I need a good freeware tool or 2 that will actually do what I want. (I'm not asking for much, here).
Looked briefly at AviDemux & couple others few mo ago, but never took action. Maybe others can recommend some freeware that can handle cutting in various places of vids, w/o having to jump through hoops.

Switch to storyboard mode and re-insert the entire clip from the basket into the second square on the storyline.

Only thing I understand of that is the word "storyboard."

[nic2k4]

Only thing I understand of that is the word "storyboard."

Check page 36 of the Nerovision manual:

http://ftp6.nero.com/user_guides/nero9/vision/NeroVision_Eng.pdf

Cutting out the middle of the video, page 48 #5. This seems different from what I remember of V6, but it's really easy. The thing to keep in mind "The red shaded area is deleted from the file when cutting". So, moving the sliders selects what you want to keep. You can get a more precise cut location by clicking the slider you want to set, then clicking on the counter (to the right, check page 38). You can type in a value or use your mouse wheel. When you're ready click the golden scissors, if you were in storyboard mode you would see a new segment appear. To edit more stuff out, click that new segment.

"Removing Advertising Sequences With Ad Spotter" tutorial:

http://www.nero.com/enu/support.html?ecid=etr.am.......R10773#step:contenttypes;nextst...:410;request:2

[Cauptain]

I dont know using nero and ask for help...

I suppose if Vision can't do this (or do it w/o going crazy), I'd appreciate recommendations on fairly simple video editing tool(s). I'm an advanced computer user, but not advanced at video editing.

Easy answer: Power Director (screenshot prove my suggestion)

Never Cyberlink salesman (But, I like this software).

Never indicate VEGAS to beginner in video edit.

I use avisynth to multi-trim..The easiest way for that...



Claudio

[natalia25]

Thanks to you both.
I'd accidentally gotten the Vision "Express" pdf help, but there was little difference. But thanks & thanks for extra instructions.
Problem I seem to be having (operator error / ignorance), is the 1st cut goes OK & adds a thumb down in Timeline bar, showing beginning frame, after what was cut, & AFAICT - the REMAINING time of video, after 1st cut.

On the time "seek" bar (in editing screen) - the 1st cut out section now shows blue x's. OK. For my 2nd cut, click the (now red) scissor icon again, move L marker to middle of vid & move R marker in, so say, 1 min is shown in red x's. Scissor icon turns gold. Click click it again, & now a 2nd thumb is placed in Timeline.

That 2nd thumb - appears ? - to be showing the starting point of what is left after the 2nd cut?
Q: What do you / could you do w/ those thumbs in timeline, after making each cut? Played around w/ them & haven't found how to "work" w/ them.
Yes, you can drag those thumbs on the timeline, but I've not found "useful" results by doing that. I'm guessing if one had a bunch of pics or short clips, to combine all together, the thumbs in timeline / story board makes more sense. Haven't found how to use them when editing existing, single vid. User manual seems silent on this & never found a Nero tutorial on "editing movies." Typical Nero manual style - written as if for users that already know how to use features.

* 3rd cut - it gets confusing. Same as others - make cut at end of movie. Only this time, there's no 3rd thumb placed in Timeline. The 1st 2 thumbs are still there. Again, not sure what you do w/ them & why no 3rd thumb after 3rd cut?

* After making (here, 3 cuts), the manual gets fuzzy.
Goofing w/ it further: Seems after making cuts, (ignoring thumbs for now), if click stop on editing screen controls, then play, it starts from where 1st cut ended & plays the file continuously (w/ "jumps" where scenes were cut out). Guess transitions can be added between cuts, but that's for later.

** Even w/ above questions, my experimenting & reading the somewhat disjointed Vision manual, appears after making desired 3, 5, 100 cuts, the 2 choices NOW are to save the project as *.nvc file (to further edit later);

** or - export the edited "results" - what I * think * is my "finished," edited vid - generally in it's original format (wmv, mp4, etc.).
I EXPORTED a test vid, after making 3 cuts (ignoring what thumbs in timeline are used for, in this procedure) & it played correctly the parts left, after making 3 cuts.

Q / observation: Though AFAIK, the manual doesn't cover it, seems there must be a real use for the thumbs in timeline when editing a full video file, or else they wouldn't be there; wouldn't be able to drag them.

[nic2k4]

I assume when you speak of thumbnails on the timeline you are actually in storyboard mode (like the picture on page 36). Each thumb represents a separate video clip and each clip is added to the project in succession. If you double click a media file in the My Media Files box it gets placed in the next empty box on the timeline.

When you cut a clip in half, logically you end up with 2 clips; the clip at the beginning stays in its original box and the remainder of what you cut goes into a new box (makes a new thumb). Select that new thumb and you can cut it the same you did the first one. If you cut in the middle, another new thumb will be created. Obviously, if you cut only the end of the clip, there's no remainder to generate a new thumb.

I'm starting to remember how that version worked. Note that if you want to trim only the beginning and the end of the clip, you don't have to click the scissors. You just grab the buttons with the green arrow on the slider bar and place them where you want (like you see on page 36 picture, blue shading on silder bar). You can fine tune with the time counter to the right, use mouse wheel or keyboard arrows. Moving the gray buttons and clicking the scissors can be combined to edit a single clip.

Story board mode is better to use when working with multiple clips because you can select them individually and re-order them by moving them around easily. Also, it the only mode where you can insert transitions. If you click the Timeline Tab to switch to timeline mode, you'll see that all the (seemingly) separate clips in storyboard mode, actually make just one long video. You can still select individual clips in that mode, but it gets difficult with short clips without zooming in.

Make sure to double click the thumbs and verify that the audio level is at 100%.

[natalia25]

Thanks nic2k4. I appreciate your help. It's slowly starting to make sense, but must say, some of Vision's "methods" could stand being a bit more intuitive.

Re: thumbs only in storyboard. No, not in my version. If a vid is loaded in editing screen & in timeline mode, making cuts places thumbs there. IF - switch over to storyboard (just lookin'), the thumbs are still there, but have the "Nero" logo separating them. I guess that's where / when you can add transitions, etc.

Any idea (in timeline), since Vision DOES show the thumbs after each cut, along w/ varying lengths of blue "bar" - separating the thumbs - if there's any purpose - in VIDEO CUTTING - of being able to drag those thumbs along the timeline?

Guessing the "blue bars" represents time between each thumb (cut), or another way - blue line represents the amt of time each thumb contains.
Now, big question - in movie editing (just cutting out unwanted scenes / minutes), is there a use / purpose for being able to drag the thumbs along the timeline? It let's me do that, but I assume it's just removing more of the vid, as I drag thumb # 2 closer to thumb # 1?

It doesn't "show" anything useful (AFAICT) while dragging thumbs along timeline. The length of blue line (time?) gets shorter, as drag one thumb closer to another. Again, this IS in Timeline mode.
If dragging thumbs just removes more time, w/o going thru cutting process, it'd seem to be doing it w/o any accuracy??

That said, not sure (in Video cutting) what purpose is for ability to drag thumbs in timeline, unless (maybe?) decide after making couple cuts, you want to eliminate everything between 2 thumbs - and not have to go thru cutting process? No idea - just guessing.

Re: Transitions. If making cuts in a vid like this, then exporting "as is" to a new file, there's an expected quick jump where cuts were made. Switching to storyboard, is there a "not too obvious" transition to add between cuts/ thumbs, to smooth the transition from one scene into next? Not fade to black, or fireworks, etc. Nero may not be that sophisticated.

Also - Nero 12. It'll probably be put on sale here, for free / nearly free after rebates. I'd posted my same questions as here, on Nero forums. Though, have to say it's not always the best place to get good help. Anyway, one poster made this comment about Nero 12, that I've no idea what it means & not sure he does either. Care to take a guess? BTW, I've no idea what is meant (in this context) by "you are working w/ commercial material" or "problems due to using commercials."

??? Will Nero 12 (Vision, Video, what ever) not edit recorded TV shows, or downloaded (non copyrighted, non "protected) videos, clips, etc? If it'll only edit movies shot w/ your own, personal camera, & not one d/l from Grandma's Facebook page, I don't think they'll be selling many units.

At first a question. do you have both installed, Nero 9 and 12.
Why I am asking ? NeroVideo (of Nero 12) is much more comfortable then NeroVision (of Nero 9), especially in your case, where you have to cut the videos into a lot of clips and to link these together to a new video. The advantage of NeroVideo is not only, that you can cut and trim more precise (under "Edit Video" on the timeline) as in the "Content" window of Nero Vision (you noticed the difficulties with positioning the scissers), you also have the possibility to work with multiple tracks under "Advance Editing" which you can use alternately, means on one track you are cutting, on the other you link the clips together.

Sounds a little bit sophisticafed, but if you once had an introduction, with some experience you will see the advantages of NeroVideo for cutting work.

So let me know, what you want. I will give you the necessary introduction.

Edit: I just noticed that you are working with commercial material (I assume that these are files captured with the receiver card or downloads from the web), so forget Nero 12, it's impossible there. If you mean, you can work there with these material because you can playback the videos, you're wrong, - Burning with guarantee would fail. Using this material in NeroVision is in principle possible, but also there you can get problems.

With other words, if you are using NeroVideo anyway, I (we) can not help, if you have problems due to using commercials, - Sorry.

[nic2k4]

You're right, dragging the end of a clip in timeline mode is a bad way to edit. That feature is useful for the other things you can add to your project like text or music. When you drag the edge of the blue bar it will snap to match the edge of the video blue bar. The fact that you can drag the blue bar of a video may well be a bug, at least it's useless. It's a matter of preference, but storyboard mode is better for editing each clip and setting the sequence for playback.

Whether in storyboard or timeline mode all the clips that form your project will produce the same result. Timeline mode has the added benefit of letting you add audio clips and text effects and set their start and end time along the timeline.

NV has a decent transition selection, you can test the results (in storyboard mode) by clicking the left edge of the storyboard (not on a clip), that should remove the highlight from all clips. Then, when you hit the play button, the entire video will play with the effects. Any form of crossfade would be suitable for your purpose, just keep the duration short.

If Nero Video 12 is anything like that in 10, there's no reason it wouldn't work with TV show captures. I just did a capture of a TV program and edited it with Nero Video 10. It's possible that a copyright flag may be set on a digital TV program, but I don't know how that could be translated to a successful analog capture. If anything would happen, the capture device should refuse to work.

I think what the poster from the other forum meant is that their forum rules prevent anyone from talking about circumventing copy protection and maybe their rules are so thight that they can't even talk about anything related to commercial sourced material.

[natalia25]

Thanks again. I've not used it enough to be sure, but for now I'd tend to agree that the ability to drag thumbnails (& thus, it drags the blue bar) is not really meant for video cutting / editing.

Re: commercial material & Nero 12. No, he clarified further. He SAID, even later versions of Vision & "Video" in Nero 11, 12, won't edit / burn files that use codecs, meaning most any video downloaded from the web. I underlined parts for clarity:

With Nero Vision 6 (of Nero 9) you have mostly no problems with protected material, you can create new media with them (cut, edit and burn). This is now impossible since NeroVision 7 (of Nero 10) resp. in NeroVideo (of Nero 11 and 12). You can only work there with media you have created by yourself with your camera or with SW on your PC, as are AVIs, JPGs etc., and from certain video cameras e.g. M2TSs.

But Import of protected (commercial) media files leads to a termination of the program with an (unclear) error message, also if the file is not really protected, because NV's protection detection procedure is only detecting that a codec is used, which allows protection, but can not distinguish between protected and not protected. The reason that I mentioned this above in bolt [bold] letters is, that again and again user try to import commercial media and are meaning, that the error caused then would be a bug in the SW. It is definitely not. That's the reason that we can not help, it's only wasting our time. Everthing clear now ?

He is saying for Vision 7 & Video in Nero 11, 12 - you can't even work w/ a file downloaded from the web, given to you by a friend, etc., if the file uses codecs. [I take it that he means you can't edit (cut) them or burn them.] And that Nero can't distinguish between a free, non protected file & protected ones, so it just doesn't work on any that have codecs.

Don't know if what he says is true, but there are lots of ways to come by a free, non protected video that uses codecs. Such as using conversion software to convert camera / phone .AVI vids to other formats, that use free, open source codecs. Many free video players use free, open source codecs to play all sorts of files & may also have ability to convert formats using open source codecs.

If he's correct about Nero 12, I don't know why many would buy it for the video editing software, unless they just want to edit home movies in .AVI & nothing else.

In the end, there's lots of freeware that will edit most any file & probably do it as well or better than Vision / Video. Nero's Burning ROM is pretty good. The rest of the software in their bundles is often not the best - even compared to some freeware. Audacity beats their Wave Editor by a long way. Other free file format conversion SW is as good or better than Recode, etc. It's just that those other SWs aren't in one package.

[nic2k4]

Fair enough, but it certainly is silly. Since all multimedia content uses a CODEC, he must mean external CODEC's. So if you stick to material encoded in Nero Video supported CODEC's you shouldn't have any problem:



As you figured out, just convert stuff encoded in other CODEC's, first. There are free editors out there, but there aren't many free NLE's. The old NV was great for converting and authoring from all sorts of CODEC's and I must say I don't particularly like the interface of the new one.

Recode is great as the more up to date version of DVDShrink, but I definitely wouldn't use it for conversions. Audacity certainly is better than Wave Editor, but for some odd reason it won't run on my machine.

[natalia25]

Thanks nic2k4, I don't know what he means. He clarified further (I think his 1st language is German) & it sounds like "any codec that allows using protection." There were a couple other replies from experienced "old timers" on that forum (speaking to diff issues) that didn't contradict or correct him.

1st, if I were to get Nero 12, it'd be free / nearly free after rebates. 2nd - if I decide to cut many vids, I'm definitely not going to convert them to some format that N. Video will edit, do editing, then convert back. No way, Jose. I'd just use freeware editor or buy something that will edit more than AVIs shot on home camera.

Don't know what OS you have, but Audacity has a good community that could probably figure out why it doesn't work for you. I've read many "experts" on it that said go ahead & use the latest beta, because from Audacity - they're usually very stable.

This forum's quick reply isn't working for me. After entering reply, hitting either post or "go advanced," says, could not (be done) because the token has expired??? Even if reload the page & paste reply back in quick reply, still doesn't work - same msg. Clicking the "+ Reply to Thread" button does work when I submit the post.