Video editing software

[camb003]

I've been reading thru some of your indexes, posts and available tools/software. I get the feeling you are mostly power video driven users. I need recommendations for basic .mov editing I capture with a Contour Roam Camera while on a bicycle touring trip thru the Southwest. Mostly I want to edit the clips I took into one long movie and use background music throughout most of the movie.

My hardware is pretty lame comparing to most of you:

Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.31 GHz
RAM - 4 GB
OS- 64-bit
Video Card - HD ATI Radeon HD 4600

As you can see there isn't a lot of power to drive but I'm sure there is sofware that can work with this hardware to make something fun to watch.

I've notice there is free software out there and then there are programs like Cyberlink Power Director, Adobe Premiere Elements and the like.

I'd appreciate any feedback/recommendations.

Thanks.

[redwudz]

I usually edit my .MOV videos with AVIDemux. I use the 64bit version as it seems to work better, but try the 32bit if that's your OS type.
Just 'Append' them all together. If you aren't going to use the camera audio, then just select the music and mux (combine) it back with the audio.

If you want something more advanced with fades, transitions and the like, then you may need some pay software. The advantage to paid software is there is generally one program to deal with. Whether that works for you depends on what you want to do and your expectations.

With editing, I mostly want 'lots' of room. Several large hard drives to juggle video back and forth.

But most important, you didn't mention what the final edited format will be. That makes a huge difference on your editing programs.

I tend to use several programs to get a good end result. I use Audacity for audio editing. And sometimes it's easier to convert the .MOV files to a better editing format. .MOV or H.264 aren't easy to edit on a frame accurate basis. But if you are just combining the clips, no problems.

But others here will likely give you more advice if you give them more information. There are pros here, but also many amateurs. They all can contribute.

[camb003]

Thanks for your observations and feedback. It's helpful. Can AVIDemux correct for when a video was taken sideways? This definitely sounds like a cheap way to learn and put it together.

I have used Audacity in the past, for audio only. Since I'm a beginner it would make sense to use programs/program that would help me see how to interact with video/audio editing in a way that I get to read some and learn some without having to spend endless hours just to put together a few files at the beginning. Just enough to get me interested. I know this could come as an offense to some of you who do spend hours editing but this is my reality. I don't have that kind of time on my hands. Granted I know the beginning would take some time alright.

More information. All videos were taken sideways so I need software that can correct that.

Final edited format? Isn't my hardware a limitation to this?
My hardware:

Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.31 GHz
RAM - 4 GB
OS- 64-bit
Video Card - HD ATI Radeon HD 4600

I would say whatever format is hardware appropriate. MPEG4? I value your suggestions here. Otherwise it would make sense to upgrade my PC and that's another conversation. (Motherboard, CPU, Memory, Video card)

All my video clips are:

Frame Width 1920
Frame height 1080
Frame rate 29 frames/second

Audio
Bit Rate 128kbps
Channels 2(stereo)
Audio sample rate 48 kHz

Hope this info is helpful.Thanks.

[theewizard]

describe sideways
when most people say that, what they mean is they held the phone or go pro vertical instead of horizontal
and the video plays horizontal on the PC

yes avidemux can rotate video, before or after you append them together
i might be easier to rotate and do any cuts on a per video basis, saving the new clips with new names
then append them all together and add your music track

problem is when you rotate, it will play on the PC but it will only be in the middle of the screen with blank space on each side , but if you want to make a DVD you end with black bars on each side
like the 'phone' videos you seen on the evening news, no way to get around it with out cropping the top and/or bottom to make it less tall

BTW.. we seem to be getting a lot of rotate postings lately, you are not the only one

[redwudz]

This is the camera I use most. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mobius-ActionCam-Full-HD-Sports-Camera-1080P-30FPS-720P-60FPS-...8AAOSwR0JUNjFS

Most times I just put it on the bill of my baseball cap and put a 5VDC USB power pack in my pocket. I get about 7 hours of 1920 X 1080 .MOV video with a 64GB micro SDHC card. I've also used it mounted on a Polaris 4 X 4 with good results.

The audio is mono PCM, which I usually convert to two channel .AC3 after appending. I use Audacity for that. Most times I convert the video to MKV, H.264 as that's compatible with all my players.

Conversion to a different format will take some processing power, but just cut and paste editing and audio conversions would not be a problem.
And even re-encode conversions just take a bit of time. I used to do all mine overnight.

[camb003]

Sideways=Camera rotated 90 degrees.Was able to crorrect in avidemux by rotating it 270. Downloaded avidemux. It micht work for what I want to do. When saving it I tried using H264(ff/nvidia) but it gave me a message saying the bit rate was too low. I used Mpeg4avg(x264) and now it's saving it alright, slow as molases, and probably a reflection of my hardware. Suggestions for hardware upgrade on a budget appreciated. $300 max. for CPU Motherboard Memory.

I'll post after encoding to see what it looks lile. Your idea about rotating before append worked. I suppose I could try cropping later as suggested, not ideal but that's what I have to work with now. I ccan see how you may be getting a lot of ratating posts with people using cameras with mounts that chanbge how the camera angle is intended to be used.

Your camera specs are close to what I have with a Contour Roam. Great idea to use a 5VDC USB pp to extend batttery live.

Thanks.

[redwudz]

You could probably upgrade your present machine for about $200US, minus new hard drives or power supply.
Take a look at the newer microATX MBs like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128689

[theewizard]

Cameras and mounts should come with a crash course on using and editing
At least a video demo on a memory card to watch on the pc
It seems cool to orient it vertical, and get that tall view of the trail ahead
Until it comes time to edit and watch the videos
Glad you were able to fix it and get some viewable video

[camb003]

Confirmed video looks good now. The orientation is vertical and you are right it looks better with the tall view of the trail ahead. It took about 1 1/2 hours to encode 6 minutes (656MB). Looking into a possible upgrade and of couse learning to use AVIDEMUX.