Need a SIMPLE editor for adjusting brightness, etc.

[coyotewrw]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a simple, easy-to-use editor to do basic stuff like adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. to some videos (wmv, mpg, avi, etc.). The ability to flip videos that are displaying upside down would also be helpful.

I'm not looking for anything complicated like Premiere, just something basic. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[redwudz]

AVI type files you can do with VirtualDub. WMV you can do with Window Media Encoder. (Probably) MPEG, you can do with TMPGEnc encoder or other MPEG encoders.

All of those formats will require re-encoding and will take different encoders, so that doesn't make it so simple.

[coyotewrw]

...will require re-encoding and will take different encoders, so that doesn't make it so simple.

Yeah, that's the level of complexity that I'm trying to avoid. I'm hoping there's an app out there that does all the heavy lifting in the background, without needing me to be an expert...

[gll99]

Are you planning on viewing these on your computer? If so just use a player like KMplayer which has all this and more features built-in.

If it's for offline viewing ie... DVD, divx or mini standalone player then it's impossible to avoid more fully featured programs even if they are freeware like virtualdub or virtualdubmod.

[coyotewrw]

meh, I have too many players as it is. Still looking for a simple editor...

[JohnnyMalaria]

Have you tried Windows Movie Maker? It is simple and supports a wide range of input formats (avi, mpeg1, mpeg2, wmv). Output is more limited (DV AVI, wmv).

[coyotewrw]

I keep getting that damn "The file for video transitions and effects is missing" error since upgrading to XP SP2, and Microsoft hasn't released a standalone version of MM2 (that I've found, anyway). Leave it to Microsoft to make my life more annoying...

[JohnnyMalaria]

Firstly, make sure you have version 2.1 (for SP2):

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

If so, go to C:\Program Files\Movie Maker and list the contents. You should have:

moviemk.exe
MUI (folder)
Shared (folder)
WMM2AE.dll
WMM2ERES.dll
WMM2EXT.dll
WMM2FILT.dll
WMM2FXA.dll
WMM2FXB.dll
WMM2RES.dll
WMM2RES2.dll

Depending on your folder view options you may not see the .dll and .exe extenstions.

[kimco52]

Premiere does it very easily.
With your video (avi) on the timeline, go to the video effects choices, select adjust, select brightness and contrast, and drag it over to the timeline and place it on your clip/video.

Click on your clip,
Go to effects controls palette and you will see brightness and contrast. Click on the little triangle in front of the name and you will see an adjustment for brightness and one for contrast. Put your mouse pointer over the 0.0, hold down the left button, and drag the mouse until the video in the program window has the brightness/contrast you want. Then release the button. Repeat for the other function. When done and the current position indicator is where you want it to start (at beginning if whole clip is desired), click on the little circle/stopwatch emblem in front of brightness and again in front of contrast. That will put a marker at the current time.

That is all. You will need to render it eventually.