What is the best free video editor?

[TechnoLoGs]

I have a multitude of videos show with my Nikon L810 and I need me an editor.

I do like AnyVideoEditor from AVS, but I know it costs money.

I have the SD card in and I am on a Windows 7 PC with a Core i3 and 4GB RAM.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

And who agrees with this list http://www.techradar.com/us/news/softwar...ownload-1136264

 

[uc50ic4more]

Of those, I only have experience with Avidemux as it is (for now, Lightworks will be joining these ranks soon) the only one from your list that works on Linux; and can vouch for it. Lightworks will be "best" but may present a learning curve. What exactly do you want to do? Just edits and some transitions and text over top from time to time? Windows Movie Maker may be best in that case.

I am surprised your camera did not come with a "Lite" version of a commercial app.

 

[eljefino]

Kdenlive on linux. You can do a dual boot with win 7 and not lose anything.

There's also a whole suite "AVLinux" that comes with a bazillion useful programs.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Kdenlive on linux. You can do a dual boot with win 7 and not lose anything.

There's also a whole suite "AVLinux" that comes with a bazillion useful programs.


The scuttlebutt around kdenlive all seems to centre around one very disturbing word: "crashy". I tried it once for an extended period of time and found the same thing as I have found with almost all KDE apps: It is beautiful and feature-rich, but crashtacularly unstable.

Also, haven't the KDE folks been working on Windows ports for most of their core apps? I thought that both they and the Gnome team had constructed Windows libraries for the QT and GTK toolsets so those apps could all be run on Windows.

One could try Ubuntu Studio which probably features OpenShot, which is a fine-but-basic editor. There is also PiTiVi.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

I seem to notice a lot of Linux apps on this thread.

I am cleaning up and readying my PC now (taking off the bloatware and McAfee which kept popping up and making it relatively unusable for me, and I am about to ask what free security suite is best.) I have about an hour of raw video from my Nikon to edit together.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
I seem to notice a lot of Linux apps on this thread.


This may be for two reasons:

1) When talking about free software (not just "free" as in "no cost" but also "free" as in "freedom") most high quality apps are open-source and therefore usually run atop Linux. VLC, LibreOffice/ Openoffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. So when the question is asked involving the words "best" and "free" you are often going to run into answers that involve Linux-based applications even when you are a Windows user, because...

2) Most of these projects make attempts to port their software to Windows also. It has gotten to the point where the libraries and toolkits used to run all of these pieces of software are themselves being ported to Windows, making running the actual applications easier and easier. Therefore, a lot of the Linux-based suggestions made here may either presently or shortly run on Windows.

 

[armos]

I've been happy with VirtualDub. Part of that is just familiarity though - I was more confused by it when I started. It feels very efficient when you're used to it.
Sometimes it's a hassle figuring out how to import some video formats. I had a hard time importing the silly Quicktime format that my camera produces, but it was doable.
If you're doing much more than basic editing then it tends to need plugins. I've used a few plugins but mostly any editing I do is very basic.
VirtualDub only saves in .AVI. If I need an MPEG then I'll just save to a HuffYUV (lossless compressed) .AVI and then encode to MPEG in another app.

At one time I think Premiere Elements might have been free, but I heard that 2nd hand so I'm not sure. If it still is then that's an option to look at. It's more complicated but also more capable. Whether it's appropriate depends how interested you are in this stuff. It's a cut down version of a much more expensive app. For me, it's overkill so I stay away from it.