Suggest me a good basic video splitter/editor

[Margalis]

I am looking to cut clips out of full movies in a variety of formats. I don't need a lot of fancy features. This is what I am looking for:

1. Free, or at least a free full-featured trial
2. Inputs and outputs a variety of formats
3. Preserves quality

I've found a bunch of packages but they all have problems. Some work for only a small range of input files, some only output windows media format, and some have poor output relative to input. I expect the output quality to be the same as the input quality if I'm not changing formats/resolution/etc.

[schild]

Premiere has a full 30 day trial.

It's really the only thing WORTH using. Unfortunately. Sadly.

[Trippy]

"Preserves quality" is going to be the sticking point. If your source material is MPEG-2 I can unequivocally recommend VideoReDo for cutting/trimming movies. If you edit only on I frames it doesn't reencode anything. If you do frame accurate editing it'll only reencode that edited content between I frames. It's a wonderful program with some of the best support I've ever seen for a program (visit the forums).

I have not seen an editor that can do this sort of minimal to no reencoding for other formats like WMV, Flash, or Divx.

I use Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 7.0 for my general purpose video editing needs and WMV transcoding (I've never managed to get MS's Windows Media Encoder to work on this machine). Not sure if it has a trial.

I use a variety of other programs to handle various transcoding needs (Nero Recode, TMPGenc, Vidomi, etc.).

Premiere has a full 30 day trial.

It's really the only thing WORTH using. Unfortunately. Sadly.

Huh?

Edit: spell check

[schild]

Premiere has a full 30 day trial.

It's really the only thing WORTH using. Unfortunately. Sadly.

Huh?

My answer was an all in one solution. Cutting clips in Premiere is trivial. Any other way is complicated and requires more than one install (codecs and such). Worst case, if he wants to output to SWF, he should get FLV encoder and use that after cutting the clip and exporting from Premiere.

[Trippy]

Other editors (like Vegas) can output multiple formats.

[Margalis]

I don't need to input our output Flash, but I would like to handle a variety of mpg/avi formats including the various MPEGs, DivX, etc.

[Evil Elvis]

I always used to use VirtualDub.  You might need to download a codec pack like CCCP to encode to certain formats

http://virtualdub.com/

[Mrbloodworth]

SpeedEDIT

Key Features: No-Transcoding, Format Independent, performs faster than any other professional editor.



Premiere is bloated and slow, and has trouble doing simple things, simply. IMO.

[Trippy]

SpeedEDIT

Key Features: No-Transcoding, Format Independent, performs faster than any other professional editor.

I don't see where it says that if you edit say a WMV clip that it doesn't reencode the whole thing on output to WMV. They are using the phrase "no-transcoding" to mean that you can mix and match different formats in the same timeline and you don't have to first convert them all to a canonical format first.

[Margalis]

I tried VirtualDub a bit last night, seemed good. I'll try SpeedEdit as well if that doesn't work out.

[Trippy]

VirtualDub doesn't preserve quality, though.

[Evil Elvis]

VirtualDub doesn't preserve quality, though.

VirtualDub can do cuts w/o re-encoding.  I believe you just select "direct stream copy".

[Trippy]

My mistake. What happens if you turn that on but don't edit only on keyframe boundaries?

[Evil Elvis]

My mistake. What happens if you turn that on but don't edit only on keyframe boundaries?

I guess it would depend on what you mean by keyframes.  I believe when you encode to, say, divx it generates some form of keyframe to help speed up fast forwarding.  If that's what you're talking about, I believe it works just fine (at least I never noticed any odd behavior).

[Trippy]

That's not my question.

If you do frame accurate editing in VirtualDub -- i.e. you aren't cutting only at keyframe (I frame) boundaries -- does VirtualDub reencode the entire clip or just the edited portions between keyframes?

[Evil Elvis]

Ah.  I'm not sure, I've never tried to do anything like that.

[JoeTF]

Vdub sucks.

You can use  AviSynth, but that's like using nukes to kill a fly. Or, more like doing painstaking research into nuclear physics, building a nuke and then killing a fly with it.

[JoeTF]

SpeedEDIT:
Your Price $495.00
Also, video company that streams misconfigured wmv instead of using embedded flash player...

[naum]

iMovie + iSquint + HandBrake + QuickTimePro or some combo therein (of those only QuickTime Pro costs $, but about half the price of a console game…)

The serious folk use Final Cut Pro.

[Mrbloodworth]

SpeedEDIT

Key Features: No-Transcoding, Format Independent, performs faster than any other professional editor.

I don't see where it says that if you edit say a WMV clip that it doesn't reencode the whole thing on output to WMV. They are using the phrase "no-transcoding" to mean that you can mix and match different formats in the same timeline and you don't have to first convert them all to a canonical format first.

Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital conversion from one (usually lossy) codec to another. It involves decoding/decompressing the original data to a raw intermediate format (i.e. PCM for audio or YUV for video), in a way that mimics standard playback of the lossy content, and then re-encoding this into the target format.

Your correct, no importing, no converting, you can mix clips of different encodings and just edit keeping them in the native formats. Just about all editors ENCODE anything you bring in into a format of its choosing...and if it doesn't, there is no way to mix formats. Transcoding has nothing to do with the final format. If you don't see the advantages of this, i don't know what to tell you.

If you bring in WMV, it will be WMV, when you bring it in, when you edit it...up to the point you export the final video, in what ever format you want, even in different formats, or targeted media, size, resolutions, all from one project, at the same time. Done.

Point being, you do not need to Transcoding , or pre-edit anything.

Resolution independence
It doesn't matter what you want to create, you can output in that resolution. Low-res web streams, standard def, or high def can all be created from the same project file by simply rendering out the desired size.

Combine SD and HD clips on the timeline.
This is as big as the clips you'll be editing. Anything can be edited alongside or on top of anything else. Mixing your existing library into your new HD clips never gets in the way of the story, as there’s no converting or re-scaling to distract you.

Real-time up and down conversion
Edit a project in any resolution, from a 320x240 web stream to 2880x1920 max resolution and then render it out to any resolution, progressive or fielded, that you need. This also gives you the ability to output HD, SD and web-sized versions of the same project.

YUV rendering engine
Every important compression format is YUV (MPEG, DV, HDV, DVCPro) so we talk directly to these without color conversions. This results in faster feedback with more accurate color.

Full resolution HD previews
High-Definition brings not just more pixels, but more clarity, detail and subtle coloration. Accurately monitor work as you progress without having to guess.

Real-time HD previews
No intermediaries. Drop an HD clip onto the timeline from a folder and it is ready to scrub and play. Avoid time wasted converting or rendering clips when you could be building your project. SpeedEDIT allows you to send your project back through the camera for HDV project playback on your broadcast monitor.

Output any frame-rate
Whether you are editing for output to Jumbotron, HD, DVD or broadcast, you can provide exactly what your client wants.

Output any resolution
Edit any clips you have, and focus on the pacing and storyline. When completed, you can render out to any resolution you need.

Output any aspect ratio
Regular television aspect or wide-screen support throughout the workflow from capture, to titling and output.

Input most formats
Pay no attention to clip formats, file types or file extensions, and put all your attention on building the project without any performance penalty for mixing different clips.

Source

Video Demo of an older version.

Pre-release Review of the program. Goes over many of the features and functions, pros and cons at the end.

And another from videoediting.digitalmedianet.com

And one form digitalcontentproducer.com That i will quote:

Until recently, most NLE software applications have followed similar workflow protocols. Now a company that helped to invent this industry has come up with a different way of approaching the NLE process.

In the late ‘80s, NewTek created the Video Toaster, which helped usher in the age of computer-based video editing. SpeedEdit is NewTek's new standalone nonlinear editing application for HD or SD video on Windows XP and Intel-based Mac computer systems. NewTek calls SpeedEdit a “resolution-independent,aspect-independent, and format-agnostic” product and touts it as “the world's fastest editor.” I was more than a little curious and, frankly, skeptical. But, like so many other video creators, I'm making the transition from DV to HDV and I need what SpeedEdit supposedly offers.

SpeedEdit has all of the tools you would expect in a professional NLE application, with some innovative additions. Its resolution independence means you can use SD and HD (720p or 1080i) clips on the same timeline. SpeedEdit takes that a step further and allows the use of other digital formats such as AVI, QuickTime, MPEG-2, and Flash. And because it does not transcode anything, formats remain in their native states.

SpeedEDIT:
Your Price $495.00
Also, video company that streams misconfigured wmv instead of using embedded flash player...

Uh, yeah. Thats Microsoft's format, a lossy, propriety format to boot. (Not sure why anyone would use it as a source format *shrug* )This is the company that brought the world Video toaster. As far as price, shall we compare it to premiere,as its the same class of editor.

He asked for a suggestion. This is the best Pro editor out there. IMO.

[Trippy]

Your correct, no importing, no converting, you can mix clips of different encodings and just edit keeping them in the native formats. Just about all editors ENCODE anything you bring in into a format of its choosing...and if it doesn't, there is no way to mix formats.

No, they don't.

[Krakrok]

I've always just saved out video from VirtualDub uncompressed. It takes gobs and gobs of hard drive but the quality is awesome. Lots of other video programs fail when trying to open 100GB uncompressed video files though.

[JoeTF]

Your correct, no importing, no converting, you can mix clips of different encodings and just edit keeping them in the native formats. Just about all editors ENCODE anything you bring in into a format of its choosing...and if it doesn't, there is no way to mix formats.

No, they don't.

Don't the professionals actually use frameservers and don't have to deal with ANY resolution and codeck nonsense? I need something easy to use for my sister an Avisynth&MeGui combo seems to be a bit of an overkill.