Alternative Video Editing Software ?

Hey,

Before making my studies of sound engineering, I learnt video editing for two years. Back in the days I used Avid a lot ; the past years, I practically didn't edit any more.

Still, I don't want to give up my knowledge in video editing and more generally in film making because I know that at some point I'd like to make one or several clips / short films again.

Today, I'm going to work with an artist for a video of his work. The next weeks I'll have to edit it and I'm wondering if I'm going to look for a cracked version of Avid (I really love Avid work flow so I'm not considering to use Final Cut) or if I'll look for something else.

Indeed, I like the idea there are some good free or cheap options for that kind of tasks. With music I work with Reaper and Renoise, which are amazing software. They offer a clear though powerful work flow, and the politic of their companies is respectful for the user (can we say it's the same for Pro Tools ? ).

As for another example, I know some people prefer to use The Gimp than Photoshop for working with pictures.

Here's my question : is there an alternative to Avid / Final Cut ? Once again it has to be free or cheap, but still professional (I'm not sure I want to use Premiere again)

What OS are you using? I'm assuming since you mention FCP you're on OSX. For OSX I would recommend one of these:

Avid Media Composer 6 (have not tried MC6, and don't know if a pirated version is reliable but many swear by it)

FCP 7 (know this to be reliable--if you wanted I could get you up to speed on it fairly quickly to do what you need)

FCP X (haven't tried)

"]Adobe Premiere (reliable as well)

Avid Media Composer, FCP, and Premiere are really the only one's I'd work with.

Some other things that might help are Boris Continumum Complete. Pluraleyes. Twixtor. After effects, Nukex, Cinema4D, Maya. Bitvice.

But, depending on what you need to do, if it's simple, you could do it in IMOVIE. Also, you can configure the newer IMOVIE so it's like a traditional editing app where there's a sequence at the bottom and not just short clips in the top left.

Blender also has a new video sequence editor, haven't tried it, but hey it's free!

There's some other open source video editing applications, and a few other paid ones, but really none of them offer the features those three do, or are unreliable, without support and a user base to ask questions to. Some other open source aside from blender there's http://cinelerra.org/ http://kdenlive.org/ http://kinodv.org/ http://lives.sourceforge.net/ (you'd need to install a linux distro for kino or LiVES)... but would not recommend, again reliable+large user base/community is more desirable for me personally.

Another thing about premiere, it's changed a ton in the newer version and is much better (not sure how recently you've used it).

Hi there!

cheap but not cheapish:

Edius Neo 3

http://www.grassvalley.com/products/edius_neo_3

free:

Lightworks

http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

cheers,

io

One thing iococoi didn't mention is that you'll have to run Lightworks or Edius on bootcamp if you've OSX

mpeg streamclip is a good free tool for converting video files into pro res 422. you can edit with it too, I think. I use it in conjunction with Final Cut.

the guys who make VLC media player are making a free video editor

http://trac.videolan.org/vlmc/

never tried it, dont think it's even version 0.1 yet so might be a non starter

one to keep an eye on tho?

Indeed I forgot to mention I work with Windows. Thanks for all the links, I wasn't sure I'd have replies actually

I started to self-teach myself with Premiere a long time ago, then I learn video editing in a school and we worked with Avid. I've never used Final Cut that much but now I know the keyboard shortcut style of Avid I'm not able to enjoy the drag'n'drop style of FC or Premiere any more.

The edit I'll have to do for this art video will be quite simple (cuts and cross-fades) but the reason I'm making this thread is because I'd like to find a good tool I could use later on. I'm especially thinking about video clips I'd like to make for my tracks. Anyway I'm not looking for a tool with a lot of FX or compositing features (I can use Combustion for that), but just a software that has the basic editing options (I/O points, cut, trim, fades, ...), organized in a clear way. Avid is very good for that but if I can avoid to leak it I'll do.

I will check the links you posted during the next days, thanks a lot !

I've been waiting for years for the equivalent of TheGimp in the NLE world. If memory serves, that VLC one has been around for awhile and gone nowhere.

You can use the AVID shortcuts in FCP (but doesn't matter FCP=mac only) or Premiere, you can set it in preferences so it's the same. The only thing different you'll have to cope w/ is the interface.

http://help.adobe.co...aef7-7c2ea.html

if you end up trying premiere watch some of these

http://tv.adobe.com/...cs55-resources/

anyway here's avidmc6

since it's a music video pluraleyes might be of some use to you, free full function 30day trial on site

imo your best bet for the long term is to go w/ either premiere or avidmc6

post some clips on here after you shoot some (:

*open source

• AviSynth (Windows)
  
• Blender VSE (cross-platform)
  
• CineFX Formerly known as: Jashaka (introduced as "Jahshaka Reinvented") (Cross platform)
  
• Cinelerra (Linux)
  
• Ingex (Linux)
  
• Kdenlive (Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD)
  
• Kino (Linux)
  
• LiVES (Linux, BSD, IRIX, Mac OS X, Darwin)
  
• Lumiera (Linux)
  
• OpenShot Video Editor (Linux)
  
• PiTiVi (Linux)
  
• VLMC VideoLan Movie Creator (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows)
  

NCH Software's "VideoPad" is a free little tool that lets you VERY BASICALLY cut and edit your videos. It's like an actually usable version of Windows Movie Maker.

But of course it's almost impossible to properly cut a longer project with it, especially when you've worked with professional software before.

I used to do all my film stuff in Ulead Media Studio 8 Pro - this is "cheap" compared to Adobe (I believe 300 or 400$), but it doesn't run on Win7 anymore and they can't seem to be bothered to release a fix for this. The program isn't supported anymore, but I liked it. It's not fancy and its interface is a bit n00bish, but it always let me do what I wanted to do, if only I knew how to slap it just right. It's like an old stubborn mule that always gets you there.

But that's in the past, unless someone finds a fix for the Win7 problem, so now there's only Sony Vegas and the likes. But I'd always go back.

Never worked with Avid. Should I?

  On 4/1/2012 at 11:20 AM, apeterlives said:

Another thing about premiere, it's changed a ton in the newer version and is much better (not sure how recently you've used it).

That's cool because it used to suck massively erectile dysfunctional dick

cs5 is where it got better by leaps and bounds before that it was very annoying to work with

you should try avid media composer 5.5/6 and premiere cs5.5 they both have free trials

http://apps.avid.com/media-composer-trial/

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=production_premium

  On 4/1/2012 at 6:32 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

 

Never worked with Avid. Should I?

 

Avid seems quite unfriendly when you start using it because it needs you to work with a lot of rigour. Like you have to plan a little bit more what you're about to do. That's IMO a very good thing because once you've tamed it, it becomes very transparent and you can fully focus on the purpose of your edit. Avid has a plenty of basic tools and you have to learn to compose with them. I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense. Also I'm talking about my experience with Avid of four years ago

  On 4/1/2012 at 6:03 PM, Antape said:

The edit I'll have to do for this art video will be quite simple (cuts and cross-fades) but the reason I'm making this thread is because I'd like to find a good tool I could use later on. I'm especially thinking about video clips I'd like to make for my tracks. Anyway I'm not looking for a tool with a lot of FX or compositing features (I can use Combustion for that), but just a software that has the basic editing options (I/O points, cut, trim, fades, ...), organized in a clear way.

I definitely second icocococococoococococoi's suggestion of Lightworks then. Especially as it's free !