Video editing software?

What are you experienced video people using to edit your stuff? JW, philfort, pbelitz . . . ?<br><br>Nothing too elaborate, basically just cutting, titles, adding audio, etc. Free or available from Microsoft would be preferable.

Windows Movie Maker comes free with Service Pack 2. <br><br>Good for basic editing. You can make nice videos with it, but you can't do any advanced editing with it. Works fine if you're just shooting low-res video with a digital camera anyway (like me).

Ahhh . . . right there in my "accessories" - thanks, Paul.

Make sure to post links to the videos here!

There's a version 2 of Movie Maker:<br>www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

Not sure what the extra features are.

I use Sony Vegas - pricey, but they have a low-end version "Vegas Movie Studio" for $100 (Vegas is pretty intuitive to use, and a stable piece of software).

...in case the free software isn't good enough ;)

OK, here's my first effort . . .<br><br>www.randosaigai.com/lundinvid_1.wmv

Kinda crude, but the software was pretty intuitive. When you import video, WMM seems to break up the clips into segments based on movement, or lack thereof, automatically. Is this typical?

<br><br>Nice turns!<br><br>Yes, WMM always breaks up video clips, and you have no control over in what manner it does so. Can be annoying. <br>

It doesn't break up video clips if you turn that option off

WMM is all I have used thus far for the videos I've made. It has become very tempermental and recently unusable/unstable. Now when I launch the program, it crashes...everytime! I googled the topic and it appears to be a fairly widely known bug(s) in the software. The last video I made (Maude North Face), took me 4 days to finish because the program kept crashing and losing most of my work. I have begun the search for better software and will likely end up with Sony or Adobe.<br><br>When it worked, it was very easy to use (even a Hummel could do it ). I'd gladly continue to use it for basic web productions, but unfortunately it's time has past...at least for me.

oh yeah...and the other frustrating thing is that you can't re-download it from Microsoft without the entire service pack 2! &gt; They should make it a separate download so that people could at least try to re-install it and attempt to get it to work again.

I have been using Adobe Premiere for several years. After a while, using the lower end programs, you just get to where you want something that works!<br><br>WMM, for example, is weak on incorporating stills -- you cannot pan and zoom. Then there is transparency fades, picture in picture, key framed effects, color correction, complete control over slow or fast motion (including backwards motion), and on and on. There is so much more you can do than line up shots and accompany them with music and cheezy transitions!

oh yeah...and the other frustrating thing is that you can't re-download it from Microsoft without the entire service pack 2! &gt;  They should make it a separate download so that people could at least try to re-install it and attempt to get it to work again.

<br><br>There is a fix for the most common crashes in MM2.0 in MM2.1. <br><br>Yes the Movie Maker team did decide that the only way to get MM2.1 was to install Windows XP Service Pack 2. <br><br>This is a bit of a PITA, However since service pack 2 fixes so many other problems in Windows (including a reasonably effective pop-up blocker in IE) those of us here in Redmond really want to encourage people to install Service Pack 2.<br><br>If you have a broadband internet connection you may download Service Pack 2 from this URL: update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

If you don't want deal with that giant download -- MS will ship you a CD with Service Pack 2 at no charge:
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/up...r/en_us/default.mspx

For the "what's free" folks in the crowd who want to sequence stills as part of their video productions, there's also Microsoft Photo Story (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digita...tostory/default.mspx) - it's a free download that will let you sequence stills, and it will come up with some default toming and start/stop positions for zooms and pans, all of which you can change pretty easily. Once you get a sequence you like, you can pull it into WMM and use it just like any other video clip. Not quite Adobe After Effects, but neither is its price...

As Tim notes, you get more controls and options with pay-for software that's aimed more at pros/"prosumers" but you also tend to have a somewhat steeper learning curve. The pro level folks I know seem most happy with either Avid or Final Cut Pro, and as this thread already shows, there's a range of happy folks using each inbetween level of software.

Sam - I'm curious if you have more details on your problem. If you care enough about this to PM me, I may know folks who could suggest a few things that would get you working better again.

Thanks for the post Randy.  What should a person do if they already have SP2 and are still having issues?  My machine came with SP2 already installed and I typically let Windows Update install any fixes that come down the chute.  I literally cannot launch the program w/o it crashing within 2 seconds.  It would be great if I could just uninstall WMM and re-install it.<br><br>Edited to add: Jim, I saw your reply after I wrote this. When I get home, I'll try launching the program and see exactly what the error message says.

Probably you've already seen this Sam, but in case not:<br>www.papajohn.org/MM2-Issues-Acceleration-and-Codecs.html
(just one of the first google hits)

10/15/05 (Microsoft) If MovieMaker is crashing on startup then that is generally caused by having a lot of DirectShow filters on your system. Typically you can work around the problem by temporarily renaming applications that have installed DirectShow filters. <br><br>... You can find the list of the DirectShow filters that you have installed on your system by running the "dxdiag" program, clicking Save All Information. It will create a text file with the information...

Sam - Randy and PapaJohn (who Phil points to) are the guys on this one, but again, if you need some more help send along some details and I can check in with Randy and/or some other folks who may have good clues.

Thanks for the tip on Photo Story, Jim - I was just wondering how to incorporate stills into the mix.

Probably you've already seen this Sam, but in case not:<br>www.papajohn.org/MM2-Issues-Acceleration-and-Codecs.html
(just one of the first google hits)

<br>No doubt, I have a pantload of DirectShow filters (whatever the heck those are). But that site doesn't go into any detail as to how to fix the problem.<br><br>Randy, I just sent you an email. Any help you can offer will delay my dropping the $$$ for something more highpowered. Thanks!

I use TuensKit AceMovi, which is available for both Windows and Mac. It contains many features for editing such as split, crop, and zoom, green screen, rotate, change speed, and many more and has a large library. And you can get it for free before 1.15.