Hi,
I'd like to find a really basic, simple, and hopefully free video editor that I can use to "illustrate" sound clips (such as field recordings) with still pictures. Windows Movie Maker is exactly what I need in terms of functionality, but it only outputs wmv files, and I'd like something a bit more versatile (e.g. AVI files with XViD/mp3 encoding). One thing I like in Movie Maker is that you drag and drop your sound file and picture, then it takes one click on a button to adjust the picture duration to the entire film. In terms of transitions, I need nothing more than the most usual cut and fade transitions.
I also found Pinnacle's Video Spin, but you have to pay for codecs. Is there anything free that will simply use the available Windows codecs (XViD, Lame...)?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Mr Gou
make it a two part process (i assume you are on windows):
1. editing (google lightworks beta, its free but not really that simple)
(export uncompressed)
or
1. edit: you may also check avisynth
http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/ImageSource (http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/ImageSource)
2. encoding to xvid/mp3
(the usual virtualdub procedure i would imagine, but i didn't encode something like that for years now.., you may want to check AVC/h.264 in mp4 container)
make it a two part process (i assume you are on windows):
1. editing (google lightworks beta, its free but not really that simple)
(export uncompressed)
or
1. edit: you may also check avisynth
http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/ImageSource (http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/ImageSource)
2. encoding to xvid/mp3
(the usual virtualdub procedure i would imagine, but i didn't encode something like that for years now.., you may want to check AVC/h.264 in mp4 container)
Thanks, but none of these options are really the kind of simple "drag-n-drop" solutions I'm hoping to find. avisynth is hardly a user-friendly and accessible to non-specialists. I'm probably some sort of an advanced user, but not
that advanced!
I have NOT tried it, but
avidemux[/u] (http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/) is also FREE.
...but it only outputs wmv files, and I'd like something a bit more versatile (e.g. AVI files with XViD/mp3 encoding).
You'd generally like to avoid transcoding lossy-to-lossy, especially from something highly-compressed like WMV. But, if you can't get exactly the format you want,
SUPER[/u] (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) (FREE!!!) can convert to/from almost anything. (If you download SUPER, follow the confusing links and make sure you are downloading SUPERsetup.exe... Don't get fooled by the ads for other software on their website!)