Linux video editor testing and a winner

Rightardia supported a MoveOn.org event in North Pinellas County. MoveOn.org wanted video so we tried out our new Cisco Flip HD Ultra.  We also brought our new Kodak Z710 camera to shoot stills.

We put the Flip camera on a tripod about 25 feet away from the speakers platform and near a public address speaker. We shot one short pan of the protesters and another 30 minute segment of the speakers on a tripod.

Once we got the video back to the office, we used the Linux Pitivi video editor to create speaker clips.

We were able to create the clips, but the uploads to You Tube were unusable. This was after hours of experimenting with a dizzying array of options.  The Pitivi software is basic and allowed us to pull clips, but that was about it.

Wirehead found another Linux editor called KDEnlive that had all sorts of bells and whistle. It had filters to clean up the both the audio and video.

Because it started with KD, we assumed it was designed for the KDE desktop rather than Gnome that we use.

In the past when we have installed aps designed for KDE, they installed with a lot of overhead. Fortunately KDEnlive did not.

KDEnlive was more robust than Pitivi and you could title videos with it. Unfortunately it ,too, produced unusable clips that looked almost exactly like the Pitivi clips.

Yesterday we installed  update to an excellent Tweak utility called Ailuris and noticed another video editor called Avidemux (GTK+).

This company compiles its video editor for both windows and Linux which showed. This product has a very intuitive interface and fits in terms of complexity between Pitivi and KDEnlive.

Avidemux has a copy feature by default that allows you to cut video clips from the master video without processing. After pulling a clip, we were able to upload it to You Tube without a hitch.

However, even a 30 second video may take You Tube a half an hour to process.

You Tube does have some criteria for its uploads. It can handle

• High Definition
• Up to 2 GB in size.
• Up to 15 minutes in length.
• A wide variety of formats

Of course, you have to create a You Tube account first. Once you log into You Tube, you will discover it also has a online video editor.

We also used Avidemux (GTK+) to process rather than copy a clip which uploaded to You Tube. Oddly, Blogger would not accept the video, but You Tube did. After we uploaded the processed clip to You Tube, we then used the You Tube embed in Blogger.

Avdiemux has excellent documentation. See Avidemux (GTK)+ documentation

If you are in a hurry as most people in media are, Avidemux is a job saver. Avidemux is the Rightardia winner for editing video in Linux. 

One other note: if you want to edit video you will need a dual core or core duo processor or better (I2 or higher) and an excellent video card.

We couldn't even view the Flip HD Ultra clip on a laptop with a P6 processor. The audio stopped and the frames barely moved.

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