Video Editing Software?

[fos]

A major project for one of my classes includes video documentation. As part of the project, I must script, tape, and edit the video. The instructor suggests Adobe Premier video editing software. Naturally, Adobe is very expensive. I asked if the cheaper Elements version would be suitable and he said it would. I purchased a camcorder that will be suitable. It records in MiniDV and has Firewire available for transfer. The manual directs you to the software for the transfer and edit details.

I'm an old hand at silver based photography and a fair amateur with digital. I am a total newbie with video.

Does anyone use any video editing software on a regular basis? I almost have to use Adobe Premier (Elements) since that is the package the professor suggested.

Is their a Linux (Debian / CentOS) alternative?

Jeff

[uteck]

Linux Journal did an overview of video editing software recently, but it is not available for free on their site yet, so you may have to track down last months issue. They do a good job of discussing the strengths and weakness of the various application's and how they compare to the commercial standards.

Here are some that may work.
http://cinelerra.org/
http://www.blender.org/
http://lives.sourceforge.net/
http://www.kdenlive.org/

Here are a couple sites with even more links;
http://digital-filmmaking.blogspot.com/2007/08/video-editing-options-for-linux.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

[fos]

Wow! Thank you for the excellent information. I actually have a subscription to Linux Journal. It is probably in the pile of reading next to my desk. Between work and classes I'm a little behind.

Jeff

[fos]

Will a modest computer with 1 Gig of memory work decently with video editing or do I need to purchase a fire breather?

[bhobjj]

Will a modest computer with 1 Gig of memory work decently with video editing or do I need to purchase a fire breather?

You need lots of space for capturing raw video. 3.5 to 4 MB per second (~200MB / minute) of uncompressed video.

If you are using Kino (http://www.kinodv.org/), read the user guide (http://www.kinodv.org/docbook/). I have an older computer, so I need to turn off the display preview while capturing video.

-BoB

[fos]

// 3.5 to 4 MB per second... !!!

Looks like I will be shopping for a hard drive. :redface:

[jpaulb]

I have used Kino on a box with 1gig ram, AMD 64 3200
The 64 bit OS is a bit faster. A 1 hour minidv is about 13 gig of data.
The time consumer is converting the kino file to a format that will fit on a DVD

I usually do that at night as a 2 hour DVD may require many hours