Video file simple editor/trimmer?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Peace N. Love, Jun 9, 2020.

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  1. Peace N. Love

    Peace N. Love Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Not sure if it's appropriate to post this here, but I am trying to find a simple (preferably free) Windows program that allows you to just cut a scene out of the middle of a video file; something without all the other bells and whistles. Does anyone know of such a thing?

    I've found programs that allow you to trim the beginning or end, but not easily just snip out of the middle.\
     
  2. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
  3. Exotiki

    Exotiki The Future Ain’t What It Use To Be

    Location:
    Canada
    Windows movie maker seems like a good choice.
     
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  4. Peace N. Love

    Peace N. Love Forum Resident Thread Starter

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  5. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Is Quicktime still available for Windows? I do simple stuff like that all the time with QT on a Mac, and it's simple. It's nice not to have to open a big video editor for small changes.

    If you're the type that enjoys a command line interface, there's also the FFMPEG library/command. I think that's what a lot of GUI tools are using underneath anyway.
     
  6. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    I know you can simply copy a section of a video file to get a new file of only that section.

    Serious editing, I don't know.
     
  7. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    Be sure to get the one w/a timeline -- version 2.6 I think.
     
  8. Peace N. Love

    Peace N. Love Forum Resident Thread Starter

    We've had issues with the newer version of Movie Maker - it seems like the video it produces doesn't fill the screen and also sometimes there's a noticeable drop in resolution.
     
  9. jtiner

    jtiner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maine
    For some common file types (like MP4) you can actually use the Windows 10 integrated "photos" program. If you right click a video file and "open with > Photos", the file will open and play in Photos, but there'll also be an option to "edit and create" which includes a trim function with sliders so you can trim from beginning and/or end of the file then save. I'm not sure of all of the file types/codecs it supports.
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2020
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  10. beat_truck

    beat_truck Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW PA
    Avidemux

    It allows basic editing without re-encoding so it's quick and no loss in quality. It's free.
     
  11. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    It's also baffling, from an interface standpoint, in my opinion. I don't recommend it.
     
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  12. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    For a free, basic editor I settled on OpenShot after trying lots. Whether this suits you or not, I don't know. I think it's a good middle ground between too much and too little. YMMV
     
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  13. beat_truck

    beat_truck Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW PA
    I actually find it pretty easy to use, especially for what the OP wants to do, but whatever.:shrug:
     
  14. Carrman

    Carrman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
  15. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Last edited: Jun 9, 2020
  16. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
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  17. Michel_LeGrisbi

    Michel_LeGrisbi Far-Gone Accumulator ™

  18. will_b_free

    will_b_free Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boulder, CO
    I like Avidemux too, though like any lossless cutter it only cuts on keyframes (of m4v files) so may be off by a couple seconds.
     
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  19. Joel Cairo

    Joel Cairo Video Gort / Paiute Warrior Staff

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    One word: Virtualdub

    - Kevin
     
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  20. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    There's a good reason why I stick with the program I do, Grass Valley Edius, because it just doesn't crash.

    I'm someone who's cut hundreds of hours of video, and am fairly skilled with Windows - and I've never been able to get a project done in Resolve without it crashing. But I absolutely wouldn't recommend it for somebody needing simple stuff. Or anyone without a highly skilled IT Department to build a super powerful machine.
     
  21. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Though that costs money. The basic version of Resolve is free, and it runs on three different operating systems. If you just use it for simple stuff, it's not that hard to use. I knew Final Cut Pro pretty well 20 years ago, and I picked up editing in Resolve in an hour. The rest of it is... a bit involved.

    I cut with Resolve on just a laptop, and it's fine with DNxHD or ProRes or other simple formats. There's a lot to like about it, vs. (say) Premiere or Avid -- the editing programs that dominate the post industry. Grass Valley is getting ready to go under, last I checked, so be careful.

    Belden Selling Grass Valley | TV Technology (2019)
     
  22. Peace N. Love

    Peace N. Love Forum Resident Thread Starter

    So I tried OpenShot and it seemed to work very well for just cutting bits out of a video (an avi file in this case). Was also impressed how seamless the cuts looked.

    I didn't investigate the program beyond this task, but found it pretty straightforward to use.
     
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  23. Vanguardsman

    Vanguardsman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Marco Island, FL
  24. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Yup, that's the replacement for the Movie Maker, I think.

    I either use that or OpenShot (well, okay, mostly it's OpenShot these days) whenever I need to do something with video editing for uni.
     
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  25. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    I installed Resolve on a fresh installation of Windows 10, on a laptop with 32 gigs of RAM - loaded some media into it - and it crashed. Even though it's free I have to place some value on my time, and if I was able to actually cut something with it without it crashing I might have a better opinion of it.

    I was never able to understand why Belden bought Grass Valley in the first place. The thing I like about Edius is that, even if they go out of business, the software will continue to work. And as I said, it's been rock solid for me. My average editing project uses four different codecs, and I don't have to transcode any of them - it cuts them all native.
     
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