TechDish: Free Tools to Make You a Video Editing Pro

Posted on: Fri, 09/03/2010 - 12:26 — us104_techdish

We're all about video these days, and the topic of how to "do video" is as viral as the videos themselves. On today's TechDish we're talking about free (yes, FREE!) tools you can use to edit and publish your videos to a variety of media and platforms. These tools have been personally tested by ÜberTech and yours truly. We can attest to their performance, and stand by them as quality solutions for your video editing needs.

Free Tools for Editing Video

Windows Movie Maker

You may not realize this is on your computer, but Windows Movie Maker has come as an installed standard on computers ever since Windows XP Service Pack 2. Free downloads of the software have been around even longer for Windows XP, and even that attrocity we once knew (but tried to forget ever happened): Windows ME. Vista users also have Windows Movie Maker as a standard install, but the product itself has been replaced by Windows Live Movie Maker, which offers much of the same functionality.

Free Download: Windows XP | Windows Vista/Windows 7

What it can do:

• Import video from your digital video camera or other devices
• Perform edits to imported video: make cuts, combine video clips, assembling a "highlight reel" of sorts
• Overlay music or separate audio track onto video
• Import images to frames in video
• Add text effects and title/credits screens
• Publish completed video to the web, your computer, an email, a cd or a dvd (note: does not do dvd "publishing"—dvd will not be in standard dvd format)

DVD Flick

If Windows Movie Maker is your assembly tool, then DVD Flick is your publishing/finishing tool. DVD Flick fills in the missing link of authoring your video files to a dvd that will play on any dvd player.

From the author's website (http://www.dvdflick.net/)

DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks, subtitles as well as a menu for easier navigation.

Free Download: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7

What it can do:

• Burn virtually any video file (support for over 45 file formats) to a dvd for playback in a dvd player
• Add chaptering and menus to your dvd
• Ability to add subtitles to your dvd
• Also provides dvd burning functionality

HandBrake

Have video on a dvd that you want to publish to your YouTube or Facebook? Maybe you want to archive a family vacation movie from a dvd to your hard drive? Or your iPod, PSP or phone? HandBrake will get you there. This is a well-oiled machine-type tool that will take the video and audio from an existing dvd and transcode it to virtually any purpose you have for it.

There are copyright issues that come into play with a tool this powerful; and neither HandBrake's developers, nor us at TechDish condone the illegal copying or distribution of copyrighted material. So, while it may work, please don't use HandBrake to rip content from copyrighted dvds.

Free Download: Windows/Linux/Mac

What it can do:

• Rip video from virtually any non-copyprotected dvd or supported media
• Transcode video in high quality (including HD formats) for playback on your computer
• Transcode video to be re-burned to dvd/cd, or played back on your iPod, PSP, Zune, phone or other portable device

Today's TechDish topic was thanks to a number of inquiries in the store about various ways to rip, edit and manipulate video on a computer. Do you have a question that you'd like us to talk about on an upcoming episode of TechDish? Send your questions by email to techdish@ideascomputers.com or stop in the store and talk to us!