[GLLUG] Video Editing on Linux

[Marr]

On Wednesday 30 January 2008 9:10pm, Marr wrote:
> On Thursday 13 December 2007 10:45am, Marr wrote:
> > On Tuesday 04 December 2007 2:10pm, Clay Dowling wrote:
> > > I bought my wife a digital video camera for Christmas this year, and
> > > I'm expecting that one of her very first requests is going to be
> > > learning how get it off the camera and edited down so that we can share
> > > video with friends and family.  Unfortunately most of the Linux
> > > resources I'm finding on that are three to five years old.  In the
> > > Linux world, that's like trying to fix my Honda Accord with the service
> > > manual from 1977.
> > >
> > > Anybody have any good pointers for where to look on that?  If I can
> > > learn how to do it I'm perfectly happy to give a presentation on the
> > > subject so that I can share what I learn.  For that matter, it might
> > > make a good panel for Penguicon.
> > >
> > > Clay
> >
> > This week's edition of LWN has a front-page article about video camera
> > use:
> >
> >   http://lwn.net/Articles/261820/
> >
> >    The Grumpy Editor's video journey, part 1
> >    [LWN subscriber-only content]
> >    By Jonathan Corbet
> >
> > Eventually (after 1 or 2 weeks, IIRC), the article will be available to
> > non-subscribers.
> >
> > However, as a subscriber, I'm allowed to create a limited number of "Free
> > Links" to LWN stories that I want to share. Here's a free link to the
> > above story, for those who are interested in video camera use under
> > Linux:
> >
> >    http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/261820/4c0b2da7ed8cb13e/
> >
> > Here's a quote: "This article is the first of (probably) three which
> > describe your editor's odyssey through the hazards of video processing on
> > Linux."
> >
> > I haven't fully read the article yet, but Part 1 does not cover Kdenlive.
> > It does discuss 'dvgrab', Kino, Cinelerra, 'transcode', and 'mencoder',
> > though.
> >
> > And, lastly, for anyone interested in supporting LWN through a
> > subscription:
> >
> >    https://lwn.net/op/Subscriptions.lwn
> >
> > Bill Marr
>
> Hey guys,
>
> A follow-up to my earlier post....
>
> For anyone interested in making DVDs from their video content (whether
> captured via a camcorder or gotten via other means), LWN has posted the 3rd
> part of this 3-part series. (Note that part 2, covering the actual video
> editing process, was postponed and will appear, chronologically, in 3rd
> place.)
>
> The Grumpy Editor's video journey part 3: DVD authoring
> By Jonathan Corbet
> January 2, 2008
> Part of the LWN Grumpy Editor series
>
> Here's the link:
>
>    http://lwn.net/Articles/263387/
>
> As you can see, I'm a bit behind on my weekly LWN reading, so this article
> is conveniently now available to everyone, without the need for a
> subscriber's "Free Link" like before.
>
> Author Jon Corbet covers 2 GUI-based DVD authoring applications:
> 'DVDStyler' and 'Q DVD-Author', both of which use the 'dvdauthor'
> (command-line) utility. I haven't yet experimented with either of these GUI
> apps, but I've used 'dvdauthor' many times with great success.
>
> Of course, as I stated in my 1st post in this thread, you can also make
> DVDs with a "roll-your-own" approach, using text files and scripts. It's
> not trivial but not really that hard either; however, the GUI methods seem
> like a welcome idea and they're maturing a bit too, it seems.
>
> Please note that the example XML file for the command-line 'dvdauthor' tool
> (given in a link within the story) is ridiculously, needlessly complex.
> I've made several DVDs, including a few with multi-menu, multi-chapter,
> multi-title capability, including an audio background, and I've never
> needed an XML file anywhere near as complex as the author's example. I
> think that author Jon Corbet's usual sense of humor is at work here, just
> to make an exaggerated point. So don't be scared off by that XML file. Once
> you get the hang of it, the hardest part of making an XML file for the
> 'dvdauthor' tool (assuming you're using the "roll your own" approach and
> not a GUI utility) is getting the chapter breaks but any decent editor
> (e.g. Kino) should generate those automatically in the preliminary XML
> output file.
>
> Anyway, I hope some of you find this information useful.
>
> P.S. Part 2 of the series (video editors) is supposed to cover these
> applications: Kdenlive, Cinelerra CV, Kino, PiTiVi, LiVES, and Avidemux.
>
> Regards,
> Bill Marr

Hey guys,

For anyone still interested in the video creation/editing process, here's the 
(chronologically) final installment of the series of 3 articles on LWN:

The Grumpy Editor's video journey part 2: Video editors
By Jonathan Corbet
January 23, 2008

And the link:

   http://lwn.net/Articles/262985

As you can see, I'm (still) a bit behind on my weekly LWN reading, so this 
article is conveniently now available to everyone, without the need for a
subscriber's "Free Link" like before.

As expected, this final part of the series covers these video-editing 
applications: Kdenlive, Cinelerra CV, Kino, PiTiVi, LiVES, and Avidemux.

I've used Kino for several years to process video from my mini-DV camcorder 
and to create DVD-burnable video content and I've had good luck with it. It's 
in bug-fix-only mode now because the lead developer (Dan Dennedy) is now 
directing his efforts at the more-complex but more-capable Kdenlive editor.

Hope this article proves interesting and/or useful to some of you.

Regards,
Bill Marr