Tools for editing videos on XP.

[calm]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I figure it's at least close to on topic.

I am a person who likes board games: checkers, chess, backgammon, go ... . On some player sites people teach lessons,
which I ( with the teachers permission ) record.

In the past ( back when my machine was dual boot NT Linux ),
I used NT. Camstudio would capture the video and Audacity
would capture the sound. I converted the video to xvid, and the audio to ogg. Then I would use VirtualDubMod to merge them into an mkv.

I used ogg, because I wasn't happy with the licensing imposed on mp3. I used xvid because I wanted a codec which could be used on a slow/weak computer because I did pass these around ( again with permission ) and I did not want some poor person not to be able to play.

The videos themselves are extremely simple. A picture of a board with pieces that move every second or so. On the side an area where people chat (similar to IRC). And the sound of the lecturer. Essential a very simple cartoon.

Since I upgraded my hardware, Camstudio can handle both video
and sound, so I don't need to mix the sound and video. The thing is that I also don't want to demux the sound and video now.

So my question.

Given that I record this with Camstudio, the video I produce uses Camstudio's codec for video compression, and pcm for sound. I want codecs which are "free" such as ogg and divx.
I am running a modern machine with 2G , 1G used most of the time, dual core, and XP ( no way I will touch Vista ). I also want people with...well, crapppy, ... machines to be able to view these.

What container format ( avi, mkv, ...), video and sound should I use? What tools should I use to encode and edit ( to get rid of parts where for example I show a piece of explorer opened to my pr0n directory :devil: ) the video?


Thanks.

PS: Let's try to keep it to free tools.

[Guest]

Wht can't you do what you were doing, i.e., convert to xvid/ogg?

[JohnnyMalaria]

One of the most universal (cross-platform) and low horsepower to decode is MPEG1.

[calm]

Wht can't you do what you were doing, i.e., convert to xvid/ogg?

Let me correct you a bit. You mean xvid/ogg/mkv.

The basic answer is I can, but... The main point of the question is what software should I use. My present experience with VirtualDubMod is that I would have to demux the audio and video , do my processing, then mux them. Is there software which would let me work without muxing and demuxing?

I figure since I am changing software I might as well change formats too -- if someone can suggest something that will work better.

[poisondeathray]

No don't have to demux the audio & video. You can use ffdshow vfw, just enable "camstudio" in the vfw video decoder configuration, and vdub / vdubmod will import it directly. You could also use an .avs script, or vdubmod's avisynth template to import.

This way you could to everything in 1 application. If you do no filtering and just do simple editing, you can use "fast recompress" mode and avoid colorspace conversions and subesequent quality loss. If you plan on applying filters, you should import via .avs and do the filtering in avisynth (still using fast recompress)

mp3 is pretty ubiquitous these days, if your audience and compatibility is to be considered here, fewer would have difficulty playing back xvid/mp3/avi than xvid/ogg/mkv. You could use lame mp3 acm, which would allow this functionality in vdub / vdubmod. If you are content with xvid/ogg/mkv, then you have to use vdubmod

[calm]

mp3 is pretty ubiquitous these days, if your audience and compatibility is to be considered here, fewer would have difficulty playing back xvid/mp3/avi than xvid/ogg/mkv. You could use lame mp3 acm, which would allow this functionality in vdub / vdubmod. If you are content with xvid/ogg/mkv, then you have to use vdubmod

Ok. I am on my way out so I'll post something more detailed later.
Just my reasons for using ogg. Feel free to correct/inform me as appropriate.

There are two basic reasons idecided not to use mp3. The main one is the "patent wars" around it. I don't want Fraunhofer one day knocking on my door with a summons. In that sense ogg was the safer choice.

The second was that once I started using ogg, ( using level -1 since it's only voice-- I would have used speex codec, but could not get it into a container ). I found that the size significantly smaller then mp3.

My main concern is with getting the videos to work with various PC OSs on weak computers and on palm like devices, since the sizes are approximately 200-300M/lesson.

[poisondeathray]

I don't know enough about the licensing/patents , but if you are just making videos of yourself playing chess ..etc... I doubt you will get in any trouble, especially if there is no monetary transaction, and no retail usage. Strictly speaking , you should use something like theora instead of xvid if you go along that line of thinking with "patents". There was a thread recently discussing that if you search

I was just raising the point that ogg and .mkv are not supported by that many devices / players compared to mpeg4 ASP, and mp3. Most new devices play h.264/aac in .mp4 (e.g. ipod, psp, etc...)

If you have a specific device in mind, you should do some research on a compatible profile, keeping in mind this may preclude you from using the same video on other devices.

Good luck