I did it- finally order a gopro helmet cam and need some editing info help.
I have zero experience with video editing and am looking for the EASIEST editing software to get some vids up and posted. I have seen several recommendations but wanted some more based on the following criteria:
1. Must be simple- hope to not spend hours making videos but would like to be able to add intro(again simple) and add in music
2. For a PC
3. Are there any that are intuitive- I am a cut and paste kinda guy
4. Can pull a still shot from the video as a pic

I guess i should mention i have never used any other editing software such as photoshop either. So tell me what you like for those of us "video challenged." From the vids i have watched i am more inclined to make videos similiar to Phreeriders or Boboolies and less like Kami's, or Todd's. Phree & Bob- i watch all your vids, but I think you share some of my philosophy of doing rather than editing; in other words show what it is with minimal edits.
Thanks
scott

Haha, thanks for that, I think...??? My edit style is guided by my bare ability to even get the song to load. I use windows movie maker that came with my vista (ugh) package. It works, but has issues(or moreso I have issues) If I don't do everything in an order it likes, it will lock up on me, and lose whatever I've just done. Takes forever to get clips to load, so I get ahead of myself and, lockup again.... grrrrrr. I can't seem to get rid of project files when I'm done and published, but I guess I can deal with the slowdowns, just go do something else for a while. Most of this has to do with my reluctance to learn more about my pc, and like most American consumers, when it locks up for the final time, I will go get a new one and start over...sad, but true.

Quote:

Originally posted by bobalooie57 ... Most of this has to do with my reluctance to learn more about my pc, and like most American consumers, when it locks up for the final time, I will go get a new one and start over...sad, but true.

At the risk of starting some sort of flame... I'll say that Windows 7 is a good upgrade from Vista... At least from what I've heard. I never ran Vista, but Win7 is running quite well, and we are actually using it at work,(scary) where Vista was never used....

No flames from me, :duh: I'm just happy to pick up enough to be somewhat entertaining. Can't wait for the video of me flailing around in the snow, It hasn't been captured yet, but I'm sure it will... hehehe

I got Sony Vegas 10 recently, and had no idea how to use it but figured it out pretty quickly. Just to test stuff out, I took a 3.4gig vid (an mp4 vid from my GoPro HD) and ripped a few scenes out of it, then stitched them together in sequence and even figured out how to add fadeouts/ins between the scenes. Adding a sound track was easy too. Next would be adding a few clips of text and whatnot..

It only took me around hour to figure stuff out, and that's cuz I didn't read any help files or google for tutorials. Vegas has a ton of options so I know there's ton more stuff to explore and learn, but for now I can get a video cut, put together, and exported pretty easily. Now I've just gotta figure out video compression to keep file sizes low while keeping quality as high as possible.

Another fan of Sony Vegas here... VERY easy to use and has a ton of tutorials on YouTube. Having Vegas 9 pro on both machines (home-vista/work-windows 7) I can say that windows 7 is much better to work with. Scott, you can go to the Sony site and download a 30 day free trial to see if you like it. Link

A example of the Youtub tutorial, go to YT and type in a question like "how to use Sony Vegas 9" or "How to use slow motion sony vegas 9" and it works everytime. If you decide to keep it I'll show you some neat tricks to maximize the most out of the GoPro HD.

Alright sony looks like a great program but i realized i missed a key option- I have NO interest in buying a software program that cost more then the camera- so sony pro is out any experience with the mere mortal version
Scott

Take a look at this...

at Todd - "Easy to use" compared to Chinese algebra, I guess ... aside from straightening the horizon, I haven't bothered with doing anything else with it :o just saving the files is too big a a pain in the butt

What I use ...
Avidemux is the most stable and easy to use software for converting files and fixing things like orientation or frame size.
VirtualDub is free but is more complex and finicky about formats ... Deshaker has been invaluable though!
Windows Live Movie Maker (for Win7, a separate download) is what I do most of my trimming and all my titles in.
Sony Vegas 9.0e needs a torrent of skills to get comfy with it but has it's uses for very complex things. Apparently there are free versions around. Apparently.

Trying out CineFX now ... if I can get it to load - it'a an opensource non-linear video editor like Vegas ...

So I downloaded the Sony Vegas HD Platnum trial, imported my Gopro 960p footage, edited and selected "upload to yotube". The video is dropping frames. What project settings and export settings have you guys used? When I have tried settings that I think would be right it says "an error occurred when converting the codec"

Dropping frames - man, have I had some frustrating experiences with all that sort of sh*t. For a start, know what's coming out of the GoPro ie: 1280x720 at 25 fps (my manual states that it should be 30fps - but it is NOT. Mine is 24.99. Every time I converted it at 30fps the video would stutter at short regular intervals. grrrr). I use cucsoft video converter and that told me how many frames my original footage was and I was able to compare it the converted video and work out the frame rate. Who said 'Chinese Algebra"??? LOL.

Once you establish that, make sure everything else is doing the same thing - your import settings, project settings, rendering settings etc. That should a good place to start.

I use Corel Video Studio, which I hate, and it has a non-square pixel rendering option - I don't know what it does, but if it's ticked, my videos get out of whack real quick.

Someone please donate me a Mac and iMovie......

Ah, project settings ... you gotta set them Vegas needs to be told WTF is going on quite forcibly, otherwise it does all its own thing on you. There's a link over at goprouser.freeforums.org that spells it out ... try to find it for you.

Sounds like Windows Live Movie Maker would be the ticket for you - drag, drop, cut, click to add music etc ... very simple. Then upload to YouTube. Quality suffers a bit but at least it's simple!

Quote:

Originally posted by flyguy0101From the vids i have watched i am more inclined to make videos similiar to Phreeriders or Boboolies and less like Kami's, or Todd's. Phree & Bob- i watch all your vids, but I think you share some of my philosophy of doing rather than editing; in other words show what it is with minimal edits. Thanks scott

Just noticed this - what's wrong with my videos?

Try this! First you have to set Vegas up for the size of the video, let it do it for you by first doing this.



Direct link

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s250/JustTodd/goprohow2.j...


After creating your video, then render it.



Direct link
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s250/JustTodd/goprohow2a....


Let me know if this helps and can't wait to see the video!

And there's this too

http://goprouser.freeforums.org/tutorial-exporting-with-vega...

And there's this too

http://goprouser.freeforums.org/tutorial-exporting-with-vega...

Thank you! There are so many variables with the editing programs that it takes forever to figure out what switches need to be flipped. I used Adobe Premere Pro 7 in the past and had problems with codecs so I gave Vegas a try. Loading the project settings from the source file and changing to the Sony AVC helped along with the other swiches listed in the goprouser forum links. Also I discovered that the frame dropping was due to the Quicktime player. I ran a low res version and it worked fine. As soon as I bumped up the resolution I would have the dropped frames. I tried out VLC and perfect playback. I am rendering right now but I will do a screen grab of my settings. Hopefully it will work on Youtube. Thanks again PKF comrads!

Toldja we should have a GoPro forum here

My laptop is a 2ghz Celeron with 3gig of ram and Quicktime is useless on it - stops and stutters and jumps frames. iTunes does a much better job of playing .mp4 & .mov files on my machine.

Quote:

Originally posted by John Holgate My laptop is a 2ghz Celeron with 3gig of ram and Quicktime is useless on it - stops and stutters and jumps frames. iTunes does a much better job of playing .mp4 & .mov files on my machine.

I am running a Dell desktop core 2 Duo XP with onboard video. One of the reasons I like the Vegas editor is that it does not require some high end video card. I may need to upgrade the OS because XP is only alowing 3.2 GB of ram to be seen and I have 4. I don't want to spend money on computer stuff. That will detract from potential kite purchases.
I added a link to the video in your post Apex II 7.5 Rides Again.
I may try out Vimeo. Youtube added the letterbox and changed the video to 720p.

Kdenlive is a free linux video editor. I have pretty much given up on windows except when work requires it. Ubuntu boots faster than windows and I have not had to pay a dime for software since I installed it.
S

It is really nice not be supporting either Gates or Jobs.

Cyberlink power director. Close enough to movie maker to be easy to figure out, and high zoot video card helpful but not required. The only problems with hang ups and such with my onboard video come from in project previews with heavy duty corrections like stabilization, free rotations to fix the horizon, etc. all at once. Once I output it, it all looks good. Nice DVD menu building tools, too.

http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Editor.aspx?type=GoogleAdWo...

this is what im using atm
you get so much for your money aswell