decent free mp4 editor?

[nineball]

i have this mp4 video and i would like to remove parts of the video and insert my own pics but keep the audio timeline the same. i have tried a handful of google results but nothing does what i want to. as soon as i remove the video portion i don't want the audio is removed as well. anyone have a suggestion?

[nineball]

i can also make it into avi format if that will be better.

[porsche4life]

I'm curious as well. I really love using iMovie but I no longer have a roommate with a mac, and I'm too cheap to buy my own.

[Paul_Heery]

The best free editor that I have found is PiTiVi, a free and open source video editor for Linux

Now, this runs on Linux. But, it is part of the default installation for Desktop | Ubuntu 10.10. If you want to try it, you can download and burn a Live CD for Ubuntu and boot your PC with it.

[rcecale]

Originally Posted by nineball

as soon as i remove the video portion i don't want the audio is removed as well. anyone have a suggestion?

Have you tried separating the audio and video portions? Select the area you want to replace the video portion of and then right-click on it. There may be a menu item that lets you disjoin or separate the audio from the video. Then, simply remove the video and replace it with your own.


Another option may be to simply lay the "new" video on top of the "old" video...on a second layer. This way, the old video remains, but the new video is actually displayed on top of the old. Adobe Premiere Elements allows for both of these options, but then again, Elements is not a free application.


Good luck!

Randy

P.S. I do this sort of thing at work, so feel free to PM me if you have any other questions I may be able to help you with.

[stomachmonkey]

Recale beat me to it.

Those are your two best options.

Option 2 will/should be easiest/quickest.

[rcecale]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Option 2 will/should be easiest/quickest.

Yep!

Randy

[nineball]

Originally Posted by Paul_Heery

The best free editor that I have found is PiTiVi, a free and open source video editor for Linux

Now, this runs on Linux. But, it is part of the default installation for Desktop | Ubuntu 10.10. If you want to try it, you can download and burn a Live CD for Ubuntu and boot your PC with it.

thanks for the suggestion but i am not learning a new OS just to edit a small video file

Originally Posted by rcecale

Have you tried separating the audio and video portions? Select the area you want to replace the video portion of and then right-click on it. There may be a menu item that lets you disjoin or separate the audio from the video. Then, simply remove the video and replace it with your own.


Another option may be to simply lay the "new" video on top of the "old" video...on a second layer. This way, the old video remains, but the new video is actually displayed on top of the old. Adobe Premiere Elements allows for both of these options, but then again, Elements is not a free application.


Good luck!

Randy

P.S. I do this sort of thing at work, so feel free to PM me if you have any other questions I may be able to help you with.

yes, i had both of those ideas. the one program i found that allowed me to split the audio and video still deleted the audio after doing the split.

as of now i have not found a free editor that will allow me multiple tracks, or instances of the same file. i spent many years as an audio eng for radio (protools, cakewalk, cep, etc etc), both terrestrial and online, so i am very familiar with the process and actually thought of that first. there maybe one out there but i just haven't found it yet.

[stomachmonkey]

Your Free Online Video Editor | JayCut

For fre image and sound editing there is also aviary.com

[rcecale]

Since you've got some experience, why not try the FREE DEMO version of Sony Vegas Pro 10. I believe this is a timed (30 days only), fully functional version of the software. Use it, knock out your video and you're done!

Randy

[nineball]

Originally Posted by rcecale

Since you've got some experience, why not try the FREE DEMO version of Sony Vegas Pro 10. I believe this is a timed (30 days only), fully functional version of the software. Use it, knock out your video and you're done!

Randy

vegas is some nice software! it worked out perfectly for me. the only problem i had was rendering to avi in the demo. i'm not sure if it was a file size limit or a time limit but it would only render my 1 min file for the first 35 secs and then stop. when i switched to wmv i got the full clip.


and just in case anyone was bored and wanted to see what the modern take on fantasy football trash talking is like, and the whole reason for this thread (his team name is the useful moose):