where do i get it from and what do i use? from mp4 files i think i want to make a movie from the koppenberg cross….

Windows Live Movie Maker?

Windows Live Movie Maker (came free on my Windows 7 laptop) can handle the mp4 files ok. Options are basic but it does the job for a quick edit.

Of more advanced tools, I’ve recently tried the trial version of Pinnacle Studio and it looks good so far. Loads the files, previews, edits ok.

On the other hand, Adobe Premiere Elements (v7) had problems. It would load the files and allow you to edit them but couldn’t preview them properly, very jerky and unwatchable. Tried all sorts of work arounds, format conversions, etc without success. Common problem apparently, it doesn’t support the format well.

I would suggest taking a look at Power Director by Cyberlink. I tried the Adobe and found it awful but PD was much better. It has not crashed on me as well which is nice. Adobe would constantly crash. I have a contour which has .mov as the output.

I had a play with Sony Vegas, but currently just using Live Movie Maker. Vegas has some more interesting effects, but the only reason I tried it really was Live Movie Maker doesn’t give the sound waves so if you want to try and edit something to match the music it is trial and error, whereas with older versions of Movie Maker and Vegas you can see the changes in the music.

You can get all versions of Vegas as a trial.

I hear good things about Sony Vegas …

Move-Maker Live (from Win7) will happily co-exist with Move-Maker 2.n from the XP release (assuming you can find a copy these days – it used to be on the MS site, but I dunno if it still is …)..

The earlier version has (in this context) more … sophisticated audio tools, but it lacks support from newer file formats, so you’ll almost certainly need to convert the source file using Movie-Maker Live to something the earlier version can use if you want the audio handling.

That may or may not matter depending on what you are doing with the video output.

If MMlive can handle it, (and I can’t remember if it can or not … ) an alternative would be to export the audio, and use the [frankly brilliant!] Audacity – edit it in there and import it back into MMlive.

I’m curious now, so I’ll give it a go tomorrow on a Win7 box – (this workstation is running Linux and lacks the grunt to run any VM’s at all, so it’s *only* running Linux 🙄 ).

it says it cant read the vcl mp4 files know anything about that?
Bruce

Would appear that Windows Live Movie Maker is only available for W7 and Vista machines.

Bruce it’s probably because MP4 isn’t really an editing format. You’ll probably need to convert it to something compatible with the program you’re using, see what it likes and then do a batch convert of all your files using something like MPEG Streamclip.

I was having problems finding editing software after buying a Drift HD170. Windows live moviemaker would not recognise the .mov files without converting them to another format first. I tried a free trial download of Magix Video 3 HD and find it quick and easy to use. It says it supports mp4 files although I’ve never tried it with that type. This is my first attempt! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AUa_IgpKQU

Powerdirector’s a horrible piece of kit, it can be convinced to make decent videos but what it wants to do is make you suffer.

Sony Vegas for me. HD Platinum- now worth mentioning that standard HD didn’t work at all, couldn’t run the preview effectively. Contacted Sony, they said “Your PC isn’t fast enough, no software will do what you want with your obviously low spec” (without ever asking what it was). Contacted the forums, they said “Your PC isn’t fast enough.”

So I tried HD Platinum, and it works perfectly.

I’ve found Premiere CS5.5 to be pretty damn good, I haven’t tried anything else. It can handle different file formats, just drag n drop, I use a ContourGPS & GoPro and it handles them without any conversion. It looks a bit daunting at first and if you get carried away with effects it can eat the best CPU’s & hard drives for breakfast.

Again you can download a trial and try it. There are loads of tutorials on youtube and websites. I didn’t know anything about video editing a month ago, since I have made a couple, check them out here.

Sony Vegas. Version 10 is about twenty quid from Amazon. There’s a lot in there but it’s been very useful for me.

I bought Pinnacle Studio 15 at £55 and was a big mistake, it is far too complicated for 40 year olds without collage film editing education 🙂
It sooked the arse out my 2G vista PC, i upgraded to 4G for £45 but still the same,
My friend Mike (Yodagoat on here) installed something to read the Go Pro Files on my PC, I will get him to post a link to whatever it was.
Now i just plug in the Go Pro, open Movie Maker, and click on computer and Disc D then “all files” then click on and import and they appear to edit, camera has to be left on while you edit then publish,
Interestingly films made with Pinnacle (if it did not freeze while using) always stalled around 20 seconds in and the picture would stutter for a few seconds,

Here is a film edited using Pinnacle, watch for the stuttering around 20 secs…
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZgocjNpws[/video]

Here is a film using movie maker, it is a lot quicker to edit, easy to use mix, and unlike using Pinnacle you feel in control and if editing to music and stop and edit exactly on the bit you want and fade in out to black/white etc…
Only the font is all a bit old school, i just write in the sand for end credits 😉
Never gonna be a blockbuster so why spend more time editing than riding! 😀
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7j4bmxF5_c[/video]