MP4 Video Editor

[DD716TED]

As a hobby, I started taking aerial videos using a RC Drone (not over campgrounds).. All of the videos are in MP4 format but are long and utilize a lot of memory.. I would like to edit them on my laptop but have yet to fine an inexpensive or free video editing program to do it with.. any suggestions of a video editor program (preferably free) that I might try?

[wa8yxm]

.A lot depends on what kind of editing you wish to do

Basic cut and splice
Add effects

I generally use a very simple editor... I'm thinking womble.. but it often messes up the audio/video sync on me. when I cut and splice.

But then I don't do a lot of video editing.. For Audio editing I have professional software I paid serious cash for back when I bought it.. but you need to edit videos.

[SCVJeff]

What company was that? I worked for GTE in the 70's and they had an excessively expensive studio that rivaled any commercial broadcast station (obviously yours did too). All we did was in-House training for the corporation, cept being in LA we occasionally used major stars at SAG base rates

[Gdetrailer]

SCVJeff wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
----snip----
Yeah, I did work in a old school video recording/editing studio for a while.. Was cool working with commercial 1" (open real) and 3/4" video tape equipment :B.. Was "state of the art" back in the mid 1980s..

Describing wrappers vs. content is something probably for the A/V Forums..

So: 1".. Type A, B, or C ? I think by the mid 80's Type A & B had already died off

"C", Can't remember the model numbers but they were Sony full editing machines. Three Sony machines (two for source and one as record), had separate TBCs and a master clock to hold the sync between. They also had several 3/4 umatics, several 1/2" Panasonic Pro VHS and several 1/2" Sony Beta Pro machines that could be called up (those were not tied directly to the editor but we could patch them to one of the 1" machines and dub the video to 1" for editing as needed).

That was just one of three A/V editing suites they had, the other editing suites were 3/4" umatics.. And we also had a single audio only editing suite which had several professional Akia 10" reel to reels.. We could patch audio from any of the video editing suites to the audio only suite if needed.

Wished I had taken a few pix of the setup, pretty nice to work with that equipment fresh out of Tech school.. Was my job to service, maintain and repair the equipment as needed..

The studio I worked in was a very large private business that video taped programs mainly for the different business units they owned, but we even did some broadcast quality commercials for several local TV channels and even edited down a full half hr TV show for a national broadcaster as a concept. That show never was broadcast but it was fun to see just how it was put together.

Also had a nice in house studio where we could tape anything we needed plus had portable 1" and 3/4" machines for our field teams to take to the factory or where ever they need to go..

Used some nice Ikgemi cameras for in studio and even for field use, had to learn to test and properly set them up every time the field equipment came back.. Always a fair chance of needing some adjustments after getting bumped around..

That private studio back them would have had around half a million $ or a bit more in equipment and it was Broadcast SD in quality.. Blows my mind that now days folks are able to hold in their hands video equipment that can surpass SD broadcast quality and go right to full HD and cost less than $500.. And for a bit more be at HD broadcast quality!

[Tom_M1]

This was "state of the art" back in 1968 when I started in broadcast TV. It's an Ampex VR-1200 that used 2 inch tape. It used a rotating disk with four heads that spun at 14,400 rpm on air bearings. It was about the size of an upright piano. It had an electronic editor but forget about frame accuracy.

[SCVJeff]

Gdetrailer wrote:
----snip----
Yeah, I did work in a old school video recording/editing studio for a while.. Was cool working with commercial 1" (open real) and 3/4" video tape equipment :B.. Was "state of the art" back in the mid 1980s..

Describing wrappers vs. content is something probably for the A/V Forums..

So: 1".. Type A, B, or C ? I think by the mid 80's Type A & B had already died off

[1492]

MP4/H.264 codec was designed to provide high quality video, with minimal file sizes. It's consumer profile is typically an interframe format, using I (or keyframes), P, and B frames. Only the keyframe is unique, all other frames needing to be derived. See this article for basic info.

Codecs such as consumer MP4/H.264 creates some unique issue for frame accurate editing. For instance, if you edit video frames which is not an I frame, the editor will need to both decompress and derive the frames needed between the keyframes. Apply the edit or effects to the frames, then re-compress the frames back. This is a very hardware intensive process. It's also why H.264 is not a recommended source for editing, and the edit process itself can introduce visible artifacts due to a continual process of compressing/decompressing the video while editing.

This is also why pros needing to edit interframe formats such as H.264, will typically convert the files to visual lossless intraframe formats such as Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD, which essentially contain all I frames. Though technically lossy formats, uses less storage than uncompressed. And has the advantage of being less hardware intensive, though requires much faster drive access speeds.

The MP4/H.264 codec was ideal for use in consumer camera acquisition, and HD delivery due to lower bandwidth requirements. However, it does have other drawbacks such as a reduced 4:2:0 color space. Most pro camera operators prefer an intraframe format with higher color space such as 4:2:2. Especially important to maintain color info if grading (color correcting). Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD being some popular examples. Though camera manufacturers also support their own codecs.

Note that H.264 supports different profiles which can offer lossless, intraframe, and higher color spaces. None of which you'll likely find supported natively in consumer cameras.

[Gdetrailer]

SCVJeff wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
mp4 is a tricky format to edit, since it's not exactly a linear format (that is, you can't take a chunk out of it, and just play that chunk.

Maybe with whatever you edit with. We've been capturing and editing MP4 files for years and flipping them into Avid and Harris servers for newscasts across the country. Even iMovie edits and clips my helicopter files both in the Mac and even iPad. Once upon a time you were correct, but stream splicing was licked a long time ago. Yes you can also do a non-destructive NLE edit to the original material and essentially play out a play list that builds the show real time, but you can just as easily save a clip.

BTW-"Linear" editing is whats referred when tape editing as that's how you edit: front to back.. Non-Linear is what it's referred to in a file format that's total random access

"MP4" is simply nothing more than a "container" that holds a COMPRESSED COMPUTER video "format".

Has nothing to do with Linear/non linear editing..

"MP4" container can hold many different file compression formats, not all of those formats are "edit friendly". The reason for this is depending on how the file compression works accuracy of the "cuts" will vary.

Compression often will use "key frames"s, the next few frames will have only the CHANGES from the key frames.. That will continue until the next key frame..

Often is more idea to convert the compressed file to a uncompressed file format, then edit, then compress.. This does have a few potential pitfalls by adding unwanted noise artifacts.. But allows for very precise edit cuts.

As far as linear/non linear editing, using a computer to directly edit IS NON LINEAR.

The old school analog editing using one, two or more video sources (Video play back) and one RECORDER with a editing console is LINEAR editing.

In a nutshell you play your video source, start the recorder for the section you want, then stop the recorder for the section you want to cut.

The downside of this is your video quality is degraded one generation from the master raw footage..

Yeah, I did work in a old school video recording/editing studio for a while.. Was cool working with commercial 1" (open real) and 3/4" video tape equipment :B.. Was "state of the art" back in the mid 1980s..

[MrWizard]

OK guess I said it correctly

[SCVJeff]

MrWizard wrote:
I guess I said it wrong
What I do is edit out the commercials and blips
And save a new file either ts, or mp4

Unless you're out there with a block and razor blade it's non-linear. Otherwise I want to see it.. 🙂

I got into the business a tad too late to actually do literal film style video tape editing, and only seen it once.

[steveh27]

I use Wondershare\Filmora

[MrWizard]

I guess I said it wrong
What I do is edit out the commercials and blips
And save a new file either ts, or mp4

[SCVJeff]

GordonThree wrote:
mp4 is a tricky format to edit, since it's not exactly a linear format (that is, you can't take a chunk out of it, and just play that chunk.

Maybe with whatever you edit with. We've been capturing and editing MP4 files for years and flipping them into Avid and Harris servers for newscasts across the country. Even iMovie edits and clips my helicopter files both in the Mac and even iPad. Once upon a time you were correct, but stream splicing was licked a long time ago. Yes you can also do a non-destructive NLE edit to the original material and essentially play out a play list that builds the show real time, but you can just as easily save a clip.

BTW-"Linear" editing is whats referred when tape editing as that's how you edit: front to back.. Non-Linear is what it's referred to in a file format that's total random access

[MrWizard]

for straight forward NON linier Editing
i like VideoRedo, its not free, but the new version will edit MP4
most of my editing is done with TS files from video broadcast recording
you can cut, delete, join, combine anywhere on the video, it smart recodes only the frames between cut and the keyframe
very fast and accurate
no color correction or authoring features

[1492]

I've used Sony Vegas and Movie Studio for my own use since they were first available from Sonic Foundry. IMO, has a more straightforward workflow than Adobe Premiere, which is what our edit suite uses at work. I believe you can still download a fully functioning 30-day trial at Movie Studio 13 Suite. You can also try any of their other versions including Vegas Pro. Though note that Magix recently purchased Sony Creative software. BTW, you can generally find the best prices on Sony Movie Studio on Amazon.com, or during specials on NewEgg.com. But try, before you buy.

Though I also have Avid Media Composer, I don't recommend it if you have limited experience using editors. It tends to require a higher learning curve, licensing can be expensive, and has specific hardware requirements (workstation/server class). It's what most movies, network shows/news are edited.

There is also another powerful video editor available completely free BlackMagic Design DaVinci Resolve 12.5. It's actually a "Hollywood" class color corrector, with a powerful video editor included. Basically, ignore the color correcting part, MP4 format is not recommended as a source color correction format, and use the video editor. Though will have a higher learning curve. So again, not really recommended if you're not familiar with video editors.

DaVinci Resolve 12.5 should install on most PC/Mac systems, though does have some higher hardware requirements, so not all features may be available. None likely to effect MP4 editing anyway. It also supports a single on-board GPU hardware processing, so higher end video graphics, will likely see better performance. It also does install a server, though I believe this is related to file handling.

I have Resolve 12.5 installed on a beefed up dual-monitor Mac core i7 in my work cubicle, and it apparently didn't have all the currently recommended hardware requirements. Though, again, doesn't effect most any video editing. And it's free, so might as well try it?