Software recommendations: Video editing software?

[Larry]

Hoping that the fine people of ES could point me to some software.

What I'd like is something I can use to modify video files. (Like avi, wmv, and rm files.) Mostly, the ability to cut portions out of the files. Ideally this would be free software, although something that would allow me some trialware would be OK (I'm not allergic to paying for shareware, for example), but I have to confess to being reluctant to plunk down Big Bucks for something and then finding out if it will work or not.

And I have to admit, I don't know if software like that is common, or if it's expensive, or if it the various media copyright people have succeeded in simply making it impossible.

[Skins PR]

iMovie for the Mac is the way to go. I just started using it and have created some impressive videos.

[Larry]

Perhaps I should mention that what I want is the ability to trim down some of the por . . . I mean, video I've downloaded from various web sites.

(And I'm on Windows.)

(Yes, I know. Shoot me.)

[DCranon21]

Larry Pinnacle is nice and not hard to use. You won't spend a lot of cash. OTOH, if you check on your machine(assuming you have a PC), Windows Movie Maker can do the trick as well. I have both a Mac and PC, and I have Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.

[ixcuincle]

Windows Movie Maker is free. Do you use that?

[Larry]

I admit that I hadn't heard of Movie Maker before y'all mentioned it.

But, browsing through it just now, what it tells me is that if I import an existing media file into my project, that it really doesn't import that media, it only creates a pointer to the original file (or portion thereof).

What I want is something that will let me take a 5:00 wmv file, extract 0:30 of it, and save that 0:30 wmv file to my hard drive. (And maybe get rid of the 5:00 file.)

[ixcuincle]

You can cut the video by inserting it into Windows Movie Maker by adding the file, and cutting out the 4 minutes and 30 seconds you don't need. Then you can delete the file yourself.

My source makes videos using Powerdirector 7. That seems like a good program too, but again most good programs you have to pay for. WMM can do a decent job performing the same tasks and it's free too

[FrFan]

Freewares: Virtualdub, TmpGenc. If you want a trial version go for Adobe Premiere.