[ SOLVED ] Seeking a very basic video editor

[ElntTcare]

I wanted to chime in and share my experience with finding a basic video editor. I followed your advice and tried out Avidemux, and it worked like a charm for removing unwanted parts from my videos. But I can't say that it's the best video editing soft.

[Swamp Rat]

Update:

Hi, Stevef,

I followed your advice and downloaded and ran Avidemux last night on the two videos mentioned above. It did exactly what I wanted, and with little effort on my part. If I knew a bunch of other languages, I'd thank you in each of them.

Now I'm intrigued as to all that it can do. Will putter around with it some more to see if I can master it as well as I have done with Osmo and Abiword. Should be fun!

[stevef]

Swamp Rat,

Happy to respond. I've not tried Vidcutter or LosslessCut. On Linux I have Handbrake, Openshot and Blender.  Before Linux there were several more.  I found avidemux good for simple edits compared with the more featured software and I never felt the need to try other simple applications.

Avidemux works for me because it will maintain the original AV formats and container of the source by simply selecting 'copy' when saving the output.  This was important for me because I was working with files generated by a machine which was very restrictive about the formats it would handle and I would often mess up when using the more complex software.

Currently have the appImage version 2.7.6.

My understanding is that AppImages are analogous to a Live CD/USB.  They aren't installed in the usual sense so don't create menu icons - indeed they aren't supposed to touch anything on your system other than occupy disk space.   They run on demand by double clicking on the appimage file.  If it doesn't do what you want, you can delete the appImage file and it is gone.

Hope this helps.

[Swamp Rat]

Thanks for the Reply and suggestion, stevef. Since you say that you have tried others, have you tried VidCutter and/or LosslessCut? If so, did you just find Avidemux better, easier to use, more stable, or some other reason to stick with it? Once you've installed it, does it show up in a logical Menu catagory?

I hope you don't mind these additional questions. I would like to make a wise move on this.

Swamp Rat

[stevef]

I've tried several applications but for simple video edits as you describe, I use the Universal AppImage from http://www.fosshub.com/Avidemux.html/

I find it quick and easy to select and cut unwanted sections of video and then save the resulting files with a few clicks

It does do format conversion if required, but I don't need that.

[Swamp Rat]

The Subject says what I want, a very basic video editor. I am NOT looking to do anything elaborate, probably ever. All I want to do is remove overly long beginnings and/or endings to videos that I have downloaded.

For example, I downloaded a pair of videos of concerts by a college music department. One has about 8 minutes at the end of the school's name and logo. The other has 10 minutes and 38 seconds in the beginning of the same and 7 minutes at the end. I just want to remove those dead minutes. If I could also cut dead spots, when the musicians change, that would be nice, but is not really needed at this time. Kdenlive, Openshot, and others are overkill for what I want to do.

Anyone have any suggestions for programs that you have used to do what I want?