VideoLAN (of VLC Fame) to Release a Video Editor
by Aric Annear
on December 23, 2009
In one of the best pieces of open-source software news this month, VideoLAN, the organization behind the popular cross-platform video player/encoder VLC, has announced that they are working on a cross-platform movie editor dubbed the VideoLAN Movie Creator (VLMC).
The VLMC will be open-source software released for Windows, Mac, and Linux, just like VLC. And because VLC is, hands-down, the best video playing app in existence, it's fair to expect that VLMC will be a strong competitor against Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, with active development and frequent feature updates. And Linux users will finally have a truly decent basic movie editor.
Not a lot of info is available just yet as the pre-alpha software hasn't been publicly released, but early reports show nonlinear editing, history undo/redo, and an easy-to-understand GUI. An early version that the public can play with is supposed to come out "very soon", but you can take a tour of the basic features by watching the video below, made by the development team.
--Aric A.
JayDee on December 26, 2009 at 01:13 PM
Just a little comment from someone who spent about 30 years in the middle of the video editor development cycle. Video editing software is task defined. There are several thousand potential tasks in the process of editing. It's now fairly easy to develop something that lets you hook two audio/video sources together. Hooking together just the video with audio from somewhere else adds complexity, as does adding stereo sound, adding additional audio tracks, providing the ability to mix and modify those tracks, adding video effects, then allowing the whole thing to be split in the middle and a new source inserted, etc.
Since the task of video editing remains relatively unchanged, the success of a piece of software is determined by how many of the sub-tasks it can accomplish and how efficiently it can accomplish them. When its development is complete, every editing program will accomplish the same set of tasks, it may just do it in a different way. Frequently that 'simple GUI' doesn't last long.
The developers are fortunate in that current programs provide sort of a reference guide to the abilities they'll need, so they won't have to go through as much trial and error as we did 'back in the day', but it'll still be an iterative process, and how far along that process they've gone when they get to their first release date will determine how effective the program is. I'd guess they'll release something that they think is close to done, but as they get "why can't it..." notes from users, they'll realize they have several years of work ahead to get to the 'express' levels of Final Cut or Avid.
Good Luck to them, though. Always nice to have an open-source option coming along.
h on December 27, 2009 at 09:49 AM
lollin' at the claim that VLC is the best video player around.
*hits pause*
*video continues playing for three seconds before pausing*
Jfee on December 27, 2009 at 07:37 PM
From someone who spent about 130 years in the middle of the video editor development cycle. Video editing software is expensive, and it needs to be. Apple, Expensive. Avid, Expensive. Since I spent a lot on editing equipment in the past, I expect the next douchebags to spend the same. They have several years of work ahead to get to the 'express' levels of Final Cut or Avid.
r4i software on December 30, 2009 at 09:12 PM
Wow that was amazing video, i liked reading this blog.It can also serve up streaming video and music to other PCs on your network.Windows | Mac OS | Linux VideoLAN's open-source software plays back, well, just about everything.
medyum on January 16, 2010 at 01:56 AM
Thanks for articles
gelinlik on January 17, 2010 at 12:09 PM
Thankss for articles
yabyum on January 22, 2010 at 03:50 PM
I think this is (at least starting out as) an alternative movie editor for end-users, not a "professional" software for "professionals". You know, some people create art for fun. Fancy that.
If only windows movie maker could do frame-by-frame animations! It looks as if this program will be able to do it by dragging and dropping pictures into the timeline at maximum precision. It might not, but I'm hopeful...and I'll savor the 'simple GUI' while it lasts ;)
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Johnson Yip on April 19, 2010 at 07:37 PM
This looks like a nice alternative to Windows Movie Maker which seems to not encode video i edited a lot when I try to encode it.
I don't really like the user interface it seems kind of dark and hard to readd the labels on the buttons.
Other than that, this looks like a good software for novices which don't like Windows Movie Maker or Video Spin by Pinnaccle.
Aşk Büyüsü Nasıl Yapılır on May 12, 2010 at 05:45 AM
This looks like a nice alternative to Windows Movie Maker which seems to not encode video i edited a lot when I try to encode it.
I don't really like the user interface it seems kind of dark and hard to readd the labels on the buttons.
Other than that, this looks like a good software for novices which don't like Windows Movie Maker or Video Spin by Pinnaccle.
metal dome on August 19, 2010 at 08:07 PM
Maybe it's a good news.
Microsoft Office 2010 on September 13, 2010 at 07:13 PM
thanks,so good
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france wholesale on January 27, 2011 at 03:46 AM
Really good effort with combination of lot of formats and codecs in platform including .mkv (high definition video), but there is another pack of codecs called windows media player classic, i find it more light and best than vlc.
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