Which video software you use trimming match videos?

corbind

Professional
I have some match video I'd like to pare down. I have say 2 hours of video and of that maybe 10 minutes of play. I don't need anything fancy and would prefer free software. My sole purpose is to cut everything out except the beginning to the end of a points and I don't need to make it look nice. My video file is in MP4 format.

  1. What free video editing software do you use and version?
  2. Why that software as opposed to others?
  3. Is it easy to use and easy to cut a 2 hour video to just the point clips?
  4. What's your second favorite video editing software?

I'm using:
  • Dell Inspiron 570 desktop computer
  • Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1)
  • 8GB RAM (AMD Athlon IIx4 630 processor 2.8GHz)
  • stock video card (ATI Radeon HD 4200)
  • Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (came with computer and cannot see MP4)
  • Movie Maker (downloaded 5 days ago, won't show version but I think was 2012 and can see MP4)
 
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sabala

Semi-Pro
If you plan on putting vids on YouTube, you can just edit it down in YouTube's video editor after you upload - you don't need any software.

I do use Kinovea (free) but it seems a bit buggy lately. I've used it to compare my strokes to pro strokes. Pretty easy to figure out too. I hear Dartfish is good but it's not free.
 

corbind

Professional
If you plan on putting vids on YouTube, you can just edit it down in YouTube's video editor after you upload - you don't need any software.

I do use Kinovea (free) but it seems a bit buggy lately. I've used it to compare my strokes to pro strokes. Pretty easy to figure out too. I hear Dartfish is good but it's not free.

I've used Kinovea for slowing down serves and analysis like that but not for clipping shot sequences. It also automatically slows everything down to 60% speed or less since I don't have anything but a stock video card. I'd prefer to cut up a video on my PC rather than on YT (but at least now I know that's an option).
 

TomT

Hall of Fame
I have some match video I'd like to pare down. I have say 2 hours of video and of that maybe 10 minutes of play. I don't need anything fancy and would prefer free software. My sole purpose is to cut everything out except the beginning to the end of a points and I don't need to make it look nice. My video file is in MP4 format.

  1. What free video editing software do you use and version?
  2. Why that software as opposed to others?
  3. Is it easy to use and easy to cut a 2 hour video to just the point clips?
  4. What's your second favorite video editing software?
Hi corbind. I use Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (WMM), which was necessary to download and install since my version of Windows (7) did not come with WMM as far as I know. WMM 2.6 will not import .mp4 files, so I convert them to .wmv files with the free version of Aura Video Converter. Then I edit the .wmv files in WMM. It's really easy, albeit a bit time consuming.

My video camera produces .avi files which can be imported directly into WMM. Then, in WMM, I make a high quality .wmv file out of the snippets from the source .avi file. Then I upload the .wmv file to YouTube. Then I sometimes post the YouTube link to the video here at TTW.

What operating system is your computer using? If it's something other than Windows, then I can't help you, as I haven't experimented with video editing programs in any OS other than Windows.
 
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HunterST

Hall of Fame
I have this problem, too. I recorded a set, but there's just so much down time it's difficult to watch. Cutting out all the in-between stuff seems to take forever as well.
 

TomT

Hall of Fame
I have this problem, too. I recorded a set, but there's just so much down time it's difficult to watch. Cutting out all the in-between stuff seems to take forever as well.
The initial editing which produces snippets of each point played takes me a bit less time than the total video. WMM then renders a finished video ready for uploading and archiving in a couple of minutes or so. Then the upload to YouTube takes a few minutes. So, yeah, it's a bit tediously time consuming no matter what software one is using.
 

corbind

Professional
Hi corbind. I use Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (WMM), which was necessary to download and install since my version of Windows (7) did not come with WMM as far as I know. WMM 2.6 will not import .mp4 files, so I convert them to .wmv files with the free version of Aura Video Converter. Then I edit the .wmv files in WMM. It's really easy, albeit a bit time consuming.

My video camera produces .avi files which can be imported directly into WMM. Then, in WMM, I make a high quality .wmv file out of the snippets from the source .avi file. Then I upload the .wmv file to YouTube. Then I sometimes post the YouTube link to the video here at TTW.

What operating system is your computer using? If it's something other than Windows, then I can't help you, as I haven't experimented with video editing programs in any OS other than Windows.

I'm using a desktop PC and edited my initial post with this info on my computer, software and hardware.

Since you're quite experienced at making videos I know it would be neat to have you make a video on how you make a video! So that same camera could go on your desk and you could record and on-the-spot narrate what you're doing (converting the file, splicing a few shots from a video, saving it, then uploading it).

Sounds crazy but a video of SEEING someone do it helps a ton just like seeing someone hit a tennis ball is so much easier than reading at times. I prefer to have both the reading and visual but I take what I can get.
 

TomT

Hall of Fame
I'm using a desktop PC and edited my initial post with this info on my computer, software and hardware.
Ok. I see. Where did you get the version of Movie Maker that imports .MP4 files? I'm also using Windows 7 Home Premium. Not sure why it didn't have WMM.

Ok. I just downloaded Movie Maker from the MicroSoft website. I'll see if it works and offers any improvements over WMM 2.6.

Will get back to you after I've installed and experimented with it.

Since you're quite experienced at making videos I know it would be neat to have you make a video on how you make a video! So that same camera could go on your desk and you could record and on-the-spot narrate what you're doing (converting the file, splicing a few shots from a video, saving it, then uploading it).

Sounds crazy but a video of SEEING someone do it helps a ton just like seeing someone hit a tennis ball is so much easier than reading at times. I prefer to have both the reading and visual but I take what I can get.
Editing videos is much easier than hitting good tennis shots. :) All you need to know is what to click on when. Don't need a video for that. Just open Movie Maker, import your source file and get to it. It's pretty intuitive. When/if you hit a snag then post a question.

Meanwhile, I'm going to install the (apparently) updated version of Movie Maker and see if it offers any improvements over the WMM 2.6 that I've been using. Even if it's pretty much the same but handles .MP4 files then that's an improvement.
 

Chas Tennis

G.O.A.T.
For your purposes, can you just view and avoid editing?

Not claiming that this is a very good way to handle high speed clips or longer videos. Especially since I edit only on my camera.

I primarily want to use the camera to study strokes and to change my strokes and game. I see lots of problems in all my videos. Hopefully my past mistakes have been corrected or noted, so I am not very interested in many videos of my strokes and matches from, say, a year ago. However, I am interested in saving a few of the older videos for general interest.

Short HSV Clips - 90% of what I do is to take short high speed video clips of tennis strokes, either single strokes or a 2-3 minute clip of strokes. Usually, I want to save these. I edit on my Casio FH100 camera, which is slow but for these short clips, it is workable. [To edit, the camera rewrites the entire video for each operation so it is very slow for long videos.] I often edit in the field if I have time. I avoid editing whenever the battery might run out. The clips are then saved on my computer and also kept on the recording SD cards. SD cards cost <$1 per GB now. I have several SD cards. All 2000 HSV clips that I've taken are edited and still on the recording SD cards. The videos have been copied to my computer. Will save long term.

Longer Videos - For longer videos, such as a set, I try to avoid editing all together and only view, fast scan, evaluate and make notes. These are kept temporarily until I need the space on the SD card. Editing takes so much longer than just viewing, so consider first what you want to do with the videos. Which videos do you want to save for longer than a few months? Consider only viewing them and keeping them on SD cards or your computer just long enough to serve their purpose. Still, view the videos very carefully as the more you look at them the more you will pick up.

From an Aiptek 60 fps camera, I have a few hours of unedited tennis matches saved on SD cards but not on my computer. I would not mind rewriting these old videos as needed but may save a few long term.
 
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TomT

Hall of Fame
Ok corbind. Here's an update. I downloaded and installed the Movie Maker (from Microsoft) which handles .MP4 source files. It's part of Windows Essentials. It was slowing my system for some reason so I got rid of it.

This was good for me however because I noticed that a bunch of Windows updates had been installed as well as some other stuff. So I restored the system to before all that and it's back to its speedy self again. (The only problems I've ever had with this computer in the almost 3 years I've had it have come from Windows updates or other Microsoft programs. Usually I leave it running all the time, but occasionally if I do a restart then I have to go through and stop a bunch of unnecessary processes and services that run in the background. Anyway ... back to normal now.)

The bad news, but not really, is that I can't help you with the Windows Essentials Movie Maker that handles .MP4 files as I will continue to be using WMM 2.6. I didn't like the interface as well on the newer Movie Maker anyway.

But it shouldn't take you more than a few minutes after importing your source file to begin editing. I would think that there are instructions on how to do everything in the various help files if you get stuck.

Then, when you get your snippets edited and put on the timeline you can instruct the program to make a video file of it. WMM 2.6 has many different output formats, sizes, etc. to choose from, and I would suppose that Movie Maker offers pretty much the same alternatives.

What I opt for is a .WMV file, 2.1 Mbps bitrate, 720 x 480 pixels, 16:9 aspect ratio, and 30 frames per second. Then, once the file is finished I can upload it to YouTube.

I delete all the stuff on the camera's memory card, and also usually delete the original source .AVI files from my hard drive as well.
 

TomT

Hall of Fame
Sometime today I'll go ahead and make a video of how I make my videos (with WMM 2.6). Just to experiment to see how I might do that.

But it sounds like you're all set with the Windows Essentials Movie Maker corbind. As long as it hasn't slowed your system, then it seems like it should be short work for you to learn how to use its features and begin uploading and posting some nicely edited vids in the near future.
 

The Meat

Hall of Fame
Windows movie maker will pretty much do everything you want it to do with just trimming a match play.

I personally use Premiere Pro and Final Cut for more professional works, and on my PC Sony Vegas.
 

mntlblok

Hall of Fame
Each version of Windows has a free "MovieMaker" download available. A quick Google search also finds some handy dandy video tutorials for using them. I was surprised by how much the various versions differed. I recall liking some of them better than others. I also very vividly recall how much I hate editing video. :)

I'm pretty comfortable with this thread being in the instruction section. Nothing works better for me than watching how goofy I look when hitting a ball - especially as a motivator to try to get better.

If you get the shutter speed up above a thousand or so, the "freeze frames" won't have any "blur" with the racket. I like that. :mrgreen:
 

bradsm01

Semi-Pro
Is there a way to copy a youtube video of a pro and compare it side by side with a video I made of my strokes? Can MM or Kinovea or some other program do this?
 

Chas Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Kinovea Tutorials on Youtube

Is there a way to copy a youtube video of a pro and compare it side by side with a video I made of my strokes? Can MM or Kinovea or some other program do this?

Yes.

Search: Kinovea + Youtube

You will find tutorials that explain what Kinovea does and how to use it. It's free to download.
 

bradsm01

Semi-Pro
Thanks Chas Tennis. I have been dying to do such awhile now. I have a HTC One so any recommendations in how I should set up its video settings in order to capture my racket head movement to avoid any blurs? Thanks
 

Chas Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Thanks Chas Tennis. I have been dying to do such awhile now. I have a HTC One so any recommendations in how I should set up its video settings in order to capture my racket head movement to avoid any blurs? Thanks

The HTC will do high speed video as you must know. It is likely but not certain that the video camera has an automatic exposure control that will choose a fast shutter when the light level is high. Most important, for the least amount of motion blur take your videos in direct sunlight. In light from the sky, but not in direct sun, it will probably also pick a fast shutter speed. Same for most overcast levels. Test. Don't expect small motion blur indoors because the light level in a lighted indoor tennis court is only about 1% of that of direct sunlight.

There is also some uncertainty as to what 'normal' frame rate a smartphone camera will choose especially when the light level is lower. 24, 30, 60 fps or other. ? Look into it before you trust that you have 30 fps. I don't trust that my Samsung Galaxy Epic S3 will be 30 fps after reading some forums on frame rates.

Don't prop up your smartphone on the ground to take a video. Get a holder to mount your smartphone on a high tripod. They are low cost. Search: HTC + tripod mount + holder
https://www.google.com/search?q=HTC...Ky5EQ0A.O&fp=a2cc5e3a31462a0f&biw=974&bih=533

OK to video yourself from behind serving but do not take risks with your smartphone where it - or especially its tripod (larger target) - might get hit by a ball during a rally. Mount on fence with Gorilla tripod - it still might get hit.
Search for threads in the Other Equipment forum.

You can add extra SD cards to some smartphones.

Suggest that you always hold the camera horizontally. That way it will use the full frame when viewed on a monitor or TV and the server will still be the same size. Otherwise, you get a narrow vertical frame and large black sides. Use the extra frame width to show the trajectory of the serve.

I like the view from behind for the serve and I have posted why many times on recent serve threads. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?p=7598255

Another issue is Jello Effect distortion. Search Internet: Chas Tennis Jello Effect

I'd really be interested in the motion blur that your HTC has for high speed video. Are you also a golfer? Please post some videos of your tennis strokes, especially the serve.
 
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