Editing video under Linux

There are a few options for editing video under Linux, ranging from the simple to the complicated. Some are command line tools that require fairly intimate knowledge of codecs and the like, and some are GUI applications which can be used to generate fairly professional results.

Kino

There is a common misconception regarding Kino, that it will only read/use dv files. This in fact is not true and Kino can use AVI files. Below is a mencoder command line, which will take video files and convert them for use in the Kino.

mencoder -oac mp3lame -ovc xvid -of avi -xvidencopts bitrate=1350 -o output.avi input.flv

In this example, the input file was an flv video from YouTube, but the principle should be the same for any video file you wish to use. You will need to have the lame package installed, as well as the mencoder package to be able to use this.

After this you will be able import video files into Kino

Note, on first running of Kino, you must select a Normalisation preference in the preference box, either PAL or NTSC. Otherwise Kino will refuse to import an video file.

PiTIVi

PiTIVi is a simple full featured video editor. It provides several ways of creating and modifying a timeline. Ranging from a simple synopsis view (a-la iMovie) to the full-blown editing view (aka Complex View) which puts you in complete control of your editing.

sudo apt-get install PiTIVi

PiTIVi is built using GStreamer and can edit avi, mp4 and ogg as long as the GStreamer plugin for that format is installed.

Cinelerra

http://cinelerra.org/getting_cinelerra.php#ubuntu

Screencasts

There are a number of tools to record a screencast of the desktop.

Kazam

https://launchpad.net/kazam

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:and471/kazam-daily-stable
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kazam

Mockups - http://and471.deviantart.com/gallery/#Kazam

Blog posts - http://whyareyoureadingthisurl.wordpress.com/category/software/kazam/

Unstable Daily Build PPA - https://launchpad.net/~and471/+archive/kazam-daily-builds

Stable Daily Build PPA - https://launchpad.net/~and471/+archive/kazam-daily-stable

gtk-recordmydesktop

gtk-recordmydesktop is a simple screencast recorder that records using Ogg theora . You can select a particular area of the desktop and it adds an icon to the notification area to stop the recording.

sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop

Istanbul

Is a screencast recorder that is controlled via the notification area. Like gtk-recordmydesktop it records in Ogg Theora. To start recording you simply left click on the icon and to stop you click it again.

sudo apt-get install Istanbul