Making simple videos from Helmet Cams..?

[Monsieur Remings]

Okay, have recently purchased a Contour HD and have some footage I wish to be able to make into a simple video and what I mean by simple is...

- ability to cut a small section from existing video
- text at the beginning of the video
- add some music to video

All the stuff I can find from Contour suggests you have an 'Awesome' ability which is a maximum, seemingly, of 120 seconds (2 minutes) and my video is longer. Contour suggest that via the above route you can post to Facebook etc but that's a crap period of time.

But, my PC has logged the video elsewhere and I'm wondering whether there is a program out there for people like me to fiddle around with it beyond the seemingly shitty 'Storyteller' program that made the video possible. I have the video under 'My Videos' in My Documents so it's there to be fiddle with but I need a straightforward, honest, no bullshit program that will deal with first-time editors like me....

Any ideas?

 

[The Brewer]

Windows movie maker

 

[Matthew_T]

Windows movie maker

+1 With HD files, it will take a moment for it to 'prepare' the video but after that it works fine. You an add a soundtrack and do loads of editting.

Plus its free!

 

[derrick]

Real player works well, nice and easy to use.

 

[HovR]

Windows Live Movie Maker will do exactly what you want, but in all my experience it has been slow/stuttery and unstable with HD video. I highly recommend Sony Vegas, the cheaper version of which can be had for around £20.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Okay, thanks all.

For some reason the Windows Movie Maker seems to only recognise the video as a single clip and when I try and run the storyboard there is nothing there but a still...

It doesn't look very user friendly for an amateur like me, had enough trouble importing it and it seems from the evidence of what's actually on the movie maker that it hasn't imported properly at all, recognising it only as a still...

Don't understand...

 

[Matthew_T]

Okay, thanks all.

For some reason the Windows Movie Maker seems to only recognise the video as a single clip and when I try and run the storyboard there is nothing there but a still...

It doesn't look very user friendly for an amateur like me, had enough trouble importing it and it seems from the evidence of what's actually on the movie maker that it hasn't imported properly at all, recognising it only as a still...

Don't understand...

Does it have a little clock on each window frame? If so, then there is a bar at the bottom left which you need to wait until it has completed. If you have an hours ride in one file, then this will take a long time.

To make the video multiple clips, or just what you want, you position the line on the frames and then look at the big picture to see what you are looking at. You then right click on the actual line and select 'Start' and 'end'. This will trim your file meaning you can save it. To return to the original file, you can either undo or just open it in WMM again.

.Hope this helps. It shouldnt have a problem with the Contour HD videos as long as they are in the right format (my original files are QuickTime movie and the trimmed files are MP4).

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Thanks, the total video is only 11 minutes and I want to trim that down to 7 or 8 minutes basically. What doesn't help is the fact that I have Windows Media Player, Quicktime (as advised by Contour) and a thing called VLC which I had to use to get some videos I paid for and was the format on offer. Very confusing.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Have tried to open with the Windows Movie Maker directly and it is telling me it's invalid..?

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Eventually paid for AVS which is Quicktime compatible. Windows Movie Maker just wouldn't recognise the LAN format and what it did read was a 4 second still. After trying various converters for LAN to Mp4, found that they all came with extra baggage - crap toolbars and new, unheard of search engines, that take it upon themselves to replace my trusty Chrome.

What a nightmare but video now made so thanks for the input...

 

[Matthew_T]

Eventually paid for AVS which is Quicktime compatible. Windows Movie Maker just wouldn't recognise the LAN format and what it did read was a 4 second still. After trying various converters for LAN to Mp4, found that they all came with extra baggage - crap toolbars and new, unheard of search engines, that take it upon themselves to replace my trusty Chrome.

What a nightmare but video now made so thanks for the input...

Not sure why is was so difficult for you. You should configure your videos to play in Windows Media Player. I have had VLC installed as well and I hate the little cone shapes in the corner of the video still.

Did you open WMM and then add the video or open the video with WMM? Either way shouldnt cause problems. Shame you have had to pay for something.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

I'm not sure fella, but either way it was a complete nightmare and am very pleased with the AVS in any case. As I say, the LAN format just wasn't recognised by the Windows Movie Maker and instead had a series of stills. It's just as likely that there was an element of gormlessness on my part somewhere along the line but I know when I did get the footage recognised in Movie Maker, it didn't recognise the entirety of the video, or in fact, any video at all.

 

[Matthew_T]

Ah right. Well as long as you are happy with the result from AVS then thats the main thing.