Windows 7: difficult to find specific software

Hi,

I like the W7F page with free software links... it is very nice that Brink took the time to set it up.

But there are two things that I am having problems with... one, is finding any specific software on this list... since there is no search function for this list itself, one must rely on the hope that the software that they are looking for happens to have what one wants to do as part of the software title.

And two, since there is no original post date or update date for this list, I'm not sure how new or old some of these links and linked software may be unless I click on any one of them and investigate.

For example, I am looking for a decent working video editing app that can use a few different video file formats, convert them in to other formats and hopefully compress down some larger formats like .wmv to a smaller mpeg or something... also a screencast/desktop video capture feature would be nice without a watermark/logo and a usable frame rate... no 3 frame per second type results are useful.

But when I scroll down to the Vs for "Video", there is nothing for editing video.

I've already downloaded and installed Windows Live Movie Maker, and while that is a very nice little video editing app with some great, easy to use extras like scene transitions, titles, etc., it makes very large files and only creates .wmv format.

I've installed several free video capture and editing apps to no avail... I've tried "SM Recorder"... the interface that is featured on their website didn't materialize in any way after working with this albatross for an hour.

I tried NCH Desktop Recorder... the frame rate was so bad one could hardly tell what was going on in the capture... so I figured the rest of NCH software must be about as good as this sample.

CamStudio free, My Screen Recorder, Solid 3 GP, Fraps, HyperCam, Camtasia, FoxTab, AVS Video converter, Apsolo, BSR Screen Recorder, DeskShare, FL Studio, Goldwave, My Screen Recorder, Tiny Media Converter, Video Edit Master, Video Get, etc., etc... all either were installed and don't work or they got terrible reviews on CNET if one takes the time to read all the reviews on a given piece of software.

The Microsoft Expressions Encoder 4 installer has an erroneous or mis-labeled installer executable that says it is "trial" software, and a post on their forum seems to indicate that simply doing a screen video capture is much like writing the code for the software itself or perhaps as easy as building a nuclear power plant.

The only good thing I've found is Screencast-O-Matic.com that is a free online screen capture web app that works very easily and intuitively and does a pretty good job of creating decent quality screen video captures... it puts a logo/watermark on one's video, though... the logo isn't too big, but is a bit intrusive. They have a payed desktop app for $9 a year, but it is limited to 1 hour of capture time per month... very, very limiting.

I've read CNET reviews from angry people who attempted to use many of the apps that have been recommended to me that dashed my hopes for any of the apps that I've been referred to so far.

I know I'm asking quite a bit for something decent for free in this area... but that's what a PC is supposed to be good for... free software, right?... I've found other equivalent software for other purposes that were free and great... I'm just seeing if there is anything out there in the video editing/conversion and screen video capture realm that is worth taking the risk of installing in today's world of malware and malicious fake apps.

If this keeps up, I may be forced to spend actual money on this silly little project.

Thanks for your input,

digiday

If your looking afor a free application to encode video, try MEGUI.
Theres a tutorial on it in the tutorial section.

It can encode a varity of different file types to H264 as well as various audio codecs (AAC,AC3,DTS,MP3) in a few different container types. (MP4,MKV,AVI) at very high quality

(Provided your using a good source)

It doesnt do screen capture though, just a very useful, full featured encoder.
And it is free.


Others prefer Handbrake, which is somewhat similar.

Not sure what a good screen capture/recorder would be. Hopefully others will have a good suggestion on that part.

Hi Wishmaster,

Thanks, I will check MEGUI out... it seems that it'll take a few different free apps to do what I need... that's okay.

Thanks again,

digiday

Take a look here:

VideoHelp.com - Forum, Guides, Tools and hardware lists

There are free guides, user comments, video related forums.. searchable tools lists.. lots of resources.

Also another site where you can ask mainly video but also some general computing questions is here:

Digital Video Forums - Everybody's Talkin'

On digital-digest forum questions about DVD ripping and avoiding copy protection are frowned on. So please read the rules before posting.

Hi Miles,

Thanks for the refs... but everyone is giving me info about software that is very much oriented toward ripping from DVDs and I have never said that is what I'm doing.

All I am trying to do is convert a large .wmv file to an mpeg or mp4 or something standard and smaller.

Everyone refers me to complex software for ripping copywritten DVDs... maybe because that is what they are doing.

All I'm doing is making a little video from a Google Earth tour that I created, like thousands of others... but just to send to my huge 7 person email list of family members.

Thanks for the warning though.

digiday

Videohelp has all kinds of converters, not just rippers. I put the warning about digital-digest because I think they had a legal settlement that makes them stickers about certain topics. For lists of converters videohelp is the place to go. If you look in the tool list there's way more than just rippers listed.

Google is your friend. Oh, and so is Downloads at Cnet.com.