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[nelsonj3]

What software does everyone use to edit their videos?  I know that some use Windows Movie Maker, but I don\'t think it can encode in Xvid or Divx.  What programs do you use that will combine and edit sections of a video and encode in Divx and Xvid?

I was using a program called Honestech Easy Video Editor, but I deleted it because it kept turning out bad files.  I would try to encode a video in Xvid, and it would finish and say that the file was encoded successfully, but when I tried to view the file, it would cause an error in Windows Explorer, and Windows Explorer would restart.  I have no idea why this was happening.  I tried to make sure that I had the latest version of all codecs.  I want to use Xvid and Divx as opposed to .wmv because of the superior quality and filesize.  Also, Xvid and Divx have better sound quality.

Thanks in Advance for any help.

[dolbyman]

I use Sony Vegas 6 ... tried Premiere but that screwed up all pogressive encodings :-/

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/vegasfamily.asp

[kirky]

I use Vegas as well.  Sampled some of the others, but Vegas seems to be the best for how I work.

I normally output as uncompressed AVI or even DV and then convert from there.

[nowisthetime]

what version of Vegas does everyone use? I looked at the site and some of the versions are a bit pricey. I started using  TMPG (http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html)
as my encoder and DVD authoring software (free 30 day trial) and works pretty darn good. I use windows movie maker to grab the video as a pure AVI.

nowisthetime

[kirky]

I use the full blown Vegas, but I have other uses besides my \"dopey\" little Disney videos.

I honestly only need Vegas for about 5% of some of the things I do.  The other 95% of my work is simple cuts fades, etc.  I could probably do all that in Windows Movie Maker if you held a gun to my head.

[dolbyman]

I use the vegas 6 version without the dvd author

[nelsonj3]

Is there a way to encode in .avi in Windows Movie Maker?  I don\'t mind Movie Maker, but I hate the quality of .wmv.  I wouldn\'t mind making the videos in Movie Maker and then encoding them with Divx or Xvid later if that\'s possible?

[SirLamer]

You can export DV video, I believe.  I think the Windows DV encoder is pretty bad, though.  MainConcept has a much better one for like $50, but I\'m not sure you can use it with Windows Movie Maker.

Then, if you export it to DV video, you can use any of many free encoding programs, such as StaxRip, or VirtualDub.

[nelsonj3]

Okay, I\'m using Virtualdub, but how do I encode the audio to make the filesize smaller?  I\'m fairly happy with the video, but the audio is way too big.  I\'ve tried Staxrip, but it won\'t open the raw DV AVI files that Windows Movie Maker creates.  Is there any other way to encode the audio?  Staxrip looks like a nice program, but it keeps wanting to resize my videos, and it won\'t maintain the original size for some reason.

Anybody have any ideas?

[dolbyman]

demux the audio in virtual dub
then use a compressor programm (use a cbr, vbr may cause trouble)

then mus the compressed audio back with virtualdub

[nelsonj3]

Thanks Dolby!!  

That worked like a dream!!  I was able to almost cut my filesize in half without sacrificing audio or video quality.  I used the LAME Codec to compress the MP3 as SirLamer suggested.