Tuesday, September 27, 2011

OpenShot Video Editor 1.4

I am going to make my first post about something I was quite excited to read about: the 1.4 release of the OpenShot Video Editor. OpenShot is a free, open source video editor for Linux. They aptly describe the program as "Simple & Powerful" and I would have to fully agree. The learning curve was not very dramatic and the results I was able to achieve on my first video lived up to my expectations and were very well loved by family members receiving the DVD I produced.

I read the preview post on the developers site (www.openshotvideo.com) and began waiting for the updated release to hit their repository. And while I haven't had a chance to try out the new features, I am looking forward to my next video project to see how they shape up. You can head on over to the developers site for a quick (1:45) video for the release announcement.

I am also excited that the long term plans are shaping up for cross-platform compatability. While I don't use Windows or Mac OSX on my personal computers, OpenShot could gain use at the school I work with (when available for Windows) as well as be a very capable and free option for Windows and Mac users.

In the mean time, if you are a Linux user with interest in video editing (or might just want to give Linux a try to explore this program) you cannot go wrong with OpenShot. The video (and subsequent DVD) I created with OpenShot was a combination of video footage and still image slide show taken and my sister in-laws birthday party. The program performed quite well on my older Pentium 4 laptop, and should be even better on a newer machine.