What Is a Good MP4 Video Editor?

[JusGellin]

What is a good mp4 video editor for puppy linux?
I'm using BookwormPup64_10.0.6

I have an Action camera that I use to check for debris in my house gutters on a two story house and would like to edit them
for my files.
I would like to use the camera which is like a good cheap GoPro for other things as well.

Thanks

[pp4mnklinux]

It depends on your needs, but for me is enough with OPENSHOT

(I use the portable version, so I imagine no problem with your distro)

https://www.protopage.com/pp4mnkt3am#Pu ... _PORTABLES

[mikewalsh]

@JusGellin :-

Whilst there's technically no such thing as a specifically MP4-only video-editor - ALL video editors will these days handle a multitude of formats - MP4 is certainly one of the most widely-used.

I, too, would recommend Openshot in 'portable' format. For a daily workhorse - especially if you just want to do fairly basic editing - I would recommend it to anyone.

Look here, under 'Multimedia'.....and follow the links:-

viewtopic.php?t=5104

They'll take you to the relevant threads; you can read about the apps, and if you want to try them you'll find the download link there.

Mike.

[RSH]

Hi.

In my opinion Kdenlive is the one and only video editor to go.
From my experience it's more stable and much quicker in watching while editing etc.

I was using it in all my different Puppies for years now.
In my current OS it's Kdenlive 18.08 as my OS is from 2018.

...

[JusGellin]

@pp4mnklinux @mikewalsh
I wanted to try this first to see how it worked.
I downloaded the portable version of Openshot from the link. It was version 3.2.0.
I made the download executable and it came up ok.

I imported a couple of mp4 files and tried running the preview in the right panel, but nothing happens.

If I right click the file, it pops up a preview which runs a smaller file, but hangs up on a larger file which is 494 MB.

So I tried running it from a terminal to see if any errors come up.
As it comes up it indicates a bunch of Properties with the following:
Property 'modal'' of object 'TimelineView' has no notify signal and is not constant, value updates in HTML will be broken!
Property 'windowModality'' of object 'TimelineView' has no notify signal and is not constant, value updates in HTML will be broken!
It lists about 60 properties with the same information.
But no errors come up after this when trying to preview or do anything with the mp4 files. It just doesn't do anything.

How can I make this work?

Thanks

[JusGellin]

I did some further looking on the internet for this information and found that others had this problem as well with that version.
It was going to be corrected in the next version.
I found the github for a previous version to try, but it looks like those listed were only for windows.

[wizard]

@JusGellin

Based on the description of your videos, if all you need to do is some cuts or maybe transcoding, you might consider a simpler program like AVIDEMUX.

But then again, if you're trying to produce a gutter masterpiece, carry on

wizard

[mikewalsh]

@JusGellin :-

Sorry.....my bad. I forgot to provide the link to the list of 'portables'. I've corrected the oversight, and have added the link to my above post.

The portable is based around Openshot v2.4.3; a somewhat older build, yes.....but extensive testing showed it to be the newest version that would still work with the greatest number of Puppies with the least hassle.

Especially since hitting the 3-series, Johnno Thomas has to my mind begun making the thing TOO complicated for its own good. It's always been best as a fairly simple, easy-to-use app.....which is the exact opposite to RSH's recommendation of KDEnlive. That's one video editor I've never been able to get on with; I don't like complicated apps with tons of choices, because it just gives more scope for getting things wrong. The K.I.S.S principle has always been the best one to stick with.

Mike.

[JusGellin]

@mikewalsh
I downloaded the 2.4.3 OpenShot.

Unfortunately it's doing almost the same thing -
When I run view preview on the right display nothing happens.
If I right click a file, one runs the preview but the bigger one doesn't.
The bigger file then run it, the cpu pegs out.

But this version doesn't give the errors like the other one when I run it from the terminal.

I wonder if there may be some logs that can help.

Thanks

[Clarity]

Hello @JusGellin

There is nothing in the PET library for this distro via Menu>Settings>Legacy PM.

But, in Menu>Settings>Synaptic PM there is KDEnlive. Expect results to suit your needs.

[mistfire]

Flowblade

[JusGellin]

@RSH @Clarity

I installed KDEnlive. Right away it told me that the video from my Campark Action camera was not useable for editing.
It goes on to say that it has a variable frame rate and asks if I want to transcode it - which I did.
It now brings up a workable video I can edit. I now need to figure out that part, but it works.

Thanks

[RSH]

@JusGellin

Campark Action camera

What's the file extension of the videos from that camera?
Never heard of a variable frame rate in videos.

[JusGellin]

They are just mp4 video files that it makes.
KDEnlive didn't like something about these files.

So far it does the same for any from the camera.
Here's what the popup says:

Transcode Clip--Kdenlive
"The following clips are not usable for editing. This will transcode in an
edit friendly format and replace the original ones in your project."

Then it asks to convert it.
Convert to Lossy x264 Iframe only

Then it's happy after this.

I've found others on the internet have this problem with this software, but no definite solution.
I hope this won't be a problem later on.

[JusGellin]

I need to revisit how the memory is used for a frugal installation to a hard drive.

When I installed kdenlive multimedia app, 1 GB more memory was consumed and stayed that way even if the
application wasn't running.
Then as I added more mp4 videos, more memory was used up until it used all the memory and then refused to
allow any more copying because it said the drive was full ( I have 4 GB memory and a 20 GB hard drive)
When that happened nothing would work so I had to power down and run a backup of the system.

I know everything that can will run in memory. So how do you add more applications like kdenlive and videos besides?
Should videos be placed in some different area so they don't use up memory until the application calls for them?
Did the installation of kdenlive do what it was supposed to do and hang on to the memory even if it wasn't running?

It seems I'm not fully understanding what is going on. Is my setup the way it should be?

Thanks

[Dry Falls]

In your kernel commandline (first menu on boot from the bootloader you use such as syslinux, grub, etc) add

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pfix=nocopy

. This will layer only the mount-point rather than the full file (assuming your application is an sfs file rather than an installed pet or other package). Your videos should reside in a separate directory (not in your savefile/folder) and that directory is symlinked to your savefile/folder. Same thing for a standalone app such as provided by Mike Walsh This will free up your ram use. If you need help installing a package to an sfs module (instead of your save/running system) ask. There will be plenty of help but it will vary depending on which distro you're running. Hope this makes sense -- it's been a long day.

df

[JusGellin]

@Dry Falls

In your kernel commandline (first menu on boot from the bootloader you use such as syslinux, grub, etc) add

Code: Select all

pfix=nocopy

. This will layer only the mount-point rather than the full file (assuming your application is an sfs file rather than an installed pet or other package). Your videos should reside in a separate directory (not in your savefile/folder) and that directory is symlinked to your savefile/folder. Same thing for a standalone app such as provided by Mike Walsh This will free up your ram use. If you need help installing a package to an sfs module (instead of your save/running system) ask. There will be plenty of help but it will vary depending on which distro you're running. Hope this makes sense -- it's been a long day.

df

I'll set the pfix=nocopy
But I couldn't get the portable version of Openshot to work.
So I went to the install of KDEnlive. By doing the install, will it consume memory since it isn't portable?
Is installing this to an sfs module the way I should do it? How do I do that?
Where is a good standard place for the videos to be stored?
Where does the symlink go for the savefile folder? How can I do that?

I'm running BookwormPup64_10.0.6.

I guess I still don't know how to do all the basic things, but would like to know.

Thanks for your help.

[Dry Falls]

Hi JusGellin. I just downloaded bookworm and ran it. Surprised how little is provided in the help documentation concerning puppy in general. Here is a link to the puppy developer (BarryK)'s explanation from 2006: https://bkhome.org/archive/puppylinux/d ... works.html. Much is still appropriate. Seems few are concerned with history anymore, fewer still with the why's of a thing. I'm specifically referring to modern-day engineers. Fortunately, Bookworm includes nicOS-Utility-Suite. Click on that and then its help button. All the tools you will need for your project are there.

My first advice would be to read the Readme files which come with an application before installing or using it. Mike's Portable Apps all have these inside. There are also many good threads on this forum for beginners. That is not derogatory -- any expert in linux who's not familiar with puppy is a beginner for these purposes. I know this is an instant gratification culture, but what you're attempting illustrates you're not one of those "just show me which button turns it on" people. You will need to study to gain the kind of familiartiy you require.

Good luck and welcome

[JusGellin]

@Dry Falls
Thanks for the great direction for me to look further.
I'm going to make a better effort to understand this better.

Thanks

[RSH]

Is installing this to an sfs module the way I should do it? How do I do that?

Use this: viewtopic.php?p=115971#p115971
It's easy to use and returns an .sfs file you can load/unload via sfs_load.
I have created some other tools to create .sfs files, but I used this one
to make .sfs files in plain puppy.
Works fine!

[RSH]

@JusGellin
Hi

The short 5 second video successfully received. Loads immediately without problems. So, this seems to be a problem in newer versions of Kdenlive.

I have 2 versions of Kdenlive. It's 17.12.3 and 18.08.
Sometimes or often older programs work in newer Puppies. The revert mostly not.
So, I'm uploading both my 64bit Kdenlive SFS files to my archive.com account.
Don't mind the Noble64 Page...

This is Kdenlive 17.12.3.
This is Kdenlive 18.08.

Let me know if there's success in running and using it.

[darksun]

Sorry TL;DR & a Ctrl+F "lossless" within this thread did not find any match hence I am recommending you to try this great piece of software and see if it can be (partially) useful

Main webpage with description of the software
https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut

if interested you then go to the https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut/releases

you probably want to get the

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LosslessCut-linux-x64.tar.bz2 

extract it , cd into the folder and launch

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losslesscut

either by clicking on it or, via terminal

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./losslesscut

[JusGellin]

@RSH
I downloaded both.
I tried each individually.
I copied the sfs where the other sfs files are and then clicked on the new one.
It asked if I wanted to install it.
I said yes.

I went to the multimeda menu and selected the Kdenlive Video Editor.
Nothing came up when I tried both versions (one at a time).

I tried each on a fresh BookwormPup64 system that never had Kdenlive installed.

Did I install them correctly and they just didn't work for BookwormPup64?

Thanks

[dellus]

I wonder why Avidemux has not been mentioned. I guess it's not your intention to produce cinematic masterpieces, so it probably will cover your needs. It is easy to learn, you can quickly cut out pieces or insert them, it is light weight and small, handles mp4. It is in the list of mikewalsh's portables and runs in bookwormpup 64, tested.

[JusGellin]

@dellus
I got Avidemux. It is easy and very simple.

Thanks

[mikewalsh]

I wonder why Avidemux has not been mentioned. I guess it's not your intention to produce cinematic masterpieces, so it probably will cover your needs. It is easy to learn, you can quickly cut out pieces or insert them, it is light weight and small, handles mp4. It is in the list of mikewalsh's portables and runs in bookwormpup 64, tested.

@dellus :-

Hey, good to know. Nice one..!

You can thank @mikeslr for this one, actually, 'cos on this occasion it was our resident retired lawyer who used Fred's build scripts to turn it into an AppImage. At which point I then took it, and did my usual trick of building a portable around it, so......now y'all know. Something of a "joint effort", that one.

Yeah, it never even occurred to me. I either use Openshot for day-to-day stuff, or for 'masterpieces', I like to use Lightworks. I never got on with Avidemux in the early days, a decade ago. It used to turn its nose up at so much stuff back then.....but I must admit, on the odd occasions when I've re-visited Avidemux in recent years, I've been quite impressed with it. The dev team have obviously put a LOT of work into it, and it's pretty much flawless these days.

It's definitely a good choice now for simple, straight-forward editing, that's for sure. And I've always liked that "jog-wheel"..... It's a very useful feature. Adobe's 'Premiere Pro' used to have one, many moons ago, but I've only ever seen Avidemux utilize the feature since moving to this side of the fence.

Mike.

[JusGellin]

Does anyone know why OpenShot doesn't seem to work properly.
Whenever I try to do something the cpu goes to 100% and everything is at a stand still.
It eventually comes out of it and works.
When you try other things, it locks up again.

Is it just BookwormPup64 have a problem running it?
Is there anything I should try to make it work?
I seem to have enough memory.

I'm able to run a couple others pretty well but they don't hog the cpu like this one.

Thanks

[JusGellin]

It double posted, so I deleted the second one.

[wizard]

Avidemux is really good for boosting the volume of the audio track without having to demux it.

wizard

[RSH]

Did I install them correctly and they just didn't work for BookwormPup64?

Thanks

You could use in a terminal

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which kdenlive

to see if they are installed.
If it returns /usr/bin/kdenlive then the .sfs file is loaded.

Trying to run in terminal then

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kdenlive

should return some messages. Perhaps there's some incompatibility for the Qt stuff.
However, these versions are from Bionic 18.04. 64bit.
So, there's a good chance they are simply not working for Bookworm. Sorry...

I'm going to remove them soon from archive.org.