Open Source

R

Ryan McCarvill

Well-known member
Hey Guys,

I am loosing access to Final Cut Pro and was considering building an open source NLE computer, Does anyone have any experience with Cinelerra or Kino with the DMC-GH1 with AHCD and the 24p Pulldown?

Of course I will probably end up saving my penies and buying Vegas, however with the GH1 costing the equivalient of $USD 2,200 here I figure I will cut costs where I can.

- Ryan
 
Last edited:
Well from googling around the pulldown removal process in linux is a nightmare, and a very manual process. Looks like a windows dual boot, or a second windows box for pull down and conversion. - Ryan
 
Kino works ok but is fairly basic and as far as I know still limited to standard definition (not HD). The 3D animator Blender (www.blender3d.org) has an editing module (VSE, the Video Sequence Editor) though it has a steep learning curve. Cinelerra is sophisticated enough for most people, and with a powerful machine can be reliable (but my experience was that it seemed especially difficult to learn and crashed a lot -- perhaps my hardware was under powered?). A newer project called Lumiera (www.lumiera.org) is in the works, developed by the Cinelerra CV community, but it seems to be taking a long time -- though that probably means they want to get this thing right. My feeling is that Lumiera is the best bet for a professional-level editor, though who knows when it will be ready? I've been messing around with Linux for several years, but when it comes to advanced video editing, I always have to go back to windows. Maybe in a year or two there will be the killer editor many of us want, but if you need to edit this summer, well...
 
Ryan, If your prepared to put in the time learning Blenders interface you can be rewarded with a fairly fast and logical editor. The lack of things like media libraries is probably one of the things that make it only really suitable for short edits at the moment. If you're doing feature length, documentary or high pressure/time sensitive work then you'll probably need to look elsewhere. The composite nodes give you some pretty powerful colour/grading too.

I know there is a port called Blender AVC, which is geared to working with HDV/AVC and I think can deal with pulldown, but I really don't know too much about it. Blenders interface isn't for everyone though!
 
Thanks Guys, I had heard of using Blender as a NLE, however seeing as its primarily a 3d application I doubted if it was worth while to look at.

In addition to Lumiera there is CineFX which looks interesting, I think its aiming to take on after effects.

------

Ok so I am installing Ubuntu Studio now, and I will install Cinelerra and Audacity. There are solutions to remove pulldown as is discussed here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16699730#157

Obviously this is all theoretical untill I purchase a camera - or at least download some footage.

What I am looking into now is what the best intermediate codec is, codec's are apparently a nightmare in linux. I obviously want something that is lossless and that will convert the AVCHD footage into a 4:2:2 color space.

I will let people know how I get on as there isn't much information on any of these subjects on this forum or the web.
 
Wait a minute... You are in New Zealand? If so don't you have PAL? The 1080/25p in 50i stream mode don't need pulldown removal, it's a NTSC problem with the 1080/24p in 60i stream.
 
Yeah,

The camera is listed on the website as 60fps, I have emailed them to see if its a mistake. Most likely they copied the information from a US website.
 
Well back to this, I ordered a camera from a more reputable retailer and it is pal so no pull down. However Cinelerra, Kino, Blender, and the like are all dreadful, I ordered Vegas today.

Its a bit disappointing because the audio tools in Linux are brilliant.
 
It is very disappointing that Linux is still waiting for a decent NLE. Like you I've tried many of those weird and wonderful apps (not getting familiar enough with them to really use -- they drove me nuts). At work I use Final Cut Pro, which is the benchmark I usually compare all-comers to. At home I'm using windows and over many years I've been through Avid, Premiere and many £50 editors with similar sounding names, and last couple of years I'm using Vegas Pro. When Linux is finally ready for editing, I'll be very keen to give that another go, sadly, it's not there yet (just have to keep dipping into those projects every few months to find out what progress is made).
 
Yep, the problems that I came across were:
Lack of codec support (no AVCHD, no lossless codecs), lack of media management, lack of embeded timelines, lack of stability.

They are probably all perfectly fine for your kids birthday party, but trying to organise a narrative short, let alone a feature, would be an exercise in hair pulling.

With the decline in the US$ and a 20% off an upgrade it didn't make sense to waste any more time trying to get the open source stuff to work. As I said it's a shame as Ubuntu Studio 64 was brilliant in every other respect (and detected my hardware a hell of allot better than windows XP), By buying Vegas Movie Studio and upgrading to pro (and with a little help from the US currency) I received Vegas at a 40% discount on what it was a couple of weeks ago when I was first waying my options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top