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LiVES : The Linux Video Editing System for other operating systems!

NOTE: I have no Linux machine and have not installed, run or tested LiVES or any package on this OS

LiVES is a bit of an oddity (to say the least!).

It was designed for Linux but has been ported to other operating systems (Which could be an issue - see below) .

On Linux this tool was, apparently, very good and the feature list is impressive:(From the web site)

Video
    * Loading and editing of almost any video format (via mplayer decoder).
    * Smooth playback at variable frame rates, forward and in reverse. Display framerate can be controlled independantly of playback framerate.
    * Frame accurate cutting and pasting within and between clips.
    * Saving/re-encoding of clips, selections, and individual frames.
    * Lossless backup/restore.
    * Streaming input and output.
    * Real time blending of clips (various chroma and luma blends).
    * Can handle in/out streams in LiVES to LiVES or yuv4mpeg format. Streams can be piped from stdout into other applications.
    * Supports fixed and variable framerates. Playback rate can be smoothly adjusted independant of display rate.
    * Ability to 'scratch' with video - that is to move smoothly backwards and forwards through it, and to record yourself doing so.
    * Playback can use LiVES' own internal player, there is also a high performance fullscreen SDL playback plugin
    * Internal support for RGB24, RGBA32, YUVA, YUV, YUV422, YUV420 (jpeg and mpeg), YUYV, YUV411 and UYVY palettes; chroma super and subsampling is implemented.
    * Ability to edit many filetypes and sources including remotely located files (with mplayer/ffmpeg libraries), and directories of images.
    * Real time capture/recording of interactive (via mouseclicks) external windows.
    * Encode to any of the 50+ output formats which are now supported (e.g. mjpeg, mpeg4, mpeg1/2, h264, VCD, SVCD, DVD, ogg/mp4 ogm, Matroska mkv, dv, swf, Ogg Theora, Dirac, MNG, Snow, xvid, and even animated GIF and PDF!)
    * Encoder formats can easily be extended through the encoder plugin API.
    * LiVES will suggest the best settings for saving to each format.
    * Resampling of video (time stretching) to any frame rate (1 to 200 fps - accurate to 8 decimal places); option to auto-resample or speed up/slow down between clips.
    * Ability to instantly alter the playback speed of video and audio independently.
    * Rotation, resizing and trimming of video clips.
    * Deinterlacing, subtitle removal.
    * Instant saving/loading of clips for performances/presentations.

Audio
    * Can load mp3, ogg, mod, xm and wav files.
    * LiVES can also load tracks directly off CD to use with your video (using cdda2wav).
    * Ability to save audio selections, and append audio.
    *Sound can be trimmed to fit video selections.
    * Cutting and pasting of audio within and between clips.
    * Resampling of audio (rate, channels, sample size, signedness and endianness); audio is auto-resampled between clips.
    * Supports (auto)inserting of silence and deletion of audio sections.
    * Able to record from any external audio source.
    * Fade in/fade out feature for clips.
    *Audio speed and direction can be smoothly adjusted; both in real time and when rendering

Effects
    * Many effects, including random/targeted zooming, panning of video, colour cycling and colorisation/colour filtering.
    * Merging/compositing of frames is possible: e.g. frame-in-frame, fade in/out and transparency.
    * Real time previews as the effect is processing.
    * Support for the Frei0r effect plugin architecture (via a wrapper) which will allow sharing of realtime effects with other applications.
    * Use real time effects to blend clips together, regardless of frame size or fps. Luma and chroma blending are currently supported.
    * Multiple real time effects are possible during playback (VJ mode), these can also be rendered to frames.
    * Effects and transitions are now fully customisable using the RFX builder window.
    * Effects/blends can also be applied to incoming streams in real time.
    * Dynamic loading of effects.

Screenshots

The Screens themselves look quite well thought out with a good GUI (User interface)

Here's a shot using effects:

Summary

A well thought out and very functional tool. However I do have concerns about it's adaptability for non-Linux systems. Read this, from the website:

LiVES System Reqs

As you can see there are a number of hoops to go through to get this working on something such as Windows (Using a dyne:bolic bootable CD).

I would hesitate to use this on anything other than Linux at the moment, and even then only if you're reasonably comfortable with Linux as an operating system.

Click here to go to the Home Page
Click here to go to the Wiki
Click here to download LiVES

This isn't the only Linux software editor available. Click here to see other Linux free editing tools

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