Log in

View Full Version : Lightworks: The Open Source Video Editor


Jason Dunn
04-12-2011, 04:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.lightworksbeta.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.lightworksbeta.com/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Back in April 2010, we announced our plans to take Lightworks open source. We always said the first step would be to make the application freely available so that a large community of users could start becoming familiar with it. We are very pleased to have reached this first milestone. Now you can freely download the most intuitive and advanced editor available. This is not a trial download. From here forward, you will always be able to download and use the latest version of Lightworks for free."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1302575420.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>An open source video editor? Sounds like it might be too good to be true, but looking at the list of features, it's quite impressive. Amazingly, it was used to cut "The King's Speech" together - and that says a lot for software that's still in beta! Unfortunately, I've been unable to figure out how to use it yet - when I start a new project and go to import the video files, my AVCHD videos are not available for import. <a href="http://lightworks.wikidot.com/avchd-workflow" target="_blank">Turns out this file format isn't supported</a> - which is a real shame given it has become a standard consumer format. Still, Lightworks may be the video editing you're looking for if you happen to have video in a format it can support...</p>

Vincent Ferrari
04-12-2011, 02:09 PM
I can almost give them a pass on AVCHD because of licensing restrictions and I'd be willing to bet someone will bring out a codec pack that'll take care of that, but it is an odd omission considering that basically every consumer HD camcorder shoots AVCHD.

Does it do H.264 at least?

Jason Dunn
04-12-2011, 06:49 PM
I can almost give them a pass on AVCHD because of licensing restriction

I hadn't thought about that - makes sense I guess. But the idea of having to transcode my video into another format before I can start editing it - only to then transcode it again when I'm done - is pretty ridiculous. :(

Does it do H.264 at least?

Yup, just tested it - it started to import the h.264 MPEG4 file - then crashed. Doh! Beta software. Think I'll just uninstall it...maybe check in on it again in six months.

Vincent Ferrari
04-12-2011, 06:53 PM
maybe check in on it again in six months.

It's open source. Wait a few hours and try again!