[rosmari]

1) Brightening
- The videos I took with my Nikon Coolpix turned out too dark. I converted them from .mov to .avi (with AVS Video Converter 6, non-activated), and then found and downloaded Virtualdub, with which I am supposed to be able to edit/brighten them. I was able to open the .avi video on virtualdub but don't understand how to proceed.

Is there another, easier way to lighten the video?

2) Rotating
- I took one of the videos "vertically" and need to rotate it by 90 degrees.
I tried to do that in the .mov mode but don't know how.

3) Audio is too fast.
I have integrated some videos (which I had converted from .mov to .avi), which didn't need editing, into DVD SlideshowGUI. They seem to have speeded up (which doesn't bother me so much) but the audio has become unintelligible.

Many thanks for any and all help.

[midders]

Virtualdub(mod) is one of the most powerful avi editing tools out there but takes a little bit of getting used to. In order to make changes to your video you will need two things:
1. the right filter for the job
2. the right video codec (I would recommend Xvid, the free version of divx).
- To see available filters in vdub; make sure that Full Processing mode is selected under the video menu, then select Video->Filters... and click on the Add... button.
- To set the compression, choose Video->Compression..., select the desired codec from the list and click on the Configure button to change the settings. Xvid compression configuration is not the simplest thing, but there are numerus guides out there.

It's also worth checking out Avisynth which is a very powerful tool and can be used in combination with Virtualdub.

Downloads for the tools mentioned here along with guides and help forums can all be found at videohelp.com (link in sig).

It's a steep learning curve, but if you start out simple, you'll be up and running in no time. Good luck.

Slainte

midders

[rosmari]

After having followed your filter instructions, the preview gave me an acceptable brightness/contrast. But even though I clicked OK, the video itself hadn't changed.

I'm afraid I'm not nearly at your level of sophistication. I don't know what a codec is - I downloaded XVID, and then installed it, but I can't access it - it keeps saying Error.
And when I click Video > Compression, there are a dozen options, and I have no idea what to chose.

I'm still not able to rotate the video so it's vertical to the eye.

All and any help will be really welcome.

[midders]

The preview does exactly what it says on the tin (!); shows you what the final output will look like. For the rotation you'll need to add a rotate filter in addition to the brightness/contrast filter.

To save the output you'll need to sort out your problems with the compression. By default vdub will output uncompressed video which will be huge! Install Xvid (and reboot); if you have any problems try uninstalling and then re-installing, failing that google the exact error message.

Choose Video->Compression..., click on 'Xvid MPEG-4 Codec' then click on Configure. DON'T PANIC at this point as you will be presented with a bewildering array of options and sub-sections; instead download this guide and follow the sections for setting up vdub's first and second passes. You can also use the instructions here for setting up vdub's job control in order to run the two passes consecutively. Once the jobs are setup start them off by choosing file->job control and clicking on the start button.

Once again, this can be a complicated process when you're getting started; I've picked it up over the past few years from videohelp and cdfreaks. If in doubt google is your friend and there are loads of guides and forums out there...

Slainte

midders

[rosmari]

Still problems:

After clicking on Xvid MPEG-4 Codec and Configure, I got a practically blank screen - I'm attaching a picture of it.

I did have trouble installing Xvid. After repeated "deletefile failed code 5", and trying to fix that, I thought I'd finally succeeded by twice clicking "ignore"; if I search for it, I now have a whole array of xvid files. So, I hope I have it now but am not sure.

[midders]

Your screen shot shows exactly what I'd expect; follow the guide (pdf link) from my previous post to setup the two passes for vdub encoding; you might want to experiment with the bitrate on the second pass for best results.

[rosmari]

The instructions in the Guide are clear - BUT:
on page 8, after the 2nd Setting & Value, it says to click on the Advance Option button. Where is it? - I tried Zone Options and Other Options, but no luck.

I'm sorry I'm so dense...

[peck1234]

Sony Vegas Pro FTW...