Just curious, has anyone actually gotten work done with this app? Is it some kind of cruel inside joke played by the Linux VFX community or what? My experience with it, running close to the reccommended configuration, is that it won't stay up for more than 30 seconds, if that. Too bad, since it promises a lot. Same for JahShaka, although work does appear to be progressing with it.
It took some tweaking of XFree86 on Novell's SuSE Linux Professional 9.1 to get the latest Cinelerra up and running though not an issue with SLP 9.2 due to Novell switching to XOrg. Basically Cinelerra couldn't find "libXV.so.1" so I had to extract it, etc (see post here http://www.linuxforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=119664http://www.linuxforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=119664 ). Anyway, from what I can tell it looks like the software offers a lot in a low cost solution though has a steep learning curve and is resource hungry (ie: RAM, CPU, etc). It doesn't help that there is no drop down help menu with tutorial link included and requires users to surf the net for online wiki manuals created by others (ie: http://www.ftconsult.com/twiki/bin/view/Cinelerra/CinelerraManualTOChttp://www.ftconsult.com/twiki/bin/view/Ci...elerraManualTOC ). Those interested in the software would be best to purchase a turnkey system from for example http://www.lmahd.com/http://www.lmahd.com/ which provides support for studios. Though I tend to have more faith in the development of Jahshaka for a low cost HD editor than Cinelerra. Even though Jahshaka is still in development the developers are listening to studios and artists where as Cinelerra seems to be just out there in cyberspace on it's own. Take a look at their forums at Sourceforge.net and you'll understand what I mean. Okay so some will say Cinelerra was at Siggraph and at NAB but really so what? The UI is not user friendly and I hate the color theme which seems to not have any other option except for Gold. Of course the Cinelerra developers say different but just try to change the theme of Cinelerra..good luck. Those looking for a Linux highend editing solution would at the present time be better to consider Discreet's Smoke or IFX Pirahna HD which also come in turnkey offerings. For those on a tight budget Cinelerra will seem attractive even with it's short comings but I'll still place my faith on Jahshaka to become what studios want in a low cost solution when it reaches final release which should be sometime in 2005. One reason is not only cost as I mentioned but also being offered on multiple platforms and not so much a resource hog as Cinelerra. Only time will tell how well the projects go for both in 2005 and who gets a place here at Highend.
I have tried Cinelerra for a while, then I quit before getting mad.
I think its developers are making a great effort, but it's still FULL of bugs and it doesn't provide some basic features (like time scaling).
In addition to DarkKnight proposals: Smoke and Piranha are great, but too complicated if you are not working for TV or cinema and you don't need so cool compositing tools.
Have you tried MainActor? It's not so expensive and very user-friendly and STABLE. Unfortunately, closed-source. But, if you are working with graphics, forget about getting cool software for free.
I installed the retail version of MainActor after reviewing the demo that came with Novell's SuSE Linux Professional. The video editor is basically in comparison with Premiere Pro and FCP though significantly lower in cost with out sacrificing features. MainActor offers a friendly UI and a multitude of video settings such as NTSC, PAL, HDTV, Cinema and Web, create title shots, blue screen effects, etc. There's also a SDK (Software Developer Kit) made available from MainConcept. What's interesting is that the developer also contributes to the film community by porting applications and plug-ins to third party software for both Windows and Mac. Currently MainActor is only offered on Linux and Windows but rumors are floating around about a port to OSX. It's definitely another video editor to keep an eye on.
http://www.mainconcept.com/mainactor_v5_linux.shtmlhttp://www.mainconcept.com/mainactor\_v5\_linux.shtml
http://developer.mainconcept.com/index_flash.htmlhttp://developer.mainconcept.com/index\_flash.html
I was impressed by MainActor's demo; it does appear quite full featured. It even had an HD composition preset. However, it appears that 5.2 cannot master larger than SD res. Alas, alas!
Our company recently purchased a Sony FX1 and I have my own JVC GR-HD1 on my lap right now. An HD editor would best take advantage of Linux's performance advantages in disk and memory I/O.
MainActor is stable and a good Software (with good file format support) !
But also Cinerella works stable. Its not the easiest prog, but quite usefull !!! I use Debian Sarge and simply installed cinerella via apt-get, got no problems . . .
Why is everybody using the windows linux (suse) and wonder if something is unstable ?
The latest release of Cinelerra (v1.2.2) offers several improvements and bug fixes. Read more about the latest release in the Buzz section of the Highend forum.
I'm right behind you. The latest RPM for SUSE is worlds more stable!
I bought and have been using MainActor at work for the past month or so and it is servicable. Its best features are a bevy of MPEG export features, which unfortunately don't include movie file export beyond 720x480, although it can edit HDV from my JVC and export image sequences at 720p.
Now that Cinelerra stays up for more than 30 seconds at a time, I can take the opportunity to appreciate its features. Looks like it'll take quite a bit of figuring out.
I'm anxious for a programmer to make good use of libmpeg1394 http://kino.schirmacher.de/filemanager/download/5/mpg1394grab.chttp://kino.schirmacher.de/filemanager/dow...5/mpg1394grab.c and get HDV i/o going under Linux.
Link to features, manual, tutorials and guides http://cvs.cinelerra.org/docs.html