[Kdenlive-devel] Why <insert favouarte video editor here> is rubbish

[Jason Wood]

Hi,

I'm going to start asking some people I know who have experience of using 
various video editors, specifically people who know nothing about software 
development :-)

The question I ask is "Can you tell me the top five (well, top whatever) 
things you dislike about <that person's favourate editor>? Things that it 
does that you wish it didn't, things that it doesn't do you wish it did..."

I'll post the results as I get them here, with comentary, it would be great if 
other people can do the same. The idea is, find out what other editors do 
badly, and then do it properly in kdenlive ;-)

Here one to start the ball rolling - in this case, the person is talking about 
Premier.

> The rendering thing really annoys me (sorry if that's obvious!) why can't
> it render as it goes along or something?

Premier doesn't have background rendering, I think this is going to be fairly 
easy (though it will be some work) to implement into the current design 
structure.

> I don't find it very clear about the different sorts of files, like how it
> creates new files every time you render an effect (I think you know what I
> mean) - all the files of a certain clip should stay together so you don't
> accidentally delete one type of file and then lose the clip.

Hmm, I'm not sure if she is talking about the fact that premier renders 
preview files, or that the computer she edits on (which has a matrox RT2000) 
seperates video from audio. I'll try and find out.

> Speaking of deleting, I know you should export the file to a movie format
> when it's finihsed but when i haven't done this, and then cleared some
> space on the hard drive, i've sometimes lost half of a project...mind you
> that's probably just me being thick!! 

Premier doesn't have any way of managing clips, especially in relation to what 
projects they are currently used in, and whether or not they can be safely 
deleted. The only way to delete them is via the file system, which tends to 
be very danegrous, especially when more than one person is using the same 
editing suite.

> I think it does have a good range of effects but perhaps a better help
> option (or a 'how to' setting) to explain things to a thicko like me would
> be very useful!!

I think the problem here is in two parts : firstly, premier doesn't put all of 
the effects in the same place, some things, such as transparency, (blue 
screen, chroma), are handled in a completely different way to other effects, 
such as crossfade, and blur.

Secondly, The online help isn't obviously available - you have to go to the 
help menu and search for the relevant effect. A nice big "help" button for 
each effect, or even a description of the effect on screen would be nice in 
kdenlive.

Cheers,
Jason

-- 
Jason Wood
Homepage : www.uchian.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk