Does anyone know of any free-to-download video editing software that is fairly easy to learn the use of? I don’t need many special effects. I just need to learn how to cut clips together, add sound effects, and overlay text on the scenes. is there anything out there that fits my needs? If I have to pay for it, is there anything cheap that fits my needs?
Also, is there anyone out there willing to help me learn said software and techniques that could be used with it?
The shitty windows movie maker does all that.
and of course I don’t have any videos on my PC at work so that I can test it out…
I dont know why folks say it is shitty. (not just speaking to you Acristoff) It is free and is a good place to start. For folks that want great quality, it is simply a matter of selecting the right type of output. If you need something more than great quality, then you dont really want a free program now do you?
Thee, let me know if you need a test video to play with and I will provide an upload link zip for you.
Nah, it’ll just have to wait until I get home from work tonight. It’s only a few hours away. I will pass the time working instead 
There is something I forgot to ask about. Ripping stuff from DVDs. Will I need special software for that?
As in, copying a dvd? I just did this to save an old disk by following this page to the letter. It requires DVD Shrink, and DVD Decryptor both very easy programs.
You should try Wax, an open source non linear editing suite. It has replaced adobe premiere for me and has most of the same functions, with plugins for Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere/Premiere Pro and Pure Motion EditStudio. This has a good list of effects as well as 2d and 3d effects.
https://www.debugmode.com/wax/
Here is a list of open source editors.
https://www.isoftwarereviews.com/free-video-editing-software-programs/
As in copying a clip and adding it into a video.
My ultimate goal is to start a video review of kung fu movies, akin to the types of videos found on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses site (Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, and all those people). At fist just to see if I can do it, before seeing how serious I can get about it.
With most decent editors you could grab a capture from a video out source for each clip instead of copying entire movies.
Yes, that was my plan. I never said I wanted the entire DVD copied. That was a conclusion you jumped to
Anyway, your welcome.
Ok, and what do DVD Shrink and Decryptor do? I’m really a n00b at this, and need explaining from the ground up here.
Nevermind, I se now your link explains it all (hopefully in enough detail for me to follow).
And I’m not able to open the files that are saved after using Shrink and Decryptor…
Use DVD43 to remove the copy protection and Handbrake to rip the videos from the DVD. You can’t do specific clips but you can do certain scenes. It can’t output to AVI, though, I don’t think. Wish it could.
I just used Handbrake, but it only recorded to M4V, so I am trying to convert that to AVI or MPEG or something that I can edit…
windows movie maker handles wmv best. i dont know about the latest versions, but in some of the previous ones, wmm reacted badly to avi or mpeg (and the codecs were installed). playback didnt work correctly, neither did preview, and it even crashed several times.
Thank you for that. I will keep that in mind for if I ever get everything else working. I still need a free (or really cheap) converter from M4V…
I think I’m going to have to pay for an M4V converter, because nothing that I am being linked does what anyone says it will, let alone what I need it to do 
Try MediaCoder. Not sure if it can do M4V files but it can at least do MP4 files, which I know you can rip to using Handbrake.
mediacoder does have mkv support. it doesnt have a pretty UI, but it gets the job done.
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