VirtualDub is simply a great video editing utility!
VirtualDub’s strength isn’t in putting together the timeline or storyboard of a movie, but rather in providing a simple way to apply one or more filters to alter video, frame-by-frame. Many of the filters or their functionality may be absent in your main editing software, for example, an option to rotate a clip by 4 or 5 degrees for fine-tuning, instead of being limited to the 90-degree increments.
VirtualDub is free to download and use. The download package is small and quick to get, it doesn’t really need an installation (just copy it to your selected folder), and it works extremely fast and well. It’s hard to think of a reason not to have it.
VirtualDub started with the processing of AVI files in the Windows environment, and there lies its strength. As per its documentation, it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and handle sets of BMP still pictures. It can handle both types I and II DV-AVI files. However, it can’t read QuickTime, MPEG-2, Real Media, or Windows Media file types.
VirtualDub ignores filename extensions when determining a file type, so renaming a file extension won’t change its ability to open it.
So if VirtualDub isn’t an editor, what can it do? Despite being focused on pre- and post-processing rather than editing, it has an impressive feature list. It is a useful standalone video tool and a great companion to full-fledged editors because:
It can read and write AVI2 (OpenDML) and multi-segment AVI clips.
It has integrated MPEG-1 and Motion-JPEG decoders.
It lets you remove and replace audio tracks without affecting the video.
It includes a wide variety of video filters: blur, sharpen, emboss, smooth, 3x3 convolution, flip, resize, rotate, brightness/contrast levels, deinterlace, and threshold. It also allows users to write their own video filters.
It supports bilinear and bicubic resampling, which help avoid blocky resizes and rotates.
It can decompress, recompress, and adjust compression of audio and video.
It’s great for quickly removing segments of a video, without recompressing the whole sequence.
It can adjust frame rate, decimate frames, and perform 3:2 pulldown removal.
VirtualDub can preview the effects of changes quickly, complete with audio.
You can take a captured clip, trim the ends, clean up some of the noise, convert it to the proper frame size, and write out a better one. Don’t see a video filter you want? Write your own, with the filter SDK. In addition to these features, version 1.6.0 can use type I or II DV-AVI files as inputs, although it saves output files as type II.
For many users, video editing starts with the capture of video from a camcorder or other device to get the file to your computer. VirtualDub provides an option to do it, provided your device is compatible with Video for Windows. However, VirtualDub offers some powerful features that are rare in run-of-the-mill capture applications:
Fractional frame rates. Instead of being forced to have a whole number of frames per second, VirtualDub will enable you to select (for example) 29.97 frames per second.
Optimized disk access for more consistent hard disk usage.
Create AVI2 (OpenDML) files that exceed the AVI 2GB barrier and multiple files to break the FAT32 4GB limit.
Integrated volume meter and histogram for input level monitoring.
Real-time downsizing, noise reduction, and field swapping.
Verbose monitoring, including compression levels, CPU usage, and free disk space.
Access hidden video formats which your capture card may support, but not have a setting for, such as 352x480.
Keyboard and mouse shortcuts for faster operation. To capture, just hit F6.
Clean interface layout: caption, menu bar, information panel, status bar.
The http://www.virtualdub.org/docs_capture page of the website has a number of tips including the following:
"VirtualDub needs a Video for Windows capture driver to capture. Most Firewire (DV) devices do not provide a VFW driver, and thus cannot be used by VirtualDub at all. Also, ATI appears to be shipping their current devices with a WDM (Windows Driver Model) driver only; this can be used indirectly by VirtualDub through a Microsoft wrapper, but it is crippled in functionality and it also appears that the wrapper is buggy. The wrapper will show up as "Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)". If it works for you, great."
You may not need VirtualDub to capture your video, as your main editing software provides such features.
In the days when Avery Lee created VirtualDub, previewing and rendering video was a time-consuming process. Many would say that this is true even with today’s more powerful computers. One of Lee’s goals was to make things happen quickly, and he achieved it. The software was designed for speed, both in its user interface and in the under-the-hood computer processing. You can easily see his results as you use it.
The http://www.virtualdub.org/virtualdub_history page at virtualdub.org gives us some insights into why Avery Lee started Virtual Dub, and some interesting information about it.
We’ll use version 1.6.0 for the book. There are other versions available.
The latest experimental version 1.6.3 and its source code are also available for download and use, with information included about known issues.
If you intend to use the source code and do your own development, be sure to check the online information and support forums, including the pages at http://www.virtualdub .org/docs_compiling and http://www.virtualdub.org/filtersdk.