VirtualDub Quick video capturing and processing
VirtualDub is a free Microsoft Windows program designed for video processing and video capture. It processes, filters and compresses linear video streams. Its original purpose was to process videos of the animation character Sailor Moon. VirtualDub works on AVI files. Users have asked the program developers to expand the accepted file formats. However, to date AVI is the only accepted video format.
Capture Capability
VirtualDub is a capable video capture utility with support for both Video For Windows and DirectShow. Capturing features include preview and overly modes, selectable cropping, video noise reduction, auto stop, audio VU meters, the ability to capture any AVI format and the option of designating another drive for overflow. VirtualDub is also used to allow video from certain digital cameras to be used in nonlinear editing programs such as Sony Vegas. There are a few digital cameras that record video in M-JPEG format that would not be accepted in some software. Resaving these videos as "old-style AVI" in VirtualDub makes the videos available in most editors.
VirtualDub has extremely flexible video editing capabilities. Users can append new segments to the end of a file, reorder current segments, or delete complete segments. It does not have the capability to mix segments from different files, except when adding segments that have similar audio and video characteristics.
Filters
Developers and advanced users have created a number of filters which expanded VirtualDub's feature set. For example, the video can be cut in half, converted to grayscale, located and more. A filter software development kit has been created for programmers to develop their own audio and video filters. Images from videos can be saved as bitmap or TGA files. All sound and framed images have to be edited in other software.
VirtualDub is free and released to the public under the GNU General Public License. It runs on Windows operating systems.
VirtualDub is a video capture and processing utility that is licensed under GNU General Public License. It's used as a general utility for video cleanup and trimming before it's exported to to tape or processed with another program. VirtualDub is not made for general editing like Adobe Premier. Instead, it's made for quick operations over video.
The biggest pro about VirtualDub is its ability to manipulate AVI files. Though it can also read MPEG-1 files, it's really best for AVI. Users are also able to specify the bitrate, frame per second, and frame size. The major downside to VirtualDub is it's lack of contextual help.
