Kino is a free, open source video editing programme that lets you capture video through firewire then add titles, transitions and video effects to the footage.

For the latest information regarding Kino please refer on the Kino website:

Kino is designed to capture video through an IEEE1394 connection, also known as a Firewire or iLink conection.

To edit video on a PC you need a fast computer and plenty of memory. The bare minimum is a 500MHz Processor and 128MB of RAM for running the programme. You will also need several gigabytes (GB) of hard drive space. For 5 minutes footage, for example, you will need about 1GB of free space. You may need additional space for any audio files, transitions and effects you put on, and to output the finished movie you may require the same amount of memory space again.

Connecting your camera

Kino has good support for the IEE1394 standard. You will need both a PC and a camera with this type of interface. IEE1394 connections come with 4 or 6 pins, laptops and cameras usually have a 4 pin connection, PC boxes the 6-pin connection. Connect your DV camera to the PC using a an IEE1394 cable.

A 4-pin IEEE1394 port connector on the side of a laptop.

A 4 pin cable

A 6-pin, 3 connector Firewire card one with a cable attached.

A 6-pin cable

Opening Kino

Before opening Kino turn the camera on and go to Playback (or VCR) mode. On your PC open a terminal window and type the command line 'kino'. Press Enter and Kino opens.

The Kino layout is straightforward and is divided into three main columns:

1. 1.Storyboard for arranging clips
2. 2.Main window video and mode options
3. 3.Function buttons for different editing modes

The Toolbar at the top adds quick access to the more commonly used features in Kino.

The Transport Controls below the main window let you playback your footage:

1. 1.Scrub bar: Click and drag to view the project video clips
2. 2.Transport: For playing, advancing and rewinding.
3. 3.Shuttle: Plays the project at different speed. The speed will display bottom left of the Kino window.

Kino Help: Press the F1 key when Kino is open for help file.

Preferences

Before capturing check Kino preferences. Open Edit > Preferences and select the options below:

Once the clips are in Kino they can be re-ordered in Edit mode. Click on a clip then drag and drop it into a different position on the storyboard.

The scrub bar below the main window is divided into sections that correspond to the storyboard scenes. You can play the movie using the transport controls. Alternatively click onto the play-head (the scrub triangle) and drag it along the scrub bar to view the footage.

The Timeline

Select the Timeline tab and the selected clip displays as a sequence of frames. This mode provides a basic visual storyboard. The clips are un-editable in this mode.

To display the full movie increase the End number to its maximum.

Trimming clips

The captured clips may require topping and tailing. Select a clip that requires further editing and go to Trim mode.

Using the scrub triangle or transport controls move the play-head to the in point that you want your clip to start from. Trim the front of the clip by clicking on the black triangle right of the 'In' box. The same routine applies to setting a new out point, only use the right black triangle. The greyed out portion of the scrub bar is the excluded video, it's still there, it just won't be played.

Alternatively click and drag the small triangle immediately below the scrub bar to a new start point position.

To set the new points select the 'Overwrite' mode and click on Apply. The clip on the storyboard will change to reflect the modifications.

Importing Video

There are two ways of importing footage into a project. If you want to quickly assemble footage then use the import buttons. This will insert a clip before / after the selected clip on the timeline.

If your clips require trimming or cutting up into sections then it may be more convenient to trim the clips as you import them. If this is the case then import into Trim mode. Choose the 'Insert' mode and browse for a file using the folder icon left of the 'Before' button. The video comes in ready for trimming.

If you want to add titles or credits to your video you'll need the 'dvtitler' plugin installed. For more information see:

Adding Transitions

Kino provides a number of transition effects, with many additional ones available in the 'timfx' and 'Kino Plus' plugins. Transitions are used to join movie clips together and can add something extra to a movie when used thoughtfully. The most commonly used transition is where one clip fades into another. It is sometimes referred to as a cross dissolve or Fade.

To create a fade from one clip to another in Kino first select the clip the transition will start from; choose Overwrite and specify the duration. In this example the limit is set to 10 frames.

Select Fade Video from the Transitions pull-down menu and Preview the transition then click Render. A new clip drops into the Storyboard window.

The image above shows the transition effect that's been added to the project.

This image shows the cross fade preview between clips.

Audio filters work in much the same way as video filters except you don't need to select overwrite or create options. There are only a few audio filters and transitions but they're useful for basic editing.

Their titles describe their function so explanations aren't really necessary. Dub means that the original audio will be replaced with the selected audio file. Firstly select your clip, Preview then Render. If you wish to replace the whole audio with a single audio file then render your movie first, import this into a new project and dub the clip. For more advanced audio editing export your audio file and edit in a sound-editing programme such as Audacity.

If you want to add external audio files to Kino these should be in the 'wav' format.

Images of audio transitions and audio clips.

Once your movie is edited you can complete it by making (or rendering) the movie as a single AVI file or exporting the finished movie back to DV tape. Other options include exporting the movie as stills, as audio, as MPEG (DVD and VCD and SVCD) and DV Pipe for importing into another programme.

Exporting to Tape

With your video camera turned on, cued up and ready to receive a video input through the IEEE1394 port (check your camera's manual). Select the Export tab and choose IEEE1394. Press the Export button and the camera will start to record the footage. If there are issues you may need to experiment with changing the parameter values on this page. Note that some IEEE1394 cards will not export back to tape. See http://www.linux1394.org/ for compatibility information.

Export as AVI

To create a single movie clip select the DV File tab and specify the name and location for the finished movie.

Next select your file type; DV AVI Type 2 is a more compatible format, if you intend sharing your movie as an AVI it's advisable to select this option, though file sizes are larger. Click on Export.

Export to DVD

Please refer to Kino Help pages and http://www.tappin.me.uk/Linux/dvd.html for more information.

Creating a movie Slideshow

Select the FX tab then click on the Create tab. Choose Multiple Image Import from the pull-down list and select files for the project. You can specify where you want the sequence to begin in the edit, how many times you want the image to repeat and whether you want the image aspect ratio honoured.

Kino Preferences

You can open the preferences for editing by going to the Edit menu and then select Preferences.

Defaults

Normalisation (UK) PAL; 48khz; 4:3
Audio sampling frequency set to 48khz for maximum quality.
Aspect ratio 4:3 unless you’ve shot on wide screen then select 16:9.

Capture

File Type DV AVI type 2 for increased compatibility
Other File Options If you are capturing video continuously for more than about 7 minutes as a Type 2 then tick Open DML. Set both the Frames per file and Max file sizes to ‘0’ = unlimited.
Auto Split Files Divides the video into it’s scenes as it’s captured. It can be a useful and time saving tool.

IEEE 1394

This is the data connection between the camera and the computer. When your camera is connected and turned on then model details may display in the device field. If you experience glitches, stutters and buffer under runs explore these tools to fix them. For further information please consult the Kino Help section Help/Contents.

Display

Display Method XVideo is the fastest option. To maintain audio quality and consistent video then select this option.
Preview on external monitor Tick this if you have an external monitor set-up
Enable preview during capture Keep this unchecked to reduce the chance of dropped frames.
DV Decoder To increase playback performance reduce the preview quality

Audio

Enable Audio Scrub to play audio whilst scrubbing

Other

Two Pass Encoding If you want highest quality renders of transitions and effects then tick this option, though encoding will take twice as long

Kino Plugins

Dvtitler: You will need to install this in order to add text to your movie
Timfx: Effects that can be applied to movie footage.
Dvgrab: Captures IEEE1394 to several file formats.
Kinoplus: More effects for applying to movie footage.
Imagemagick: More effects