Vendor Lock-in
From MITVWiki
The key to working with mixed editing platforms (and don't forget that Linux has some very powerful free tools for video production) is to use standard file formats, not vendor-specific proprietary formats. Project files are almost never portable, so you will have to export your project to a video file on the source system, and then re-import it to the destination.
This obviously locks in any edits you have made at the source end, so be careful to export everything you need from the source. Also think about audio - better to take the source audio files and the video sound track separately, rather than mix them in the edit package, and not be able to fix the mix later.
For transferring files prefer MPEG2/4 compression codecs to Windows Media or Sorensen codecs, RLE to WM lossless. For a low compression format for intermediate files, use DV compression because it is easy to edit and gives good picture quality. This can help with the data itself, but many systems will only work with their own container formats. This is much more of a problem for Windows users (very strong vendor locking) than anyone else.
The ideal solution is to use platform neutral containers like MPEG program streams or raw DV streams. Unfortunately this doesn't work terribly well with many popular software packages, so you will probably have to re-format your footage when moving between systems. Given the poor range of export options available in most editors, this will probably mean some stand-alone format converters become an essential part of your tool kit.
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[edit] Resources
What is: Vendor Lock-in? (wikipedia)
[edit] Linux
[edit] Cinelerra-CV
Cinerella-CV because the support is much better than the Heroine Warrior version. A very solid performer on cross-platform issues. It will edit direct from a vast range of compression formats and containers (without rendering them first), and export to a good range of formats as well. DV AVI, MOV and Raw stream files all import fine DV MOV and Raw stream formats export very well, AVI exports have problems with larger file sizes so is not recommended. MPEG2/4 can also be loaded and edited directly. MPEG2 export is good (arguably as good as anything else), MPEG4 is less good.
[edit] Avidemux
Geared to using highly compressed, low end footage. Reasonable range of formats, not many edit options so may be better used to up-convert footage for editing in something bigger and better.
[edit] Kino
Pretty much a pure DV editor, it can import from many other formats but will insist on converting them to DV first. Working directly with the Type 1 DV AVI files produced by Windows Movie Maker is a big plus and can export to a considerable variety of formats.
[edit] Lives
[edit] OS X
[edit] iMovie
Can do DV AVI imports, uses MOV as native file formats. Exports can go through QuickTime Pro for more encoding options, but you have to pay. MPEG2 support is another pay-for extra.
[edit] Final Cut Pro
[edit] Windows
[edit] Windows Movie Maker
Pretty lousy. Causes no end of headaches as a result. The only decent export format is Type 1 DV AVI, which is about as poor as you can get for compatibility. Be prepared to have to re-code the files to get them into anywhere else. Import compatibility isn't very good either.
[edit] Adobe Premiere Pro
Steadily improving, although remarkably slow. Pro 2.0 will work with AVI and MOV files (but not raw streams), including a reasonable range of codecs. The snag is that it will take a very long time to render them, and won't play them properly without rendering. MPEG2 import works, but with the same provisos. Export to DV AVI and MPEG2 works OK, but you can't do MPEG4 and higher compression AVIs don't work terribly well. The exported DV files have good compatibility however, as they are Type 2 files, which many more applications can read.
