Pinnacle VideoSpin

Pinnacle VideoSpin is a free video editing application that allows you to create and edit basic movies in a snap.

Even though it lacks many professional features and sophistication you may find in any paid application, Pinnacle VideoSpin really does a pretty good job compared with most free video tools. As any free utility it also has limitations: for instance, you cannot import videos from DV camcorders or edit audio files except for levels, it has no video effects, you can only export to AVI, Flash, Real or MPEG-1 format. The user interface is simple and intuitive, but you cannot adjust its size, which is really uncomfortable. What is more, the program is full of advertisements, so you have to be very careful when clicking on something. A good thing about this program is the great number of transitions it offers, and a handful of title templates that you can customize as you wish. It allows you to import audio files to use them as a soundtrack, and also upload videos directly to YouTube or Yahoo in few simple steps. For only fifteen days, you will be able to output in DivX, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format to your hard drive. After that, you will have to purchase the set of codecs for $15 or pay $5 for each individual codec. All in all, VideoSpin is perfect if all you want to do is edit your videos a little bit before uploading them to an online service, but if you are looking for more professional features I recommend you to buy a full video editor.