VIDEO & PHOTO SOFTWARE
DOWNLOAD YOUTUBE VIDEOS DON’T USE Freemake Video Downloader www.snipca.com/29315
Search for youtube download in Google and you’ll be inundated with free options, all promising to get your favourite clips on to your PC.
Freemake Video Downloader, for example, says it not only grabs videos from Youtube, but also from other sources like Vimeo and Dailymotion. All you need to do is copy the video’s URL to the clipboard (Ctrl+c), then click the Paste button.
You can even choose the precise output format. It all sounds too good to be true. And it is. It slaps an advert for the paid-for version at the start and end of your video (see screenshot right), and a watermark at the top-right corner throughout.
Strangely, we were able to to remove the ads by turning on ‘One-click download mode’ and selecting ‘Download’. But this isn’t made obvious anywhere. We came across it only by trial and error. Besides, if it’s possible to download videos without ads, it should be the default setting.
The free version also restricts download speeds to 4Mb and locks the option to extract audio from videos as MP3S. To remove the adverts and restrictions, you need to buy the Premium Pack (around £6 per month).
WE RECOMMEND 4K Video Downloader www.4kdownload.com
4K Video Downloader has much in common with Freemake Video Downloader. Simply copy your chosen video’s URL, choose your output format, then click a button to start downloading it. Unlike with Freemake, the downloaded video will look exactly as it did on Youtube – no adverts, no length restrictions. You can also download just the audio for free.
4K Video Downloader isn’t completely unrestricted, however. Try to download a Youtube playlist of more than 25 clips and you’ll be asked to buy the premium licence (£13.20), which will work on up to three computers. We suspect most people will be happy with the free version.
EDIT PHOTOS ONLINE DON’T USE Picmonkey www.picmonkey.com
Picmonkey built its reputation on offering an easy-to-use (and free) image editor within your browser. However, last year its developers had a change of heart and announced that certain key features would only be available on subscription (starting at £6.49 per month).
Picmonkey explained its reasons for the change of policy ( www.snipca. com/29316 – basically it thinks it can make more money through subscriptions than adverts). However, we think it should be clearer about its free version, which doesn’t let you save or export your finished image.
It’s a shame because Picmonkey is a decent online photo editor, but it’s now worthless unless you subscribe. Its only saving grace is a seven-day free trial that lets you temporarily sign up to save your image, but the process is a hassle and requires payment-card details.
WE RECOMMEND Pixlr https://pixlr.com
Pixlr is also an online image editor – but it’s genuinely free. And with more than a passing resemblance to Adobe Photoshop, it’s also incredibly powerful.
As well as all the basic image-editing tools you’d expect, you can create multi-layered images and apply a wide range of filters and effects (such as the ‘Tilt shift’ to add depth of field - see screenshot left). You can also tweak colour, brightness and contrast levels, and more.
There is a Pro version ($22 per month, discounted to $5 per month at the time of writing), but you’ll only need this if you want extended format support (including Photoshop’s PSD files) and access to
templates. Our only gripe is that the free version has adverts, which can be distracting.
EDIT YOUR VIDEOS DON’T USE Lightworks www.lwks.com
While most smartphones now include free video-editing tools, they can be fiddly to use and have limited options beyond trimming clips. If you’ve recorded footage that means a lot to you, you’ll want to download decent editing software to do it justice.
On the surface, Lightworks is one such program and comes with a selection of advanced tools, including effects you can apply in real time along with support for 4K video.
Before you get too excited, be warned that your export options will be limited to a resolution of 720p – even if your original video is a higher resolution.
And like many other programs here, you’ll go through the whole installation process unaware of this limitation. Video editing can take ages, so to find out that you’re limited to 720p resolution right at the end of the process is taking the proverbial.
Paying £18 gets you one month’s access to the full version, which includes exporting to all formats up to and including 4K, while a year’s subscription costs £120.
WE RECOMMEND Shotcut www.shotcut.org
As is so often the case, open-source solutions come to the rescue – this time in the form of the excellent Shotcut. While it doesn’t feature the advanced tools you’ll find in Lightworks (such as transitions between clips), it’s much easier to use. There are no restrictions in terms of output formats (which include 4K – see screenshot above), nor is the program plagued with adverts and locked features.
If you were a fan of the now defunct Windows Movie Maker, you’ll feel right at home with Shotcut. But if you need something more powerful, give the free Davinci Resolve a go ( www.snipca.com/ 29224, see Best Free Software, Issue 538).
RECORD YOUR PC SCREEN DON’T USE Tinytake https://tinytake.com
Whether you want to record detailed, step-by-step instructions or capture a specific problem you need help with, screen-capture software can be incredibly useful.
On its homepage Tinytake promises ‘FREE’ (yes, in capital letters) tools. It also says you can record 120-minute videos. What’s missing is that you’ll have to pay to record anything longer than five minutes. You won’t realise this unless you click ‘Pricing’ to see the five different packages ($9.95 to $199.95).
WE RECOMMEND OBS Studio https://obsproject.com/download
OBS Studio is open source, doesn’t contain adverts, and – crucially – records as much screen time as you like.
While some of the more advanced features take time to master (such as capturing video from multiple sources), simply recording what’s on your screen is easy. Click the ‘+’ button in the Sources window and select ‘Display’, then click the Start Recording button (see screenshot below left). When you’ve finished, click Stop Recording and the screen capture will be stored in your Videos folder.
Videos are stored in FLV format by default. You can change this by clicking Settings (bottom right), Output, then selecting a different format (such as MP4) in the Recording Format section. To reduce the size of your captures, click Settings, Video, then choose a lower resolution in the ‘Output (Scaled) Resolution’ section.
What’s more, if you want to share what’s on your screen with the world, OBS Studio lets you stream it live on Youtube. The latest version, released in August, adds hardware acceleration, improving overall performance, particularly when you’re recording online, rather than in Windows. It might not be as easy to use as Tinytake, but the lack of restrictions and adverts mean it’s the better option.