Embedding YouTube videos is a pretty useful feature, but it only gives you basic player controls. With EmbedPlus, you can start your videos at a certain time, skip self-defined chapters, add annotations, zoom, and more to tweak the video to your liking. More »
Windows: If you’re looking for a simple drag and drop solution for converting videos for on your iPod, PS3, or other portable device or media center, Hamster Free Video Converter is a no-fuss video conversion tool. More »
Bad video interlacing leaves distracting horizontal lines across your screen during video playback (especially when there’s a lot of on-screen motion). Tech blog Tested details how to fix video interlacing on the fly. More »
Windows only: With all video converting apps out there, it can get a bit overwhelming. Freemake combines almost everything you need into a clean, simple, one-stop-shop for all your video converting, editing, and burning needs. More »
Blu-Ray discs may be more protected and harder to play in certain programs, like XBMC, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play your HD video on your media center. Here’s how to rip and compress Blu-Ray discs for high quality, space-saving results. More »
Blu-ray Disc – Movies – Arts – Home Video – Blu-ray and HD
Windows/Linux: Burning any old video file to a playable DVD is a bit of a hassle. We’ve always liked using DVD Flick for tackling the task, but DVDStyler is another great option with a bit more focus on nice menus. More »
Whether you want to save and watch a Flash video offline, convert a Flash music video for your MP3 player, or do something else entirely, learning how to rip and convert Flash videos is a useful skill. Here’s how it works. More »
FreeDocumentaries is a large repository of documentary films that have been released by their respective copyright owners for public display. You won't be stuck watching dated old films however—the offerings at FreeDocumentaries are recent and intriguing.
One of the problems with many of the free offerings you’ll find on the internet, especially in the category of full length movies, is that they’re rather lacking and often filled with outdated and boring films. FreeDocumentaries is packed with recent films that are quite interesting like Adam Curtis’ The Century of the Self, Michael Winterbottom’s The Road to Guantanamo, and Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me.
You can browse the documentaries by topic, search by title or topic, or view films by the regions they document. Clicking on any film listing will give you a trailer, additional information about the film, and allow you to select the window size you want to watch the film in. FreeDocumentaries is completely free and requires no registration. Have a favorite site for watching free movies online? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
Chrome only: Firefox users can already use the VidzBigger Greasemonkey script to tweak and customize popular video sharing sites like YouTube, and now the script has been ported as a full Google Chrome extension.
After installing the extension, you simply can browse to any YouTube, MetaCafe, or DailyMotion video to see the layout changes—everything on the page is rearranged to show the video in a bigger size, and it keeps the video in place while you scroll the page to view suggested videos, so you can keep watching while looking around.
The biggest set of features is hidden in the preferences menu, where you can change dozens of options including disabling auto-play, skipping warnings and advertisements, tweaking the layout further, or even enabling a set of download links so you can keep a copy of the video for later.
Windows only: Windows Live Movie Maker—the new, ribbon-sporting, updated version of Windows Movie Maker, has left beta and is now ready to handle your video editing needs.
(Click the image above for a closer look.)
Movie Maker has long been a relatively unloved video editing application that a lot of people have never even touched, but as more and more people go digital with their video, free video editors like Movie Maker will likely become more useful and used by the general public.
The new and improved Windows Live Movie Maker sports the now ubiquitous-in-Windows-apps ribbon menu (mentioned above), supports HD video, has built-in tools to upload your videos to YouTube, and can share to other popular video sharing sites with the right plug-ins.
Windows Live Movie Maker is freeware, Windows Vista and Windows 7 only. If you have time to give it the full run-through, let’s hear how you like the new and improved Movie Maker in the comments. Looking for something a little more robust? Check out our six best video editing applications.
