Using the amazing Prelinger Archives to create video mashups

A slight departure from my normal posts here, but thought it worthwhile as it is definitely computer-related. Those who like playing around with video editing software, perhaps for home movies, special occasions or even work use, often get stuck looking for free stock footage they can use to add a bit of variety to their creations.

One amazing resource that's often overlooked is the Prelinger Archives, which is available at the Internet Archive . Everything in the Archive is in the public domain, meaning it can be used for any purpose whatsoever - even commercial use - with no permission or licence fee needed. You can download the clips in a variety of formats, such as MP4, MPEG-2 or Ogg video files.

Of course, the biggest problem is finding suitable material. Luckily, there is a decent search feature, but even this is not totally reliable. Many of the home movies are untitled and have not been indexed, so it's sometimes pot luck what they contain. I found that using the search box at the top of the home page gave better results than using the keyword search.

One very useful feature is the thumbnails - if you open a clip's page, on the top left is a link to thumbnail images, which are automatically created every 30 seconds or so for the duration of the clip. This is very useful for getting a rapid idea of what's in the clip.

The range of content in the Archive is amazing. There are full-length colour documentaries, music clips, silent movies, home movies, educational films and all manner of more weird stuff from most periods of the 20th Century. It's an incredible resource, not just historically, but also for those looking for interesting video or sound clips to spice up a home movie or business presentation.

As an example of what can be done with it, here's a 5-minute music video I recently made using only material from the Prelinger Archives (the music is a reworking of one of my own songs by the talented Barry Snaith). It took about 2 weeks to make in my spare time, and most of the time was taken finding the clips.

I used about 16 separate videos from the Archives, mostly home movies and popular music clips. The software I used was Avid Studio (which is now Pinnacle Studio). This has a great collection of professional effects from Red Giant (now only included in the Ultimate version of Pinnacle Studio). Although Avid Studio hasn't had updates for a long time, it does work perfectly well in Windows 8.

LogMeIn Central adds anti-virus management

LogMeIn Central is a remote control and management service for business users, which works with clients running the Pro version of LogMeIn. It now has a free extra service, the ability to monitor and manage anti-virus software installed on client PCs. It works quite well, as long as the anti-virus software is supported - LogMeIn has published a large list of compatible vendors. Read more about this in my article on ZDNet's First Take blog.

Review: Webroot SecureAnywhere Endpoint Protection

Webroot introduced its impressive SecureAnywhere cloud-based anti-virus software back in 2011 for consumers, and now it's the turn of business users. The product is essentially identical to the consumer version, but with the addition of a comprehensive web-based administration console. It works extremely well and makes the product eminently suitable for small business or companies who don't want the hassle of integrating it with existing network management products. My only minor complaint is that as it polls client PCs for status information, making changes is never immediate - the shortest polling interval is 15 minutes. But it's still a great product, as you can see from the fact that I gave it full marks in my review for V3.co.uk.

The client is identical to the consumer version, but can be remotely managed

Comprehensive reporting is available in the web--based management console

Client PCs can be remotely managed with ease

Review: Xero online accounts

Xero is an online-only accounting service for small businesses. It has some great features, such as a handy overview of the current status of the business, plenty of automation features, smartphone support and live data feeds from most UK banks. It also has an unusual pricing model, with the monthly subscription determined by the number of invoices and bank reconciliations. A 180-day free trial is available at www.xero.com, and you can  read my full review over on Computeractive.

Review: Intuit QuickBooks SimpleStart 2012

Accounts software is an almost necessary evil for those of us who are self-employed, and Intuit's new SimpleStart version of QuickBooks 2012 is a desktop product aimed at very small businesses. It's not bad at all, and tries to help non-financially aware business owners (that is, most of us) with keeping an eye on cashflow and tax reports. It has a one-off purchase price rather than the subscription model of more capable versions. Read my full review on Computeractive.

Review: Diskeeper 2011 Home with Hyperfast

There's not much 'fit and forget' software around, but Diskeeper 2012 Home (made by the company that created the Windows XP defragmenter) is one such product. It runs in the background to prevent files becoming fragmented, and it works exceptionally well although it's a little expensive. The Hyperfast moniker refers to the optional SSD defragmentation tool. Computeractive has just published my full review of this software.

The menus are mainly for show, as Diskeeper runs silently in the background with little need for configuration

Review: AOL Computer Checkup

AOL has launched a Computer Checkup tool intended to help less-confident users keep on top of Windows maintenance. It does a decent job, although practically all its features can be replicated for free if you look around. But that's missing the point - this is aimed at those who can't (or don't want to) build up their own toolkit.  Read my review on Computeractive.

Review: Avast! Business Protection

Small businesses are often neglected when it comes to managed anti-malware protection, an omission Avast's Business Protection seeks to rectify (AVG has a similar product, which I reviewed last year). It can manage from 5-1000 clients (either PCs or file servers) via a simple management console, at a very reasonable price. Read my full review over on V3.co.uk.

Review: SageOne Accounts

Accounting software for small businesses and sole traders can be nightmarishly complicated and full of jargon. Sage's new web-only accounts service has been designed to remove much of the complexity, yet be powerful enough to cope with most situations. You can read my review of the £12-a-month Accounts version (there's a cheaper £6-a-month service for cash-based businesses called Cashbook) over on Computeractive.

Note that in the review I mention the missing invoice batch payment facility for use when a payment covers multiple invoices; after the review was published Sage pointed out that this feature does exist, but it is poorly exposed (a hidden checkbox appears when you hover over an unpaid invoice entry, and selecting this lets you add it to a batch receipt job). This is rather poor usability for a common task, and Sage says it plans to look at how to improve this feature.

Review: Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2012

Webroot's new SecureAnywhere anti-malware family is interesting as it is a 'pure' cloud-based service, rather than the hybrid model used by most of its competitors. This makes it fast and small, and it also has an innovative web-based management console for monitoring multiple PCs. You can read my full reviews on IT Reviews and Computeractive.

Review: Zone Alarm Extreme Security 2012 with Data Lock

Another security software review, this time Zone Alarm's 2012 version of its Extreme Security product. It's had a major face lift, but there are some issues with the product for UK users, as you can see in my full review for Computeractive.

Review: PC Pit Stop PC Matic

There are some cases where the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model doesn't really work, and PC Pit Stop's PC Matic system utility and virus scanner is one of those. Although it does a decent enough job, if your web connection is down it won't work at all - not very good for diagnosing or fixing an offline PC. Read the rest of my full review over on Computeractive.

Review: Iolo System Mechanic 10.5

I'm not a great fan of all-in-one maintenance utilities, as they often tend to try and take over your entire PC. System Mechanic 10.5 isn't too bad in this respect, though, and has a couple of very useful features. My full review of it is now available on Computeractive's website.

Feature: Solve problems with your computer

Here's a link to a cover feature I wrote for issue 350 of Computeractive. It shows how to fix dozens of common Windows problems and error messages, and is aimed at less experienced users.

Review: Kaspersky Internet Security 2012

The dates of security suites are getting a bit like magazine cover dates - gradually moving back until they make no sense at all. The 2012 version of Kaspersky's suite, launched in the first half of 2011, doesn't add many new features but it's still a decent product. Read my full review on Computeractive.

Review: PC Tools Internet Security 2011

PC Tools Internet Security 2011 isn't a great change over the existing version, but there are a couple of tweaks. Computeractive has now published my full review online. 

Review: Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 Ultra

Another year, another version of the trusty PowerDVD. Version 11 adds more social networking features and also DLNA compatibility. Read my short review of it on Computeractive's website.

Review: Avid Studio

Avid has introduced a new high-end consumer video editing product, Avid Studio, which goes a step beyond the capabilities of its current flagship offering, Pinnacle Studio 15 Ultimate HD. It really is a superbly powerful program, and you can read my full review over on IT Reviews, where it has been given a Recommended award.

Find it on Amazon:

Feature: Free versus paid software

Computeractive has now published online a feature I wrote for the print edition that picks the top commercial software in a number of categories and suggests free alternatives. The categories have been published as separate articles, using the tag 'free-versus-paid'.

Review: Uniblue PowerSuite 2011

The 2011 version of Uniblue's system maintenance suite, PowerSuite, has had a bit of a makeover. It consists of three programs; RegistryBooster, DriverScanner and SpeedUpMyPC. You can read my full review of it over on IT Reviews.