Any Programmers Interested in helping write a Fan Edit Prototyper?

I have this software (MovieMask Designer) that was originally intended to make family friendly edits of movies.  You put in a DVD, and the software kind of makes this "thumbprint" of the DVD.  Then you can go back in and it looks like a video editor... except that there's only one audio and video track and the only thing you can put on the timeline are "blocks" that represent the frames that should be muted or skipped to create a "family friendly" version upon playback.

The program would be sort-of-good at prototyping fan edits, except that it's really only good for skipping existing material.  That and the company that made it has more or less fallen off of the face of the earth and you can't officially get a copy of it anymore.

I'm an amateuring programmer (lots of VBA, Perl, Csh, Ksh experience.  Some C#, .NET and XNA experience) and I was planning on taking a stab at writing my own playback software that would support additional features.  Splicing in video from the HDD, alternate audio, working with non DVD files (common computer formats, as well as Bluray), "random access" or "seamless branching" etc...

Is anyone interested in joining me in this venture?

TV's Frink said:

Bear in mind I know nothing about editing software...

Really?

TV's Frink said:

Bear in mind I know nothing about editing software...

...couldn't you just buy one of the more common editing software suites (Womble, Vegas, etc.) or do they not do certain things you want done?

The beauty of the editing software I have, and what I'd look into carrying over, is that it doesn't require you to rip the DVD.  Essentially, you could store all of the cutlists, like you have them Frink, and they are the edit.  Yes, it requires you to play it back on your PC, yes you are limited in regards to how smooth you can make your edits...  But creating edits is then very fluid.  See someone's edit that you like, but you wished they had omitted one scene, or one line of dialogue even?  In about 3 minutes, you can edit their edit and be done.  And the resulting file is only a couple K- not Gigabytes.

Does that make sense?

It's basically a super remote control scripter (Logitech Harmony eat your heart out!).

Here are the features I'd like to implement:

Plays DVD*, Bluray, & Common Audio/Video file formats.
Skip selected frames of video/audio*
Mute audio for selected frames of video*
Place still images over selected frames of video (support transparency)
Add sound files to audio
Place text into video (custom subtitles, credits, or old timey "action cards")
Play video file (deleted or alternate scene) from HDD during DVD/BD play
Go to any part of the video (skip long scenes, jump backwards in timeline, insert deleted/alternate scenes on the disc)
Control external devices**
Fade selected frames (to black, or other colors)
Fade audio (to silence or other colors)
Pause video while audio plays

Probably more that I'm not currently thinking of.

*Supported by the MovieMask software I already have

**I have some accessories (lights, smoke, etc.) that I can control via USB that I would like to tinker with movie synching.  Like Matinee, only USB'er.  The software would handle audio (mp3, etc.) files as well, so I can use it to record and playback custom light shows for individual songs.  Or you can use it to turn your USB toaster off/on during a movie too.  Whatever floats your boat.

I should have said Fog.  You know, like a fog machine.  Except that it's USB and I can make it fill the room with fog and colour it red during ESBs carbon chamber sequence.

I like my Harmony remote as well, but let's face it... It can't do that.

Man, I WISH!