Posts Tagged ‘home video editing’

Choosing the best video editing software can seem a daunting task given the wide range of products available at the moment. However with a little help to remain focused on what is important you should be able to make a good choice.

One of the key points to keep in mind is:

“What is it that I am I REALLY going to do with the video editing software that I choose?”

The answer to that question has to remain uppermost in your mind when selecting the best video editing software for you.

All of the major home video editing software companies offer camcorder to DVD video editing solutions that make them almost inseparable from each other. So stick to what you REALLY need.

Like any other competitive market, video editing software is caught up in a never ending race to keep up with technology as it develops and still make the product seem “sexy” to the customer. The point being you most likely do not WANT to purchase video editing software. What you probably WANT is a finished video.

The software company’s problem is they know you NEED video editing software but it’s not what you WANT! They need to make you WANT it! So because of that you see “bells and whistles” features that cause you to WANT IT but may never need.

Video File Formats

The first thing to establish is what is the format of the material you will be working with and what will be the formats that you will want to produce in the end. Input will be determined by your camcorder or your DVD recorder or whatever the source of your material is. Find out the video file format your device use to record in and make sure it is covered first.

Then realistically take a look at how you would most likely distribute your final videos. DVD? Blu-Ray? Uploading to YouTube or something like it? Make sure the software you choose can output to the format you want.

So, your first task in deciding on what video editing software is suitable for you is to work out what your most common source video files will be and what your most common video output will be. That covers the foundation of what you will be doing with the software and must remain as your main focal point.

Video Transitions

Transitions are the little inserts that go in between two clips to make the scene change. When you watch a movie you can see that when a scene changes it often cuts to the next scene with no transition, this is called cut or a straight cut. It fades to black then fades into the next scene from black called a cross fade through black. And lastly the two scenes sort of dissolve into each other softly and this one is called a cross fade or dissolve. That’s it, the whole range of transitions you usually see in a professional production!

All video editing software programs offer at least 50 transitions each. Newbies cram in all the transitions they can because the effect looks so cool when they first see them. The reality is NOBODY ever, ever wants to go back to their house again to look at their latest production because their heads are still spinning from the last one! Ignore transitions as a deciding factor, all video editing software programs have them and they all have more than you need.

Video Overlay

An overlay track, simply put, is the ability to put one video in the background and have another visible on top of it. It is that “picture in picture” effect you have seen on TV and in movies. You can also add subtitles to overlay tracks or images or other things to get really creative. About five are needed for reasonable control but you wouldn’t use more because again, nobody will want to view the craziness you have made!

Audio

There is no video editing software at the consumer level that offers truly excellent audio control and features. They are not audio editing programs they are video editing programs. A few have quite good control, a few do not. If you want pro audio features then you should get pro audio software.

Dolby Stereo and 5:1 Surround are the minimum standard you are looking for here. The program should offer two audio tracks to play with in addition to the sound in the video track. That allows lots of space for additional effects, narration or music.

Smart Render

Rendering is the term used when the video editing software is making the final file of your newly created video. Up until rendering, in any consumer level video editing software, all the cuts, additions, changes and adjustments you have been making are “virtual.” The original footage is never touched. Rendering produces a new video file by putting all that together in the format you have chosen for viewing.

All the compressed video file formats like MPEG2 (for DVDs) or MPEG4 etc always lose quality to at least some degree when they are re-rendered. The amount of quality lost is variable but it is vital that the video editing software you select can identify files that don’t need to be re-rendered and just copy them to keep the highest quality possible. It should also offer good control over the properties of the final video.

Well that’s the basics covered so remember to keep your attention on the important stuff and try not to get pulled into the “bells and whistles” stuff and you should be able to make a good choice!