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  1. Member
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    Making a formal introduction...

    I'm 37 from South of India, South Asia; bought one Hero 3+. Basically I'm a biker by passion & travel a lot across the country. I switched to making videos from photography as I found I was more interested in making videos than shooting pictures + I really didn't have patience in making that perfect shot. So that makes my background a little as why I choose making videos.

    I'm looking forward to learn better shooting, covering footage, better editing, better ideas in making good videos & enhance some creativity from this forum

    The below is one of my first work with GoPro & Powerdirector before which I was shooting with Canon SX130IS to make videos; depending upon the interest & forum's policy, I'm willing to share those videos here.

    Well the point here really is that, I think I'm getting too bored with making this type of videos these days. What initially started as good music + video, then moved to video that matches the good music.

    I'm frankly not satisfied with this; I'm looking for more; better ways to make good video...basically editing work. Don't know what more can I do.

    I'm seeking some good advice, suggestions & ways to hone my skills. Please help

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WADcLKUoFx8
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  2. You may or may not be on the level, but people here are naturally suspicious of new members coming here for 'advice' when all they really want is to promote their videos and build their view count.
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    Be that as it may, YouTube is a poor showplace. They re-encode everything and make garbage of it. The video you linked to is blurry, full of compression artifacts, and has choppy motion. Nice shots, good color and presentation, but surely your original must be far better than the linked video.

    And welcome to videohelp.
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    Originally Posted by manono View Post
    You may or may not be on the level, but people here are naturally suspicious of new members coming here for 'advice' when all they really want is to promote their videos and build their view count.
    Oh!! I don't know that fact prevailing here, pardon me for I'm a newbie. Yes, I can showcase my video...only to learn what's bad on it & to learn avoid making the mistakes

    Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    Be that as it may, YouTube is a poor showplace. They re-encode everything and make garbage of it. The video you linked to is blurry, full of compression artifacts, and has choppy motion. Nice shots, good color and presentation, but surely your original must be far better than the linked video.

    And welcome to videohelp.
    Thank you; Well about the choppy motion, the video was slowed down because the original footage has lots of shakes due to lack of any stabilization equipment to GoPro. I'm wondering what are the other possibilities to make a good video (or a movie kind rather with editing in much presentable form or more like video log of my travel) other than the music + video combo
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    One could make thousands of creative and technical suggestions, of course. If one can get past the damage caused by UTube, it seems you did well -- assuming that your original isn't what YouTube did to it. For changing film speed and stabilizing video, you could do better with something like Vegas Pro or even Movie Studio Platinum, and learning Avisynth and/or VirtualDub would be very useful. Not many members here would recommend PowerDirector as a high quality product, but everyone has to start somewhere.

    If you have a specific problem, you should do what most members do. Make a short video segment of several seconds and upload it directly to this forum. Look below the "Reply" window in any forum post and click on the "Upload files/Manage attachments" icon. You'll see a small window that lists allowed file formats and sizes. The file or clip will be posted without nasty processing. The forum uploader is a bit slow, so don't try to hit the max size for uploads. It would be accepted, but you could be waiting for several minutes.
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    Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    Not many members here would recommend PowerDirector as a high quality product, but everyone has to start somewhere
    Quite a surprise! I mean, Google said its one of the best video editing software & it almost has all the features of any professional video editing software (or to tell you the truth, I though PD was the world)

    Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    If you have a specific problem...but you could be waiting for several minutes.
    Fantastic tip; thank you very much.

    I feel like I've stepped into Kindergarten, I'll browse through the editing section & go through the posts.

    PS - I'm still wondering why software like VirtualDub is superior to PowerDirector
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  7. PowerDirector is more oriented for the newcomer, but as a side effect, flexibility becomes limited.
    VirtualDub in itself is no more superior than PD, at least not with the combined power with AviSynth.
    (VD has a lot of problem when it comes to file format support...)

    You can go to the NLE section of this site and find a lot more alternatives:
    [Popular Paid ware]
    Adobe AfterEffect, Premiere
    Sony Vegas

    [Freeware]
    AviUtl
    LightWorks

    (AviSynth is oriented to full-frame processing and analysis so it is in a different class)

    For the time being, you may find PD sufficient, but eventually you will not be satisfied with canned FX... when that time comes, explore any one of the above software.
    Stopping development until someone save me from poverty or get me out of Hong Kong...
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    Originally Posted by Aargee View Post
    PS - I'm still wondering why software like VirtualDub is superior to PowerDirector
    They are different animals. VirtualDub and Avisynth aren't all-in-one NLE's but are more specialised. You'll get a better idea of their use by browsing the restoration section. They work with video in decoded form and are more useful for repair, working in a video's original colorspace or proper YUV/RGB conversions, resizing/deinterlace/reinterlace/re-encoding, etc., with more precision and less damage than with most NLE's. Hundreds of correction and repair filters are available for Avisynth and VirtualDub that have no counterpart in pricey big-name NLE's.

    Of course, various styles and brands of NLE's have their place, too. It's been a while since I used an all-in-one NLE, preferring more precision and flexibility for repair, color, format conversion, denoising and encoding tools than you'd find in an NLE. Every NLE user has their favorite, so I can only recommend from seeing the work of others that you'll get cleaner results with SONY and Adobe, and will often get better final encoding using several free tools. I gave up on all-in-one's a long time ago, the closest I get nowadays to a timeline NLE is Adobe After Effects. The closest I get to a timeline-with-encoder is TMPGenc Video Mastering Works.

    The tools that you use depend on the kind of sources you work with, what you do with them, and what you want for output.
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    Originally Posted by Aargee View Post
    I mean, Google said its .....
    Then it must be unquestionably true.

    Google will say that what is good for Google's business.
    Last edited by newpball; 21st Nov 2014 at 11:33.
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    Originally Posted by MaverickTse View Post
    For the time being, you may find PD sufficient, but eventually you will not be satisfied with canned FX...
    Yes, the canned FX become a like a wheelchair for the mind. And mark your work as a newbie.
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    Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    The tools that you use depend on the kind of sources you work with, what you do with them, and what you want for output.
    Thank you very much; I'm finally beginning to understand the difference. Though it has taken sometime, I'm now beginning to understand. I fully agree with you that, PD is not a very professional (though they market it as one) software. For now my needs are taken care, but I think I'll have to switch to Adobe Premier Pro after a while & can't continue making videos only with PD 13 for long.

    Thank you once again
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  12. Premiere Pro is an excellent choice, but has a steep learning curve. Be patient with it. You're moving up from training wheels to a motorcycle.
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    There are lots of popular review sites that list PowerDirector as their top-rated editor, which may be what is influencing Google's search results. Note that sometimes these review sites are not impartial. Some may receive compensation for giving a product high ratings.
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    Most internet video sites are slanted toward the average user -- click this icon, click that icon, run this or that wizard, it's all "Automated" and you don't know have to know anything about what you're doing. For better or worse you get typical results. Usually worse.

    For special effects sort of thing, I'd go for After Effects over Premiere Pro.
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    Originally Posted by smrpix View Post
    You're moving up from training wheels to a motorcycle.
    Wow, fantastic analogy


    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    There are lots of popular review sites that list PowerDirector as their top-rated editor, which may be what is influencing Google's search results. Note that sometimes these review sites are not impartial. Some may receive compensation for giving a product high ratings.
    Never thought on those lines. I'm wondering how can someone like Cyberlink pay so much (for advertisements as well as for paid reviews) more than a company like Adobe, that makes industry standard products? Is it possible?


    Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    Most internet video sites are slanted toward the average user -- click this icon, click that icon, run this or that wizard, it's all "Automated" and you don't know have to know anything about what you're doing. For better or worse you get typical results. Usually worse.
    Again, I've to agree 100% with you; like you said, we have to start somewhere, that "somewhere" is what PD kicks off I guess. Easy to use & most of us not that bright to understand them initially & we get excited with our outcomes. But it when after we start thinking, "Is that all?" is when we start looking out for more I guess.

    But first let me learn Adobe Premier Pro, then think about going to After Effects
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  16. Member budwzr's Avatar
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    The GoPro has lots of different ways to make creative videos, like time lapse and burst modes. Also, high speed modes.

    But as mentioned above, you need to learn the concepts involved with editing. Sony Vegas has a $49 entry level edition, and you can trade up later to the more advanced versions without any loss of initial investment.

    Vegas is a lot easier to use and has all the same things as Premiere. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudio Sony Movie Studio is the same interface as the Pro version, just has less features. It is NOT a toy like PD.
    Last edited by budwzr; 7th Jan 2015 at 10:53.
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    Originally Posted by budwzr View Post
    But as mentioned above, you need to learn the concepts involved with editing. Sony Vegas has a $49 entry level edition, and you can trade up later to the more advanced versions without any loss of initial investment
    Aaha!! C.O.N.F.U.S.I.O.N now!

    But I think I'll try Adobe Premier Pro CC before anything, reviews says its the standard in the industry now. So, even, if it were difficult, let me take the harder way

    But tell me one thing...as a hobbyist (remember, I'm no way getting near professional work), do you think all this $20 subscription for the CC is all worthy? And remember, I'm making no money out of making these videos, not even counting the number of views!
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  18. Originally Posted by Aargee View Post
    Originally Posted by budwzr View Post
    But as mentioned above, you need to learn the concepts involved with editing. Sony Vegas has a $49 entry level edition, and you can trade up later to the more advanced versions without any loss of initial investment
    ......

    But tell me one thing...as a hobbyist (remember, I'm no way getting near professional work), do you think all this $20 subscription for the CC is all worthy? And remember, I'm making no money out of making these videos, not even counting the number of views!
    That's why freeware exists.
    Stopping development until someone save me from poverty or get me out of Hong Kong...
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    Originally Posted by Aargee View Post
    But I think I'll try Adobe Premier Pro CC before anything, reviews says its the standard in the industry now.
    What industry? Surely not Disney, Lucas, et al. You believe that, and I know about a priceless bridge in Brooklyn I can get for you....cheap, $20 a month.

    Originally Posted by Aargee View Post
    But tell me one thing...as a hobbyist (remember, I'm no way getting near professional work), do you think all this $20 subscription for the CC is all worthy?
    Not yet. Do yourself a massive favor, first. Browse a Premiere Pro online manual. Many posted on Adobe's website. A slightly smaller manual is online for CS6 -- See if you can get through the first 200 pages, which is about halfway thru. Seriously. Some good features in Pro, nice color correction and pro-level color grading with plugins like ColorFinesse (which has its own user manual, if Adobe's doesn't wear you out). But after all that, you can still get a better encoder for MPEG and h264....for free. You can get better denoising, deinterlacing, color conversion, resizing, and more....free.

    Or do what most suckers do: spend a pile of dough and use CC like a basic $49 NLE. No kidding. Hit the user guide first, even the one for earlier editions like CS6 is about the same. http://helpx.adobe.com/pdf/premiere_pro_reference.pdf. Other language editions thru Google.

    Anyway, good luck. Just trying to save you a few bucks until you make up your mind later.
    Last edited by LMotlow; 10th Jan 2015 at 22:18.
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  20. Member budwzr's Avatar
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    Vegas uses straightforward names for functions and features that make sense right off the bat. Most of the others have bizarre terminology that you need to decipher.

    Vegas>playback rate
    Premiere>time remapping

    Which one makes sense right away?
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    Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    Anyway, good luck. Just trying to save you a few bucks until you make up your mind later.
    We live in India, next to China...need I tell anymore

    Anyway, I came here to give a quick update that I've been going through the tutorials on YouTube (Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 Tutorials (Basics)) related to PS CS6 (yes CS6, not CC) & I'm thrilled & at the same time scared as hell!! Excited because of the massive features that corrects almost all the mistakes in video, nervous because I'm not sure how I'm going to learn swimming in Adobe Premiere Pro

    Anyway, Thanks for you continued guidance without which I would've not been making any progress


    Originally Posted by budwzr View Post
    Vegas uses straightforward names for functions and features that make sense right off the bat. Most of the others have bizarre terminology that you need to decipher.

    Vegas>playback rate
    Premiere>time remapping

    Which one makes sense right away?
    Seriously, I really don't know why I will even need these features. I'm assuming that, once I cross beginners level with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, I should be able to appreciate the features
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  22. Originally Posted by LMotlow View Post
    What industry? Surely not Disney, Lucas, et al. You believe that, and I know about a priceless bridge in Brooklyn I can get for you....cheap, $20 a month.
    I'll send you that $20 Motlow and you better be able to deliver that bridge.

    No kidding here, I know a fellow that runs a decent-sized company in Burbank that does promos and long-form interstitials for Disney Channels. He has a dozen networked seats running Premiere. Yes, it's gotten that good in the last couple of years. Premiere's similarities to FCP7 made it a natural migration target when Apple pulled the rug and introduced FCPX.
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