Dear Video Geniuses - In Dire Need of Software Recommendation

[bpll]

Hello everyone,

I've seen many a brilliant post within these forums and I'm wondering if someone can help me with what I believe would be a basic question amongst you all.

I am presently about to chew my ear off working with Movie Maker and Adobe Premiere Pro 7.0 (the version with the Black Stallion on the box). My question is:

What program out there is capable of doing this:

The musts:

1. Dissolves (with controllable rate of dissolve)
2. Fade to/fro Black (with controllable rate of fade)
3. The Ken Burns effect (known as The Ken Burns Effect, zoom, or ease-in)
4. A program that does not have to render every transition, video, change of any kind (i.e. Premiere 7.0, but can do it on the fly i.e. Moviemaker - which is madenning)
5. DVD authoring capabilities
6. Good encoder resulting in good looking finished DVD
7. Audio options such as unlinking audio from video, controllable fades, mixer, etc.
8. Menu creation (nothing earth-shattering, but nothing cheesey, perhaps just a black bkgrnd in which I can centre a photo of choice with some text underneathe stating the name of the tributee)

The optionals:
1. Controllable pan and zoom (Ken Burns)

If any of you are willing to read on, this is why I need new software:

- Despite Movie Maker being freeware, and seriously limited, I've managed to create great videos utilizing classic fade from/to black, ease in (the Ken Burns effect), slow motion, dissolve, but my problem has been this: Movie Maker has no DVD authoring option. I thus import into Premiere, render, then render to DVD. However, the photos that I apply the Ken Burns effect to warp as they are zoomed in upon, as in a funhouse mirror. It's a dynamic warp in which the pic bends this way and that as the zoom progresses. I've tried everything to remedy - no dice. I have taken all photos in to Photoshop, resized them to 720x480 (for most of the photos are 60 years old, and scanned at 300 dpi), and imported them back in to Movie Maker - then to Premiere - same result. Hint: the bigger the television the lesser the dynamic bend.

I tried Memories on TV3 trial version upon recommendations read here. This program almost does what I'm looking for, only the Ken Burns effect is always random, and I cannot have this. I don't think it has customizable audio fades either. Also, as I only have the trial version I don't know what the final video looks like. I doubt it will be as good as Premiere, but right now...Premiere is useless to me aside from burning DVDs - and they're warped.

So at this point I'm looking to find a program that can do all what I'm looking for. I hear that Premiere 2.0 Pro is the bomb, however unless you have a Matrox card and can render in real time it's pretty useless for this purpose, no?

I'm hoping that one of you geniuses can help me out. I've been sitting here for many a week, I would really appreciate it.

Alright, hopefully there is a program out there with these capabilities. Take it easy all,

Brad

[laspis59]

Thats quite a lot to ask from one piece of software.

I've skimmed through your post because I'm a little rushed for time.

Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD comes to mind,it will do some of what you want anyway.

No re-encoding except effects/transitions.

DVD Authoring

Control of fade in and out and control the length of other effects.

I think your going to need a couple of tools at least for all this.

Just a quick suggestion.

[Scorpion King]

the problem I have is I don't like any one program for everything. I like to do different things in different programs. I don't like premiere... I know, most here might think I'm crazy but I just didn't want to take the time to try and learn it, and what little bit I did in the few versions I've tried I just flat out didn't like it.

UleadVideo Studio V6 is probably my favorite of all. It can probably do everything you listed above and is a lot easier to learn than permiere. The mpeg-2 encoder isn't that bad either, of course I like Tmpgenc Encoder a lot better. Usually when I work in Ulead I work in uncompressed avi, or I'm using it's smart render feature and cutting/fading/joining/ etc mpeg files. That feature is nice. Frame accurate cuts and all the program encodes is the transitions effects you added (it must do that anyway).

Windows Movie Maker.... I don't use it so I don't know.

Good luck.

[laspis59]

Basically I use a selection of tools for this.

I have installed MOTV,VirtualDub MPEG2,Mainconcept MPEG Encoder,TMPGEnc Plus,TMPGEnc DVD Author,MPEG Video Wizard and more.

So I think its better to have several tools as each of the tools does a good job at what its designed to do.

[julitomg]

Pinnacle Studio 10 is an example of that sort of "all in one" programs...but ask around and you´ll read almost nothing but bad comments about it.
(I use Studio 9.4 but only to capture from analog sources for on-the-fly DV encoding, little else...then edit in Premiere 6.5, convert with TMPGEnc, author with DVD Workshop, burn DVD with Nero)

[guns1inger]

If you are just looking to work with stills, then the very under-rated Microsoft Photostory with Papa John's output templates will do everything you ask for the slideshow creation side of things. It does not do any authoring or mpeg encoding, but I don't believe you will find anything that will do all you ask to your satisfication. Video editors will give you great control over the pan/zoom/etc effects, but you have to do it all manually, and they have limited authoring (if any). Authoring tools that do slideshows automate most of the slideshow creation.

You want a single solution. If that is the deal breaker, then you must be prepared to compromise on the quality of one or more aspects. If you are not prepared to compromise on quality (and you shouldn't), then you need to use the best tool you can afford for each stage of the job.

[byteguy]

You don't make it clear about if you use video, still, or both.

For a mostly stills thing (with some video if you want) I always use Proshow Gold. I think it has just about everything you want.

1. Dissolves (with controllable rate of dissolve) YES
2. Fade to/fro Black (with controllable rate of fade) Sort, of, you insert a "blank frame" with a right-click and fade to/from that.
3. The Ken Burns effect (known as The Ken Burns Effect, zoom, or ease-in) totally, complete control
4. A program that does not have to render every transition, video, change of any kind (i.e. Premiere 7.0, but can do it on the fly i.e. Moviemaker - which is madenning) Well, it renders at the end and things that don't move are don't pretty quick
5. DVD authoring capabilities Yes
6. Good encoder resulting in good looking finished DVD I think the encoder is amazing. crystal clear with no "jitter"
7. Audio options such as unlinking audio from video, controllable fades, mixer, etc. Control of audio is a weak point but you can do some of this. For heavy stuff, I send the finished product to my NLE and do the audio there
8. Menu creation (nothing earth-shattering, but nothing cheesey, perhaps just a black bkgrnd in which I can centre a photo of choice with some text underneathe stating the name of the tributee) It's no DVD-Lab Pro, but you can do what you ask for here

The optionals:
1. Controllable pan and zoom (Ken Burns) Super-control. You can zoom, pan, and rotate. You can also link multiple motions so that a picture can joom in on one face, slide left to another face, zoom out, and rotate. Examples are in the slideshow I did for my daughter's Daisy Girl Scout Group.

[Scorpion King]

All that panning and zooming and zooming and panning..... makes me dizzy... Might be ok for a few shots... but trying to watch the entire 19 minutes of it is well beyond me. I made almost a minute then my eye got crossed and my head started spinning and I thought I was going to loose it.

Sorry, it's just my openion of your Ben Hurr Zoom effect, or whatever in the world that was...

Good luck

[bpll]

Hello everyone,

This is amazing. Thank you for your help. I should clarify that I'm not necessarily looking for an All-In slicer/dicer/mixer/peeler type program necessarily. If I need more than one program I can handle that. I can always edit the audio in Protools, for I'm of the audio world, and import it back in to whatever program I'm using. I thought I would present my dream scenario. If one program can't do all of this, so be it.

I really appreciate this guys. There is nothing better than experienced testimony.

Brad

[terjeber]

I really appreciate this guys. There is nothing better than experienced testimony.

To your original question, you are really looking for a semi-full-blown video editor for some of this stuff. Then you also need some sort of DVD Authoring tool. You also mention that you want good control of the audio in the editing process.

The only question is how much would you like to pay for this.

I have tried a number of packages out there, I was a Ulead Movie Studio user for a few years, and I have also dabbled in Premiere. In my opinion there is nothing on the market currently that comes close to the Sony Vegas products in usability and productivity. If you want the easiest work-flop with the least headache, I would recommend Vegas Video for your task, and add DVD Architect for DVD work. This may be overkill though, it depends. Also, this is a pricey package at a little over $500.

An excellent alternative to this is the Sony Movie Studio+DVD package, which is a scaled down version of Vegas with fewer video and audio tracks. Other than that it will be able to do all that you list, and it is an excellent package about $90.

Both packages have trial versions you can download, so give them a shot. I don't think you can create DVDs with the trial versions simply because the MPEG-2 software is licensed, and Sony can therefore not give it away for free, not even for a trial.

IMHO nothing on the market can touch Vegas today for work-flow, which is important to most people.

[Robin D]

I believe the combination of EditStudio5 and DVDlab from www.puremotion.com will do everything you want and an awful lot more.

The biggest plus points though are the stability of the product, and the superb support. There's no way I'd ever go back to Ulead, Pinnacle or Vegas after using it.

They may be a small fish in a large ocean, but they really do know what they are talking about.

Robin

BTW. The home bundle (ES5 + DVDlab) costs around £84 or $150. The pro version with unlimited video tracks and more facilities that you can dream of is around £150 or $270.

[pepegot1]

Try Uleads Videostudio 10. It has many good features and is easy to use. It is relatively inexpensive and is a C note a pop.

[thefiddler]

I highly recomend any of the Sony Vegas lineup. http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/vegasfamily.asp

All three come with Sony's DVD Architect DVD authoring software (different version). All three will do pretty much everything you mentioned there. You just get more audio and video tracks to work with, as well as more advanced filters/plugins the more expensive you go. I highly recomend you get either Movie Studio Platinum, or if you can afford it the full Vegas+DVD. Vegas is quickly becoming the most popular and widely used NLE on the market. More and more it is being used in the professional industry as well.

I think you'll find it intuitive and easy to use. It's pan/crop (which allows you to do that zoom effect you're wanting) features are head and shoulders above Premiere's. And it's just a fun peice of software to create/author on. The DVD authoring software is great as well. Very well thought out, intuitive and straightforward to use. Go Vegas! I don't think you'll regret it.

[tnamrog]

For memories on TV there is a good guide how to control the Ken Burns Effect.

[https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=176635

[laspis59]

You can use the high quality TMPGEnc Plus with Memories On TV,also.