vidoe editing program

[romik91]

hey i am not familiar with video editing i dont know how to do crap. i sort of know how to use adobe but i forgot over the summer. i was wondering if some people could give me advice on some free and easy video editing programs. thanks

[redwudz]

For editing what format? The more common MPEG or AVI types? Not a lot of freeware MPEG editors, maybe Cuttermaran, MPEG StreamClip, Mpeg2Schnitt.

For AVI type files, a few more: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-editors-wmv-avi. I use VirtualDub or VD Mod most times for AVI.

And welcome to our forums.

[Bjs]

A good starting point before you begin would be to grab tools such as gspot and mediainfo .

Second , avoid installing codec packs , install only those required when needed .

Third , you can start getting into it a bit more .

Super , can be helpful when other programs fail to convert ... handy if you download video .

The tools mentioned by redwudz are good utilities .

i sort of know how to use adobe but i forgot over the summer

http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/index.html ... links don't appear to be active in firefox .

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It will depend on what you want to have as a final outcome

Tool's section for almost all your needs .

Visit the guides section in the forum , search for what interests you , should get you started .

Much freeware is well covered ... though some items can be complicated to start with , in time , you'll pick it up .

Three of the most important items that are required .

A: Time ... what you are prepared to invest into any given project .
B: Pre-preparation of source files
C: Thinking of initial project layout design , to accomplish final , desired outcome .

Just start with the basic's , and work from there .

[PuzZLeR]

Hi,

May I recommend VideoStudio? It's not free, but it's the most in-expensive of the high-end and powerful "Porsche" video editors. 8) Try it on their site for free.

The "Multi-trim Video" feature is, by far, Heaven's gift to video editing. Give it a whirl and you'll be hooked. It's too amazing... :P

If you want something free and very powerful I can recommend AVISynth. All the hardcores in the field swear by it. I warn you though, it demands a learning curve. It's practically a programming language...

[terjeber]

If you want to do some decent editing, the free stuff is probably not going to cut it for you. Someone recommended Ulead Video Studio, which is a decent piece of software. Ulead has a long history of abandoning their existing users and screwing their new users however, so I would never consider doing any (more) business with them.

My personal opinion is also that Sony Vegas Movie Studio (at less than $100) is a far better editing solution than is Video Studio, but that is just my opinion.

Give them both a try, they both have free trials.

[PuzZLeR]

Hey Terje,

I will certainly not argue with you if you believe Vegas is better. It is getting excellent reviews and has some very happy customers. It no doubt is another one of the consumer-level "Porsche/Cadilac" types in its field.

However, don't you have to buy their $400 package to get all the features? I know you can get one for $100, but it must have something missing. If it really is only $100 at full-hilt, I'm sure lots here would love to have it.

VideoStudio at its highest bells-and-whistles edition is only about $100+.

I will say though, that Ulead "abandoning" or "screwing" warrants a little bit of explanation. The company has been bought out several times - twice in the last couple of years alone. This transition alone can have some uncontrollable remifications. Regardless, after getting hooked on the "multi-trim" feature I can be more tolerant...

In my opinion, the biggest screw-job and bad quality software was that Dazzle/Pinnacle fiasco. Yes, I was a victim of it - my nightmare of the past. Never again. I can write PAGES on how that package nearly ruined my life. My comic relief about the whole experience is that I blame my divorce on their products...

But I will agree that to get a good solid editor you have to pay for one. And if you don't like AVISynth, and have a tight budget, it's best to try out several to make sure your investment is solid.

(Now if only I can get my hands on those super-expensive-super-amazing special packages used in Hollywood... <drool...drool> :P)

[JudgeGarth]

In my opinion, the biggest screw-job and bad quality software was that Dazzle/Pinnacle fiasco. Yes, I was a victim of it - my nightmare of the past. Never again. I can write PAGES on how that package nearly ruined my life. My comic relief about the whole experience is that I blame my divorce on their products...

PuzZLeR,
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but what was the "Dazzle/Pinnacle fiasco"? I'm asking because I have both products. I could never get Pinnacle to work in the authoring phase, so I just use it and the Dazzle for capturing and then drop the captured file into something else for editing/authoring.

[PuzZLeR]

Hi JudgeGarth,

Pinnacle bought out Dazzle, and with that transition I got screwed. I got an email saying that there was no more support (which was really funny because I never could get it anyway). I remember calling their support line, which wasn't toll-free, and the message would say, “We apologize for the inconvenience, but due to high call volume…”. Yeah, whatever. Are that many people complaining, or are they trying to look like they have tons of customers, or is this their way of avoiding us? I once did wait, up to 90 minutes, while at least working, reading, etc., still no answer. My conclusion? Scam!

The Pinnacle forums were full of nasty comments about this-and-that not working. Few posts got answered. Read the Amazon reviews too. Those are fun.

Can’t remember the dates, but I bought a Dazzle kit in 1999 and another one (stupid me) in 2004. I bought the next one thinking that maybe it was my PC at the time and the tech may have developed in the few years… Yeah right…

Both kits came with a “tower” that is a mediator from your input (ex: VCR) to your PC. First one connected to the printer port (ughhhh!), and the next one, supposedly better, connected to the USB 2.0 port…

This tower was proprietary and would only work with the software it came with. And the software was horrid. JudgeGarth, you’re lucky you managed to capture it correctly then able to transfer to better software. I wasn’t so lucky.

The captured video was horrid in quality: dropped frames, out of sync, corrupt streams, bad headers, etc… Here’s where I could write pages on the headaches and long nights trying to get it to work…

The software was buggy, and would often hang, crash, or just not produce good results…

I always say now that if an app is not working for you, move on to another. Don’t make the same mistake as I did fiddling with something on, and off, for years falling behind in your projects. There’s always better.

Now I’m not sure if the equipment, PCs or even Windows were not able to handle the tech back then, but I do believe the product was still very bad. The good thing about Pinnacle is that when I finally moved on to other solutions, I asked them to remove me from their email list and they did so without hitch.

I also ranted about Dazzle/Pinnacle in the VideoStudio forums while commending Ulead which you can read right here.

[JudgeGarth]

Wow, PuzZLeR, thanks for the horror story! I'm glad I at least got the Dazzle to work for the capture!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled thread...

[PuzZLeR]

Hi again JudgeGarth,

I really am glad to read that your captures (at least) are working out for you. If I could of gotten Dazzle to at least do that I may have managed to have it working for me in tandem with another app.

Yes, on to the regularly scheduled program…, err, thread… :P

The last discussion did make me think of another point I could contribute here. Sure we all want something, first and foremost, that WORKS, for us. This is of course the top priority.

But as well, you have to choose an app that is FUN to use. Think about it. If you’re serious about this hobby/work/etc, you’re going to be spending some time on it. If the package is not fun to use then, no matter how “good” it is, you will stop using it.

This is what VideoStudio does for me. It’s FUN to use. I look forward to my next project. With Dazzle/Pinnacle I would feel dread when I had to tackle it again with all those headaches.

I’m down to less than 50 VHS video tapes I’ve been capturing (with my DvR) the last year or so (down from 300) and editing with VideoStudio. To be honest, although I’m happy I’m almost done with a project I’ve wanted to do, and has accumulated for decades, I’m a bit sad, to be honest, that it’s almost done. I’ve actually really enjoyed it, and have learned to look forward to getting the next tape done…

If an app makes you feel this way you know you found your winner.

[edDV]

Pinnacle Systems has had a checkered history. They began as a prosumer video hardware company in the 80's and partnered with Adobe through the 90's with input/output hardware for Premiere.

In the mid 90's they acquired Miro a German capture/display card company and these products expanded into the well regarded DC and DV series I/O cards for Premiere (e.g. DC-10, 30plus, 1000, 2000 and DV-500). Later they acquired Miro's German hardware compeditor Fast. This line of products moved up market in the 2000's as Pinnacle split their focus into Pro and consumer lines. The introduction of the DV format in 1998 allowed Adobe Premiere v5 and up to exist as a standalone software product with hardware support moving to the PC motherboard and Windows/MAC OS. Pinnacle decided to compete with Adobe by acquiring a series of software products that evolved into the Edition and Liquid lines of editor software with real time support from Pinnacle hardware.

The consumer line began with the acquisition of a software product later named Studio. The consumer line was filled in mostly with other acquired half baked products including the Dazzle line. IMO Pinnacle never took support of these products seriously as the user forums well document. Marketing got 90% of their effort.

I stayed with Adobe Premiere and DV format but tried to make Studio work for light TV capture editing. It was a buggy mess and still is with v9 (my latest Studio). ULead Video Studio and Movie Factory are the more serious products in this space. Adobe's Premiere Elements is another option but is tightly forcused on DV camcorder editing. ULead Video Studio has direct support for Video for Windows codecs and WDM tuners making it more flexible as a general video tool. It even includes the realtime Mainconcept MPeg2 encoder module that is lacking even in the high end Premiere and Vegas products.

Sony has a feature reduced Vegas Movie Studio product in this space. Compared to ULead Video Studio, it is crippled to DV format and canned encoder settings. ULead provides more user control of the Mainconcept MPeg encoder in preferences and imports a wider range of formats.

I see no rational reason to choose Pinnacle Studio over ULead or the others.

[terjeber]

However, don't you have to buy their $400 package to get all the features?

In order to get all the pro features, you will have to buy the pro version, which is above $400. To get the version that has similar features to Video Studio, you can buy the $100 version. Remember, Video Studio is not Ulead's professional product, that would be Ulead Media Studio Pro. You could say that Video Studio and Vegas Movie Studio are competitors and The full Vegas Video and Media Studio Pro are competitors (and similarly priced).

I have used Video Studio and Vegas Movie Studio (the $100 version) and in my opinion the Vegas version is much better than Ulead.

I know you can get one for $100, but it must have something missing. If it really is only $100 at full-hilt, I'm sure lots here would love to have it.

The main thing you are going to miss is the ability to have an unlimited number of video tracks.

VideoStudio at its highest bells-and-whistles edition is only about $100+.

In the same way that Vegas Movie Studio, at it's highest bells and whistles is about $100. Remember, Video Studio is the low-end product from Ulead.

I will say though, that Ulead "abandoning" or "screwing" warrants a little bit of explanation.

Not really. The fact is that they are still selling several products that they are no longer developing. That is not only screwing old customers but screwing any future customers who are unlucky enough to think that they actually maintain products that they still sell.

[edDV]

However, don't you have to buy their $400 package to get all the features?

In order to get all the pro features, you will have to buy the pro version, which is above $400. To get the version that has similar features to Video Studio, you can buy the $100 version. Remember, Video Studio is not Ulead's professional product, that would be Ulead Media Studio Pro. You could say that Video Studio and Vegas Movie Studio are competitors and The full Vegas Video and Media Studio Pro are competitors (and similarly priced).

I have used Video Studio and Vegas Movie Studio (the $100 version) and in my opinion the Vegas version is much better than Ulead.

...

I will say though, that Ulead "abandoning" or "screwing" warrants a little bit of explanation.

Not really. The fact is that they are still selling several products that they are no longer developing. That is not only screwing old customers but screwing any future customers who are unlucky enough to think that they actually maintain products that they still sell.

I agree that the actual "editing" features of Vegas Movie Studio are superior to ULead VS and Vegas MS has a direct upgrade path to full Vegas. I have the full Vegas product and miss those features in the $100 "crippled version".

I see the ULead Video Studio product as more usefull as a general video tool with better I/O support.

As for Corel taking over ULead, that adds much uncertainty to the line but I don't see another product out there that does what Video Studio does at the price.

[terjeber]

I see the ULead Video Studio product as more usefull as a general video tool with better I/O support.

Not exactly sure what you mean by this? I/O support? I don't think there is any difference at all in the two in I/O support, but perhaps your definition of I/O is different than mine. As it comes to features, I do disagree again. I think Vegas Movie Studio is a better featured piece of software than is Ulead Video Studio. I was going through the features of Video Studio and Movie Studio, and quite frankly, I can't see that there is a big difference.

Given the vastly superior usability of Movie Studio, I just don't see any reason to get Video Studio at all. Note - I do own VS 10, I have not tried 11 yet, but the new features seem to be similar to the new features of Movie Studio, such as HD support etc.

Note - I don't use Movie Studio or Video Studio at all. I have used Media Studio Pro for a number of years, and also Vegas Video (full). I do have an beef with Ulead though, I own three of their "high end" products, all of which have been abandoned by them. I just don't want any other person to be caught in the deceptive business practices of this company.

[edDV]

I see the ULead Video Studio product as more usefull as a general video tool with better I/O support.

Not exactly sure what you mean by this? I/O support? I.

It may be the way I use it but I think this extends to the general home user. First I use full Vegas/DVDA and Adobe Premiere Pro for serious editing projects and DVD authoring.

I use ULead Video Studio mainly as a cuts editor to support home TV recording and quick DVD offloads from the hard drive. By I/O I mean interface with tuners and realtime software MPeg2 encoding. Video Studio also has the Mainconcept smart render MPeg module that allows cuts editing without re-render as long as you keep the same frame size and bitrate. It also supports all the Video for Windows codecs for I/O to uncompressed through MPeg4, also WDM tuner support to allow direct recording from computer tuners plus real time in and out to DV format transcoders like the Canopus ADVC. This is all separarte from the advanced editing features that I don't use but are adequate for a novice. The one edit tool that I often use is Multi-Trim for getting rid of commercials.

Vegas Movie Studio is quite crippled vs big Vegas for project format settings and both products lack real time MPeg2 encoding during capture. On the output MPeg encoding side, ULead Video Studio offers most of the encoder setting versatility available in full Vegas but Vegas Movie Studio has only a limited set of presets. You can't even set 352x480 out or change bitrate without changing the project format.

What I'm saying is Video Studio is more flexible as a general video tool.

[terjeber]

ok