video wording***newbee here

[edeee2]

Just recently got into home videos. Been using windows movie maker. I use this because it lets me post home vids to youtube. Do not know a lot. Just a little.

WMM is decent at times but mule stubborn at other times. Would like some suggestions on better movie making programs and software. Free if possible. No trials please. I would put out $$$ for a decent orogram with on a cd.

Maybe another freebee if possible. I do not know the name of what I want but after description someone can tell me. Example in a few videos I see a tear drop shape or a rectangle with a tail pointing at something and in the box or teardrop you can put text. Thats what I would like to find.



THANKS ed

[usually_quiet]

Nobody can make intellegent suggestions without more information from you.

What video and audio formats do your home videos use originally? DV, HDV, H.264, WAV, ac3, MP3, MPA, etc?
,
Is there anything else that you want to be able do with your home videos other than uploading them to YouTube?

The editor has to be able to run on your PC so it is important to know something about it too. What operating system do you use? Vista, XP, or Windows 7? Which CPU does your PC have?

[edeee2]

Thank you for your reply. My knowledge is limited but will try to answer with what little I know.

Start off, dell, xp pro, IE8. My dell is an older comp but is dedicated for pics and videos. It has an extra hard drive for more place to put pic`s and videos.

CPU`s I do not know what this is.

As for formats you got me again. It is what ever format that it is when I download from my sony 650 handy cam. I do have a video converter and have used it.

Basically I just put my short videos into windows movie maker and add tittles. I know wmm can put tittles over the pic or video`s. But I wanted a seperate box with "the tail" that I could put wording in and the tail would be coming from a certain item in pic or video.

Youtube is where I usually put my pics and vids. They are mostly family things, grandkids on their 4wheelers, family work in garden.

I hope my limited knowledge is understandable. Not everyone is a photo or comp guru. Many of us are trying to learn and too many of us are just a dumbass.

[TreeTops]

If you have a decent photo editing program you can do that text balloon thingy in that and then import that image into WMM maybe. You can do it in Windows Paint also. Select the balloon and put text inside it. However, having said that I don't think you can add another video track to WMM to overlay your original track so that probably will not work either.

You may just have to bite the bullet and buy a video editing program that can have more than one video track.

Your video format is SD (MPEG2) Video Resolution : 720 x 480

[TreeTops]

Is this what you want?

[edeee2]

Yup, thats what I want. Could or would you recomend a good video program to buy? I want one that comes on a cd. If my comp screws up then I can put video program back into comp. CD has the key number that I think can be reused in the same comp more than once. Not sure but I think.

I have bought online programs and then had to reformat my comp and program distributer would not give me another key number.

[TreeTops]

I have used Premiere Elements by Adobe but prefer Sony Vegas Movie Studio. You are probably not ready for the pro versions of either yet. The latest version of Movie Studio(12) will not run on XP. Maybe you can find Version 11 on their site anyway. Consider downloading one at a time and try to see if you can handle it. Be forewarned, both have a learning curve but there are many tutorials on youtube.

[usually_quiet]

It looks like your camera records 720x480 MPEG-2 video and AC3 audio on either DVDs or memory cards.

Free MPEG-2 editors are available, and I have used a few of them, but none are probably as fully-featured as what you are looking for.

MAGIX Video Easy 3 HD might be worth trying, or MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 18 MX Plus if you need more features. As with the majority of software these days, they are only available as a download. You would need to copy the download file to a CD yourself, and add a text document with the key. There are free trials availble so you can see what they are like before buying.

You can add annotations/speech bubbles to your video on YouTube after uploading http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQWwEcHq2s

[TreeTops]

"You can add annotations/speech bubbles to your video on YouTube after uploading" That sure sounds like the easiest way. Thanks Usually-quiet.

[usually_quiet]

Taking another look, it may be possible to find the Magix software products for sale on DVD. I would still recommend taking advantage of the trial before buying to make sure you like it and it is usable on your system.

[Edit] I downloaded and tried Magix Video Easy 3 HD. It seems very easy to use. It seems like a good choice if someone is looking for something better than WMM, but less complicated thans a full-blown non-linear video editor. Staples has an older version of Magix Video Easy HD available on DVD for a modest price at its online store only, if you are willing to downgrade a bit.

http://www.staples.com/Magix-Video-Easy-Hd-for-Windows-1-User-Boxed/product_944753?cid...4#desc_content