Video Editing Software

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brian_s
Posts:9
Joined:Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:15 pm
Video Editing Software

Post by brian_s » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:41 pm

Hi all,
I am trying to put together some video footage that I took in france this summer. I had planned using Adobe Premier 6.5, but it will not let me import video clips from one of the cameras (clips are in .AVI format). The clips from the other two cameras work fine (one of which has .avi file format also). Has anyone had this problem? I have tried Windows Movie Maker and all the files seem to work with it. I would rather not use Movie Maker, as the options are very limited, and I want to be able to put the finished video on DVD.

Any help or suggestions of other software would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

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Seanie
Posts:841
Joined:Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:27 pm

Re: Video Editing Software

Post by Seanie » Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:00 pm

Well there are two routes you can go down to sort out this problem and I Can help you with both of them. :)

1. Linux Editing

This is 100% Free and 100% Legal.
IF you haven't heard of Linux, it is the free operating system(like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Apple OS X etc.). There are many versions of linux out there and some of them are very good and are as good if not better than Windows XP etc. (Ubuntu is my favorite version of linux). Fun fact: this site and about 80% of all websites in the world are running on Linux servers.

All the movie editing software etc. is free and available to downland.

And a Nowegan kayaker from Braindead.nu has a tutorial how to edit your videos using Linux and free software. (link to some of their videos)

Getting Started With Linux Video Editing by Lars Georg Paulsen @ Braindead Production

There is a down side to this route, if you are not familiar with Linux already this can add to the already steep learning curve of video editing. And to be honest video editing in Linux is still behind what Adobe is doing with Adobe Premiere.

2. Windows Editing
You could use Windows Movie Maker, but thats shit and you were right not to use it. The only up side to it is that its free (ish).

Adobe Premiere Pro
Image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Premiere_Pro
The industry standard. Its what most professionals use. If it can eb done with film it can be done using Adobe Premiere Pro. There are two huge down sides to it:
1. the cost (€ 1,027.29)
2. Its hard to learn, its very complicated. (lots of buttons and knobs etc.)

Adobe Premiere Elements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Premiere_Elements
It is a scaled-down version of the professional-level Adobe Premiere Pro. So that means its easier to use.
But it still has its draw backs.
1. the cost (€ 100.43, still too pricey for what you get, for my wallet anyway)
2. Missing some cool features that Premiere Pro has.

Pinnacle Studio 11
Image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinnacle_Studio
This is the software that I have used quite a bit. Its simple to get started with but has some great features, you really can knock out a video in no time using this product, theres no BS with it. All the options etc are very simple and you don't need to read a book or take a course to learn how to use it.
And its very cheap: €65.
But with all products it has some draw backs.
1. Its not as good as Adobe Premiere PRo...not even close
2. It has some software bugs, especially new versions of it. When a new version of this program comes out leave it for 12months until they have figured out all the problems with it. (version 11 seems to be stable now)


Conclusion
There are a few more options (eg. Apple’s Final Cut Express HD 3.5.)but I think that covers the main ones.
So that leaves you with a few options, some cheap, but with draw backs, some expensive but with outer drawbacks.

If cost is an issue there are plenty of 30 day trials that you can use for free and totally legally.

All in all if you want to give video editing ago I'd say go with Premiere Pro, you can use the 30 day trial or you can use a pirated version from here.
I personally have no problem with pirating to learn how to use software, because if you do get good at it and want to do it professionally you will have to buy a legit copy then and its worth it. And lets face it who has 1K to use on software?

If you just want to bang out a video of some kayaking without huge frills, I'd say go with Pinnacle Studio, at that price you cant go wrong and it also has a 30 day free trial.

Hope that helps
Seanie :P

brian_s
Posts:9
Joined:Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:15 pm

Re: Video Editing Software

Post by brian_s » Mon Oct 08, 2007 7:11 pm

Hi seanie, Thanks for all the advice, certainly plenty of options, the main thing that is going to restrict the options for me is my computer:

Dell Inspiron Laptop 1.3 GHz processor and only 512MB RAM

For option 1:
I have some experience with Linux, but only through the bash shell command, and using a linux based text editor. But I dont think I have the resources on the laptop to have two operating systems installed at the same time as there is only 20GB left on the hard drive, as it is I will have to do the video editing on an external hard drive. And I suppose to be honest I dont want the hassle of it either :)

For option 2:
When I went download premier pro I realised it was way beyond the scope of my computer. This is why I
went for premier 6.5, unfortunately it just doesnt seem to recognise the clips from one of the cameras. If I could get a patch to fix that problem it would be ideal, but as of yet havent found anything.

Having looked at the specs it seems that elements will (just about) run on this computer. Pinnacle is a bit harder run by the looks of things, but are those specs actually requirements or just the recommended specs.
Is Elements far ahead of movie maker? Would it be worth downloading to try?
Is Pinnacle far ahead of Elements?


Thanks again for the help
Brian.

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Seanie
Posts:841
Joined:Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:27 pm

Re: Video Editing Software

Post by Seanie » Mon Oct 08, 2007 8:09 pm

Well if Adobe premiere doesn't take your video, i doubt elements will.

But I also know that Pinnacle 11 will need a more powerful computer.

My suggestion is try the Elements 30 day trial first and see does that work.

Then try Pinnacle.

brian_s
Posts:9
Joined:Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:15 pm

Re: Video Editing Software

Post by brian_s » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:49 pm

Thanks for that, just got to install pinnacle on a different PC, my videos work fine, tried elements and they worked on that too. All thats left now is to put it all together :shock:

tiernan
Posts:139
Joined:Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:37 pm

Re: Video Editing Software

Post by tiernan » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:49 pm

i used pinnacle a bit, was good but always found myself using windows movie maker for those quick clips!

downloading adobe premier pro at the mo, so will give it to whoever wants!

tin

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