Video editing software

Gundog · 07-29-2007, 06:44 AM

I bought my wife a new video camera for mothers day and she bought me a new lap top for my birthday that is supposed to be able to handle video editing. Can you tell I no nothing about this stuff? We need to get some video editing software and I would like some suggestions on an easy to use version for the little lady and myself.
Thanks Mike

STGRule · 07-29-2007, 08:33 AM

I recommend Adobe Premiere and Elements. Elements does a fantastic job of cataloging your photos and will transfer right into Premiere. You can mix video with stills, add music, fancy up the transitions. The only thing it doesn't do (in the versions I have) is animate the slides if you want to get fancy. It isn't too expensive (buy them bundled together) and are easy to use.

There are others that are good too. This is just the one I use. I suspect its a chevy/ford thing.

holyhogmolly · 07-29-2007, 08:37 AM

If you have a mac, it's REALLY easy in iMovie....

garv76 · 07-29-2007, 08:49 AM

If you are using windows xp you can always use windows movie maker. It comes with xp and I would guess vista too. I find it easy to use and does everything I need it to do. I would try it before I spend money on something else.

lor · 07-29-2007, 09:57 AM

I would recommend against Windows Movie Maker. The last time I checked, it didn't support writing out to DVD. Yea, you can write out to a CD, which should play in any computer. But depending on the vintage of your DVD player that same CD might not be viewable.

You probably want to use a program like Adobe Premiere Elements.
Its a entry level scaled down version of a professional program called Adobe Premiere Pro. Using Elements, you will easily be able to download the video, add any titles and transitions, and write out the movie to a format of your choice.

Curious, is the camers a tape based miniDV, DVD or Hard Disk type???

Gundog · 07-29-2007, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Curious, is the camers a tape based miniDV, DVD or Hard Disk type???

Sony hard disc.

Thanks for the info I will look into Adobe Premiere Elements. The lap top does have windows vista.
Mike

Matthewc · 07-29-2007, 11:46 AM

I use Ulead Media Studio Pro 8 for all of the PGP films.

A nice cheaper option [around 100 bucks] that does do DVD buring if you have a burner is "Cyber Link-Power Director" I first learned to make movies on that soft and it has the ability for combine stills and video for any type of thing you would be doing..Its a tad above soccer mom stuff that usually comes with the camera, in your case it did not but your going to find out real fast that adobi prem costs more then your camera did.

PM me for more info if you need it.

STGRule · 07-29-2007, 12:19 PM

I got Premiere and Elements bundled for $100. It's $110 right now at Amazon.com

Gundog · 07-29-2007, 12:58 PM

I was just looking on ebay for the Adobe Premiere 3.0 and one of the adds said they were selling it because it did not work good with windows vista. Now I am not sure what to do.
Mike

lor · 07-29-2007, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gundog

Sony hard disc.

Thanks for the info I will look into Adobe Premiere Elements. The lap top does have windows vista.
Mike

Thats kinda of what I suspected. I'm a tape guy, so I wanted to make sure I was giving accurate information.
The DVD and Hard disk camera's encode the video streams to either MPEG, MPEG2, etc, thats how you fit 10,20,30 hours on a small drive(<100GBs). Whatever software solution you pick up, make sure it will support your camera's format.

The adobe premiere/photoshop elements bundle isn't a bad ideal.
It will offers a solution for video as well as still pictures.

STGRule · 07-29-2007, 01:09 PM

If you go to The Adobe website there is a free upgrade so that Elements and Premiere Elements works with Vista.

garv76 · 07-29-2007, 11:14 PM

I need to throw this back in, try windows movie maker, it's on your computer and it works. If you need or want to burn it to a DVD, I use nero easy dvd creator for that. After I edit the movie with movie maker I save the file using the best compression movie maker offers and then open nero to make the DVD. One of my DVD burners came with Nero so it was an easy solution for me. I've only made a couple of DVDs. I usually just store the files on my computer and watch them there. So in the end it's going to be what works for you. Kind of like digital pictures, I never print them, I always just look at them on the computer. Good luck and enjoy the movie making. Will we be able to see some great fishing videos uploaded to utube???

Ramstrong · 07-30-2007, 04:33 AM

I just use one of the Avids here at work. However you're not going to want to drop that kind of money. Premiere will do everything you need it to.

fishinpox · 07-30-2007, 04:34 PM

I use pinnacle studio for my editing. It has some bugs (what software doesn't) but its pretty simple to use. Takes no time to learn and so far has done everything I've needed it to.