Video Editing Software

My computer came with VideoWave III software and I worked my fingers

to the bone trying to make it work properly but never did get it to

come around. I was informed that there were glitches in this

software that the were unfixable. Can anybody suggest a usable video

editing software that actually works and does not cost an arm and a

leg? For example, VideoWave IX is out and is only $100 but I've

heard nothing on how well it works.

Walter, my experience is that editing video is one of the hardest things a desktop computer can do. Everything in the loop is stressed to the limit, just to make it possible. That's the bad news. The good news is, it's getting better all the time. Big, fast cheap hard disks and low RAM prices are helping considerably.

 

Unlike most other computer purchases which stress "software first", with a video editing system, it's "hardware first", then get the best software you can afford that works on the hardware you have.

 

The core hardware that does the work is the digital IO board, of which there are many. Without good hardware, even the best of software won't have a chance. If you're on a Wintel system, I'd look at hardware from Canopus and either their bundled software or Adobe Premiere. If you have a Mac, look at Final Cut Pro.

 

The really bad news is, no matter what the ads say, cheap systems will do nothing but frustrate you. Editing is difficult enough without the system frustrating you at every turn.

I do agree that in computers, you basically get what you pay for. However, there are time you have to sacrifice something to avoid having a second mortgage on the house or use your kid's college fund. I am starting videography and I did not want to spend an arm and a leg to do it. It is not my job to produce video, but I do want to put titles and background music. This is what I have so far:

 

(For those who do not live in the USA, a buck = 1 USD).

 

1. Dual Celeron machine 433 with 128 MB RAM running Windows 2K professional with 18 gigs of drive space Cost: Hardware about 1,000 at the time I purchased it, probably you could do it in about 700 bucks. I built the machine myself. I personally recommend a dual CPU machine if you are serious about it. You might have a fast 1 CPU chip. But while rendering movies, the machine will become CPU bound to your video editing software, which means in plain english, that your computer will become slugish. Dual CPU's gives you better response computer while doing a CPU bound process. However, dual CPU systems only works on Linux, NT or 2K.

 

2. JVC Camcorder: about 700.00

 

3. Firewire Card with Ulead lite. 40 bucks.

 

That's about 1500. It is not cheap, but it is not extremely expensive either.

 

So far? Results have been ok. But...

 

Rendering the final product is a slow process. Mostly because of lack of memory. 128 megs is tight to run W2K by itself, putting it to render movies, you get a machine is almost trashing. Therefore, you might want to consider going all the way to 256 Megabytes.

(add about 300 bucks) Even though, I am able to create simple pictures with background music.

 

The JVC Camcorder supports dubbing out of the firewire which makes it convenient to record back to the camcorder. I have not personally done that because my current hard drives are ATA33 and it might drop frames while going in and out. What everybody recommends is to have a SCSI controller with SCSI drives. This might cost you about 500 bucks depending on the controller and drive. My motherboard supports ATA66 drives, and probably that's what I'm going to do purchase to increase this machine's hard drive capacity. That will increase the whole thing to about 200 more (300 less than SCSI).

 

The ULead Lite software that came with the firewire card is adequate for simple editing. You can put in your birthday movies things like narration, the background music, titles and transitions. However, more advanced features like filtering are not available. You might get away with it by using real filters, but you loose the "what if" capabilities and might require a bit of planning before shooting your auntie on your cousin's friend wedding.

 

As Peter suggests, if you are getting serious, get a good system like Canopus or Pinnacle and get Adobe, but keep in mind that we are talking about 650 bucks just for the software, and a lot more for the hardware. But, before you even consider buying more video hardware, take a good look at your system and identify potential areas of trouble. Most likely you will have to buy more RAM and fast drives (if you have 64Megs of RAM and two 2 Gig hard drives forget it, it will not work right). You might want to rearrange your drives, change your swap space out of the way, get a RAID system if you are really getting into it. If the basic computer system is not sound for video, no matter what video editing card and software you get, it will not work as intended.

 

But, if you are just "playing" (like me), probably something more basic might fill the bill. I have been able to get stuff edited and titled with music with my current set up. I know that it is not going to a Cinemaplex and will be looked with my mom's heart, so why spend the money, I could use it for something else.

 

Another suggestion, if you want to get your hands dirty and save some dough in the process, you might want to consider a Linux editing system using Broadcast 2000. (http://www.heroinewarrior.com) The software is free, just make sure you get hardware that is compatible with Linux. The drawback? Well, it is Linux, you get a powerful stable platform with a lot of quirks to learn and get used to (Being a UNIX System Admin for a couple of years has helped me :) ).

 

That's about it, I have to go to work. :)

 

Regards,

 

Luis

 

 

 

 

here in Holland, I'm having great success with a card from Pinnacle called Studio DV. It only cost Hfl.350,- and I'm just completing my first 90 minute epic. The software is NOT

Adobe Premiere and the main disadvantages are no inserts and no splitting the sound track, but there are other freebie applications for workarounds for that. There is plenty of back up from Pinnacle on the net.

I'm particularly pleased with the card because it was cheap and works but also my computer is a homemade 400 mhz AMD K6-2, UDMA 33 40gig HD, 196 SDRAM and they said it couldn't be done but it's doing it !

Digital video editing is getting easier and cheaper. I do not work for Pinnacle.

I also use Studio DV. I can't say I'm entire pleased with it, though. Aside from the limitations listed by the previous poster, I haven't been able to output a video back to video tape. From their message board, it appears to be a relatively common problem for those who use VIA chipsets with AMD processors (I have a 1 GHz Athlon on a MSI KT133 based motherboard with 128 MB RAM.) There is no problem capturing or rendering the video, but attempting to output to video tape always crashes the system. Others with Intel based systems have not had this problem.

 

Of course, the only people who post on the Pinnacle bulletin board are those who have problems, so it may not be as common as it seems.

 

I do agree, however, that you need a very powerful system to edit video on your computer.

Low-end video editing software is usually poorly designed, but iMovie is a standout exception. Unfortunately, it's only bundled with Macs (starting at USD$899 for an iMac and US$1299 for an iBook). Editing video to produce a pleasing result is itself complicated enough, so pick a tool that allows you to get the job done with the least amount of futzing around. I used to teach Adobe Premiere (available for PC or Mac), it's way too complex (and too damned expensive) if you're just getting started. If you start out with iMovie, you can move up to Final Cut Pro later on, if your budget allows, but it means giving up editing video primarily on your PC (you can still use it for 3D work). If you've never tried iMovie, do so. You may be pleasantly surprised at how easy and foolproof it is to edit video with this tool.<div>[ATTACH=full]109[/ATTACH]</div>