MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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OK so, I got a Gopro HD, and Windows Movie Maker can't handle the HD videos. No great loss, I was getting annoyed with WMM anyway, so time to get some proper software. I've got a reasonably potent PC so not too worried about the number crunching...
So, what I'm looking for is good ease of use, I don't need too many bells and whistles but a decent range of transitions would be good, better text handling than WMM would also be great... has to be able to deal with slow-mo though I'm sure they all do that. I don't want to spend too much, certainly sub £100 but the less the better really. Good quality probably goes without saying, most of my stuff is for upload but I want the option of saving edits with little or no quality loss from the input.
Oh, and 2 specific requirements- it has to be able to handle imported stills well (WMM doesn't, it kills the resolution) and it has to have the option of fixing the position of a clip- WMM drove me mad when I'd have a sequence of several clips, synched to a soundtrack, then when I edited or moved any of them they'd all move around and knock out all the synching. So I want to be able to delete a clip and leave a gap which I can then fill, rather than deleting it and having the other clips move to fill the gap.
Think that's about it. It needs to handle AVCHD and I think the Gopro outputs MPG4. Any suggestions? Ones with trials would be good
There is a fine line between Sony Vegas vs Power Director. I use Power Director and am happy enough, it's certainly better than Vegas but doesn't have picture in picture like latest Vegas. Transitions, music tracks, special effects video speed of certain fragments of clip or changing quality of footage any way you preffer, you name any those bells PowerDirector has it. The clincher for me though, is their support forums and customer services are like Apple's, legendary. I bought mine online 2years ago, think it was $60.
Forgot, I have GoPro HD, 7D, and standard panasonic lumix. All video/photo footage is eaten alive by power director into any format you preffer, be it Streaming files, DVD files for home made use, I-Pad etc. Basically once you happy with your work you choose what quality/resolution and into what format you produce the movie.
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Videos[/url] scroll through 3 latest videos and you will see tons of transitions and SFX with any music theme.
I've been using Sony Vegas for a few months, I like it. Dunno how it compares with the competition, most of these programs have demo versions you can try for a month to see if you like them.
As a completely different direction, check out http://jaycut.com/ which is a web-based video editor!
Grass Valley Edius
Realtime AVCHD full res editing and preview, mixed formats on the timeline, very stable. Stills easily handled.
A fully functioning download is available from their website.
Edius Neo if you want the "lite" version.
Grass Valley Edius
+1 as the missus works for them and could talk all day long about the faults with anything Sony :p
I have Edited footage from the GOPROHD using Windows Movie maker with no problems,I have also got Movie Edit Pro 16 that takes the editing a step further.
Vid here using Windows Movie Maker
The Vegas software seems to favour the Sony Cameras when you look into comments on the forums. 😉
GaVgAs, the version of WMM with newer versions of Windows is different from the XP version, it can't edit MP4. I could convert the files first but I've never found a free package that'll do that without horrible artifacts.
Edius looks good but is way outside my budget. Guess I'm looking at Vegas or Powerdirector then. No Adobe fans?
Oh, one more question, do those 2 contain image stabilisers?
Wow, OK. Powerdirector seems pretty horrible. Nice quality and all but it's so bloody fiddly. I guess it's possible I'd get more used to it but I'm not sure I want to get used to a product whose undo button doesn't actually undo the last thing I did, but instead seems to randomly undo something I did at some point. I guess this is what demos are for!
Oh, as far as I can tell Powerdirector also lacks one of the features I'm after, that is, the ability to "pin" clips on a timeline so that when I remove an earlier clip it doesn't just shorten the entire video. So, frinstance, if I had 3 1 minute clips I don't want to delete the middle 1 and find the last one just snaps onto the first, I want the option of leaving a gap so that I can then create a clip and fit it into the gap- seems pretty essential for synching stuff to music or for working with subtitles. Powerdirector seems like WMM in that it likes to move your video around without moving the other stuff, so my subtitles all end up in the wrong place. Am I asking too much?
Movie Edit Pro does everything you require, and has an Image stabaliser 😉
You can juggle clips around in any order(from your created library), but you need to drag those clips in between those clips allready in timeline. It doesn't leave a visual gap inbetween clips on timeline, but you get idea. It does have image stabilizer if needed too. PowerDirector is very similar to operate to WMM but has more feautures to play with. That to some may be a problem, I did struggle big time at first suppose that is with anything gimmicky new.
Use their official forums for -how to. There is great support for that, I had replies within hours to all my questions on how to, Youtube links are great too.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3/4 is the easiest "proper" bit of software to use imo. Really nice intuitive layout. Unfortunately it's a bit crap with HD footage - slow play back. CS5 is meant to be better but you need a 64 bit operating system to run it. Might be worth trying Sony Vegas, although personally I don't like it at all. My favourites are AVID and Final Cut Pro, they're expensive though unless you're good at acquiring "free" versions of such software, and they're also probably a bit complex for just editing a few helmet cam videos!
So, frinstance, if I had 3 1 minute clips I don't want to delete the middle 1 and find the last one just snaps onto the first, I want the option of leaving a gap so that I can then create a clip and fit it into the gap- seems pretty essential for synching stuff to music or for working with subtitles
Sync and Ripple Edit. Easily switchable from the tool bar in Edius.