What do video editing software do you recommend?

My fiance' got me "Ultra Power Director 8" for Christmas but I haven't opened it yet. I'm using a PC with minimal capabilities however. Vista Premium Home, 2 gig ram, Pentium dual CPU 1.46 ghz. I do have a 500 gig external HD (5400 rpm) I can use.

I picked up one of these Go Pro HD cameras which saves in the MP4 format. I'd like to do some simple editing, adding music, editing out boring footage etc. Should I stick with this software or go with something else?

I've heard Adobe Premier is the sh-t but it's more money and might have a fairly steep learning curve?

Thanks guys!

ps: I searched but only found two posts regarding video editing and not much on this Power Director 8 software.

 

MS Movie Maker. It's free and decent for what it is. Probably do what you want it to.

 

I've used Windows Movie Maker and it's very easy to use but would lock up from time to time and wouldn't let me add transitions etc. No clue why.

Biggest challenge so far is Windows Media Player won't play MP4's. I downloaded that AVS converter software but it takes like 16 hours to convert 2 gig to a WMA format. I have the trial version so it puts a watermark on the video as well. If someone knows a better way I'm all ears

Also, this Power Director plays MP4's I believe.

 

I'm in the same boat....GOPRO HD wide...tried to do the conversion thing...it sucks and takes forever.
Tried Movie Maker, I hated it...or I don't get it...either way, I hated it.

Show me something I can actually use without a design engineer degree.

 

This boils down to the crap codecs that are used in these cameras. Plus multiple instances of the same codec can cause issues in Movie Maker and other editing packages.

In Movie Maker go to Tools --> Options -- Compatibility and uncheck the filters that are not needed for the content you are editing. This will take some trial and error but will resolve most of the issues. Also if you have fdshow installed it can also cause minor issues with editing video from the Go Pro HD as well as the ContourHD.

 

I use movie maker for our videos and have codec issues if I want to add music. Haven't been able to get around that one yet. Otherwise windows movie maker is easy to use

 

Pinnacle Studio 12, rock solid.

 

I got a gopro HD for Christmas too. I'm hoping iMovie will do the job.

 

Thanks guys. Venom, you seem to know your stuff when it comes to computers, video's etc. I'll fool around with the Movie Maker settings and see what happens.

On a side note, I just noticed a small spot on the inside of the Go Pro camera lens, looks like a 2mm spot of condensation? (this is on the inside of the actual lens btw, not the waterproof case). I only used it yesterday in about 20 degree temps inside the waterproof case and waterproof door. Footage was amazing on my HD TV. I'm hoping that spot doesn't affect future video, kinda bummed right now.

Anyone have spots on their lenses?

 

I hear a lot of people like Sony Vegas 9.0.

No spots on my GP.

 

Mostly trial and error on my part. You can do a lot more with Movie Maker than is readily available in the interface if you are willing to learn some XML coding.

Other packages such as Sony Vegas and such will make it easier to do some of the advanced stuff like picture in picture if you so desire.

 

I like Avidemux for simple video editing. [http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/]

If you need a simple editor to trim, stitch, etc... it's free and rather quick.

 

That's good to know b/c I'm pretty good with XML. :up:

 

+1 Sony Vegas HD 9.0 with the GoPro HD Wide.

The HD is very nice! The issues with some of the "other" video editing software lies in the finalization. SV 9.0 only messes with the "edges" of the video. Therefore less degradation of the final cut.

Editing mp4 on any computer sux. Get a mac ?


BTW get VLC Media player to watch the vids. Most comps drop frames with WMP or quickviewer.

--Nate

 

Check out Sony Vegas Movie Studio. It is the less professional version of Sony Vegas, but if you're just editing out junk, you'll like it, and it was only about $60 when I bought it last year. I really like it, can do whatever I want, and it's easy to use. Most important check the specs for use on your computer, HD takes a lot of power to run without it looking jerky.

 

I tried a bunch of them before switching over to a MAC. Movie maker works ok for quick SD video's, but unless something has changed in the last year it doesn't do HD.

Most newer HD video camera's are starting to use the AVCHD codec, which takes a LONG time to encode/decode.

Not one single program I used on the PC would edit AVCHD at a reasonable resolution on the fly. The preview and playback takes so much cpu that it looks like the video is stuttering, voice track out of sync, etc.. Once you get the edit done though and encode the final video it's fine.

That being said, I tried Pincacle studio, adobe premier, corel, power director ultra, and a few others. The only one I did not thoroughly evaluate was Sony, which also has good reviews.

I found that the Power Director offered the best speed and performance while editing. Primarily it is because it's the only one that creates "shadow files" for editing. It takes a copy of the avchd file, uncompresses it a bit in a lower resolution for easy preview and edit, then it takes the linear editing information that you do and applies it to the raw avchd files to generate the final output. I also preferred the user interface over the others the best.

After switching to the MAC, Imovie is a breeze and is flawless as far as editing basic stuff. You can create some great looking videos with it. The major drawback to imovie is the fact that it won't do 1080p. If you want to do HD on a mac, you need to use Final Cut Express or another pro level tool. The learning curve is a bit tougher. I've been learning to use FCE but haven't finished any video with it yet, just playing around with it and a book on the subject.

If I was going to edit on PC, I would use Power Director.

 

Cool, I have Power Director, still looking forward to trying it out.

One question, I've heard many times that Macs are the best for video editing applications, no question. But, if you had a PC with a fast enough processor, fast hard drive (7200 rpm) and good video card wouldn't a PC be plenty capable?

Just asking because of the obvious hurdles going to Mac (cost and learning curve).

Thanks.

 

Things have changed. The XP version of MovieMaker will only do SD. The 2.6 version included with Vista allowed for 720p video to be edited. The biggest problem with the Windows based stuff is getting to the point that your video codecs aren't trying to stomp on each other.

As reality would have it though the MAC is a better video production platform. I can't disagree with that. Every application will have a learning curve. The general rule is the easier it is to learn the more limitations it will have to some degree.

 

I wanted something capable of 1080p, framerate at 30p and 60i, and 24mpps . That's why WMM wouldn't work. It also wouldn't decode AVCHD on my Vista machine. It may with Windows 7 as AVCHD format is becoming the defacto standard for flash based prosumer cameras.

edit.. worth noting that those specs are way overkill for most GoPro type camera's for sure, but I've got a nice HD camcorder that I needed something to edit for.