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No1Reviews.com >> Video Editing Software >> How to Choose |
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How to Choose Your Video Editing SoftwareChoosing video editing software is just like choosing any other piece of software for your computer. It is important to look at all the different features it offers, whether or not it is compatible with your hardware and how much effort you want to put into learning to use the software. The very first decision you make, which should be fairly obvious, is whether you want a professional, industry level product or just something to tinker about with at home. Most of the products we have reviewed can be split into one of three categories and depending on which king of user you are, you should instantly be able to dismiss at least one of these categories. The first is the simplest kind of video editing application aimed purely at home users who want to throw together some home videos or make small productions to upload to YouTube and its ilk. Within this category there are different levels of application and some do offer a lot more features than others. The easiest to use will essentially completely edit the video for you and burn it to DVD using a simple wizard interface. The more complex ones give you almost as much control as a professional level application, but they try to keep the technical details behind the scenes as much as possible. The second kind of application is the professional level kind that can be run on a standard PC or Mac, but they will generally need a fairly powerful processor and don’t come cheap. To learn to use these types of application properly you will need to dedicate quite a lot of time and effort to working through tutorials and reading manuals. However, once you have got to grips with this type of application you will have complete control over your production and should be able to achieve any kind of effect you want. The final category of video editing software we define is the fully integrated turnkey type of solution that is sold as a combined software and hardware product. These provide the absolute best possible performance because the software is tied to a specific hardware setup so that it can squeeze every last bit of power out of it. They are also understandably the most expensive systems you can buy and probably the most difficult to learn. However, in an industry setting, when performance and quality is essential, sometimes nothing else will do. Regardless of which category of buyer you see yourself in there are a number of factors to consider about the video editing software you are thinking about purchasing. The following is an explanation of some of the things we were looking at as we reviewed the software. User Interface The simplest type of user interface will simply be a set of wizard style screens that let you choose your footage and a style or theme and will then edit everything together for you. This is fine if you have no desire to have a creative say in what’s going on, but if you’re desperate to be the next Steven Spielberg then you’ll soon get bored with it. It is lucky then that most applications will include some kind of timeline or storyboard style interface for arranging your movie on. The storyboard gives a slightly higher level view than the timeline, but the timeline allows for more detailed editing. Most applications will let you switch between the two easily, but the most basic might only allow you to work with a storyboard. The top end applications will have fully customizable user interfaces whereby you can rearrange the tools and windows on the screen as you see fit. Often one application will allow you to set the keyboard shortcuts to match the defaults of another one because professionals often have to switch between using different applications on different projects. Performance The best systems for working with HD footage are the turnkey solutions that combine specific hardware and software to get the maximum performance. These aren’t in most people’s price range though and so desktop applications have a trick up their sleeves to make the HD editing process a bit smoother. A good application will be able to convert your HD footage to temporary SD footage on the fly so that, as you are editing, you are working in SD and your computer doesn’t slow down as much. The software then remembers all the editing decisions you make and effects you add and applies it all to the original HD footage at the end of production. This style of working gives you probably the best HD editing performance you will get on a home computer so it is worth looking out for an application that supports it. Effects There are various different types of effects that you will come into contact with, but not all applications support some of the more advanced effects. Probably the ones you will use the most when editing together clips are scene transitions and filter effects. Scene transitions are the effects that occur between scene changes instead of just jumping from one scene to another. It might be something like wiping the screen from top to bottom or the infamous “Star Wars” clock-style transition. Filters are applied to sections of video at a time and give the whole section a different look. It might be as simple as converting color to black and white or perhaps a soft lens effect as you might see in a dream sequence. Even the most basic of applications will support both of these and, in the case where an automatic editing facility is provided, they will add in scene transitions for you. There are a couple of more advanced effects that feature mainly on the higher end home user applications and the professional systems. One of these is the picture in picture effect which is pretty much exactly as it sounds. It allows you to have a small part of the main screen dedicated to playing a different clip in a different timeline. It is usually quite easy to achieve the effect, but the more simple applications may not support it. The other important effect is chroma-keying or, as it is commonly called, blue or green screening. This allows you to remove the background of a shot and replace it with something else – either computer generated or otherwise. Applications aimed at home users will sometimes include support for this, but often it can be quite a tricky process to get really good results and this is where you will need the more advanced tools a professional application offers. DVD Authoring DVD authoring is just the process of getting your completed movie onto disc and adding menus, titles and extra features. While it may sound quite complex and just another hassle after you have exhausted yourself editing the video, it can actually be quite easy. Most of the applications with DVD authoring capabilities that we looked at provide a range of templates that you can choose from which serve as a basis for your DVD. It’s easy to then alter the templates with your own text, sound or images to make it more personal. Blu-Ray authoring is essentially the same process, but the Blu-Ray format allows for a few extra tricks and effects that you can add to the titles. This isn’t as common as DVD authoring capabilities, but usually the top end versions of the home based applications will support it. In Conclusion... An easy mistake to make though would be to opt for something too simple that doesn’t give you a chance to do some more complex things if the mood takes you. There are plenty of mid range applications that provide easy to use wizards as well as more advanced tools and we reckon these probably offer the best value for money for most people. At the end of the day the decision is yours so have a look at our reviews for a few different products, download a few free trials and see which feels best for you.
<< Check out our Top 10 Video Editing Software Reviews
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Top 10 Video Editing Software
How to Choose your Video Editing Software |
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