Whats the best video editing software?

compacho · Post by **compacho** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:45 am

Hey, I would like to edit some of my Simpsons episodes because they have commercials in them. Can someone tell me a program that lets me cut out portions of video. I want something with a lot of options like Adobe premiere but is easy to use like Windows Movie Maker. Also, is it possibe for movie maker to save a movie in a format other than .wmv?

Any links will be appreciated.

Nintenter · Post by **Nintenter** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:57 am

you could try VirtualDub....although it takes a while to understand and get used to...

hearld500 · Post by **hearld500** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 1:12 am

I, movie if you have a mac.

I've used it at my school and it works ausome.

Narcissus · Post by **Narcissus** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 1:15 am

Ulead Media Studio Pro is the most user friendly that I've tried. As long as you know how to use a timeline editor, you're set. If not, it just takes 10-15 minutes to figure out...

But there's also the Pinnacle software too. I used the trial version of it, and I liked it a lot too.

OneThirty8 · Post by **OneThirty8** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 1:55 am

If you're just messing around with stuff for yourself, find whatever is free or cheap and use that. Windows movie Maker, VDub, Pinnacle StudioDV, Sonic Foundry VideoFactory, whatever. I suggest trying VDub and if you don't like it for what you're doing then download a demo of something.

I think you can get Sonic Foundry's VideoFactory for around $60. It's similar to Vegas (which I have used and it's good) only more stripped down. If you're going to do a lot of stuff, that's pretty easy to use.

I'm pretty sure it was the Pinnacle StudioDV that came with my firewire card that would allow you to export your project as MPG for VCD or SVCD. I never used that program much because it was too simplified for what I do (I used Premiere at the time, and use Avid XpressDV now) but if I needed something user friendly and cheap for the kind of thing you're talking about the Pinnacle stuff's not bad and won't have all kinds of fancy stuff you don't need getting in the way of doing a simple task.

Drinkcast · Post by **Drinkcast** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:02 am

do u know the most expensive one?

OneThirty8 · Post by **OneThirty8** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 3:59 am

For PC? Probably the latest Avid Software. I use Avid XpressDV on my Mac, but I was a student when I bought it so I got it for $400 instead of the $1400 it was listed for at the time or the $995 it's going for now... (They have something new coming out soon from what I hear.) Cool thing about Avid Xpress though, is when you buy it you get both the PC and Mac discs. If you're like me and have both a PC and a Mac, and something happens to one all you need to do is plug the USB dongle into the other machine and install the software, and you can copy your project to the other platform.

The other cool thing about Avid XDV is that if you know that software, then you know how to use their high end stuff (many thousands of dollars) because the user interface is the same.

compacho · Post by **compacho** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 5:47 pm

Hmmmm, so many to choose from. Ummm, i guess i'l check out Ulead Media Studio Pro and see how easy it is to use. keep the names coming.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 5:52 pm

I quite like WIndows Movie Maker because it seperates each camera change into seperate bits making it easy to delete what isn't needed. The only problem with that is that it requires re-compression, and it's limited to WMV. Failing that, I'd say VirtualDub is your best bet, as it doesn't require re-compression and allows for more accurate editing.

Gmc · Post by **Gmc** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 6:37 pm

I kinda miss windows movie maker, I used to use it back on XP, but you cant get it running on win server 2k3...ah well Ulead Media Studio Pro 6 gets the job done

JuddWack · Post by **JuddWack** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 7:05 pm

Well Premier is pretty damn easy to use. Although I never used Final Cut Pro or Avid I know a lot of the other kids in the computer lab did. They are probably a lot more expensive. if your a student i know adobe has a package including premier for pretty cheap.

jaredfogle · Post by **jaredfogle** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 10:25 pm

If they are in a real format (i.e. not a havk of AVI), then Apple's Quicktime Pro will more than suffice for cutting out commercials. I think QT Pro is available for Windows, too.

Post by **Roofus** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 11:33 pm

VirtualDub is perfect for removing commercials

Post by **Specially Cork** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 6:01 am

For real video editing, Adobe Premiere is good (we have it in college).

compacho · Post by **compacho** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 11:59 am

First i would like to add that premiere is in no way easy to learn. I rather hit myself in the head with a hammer. Anyways, I've tried virtualdub and i gotta say that the smoothing filter is GREAT! It removes all the compression artifacts. But I guess this filter is only really geared to cartoon movies.

Well i got a question. I was experimenting with a ren and stimpy episode which is a mpeg thats 90megs. I'm guessing virtualdub can't save mpegs only AVIs. When i try to save as AVI the program tells me that the end result will be 3gigs. How do i get it to save under 100megs while keeping the movie looking smooth?

Post by **Roofus** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 12:36 pm

compacho wrote:First i would like to add that premiere is in no way easy to learn. I rather hit myself in the head with a hammer. Anyways, I've tried virtualdub and i gotta say that the smoothing filter is GREAT! It removes all the compression artifacts. But I guess this filter is only really geared to cartoon movies.

Well i got a question. I was experimenting with a ren and stimpy episode which is a mpeg thats 90megs. I'm guessing virtualdub can't save mpegs only AVIs. When i try to save as AVI the program tells me that the end result will be 3gigs. How do i get it to save under 100megs while keeping the movie looking smooth?

You forgot to add compression.

Go to Video -> Compression and select the codec of your choice. I recommend DivX with a bitrate of 768kbps. If size is really important to you, you can go lower (512 or so.) but 768 seems to offer the best balance between quality and size.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 1:15 pm

It depends on your resolution - if you're sticking to VCD resolution (352x240 for NTSC) then you can drop to around 500, but if you're talking sattelite TV quality, then I'd go to 700 or more.