Home video editing software - One of the key, overriding points to keep in mind throughout the selection process is, "What is it that I am I REALLY going to do with the video editing software that I choose?" The answer to that question has to remain uppermost in your mind when selecting the best video editing software for you. It is easy to get distracted by all the "bells and whistles" on offer but the reality is that many of those features will ultimately prove useless to you.
All of the major home video editing software companies offer camcorder to DVD (or other output format) video editing solutions that make them almost inseparable from each other. So concentrate on what you REALLY need.
Formats. This first thing to establish is what is the format of the material you will be working with and what will be the formats that you will want to produce in the end.
Input will be determined by your camcorder or your DVD recorder or whatever the source of your material is. At the moment you will come in under one of the following headings from the point of view of video editing software. These formats are what you need to be aware of in judging the capabilities of the video editing software you choose.
Input:
Standard Definition (SD)
DV.AVI video recorded to mini DV tape on a camcorder. MPEG2 video recorded to mini DVD either on a camcorder or DVD recorder. MPEG2 video recorded to an inbuilt hard disc drive on a camcorder or DVD recorder.
Any of the various high compression formats such as MPEG4, H.264 recorded to flash type memory on camcorders, used for computer playback or internet display.
High Definition (HD):
HD MPEG2 (HDV) recorded to mini DV tape on a camcorder.
AVCHD or H.264 (an MPEG4 variant) recorded to inbuilt hard disc drive on a camcorder.
AVCHD or H.264 recorded to DVD on a camcorder.
AVCHD or H.264 recorded to solid state (flash etc.) memory on a camcorder.
Output:
DVD. This will be in the form of MPEG2 files authored (organized and written) to the DVD standard.
Completed projects or edited material written back to the original recording device. E.g. A completed project written back to a tape camcorder for archival purposes.
High Definition material written to a standard DVD.
High Definition material written to a Blue Ray disc or a HD D... oops! I guess we don't have to worry about that one now!
Any of a number of very highly compressed formats for viewing on computers, handheld devices or loading on to internet services such as YouTube.
As an added note here you also need to be aware of the various Dolby sound recording formats if your particular recording device, camcorder or DVD recorder uses it. Dolby licenses that technology and it may be only included with some software as an add-on.
So, your first task in deciding on what video editing software is suitable for you is to work out what your most common source files will be and what your most common output will be. That represents the core of what you will be using the software for and should be your main focus.
Bells and Whistles!
Like any other competitive market video editing software is caught up in a never ending race to keep up with technology as it develops and still make the product seem "sexy" to the customer.
The point is you probably don't WANT to buy video editing software. What you WANT is a finished video production. The problem for the software company is that they know you NEED to buy video editing software but that is not what you WANT! They have to make you WANT it! And because of that we get "bells and whistles" features that make you WANT IT but most likely will never need.
All of the major home video editing software companies offer camcorder to DVD (or other output format) video editing solutions that make them almost inseparable from each other. So concentrate on what you REALLY need.
Formats. This first thing to establish is what is the format of the material you will be working with and what will be the formats that you will want to produce in the end.
Input will be determined by your camcorder or your DVD recorder or whatever the source of your material is. At the moment you will come in under one of the following headings from the point of view of video editing software. These formats are what you need to be aware of in judging the capabilities of the video editing software you choose.
Input:
Standard Definition (SD)
DV.AVI video recorded to mini DV tape on a camcorder. MPEG2 video recorded to mini DVD either on a camcorder or DVD recorder. MPEG2 video recorded to an inbuilt hard disc drive on a camcorder or DVD recorder.
Any of the various high compression formats such as MPEG4, H.264 recorded to flash type memory on camcorders, used for computer playback or internet display.
High Definition (HD):
HD MPEG2 (HDV) recorded to mini DV tape on a camcorder.
AVCHD or H.264 (an MPEG4 variant) recorded to inbuilt hard disc drive on a camcorder.
AVCHD or H.264 recorded to DVD on a camcorder.
AVCHD or H.264 recorded to solid state (flash etc.) memory on a camcorder.
Output:
DVD. This will be in the form of MPEG2 files authored (organized and written) to the DVD standard.
Completed projects or edited material written back to the original recording device. E.g. A completed project written back to a tape camcorder for archival purposes.
High Definition material written to a standard DVD.
High Definition material written to a Blue Ray disc or a HD D... oops! I guess we don't have to worry about that one now!
Any of a number of very highly compressed formats for viewing on computers, handheld devices or loading on to internet services such as YouTube.
As an added note here you also need to be aware of the various Dolby sound recording formats if your particular recording device, camcorder or DVD recorder uses it. Dolby licenses that technology and it may be only included with some software as an add-on.
So, your first task in deciding on what video editing software is suitable for you is to work out what your most common source files will be and what your most common output will be. That represents the core of what you will be using the software for and should be your main focus.
Bells and Whistles!
Like any other competitive market video editing software is caught up in a never ending race to keep up with technology as it develops and still make the product seem "sexy" to the customer.
The point is you probably don't WANT to buy video editing software. What you WANT is a finished video production. The problem for the software company is that they know you NEED to buy video editing software but that is not what you WANT! They have to make you WANT it! And because of that we get "bells and whistles" features that make you WANT IT but most likely will never need.
