Best video editing software for noobies?

[Acanthus]

Youd think Pinnacle Studio 8, being $100 software... wouldnt fail to capture using its own tools, and crash everytime you open a video on scene detection i have emailed support and havent heard back from them yet...

Can anyone suggest good video editing software? I only need a few features....

1. cut clips from raw footage. (MPEG-1/2, AVI)
2. paste clips together
3. insert titles/credits/text popups
4. add in backround music from MP3/WAV files. (either or)

 

[Acanthus]

bump

 

[rbV5]

Are you all patched up with Pinnacle? Studio8 has had its share of bugs, and 9 is suppoed to be much better. I'm using Pinnacle 8.12.7.0 (ATI version) for a couple DVD projects right now and its working pretty good, however I only use it for editing and DVD authoring/burning...never capture with it except for my DV cam (I use ATI's PVR for capture) and I make sure to save often

As far as other editors go, I like Vegas Video alot and they have a home version called screenblast. Its around a $100 as well however.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: rbV5
Are you all patched up with Pinnacle? Studio8 has had its share of bugs, and 9 is suppoed to be much better. I'm using Pinnacle 8.12.7.0 (ATI version) for a couple DVD projects right now and its working pretty good, however I only use it for editing and DVD authoring/burning...never capture with it except for my DV cam (I use ATI's PVR for capture) and I make sure to save often

As far as other editors go, I like Vegas Video alot and they have a home version called screenblast. Its around a $100 as well however.

i am not up to date, im only running the 1st or 2nd patch since release, 8.0.9 or something to that effect. It wont let me patch without verifying my email through registration... and i changed ISPs and can no longer use that email.

That was also part of my email to support.

 

[Acanthus]

I can tell its a problem directly associated with the video streams or codecs of what its trying to import, because it will import files that i know were created on pinnacle studio, but not files recorded by Asus Digi VCR II.

My next vain attempt at compatibility is to try the different codecs available in the VCR to try to get one that works.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
I can tell its a problem directly associated with the video streams or codecs of what its trying to import, because it will import files that i know were created on pinnacle studio, but not files recorded by Asus Digi VCR II.

My next vain attempt at compatibility is to try the different codecs available in the VCR to try to get one that works.

If nothing else you could cap using huffyuv codec (lossless AVI) and import it in to Pinnacle, if you have alot of hardrive space it works very well and edits easily. It handles the ATI MPEG files fine, but mine is a bundled ATI version.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Originally posted by: Acanthus
I can tell its a problem directly associated with the video streams or codecs of what its trying to import, because it will import files that i know were created on pinnacle studio, but not files recorded by Asus Digi VCR II.

My next vain attempt at compatibility is to try the different codecs available in the VCR to try to get one that works.

If nothing else you could cap using huffyuv codec (lossless AVI) and import it in to Pinnacle, if you have alot of hardrive space it works very well and edits easily. It handles the ATI MPEG files fine, but mine is a bundled ATI version.

I have around 35gigs on the partition free.

You kind of lost me with the way you worded it, are you suggesting i encode the recordings to huffyuv codec, then import them to PS8?

What application would i need to do this?

 

[bamacre]

You could do it with VirtualDub.

Just open the video in Vdub, click on 'video' then 'compression' and select the compression method from the list. Then 'File' - 'Save as .avi' and you're done.

 

[rbV5]

Huffuv Link is a lossless (or nearly so) codec. If your capture program (Asus Digi VCR II) supports AVI codecs for capture, just install it and pick from the list. It gives you about 50% compression over uncompressed AVI.

It does require alot of hardrive space however (35 GB will give you a couple hours capture at best), and essentially it is geared towrd VFW rather than Direct show, so it isn't supported on some newer capture apps. I used to use it quite a bit, but not so much any more. It does make editing easy since its frame based, and the quality is good and it makes good source material for an encoder. It just takes a tremendous amount of hardrive space.

Virtualdub is a good freeware capture...linear editor. It also supports MPEG import, and if you look for modified versions, MPEG-2 as well.

It would be easiest if Pinnacle capture worked for you. It would be nice if your MPEG captures from Digi VCR would import into Pinnacle. TMPEnc is more encoder than editor, but may also something to consider.

Lots of good stuff here also: Videohelp.com

 

[Acanthus]

thanks a lot rbV5, ill try some of your suggestions now

I dont want to mess with vitrualdub because of all the plugins required for MPEG-2 support etc.

 

[rbV5]

Try small captures, ~1 minute is good, for your trials to make sure everything works the way you expect. RW media is also a good idea. You can author short DVD's or VCD's to try out. Both these methods save tons of time in the long run.

 

[Acanthus]

Support contacted me, got the patch, and the update allows me to capture directly into PS8.

Problems resolved!!

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Support contacted me, got the patch, and the update allows me to capture directly into PS8.

Problems resolved!!

:thumbsup:

 

[oldfart]

Glad to see you got it going.

BTW, I upgrade to Studio 9. Has some nice improvements like full screen preview (finally) video and audio quality correction.

The latest 9.1 patch gives you FREE Hollywood FX effects. There are a TON of them on the 2nd CD.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: oldfart
Glad to see you got it going.

BTW, I upgrade to Studio 9. Has some nice improvements like full screen preview (finally) video and audio quality correction.

The latest 9.1 patch gives you FREE Hollywood FX effects. There are a TON of them on the 2nd CD.

Ill probably eventually do it, but im not shelling out $100 again anytime soon

 

[rbV5]

BTW, I upgrade to Studio 9. Has some nice improvements like full screen preview (finally) video and audio quality correction.

I've been contemplating whether to upgrade or not. I wasn't really using Pinnacle untill just recently when I finally got a DV camcorder and my DVD burner. Luckily the preview window works with theater mode, so I use my big screen for the previews, but the interface itself isn't my favorite, thats for sure.

Does Pinnacle 9 support hardware rendering on the Radeon? Thats the best part of Pinnacle in that I can do much of my work without having to re-render all the time, it sure makes setting the transitions up a whole lot easier.

 

[oldfart]

rbv5
AFAIK, it still only accelerates Hollywood FX 3D transitions. I ran an unscientific test

Short 7:40 project comprised of 5 clips with 6 FX transitions. Made a best quality DVD (file not disk)

Create disk time with no HW: 12:50
Create disk time with HW: 13:31

HW option seemed to slow it down. I'd have to run a few tests to see if this is a fluke or not, but there was certainly no gain.

Hyperthreading test:
Same project without transitions 6:50 total time

HT enabled (bios)
Create disk time: 12:30

HT disabled (bios)
Create disk time: 13:15

I dont mind the interface (I actually like it). I just started playing with it. Here are a few things I notice:

S9 now allows the program to use your whole desktop res instead of being stuck @ 10 x 7.
It now has a CBR/VBR option although no bitrate settings or help info is available
Rendering seems faster. I'm less than 2x time to render which I think was longer when I ran S8
Full screen preview available.
The color correction seems to do well at brightening up a dark clip
There are over 500 Hollywood FX transition which are now FREE. You used to have to pay extra for them. These are pretty cool transitions, not just wipes and fades.

Acanthus
Look around for a deal. I never paid a lot for Studio. I got S8 free after rebate, S9 for $50 after rebate.

 

[rbV5]

S9 now allows the program to use your whole desktop res instead of being stuck @ 10 x 7.

Thats a big improvment right there. Thats what I disliked in the previous versions. Thanks for the info on using the acceleration, it would be nice if it provided some accelerated encoding. Looks like I'll be upgrading.

 

[oldfart]

Best Buy has Studio 9 for $50 after $20 upgrade rebate.

 

[bamacre]

I actually used a Flash editing program to do some stunt videos for Vice City. If anyone has experience using Macromedia Flash or Adobe's Live Motion 2 (now discontinued), they make good small video editers. It's nice to be able to work frame by frame. Although I did used them because I had never had experience using a real video editing program.

My Last Video

(I was actually banned from Anandtech Forums because of my username)

 

[MatthewF01]

dare i say it but i have actually had really nice smooth results using Windows Movie Maker... VERSION 2.

i cant stress the version 2 enough. the one that ships with XP is crap, but they updated the software and it gives you tons of stuff to do, very simple and works to get you the jist of video editing so you can eventually move beyond its simplicity

 

[bamacre]

Yeah, I've heard that about WMM2, but until it will export a different format, meh.

Unless I am mistaken and it will export .avi or even .mpeg?

 

[imported_obsidian]

I heard Ulead has some decent software. Pinnacle is notorious for being buggy and crashing a lot.

 

[gsellis]

Oldfart beat me to it. BB has good deals on Studio 9 and that is what I would get.

Also, check for the Canopus DV1/DV2 converter. There should be a link at videohelp/dvdrhelp for it and it is free. It will convert type-1 AVIs to type-2, and that may be your issue.

 

[alexruiz]

Originally posted by: obsidian
I heard Ulead has some decent software. Pinnacle is notorious for being buggy and crashing a lot.

Surprising that it took many posts before someone mentioned Ulead. Video Studio 8 is more stable and quite faster than Pinnacle studio 9.