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Video Software For YouTube?

Cyberlink Power Director.
or sony vegas. but vegas has too many quirks and bugs, and damn, those render options give you .. just .. never mind . Power Director. ignore vegas, it's crap.
 
It entirely depends on what you're making a how-to video *of*. If you're doing "how to change the oil filter in your car" then you want literally any video editor that supports whatever you used to film you changing the oil in your car.

If you're doing "how to format a hard drive in Windows" then you need software that can record what you're doing on your PC.

But I'm no "expert" on youtube videos, so what do I know? 🙄
 
For editing, Sony Vegas Pro is always good. Maybe Adobe After Effects for the finishing touch.

For recording, Nvidia Shadowplay simply.
 
DigDog said:
Cyberlink Power Director.
or sony vegas. but vegas has too many quirks and bugs, and damn, those render options give you .. just .. never mind . Power Director. ignore vegas, it's crap.
Click to expand...

What the hell are you smoking?

Vegas isn't perfect but far from 'crap'. And you'll be hard pressed to find anything as full featured that will render videos as well and as fast as Vegas does for Windows.

Premiere and After Effects are 'better' overall, but rendering takes longer and the preview function is nowhere near as fluent. For this reason, Vegas is pretty much the standard for cranking out pro quality within a short period of time.
Not to mention, Vegas is MUCH more forgiving if you run older hardware whereas one might struggle trying to run Premiere of AE on a less than adequate system.


I used Power Director years ago and I found it very lacking. Now that may have changed since then, but If that's not the case; I'd probably recommend looking at some freeware programs as opposed to PD.

OP, If you have the money; I'd probably go with Vegas. It's easy to learn and use and will be perfect for how to videos. However I should point out that it has been a long time since Have used anything outside of Adobe Premiere, AE, and Sony Vegas so I'm not up to speed on the free alternatives so they may some viable free alternatives that I am not aware of. One open source program I recall that looked promising was a project called '4KDenLive' (SP?) IIRC. It was only available for linux at the time I tried it but they might have a Windows port by now. Don't know where they're at with it these days but it could be worth checking out.


Also I'm going to give you a few tips for making good videos:



  • Cut to the chase
If you're making how-to videos, please please please skip the intros and avoid rambling into tangents. Just be direct and clear as possible when giving instructions. This is the main reason I hate how-to videos

  • Don't underestimate the importance of good audio
You'll likely be narrating most of your videos so for the best results; record your voice in a closet or small enclosed space. Also you can use Audacity's noise removal plugin and you won't have all that annoying background noise.
If you don't have a decent mic, get one (preferably USB). In the meantime your smartphone will work with a decent voice recording app.

  • Tell people what they'll need at the beginning
Right off the bat you should call out all of the needed materials, downloads, tools ,etc. Nobody likes getting in the middle of a project only to find out something is missing.


  • Lights
If you'll be in the video, get some decent lights. Cheap clamps lights will do the job for now.

  • Get a good camera app if you are using your smartphone.
For android; I have used CinemaHD and it works great. You can play with the settings and find out what produces the best quality. Your smartphone is probably the most viable choice for a camera unless you plan on spending $500 or more on something better.
 
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