Video editing doubts

-Which is the most recommended video editing software for windows
-Whats the difference between premier and after effects?
-Can some one tellme the minimum requirements of a computer, to be suitable enough for video editing(minimum config)

Thanks

 

Theozard,

You ask a very open ended question, though it may not seem so. I will be happy to lend what experience I have gained in 8 years of video shooting/editing as a hobby.

(My) Answer to Question #1:
There is a wide range of video editing software available with different capabilities, different applications, and wildly different prices. Are you editing home movies? Are you looking to edit short videos to post on YouTube? Are you looking at a much more ambitious project? Are you capturing video that you have shot or are you editing already digitized footage? If you are capturing footage, is it from an analog source (RCA jacks from your camcorder or VCR) or is it from a digital source (IEEE 1394, a.k.a. "firewire")?

A lot to consider.

On the higher end of consumer video editing software would be Premiere as you mention, as well as ULead's Media Studio Pro. There is also Canopus' EDIUS product. Expect to pay several hundred dollars for any of these. There are others in this price range as well, but these are the ones I am most familliar with. At the low end you can find lots of software just at BestBuy or CompUSA. Some of it is real "crapware" though, so be careful.

The only low-end software I am familliar with is one from Roxio. I saw someone edit their home video footage with it and while they were a bit restricted as to what they could do, it produced a nice video lickety-split.

May of these software vendors have 15- or 30-day trials you can download and check out. I STRONGLY suggest you take them up on it before plunking down your hard-earned cash.

(My) Answer to question #2:
As far as Premiere goes, I have a copy of it...but it is older. Something like version 6.5. I never liked it. It was huge (memory requirements), buggy, etc. I installed it once on my PC, got frustrated and bought something else.

My understanding is that Adobe has significantly upgraded that software since the copy I have, so it would be worth another look if you can stomach the price.

I'm afraid I do not know what "aftereffects" is...but I suspect that Premeire is the editing suite and "aftereffects" is some sort of "add-on." Perhaps someone else will know more.

(My) Answer to question #3:
With respect to your computer...again, there is a lot to know about what you want to do. I'll give you my general thoughts:

1) You will be unhappy with the results if your editing computer is using old hard drive technology. If it is a recent PC then you should have 7200 RPM hard drive(s) in it. You will be most unhappy if you have the slower 5400 RPM drives. Odds are heavily weighted in favor of you having the 7200 RPM drives though.

2) I have an editing machine that runs on a 2.4 ghz Pentium 4 and I get good results. Of course, that is ALL that machine is set up to do. If it is not your primary computer...that is, if it is dedicated to editing, then DO NOT install any antivirus software on it. Or if you do, disable it when you are editing (and take appropriate steps to protect the machine...such as do not be connected to the internet while the antivirus is disabled).

3) More memory is always good. At least 1 gig of memory will make you happy. You can get by with less, but 1Gig is the least I would use if you can afford it.

4) Drive space is something you need to calculate. You can easily use up A LOT of hard drive space. If you are shooting/editing /capturing digital video, I believe the data rate is something like 3.5 minutes of video per 1 gigabyte of disk space. If you know how long your video is you can do the math. Remember to account for both the size of your video clips in the editor PLUS the size of the final output video. This is assuming that you are editing with lossless compression (like a DV codec) and not with MPEG2 files. If you are not familliar with this, I would advise that you edit your videos with AVI files using a DV Codec and then convert your final video to MPEG2 if you are going to burn a DVD or Video CD.

Actually, this brings up a whole new area which you did not ask about: Burning DVDs. There is a LOT to talk about here. DVD Burners and DVD formats are NOT all equal. They will not all play in all set-top players. Therefore, if you wish to make DVDs of your videos and send them to family, friends, etc., you will want to let us know. There are lots of places you can look for information on compatability with set top DVD players, DVD formats, etc. Plus, there is more and more software out there for mastering DVDs. Lots of options.

These are just some guidelines while not really knowing the details of what you wish to do. It could be WAY overkill if all you want to do is convert a 30 second video into something you can post to YouTube.

Let us know and we can target our help a bit more.

Good luck!

 

Mirage, thanks for the amazing reply. Hats off for taking time out
This is what i want to do with the videos
-Right now i wanna practise editing so that later i can edit video podcasts. Which means i'll do a lot of shooting work then edit it and do it well, as in put effects and kinda have complete control over the video so i want to choose a editor which will keep read for the future, thus i was considering premier although it does cost quite a bit

 

Theozard,

You are very welcome. I endured a lot of pain in learning what I did about PC based editing. Some of that information is dated now...but...I am happy to help someone avoid the pitfalls if I can.

Okay, you indicate you are "shooting" and then editing. I think you will find that it is a LOT of fun to do so! Are you set to go with being able to capture your video? Do you expect to capture your video with analog or digital, and do you have the necessary hardware/software to do so?

 

Hey Mirage,
It's really good of you to help out people.
Here is my situation
-I have a JVC cam(HDD) which is currently using its proprietary format '.mod' which is the worst part, because it only works in power director and i have to convert it to different formats. Anyways, so i will be changing the cam to a sony. So i think that should not be a problem.
I am purchasing premier soon because i have this other really bad cam but it uses the mpeg format so atleast i can start practising with that.
Please let me know what do you think and how i should go ahead with this thing

 

Hey Theozard,

I had to look up your camera with the Microdrive as I had not seen any HDD cameras before (told you some of my video experience is dated!).

As I understand it, with THAT camera you would transfer your video via USB 2.0. A nice touch (being sarcastic here) for JVC to make certain that the format of the video placed on the computer was not a common format. That is good to know.

Okay, so you are going to change that camera for a Sony. Again, what is the mechanism you are going to use to get the video digitized into your computer? Does it too also use USB or do you need some sort of capture hardware? Also, this older camera of which you speak? Are you set hardware wise for capturing video from that camera?

I am a bit uncertain as to whether or not you want ideas on how to capture the video or if you already have that covered. Let me know and I can either provide some ideas or move on to whatever it is you want some ideas for next.

Also, if you are decided on Premiere that's great. Again I just caution you that if you have not used it before personally see if you can get a trial version. In addition to giving you some experience with the actual software, it will also give you a feel for how well (or how poorly) it will run on your computer.

 

-Which is the most recommended video editing software for windows
-Can some one tellme the minimum requirements of a computer, to be suitable enough for video editing(minimum config)

Well, you can try out Magix Movie Edit Pro, which is a budget software with features rivalling top-end programs.

There's a complete basic video editing course with Magix Movie Edit Pro at:

http://www.freevideoworkshop.com/magixvideoeditingcourseindex.htm to help you get started

As for minimum requirements for PC video editing check out an article on optimizing your computer for video editing at

www.freevideoworkshop.com/optimizingyourcomputerforvideoediting.htm

Happy Exploring.

Kumara

 

Adobe premiere is an editing suite, I use it, it´s a great easy to use product, very intuitive.

The easiest way to describe after effects, it´s like photoshop for video, you can add all tipes of effects and filter to your video productions, if done right, it really enhances them. Then you export your files to premiere and edit them.

They are both pretty expensive but well worth the money if you are serious about video.

Hope that helps.