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Desktop Video Editing for Everyone
Editing Video Software - Info and Review
You can inexpensively produce professional
grade videos on your own PC!
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Until recent times, video editing was an entity wholly restricted to film and movie makers. With the advent of digital
photography combined with the proliferation of personal digital camcorders and advanced personal computers,
video editing can be done cheaply by anyone. To make video editing practical for everyone, there are many video
editing software programs available for Windows or Mac computers that make editing your own movies easy and fun.
Even if you want to make professional grade video for your business or product marketing, you can do it with any of
the top video editing applications available to the home hobbyist or business entrepreneur.
If you're ready to jump into the world of video editing but aren’t quite sure what equipment or video editing software you'll need then read below for tips and advice that will get you going in the right direction.
Having The Right Stuff...
Computer
Nothing makes a computer work harder than video editing. Moving around and manipulating multi-gigabyte video files is a strain on any system. The most taxing point in the video editing process is the rendering phase. Rendering is the action the computer takes to apply video-editing effects to your video files and then create a final usable output like DVD, mp4 or any of the other video file output types. If you've got an older, slower PC, this process can take (in some cases) 10 times the length of the video to render. The newer you’re PC the less time it will take to render a video. Duo-core processor based PCs work quite well but Quad core and above really get the rendering done in a hurry. Don't worry, if you don't have the latest, fastest PC on the market, older PCs work too; just know that it will take longer to get the task done.
No matter what PC processor you have three other components of the computer play a major role in the editing process - Memory or Ram, Hard Disk space and operating system. In the case of Ram and Hard disk space you'll want to have as much as your PC system will allow. Having less than 2 Meg of ram and or less than 5 gig of available hard disk space is not recommended. When it comes to an operating system, most any system less than 5 years old will work. Keep in mind the latest operating systems are designed for hi-end operation that video editing presents.
If you want to create DVD's or Blu-Ray disks then your PC will have to be equipped with the appropriate disk burning device.
Monitor
Considering the monitor is the most hands/eyes on piece of equipment of the video editing process, it's important to get a monitor that not only gives you a great picture, but also has a display that's easy on the eyes. If your monitor is less than 17 inches and it's not an LCD or LED widescreen it's time to upgrade. Although it's certainly possible to edit video on other smaller CRT monitors, it's not going to be as enjoyable.
Computer monitors come in all sizes and bigger is better, to a point. Fifteen-inch monitors are on the small side for video editing, a monitor between 17 and 24 inches is ideal. Using a monitor larger than twenty-five inch is OK but does not add any advantage. Also keep in mind that older monitors are a 3:4 aspect ratio (almost square) while newer monitors and most in use today are widescreen or 16:9 aspect ratio.
An important factor for a monitor is to be able to view the video production in the native resolution that it is produced as. In other words, if you create a video in Hi-Def then you'll want a monitor that is capable of displaying the video in Hi-Def.
Video Editing Software
First off, be aware there are scores of video editing applications available to the consumer. You can find many free applications that will work great for simple editing tasks including editing your home movies. However eventually you'll find a shortage of editing features and support with the free apps, but for many, a free app will work great. If you want to do more advance editing, you'll likely need to upgrade to a paid version of video editing software. See our list of the top 5 low cost video editing applications.
Before you choose which video editing software application to use consider what you'll need it for and how elaborate you want to be in your editing process. Do you just want to cut out bad sections and produce a DVD or do you want to add graphics, audio, transitions, titles, overlays, zooms & pans and even more? Are you making home movies or videos for your business? Do you want to place your videos at YouTube or other video hosting sites? What type of production output do you want?
There are many things video editing programs can do, many things that you may not even know right now. Take a few minutes to review the features of the video editing applications you are considering and remember an important feature of any video editing software is ease of use. Video editing is a complicated task and can be over whelming, but good applications make the complicated task EZ and enjoyable.
If you're ready to jump into the world of video editing but aren’t quite sure what equipment or video editing software you'll need then read below for tips and advice that will get you going in the right direction.
Having The Right Stuff...
Computer
Nothing makes a computer work harder than video editing. Moving around and manipulating multi-gigabyte video files is a strain on any system. The most taxing point in the video editing process is the rendering phase. Rendering is the action the computer takes to apply video-editing effects to your video files and then create a final usable output like DVD, mp4 or any of the other video file output types. If you've got an older, slower PC, this process can take (in some cases) 10 times the length of the video to render. The newer you’re PC the less time it will take to render a video. Duo-core processor based PCs work quite well but Quad core and above really get the rendering done in a hurry. Don't worry, if you don't have the latest, fastest PC on the market, older PCs work too; just know that it will take longer to get the task done.
No matter what PC processor you have three other components of the computer play a major role in the editing process - Memory or Ram, Hard Disk space and operating system. In the case of Ram and Hard disk space you'll want to have as much as your PC system will allow. Having less than 2 Meg of ram and or less than 5 gig of available hard disk space is not recommended. When it comes to an operating system, most any system less than 5 years old will work. Keep in mind the latest operating systems are designed for hi-end operation that video editing presents.
If you want to create DVD's or Blu-Ray disks then your PC will have to be equipped with the appropriate disk burning device.
Monitor
Considering the monitor is the most hands/eyes on piece of equipment of the video editing process, it's important to get a monitor that not only gives you a great picture, but also has a display that's easy on the eyes. If your monitor is less than 17 inches and it's not an LCD or LED widescreen it's time to upgrade. Although it's certainly possible to edit video on other smaller CRT monitors, it's not going to be as enjoyable.
Computer monitors come in all sizes and bigger is better, to a point. Fifteen-inch monitors are on the small side for video editing, a monitor between 17 and 24 inches is ideal. Using a monitor larger than twenty-five inch is OK but does not add any advantage. Also keep in mind that older monitors are a 3:4 aspect ratio (almost square) while newer monitors and most in use today are widescreen or 16:9 aspect ratio.
An important factor for a monitor is to be able to view the video production in the native resolution that it is produced as. In other words, if you create a video in Hi-Def then you'll want a monitor that is capable of displaying the video in Hi-Def.
Video Editing Software
First off, be aware there are scores of video editing applications available to the consumer. You can find many free applications that will work great for simple editing tasks including editing your home movies. However eventually you'll find a shortage of editing features and support with the free apps, but for many, a free app will work great. If you want to do more advance editing, you'll likely need to upgrade to a paid version of video editing software. See our list of the top 5 low cost video editing applications.
Before you choose which video editing software application to use consider what you'll need it for and how elaborate you want to be in your editing process. Do you just want to cut out bad sections and produce a DVD or do you want to add graphics, audio, transitions, titles, overlays, zooms & pans and even more? Are you making home movies or videos for your business? Do you want to place your videos at YouTube or other video hosting sites? What type of production output do you want?
There are many things video editing programs can do, many things that you may not even know right now. Take a few minutes to review the features of the video editing applications you are considering and remember an important feature of any video editing software is ease of use. Video editing is a complicated task and can be over whelming, but good applications make the complicated task EZ and enjoyable.