Here is a compilation of the free video editing software that is available. It is not particularly ordered in any way other than to highlight the ones that I consider mainstream for the available Operating Systems and then those cross-platform. These are Windows Movie Maker (not the best, but comes preinstalled), iMovie (possibly the best free video editing software around) and Cinelerra (the one that makes professional video editing as cheap as the cheapest computer you can buy*) Read the rest of this entry »
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 comes packed with a punch. It comes with a nice collection of upgrades that will not only save you big chunks of time, but they will pay for themselves with the amount of work you could be doing. As Michael Testi puts it “Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 attempts to reduce the complex process that is video production. It does this by including copies of the products Adobe OnLocation CS4 and Adobe Encore CS4 to try to make each step of the video production more efficient and giving you more time to work your story”.
Among the many upgrades, here are the few that I consider the best. First, the support for HD video, both on the hardware edge and on the software edge. That is, the support for AVCHD cameras and the support for full HD Blu-Ray auhoring. This one is something everybody wanted. Now you can connect your HD Digital Camcorder to the computer and start working on your video in minutes. When you finish, just pop in a Blu-ray disc and you are done (well almost).
Second, the batch encoders. Now on Premiere CS4 you can easily render HD videos, DVD’s and SWF (Flash) files from the same master. It might not seem like a big deal, but it will save you a tremendous amount of time. Add to this that you can directly export your video to Encore CS4 and you have 3 distribution channels for the price (and time) of one.
Lastly, there is a nice additional feature that goes more into the breakthrough technology than the productivity suite. Adobe has included a speech recognition engine that automatically transcribes what is said in the video. This turns into keywords (for easy search) and full transcripts. Although it is not a very developed feature it has many possibilities and will surely flourish in upcoming updates.
Adobe Premiere just got better, if you are looking forward to improving your productivity and render the best professional videos, Adobe Premiere CS4 is your best bet.
Have you heard of this new service called Animoto? It takes your images or photos, mixes them with some cool soundtracks and creates a slide show in motion. You might be thinking, “Sounds simple. Not too exciting…” Well guess again. This service rocks! Ever had a family pictures collection you wanted to send to your relatives? How about adding some Christmas carols to the mix? Excellent for replacing those old e-cards. How about a ballad for that series of pictures of you and your significant other you have been meaning to send? The possibilities are endless!
Look at what I did with ZERO experience and a bit of trial and error:
Total work time: 10 minutes!
With your free account you get UNLIMITED 30 seconds shorts. That is about 15 images. There is a paid version that comes with a lot of features, but for most the free version will suffice. Click the image below and start making amazing videos TODAY!
PS: For a limited time, if you click the link above you can get a 20% discount on a year long All Access Pass with unlimited FULL LENGTH VIDEOS, unlimited downloads and more!
Here is a mini tutorial by TalentedPixie.com about how to apply effects in Adobe Premiere CS3. It should also allow you to get a sense about how Adobe Premiere (and many other video editors) works. Take into account that this is a piece of software targeted to professionals, so you probably will not be seeing a very intuitive and clean User Interface (UI), but a more packed and efficiency driven one. That should not scare you though, once you get around the ropes with it, you will be doing things much faster and much easier. Then you will appreciate why the interface is like that.
I just heard of the AVS Video Editor (and the AVS Suite in general) and decided to give it a try. The concept seems great, register one of their products and get all of them immediately. At almost $60, it seems like a reasonable price. I played with it for a while and here is the result (made with the default sample clips and audio):
This was uploaded directly after rendering without any extra processing
The features are not the greatest, but they seem to work fine. There are many prepackaged effects and transitions that add a lot of eye candy to your videos. There were some features missing, specially for more professional video editing jobs, like the lack of a precise time and frames control. For example, if you want an effect to last for 5 seconds, you have to calculate it yourself looking at the timeline and just approximate it. The user interface is not all that intuitive, but without looking at the help I was able to get most of it done and I believe I tried almost all of the features for the editing part. When it comes down to video editing, I would like a little more flexibility, but if you do not mind just going with the presets for the most part and just want to get a decent looking video in a short amount of time, this might be the software for you.
There are other features you might be interested in, for example, it has a wide variety of exporting formats, from straight to DVD quality to straight to YouTube and everything in between. I did not try for a full HD video, but it might be possible. The video above is in fact rendered in 720p. Of course the quality is not that great because it is made with low quality clips, but it is possible to do HD with this software.
I was pleased with the rendering speed and the support for h.264. Overall it looks like a good possibility for the price. If you are looking to upgrade from Movie Maker to a nonlinear video editing software, this is for you. If you want to make your home videos spicier without spending a fortune or a lot of time, this is for you.
With the release of the Nikon D90 and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, professional high definition video seems to be easier to approach than ever before. If you have not seen the promotional videos already look for them below. They are stunning visual masterpieces. However, high definition video not only eats hard drive storage like crazy, but it also requires a powerful system and processor to edit and prepare for final rendering and mastering. It is at this time that Cyberlink Power Director 7 comes into the picture. Recently it was announced that Power Director 7 supports the new Intel i7 quad core processor. With the cost of hardware, specially memory, coming down, it is now affordable to put together a quality video editing system, and with Intel’s new creating at the core, now more than ever it is time to start doing some high definition video.
