Any suggestions for a video editing program?

Ubersheist · #1 03-09-2013, 01:49 PM

I'm a newbie, and just want to post up some video with audio. I plan on trying to sync up music to video, or vice versa. I'll be making some basic instructional videos and live promo junk, where the audio is going into ProTools or Sonar, and I'll have a video camera going, too. I've been using the Windows Movie Maker, and found it's really not made for that. I'm not interested in using Protools 9's (or higher versions) video tools or anything like that, as I want a true video editing program. Here's what I'm looking for:

Easy to use. I'm a newbie, don't know much about videos
Simple in that I don't need any extras (except simple titles and text). It's mostly just syncing up audio to video only.
Audio controls
Cheap! I don't know what they cost, though.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Rockin Mike · #2 03-09-2013, 01:57 PM

Openshot for Linux does everything I need.

A quick Google shows that something called "Lightworks" is an open source video editor for Windows.

I never used Lightworks, don't know how good it is, but my experience with Linux is that the best free open source programs are as good or better than their expensive proprietary competition.

macrocheesium · #3 03-09-2013, 02:07 PM

I've always liked Sony Vegas. The current version (12) is expensive, but 11 is on Amazon for $70 right now which I consider to be a great deal. This is professional software and worth much more than that.

I've never used Openshot, but in general I've never had as much luck with open source software like that. Still, it's free so it wouldn't hurt to try.

DigitalMan · #4 03-09-2013, 02:26 PM

Adobe Premiere Elements is the consumer version of Premiere, which is somewhat of a standard in the Windows world. It's affordable at $99 for the full version.

Pilgrim · #5 03-09-2013, 10:44 PM

I'm in the video and audio tech biz at a university. We use both Premiere and Vegas.

Adobe Premere is first-rate, but Adobe's licensing policies are a huge pain in the butt. If their software wasn't so good no one would use them .

Sony Vegas is also very good and quite powerful. I have used it.

Either one will require hours of study and review before you can use it effectively. No video editing program I have run into is intuitive for everyone, and they all require a lot of study and familiarization before you can use them well.

Here's one recommendation you might like - I spent some time searching for audio and video editing programs, there's a bundle of media editing programs at AVS4YOU that are uniformly good, easy to use, and there are more than a dozen programs bundled together with a lifetime license for $59. I have used many of these programs and they are REALLY good. They're not full-bore heavy duty pro editing, but most of us don't need that.

Website: http://www.avs4you.com/

I suggest you try downloading the video editor and giving it a try...but the real deal is to buy the entire software bundle. Great stuff.

Exxcell · #6 03-09-2013, 10:55 PM

Camtasia Studio is very easy to use and looks professional. I use that and Sony Vegas exclusively.

NoxNoctus · #7 03-09-2013, 11:03 PM

As a filmmaker, I've cycled through just about everything. I've been using Premiere as my mainstay since 2006 now. Premiere looks foreboding at first but if you check out the Lynda.com tutorials and watch the layout walk through you'll realize just how easy it is.

The benefit of going with something like Premiere is that they are very robust, extremely powerful, and consistent. If you used Premiere 7 years ago and picked up the latest version today, it'd be like riding a bike.

If you can score a copy of Premiere Elements, that's my vote for the way to go.

My brother was looking to sync his GoPro bike footage to music. I hooked him up with Premiere and Lynda, within a week he was cutting footage really well.

Ubersheist · #8 03-13-2013, 08:06 AM

Thanks for the responses. I'll definitely be checking them all out.

To clarify what I'm trying to do, I have a couple of video sources (2 cameras) from different angles. We also had the performance recorded into ProTools. After mixing down everything, I found that with Windows Movie Maker, it's nearly impossible to splice in a different camera shot without screwing up the timing of the entire video after that time you splice in, and the splice itself is nearly impossible to time up right. The video will jump a bit even after spending a long time trying to sync things up.

After trying to then also sync up an audio track... well, it's just plain impossible.

I also plan on doing more of this, so that's mostly what I'm looking for in the program.

Thanks again for all the responses!

MatticusMania · #9 03-13-2013, 09:28 AM

Has anyone suggested Windows Movie Maker?

Jim Nazium · #10 03-13-2013, 09:35 AM

I use Sony Vegas and I like it. It has way more features than I need, but I have found it pretty easy to use. You can sync audio and video, and it has some built-in audio effects like compression, EQ, etc.

Here's a couple of things I did with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny866AaHCFc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CsmulHyw6A

DiabolusInMusic · #11 03-13-2013, 10:16 AM

I use wondershare video converter but it's editing is fairly limited. I used to use VirtualDub as well, very good tool with lots of editing.