The PH video editing thread!

[Doodles19]

Video editing seems to be somewhat of a hot topic, especially in the GoPro Hero 3 thread.

So I thought it might me good to start somewhere that people could post questions, answers, tips and tricks etc.

[Doodles19]

I'm currently downloading a trial of Premiere Elements 11. Will report back once I've had the chance to play around a little.

[mrmr96]

[redacted]

[mrmr96]

[redacted]

[Adz The Rat]

I use Final Cut Pro, although I think Im not using it to its full potential and would love to learn how to use it properly.

[renmure]

I have been using VideoPad to make some movies from microlight flying using 2 gopros and that has been ok and fairly intuitive to use. Now looking to get something with a few more features so will be watching with interest. Currently downloading the free trial of Coral Video Studio Pro 6 to see how that compares.

[Craikeybaby]

I'm still using iPhoto '09.

[14-7]

I currently use Adobe Premier Pro CS3 (can't afford the updated versions as all my cash has been blown on cameras and lenses!). Very good bit of bit when combined with things like After Effects. Also lots of plugins available for it although some can be pretty costly.

[Doodles19]

Craikeybaby said:

I'm still using iPhoto '09.

So was I, but it drove me loopy being able to shoot up to 4k or 120fps, but only be able to edit video to 720p at 30fps. Just seemed like a waste of money.

[Craikeybaby]

I'm only on a Hero 3 White edition, so it's not too critical. When I've got the basics nailed ill upgrade to some more powerful software, or maybe just iMovie 11

[Disastrous]

I use FCP X for work, mainly. That said, I tend to farm out the more advanced stuff to freelancers who really know their onions but I can get around it on my own.

Generally make corporate stuff that's not that exciting but has to be visually 'clean'.

Also have a GoPro and am a keen skier/wakeboarder, so have ample opportunity to edit daft stuff (but never do, as it feels like work!).

[Meeja]

I use Adobe Premiere CS5 at home, and Avid Media Composer 6 Adrenaline at work.

Both very powerful, and usually under exploited by editors (me included)

Biggest problem with video editing is for the system to be stable.... Which in my experience, Avid is... With premier a not far behind second.

Have never used FCP, so can't compare.

However, neither of these products are cheap!

Having said that, no editing package will give outstanding results without quality acquisition (filming or motion graphic design)

Film produced earlier this year on Avid (all avid... No third party plug ins)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUOR3SFYi2k

Film produced on premier (albeit a few years ago now!)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VQ7mQpijZ8

[indi pearl]

I use Pinnacle Studio. Over the years I have continued to upgrade from the buggy version of 10 years ago to the very stable current option. In that time ownership has passed from Avid to Corel but the ease of use and many plugin features remain. I have tried all the main competitors but have yet to find any that are as intuitive in use as Pinnacle. Used in a i7 quad core Pinnacle will chew its way through 1080p 50fps without any need to alter codes.
Improvements could be made, 64bit processing would be good as more and more of us have suitable computers.
Here is a short film I shot in Grand Turk last month when a pair of dolphins decided to give us a lesson in advanced diving skills.

https://vimeo.com/62005100

[Bacardi]

Meeja said:

Have never used FCP, so can't compare.

I used to use FCP7, but then Apple upset everyone by dumping it for FCPX, or iMovie+ as it was referred too. Having spent a few years getting to grips with 7, I too felt a bit miffed having paid about £1k with upgrades, not even to be offered a discount for X. So I took the opportunity of a very competitive cross grade bundle to Creative Production Suite CS5.5 and Avid MC 5.5.

Now have upgraded to Production suite 6. Taught myself AE about 10 years ago, think that was version 3, so a bit of a jump to CS6 and I'm a bit rusty now. Also played with various other editors and versions of Premiere and quite happy with CS6. Took time last year to learn 'The Avid'. An industry standard and the grand daddy which started it all (on the desktop).

I prefer CS6 because MC looks like something out of the arc. It's floating windows are a mess and they don't even have anti aliased type, feels like you are looking at windows 3.11! I'm sure guys who know their keyboards can fly around MC and of course there's nothing wrong with what comes out of it, but as an environment to be in and look at, I find it ugly and unappealing. I'm working alone, so any befits it may have with multiple editors doesn't apply.

Both of these are traditional editors, learn one and you can get on with any others, once you've learned where they have put the buttons and switches. Having moved virtually completely form stills to movies over the last 4 months, I have been playing with different editors to find which suits my way of working. Also looking to tryout Lightworks now that it is coming to mac but so far, I have settled on FCPX.

In true Apple style, they ripped up the rule book, and it's a lot deeper than iMovie!. I can see why a lot of editors huffed and puffed and the first incarnations were dogs. But they have addressed a lot of the criticisms. Now I am more familiar with it I find it fast, fluid, elegant and fun, a nice place to be with some very cleaver stuff going on. Feels like the future. Even Adobe were quick to introduce clip skimming in the bins. Other stuff like put your playhead over your clip and then run your cursor over an effect to see it, no render needed. It's cheap as chips and loads of cheap plug ins are continuing to come out, which make adjustable canned looks, effects, light whacking/bleeds etc a peace of piss.

I haven't had any stability issues with any of the above software.

Also doing my grading in X, but also looking at Speedgrade and Resolve, like the look of Resolve but need a faster graphics card.

But, it all comes down to personal choice and I agree, just like PS, there's only so far you can go trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear, you need good ingredients to start with!

[JonRB]

I used Camtasia Studio for the trial period but didn't buy as it is more geared towards creating presentations and tutorials than true video editing (although it does that adequately). However, it is not worth the £220 asking price for what I want from it.

So right now it is a toss-up between Pinnacle and PowerDirector.

I need multiple video streams (for picture-in-picture), the ability to separate audio from video, and simple transitions. Not much more really, to be honest.

Edit: Need it to run under Windows, btw. Also, 64-bit and offloading onto the GPU would be a big bonus.

[mrmr96]

Jon, give the Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 demo a try. I think it does what you need (I've used it for PiP etc) and if you like it then it's only like £40 on Amazon for the full license.

[JonRB]

mrmr96 said:

Jon, give the Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 demo a try. I think it does what you need (I've used it for PiP etc) and if you like it then it's only like £40 on Amazon for the full license.

Thanks!

Rather shocked to see their website talking about £64.95 for Platinum 12 and £84.95 for Platinum 12 Suite. And on Amazon it's £35.16 and £36.99 respectively. That's some mark-down.

[mrmr96]

JonRB said:

mrmr96 said:

Jon, give the Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 demo a try. I think it does what you need (I've used it for PiP etc) and if you like it then it's only like £40 on Amazon for the full license.

Thanks!

Rather shocked to see their website talking about £64.95 for Platinum 12 and £84.95 for Platinum 12 Suite. And on Amazon it's £35.16 and £36.99 respectively. That's some mark-down.

Yup! I assumed buying a license from Sony would be the best method of purchase - but it just isn't due to the crazy price difference. So I bought the boxed version from Amazon and, as usual, it only took a couple of days to turn up. When it did I was able to just enter the included license keys into my already-installed demo to relicense/unlock it. As such I didn't even need to touch the discs which shipped, I just needed the digits - but snail mail was the cheapest way to get them, lol!

[RobbieKB]

I'm a huge fan of Sony Vegas. Unfortunately I only have one demo video uploaded, which is of a praying mantis ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1BjbByQwuE&hd=... and it isn't exactly heavily edited.

I've have experience using Adobe Premier and Sony Vegas and in my rather amateur experience they are very close. In fact, I'm not sure I even have very good reasons for preferring Vegas.

As you were.

[Salgar]

I am using Final Cut Pro X, I only started video editing about 6 months ago so went straight for the latest FCP.

One of my biggest problems has been attempting to cut down hours of video into small clips that I care about. I watched about 2 hours of tutorial videos and I must say that FCPX has superb keyboard controls for making this very easy.

I have nothing to compare it to though, but it is making everything relatively easy. I have done a few short videos with it, but hopefully my skiing video will be finished soon. Unfortunately my friends and I aren't the trick doing sort of skiers so it'll never be amazing. But it is amazingly satisfying once a video is done and isn't awful