Video editing package reviews: FAQs
Good camcorder footage is often just the first step to a memorable video
What can video-editing software do?
Good camcorder footage is nice to watch, but if you order your footage, cut out the boring bits, improve brightness, sound, colour, and add captions and titles, you can transform your footage into a truly memorable video.
This is where video-editing software comes in. With a little practice, it gives you the tools to shape your video right on your home computer. There are several packages available, both for PC and Mac. Some of them are free, whereas a few of the ones you can buy come with all the bells and whistles.
How can I improve my videos?
Here are a few tips on how to improve your videos.
- Cut out all the boring bits, or bits that add length to a video without adding much to the 'story'. Short videos often have more impact and are more enjoyable to watch that long ones.
- If your footage is shaky, try the image stabiliser feature if your software has it. This should reduce the effects camera shake, leaving a steadier picture.
- Adjust colours, brightness and contrast to make your video look its best. Or would it look better in black and white?
- Try some transitions, perhaps an old scene fade-out, new scene fade-in. This is a gentle effect and is usually pleasing to the eye. Or try something more fancy.
- Consider adding titles or captions. These often add context, and occasionally humour, to your video.
See our camcorder reviews for the latest Best Buys.
Do I need a powerful computer?
Today's video-editing software requires a modern computer. A dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM would be the bare minimum for smooth running of most software. We would recommend at least 2GB for better performance though, especially if you're editing high definition (HD) video footage. Before you buy or download software, have a look at the manufacturer's system requirements. Each will have their own.
Transferring video from your mobile phone, camera or camcorder is usually done via USB or memory card, but on older digital Mini-DV tape camcorders you do this via FireWire. If your computer doesn't have a FireWire port (most computers don't), you'll need to install one and buy a FireWire cable too. These will cost about £20 in total.
If you have an old-fashioned, analogue camcorder, you'll need to digitise the video footage for your computer. You can do this with a video capture device. These have a connection for the camcorder on one end (either S-Video or 'yellow' composite, both with additional red and white audio connections) and a connection for the computer on the other end (USB).
Need a more powerful computer? Check out our laptop reviews.
What are the differences between free and paid-for software?
Free software usually has all the basic components to help you put together a great home video. Paid-for software often has many more features and options, but is usually a little trickier to pick up from scratch.
One of advantages of paid-for software is that is widely compatible with a range of video formats. Free software sometimes has limitations in this area. For example, a lot of free software is incompatible with AVCHD, a recording format common to HD camcorders.
Free software is less computer-intensive, so if your computer is older it may run better than paid-for alternatives.
How can I share my video?
Uploading edited video to YouTube through Cyberlink PowerDirector
Websites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook are great for showing off your videos. Most video-editing software has direct uploading to such websites, saving you the hassle of saving your finished video back to your computer first. Depending on what privacy settings you select, you can either share your video with a few people of your choice, friends and family for example, or with the whole world.
Alternatively you may want to burn some a special video to a DVD, a wedding video say. Again, most video-editing software has DVD-burning features that guide you through this - some can burn Blu-ray discs too.
What does the jargon mean?
Capture
The process of directly importing video footage from a camcorder's memory into the video-editing software.
RAM
Otherwise known as 'memory', RAM (random access memory) is a computer's short-term storage used to perform tasks.
Render/Produce
This is the process of outputting your edited video, from the software to typically your hard disk.. The rendering process creates a new file and can take a few minutes or more, depending on the length of your video, your computer's specifications and the output options you select.
Timeline
This is a bar into which you drag and drop your individual video clips. Here you can order them, trim them and perform all your other basic and sophisticated modifications to get your video just as you want it.
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