Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Computers and Video Editing

Years ago, it would have not been possible to edit videos at home because it can only be done in exclusive editor suites. It has changed .Now, things are quite different. If you have a desktop computer with enough disk space or storage , CPU power, and FireWire or USB port, you can now edit cherished videos to create good quality videos with all the effects you see in modern professional movies.

When you’re editing videos, huge CPU power is being used as you move lots of data to and from the disk. Having a fast machine allows you to write and render in a few minutes but if you’re using a slow computer, the task will take several hours.

If you’re doing a lot of writing and rendering files, Pentium Quad Core computers are great or even a Mac model with 2 to 1 GB of RAM. Pentium 3 machines can handle data stream but when you’re using other applications, the video editing software will not function.

In order to edit videos, you must also choose good quality software. If you have Windows XP, there is already built-in software that lets you edit raw footages. The same thing is true with Apple and Sony computers.

Why is it that many video editors use Adobe Premier? The reason why many people use Adobe is because it provides free demo versions and it can be used on Macs and PCs. Adobe’s software is also well respected and full featured so you can do various editing tasks. Still, if you don’t want to spend on a new editing software, you can always use the WMM (Windows Movie Maker) and IMovie.

Aside from the CPU, RAM is another crucial element in video editing with computers. Even if the CPU is fast, the machine will still remain sluggish without the RAM. The recommended RAM is 512 MB although there are individuals who use 128 MB. So if you’re using the 512 MB RAM, you can browse and use more than two files with ease. Here’s a good example. When the CPU needs a file, the file will be delivered to the RAM from the hard disk for greater speed manipulation. If another file is requested, you can get both files successively. Now this is possible only if you’re using 512 MB RAM but if you’re using the smaller one, the computer will work slower.

If you currently have 128 MB RAM, add more especially if you plan to do a lot of video editing tasks. You must be aware that Windows XP requires 256 MB (RAM) and when you load other applications, it will need additional RAM to remain fast and responsive. For starters, you can settle with 512 MB or if you want to invest more on video editing, you can increase the RAM to 768 MB – 1GB.

Make sure that you get the appropriate RAM for your computer’s motherboard. So far, the most appropriate in the market is the RDRAM 1066. This is suitable for a Pentium 4 cpu and it is expensive. A less expensive alternative is the DRAM or DDR. You can choose among DDR266, DDR300, and DDR400. If you’re no familiar with the motherboard of your computer, you should check with the seller company or the online site.

Now that you know the computer requirements, you will know if your computer is suitable for video editing tasks.

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Friday, June 10, 2011

The Magic in Video Editing

Do you have a lot of video tapes at home taken during the holidays, birthday parties, summer getaways, and many other special occasions? Perhaps some of them are merely sitting on the shelves and accumulating dust. Travelers usually carry camcorders because they want to have fun memories and souvenirs from a foreign place they’ve visited. Piles of video tapes are often no longer viewed but the magic in video editing changes that.

Digital camcorders are cheaper these days and so you can easily capture videos of high quality. If you have a capture card, good editing software, and computer at home, you can start editing the videos you’ve collected over the years. Once you have the final output, you can now watch it together with your friends.

Magic requires you to have windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP in order to use such program. It supports media formats like WMA, AVI, ASF, SND, WMV, AIFF, MPEG, AU, and QuickTime.

What can you do using Magic?

You can capture videos by simply using FireWire or USB input device. You can also give good grade effects to the videos you’ve collected. The video and audio components can be edited separately even if it is a single file only. Like other editing programs, you can also decorate the videos with over 150 transitions. It is also possible to overlay tracks with the use of Magic. Video files can be added with voiceover and background score. The timeline is one the most important windows in the editing software. In Magic, you can combine different file formats on the timeline.

If you think that these are all the things that Magic can do, you’re wrong. Other features that Magic offers are the following – include text titles, trim audios and videos, create DVD or VCD file formats, change contrast and color, rotate and zoom in/out video angles, and export videos to digi-cams.

Your videos will look like the videos created by the pros in no time. With Magic, professional editing is no longer expensive. The interface is drag and drop which makes it easier to capture the footage into the timeline. This is also the time to add background music, title effects, scene transitions, and other effects to finish your masterpiece. On the timeline, you can also add others file formats like WMV, AVI, JPEG, MPEG, and ASF. You can create a unique video or movie output in a matter of minutes.

The MPEG format is required if you want to create DVDs, SVCDs, and VCD. You can create a movie in PAL or NTSC standards.

The volume of the tracks in the video can also be displayed so that you can instantly change the audio clip’s volume to create dopler effects, fade outs, fade ins, and other volume effects.

With Magic, you can split, join, trim, crop, merge, and modify color of the video files. The transitions make it even more interesting for users to create ordinary videos which look like great art works.

It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a pro or an amateur. You see, with Magic, the basics are easily learned and in no time, you can start working on your video productions. It costs $39.95 but you can also try the trial version by downloading it.

Is Magic for you? Try it now and see if it works great.

Convert & Edit Any Video

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Video Editing Software – Do You Need One?

Some individuals are very much interested in video recording. Once you’re satisfied with the recordings, you will usually want to have it on DVD so that you can share it with your relatives and friends. Well, home-made videos can be appreciated by your family and friends, but what about other people? If you want to share good quality videos or even your very own movie, you should know more about video editing.

Why don’t you ask for honest opinions from your family and friends? Tell them that their opinions are important so that you can create better videos in the future. Some of the most common comments in home-made videos are:

• The video is too short/long
• It is slow
• No captions or titles
• No soundtrack etc.

These things are important in order to create a good video and you can incorporate them in your future videos if you make use of good quality video editing software. Through a good program, you can easily polish and enhance your videos. Not all the shots in your video are needed and if you want, you can delete some of them. You will surely end up with a final video that looks more professional.

With the use of an appropriate software program, you can take advantage of the different possibilities available to you. There are a number of companies that offer video editing programs online; some are free while others are paid ones. The programs cater to the various needs of the user. There are programs suitable for professional video editors, for amateurs, for home users, Mac or Windows users, etc.

The paid software programs have different features and these features determine the price; the more advanced the features, the higher the price. You must decide accordingly. You won’t need all the features of an advanced video editor program if you’re just an amateur or a home user. You must choose the features that best suit your needs. Good software allows the user to remove unwanted shots or scenes, add narration or soundtrack, incorporate effects and screen transitions, and add titles. These features alone are enough to make a good software program.

Beginners are encouraged to use the most basic video editing tool. As they get comfortable in using the tool, they can now purchase or avail of more complex software programs. Video editing is not as easy as you think. You must have the right attitude and you must be creative or imaginative. Think of what others want to see in your video or movie. You should ensure that the video is not too slow/fast. No one wants to watch a boring video. The video editor software can help you with your common problems.

So if someone asks you the question ‘do you need video editing software?’, you already know the answer. If professionals are still using good quality video editing programs, why can’t a beginner like you? You simply need to identify your needs and that’s where you will base the features of your video editor. Get a video editing program now and see the benefits that you can derive from it.

Soon, you can show off your videos to other people, or perhaps on the web. The videos will no longer appear amateurish through the help of your software program.

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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Video Editing for Newbies

Who wouldn’t dream of creating a blockbuster movie? Well, thanks to modern technology, even home-buddies can create interesting videos and movies. Perhaps you’re already used camcorders, right? There are lots of gadgets out in the market that allows you to capture special events or scenes on video. If you try to view the raw video recording, you will easily see some flaws. This is where video editing comes in. With the use of quality editing software, you can remove the flaws and enjoy quality videos or movies together with your family.

Here are some of the things that you will need aside from the software and video recording gadget mentioned above – capture card, a computer with large storage space, a camcorder or VCR or just your computer monitor to view the final video.

The process of video editing is simple. With your capture card, transfer the video from the camera or any other video recording gadget to the computer. Edit the raw recording using quality software. Remove unnecessary parts which make the video boring and too lengthy and add some effects. After the final touches, you can download the video or movie and burn (VCD, CD, and DVD) or tape it.

Computers play an important role in video editing. Prior to its invention, editing videos takes a long time and it can only be done by the pros. Now, you will need at least a Pentium 2 300 or a much faster version and a 256-512 Megs (RAM). Video editing consumes a lot of space so it would be best to get a drive of 30GB and divide it into two separate partitions. Drive C should have at least 10GB and this is where you will store the editing software. Video, audio, and other editing projects can be stored in drive D. Don’t forget to get a 32 Meg AGP graphics card; if you get the 16 and lower Meg, you will not produce quality video materials.

The storage of video files is sometimes confusing and it depends on the individual doing the editing tasks. For those who want to create DVDs, large storage space is needed. A 4.7 GB single sided DVD can only store two hours of movie or video. DV footage requires even more space since a video that lasts for an hour can take up about 13GB; so for two hours, you should have 26GB and of course, extra footage requires additional storage space so you might as well use 39GB space. That’s not all. If you’re planning to add other options like MPEG2 and graphics, you should make it around 50GB.

Before you start with any video editing task, make sure that you have enough storage space in your computer.

The capture cards are also widely available and some of these are Matrox, Pinnacle, ADS, Dazzle, Digital Origin, and Canopus. The cards use software or hardware compression. The video is then digitized to your computer’s hard drive. This will allow you to edit the video and play it back again and again. MP3 converters can add music to your videos so try to get an MP3 Encoder as well.

Find the best video editing software so that you can now start creating memories for your family and friends. There are lots of software programs out there; make sure that you choose the right one.

Convert & Edit Any Video

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Video Editing Info

Video editing can be linear, non-linear, and vision mixing. Most of today’s videographers use the non-linear system wherein they use software and computers; linear uses videotape while vision mixing is more on live video signals.

Video editing is similar to film editing. Their goals are the same. Segments of video are modified or re-arranged to form a final video. Unwanted footages are isolated from the desired ones. After editing, the desired footages are arranged to create a new and more interesting video.

Videographers used to spend a great deal of time and money in editing videos or movies. Quality degradation was also one of their biggest problems. Every time the video is copied, its quality is diminished. Videotapes were cut with razor blades, guillotine cutters, used with ferrofluid, and spliced with tape. However, with the many improvements in technology, existing tapes were inserted cleanly into a new tape (preserving its quality at the same time). In linear editing, when one scene is lengthened, later scenes are added again. Simultaneous play back of multiple sources can be done through the use of vision mixers.

Most of today’s videographers opt for non-linear editing because it is much faster and easier. Before the use of computers, transitional analog used laser disc players or VCRs. Video recordings were captured on the hard drive. Captured footage is manipulated by editing software programs like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Studio, Xpress Pro, and Media Composer (Avid) after the contents are ingested in proper codec.

In today’s times, it’s much easier to capture footages in high definition and you can readily edit the video clips using any software. You will simply arrange the clips on the timeline and add titles or music tracks. You can also create effects to finish the video. After the video is edited, you can now burn in on DVD and CD ROM or you can also do web streaming and distribute it in videotape, iPod, and QuickTime movies.

With the increasing popularity of non-linear video editing, more software programs have emerged in the market like Final Cut Express, Express DV (AVID), Adobe Premiere, Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas, Cyberlink Power Director, VideoStudio (ULead), Easy Media Creator by Roxio, Magix (Edit Pro and Pro X), and Muvee. If you don’t want to spend on these expensive programs, you can settle with free software programs like Windows Movie Maker and IMovie. You can also surf the internet and find other free programs that you can use together with the installed software in your computer.

It’s up to you whether you will do linear or non-linear editing. For starters, you can settle with non-linear editing because it is easy to learn. Even inexperienced videographers will find it easy to work on the various software programs available today. You can practice using WMM or IMovie (for Apple) because these programs are the simplest. You can create your own videos or movies at home as long as you have a computer.

Video editing is not just for the pros. Why don’t you try it now? If you have a camcorder, you can capture the special events in your life and edit it using the appropriate software. Video editing has gone a long way and people today are luckier because they don’t need to spend huge money and waste many hours in editing a short video.

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Friday, June 3, 2011

Video Editing

Have you watched the movies of Steven Spielberg? The movies are captivating, right? Well, you don’t need to have a big name to share or create movies of your own. With a little knowledge in video editing, you can go a long way.

You simply need to use a program that can help you with the various video editing tasks. In no time at all, you can create funny clips, video memories, and action flicks. Video blogs are also quite popular these days and with the aid of the program, you can also develop your own video blog and post it on the web.

Functional programs or editing software can help you with different functions. One of these functions is capturing videos. A good program usually captures videos from digital recorders, HDV, DV, AVCHD, MicroDV, and even analog camcorders. Other programs also capture videos from PC and digital cameras. With the use of an appropriate hardware, you can also capture videos from traditional formats like VCR and TV recordings.

Another function of editing programs is to edit videos. Through timeline editing, you can combine or mix and rearrange video clips. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can already arrange the files you need. Most programs allow video editors to add menus, text, and titles to their video creations. Most programs have numerous title and menu templates. Text and sound effects as well as music are also possible. Editing videos is really fun since you can create memories with humorous clips birthday or wedding videos, and many others.

Editing programs allows users to share their videos online. There are lots of video sites that you can visit like Grouper, Google Video, YouTube, etc. In these sites, you can share your videos. If you want, you can even create online albums for your videos in sites like MyPhotoAlbum, Stash Space, and Drop Shots. Having your very own private space online is a great way to share your videos or movies. You can also save the videos on DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Comprehensive programs allow users to upload filed from QuickTime, Media Player, or RealVideo.

When looking for editing programs, you should consider the things that you want to accomplish with the use of the program. Simple programs perform simple tasks. If you want to do complex video editing tasks, you should get multifaceted programs.

Working with video files requires a lot of disk space. Make sure that your computer can handle all the tasks and run a certain program effectively. Choose a program that’s easy to use especially if you’re a beginner. Editing videos involves a lot of complex and intricate steps. Aside from that, you also need to consider the capture feature of the program and the editing tools. Good programs should also have filters and editing effects.

Photo and audio editing features can also help when you’re working with various kinds of videos. With this feature, you can do resizing, cropping, color saturation, and adjust the lighting. Other programs offer features like disc creation, tech support, and documentation.

If you want to work like a pro, choose the editing program well. Careful considerations on the various features that a certain program offers is necessary so that you’re needs are met; it will also be easier to work with a program that can handle all the video editing tasks.

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Video Editing - How It Works

Perhaps you’ve heard a great deal about personal videos in magazine articles and television commercials. Well, you too can create personal videos as long as you have your own computer at home, video cam, a good video editing software, and of course, the right attitude.

With today’s modern technology and camera, you can create personal videos about your summer vacation, video presentations for your office, documentary film, or even your very own movie.

Creating a movie or a simple video is not that easy. Software packages may be of great help but if you get the too complicated ones, getting started can be a huge problem. If you still find yourself lost in the video editing world, you’re in the right place. Read on and you can learn of the possible things that you can do with the use of an appropriate or suitable software program and equipments, and the important concepts involved in video editing.

Suppose you have your own camcorder and you shoota scene. When you try to play it again, you will see a lousy, confusing, disjointed, and amateurish ‘home movie’. People are already used to high standards when it comes to movies and videos. In order to create a good movie or video, you will need a title, set of nicely-cut shots about a certain subject or angle, shots of high number, interesting transitions, decent soundtrack, static shots, legends or titles, and slow/fast motion. You can make use of these pointers when you create home videos about your child’s birthday or about your trip to the local zoo. As long as you have a computer, camera, and good software, you can become a video editor.

At the high end, you can make use of Avid but if you’re just starting out and you don’t want to spend money on your hobby or interest, you can always settle with your VCR, camera, and computer to create your own masterpiece.

In most cases, you will need a good quality digital camcorder, video editing software, and a laptop or desktop computer. Capturing is an important concept if you want to create interesting videos or movies. From your camera, the footage can be transferred to the computer’s hard disk. You can save the file as is or you can convert it to smaller files. You must be aware that video editing consumes a lot of space; it is important that you know how to save the files on your computer.

You can’t possibly use all the shots and you need to select the most important parts in order to create an interesting video. The video clips can be put together to create a final scene. The timeline will allow you to put the shots in chronological order. Watching a raw footage will allow you to see the most important points of the video.

Determine which parts or sections you want to retain and the ones that should be removed. Make use of the basic concepts mentioned and you can easily create movies or videos. Take note of the importance of capturing scenes, as well as sequencing the shots through the timeline.

How video editing works is not that complicated. Just learn the basics and use simple editing software at first. This will allow you to create or edit videos instantly. You don’t need to be an expert video editor; try it now.

Convert & Edit Any Video