Corel VideoStudio X2

Corel VideoStudio X2 Standard earned the “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award” with its exceptionally clean interface, smooth playback, ease-of-use, and options tailored to both video editing beginners and experienced techies. Where other video editing products hide common functions behind menus, masked within a cluster of icons, and in less than ideal stages of the editing process, VideoStudio keeps them up front and easily accessible due its well-designed interface.
To aid first-time video editors, VideoStudio X2 launches with a splash screen where you’re given three options: the VideoStudio Editor, the Movie Wizard, and the DV-to-DVD Wizard.

The DV-to-DVD Wizard will take video directly from your DV camcorder and burn it to a DVD. It’s a simple two step process with a few editing options like scene detection and marking, and perfect when you just need to capture and produce a video quickly.

The VideoStudio Editor brings the full complement of video editing functionality to bear, including multi trimming, inserting effects, transitions, audio, and everything else VideoStudio X2 can do.

The Movie Wizard lets you capture and import video and do a few basic edits before burning it to disc. Its functionality puts it a step above the DV-to-DVD Wizard and a step below the full VideoStudio Editor. The Movie Wizard has automatic scene detection and splitting, multi trim capability, and DVD menu templates.
You can easily burn your videos to DVD and video CD with VideoStudio X2 Standard. For added flexibility, a few extra dollars will get you VideoStudio X2 Pro, where you can also burn to Blu-ray and AVC-HD discs, and you get hundreds of additional video and sound samples, extra special effects, and more.

Review of Corel Video Studio X2

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Video Capture/Playback:  

We captured from an old JVC camcorder using an USB video transfer connector. The time required to capture our 14 minute video was exactly 14 minutes This 1:1 ratio is standard when pulling from DV tape.

Thanks to VideoStudio’s Smart Proxy technology video playback was smooth. With Smart Proxy editing, users – even on midrange PCs – can enjoy the same benefits as if they were using a high performance video editing workstation. By using lower-resolution files for editing and previewing a project, VideoStudio X2 requires fewer system resources, which results in faster, smoother playback and editing of video. This was especially helpful editing standard definition video, and we can only imagine its beneficial effects on editing HD video, which is much more resource intensive.

In VideoStudio X2, Corel also optimized its usage of dual-core and quad-core CPU systems. We noticed our dual-core system was more responsive and encoded faster than our Pentium 4 3GHz system. A great new feature found in both standard and pro versions of VideoStudio X2.

Editing Tools:  

Whether editing Grandpa’s arthroscopy or your nephew’s birthday party, you need to view your clips in a timeline or storyboard mode, add video, picture, text, audio, and music tracks, and trim/split your video into sections for better continuity, adding transitions, and enhancing with effects (Corel calls them Video Filters).

Once your video is captured, the first thing you want to do is trim and divide the video segment into clips. Trimming is marking the beginning and end of an entire clip, while multi trimming is useful to divide one segment into multiple clips. Multi trimming is extremely useful when you need to remove an inappropriate scene, or mark it for inclusion in a blooper reel. We found VideoStudio X2’s trim and multi trim tools both powerful and easy to use in that we moved frame by frame quickly. It’s important to note that VideoStudio X2 utilizes non-destructive editing, so no matter what you do to a video segment, the original is never permanently cut or overwritten.

So knowing that we couldn’t actually RUIN anything, we decided to let VideoStudio automatically detect scenes and trim accordingly. The results were impressive, as many of what we termed “non productive” segments were trimmed down to their very own scenes which we could move or delete at will. We did find that you'll have to manually add transitions yourself.

Export/Production:  

Once your edits are complete, you can save your work to a number of formats. Standard formats include FLV files for YouTube, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, AVCHD, WMV HD, RealMedia, Windows Media, and QuickTime.

For more portability, upgrade to VideoStudio Pro X2 and convert your videos to iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone and PSP-compatible files.

Editing Effects/Transitions:  

VideoStudio X2 Standard comes with 65 Video Filters, or effects, to enhance your video, and they’re easy to apply. Just drag one over your video clip and the effect is instantly applied. Chaining effects is also possible, so if you want to use the Anti-Shake effect in combination with the Brightness & Contrast effect on a particular clip, it’s a simple matter of dragging both effects over the intended clip. Effects are customizable as well, so you can adjust brightness, contrast, and the strength of the Anti-Shake effect and compare the results.

A feature unique to VideoStudio X2 is a Rotoscoping tool that allows you to “draw” onto the video. Useful for tracing routes on a map, giving yourself a beard, or just plain scribbling, the Rotoscoping tool is fun to play with.

With 129 transitions in VideoStudio X2, it’s unlikely most home video editors would need more. Again, inserting them into the timeline is a quick drag and drop process.

VideoStudio also has 31 Title Templates for beginning or ending credits, title text and whatever snarky text you want to put over your video. All of the titles are editable, so you’re not stuck with canned text, and you can position, scale, and rotate them to your heart’s content.

Disc Creation:  

When creating a disc, you can choose whether or not to include a menu for easy navigation of chapters. VideoStudio comes with 6 menu templates, and if you don’t find any of them to your liking, you can create your own. Multi-layer menus are not supported in VideoStudio Standard, but you can add chapters at fixed intervals or VideoStudio can automatically detect scenes and make them into chapters for you.

VideoStudio Standard burns to DVD and Video CD, and if you're itching to burn to Blu-ray and AVC-HD discs, for a reasonable price you can upgrade to VideoStudio Pro X2 and burn away!

CyberLink PowerDirector 8 Deluxe

You thought you had a lot of old home movies lying around before; a couple of cabinets full of film that you’re going to go through “some day.” Then everything went digital (and high-def). Now you have even more home footage sitting somewhere on your desktop. Or maybe you have a budding film producer in the family. Whether you’re trying to archive your footage, create wedding slideshows, pare down your travelogue to a palatable highlight reel, or create a full-length feature film, you’re going to need a solid video editing software.
Cyberlink’s PowerDirector 8 is one of the best video editing software solutions available, combining all the right features (and then some) in a professional and easy-to-use video editing package. We are pleased to award Cyberlink PowerDirector 8 Deluxe with our “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” for continued excellence in performance and innovation.
PowerDirector combines a good balance of simplicity and versatility. The software takes advantage of technology and has so many professional-grade tools, but it’s easy enough that you can actually use it.
Standout Features:

• Direct upload to YouTube and Facebook
• Particle Effects
• SD to HD up-scaling
• Impressive list of output formats, including files for your iPhone, PSP, PS3, Xbox, and Zune
• Automated “Magic” Editing Tools

We also have no problems with the fact that this intermediate video editing software is available with a low-end price. It’s even on sale for 20% off through online retailer Herman Street.
For all the great features found in PowerDirector Deluxe plus the added benefit of being able to burn Blu-ray discs (as well as capture and burn AVCHD), we definitely recommend the upgraded Cyberlink PowerDirector Ultra.

Review of PowerDirector 8 by Cyberlink

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Video Capture/Playback:  

Capturing video in PowerDirector 8 Deluxe is simple, whether you’re using input content from your camcorder or importing from a flash drive or hard drive. PowerDirector supports all major formats (MPEG-2, AVCHD, VOB, VRO, DVRMS to name a few, and will work seamlessly with your old SD camcorder, newer HDV camcorder, DVD camcorder, or even your digital camera. (Trying to get your VHS tapes to DVD? You may want to refer to our article "Copying VHS to DVD")

PowerDirector is fully equipped to provide faster input, rendering and output by taking full advantage of your PC’s power. PowerDirector supports Intel Core i7, nVIDIA CUDA, and ATI Stream technologies, so video editing is even faster. The software can utilize up to 8 cores (16 threads) of processing power, so even high-def video is easily dealt with.
For even faster video editing of HD content, PowerDirector can create a standard definition copy of the original and provide quicker response with “Shadow Editing.”
But don’t worry if you don’t have a top-of-the-line PC with advanced technology. We loaded the software on one of our (overtaxed) test computers, and had no problems installing or running the software. And if you’re thinking about upgrading, PowerDirector 8 is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 and dual monitor setups.

Free Video Editing Software: Create & Edit Movies For Free

Looking for a good video editor or movie making software that you can download for free ?

It's only a myth that you need expensive video editors for video editing tasks like adding scrolling texts, subtitles or custom animations - you will find such features even inside free video editors that we discuss here to help you produce video podcasts, home movies and online web video easily.

But before that, do check the installation DVD that came with your handycam or digital camera - most camera vendors like Sony, Canon and Panasonic generally provide a decent video editing software with the camera. If that doesn't help, here's a list of best and free video editing software:

Windows Movie Maker - The best video editing tool for Windows that's absolutely free and chances are you already have it installed on your computer as part of XP SP2. Microsoft Movie Maker has all the basic video editing tools plus a good collection of transitions and video effects.

There's an in-built movie titler that lets add you styles to text titles including ticker taps, zoom and even the scroll effect. And if you are feeling lazy, just hit the AutoMovie command to have the entire video produced for you with intervention.

Related: How to Edit YouTube Videos with free video editing programs.

Avid Free DV - Avid Free DV, poor cousin of Avid Xpress Pro, has all the basic video and audio editing features and allow you to put video in two tracks simultaneously. They have an extensive collection of tutorials online to help you get started quickly.

Support both Mac OS and Windows XP platform. Infact, you can even play with keyframes for generating custom moves and transitions. Ships with the Avid Title tool.

Online Video Editing Programs

Jumpcut.com - Jumpcut is a web based video editing software and now it's even part of the Yahoo! family. You upload a video or small clips just like importing inside a desktop software.

There are dozens of transitions and special effects. You can import photographs from your Flickr or Facebook account to mix them with the videos. The jumpcut editor is intuitive enough and there is good title support as well. And your movies are published online automatically. Perfect for quick vlogging and video podcasting.

JahShaka* (discontinued) - An open source video editing software that is currently in Alpha stage but has features found only in expensive video editing software suites.

Works on Mac, Linux and Windows. The interface might take some time for you to get started otherwise the software is definitely the most powerful one out there. And the price is just right. $0. Also does 3D effects which you won't find in other free video editors.

Conclusion: While all the above free video editing software will satisfy the needs of most amateurs and home movie makers, you can probably consider Adobe Premiere Elements, Pinnacle Studio, Ulead Studio, Sony Vegas, Nero or Muvee Auto Producer for more features and better control over the final video output. They have trial version to help you try out the software before actually buying it.

VGA Card on Video Editing: Is it Important?

VGA cards are also known as video graphic adapters, display adapters, video controllers, and video cards. Basically, these are the electronic components that generate the video signal sent through a cable to your monitor. Sometimes, the video card is integrated with your motherboard. But high-end video cards are usually separate boards inside your PC. A VGA card is a vital part of any computer system. Video cards and their performance and compatibility aspects generate a huge body of questions and discussions in the Windows XP user groups, newsgroups, chats, and other online community forums.

In this post, I'll give you some tips on picking the right card for your system. I'll discuss the impact a video card has on video-editing tasks. (The video graphic card doesn't do much of the work when it comes to video-editing, although there are exceptions.) I'll also suggest a couple of good brands for you to check out.
Video cards perform their duties in 2-D and 3-D, showing images on your monitor. Everything you see in Microsoft Windows uses 2-D imaging. 3-D performance comes into play only when you're running a game based on a 3-D engine, so this type of imaging has minimal impact on video editing. It does, however, have a huge impact on any rendering tasks that involve 3-D effects. Quite a few transitions involve 3-D effects, so having a powerful 3-D card will speed things up significantly.


The manual for Hollywood FX, a transitions package that comes with Pinnacle Studio Deluxe, states that a 3-D acceleration card will result in 200 percent to 500 percent performance gains when 3-D transitions are used. To my knowledge, no 3-D transitions with Microsoft Movie Maker 2.1 can take advantage of a powerful 3-D video card, but that doesn't mean having a powerful video card can't help you in other ways.

A system with a cheap and underpowered video card will be very sluggish in all Windows tasks, including video-editing applications. So although a 3-D video card won't truly accelerate your video editing, a capable 3-D video card will make your entire computing experience much easier and will accelerate the rendering process if you're using 3-D transitions. It will also help with DVD playback and will reduce the CPU load when playing back video files.

Some cards (such as the ATI RADEON 4650 Pro) have the ability to remove digital artifacts from video, enhancing the visual quality. If you have a low-end computer with a built-in video card on the motherboard, there's an even more compelling reason to upgrade to a new video card: your system is probably using shared RAM. This means that the on-board video card borrows from your main system RAM, which reduces the RAM you have available for video editing, which slows everything down.

Two major video card companies are competing for supremacy right now: ATI Technologies and nVidia. Each tends to one-up the other, and that's good news for consumers because it means we're seeing tremendous advances in technology. Cutting-edge technologies tend to be expensive, but you shouldn't automatically go out and buy the most expensive video card you can get. The best video card really depends on your needs.

When it comes to picking the right video card for your system, there are a few questions you should ask yourself:

• How serious of a gamer are you? If playing power-hungry games is high on your list of things to do, you'll need a powerful card. At a bare minimum, this means the previous generation cards such as the nVidia GeForce 7300GT or the ATI RADEON 4650. If you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, the high-end nVidia GeForce GTX 260 and ATI RADEON HD 4870 PRO are at the top of their class right now in terms of performance--nothing will give you better looking games.
• What video editing equipment do you have right now? Both nVidia and ATI offer variations of their cards with video in, video out (VIVO) and HDMI capabilities. Features vary from card to card, but some of the more common features include the ability to watch TV on your computer, have a picture in picture display, de-interlace the video (which results in higher quality on your computer), remote controls for changing the channel from across the room, program guides for recording your favorite shows, and inputs for recording video from analog video sources (such as VCRs or old video cameras). Many come bundled with handy multimedia software, so buying a new video card can be a good way to get started capturing video.
• How much are you willing to spend? Unless you absolutely need to have the best video game performance, a capable 3-D video card can be had for under $100 US. These cards won't win any awards, but they'll likely be an improvement over what you currently use. If you want the best, the high-end cards cost nearly $500 US.

A video graphic card is a vital part of any computer system. Regardless of whether you're a computer gamer, it will enhance your computer in ways beyond accelerating certain video editing transitions. Just remember not to blow your entire budget on a video card—a solid video editing computer has well-balanced components, not a blazing video card coupled with underpowered CPU, RAM, and hard drive.

Create Picture Ketupat With Corel Draw 12

How to make it as follows:
1. We first create a square by clicking on the rectangle tool (F6). Do not forget the form press the Ctrl key so that the results can be perfectly square.
2. change the angle of rotation to be 45 to square rhombus.
3. Then Copy this rhombus so into 4 equal-sized rhombus.
4. Arrange four lozenges were thus form a rhombus.
5. rhombus coloring of the left and right with a light green color
6. rhombus coloring the top and bottom with a dark green color.
7. Right-click on the color of the box without the colors to the color line is missing.
8. After all finished, you can save a picture file with *. jpg ekstention by clicking the File menu, export. Give the file a name, change the save as type to jpg.

Windows Movie Maker Tutorial

Movie Maker is a windows software that can innate be used to create video clips. At this time my blog will be a quick tutorial explaining how to operate Windows Movie Maker. Steps following steps:

Open Windows Movie Maker program. Is to open My Computer, open Local Disk (C:), open the program file, Movie Maker, click on Movie Maker.
In a video clip, a video, pictures and sound. First we add the first video, pictures and sound by clicking:
Import pictures to add picture.
Import video by clicking the video imort.
Audio Import audio or music to add sound effects.

If we're ready three, we'll start making a video clip:
I. We make first title of the video clips that we will create.
1. Click the "Make titles or credits" in the movie task.
2. Select "Add title at the Beginning of the movie" to give the title of the video clip.
3. Then type the title of the video clips you want.
4. Then we will select the title text animation. Click change the title animation. Choose one of the animated text.
5. Click change the text font and color. Select the font type, font color, tranparancy, bacground font and font size.
6. When all are finished, click Done, add title to movie.

II. The next step is to give effect:
1. Click show collections, video blogs or images that you will make a video clip, right click select add to storyboard. Or it could also by pressing Ctrl + D.
2. Click the view video effects on the Edit movie. Choose one of the video effects by drag on the video effect you want, drop in images and video available on the storyboard.
3. Click the view video transitions. Select one to add movement model in the video by way of drag on the video effect you want, drop between two existing video on the storyboard.

III. The next step is to cover:
1. Click the "Make titles or credits" in the movie task.
2. Click "add credits at the end of the movie"
3. Type the video cover click.
4. Then we will select the title text animation. Click change the title animation. Choose one of the animated text.
5. Click change the text font and color. Select the font type, font color, trnsparancy, bacground font and font size.
6. When all are finished, click Done, add title to movie.

When it is finished, save the video you created click on the save to my computer to store video. Videos are saved is formatted * mwv.

Free Virtual WebCam Software

Virtual webcam is an application that creates an stream of images to simulate a web cam stream. Such applications are useful to add text or visual effects to a webcam stream and/or to broadcast the same webcam to stream to multiple programs simultaneously. There are many applications available on the web to simulate a virtual web cam. While looking for an appropriate solution, I found out that most of them are non-free. Some of them were available for download on trial basis, and some had advertisements embeded into them. We have selected a few good ones for you.

CamTrack 2.5 Free 30 days Trial and $14.95 to buy.

CamTrack 2.5 lets you add video effects, text and images to your webcam video chat. But the plus point of CamTrack 2.5 is not the cool animations but the feature of “Face Tracking”. Face tracking automatically locates your face in the video image and zooms in on it, keeping your face centered in the middle of the frame at an optimal size.

CamTrack also allows you to zoom in and out. Combine this feature with face tracking and you never need to adjust your webcam with your hands. you can do it with your keyboard and mouse.

ManyCam Free

A free software, ManyCam allows you to use your webcam with multiple programs which means that you can use your webcam with Yahoo, MSN, Skype and Google Talk simultaneously.

ManyCam allows you to add text to your webcam stream. You can use display images or create a slideshow of images from your computer and broadcast it to your webcam. You can play videos on your webcam. I have used this feature to share a birthday video with my aunt on yahoo. Using Manycam and yahoo voice chat it was fun to share the video with this new way. I mean of course I can upload the video to youtube but it was a huge file and I didn’t have time.

Using Manycam you can create many effects like change the color, brightness and contrast of your webcam. Add visual effects to your webcam there are some really cool effects built in and they are a lot of fun. You can rotate and zoom in or out of your webcam video.

If you know of someother cool software please let me know. I want to make my Yahoo chat more fun. I am also looking for software to change the voice make it girly, high pitched or childish.

Top 10 Video Editing Software

Isn't it amazing, Spielberg made his debut with an amateur 8 mm "adventure" movie as a teenager. Well, how many of you aspire to get your hands on the Oscar statuette someday? For all you film lovers enjoy is, the the frills of special effects, montage and beyond, its the magic of video editing that makes the movie come alive. There are those who love to capture family videos or uploading cool videos YouTube. Again, I see the cool-headed journalists shooting live videos. All of these videos are clumsy stuffs and needs a professional touch to get it in shape. This is where you need the video editing software. Trimming unwanted scenes, imposing dissolves, fade in & fade out, superimpose, split screen and whole lot of special effects could turn your raw footage into most watched videos or movies. Now, there are a whole lot of video editing software. You may not have any idea about which one to pick. So I decided to help you out with my top 10 video editing software.

1. Pinnacle Studio 12

If you are looking for theme based editing, then this video editor can fillip your creative power. It has got the Hollywood style multi-layered effects, animated graphics, titles and Hi-Fi audio. It offers you the latest HD video editing technologies including the Blu-ray and AVCHD.

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2. PowerDirector 7

This one is a powerful editing and authoring tool for video editing. Great for vacation footage and the rest you can make out with the DirectorZone, transitions, and mega magical tools. Take on the dozens of sharing options via YouTube, Flickr, and Blu-ray discs.

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3. Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 Platinum Edition

When it comes to something video associated with Sony you can't neglect it. This is a perfect combination of usability and power. It includes cool list options for exporting your projects to video files - MPEG-1, MPEG-2, FLAC, FLV, AVCHD, MP4 (for iPod), PSP-compatible, • MOV, RM, AVI, WMV, DV/HDV Camcorders

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3. Roxio Creator 2009

If you are Mac buff then this one is for you. It offers you varied choice of tools for mixing, authoring, and burning videos and audio. there's a world of video, audio and photo special effects to explore with Roxio.

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4. Adobe Premiere Elements 7

For an amateur or the less tech savvy people this is most user-friendly video editing tool. The interface is as simple as it could be, even the first timers won't shy. Apart from your camcorder download it can edit MPEGs, AVI, Windows Media and Quick Time files.

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5. Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus

It's the latest version with some cool upgrades. It can handle multi-cam editing for two live video channels at the same time. Still more you have batch processing facilities to convert the entire video. Well, its compatible for all those portable devices like the Sony PSPs, iPods and cell phones.
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6. Corel VideoStudio Pro X2

It's all about playing with your videos. VideoStudio Pro X2 has time-saving Movie Wizard to create some cool fun movies within minutes. Although its not a feature packed stuff, but at least has some high-end features.

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7. ShowBiz DVD 2.1

It is an easy to use software that makes the first timers feel at home. The software has more than over 330 choices that includes the rain and puddle and more.

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8. Serif MoviePlus X3

With this you may not have loads of editing tools, but with little effort you can use it to your purpose. It also features great sharing possibilities – via DVD, direct YouTube upload as well as from iPo and PSP.
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9. Nero 9

The program is a part of the Nero package. It offers pretty good editing tools with a simple story board and a timeline format. It allows smooth drag and drop transitions, special effects and text in the videos. It lacks a good audio tool. It requires a Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 to run on Windows XP.
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10. AvideMUX ( free video editor for Linux )

This software is one of the most widely used Video editing tool for Ubuntu Linux. AvideMUX is easy to use and can you to cut, filter and encode tasks easily. It supports most of the video formats including AVI, DVD compatible MPEGfiles, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.

It is also available for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows under the GNU GPL license.

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.

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.

Video Editing with Movie Maker

The Windows Movie Maker is already built in PCs with of course, the Windows Operating System. So even if you don’t download any video editing software, you’re already equipped with good quality editing tools. When you capture videos from your camera or camcorders whenever there is a special event, your videos often have ‘junk’ portions.

These junk portions should be eliminated if you want to create professional-grade videos or movies from the comfort of your home. Home movies are mostly boring because most of the materials are not very interesting. Well, one way to create interesting videos is by editing the raw footage using the Movie Maker.

Newbies often use the zooming function when capturing videos. Your audience will feel sea-sick if you do a lot of zooming so try to minimize the use of this function to framing shots only. You’re in luck because through WMM, you can easily edit the zooming scenes in your raw footages.

When filming a family member or a narrator, you will often video the part when they say ‘am I on?’ or ‘should I speak now?’; don’t worry because you can now easily take that part out.

So how do you get rid of these junk shots?

When transferring videos from the camcorder or any other gadget to your computer, WMM will ask you if you want to manually capture the video; through this option, you can easily decide which sections should be transferred to the computer. This is also one way f saving disk space. There is also the option for capturing 100% of the video but you will seldom use this option since amateur videos does contain lots of junk material.

With WMM, you can also cut the video in half. You can do this on the timeline or on the preview monitor. Find the exact location that contains all the junk and cut it. However, you must be organized at all times; otherwise, you can have a large collection of clips that will be very hard to work on.

Each video clip has its own ins and outs. Drag ends of the video clips to the correct point to accurately trim the clip ends.

With editing software like WMM, it’s really easy to get rid of all the junks. Even if you captured a 2-hour video, you can still reduce its size by editing and removing the unwanted parts.

You can even add video effects to your home videos with WMM. You can’t possibly use all the effects at the same time. You can adjust the brightness of the video. For instance, if the video was taken indoors, there are times when the video looks too dark. You can easily brighten the scene by adjusting the brightness effects. By using the sepia tone and grayscale effects, color is automatically removed and the video will have an old photo look. For classy effects, you can use the de-saturating effects. Flashback and dream sequences effects can also be achieved.

If you want to create comedy movies or videos, you can use the speed up or slow down effects. Not all the effects are useful so choose only the right ones; don’t exaggerate the effects because the output will not look realistic.

These are a few things that you can do using WMM. Try it now and see what kind of videos you can create. Have fun.

The Professional Way

Back in the nineties, it was already possible to do some video editing tasks at home but it’s nothing compared to what you can do today. Modern software available in the market can already give anyone the edge to perform complex video editing tasks at home, just like the pros.

To get the most out of your video editing program or software, you should know some basics. The applications that most video editors use today are called non-linear editing. It is different from linear editing which consumes a lot of time in rewinding or fast forwarding. In non-linear editing, you can easily work on certain parts of the material; for instance, if you want to work on the middle part of the material, you can easily do it with a few clicks or you can also jump to the beginning or end of the material. Modern video editing is no longer a tedious task and because of this, many individuals are interested in creating their own video clips or even short movies.

Generation loss is not a problem in non-linear editing because you can already preserve the original recording or footage. Generation loss was a problem with linear editing since the quality of the footage becomes poorer when the material is transferred from one tape to another.

When using any software, you will need to consider the computer requirements. If you’re working with high definition shots, your computer should be fast. You need to invest more for a much superior hard drive and RAM. But if you’re currently using Mac OS or Windows (XP and Vista), it will do fine.

Oftentimes, purchasing hardware (camera, computer, etc) depends on the individual’s ambition and budget. If video editing is one of your hobbies, you can settle for more affordable hardware but if you want to become one of the pros in the industry, you should settle for the best. Advanced solutions are widely available today for those who are serious with video editing. With the use of these advanced software programs, you can expect commercially viable videos.

There are also handheld cameras today that allows high definition shots and they are quite affordable. You can also find inexpensive video editing software with advanced capabilities. Now, even if video editing is your hobby, you can already create professional grade videos or movies.

Money is often a problem for those who want to get serious in video editing. However, if you simply shop around and know your choices, you can go a long way. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars for the different hardware that you’re going to buy. If you have a computer at home, it will do fine. Do you have a camcorder, mini DV, and other handheld cameras? If you have one of these, you can already get some interesting footage.

Since there are lots of editing software being sold in the market, choosing one can be a bit difficult. Identify your needs in video editing and check out the features of some of the best software programs available. Determine their prices as well. Once you’ve considered your needs or wants and the budget, you can already get the appropriate software. You can even settle with free software but you must be aware that it offers limited video editing capabilities.

Enjoy video editing now in the comfort of your home and do it like professionals do.

Hints and Tips to make better home movie videos

The home movie video. It doesn't get any better than that. All of your family members and friends want to spend two hours watching your vacation videos, right? When you’re making home movies, it’s easy to just pick up your camcorder and press “record.” Sometimes you’ll record unforgettable moments, and end up making home movies that will be treasured forever. But, sometimes pressing record randomly means pressing your luck. Instead of making home movies your family can enjoy, you end up with lousy footage that’s not worth watching. But you can change all that by simply applying a few simple video capturing and editing techniques.

Read the Manual: be sure to familiarize yourself with your camcorder before you begin recording for real.

Perform a test run: It's always a good idea to try out all of those manual options (and watch the results) before you pull your camcorder out to shoot something important.

Make a Plan: Start by remembering that you are telling a story. Remember what you like when you hear a story. You want it to be short, entertaining and to the point. Apply that simple rule to your own video.

Lights: Plenty of light will make an incredible difference in the quality of your video footage. Shooting outside will give you the best results, but if you’re shooting inside, try to turn on as many lights as possible, and bring them close to your video subject.

Recording Audio: Don’t just trust your camera to work best on its automatic settings. Check the audio with headphones, if possible, and check the video footage by looking through the eyepiece. The eyepiece gives you a better view than the flip-out screen, because you won’t be seeing any reflections or be influenced by external light.

Hold the Shot: Hold every shot for few seconds. This can seem like an eternity, but you’ll thank yourself later when you’re watching or editing the footage. It may feel like you’ve got enough footage after recording for only 2 or 3 seconds, but those few seconds will fly when you start editing your video.

Capture behind the scenes: Never fall in love with your shots, or to put it more concisely, less is more. Most people shoot the same things over and over again. Learn to pick the best shot and go with it, Try talking to people about what's going on, capture some scenes before and after the event.

Now that you've shot the perfect vacation video, it’s time to edit it down to a finished movie that you can show to your family and friends. Video editing programs allow you to create and modify video files and export them in a number of formats. While using such programs you will most likely encounter tasks such as video cropping, video/audio transitions, creating/adding special effects and titles. For those starting out in video editing, my best recommendation is Windows Movie Maker and if you are ready to edit your footage you might as well upload it right to that program. There are also many very reasonably priced video editing programs available: Adobe Premiere Elements, Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas, and Muvee, Ulead Video Studio just to name a few. But for the beginner, there's nothing better than Windows Movie Maker, and you should try that program first to make sure you like video editing. Here is guide how to use Windows Movie Maker.

How to get traffic to your website using your Home videos:

When you’re done creating your videos you can even upload them to video sharing sites like Youtube to share your videos with the world for fun or to get traffic back to your website.

Video Editing – AVS

AVS is a fully functional software program that you can use for video editing. It is perfect for your home editing needs. With AVS, you can easily capture videos from photo cameras and camcorders. You can easily master slideshows and videos with transitions and effects which you can also upload to handheld gadgets like iPods, mobiles, portable players, and PSP.

Aside from those already mentioned, AVS is handy and can burn or author DVDs. It is also possible to export movies to a number of video formats. It’s like having your very own video studio. Another good thing about AVS is that it supports almost all the video formats known today. With the convenient interface of AVS, you can instantly enhance videos, create slideshows, edit certain audio tracks, and use the scene detection feature.

With this software, you can do timeline and storyboard editing. Navigation is eased through the use of the storyboard where you can organize different clips and scenes that you can use for future videos. The timeline is also expandable so you can do precision editing and trimming. It is not difficult to identify the right editing tools to use and most of all it uses the ‘drag and drop’ action.

What are the key features of the AVS?

Editing videos has never been this easy, thanks to AVS. This software program is best suited for new video editors since it does not require users to have editing skills. It boasts of about 300 transitions and video effects. If you want, you can apply credits and texts to all your videos. AVS also provides chroma-key or picture-in-picture effects.

You can do editing tasks with precision. For more accurate editing, you can use the storyboard or the advanced timeline. If you’re using HD cameras, you can now edit the videos easily and quickly. Key formats such as HD, MOD, TOD, and M2TS are supported by the software.

Like other complex video editing software programs, you can also combine videos and audio tracks with AVS. You can easily insert or mix audio tracks to the media file; you can even trim the audio clips.

Trimming videos is an important task. With AVS, you can simply split videos into different scenes to delete the ones you don’t want to include in the final video. Are you amazed at how video or film editors create overlay effects? Well, you can also do your own overlay effects because AVS offers trajectories and you can also custom it according to your needs.

The final project can be saved in different formats such as DivX, AVI, Xvid, 3GP, WMV, DAT, MPEG 1-4, RM, and many others. Your collections can be forever cherished once you burn them to DVDs, CD-R, DVD-RAM, etc.

Menu styles are also available to suit various occasions and personal preference. AVS will also recommend the appropriate format for your final videos or movies. The software interface supports various languages such as English, German, Italian, Spanish, and French. Change the language setting easily if you’re an American, German, French, or Italian.

AVS is definitely one of the best software programs in the market that can suit new and professional video editors. If you’re into video editing, why don’t you get AVS now? Check out their online site and discover more about this exciting software.

Video Editing – Adobe Premiere

Adobe Premiere is one of the pioneers in video editing software. Many pros are using it to capture and edit video. Through the software program, you can also deliver the edited videos online, on device, on air, and on disc.

Today’s Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 costs $799 or you can choose the upgrade for only $299. If this is your first time to use Adobe, you can get a trial.

The price is already a good deal because with Adobe Premiere, you can save lots of money and time. The transcoding process and rewrapping is too time-consuming and with the software, you can now import AVCHD, P2, RED, and XDCAM footage skipping such processes. You can use Adobe OnLocation so that the footage is digitized automatically and captured to the disk after shooting.

You don’t need to do the tedious scrubbing task with the use of Adobe Premiere. You can utilize the Speech Search and quickly generate recorded dialogue by simply using key words or phrases.

The Media Encoder of Adobe automates the process by setting priorities and advanced settings for all the batch files. For the professionals, this can boost productivity. The software offers around 50 editing enhancements for more efficient workflow. You can apply the effects on multiple selections, use shortcuts to speedup timeline works, and get info on timecode much faster.

With the FCP XML, you can transfer your projects from FCP to the Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 without rerendering or conversions. The transitions and effects are also preserved. Intermediate rendering is eliminated with Adobe Encore. The dynamic link allows the opening of encore ‘live’ and so the changes are reflected automatically.

What are the system requirements? Before you use Adobe Premiere, you should know the system requirements. For windows, you will need 2GB of RAM, 2GHz for DV or a much faster processor, for HDV 3.4 GHz and for HD, 2.8GHz; Windows XP or Vista; 10GB hard disk free space; QuickTime 7.4.5 to use features; broadband connection; driver model or ASIO sound card; and certified card for Adobe.

If you’re using Mac, you will also need a broadband internet, intel processor, 2GB RAM, 10GB available disk space, DVD-ROM drive, compatible sound card, QuickTime 7.4.5, 7200 RPM hard drive, Mac OS Xv10.4.11-10.5.4, and Blu-ray disc burner if you plan to create Blu-ray disc.

The software will aid you from start until finish. It is designed for editors, cable or network broadcasters, filmmakers, corporate and events videographers, hobbyists, and creative professionals. When you purchase Pro CS4, it is part of the Creative Suite 4 or the Master Collection of Adobe software.

Adobe also supports a wide range of software and hardware, both for Windows and Mac. Even if Adobe Premiere costs a bit, you can still choose the capture cards and workstations that meets your budget and needs. You can also enhance the system by purchasing additional plug-ins. With this software, it is possible to work with tapeless formats like XDCAM EX, P2, AVCHD, and HD.

Who says Adobe Premiere is just for the pros? Even if you’re a beginner in video editing, you can also get the Adobe Premiere as long as you can afford to pay for it. If the features work well for you, this software is one of the best. Get it now. You can avail it online from the official site of Adobe.

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.

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.

The Best Video Editing Program

Video editors are always on the hunt for the best video editing program in the market. Whether you’re a pro or an amateur video editor, you will surely find an appropriate program that can meet your editing needs.

There is no one ‘best’ video editing program because it depends on the needs of individual video editors. There are certain things to consider like what you’re planning to edit, the length of experience in video editing, and the complexity of the tasks.

Put it this way – the ‘best’ program for you may not be the ‘best’ for another editor.

Here is a list of the best programs based on the demands of its users.

FCE or Final Cut Express is quite popular. It is similar to Final Cut Studio but the FCS is suited for professionals. If you have a mini DV, the FCE is an excellent choice because it accepts the format. According to VideoMaker, FCE is one of the best because it is low-cost and fantastic when it comes to video results. The FCE 4.0 is the newest program version and it already accepts AVCHD.



For the new software in the market, the Corel Video Studio Pro X2 and the Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 are among the most promising programs. The former costs $99 and the other one is $129. The programs can meet the needs of beginners in video editing but can also handle complex tasks.

Pinnacle offers a wide range of choices for video editors. Each of the programs differs in price and complexity. The cheapest price is $49, then $99 and the Ultimate 12. Simplicity is the key to attract users, especially the beginners.

The basic version of Corel is only $70 followed by the Pro which costs $99. You can only do 2 video tracks with the $70 basic version but with the Pro, you can work with seven tracks.

For the pros who hardly consider the price of the software, you can get the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium. It is definitely not cheap since it costs $1,699. Some of its features include Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, After Effects, Flash Professional, Encore, Premiere Pro, Device Control, Sound Booth, Dynamic Link, and Bridge. This is an excellent package for professionals. If you can’t afford the Premium software, you can get the Premiere Pro (Adobe) for only $799. Even if you’re using Mac, you can still use this software because Adobe devised a Mac version.

Video bloggers all over the world love the software of Adobe. The post-production and production processes are handled effectively through the use of the program. Among its amazing features is the teleprompter and not only that, it’s much easier to upload videos online.

The ProDAD Adorage offers a lot of transition features like Universal Tricks, Lights, Particles, Eyecatcher FX, Power FX Pearls, etc. The nine volumes cost $499 but it is also available in individual packages for only $73. However, you can only use this program together with standard video editing software.

Before you go out shopping for a video editing program, you should first establish a budget and determine your editing needs. After considering these factors, you can now get the most appropriate program to use. There are free programs online just in case you don’t want to purchase any software; the choice is yours.

Seven Free Downloads for Video Editing

For those who have already tried creating their own home videos, you can make use of these seven free downloads for video editing.

If you try to search the internet, you will notice that there are lots of software programs out there ranging from below $100 to over $500. Well, here’s great news – you can also download certain video editing programs for free. Even if you don’t have money, you can still use a decent video editing tool but you need to spend some time browsing the web.

For newbies, it would be best to make use of these free software programs so that you will learn the basics of video editing. Once you get used to using different software programs, you can now purchase complex ones that offer special effects and other fun stuffs. Commercial software programs are too complicated for beginners so you’d be better off with free software.

The top 7 downloadable video editors are the following:

Latest personal computers now have pre-installed video editors, the Windows Movie Maker. You can create new videos/movie and edit or share them. With a few drags and clicks of your mouse, you can create a movie. You can exclude bad shots and get only the best scenes. You can save the movie and perhaps share it via the internet, in a CD, or through email. If you save it on your computer or camcorder, you can play it over and over again.

For Mac, you can use the Apple iMovie. This is one of the easiest ways to create your own video. You can add new clips to your existing project or replace them. It also allows you to edit the audio as well. This software is free only if you have a Mac system. When the Advanced Tools are shown, you can use additional options like green-screen effects, picture-in-picture, and cutaways.

For Linux and PCs, you can use the Zwei-Stein freeware. You can make use of the advanced features it offers like making custom effects or you can also do panning and cropping.

Debugmode Wax may be outdated but it’s still great for video editing. The visual effects are flexible and so you can easily create superb video sequences.

Jashaka can be used for Linux, Mac, and PC. It makes use of the OpenML and OpenGL hardware which allows users real-time interactivity. The platform comes with image processing, paint, and full CG modules.

Virtual Dub offers very simple editing tools. If you’re an advanced editor, this software is not for you. If you have an existing video footage, you can use this software to make clean and simple edits. It can handle AVI files, read MPEG-1 and BMP images.

These six software programs are downloadable. Only then can you use the software to create or edit videos or movies. If you want to use another good online tool, you can use Jump Cut. However, this can only be used online and you can’t download it. With this tool, you can cut videos; add effects, photos and titles. With Jump Cut, you can upload media, share them, remix, create new movies, or publish it for your friends.

For your video editing needs, get a suitable software program. The free software are easy to work on and you will hardly encounter any problems.

Non-Linear Video Editing

Once you learn how video editing works, you will have a lot of fun in finalizing your video clips on the computer. Videotape editing these days is a lot cheaper as compared to editing many years ago. You can do it quickly by using the appropriate video editing program. However, the learning curve is a bit steep and many individuals give up because they are easily intimidated by the program. If you’re determined to learn how video editing works, you can handle any tasks no matter how difficult it is.

What you need to do is learn the basics and after that, you can have a lot of fun in editing your videos. When you open any video editing program, you will see an interface with so many windows. In fact, among all computer programs, video editing is the most complex. You can easily get overwhelmed with the many windows that pop on the screen once you open the program.

If you’ve tried using WMM (Windows Movie Maker), then you already have an idea of what a universal interface looks like. Most programs follow the same on-screen layout. WMM is much easier to use than other complex programs because you will initially see four separate windows on the screen. Other windows can be opened one by one so you will not be confused in using them. Each of the windows has its own function and once you know the different functions, you can work with ease. You can also hide other windows while you’re working. Almost all editing programs have 8-20 windows. These windows confuse new users especially if they hardly know anything about video editing.

When you open WMM or any other basic video editing program, you will see that the three windows are located on the top-half section and the bottom half contains a large window. These four windows are the timeline, task pane (on the upper left), collections (middle), and output (on the far right). The bottom window is the timeline or the turquoise section.

The timeline is one of the most important windows in the program. You can build your movie or video in this window and it will serve as its visual representation. A squiggly line or waveform representation can be seen on the screen as well as a running time on top. In the WMM timeline, one line is for the standard video, titles, and video transitions or effects; for audio, there are two lines. At the left side of the screen, you will see the labels and black lines separate them horizontally. Complex programs usually have additional lines for audio and video. If you want to create simple videos, WMM and other free software programs may be enough.

On the task pane, the different tasks are shown and included in the list is the ‘edit movie’. Links are also found in the screen which leads to other functions and one of these links teaches you how to edit videos. You can hide/show this window on the menu at the top portion. The collections window contains all the media from your projects. You can watch the edited video/movie in the output window.

In videotape editing, you will be working on these four windows most of the time. You can learn how these four windows work and then learn more about the other windows.

Linear Video Editing

Most of today’s emerging videographers are more familiar with non-linear video editing. But did you know that there is also the so called ‘linear video editing’? Prior to the introduction of computer-based editing software in the nineties, video editing was mainly linear.

The process involves selecting and arranging sounds and images on a videotape. Such sounds and images are also modified whether they are generated from computer graphics or video camera.

The medium used was primarily the television. Shot edits were done mostly in live TV productions. More than two cameras are used and the shot edits were executed by switching from one camera to another. Video switchers allowed the handling of several synchronized inputs and at the same time, mixing them into one output. With the use of the switcher, cuts are easily done in various video sources and in wipes, dissolves, and fades.

Modern live TV productions follow the same linear editing system but due to technological advancement, the productions are much more effective and efficient. The airing of shows over and over again was only possible with kinescope but that was before the videotape was invented. With kinescopes, picture degradation was a major problem as well as evident scan lines and image distortion. Delay on broadcasts was also another problem since the kinescopes were processed in film labs.

Because of the tiring procedure with kinescopes, the videotape was developed. After some time, videotape editing became viable just like film editing.

The first accepted videotape was the quadruplex recording, about two inches in width. The tape was cut and spliced to carry out editing tasks. The process was arduous and not many videographers performed it. It involved many disadvantages such as – you can’t use edited tapes again, you need to be skilled enough to carry out the process, lose sync, and each editing task requires several minutes (too time consuming).

Are you familiar with the TV show - ‘Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In’? This show utilized the arduous linear editing process. The hand editing was first developed in the 1960s. But since it involved problems like short buzzing (audio), it was not used all the time. This method was impractical for most producers. Producers are not familiar with the process and they can’t give their personal opinions. Documentary television productions hardly used video because of these problems.

Edit suites were developed by 1970s. It already involved the use of computers. Time codes were used to synchronize auxiliary devices and tape machines. CMX, Ampex, and Sony created the edit systems. Only high-end productions were able to access the edit suites because most of them are very expensive.

Today, linear video editing is still being used in newsrooms and some production facilities where newer technologies are not available. Because of the improvement in today’s technology, linear editing is less complex. As compared to non-linear editing, linear editing will require you to carefully learn the skills of a good videographer. However, if video editing is just your hobby, you can opt for non-linear editing.

Video editing has a very interesting history. Just imagine the videographers cutting tapes and putting the together again to create a final production; it was really expensive, time consuming, and arduous. Thanks to the modern technology, video editing is already possible even in the comfort of your home.

Still, if you want to try linear editing, start gathering experience now.

Computers and Video Editing

Many years ago, it would have been impossible to edit videos at home because it can only be done in exclusive editor suites. But now, things are quite different. If you have a desktop computer with enough disk space, 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.

Best Software in Video Editing

When you are about to engage in video editing, you must answer this question first – What do you want to do? There are so many video editing tasks but you can’t possibly do everything unless you’re a pro. Most of today’s videographers prefer to do certain editing tasks but not all of them. So when choosing for the best software, you must consider the things that you’re planning to do; this is the only way of getting the best software for you to work with.

It’s ordinary to see a lot of attractive promos when you’re shopping for the best software, online and offline. There are even programs that come with a free camcorder; don’t be fooled by these things. Stick to your needs and get the appropriate software if you want to end up with a software program that’s useful.

Firstly, you need to look at the format. What is the format that you’re currently working on? Do you want to create a final video or movie of the same format? The input is largely determined by the material you’re using – a DVD recorder, camcorder, etc. The input may be standard definition or high definition. The output can be in DVD wherein MPEG2 files are written on the DVD, in HDD, Blue Ray Disc, handheld devices, computer viewing, and many other formats.

Focus on the source of your files because the output will be mostly of the same format. Choose software that ensures ease of work with the particular input format so that you will not encounter any difficulty.

Sellers of various software programs see to it that their products are ‘attractive’ to the eyes of customers. Even if the program is not what you want, the seller can make it something that you want and so you’re tempted to purchase such software program.

The next thing that you need to consider is transition. When a scene changes, you should insert transitions between the clips. Transitions can be straight cut or cross fade and there are still others that you can use. You see, each software program usually offers about 50 different transitions.

Overlay tracks is another great feature of editing software programs. You can see this effect on movies and TV shows. A very good example is the news wherein you can see the station logo, tape readout, and a video of the reporter on a particular scene. Controlling the overlay tracks is important so that you won’t make a mess on the video output.

The audio control feature is limited in most consumer video editing programs. Just as the word suggests, the software is used mostly for editing videos and not audio. If you want to have maximum audio control, get advanced software packages used by pros.

DVD authoring is another feature that attracts videographers. You can use this if you have high definition materials. Make sure that it provides 10-20 menu templates for full customization.

Rendering is one of the most important features. The file is not finished until you render it; all the changes you’ve made on the video material are ‘virtual’. After rendering, the final video material is saved in viewing format.

Still looking for the best software in video editing? Focus on your needs and wants. If you know the video editing tasks that you’re about to do, then you can easily purchase the right software.

Find a Device on Your Network

There are a few reasons to know your connected devices' IP addresses. For one, it's invaluable in troubleshooting. After making sure your unresponsive device is actually plugged in, the next step will nearly always be to point your PC's browser at its IP address and make sure that something having to do with the device appears, such as a configuration page, or at least the device name. This leads to another reason: Often, a device's "home page"—what you see in your browser when you type in the device's IP address—will give you easier access to device options, and in some cases, more settings and extras.



How can you find the IP addresses of your devices? Through your router's configuration screens. In your browser, type in your router's IP address, then find the DHCP client table among the config screens (which vary by router brand). This table shows all devices connected (physically or wireless) through the router. If a device doesn't appear, make sure it's powered on. Not sure about your router's IP address? At the command prompt (Start | Run | cmd) type ipconfig and hit Enter. Note the router's address on the line that reads Default Gateway. —Mario Morejon