recommendations for video editing software

[digitalrhino]

Hello I'm new to this forum and have gotten so confused when I try to decide what editing software to get so tell ya what I've got and what I want to do......I have an HP media center m495c 3.20 ghz 512mbsdram 200gb harddrive 8x dvdwriter and cd writer........ATI radeon 9200 mce agp 8x graphics and 128mb DDR video memory..........windows XP............that's the system what I would like to do is capture VHS home movies .....capture digital video from my sony dvc........and scan pictures .all for inclusion with music of course on to a dvd...........I've looked at Power director.......MY DVD 8 just to name a few......can anyone give me some direction on what products would help me accomplish these things......ps I'm not lookingfor the cheapest thing on the market either...........thanks in advance Rhino

[paglamon]

Ulead Video Studio 9 or 10.

[megamachine]

I second, and note that ULVS 10 has the added feature of multiple overlays.

[Video Idio]

Is Ulead 10 compatible with Xvid? I have been looking for an affordable editor too that is Xvid compatible and can equal the quality and adjustability of VirtualDub's Contrast, Sharpen, and Resize (preferably with Lanczos3).

I have demoed Vegas Movie Studio + 6, which can be had for as low as $70, but is not Xvid compatible. I need something I can edit Fraps captures with that is fairly easy to use.

So far I have not been able to get VirtualDub to append captured segments of the same project using the exact same capture parameters. It is also not even saving a one piece capture that was segmented to sync audio, then appended, without looping back and seeing it as a file 5 times it's size.

[megamachine]

VD has better filters, UVS 10 is an editing package. I use the latter for editing projects, and have used it with AVI-XVID, and I use the former on single vids, although sometimes get a B frame lag error with XVID. Anyway, my advice is to use UVS 10 free trial and see how it works for your projects.

[Video Idio]

VD has better filters, UVS 10 is an editing package. I use the latter for editing projects, and have used it with AVI-XVID, and I use the former on single vids, although sometimes get a B frame lag error with XVID. Anyway, my advice is to use UVS 10 free trial and see how it works for your projects.

Thanks, I was going to download the trial version of UVS 10 anyway. Too bad you can't use contrast, sharpen & resize with direct stream copies in VDub, but then they wouldn't actually BE direct stream copies.

[digitalrhino]

thanks a bunch .......I'll do my homework and I'll see how it works

[Video Idio]

I use the latter for editing projects, and have used it with AVI-XVID,

We must have had a miscomunication there, I meant I want to compress using Xvid in Ulead, but I see no way to do that after downloading the trial version of UVS 10. Sounds like you're talking about importing Xvid made AVIs into Ulead, I'd rather have the end result be an Xvid compression. Are there no affordable editors that can use Xvid to compress with?

[paglamon]

Ulead will not make the compression,Xvid will.Configure Xvid to do ur compression.But why use Ulead for that?Virtualdubmod is a far better option.And meGUI is even better IMO.

[Video Idio]

Ulead will not make the compression,Xvid will.Configure Xvid to do ur compression.But why use Ulead for that?Virtualdubmod is a far better option.And meGUI is even better IMO.

Ulead will not make the compression,Xvid will.Configure Xvid to do ur compression.But why use Ulead for that?Virtualdubmod is a far better option.And meGUI is even better IMO.

Are you saying Ulead CAN be used to compress using Xvid? If so, why do I not see Xvid in the compression options anywhere in the configure panel of Ulead?

The reason to use an alternative to VDub or VDubMod is simple and common, the want/need to have an easy to use editor that can add background music, transitions, effects, titles, etc. After testing Ulead I am much less than impressed with it's sharpen and contrast filters.

The last 5 minute video project I just did was made in Movie Maker using WMV from a Fraps source clip that was segmented into 10 pieces to sync the audio. I just did an enhanced version using HuffyUV lossless precompression with sharpen, contrast, and Lanczos3 resizing filters in VirtualDub, then the same MM compression to finish..

The enhanced version seems to be nearly identical to small one segment Xvid compressions I've done using VDub, although using higher bit rates to account for WMV's inferiority. The only tradeoff is needing temporary space for the whopping 1Gig per minute of video that the lossless compression results in, though HuffyUV compressions go pleasantly quick for me.

If you have time to examine these comparisons, I'd appreciate your opinion. It's only the first 32 second segment of the 5 minute video, and streamed via Putfile.

Original MM WMV version:

http://media.putfile.com/Alex1-52/640

Enhanced version w/HuffyUV & VDub filter precompression:

http://media.putfile.com/Alex1-enhanced/640

IMO there is a great need for either an open source or affordable product in a full featured editor that can use Xvid to compress with AND has contrast, sharpen, and resize filtering on par with the free tools already available. Why is there no such thing, doesn't make sense to me? You can find a variety of very good freeware photo enhancers with many features in them that have Lanczos3 resizing and excellent contrast and sharpen features (I use FastStone Image Viewer), yet no such thing seems to exist in video editing even in the $70-$100 range.

Home video editing is very popular now, yet we seem to still be in the stone ages as far as what is needed to accomodate the average user.

[paglamon]

Are you saying Ulead CAN be used to compress using Xvid? If so, why do I not see Xvid in the compression options anywhere in the configure panel of Ulead?

1.Click CREATE VIDEO FILE in Share tab.
2.In the SAVE AS drop down menu select Microsoft AVI
3.In that same window click on OPTIONS
4.Now u hav VIDEO SAVE OPTIONS window
5.In this window select AVI and then in Compression select Xvid

[Video Idio]

1.Click CREATE VIDEO FILE in Share tab.
2.In the SAVE AS drop down menu select Microsoft AVI
3.In that same window click on OPTIONS
4.Now u hav VIDEO SAVE OPTIONS window
5.In this window select AVI and then in Compression select Xvid

OK, thanks paglamon, I found Xvid, but I'm experiencing the same problem I've heard others speak of. In trying to use MPEG Layer3 audio, the file ends up being tiny and shows only a black screen. I have read this happens when trying to use Lame. Lame does not show in the audio options, but MPEG Audio Layer3 has the same ABR options as Lame. Is MPEG Audio Layer3 Lame then, or will it show Lame at all?

The same problem happens when trying to do a two pass compression using Xvid, a tiny file showing only black screen for both the 1st & 2nd pass. I got a single pass test to save using Xvid & MPEG Audio Layer2, but the results were horrible as far as video quality compared VDub using Xvid or even the VDub/HuffyUV w/enhancement filters precomress with a MM WMV 2nd compress I did recently.

I see now why you tried to steer me away from Ulead, I can't justify paying $70 for a product like this. Are there no affordable editors that use Xvid as well as VDub and have equal quality filters? If not, video editing appears to be still in the stone ages.

[anonymez]

many people seem to like vegas.

if you're looking for freeware, WMM is probably the best available unfortunately; but http://www.zs4.net http://positron.sourceforge.net may work for you

i dream of a day where somebody writes an avisynth-based NLE

[Video Idio]

many people seem to like vegas.

if you're looking for freeware, WMM is probably the best available unfortunately; but http://www.zs4.net http://positron.sourceforge.net may work for you

i dream of a day where somebody writes an avisynth-based NLE

Hey annonymez, you're back, I was beginning to think I had bored you to death.

Tried Vegas too, finally figured out how to use Xvid with it, but same audio incompat prob with MPEG Layer3 and Lame, which it shows but won't successfully compress with while using Xvid. Even the Xvid/ADPCM I ran looked horrible with or without enhancements even with 2100 vs 1800kbps (which I'd used in VDub with good results).

You tend to be a brainiac compared to the average user, so I'm not surprised you steered me to ZS4, which I'd read about previously as being designed with tech heads in mind. It's probably too hard to figure out for me.

I've not heard of Positron though, so I may give that a try. In reading about it on the site you linked to, I couldn't help but think this sentence contradicts the current free open source nature of it:

"Positron was founded in June 2005 by Tim Baldridge in order to fill a need he saw in the film-editing industry for an affordable, capable Non-Linear Editor that any high-end user can afford", especially when they end by saying it's "geared towards replacing" very expensive programs like Final Cut Pro.

None the less, I'll download and try it, hopefully it will stay free to the public, or at least a scaled down version of it. I don't need thousands of effect, transition & title options like some offer, just decent quality compression and a few good enhancers, though basic transition & title options would be nice. I only hope I can figure out how to use it, probably not much in the way of help for it yet. Thanks

[paglamon]

VI,
Lame should show up in Virtualdub.How did u install Lame?Download it. Then RIGHT CLICK on the .inf file and select INSTALL.