Video Editing Software?

I'm dusting this post off to update! I had given up on trying to add video to my slide show of our trip this summer but snagged Cyberlink PowerDirector Ultimate 11 off of Amazon for $40! (Don't tell me I paid too much... I want to think I got a good deal. ;) )

I've been playing with it for a week or so now and am beginning to catch on. I think I'll manage to get the hang of it and be able to create a DVD. It is quite a bit like the old Windows Movie Maker that I had on my Vista laptop but has more animations & effects. Vids are easy to add and "split" to trim. There are several layers for the timeline so adding effects, animation & captions are easy enough. So far, it (or me) has been fairly intuitive but if I need help, I've been able to find it in the manual or online. So far so good!

The cam takes HD vid but I'm good with the DVD not in HD.

I reserve the right to change my mind about PowerDirector 11 but as of now, it's a 2 thumbs up from me. No freezes or crashes or other problems mentioned by many of the reviewers. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. :R

Thanks all for the advice and opinions on products. :C

I too use Avidemux for some editing or conversion jobs

a wealth of info at this site

http://forum.videohelp.com/forums/2-Video

Thanks, 1492! I'll give that a try...

For burning I use AppGeeker DVD Creator.

http://www.appgeeker.com/convert/burn-wmv-to-dvd.html

I've gotten much better picture quality from what I've used previously (Windows Movie Maker).

Alan_Hepburn wrote:
Has anybody tried this application? I recently downloaded it so I could edit movies from my helmet cam, but so far all I've tried with it is to create small 30-second clips from a 20 minute file and it seems to work well.

One thing I'd like to see is how to turn the video upside down - occasionally the video gets recorded while the camera is being held upside down and it's hard to watch it standing on my head!

Yes, though I may not have the most current version of Avidemux installed. Nonetheless, it's fairly easy to flip the video using filters.

Basically,

Click Video > Filters.




Under Transform, double-click "Rotate" filter. In the popup, select 180 degrees for the angle and click OK. The Rotate filter should now appear in the Active Filters column. Click the Close button.




Make sure to select a Video Output codec. You cannot keep it as "Copy" as filters will not be applied.

Once you save the video, it will be flipped right side up.

Movie Maker is in Win 8 but it appears to me to be a stripped down version of what it was years ago when it was included in Vista. The old one had MANY more choices for transitions and effects. It showed the audio track below the video and it was easy to cut it or add to it. So far, I've not seen the audio track in the newer version except for a little squiggly line within the video frames. I think you can control volume or mute it but not replace it. Of course, if there were actual easy to find and use instructions, it would be simpler to use it.

"The Works" explained pretty much what I want to do with the vids & pics from this trip. I used Windows Live Movie Maker (Vista version)to make about a 20 minute DVD of our Utah trip. Each pic had a transition and effect...some panned left to right, others zoomed in or out, some from bottom right to upper left...all sorts of different looks. I used the movement to focus attention to a particular place in the photo. I added different music for the different parks, created a title page, credit page & pages within the project to distinguish between parks. The only thing I didn't do was include vids in that one because I didn't take any! DUH.

It's the vids from this trip that have me stumped and why I asked the original queston. I can't get them to load from my camera, from a saved file on the Vista 'puter, a saved file on a thumb drive...and I want to include some. DAGGUMIT! I think I'll try to burn them to a DVD then try to upload from it to the Vista version of Movie Maker.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. I'm still researching those that were listed.

Has anybody tried this application? I recently downloaded it so I could edit movies from my helmet cam, but so far all I've tried with it is to create small 30-second clips from a 20 minute file and it seems to work well.

One thing I'd like to see is how to turn the video upside down - occasionally the video gets recorded while the camera is being held upside down and it's hard to watch it standing on my head!

I like Proshow
http://www.photodex.com/proshow/gold

I have Win8 64 bit and just for grins I did a search for Movie Maker and it shows up as a program. I started it and it works. I thought it wasn't included Win8 but it is.

KarenS144 wrote:

Oh boy.... maybe I'll just stick to putting my photos on DVD. I don't care if the vids are HD. I just thought it would be interesting to put a few short vids in.

We don't have a Blu Ray player and the other person (my mom) that I'd give one to doesn't either.

Maybe that's why the vids won't upload into the Vista version of Movie Maker? Could I burn them to a DVD first then upload & edit? Would I need to convert them from HD to whatever DVDs like first?

Thanks to all for all the suggestions and help!

If that's all you really need, than doesn't WIN 8 come with Windows DVD Maker? Not sure as I'm currently on my WIN 7 machine. Would have to boot into WIN 8 to check?

In any case, Windows DVD Maker is fairly simple, and can include both photos and video via drag and drop, along with a music track to create a DVD slide show. The templates are also fairly good. You may want to take a look at it.