Video Editing Software Recommendation?

[gabeee]

Hi guys,

Currently I have the adobe premium and the adobe after effects, however i have issues with these software its not running in realtime, probably because im using a 2011 13 inch mbp which isnt good enough for video editing.. any recommendation?

Im trying to use final cut pro but i read that the videos have to be converted first..

Because i did not use any filter for my gopro, I need a editing software like the adobe after effects where the colour can be corrected.

Cheers for helping!

 

[Scuba Ken]

Which version of adobe CS are you using? How much RAM does your system have? Both Adobe and FCP should have no problem on a year old laptop. You can also do color adjustments within both FCP and Premiere without going to After Effects.

 

[danvolker]

I have Adobe Premiere on my wife's Mac, and Sony Vegas 11 pro on my PC
Premiere is horribly convoluted and difficult to edit with, whereas Vegas is awesomely intuitive.

I put canon 5D mark II footage on the timeline, either as the canon format mov ( a h264 codec contained in an mov wrapper) and it will play fine on preview , however what I normally do, is pull the mov files from the camera to cineform's HDLink, where it is upconverted to a 4-2-2 color space, and much better codec for editing...and wrapped in an avi container ( which PC's do much better with than mov files). Then, you also have the cineform NeoHD program, that allows instantaneous changes in a clip ( whether 10 seconds or 10 minutes long) for things like SATURATION, WHITE BALANCE, GAMMA, EXPOSURE, ZOOM, and many others....on completion with clips I care about, I import these avi's into vegas, and editing is a breeze. Vegas has a 30 day free trial....but as of yet it is not for Mac ( but they are about to change this I think)

 

[tyrerubber]

I use iMovie...it seems, to me, that it is relatively simple to use and edit clips together add music, etc. I keep experimenting as I go.

My kids seem to think the videos are neat!

 

[DaMaDo]

I didn't like Adobe Premiere at all. I thought Sony Vegas was good, but liked Cyberlink Powerdirector the best out of the three. It's very intuitive and has a lot of features.

Best thing to do is try the trial for each...especially since one of them might cause problems on your computer. That's the one reason I tried powerdirector while using Vegas...it kept crashing and/or locking up. PD9 actually did the same until one of the latter patches and PD10 works perfectly.

 

[LowVizWiz]

Final Cut Pro should be all you need, depending on the configuration of your MBP (RAM, Video Card mainly) it should do just fine. Something you can try is using the files from a firewire 800 drive instead of the local system disk. The stock SATA HD on my Early 2011 15" MPB is a "slowish" 5400 RPM drive. Also, you absolutely don't want to run the files from an SD card either. It seems obvious, but people do it all the time so that's why I mention it.

The problem with GoPro files is that they are MPEG files which are fine for viewing, but not great for editing. Converting the files makes it more bearable to edit. I'd use Compressor (Which is part of FCP studio) and batch convert the files to Apple ProRes 422 then use the 3 way color corrector filter from FCP to do any enhancing. Don't expect miracles however, if there isn't any chroma information due to the water filtering all the colors out it won't do magic

 

[Marty Cerven]

Which version of adobe CS are you using? How much RAM does your system have? Both Adobe and FCP should have no problem on a year old laptop. You can also do color adjustments within both FCP and Premiere without going to After Effects.

Its a Mac, nice pretty box and by adding "Pro" in the name is nothing more then marketing which is what Apple is much better at then produce top spec professional computers lol, I love how they market them as the best for creative people as in video editing but they struggle with a proper editing package. Works great with a basic equivalent to windows movie maker though

I saw the new model MBP even comes with soldered on Ram modules (The New MacBook Pro: Unfixable, Unhackable, Untenable | Gadget Lab | Wired.com) so you cant even upgrade the most basic of components being forced to pay more then double the real price to up your ram at purchase. If you dont do it then your only option is to buy a new computer, If something happens the day after warranty your best option is to go buy a new one which is one of the many reasons I will avoid macs like the plague.

Adobe CS has everything you need and more but on lower performance setups you may want something a bit simpler, Basic edits should be real-time with Cuda on most decent Nvidia GFX cards or you can just pre render but this all depends on your hardware as to your performance.

More basic software will run faster because it wont do half the stuff you can do with Adobe, but as most people don't need much more then the basics its overkill for the average user.

 

[danvolker]

Hi guys,

Currently I have the adobe premium and the adobe after effects, however i have issues with these software its not running in realtime, probably because im using a 2011 13 inch mbp which isnt good enough for video editing.. any recommendation?

Im trying to use final cut pro but i read that the videos have to be converted first..

Because i did not use any filter for my gopro, I need a editing software like the adobe after effects where the colour can be corrected.

Cheers for helping!

From the color correcting and filter comment, I think what you need most would be video lights. At the very least, a Cannister light with Goodman handle and diffused video beam....But optimally, dual video lights. You can make things even easier if you have a buddy with a white tank to white balance on, or, if you can stand using some of the available fins that come in white, then this gets easier still...shoot your fins, white balance, and move on to subject.
With NeoHD or NeoScene by Cineform, color balancing is so easy you can't help byt do it. This also converts your GoPro format to a superior video editing format...the cineform MOV or Avi, is equivalent to the Apple Pro Ress 4-2-2

 

[gabeee]

anyone knows how to do proper colour correction for imovie?

 

[toozler]

You can make things even easier if you have a buddy with a white tank to white balance on, or, if you can stand using some of the available fins that come in white, then this gets easier still...shoot your fins, white balance, and move on to subject.

Can you explain this process with the GoPro? What I understood is that you should start by shooting something white, so the camera will base itself on that for its auto balance, and them move on to the subject? Would this work with a GoPro or you need a camera that can lock the WB? (white fins and tanks are hard to come by, but maybe you could shoot a writing slate?).


As of the editing software, for those who use any distribution of Linux, give Kdenlive a try (also works on macs). It's FREE. Color correction can be done by adding the Technicolor filter and setting top slider around 10-20 and bottom from 100-130 (play with it as it depends on the video's tint of blue/green). Add a contrast filter too.