Programs for professional video editing?

**dan-ger-ous** · 24-11-2009, 08:31 PM

Heres the deal, i'm in a group of 3 for my Media Studies project at College, we have to create a movie trailor for the practical part of the entire year. I've been chosen to play the editors role in my group, so was just having a look at the different types of professional video editing software that i can use.

Here are the system Specs for the PC i'll be using (not too great

):

Windows: Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Memory (RAM): 1280 MB
CPU Info: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+
CPU Speed: 1998.4 MHz
Sound card: Realtek AC97 Audio
Display Adapters: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (Microsoft Corporation)
Screen Resolution: 1152 X 864 - 32 bit
Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
Product Make: M848A
Motherboard: ECS M848A

I was looking at Adobe After Affects CS4, but my systems specs are too low to run After Affects CS4. Also i cant master After Affects CS4 in such a short amount of time, have till March but i know time will fly

. At the moment i'm using Sony Vegas Movie Platinum Edition. The problem i'm having with this is, if i playback the video within Sony Vegas, it seems to be a little choppy, and the video has some random green colours towards the bottom. I've uploaded a little random preview after rendering with Sony Vegas:

Code:

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Any idea why its doing this?
Not sure if my specs are too low to run any sort of video editing software without any playback flaws, if thats the case then i'll have to do it on the Macs at college.

Maybe settings need to be re-configured?

Any comments are appreciated.

**ferguj1** · 24-11-2009, 10:03 PM

I wish I could help you with this Dan but this falls outside of my knowledge area. I do notice that you said the choppiness occurred when played back from within Vegas. What format is the video encoded in? Have you tried playback from within an actual media player? If you can provide a list of your initial settings, I will try and find some information to help you mate.

---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:01 PM ----------

You could also drag and drop the video file in to GSpot and get some information from there if need be.

**dan-ger-ous** · 24-11-2009, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by ferguj1

I wish I could help you with this Dan but this falls outside of my knowledge area. I do notice that you said the choppiness occurred when played back from within Vegas. What format is the video encoded in? Have you tried playback from within an actual media player? If you can provide a list of your initial settings, I will try and find some information to help you mate.

---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:01 PM ----------

You could also drag and drop the video file in to GSpot and get some information from there if need be.

Cheers ferguj, the playback within Sony Vegas and VLC Media Player after being rendered is exactly the same im afraid.

Thought that i could work in awkward conditions with Sony Vegas and atleast come out with a good rendered video but its the same after being rendered too. The viideo output is selected as DV Camera when i make the new profile for the project, from the rendering menu this is the settings that are set as default and its what i would normally proceed with:

Update: GSpot Program, drag and drop results:

**dan-ger-ous** · 25-11-2009, 12:25 AM

Have gave this some thought, have looked around Sony Vegas, the only thing i've managed to find so far is the transitions for the video, i dont think its enough for all its cracked up to be, or maybe i'm not looking hard enough. The basic principle behind this is, just to make an opening scene similar to Warner Bros:

I've searched YouTube for the clouds after affect and have found several.

I'll create my own logo, and will probably just rip-off the soundtrack (educational purposes only

) and add it on. Seeing many tutorials on YouTube, Adobe After affects seems to be a popular software to carry out this sort of task, i'm still wondering which one i can temporarily work with at home, most of the editing will be done at college using Final Cut Exress | iMacs.

**ferguj1** · 25-11-2009, 01:56 AM

I am sure that you already have this dan, but just in case.
Sony Creative Software - Download: Vegas Pro 9.0 Manual

**dan-ger-ous** · 25-11-2009, 11:14 AM

Cheers mate, totally forgot about the manual

. I will look into it later on.

Now to just sort out the laggy and distorted preview in Sony Vegas.

**dan-ger-ous** · 25-11-2009, 04:52 PM

I may just leave Sony Vegas Movie Platinum, i've been looking around and find that the requirements are pretty high for systems that are going to be used for professional video editing, i've read that Final Cut Express on an iMac is a really good option, and luckily i do have access to an iMac. Currently i'm downloading Cyberlink PowerDirector, and Magix Movie Editor Pro and see how it goes.