What is the Difference Between Some Major Video Editing Packages on the Market?
As I am sure you will appreciate, there are countless numbers of programs for video editing coming out on a regular basis, but I am going to concentrate on some of the popular ones that are available, specifically, the free Windows Movie Maker program that often comes bundled with a Microsoft operating system.
I have chosen to compare this program with the very popular paid program, called Camtasia Studio, by Tech Smith.
However, it is important to realise the differences between this and other programs, given the wide variety of price points.
Essentially, there are three categories of programs, in my view.
There are the
The next level up is the paid ones that for the more serious, and creative people will work very well, given the learning curve that needs to be overcome with some of them.
The final category are the high end programs, like Avid Editor, which are a dream for the super creative people, and allow for any and every codec to be used.
You will also be able to control the parameter settings, like the time for a dissolve, or a wipe control, and so on.
The cheaper ones may not give you all this fine control.
A codec is a technical term for a coder and decoder system, or a way for the video to be processed.
For the typical person, the free and 'cheaper' programs will work just fine.
The professional codecs are for the TV station people who may need to be compatible with many types of media inputs and so on.
This can be a huge debate in itself, so I am going to give it a miss in this article.
Let's just say that for most people's needs, the cheap and mid priced programs will be fine.
One important differentiation is the Camtasia program, in my view.
It is a very powerful program, and can edit audio and video clips, but in my view, it is essentially a fantastic program for screen capture applications.
It will record and stabilise an area of your computer screen as well as any video that you input into it from a file on your computer, and create a video file format that is 'clean and ready' for the internet, to place on your website, as an example.
I have chosen to compare this program with the very popular paid program, called Camtasia Studio, by Tech Smith.
However, it is important to realise the differences between this and other programs, given the wide variety of price points.
Essentially, there are three categories of programs, in my view.
There are the
- Free ones, that come with the operating systems (including iMovie with Mac).
- The entry point, paid ones, from fifty dollars to around three hundred dollars and
- The high end ones, costing from around one thousand dollars and more.
The next level up is the paid ones that for the more serious, and creative people will work very well, given the learning curve that needs to be overcome with some of them.
The final category are the high end programs, like Avid Editor, which are a dream for the super creative people, and allow for any and every codec to be used.
You will also be able to control the parameter settings, like the time for a dissolve, or a wipe control, and so on.
The cheaper ones may not give you all this fine control.
A codec is a technical term for a coder and decoder system, or a way for the video to be processed.
For the typical person, the free and 'cheaper' programs will work just fine.
The professional codecs are for the TV station people who may need to be compatible with many types of media inputs and so on.
This can be a huge debate in itself, so I am going to give it a miss in this article.
Let's just say that for most people's needs, the cheap and mid priced programs will be fine.
One important differentiation is the Camtasia program, in my view.
It is a very powerful program, and can edit audio and video clips, but in my view, it is essentially a fantastic program for screen capture applications.
It will record and stabilise an area of your computer screen as well as any video that you input into it from a file on your computer, and create a video file format that is 'clean and ready' for the internet, to place on your website, as an example.