Best Video Editing Software

The simplest or most basic video editing programs available currently can achieve an array video outputs, quality and effects that were a few short years ago, only able to be achieved by the very high end video programs.

Some of these video editing packages can cost upwards of $500 or more while others come in below $100 and even others that come as part of a multimedia suite.

So how do you choose the best video editing software for your needs?

Well, that’s what I am going to attempt here so let’s see if we can’t separate the wheat from the chaff and over the next few entries on this blog. I will try to cover (in plain English) some of the key points in choosing a video editor to suit your needs.

The type of video editing software I will be covering here are best described as being consumer video editors. That means they are squarely aimed at the home user and not the professional video editor. Some of the video programs I will be mentioning may also be described as prosumer video editors but in reality the line between video software for newbies and video software for the serious video hobbyist (prosumer) is beginning to blur with many of the top brands offering very powerful feature sets these days.

So to start with let’s first begin with the video editing software “mindset!”

One of the overriding questions to keep in mind whilst selecting the right video editing software for you is this:

“What is it that I am I REALLY going to do with the video editing software that I choose?”

The answer to that question based on reality, rather than a vague desire has to remain uppermost in your mind when selecting the video editing software for you.

All of the major home video editing software companies offer camcorder to DVD (or other output format) video editing solutions that make them almost inseparable from each other. So concentrate on what you REALLY need.

It is too easy to get distracted by the “bells and whistles,” “dog and pony show” feature offers that the video software manufacturers provide. The reality is that many of those types of features will ultimately prove useless to you and may prove to be an unnecessary expense.

So to that end it is a good idea to understand why these features are sometimes found in software.

Like any other highly competitive software market video editing software is caught up in a never ending race to keep up with technology as it develops.

This can mean new operating systems for computers, new storage devices, new file format or video formats for camcorders as well as new video file formats for online viewing, computer viewing, home viewing and portable device viewing. The list goes on and the drive for better, faster, cheaper, “whatever” is relentless.

In the midst of all if that the video software companies still have to make the product seem “sexy” to the customer. Dry dissertations about the effectiveness or superiority of one video file type over another is hardly the stuff of exciting advertising copy that will make you want to leap off the sofa and buy that product!

The video editing software mindset you will be most helped by is that of being able to separate the necessary core functions of a video editor for home use and the “bell and whistles” offered by all the video editing software companies designed to distract you and make you desire what you probably don’t need.

Stick around and over the next few posts I will cover some of the current video software available and what you should be looking for. If you like click on the RSS feed button or the e-mail subscribe button to receive automatic updates as I post them.