If you have read any of my articles or blog posts regarding special effects features in video editing software then you will know I am pretty wary of them. Many are merely attempts by the video editor makers to lure you into a purchase based on the “ooh ahh” factor rather than a set of tools that you can really use.

One of the features that has been appearing recently is that of video stabilization. A few of the better known home video editing software brands have included an image stabilization function in their offerings and until now the results have been ok but it is not what I would consider a “make or break” point as to which one to buy.

Yesterday there was a press release from NewBlue FX which is a software company entirely devoted to the field of special effects. I have mentioned their products here before and they do make a range of excellent, high quality video effects products. Now because they don’t make their own editing software they design their software to work as an add-on to others. They are generally compatible with all of the well know video editing suites. (Check their site for your own software’s compatibility)

Anyhoo, back to the press release. They have just announced the release of NewBlue Stabilizer which is a purpose built video image stabilization plugin. It comes in at around $100.00 and before you choke on that for just a plugin… read on.

Until now only the very top end video editing software was able to achieve any real image stabilization without a result degradation of the picture. The reason for this is that the software has to do some pretty amazing calculations of what is in the picture, what moved that was not supposed to move and what moved that should have moved!

The software quite literally has to inspect the position of every pixel in a frame and compare that pixel’s position in the previous frames and subsequent frames and try to work it all out. All in all it is a huge task. The result is that any shake or unintended movement introduced by the cameraman can be smoothed out… But it doesn’t end there!

The result of that smoothing process will be that the picture itself will have lost resolution with the addition of a slight blurring of features within each frame. What happens next is that the software has to compare all the lines and features in the original to what it has now and go back to fix those to restore the sharpness of the original.

Up until now, with moderate use of inbuilt stabilizers many consumer level video editors have achieved some passable results but nothing to write home about. The NewBlue Stabilizer has changed all that and really does deliver the goods by completing the task beautifully without any degradation that I can see to the resulting image quality.

As I said, the price tag is around $100.00 for the plugin but if you really want to smooth out some shaky shots then this is the only one I know of at this level that will do it well.

You can take a look at product for yourself by clicking the link: NewBlue Stabilizer

It’s pretty easy to get confused about video editing software given the large number of apparently similar programs available in the market today.

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.