Choosing the best video editing software can seem a daunting task given the wide range of products available at the moment. However with a little help to remain focused on what is important you should be able to make a good choice.

One of the key points to keep in mind is:

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

The answer to that question has to remain uppermost in your mind when selecting the best video editing software for you.

All of the major home video editing software companies offer camcorder to DVD video editing solutions that make them almost inseparable from each other. So keep your emphasis on what you REALLY need.

Video editing software makers are engaged in an ongoing race to track with new technology as it evolves and still make the product appeal to the customer. The point being you most likely do not WANT to purchase video editing software. What you WANT is a finished video production.

The problem for the software company is that they know you NEED to buy video editing software but that is not what you WANT! They need to make you WANT it! So because of that you see “bells and whistles” features that cause you to WANT IT but may never need.

Video File Formats

The first thing to establish is what is the format of the material you will be working with and what will be the formats that you will want to produce in the end. Input will be determined by your camcorder or your DVD recorder or whatever the source of your material is. Take note of the format your device records in and make sure that one is covered first.

Then realistically take a look at how you would most likely distribute your final videos. DVD? Blu-Ray? Uploading to a video sharing site like YouTube or something similar? Ensure the software you choose can output to the format you need.

So, your first task in deciding on what video editing software is suitable for you is to work out what your most common source video files will be and what your most common video output will be. That covers the foundation of what you will be doing with the software and must remain as your main focal point.

Video Transitions

Transitions are the little inserts that go in between two clips to make the scene change. When you watch a movie you can see that when a scene changes it often cuts to the next scene with no transition, this is called cut or a straight cut. The visible scene fades to black then the next scene fades up from black called a cross fade through black. Or, finally, the two scenes merge into each other softly and this one is called a cross fade. There you have it, pretty well the entire gamut of transitions that professional video editors use!

All video editing software programs offer at least 50 transitions each. Newbies use ALL the available transitions because they look cool the first time they see them. Really, no-one ever volunteers for their latest screening because the nausea has not subsided from the last one! Disregard transitions as a deciding point, every video editing software program has some and they all have more than you will need.

Video Overlay

An overlay track, simply put, is the ability to put one video in the background and have another visible on top of it. It is that “picture in picture” effect you have seen on TV and in movies. You can also add subtitles to overlay tracks or images or other things to get really creative. You need about five for good control but you would never use more than that otherwise, once again, no-one is going to want to watch the mess you have created!

Audio

There is no video editing software at the consumer level that offers truly excellent audio control and features. They are not audio editing programs they are video editing programs. Some have pretty good control, some don’t, if you are going to demand pro level audio then you need dedicated software for that.

A standard requirement would be the handling of Dolby Stereo as well as 5:1 Surround. There should be at least two extra audio tracks in addition to the sound in the video tracks. That allows lots of space for additional effects, narration or music.

Smart Render

Rendering is the term used when the video editing software is making the final file of your newly created video. Up until rendering, in any consumer level video editing software, all the cuts, additions, changes and adjustments you have been making are “virtual.” The original footage is never touched. Rendering produces a new video file by putting all that together in the format you have chosen for viewing.

Any of the highly compressed formats such as MPEG2 (for DVDs), MPEG4 etc invariably suffer from loss of quality when they are re-rendered. The degree of loss of quality varies but it is essential that any video editing software you choose has the ability to recognise those files it does not need to re-render and simply copy those sections resulting in the high quality possible being retained. It should also offer good control over the properties of the final video.

Remember, stay with the basics, don’t get fooled by the bright shiny objects you don’t need and you will make a good choice!