Video editing software

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Question for you folks that have some experience with somewhat higher production quality editing: good Windows software options for a modest budget? Basically, some gaming vids and processing some aerial camera videos and pictures.

Things it must have:

* Color key masking
* Timeline stretching (that doesn't take 15 steps to accomplish)
* Track blending (multiply, difference, etc.)
* Concurrent multiple-format support (be surprised how many apps do not import well)
* 1440p output (nobody I know has 4k TVs)

Things that would be nice:

* Title effects
* 3D transition/offset (e.g. angled surfaces with video rendered on them)
* Batch mode where I could save a few projects at the final edit and then render a bunch in series

Honestly, I don't know enough to know what features I'm missing yet, and I am cognizant of perhaps needing to spend a bit more so I don't have to go back and re-buy the next upgrade to get there after I realize I'm limited by software.

I've been playing with the evaluation version of Sony Movie Studio Premium 13, and so far it's been capable of most of the above and is pretty intuitive in terms of what clicking or dragging things in the timeline does. So far my only real complaint has been that if I enable multi-core and GPU rendering options, the thing crashes early and often. It also crashes twice every time I close the app. Not a deal-breaker but a consideration. Price is about $80US. The Movie Studio 13 Suite is about $140 and looks like it has advanced titling and some support for external effects packages. The full Sony Vegas Pro is about $600-800US but not sure I will ever need its features.

I tried using HitFilm Express for a bit and while it seems quite capable, it's like trying to use WordPerfect in that everything is a 15-step process with naming conventions that don't really lead a relative novice to intuit what the tool or filter is designed to do.

Anywho, comments and suggestions welcome.
Cheers,
Ugh

[MiRai]

Having started with Sony Vegas years ago, I'd say that it's pretty straightforward and more user friendly than something you'd find in the Adobe suite, but if you're willing to learn Premiere/After Effects, then I'd recommend them since they're so much more powerful. I think the major turn off that people had toward the Adobe suite back in the day was that you had to drop thousands of dollars for access to the entire package, or, at the very least, several hundred per program if you wanted to pick and choose, but Adobe has moved to a monthly subscription based model now, and CC 2016 is $50/month which gives you unrestricted access to everything on up to two machines.

Now, even though you aren't supposed to, I tend to work in After Effects for a lot of my videos that require more than just basic splicing and syncing, because I actually despise Premiere since, in my opinion, it feels so incredibly clunky compared to AE (keyboard shortcuts, interface, etc). They both have their pros and cons in several areas, but I'd say that AE's cons, when it comes to larger projects, are worth dealing with for the majority of my projects.

As for what you're looking for, Adobe clearly has all of it, but it might depend on which types of video you want it to be compatible with. I certainly don't deal with a lot of things other than your standard AVI, MP4, or MTS file extensions, so if you've got some files with exotic file extensions, then I'd probably look them up to see if they're compatible.


On the other hand, you might also check out TMPEnc's Video Mastering Works. I honestly don't know how well it works, or if it'd do what you need, but I found their rendering settings to be quite robust whenever I was looking around at different software while trying to figure out rendering settings for YouTube, so I imagine that some of their other features might be nice, as well.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

you might also check out TMPEnc's Video Mastering Works. I honestly don't know how well it works, or if it'd do what you need, but I found their rendering settings to be quite robust whenever I was looking around at different software while trying to figure out rendering settings for YouTube, so I imagine that some of their other features might be nice, as well.

This supports MPEG-2 Elementary and Transport streams, which is nice as we use those quite a bit at work. It also appears to have a few features in the main product that require separate filter/plugin packages (sold separately, of course) in the other products I've been fiddling with. And they have a trial version. Good input. Thanks!