What's the Best Video Editing Software?

I haven't tried it yet but I printed out instructions for making a video from a kim komando website question. It was a very detailed answer to a question about making a training video, so it should also work for what you want. She recommended using windows movie maker which comes with both xp and vista. If you go on her website this was posted on 4/24/08 and was called "create a professional training video".

I have used windows photo story 3 to create video tours from still photos and like it alot. You can add music or do a narration. I'll be glad to send you one that I did for a condo recently if you want.

Lisa

Lisa R Said...

"I have used windows photo story 3 to create video tours from still photos and like it alot. You can add music or do a narration. I'll be glad to send you one that I did for a condo recently if you want."

Lisa,

I would love to see the one you did for the condo- This is something I am now trying to start up. Thank you for your time and help.

Lisa Anderson

davenlisa@yourdoubleagents.net

London Properties

969 Sierra Street

Kingsburg, Ca 93631

559-643-5997

There are many good video editors on the market today. Many are free or less than $100 and do a good job. My advice is to choose one and spend some time learning it.

I use Corel's Videostudio 11. It has a powerful editor and has more flexibility for creating the final product than most. It costs anywhere from $60 to $120 depending on the special deals at the time.

Key things to look for are a powerful editor and flexibility to use different input file formats and to output to lots of formats like DVDs, flv, iPhones, iPods, Macs, Windows, cell phones, TVs, etc, etc.

The reason you want lots of flexibility is that you will have a big investement of your time learning and honing your skills with your video editor. You might want to change your camcorder or your video source, or you may want to take advantage of mobile formats. If you've chosen a video editor capable of handling the new file formats, you won't have to start from scratch and re-learn a new editor that does the job.

I would suggest looking into Sony Vegas.

www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/vegasfamily.asp

It's very and easy to use. If you really want to get serious and make studio-quality DVDs, Vegas Pro can do it all.

If you're looking to do some complex animations and effects, I'd look into Adobe AfterEffects. I have been using that for years and still love it :)

www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/

I do it myself on the Windows Vista make a movie it looks good and cost me 20min of work.

I started with elementary stuff which came with windows and have since advanced to Pinnacle .It is relatively cheap and will let you do it all .Most difficult part is inserting text and live commentary .

Let me know what your experience has been . I have been working on one DVD now for about 1 year involving taking a rough tract of land and converting it into an upscale hobby farm .Even though this economy is tough -there are still people out there with real money wanting their own little 25 acre oasis and are willing to pay.

Bob

We at Home View edit on an AVID, a professional editing system; however, for non-professionals, we recommend the line of Sony PC editing profucts, such as the SONY Vegas Movie Studio. Pricing starts as low as $75.00 and up to the $300's depending on your needs.

Doing it yourself can save you a couple hundred dollars; however, if you have a really amazing property, please invest the little bit of money to use professionals to help you make that property "POP." Use Home View Video Tours.

Check out our examples and pricing at: www.homeviewllc.com
or call us Toll Free at 1 (800) 785-6954.

Randy Eagar also recommended the Sony Vegas Music Studio.

A lady I sold a house to thinks I should use Adobe Premier, which is what she uses as a graphic artist to edit video.

However, the reviews at http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ indicate that Cyberlink Power Director was ranked no. 1, while Adobe Premier was ranked 3rd and Sony Vegas Music Studio was ranked fourth.

I use Dream Weaver CS3 to build my website.

In my case, do you still think I should use Sony Vegas Music Studio or should I use Adobe Premier instead OR even try the Power Director (which also has an upgrade that will do the Blue Ray).

I am confused and of course would prefer to continue to avoid the entire issue, but I know that I should be doing my own video editing.

HELP!

There are many video editing suites on the market, and I would venture to say for most Realtors, there are few that you would be interested in.

Video is not pretty. It's not easy, it's technical, its complicated and it involves FAR more than just 'editing'. It's not the "moving picture" version of snapping still photos (shoot, download to computer, upload to MLS).

Real video involves many things:

1) Purchasing the RIGHT camera. Garbage in, garbage out. You need to research cameras. If you're doing property tours, FLIP cameras (which many realtors use) are a disaster and should NEVER be used. (they're great for a talking head video, such as testimonials, video blogging, etc.) You absolutely can NOT do a property tour with a camera like that unless you want to nauseate your viewer and ruin your image. Period. They look like bad slasher movies, not what you want to represent a $XXXXXX house. Anybody who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. Just look at the "Flip" house tours online - would you want THAT representing you if you were a seller? I hardly think so.

2) Choosing the correct format. Tape? DVD? Hard drive? AVCHD? HDV? Do you even know the difference? Trust me, the salesman at Best Buy probably doesn't either, and it's important! Most people just go "buy" a camera. You'll be sorry if you don't do some extensive research. I just finished consulting with a client in VIrginia who has purchased several [wrong] video cameras over the past few months... and we went out and then bought the CORRECT one. You need to know what you're doing.

3) Do you use Photoshop? Would you consider learning Photoshop to work on your MLS pictures? Photoshop is an amazing program, with an equally amazing learning curve. It's NOT for the faint of heart! Most professionals only know how to utilize a small percentage of what Photoshop can actually do! Most video editing software is almost equally as difficult! It ranges from free software that comes with all computers that CAN do a decent job if you learn how to use it, to editing suites that are literally used to make the movies and TV shows you watch everyday! Many editing suites will make your eyes cross, unless you have many, many, many hours to learn how to use it.

4) What kind of computer do you have? Video files are large and cumbersome. High definition files are HUGE! Do you have the computing power to move these files around your computer? Do you have the hard drive space to accomodate mulitiple, 5 GB video files (typical for a 4-5 minute HD video)? If not, are you willing to purchase the equipment you need to process your videos without having it take all day long? (and yes, it CAN take hours and hours to compress video files!)

5) Do you understand codecs? Do you know what codecs you need to properly compress your files for the web? Do you know how to get your video file onto the web so it plays quickly and looks good at the same time?

And that's just the beginning.... as with photography, just because you have a camera does not mean you can take good photos! Look at the MLS in any city for 5 minutes and you can see plenty of proof of that theory! Just because you own a video camera and editing software does NOT mean you can make a compelling or interesting video and it doesn't mean you can do it quickly. If it takes you two full days to edit and compress your video... is that what you want????

Hiring a professional real estate videographer, for most people, makes more sense. They have the proper equipment, they know how to do it properly and quickly - we have videos up within 24 hours in two versions - branded and unbranded. With prices in the $200-$300 range, it lets you do what YOU do best - sell real estate! And a professionally made video makes YOU look good and gets you more listings!

Think FSBO. It doesn't always make sense to do things yourself.