Trying to select a video editor to learn with

[David Harrison]

Hi,

I'd like to try learning to do some basic video editing, to be able to mix in shots from different vids and from different sections in the same vid and shorten things etc. Also to be able to add sounds and music. And as you can tell I'm not only very new to it but haven't even tried doing any yet. At this point I'm trying to find the best free or cheap editor to use, so would like one that's fairly easy to learn and also that's popular enough I can ask for help in forums. Maybe even some of them have their own forums? I found that to be true and a great forum it is for Reaper DAW for example. Right now from a review I read and then some Youtube tutorials I'm thinking hard about trying Openshot. Would that be as good to start out with as any?

Thank you for any help or suggestions!

David

[Seth Bloombaum]

Openshot is very accessible, and will support the basic editing tasks you’ve outlined.

A free editor with much more capability for sound and color correction is Davinci Resolve.

But, if you want to skip the bells and whistles and just do the basics, Openshot is much easier to learn.

[Mark Williams]

Keep in mind that you need the computer power to use a lot of the more feature enhanced editing programs. Most build there computers to match the editing software they are going to use. I think Adobe Premiere Elements, although not free at $69, will run on many lower spec computer systems. There are lots of editing tutorials on youtube for beginners. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ting+tutorial+

[Rob Cantwell]

if your a total beginner, I'd advise getting the most basic editor you can get, this will allow you to learn the whole concept of editing first, once you have mastered the basics the more feature rich programs wont be as confusing etc.

Besides DaVinci Resolve are;
VSDC Free Video Editor
HitFilm Express
Lightworks
theres an online one called Clipchamp (I've no experience of it)

If you feel overwhelmed, as has been pointed out, there are endless video tutorials to help you master whichever editor you choose. Thats the way I started, Youtube tutorials!

oh and good point on matching your software to the capabilities to your hardware.

good luck

R

[Luke Miller]

I started with Adobe Premiere Elements. When I got to the point that I needed something with more capability I moved to Premiere Pro. The skills I acquired in Elements translated pretty much directly to Pro. I did not have to re-learn how to do what I was doing in Elements.

[Brian Drysdale]

The Lightworks forum assists many beginners and the Pro License has export to Reaper. It's relatively undemanding in computer power, some users manage with i3 machines using the internal proxy editing.

[David Harrison]

Thank you folks for your suggestions! Adobe Pro looks like $200+ which is a good bit more than I want to spend at this point, and so far from my position of ignorance it seems some other options would be better than Elements. Resolve might be more than my computer is up to. Right now I'm thinking about Lightworks or VSDC, but is the pro version of VSDC and also Lightworks $20 every month? You don't really own them, just rent them? If so, is that true of all the stuff you pay for?

Also, do all these programs have a video cutter? Or if they do, is it sometimes/frequently more convenient to use a different smaller program designed specifically for that part of the process? I ask because just doing a quick search I saw a number of free downloadable video cutters.

Thanks again for your help!!!
David

[Rob Cantwell]

You could edit with the free versions rather than paying for the pro versions, yes all these programs have the capability of trimming cutting clips. These video cutters are very basic and wont allow you to edit too much. Theres probably no need to have an extra program just to cut your clips.

[Bruce Foreman]

I use Pinnacle Studio 19.5, I find it to be a good well featured editor that you can start out simple with. It handles basic editing, trimming of clips, color correction and grading, music (a small collection comes with it), has a pretty good title editor, and more.

It's pretty simple to start with and when you're ready. Current version is 22 and holiday sale prices range from $49.95 to $99.95

https://www.pinnaclesys.com/en/products/studio/

And there are youtube tutorials.

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by David Harrison

and also Lightworks $20 every month? You don't really own them, just rent them? If so, is that true of all the stuff you pay for?
David

You can buy an outright license for Lightworks that includes a Boris software bundle

The one month license tends to be used by free users who occasionally require a Pro License to access the full range of export codecs and formats, these users then revert back to the free license at the end of the month. You can keep using the free version for as long as you want.

Users wanting a subscription tend to use the one year license, it works out a lot cheaper, since the one month license is now factored for occasional use, rather than an ongoing subscription payments. .Once your subscription runs out, Lightworks reverts to the free version.

[David Harrison]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

You can buy an outright license for Lightworks that includes a Boris software bundle

The one month license tends to be used by free users who occasionally require a Pro License to access the full range of export codecs and formats, these users then revert back to the free license at the end of the month. You can keep using the free version for as long as you want.

Users wanting a subscription tend to use the one year license, it works out a lot cheaper, since the one month license is now factored for occasional use, rather than an ongoing subscription payments. .Once your subscription runs out, Lightworks reverts to the free version.

I tried that Lightworks forum and what a nightmare!!! Before trying a more complex program like Lightworks I wanted to try doing some easier things using simpler programs having had no experience with this stuff at all. So I asked around how to convert DVDs to MP4s because I have a number of things I took with my 8mm video camera then recorded to DVD with a simple SV 2000 DVD recorder so wanted to learn to convert to MP4 and then edit them down. One member was very helpful and suggested Handbrake, and somewhere along the line I learned about LosslessCut to trim them down since in all the tutorials I'd seen they used short clips, not long 30-60 minute videos. So overall I thought things were going well. I hadn't yet started using Lightworks wanting to wait until I could put 3-4 hours into it the first day trying it but so far had only had a shorter period of time but that worked too because I learned to convert my DVDs and then trim them to shorter clips. Also was watching tutorials and taking notes to use when the time came. Then some moderator jumps in and accuses me of never wanting to use Lightworks and only wanting to learn to rip commercial DVDs, and started imposing time limits on what I did with my own free time!!! The accusation seemed so absurd--why would anyone use that forum for only that purpose???--I did a quich search and found out there are forums devoted to just that! Anyway, he went on with his absurd behavior and ended up banning me and I know I never did anything wrong. My suggestion to anyone else hoping to learn this stuff: make Lightworks the very last thing you would consider because of that sort of thing. The program seems good enough, but my guess is that there are a number of others that would do the same thing. Oh, one more thing... With the free version every 7 days you have to re-register the program with username and id in order to continue using the product, and they said you use your info from the forum! So if you get banned from the forum because some moderator decides to make up absurd accusations and then act on them (and then btw remove the entire 6 page thread to get rid of all evidence as well as all helpful information it contained, some from other moderators) you may not even be able to use the program after the 7 day trial period because you can't re-register.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Wow!

I don't know much about Lightworks' history beyond what I read on the internet, but, clearly there have been some bumps in the road!

Openshot - a good editor for beginners, designed for ease of use, and, many hobbiests would *never* need more than it offers. There's nothing wrong with that.

Davinci Resolve - the leading free editor that *will* take you right into professional applications.

[David Harrison]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

Wow!

I don't know much about Lightworks' history beyond what I read on the internet, but, clearly there have been some bumps in the road!

Openshot - a good editor for beginners, designed for ease of use, and, many hobbiests would *never* need more than it offers. There's nothing wrong with that.

Davinci Resolve - the leading free editor that *will* take you right into professional applications.

Thank you Seth! I'll toss all the Lightworks crap I have into one folder and hopefully never open it again, and from this point try Davinci Resolve. It sort of feels like the last few weeks were a complete waste of learning this but on the other hand from watching some Davinci and Openshot tutorial material I'm seeing similarities in not only the process but also how the editors are set up. And I did learn to convert and shorten my own material which seems like a very significant step even though I've yet to see anything much about that in the tutorials....they always just seem to have nice short easy clips to work with and then they trim those short clips down even shorter.

[Bruce Foreman]

There is another alternative free editing program: Hitfilm Express

The basic program is free and is quite comprehensive, looks to be not too complex, and does both basic editing and also compositing. The link below takes you to a page that has a "button" to get Hitfilm Express for free. You download it, and there are instructions on how to register. You may use it at no charge (there is a paid version too) on ONE computer.

I have downloaded it and tried it some but I stick with Pinnacle Studio because I am very used to it and it does all I need (even edits 4K). But Hitfilm Express looks like a very full featured not really complex program once you learn it.

There are excellent tutorials, also.

https://fxhome.com/Express

The thing to remember is that most of the editors do essentially the same thing. Much of what you will learn with Hitfilm Express will transfer to other packages as well.