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DIY Editing from Film Transfers by Avid Tech

DIY editing video from a film transfer is easy as Avid Tech DVD's are not encrypted or copy protected, so editing a transfer from a DVD-R is as simple as copying the VOB video_ts folder onto your computer's hard drive, then to rename the VOB extensions to .mpg, and import the .mpg files into your favourite NLE video editing software capable of editing mpeg files, such as Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, or Edius Let's Edit or Edius Pro, you can also use Ulead movie factory or Studio . If you are unsure about this you can use Nero to extract the VOB to MPEG 2 files easily.

Editing MPEG-2 files can be easy with most NLE softwares.

When full uncompressed AVI/DV video is required a Avid Tech offers alternative options for those looking to edit their own film transfers video.

MiniDV - Mini DV - Digital videotape AVI DV Native format

MiniDV digital video format offers full resolution of the original master. We can fit up to 60 minutes of video video onto a single Mini DV video cassette.

You will need

A Mini DV Camcorder or standalone professional DV deck and a IEEE i-Link cable

IEEE 1394 Firewire capable PC

NLE software, Premiere,Edius etc

Recommended: RAID-0 HDD. P4 3.0 Ghz and 2 giga byte RAM, high end video display card

Digital 8 Videotape AVI DV Native format

Digital 8 videotapes can hold 60 minutes of video equal to around 800 feet of film

You will need

Digital 8 Camera with IEEE i-Link cable

IEEE 1394 Firewire capable PC

NLE software, Premiere,Edius etc

DVD Data Disk - Quick Time - DivX - Real Player format

You will need

PC with DVD-Rom Drive

NLE software, Premiere,Edius etc

Plugin for Quick Time, DivX or Real Player

NLE - Non Limner Editing Software

Your DIY editing video from a film transfer is a matter of user preference experience and ability. Avid Tech use Canopus Edius Neo for day in day out editing at the professional level as it is something we spend a lot of time doing each day. Our editing staff insists on the best,intuitive NLE, the effects we need and not the flashy gimmickery, fast rendering and real time effects rendered on the time line with out delay. We do not recommend any particular NLE other than that which is close to your skill level, beginners are pointed to Windows movie maker or Nero Vision and advanced users often ask us about Studio which is a nice entry level editing package but is painfully slow. We rarely suggest Adobe Premiere except to those who are used to Adobe's strange way of doing things and we note the rendering and export features are not features we would have in our editing workstations due to the awful performance and really unaceptably long rendering times. I know that will upset Adobe fans, but hey we live in a real world and would have to charge 5 times as much if we were to use out moded slow as NLE software. Of course we use hardware assistance as well to keep our services low cost and very effiecient.

Apple Mac users will be fine with IMovie or Final Cut Pro again depending on skill and experience.

Do we recommend other NLE packages?

Liquid Edition - Chrome - blue

Again this depends on your skill and how powerful your editing suite is, but a good old favourite is Liquid Edition which is superb for the editing comfort but is not that user friendly, but oh what a joy to use and view your video clips on a dark background. Liquid Edition is a bit beyond the advanced home editor and more suited to prosumer and above.

Sony Vegas

Although Vegas is popular with advanced users there are some really annoying productivity stoppers and an unwieldy work space that defies common sense as far as a work flow is concerned. Many users love Vegas and are so used to it, but I still think Vegas is a sub culture NLE, it just simply isn't a productivity tool for busy professionals.

Video Edit Magic

If you think all professional video editing software is expensive, think again.

Video Edit Magic is a Windows video editing application that gives you high-end power at an entry-level price. Its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to capture video footage onto the editing time line and assemble a movie in mere minutes. Then add professional scene transitions, some background music, a couple of title effects, and get ready to show the world your finished masterpiece. You can even edit and combine popular file formats including AVI, WMV, ASF, MPEG, JPEG and many more, all on the same time line. This really comes in handy and saves a lot of time, when you want to create something truly unique from multiple media sources.

A unique benefit of Video Edit Magic is the volume track which is displayed as a volume graph allowing you to change the volume of audio clips at any point from 0% to 400%. You can create fade-ins, fade-outs, dopler effects, and almost any volume effect that may have required predefined effects.

Video Edit Magic includes more than 150 built-in transitions, making it ideal for hobbyists and advanced home editors to turn ordinary videos into works of art.

With Video Edit Magic you can:

Capture Videos using any input device, digital video camera, Web Cam or VCR.

- Edit the audio and video components of a single media file separately.