Help New to This Editing Software

1. jmat5
   Member

   

   Hello,

   Just found this site and I am in love with it already. I have a Sony DCR handycam. I film my sons high school sporting events. I need to edit them and can't figure out how to do it. I am trying to put together highlight films for him. The software that was included is the Picture Motion Browser. I am able to do some editing in that but can only make a slide show type movie and I can't ad text or delete sound in it. I tried to use Windows Movie Maker but can't even figure out how to get any files into it. I read a few posts on here about people using Sony Vegas. Will it suffice for basic editing and adding some text? Also there are alot of versions of Vegas. What one is for the most basic and user ease? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind I don't have tremendous computer skills.

   Thanks.

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

2. chrisColorado
   Member

   

   Hey! My thoughts: 

   1) Picture Motion Browser is a little bit of a joke, in my opinion. Any software that comes with your camera should be laughed at and discarded 75% of the time. It's what I do.

   2) Windows Movie Maker is pretty basic, but you sound like a beginner. To import files, go under the File menu at the top of the screen and click "Import into Collections". This brings up a dialog box where you navigate to where the file is on your computer. You will need to have the file off your camera and on the computer hard drive for this to work. (NOTE: This is in the Windows XP version. If you have Windows Vista, it might be different. Whatever you have, READ the Help files. No matter how boring they may seem.)

   3) If you want to try Sony Vegas, then go to the Sony Creative Software website (Google the name to find) and get the free demo for either Vegas Pro or Vegas Movie Studio. Vegas is quite a PRO software and there are a lot of buttons, functions...I'd stick to Movie Maker for now if I were you. learn Vegas when you have time.

   These are my opinions. Think before following. LOL and good luck! chris

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

3. Johnboy
   Member

   

   if you go the vegas route, go for Vegas Studio Platinum.  that version has a bit more options and flexibilty that the standard Vegas Studio.  The current studio version is 9.  The professional version is version 8.

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

4. daryldrj
   Member

   

   If your not going to do a lot of editing but just family stuff go with the Vegas Studio platinum. There is an easy learning curve and you will have a lot more room for experiments than you will with Windows movie maker. Any mistakes in Vegas there is always the undue button and try again

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

5. Aspyrider
   Member

   

    A good starter editor is Movie Edit Pro 14+, is good for beginners and you can grow into it. See it here.

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

6. jmat5
   Member

   

   Thanks for all the info. The problem I am having with Windows Movie Maker is it will now allow me to import the files. It says the following:

   .mpg cannot be imported because the codec required to play the file is not installed on your computer. If you have already tried to download and install the codec, close and restart Windows Movie Maker, and then try to import the file again.

   How do I install the proper codec?

   Thanks

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

7. Johnboy
   Member

   

   you would need to find out which codec you need.  there's a program called gspot that will tell you the codec of your file and then you can search the net for the codec and install it.

   John

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

8. jmat5
   Member

   

   Hey John,

    Thanks for the info. I checked the files on gspot and it said codecs were installed on all the files. Tried to open them in Movie Maker and still getting the same message. God I hate computers. Any other reason why it wont work? Thanks.

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

9. jerronsmith
   Moderator

   

   Jmat,

   What operating system do you have? Can you normally play the .mpg files from your camera on your computer? Will Windows media player play them?

   Jerron Smith
   Editor-Animator-Educator
   blog: http://www.thepixelsmith.blogspot.com

   Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

10. jmat5
    Member

    

    Jarron,

    I am using Windows XP pro. Yes media player will play the video's. I used the sony picture motion browser that came with the camera to shorten the clips. The clips are in a folder under my documents. When I try to upload them into Windows Movie Maker is when I get the codec message. I sent one of the files to a friend who then uploaded it to his Movie Maker and he was able to drop it in. His Movie Maker then froze up on him.

    Posted 9 months ago # Login to Send PM

RSS feed for this topic

Supported video provider:

youtube, myvideo, funnyordie, gametrailers, collegehumor, dailymotion, glumbert, liveleak, redtube, googlevideo, sevenload, metacafe, clipfish, vimeo