Top Editing Programs for Beginners

If you want to add titles to that wedding you taped, or remove unwanted scenes from your son's birthday party movie, you can do it with a video editing program.
The cheaper programs will give you automated or 'quick-n-easy' methods of editing video, while the higher end programs will let you customize and tweak every video frame to your heart's content. Here are my top 7 recommendations for video editing programs that are suitable for novice video enthusiasts.

Ulead VideoStudio
Ulead VideoStudio has long been a favorite amongst digital video enthusiasts. It's an easy-to-use software that allows you to quickly convert captured video into DVD movies. If you want to get creative, there are also more than a thousand stylish effects, transitions and audio tools. Other great features include Video Pan & Zoom, Chroma Key and DVD motion menus - all of which are normally found in expensive commercial applications.

Pinnacle Studio Plus
Pinnacle Studio Plus is another great video editing tool for beginners. This video editing and disc authoring application features an intuitive interface and seamless workflow so that you can easily create professional looking videos. With hundreds of professional-quality functionalities such as Chroma Key, Picture-in-Picture effects, image stabilization and digital surround sound, this versatile video editing package is sure to please. You can check out my full review of this software for more information.

Adobe Premiere Elements
Adobe Premiere Elements is considered by many as a 'lite' version of its more commercial cousin Adobe Premiere Pro. Premiere Elements offers the perfect combination of creative control and reliability for home video editing. Whether you just quickly edit your footage, add fun effects, and create custom DVDs, or experiment with more complex effects, this software package will allow you to do it. I highly recommend it - for more information, check out this review.

Roxio VideoWave Professional
Roxio VideoWave 7 Professional is a quick-and-easy video editing tool that allows you to turn your captured video into DVDs in a jiffy. There are in-built Hollywood-style transitions, special effects, text credits and music which you can experiment with. Throw in Dolby Digital sound, along with a very reasonable price - and we have a winner.

muvee AutoProducer
This little gem of a video editing tool is a big favorite amongst many beginner digital video enthusiasts. Muvee AutoProducer lets you compile a movie project in a few simple steps. Start with some raw footage captured from a digital camcorder, choose some MP3 background music, pick a style and voila! The rest is magic - you get is a professional looking video complete with scene transitions, soundtrack, opening titles and end credits.

WinDVD Creator
WinDVD Creator 2 from InterVideo is a simple, low cost software package that can convert almost any video source to a VCD or DVD directly - without having to first store it on a hard drive. Beginners can easily accomplish taks with a startup wizard or progress to a more complex storyboard-editing mode. This mode shows the video clip sequence and allows the addition of special effects, transitions or audio. I also like the interesting built-in feature of removing commercials from videos
directly downloaded from a TV source.

Video Explosion Deluxe
The final tool in this list of top beginner video editors is Video Explosion Deluxe. This video editing program allows you to turn ordinary videos into professional productions quickly and easily. With an enormous library of video clips, music and sound effects, you can experiment to your heart's content. On the whole, a highly recommended video software for both home and business.
Conclusion
Which of these video editing programs would you pick? Well it's a close fight between Ulead VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio Plus . Both of these products are simple enough for beginners yet have sophisticated features for intermediate level users. They will satisfy your video editing needs for a long time to come. Besides these programs, Ulead MediaStudio Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro are also high on my recommendation list if you intend to go into professional video editing.

SOURCE: http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/top-7-video-editing-software-review.html