THE VIDEO ZONE: Which Editing Software?

‘Well your either Marmite or Bovril fella’... these are the words spoken to me by a professional BBC editor. He wasn’t referring to which meaty or yeasty flavoursome drink one should have after a cold winters dive but was in fact referring which computer system to choose when post production editing with the two most popular portable systems currently available being PCs and MACs.

Most people with basic IT experience have heard the stories that PC’s with older Microsoft based operating systems(OS) can sometimes be inherently unstable and go as far as to freeze or show the ‘blue screen of death’ when it all goes wrong! PC’s have thankfully got better over the years and software development is rapidly providing some very powerful computing systems that are extremely portable, stable and most importantly fast. There are the graphic designers and those who deal in digital imagery amongst us who swear that Apple Macs are the way forwards when it comes to video production and digital editing, by being fast and powerful without hanging or freezing up and requiring minimal maintenance. But before you choose a system and software you really have to look at the ‘pipeline of production that you are going to take as there are several factors along the way which will specify and govern your final decision of editing software and system choice.

Firstly are you going to be filming in standard definition or high definition? Will you be recording to digital tape, hard drive or removable media card based systems. How will you ingest your recorded media? Will it be real time record or drag and drop files? How will you back up your raw footage and in what format? These questions are key when choosing what system and software package you will use. High definition footage files have more digital information and therefore the files are larger taking up more processing power and storage. If you go down the HD route you must make sure your system will be able to handle it.

Adobe Premiere Pro

OK so let’s say we have a PC that has a good spec for editing, perhaps a 1TB hard drive with a dual core intel processor and 8 Gig RAM sporting an HD graphics card with in-built 1Gig RAM finished off with a Blueray DVD burner and two HD 22” monitors with 2ms response times... Now if that last sentence sounds a bit geeky and you have no idea what you’ve just read then it’s probably a good idea that you get some professional help from a knowledgeable person who has experience in choosing and creating computer based edit systems. I would recommend that you avoiding a leisurely walk into a PC retailers and taking the sales persons initial advice as gospel when it comes to buying a portable PC for video editing as this may give great cause for disappointment upon getting home and realising that the processor speed is inadequate or the hard drive is not big enough or just simply the RAM will not process a moving image. Next time we take a look at some of the editing programs available for PC’s and the features and benefits available to the user.

If there are those out there who read this article that have questions about the best software for their system I am happy to help out and give advice so just drop me an email at info@h20films.co.uk . For the latest on our course information visit our website www.h20films.co.uk and why not follow us on twitter @H20_Films and Facebook. I will be giving a short seminar at the Birmingham DIVE Show 2011 on both days in the PADI Village on Underwater Filming in the UK and the Health and Safety requirements needed so if your there do pop along and say hello. Next month we have a very special announcement to make that could change the life of one lucky reader so keep your eyes peeled on the Sport Diver website and remember when diving ‘take only images and leave only bubbles’... Happy Diving.
 

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