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The way we shoot digital video is undergoing a major change. At one end of the scale, high definition technology promises a four-fold increase in resolution and the kind of quality that was previously only possible with professional broadcast equipment costing tens of thousands of pounds.
At the other, the proliferation of video-capable mobile phones, stills cameras, PDAs and other handheld devices heralds an era of go-anywhere, shoot-anything clips which, though of low resolution and sketchy quality, are still worthy of editing.
Somewhere in the middle, people are using standard definition DV camcorders to shoot and edit holidays, documentaries, training videos, demo reels and whatever else takes their fancy.
Digital video-editing applications are evolving to keep up with all of these trends. Three of the applications in this group test include support for the new high-definition HDV format ( see box ).
It’s early days, and with camcorders such as Sony’s HDR-HC1 retailing at around the £1,000 mark it’s not for everyone, but HDV is shaping up to be the future format for consumer digital video.
If you shoot video with your mobile phone, or anything else that isn’t a camcorder, you can now import, edit and export common formats using these applications.
Perhaps most importantly, the new releases of these applications include a raft of ease of use and productivity features as well as enhancements, such as keyframes, chromakey and picture-in-picture effects, designed to appeal to more advanced users.
Editor's Choice: see next page
Easy to use but lacks the sophistication of some rival products 09 Feb 2006
There's quite a bit to consider when purchasing video-editing software. We give you a helping hand 15 Feb 2006All Video Recording, Editing & Mixing
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