Making your own movies on your PC is now faster, easier, and more affordable than you might imagine.When we decided to look at video capture boards, the brief put to vendors was simply to supply a -card" that could be fitted to a PC to both capture and output at least VCR quality video. The card had to come bundled with video editing software that at least provides the rudimentary tools that a home user would needâ€"that is, the ability to add titles, music tracks and voiceover. And, of course, we can't forget the obligatory transition effects between scene changes (even the most modest -director" wants to place his or her artistic stamp on the final product in the form of at least a simple cross dissolve). Most often, users new to the process will search through the transitions for the most bizarre ones they can find.
The products tested ranged from an inexpensive AU$299 all the way up to AU$2,404. And, yes, we found that the price did usually reflect the quality of the product. For most home users, almost any of the low-priced products will probably be adequate to provide hours of editing fun. I personally own a Matrox G400 Marvel and while I looked on in envy at the video quality of some of the more expensive products I am nevertheless happy with the Matrox as its output quality is great for dubbing to a VCR and sending to relatives.
The software provided with the cards also had a wide range of features from very basic programs such as Avid Cinema and Ulead's VideoStudio all the way up to Adobe Premiere (a package that is so powerful a lot of professionals only utilise a fraction of its feature set). We have included a short comparison of two leading productsâ€"Adobe Premiere 5.1c and Ulead MediaStudio Pro 5.2â€"in a sidebar. Also, where more than one product came with the same software editing package, our comments are provided in separate sections to save writing the same things over and over again.
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