Desktop Video: A Starter's Guide to Video Editing

An important thing to understand about consumer digital video editing is the difference between it and the professional systems. A consumer systems like the ones discussed here are quite often capable of producing the same quality as the professional ones.

The biggest differences are speed and reliability. Most professional editing systems are capable of rendering (i.e., creating the final video file) in real time. Most consumer products are unable to do this...thus the price difference between professional and consumer equipment.

The other important factor is reliability; the professional systems were designed usually from the ground up for one use only--to edit video. Our home systems are often portrayed as the Jack of All Trades, with multiple roles besides being a high-powered video editing system. Professional systems also tend to not use the home computer Operating Systems like Win95 and Win98, instead opting for NT and the Mac OS, which are inherently more stable.

With a home-based system you may not be getting the performance of a $45000 Hollywood-style AVID, but you will be getting something that works in a similar fashion, and just might make your home videos watchable by those outside your immediate family.

Skip To Page 1 Introduction 2 How Does it Work? 3 What Do You Need? 4 Capture Cards and Software 5 Getting Started • 6 Professional vs. Consumer 7 Conclusion

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