What's a great editing program to use?

Jon O'Brien · January 17, 2022

What's a great, simple editing program that's easy to use for someone new to it all, that is preferably free or low-cost, and good enough to provide great-looking videos for clients? I will be using a PC, and most likely working with ProRes 442 and ProRes 4444 files. DPX, H.264 and custom file outputs are possibilities, too (I'm quoting the business I use for film scans). I've done a lot of editing with physical film, splicer etc, but I've not done digital editing yet. I will be doing simple editing (nothing terribly complex at this stage). My footage will be scanned 16mm film. Thank you for any advice! What is editing like using DaVinci Resolve? Is this really more of a color grading program?

Uli Meyer · January 17, 2022

2 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

What is editing like using DaVinci Resolve? Is this really more of a color grading program?

Editing in Resolve is very easy to get the hang off and sounds like a good fit for what you describe. Best to edit a h.264 proxy of your material and then autoconfigure your full res files, ready for grading. Plenty of tutorials online too.

Brian Drysdale · January 17, 2022

Lightworks is based around the film editing paradigm, although there are roughly half a dozen ways you can use it. There's a free version, but its exports are limited to MP4 720p and Lightworks currently can't export ProRes on a PC (I gather it's on the road map). The free version can be upgraded to a Pro license for a month, but you need to cancel the rolling subscription each time, so that it can revert to the free version.

https://lwks.com/

Aapo Lettinen · January 17, 2022

davinci resolve has traditionally had problems showing audio waveforms in the timeline which makes it a living hell to edit serious projects with it. but silent projects work perfectly fine and sound editing MAY sometimes work correctly if the waveforms happen to show up ?

Uli Meyer · January 17, 2022

12 minutes ago, aapo lettinen said:

davinci resolve has traditionally had problems showing audio waveforms in the timeline

Never had a problem with that. But then I am using the paid for version that cost a couple of hundred quid.

Aapo Lettinen · January 17, 2022

37 minutes ago, Uli Meyer said:

Never had a problem with that. But then I am using the paid for version that cost a couple of hundred quid.

I am using the paid version too. does not help at all. It is based on pure luck if you happen to see the waveforms or not. You can for example see them for the first 5 minutes when editing and then they suddenly disappear and never come back whatever you do (you may even start a new project and does not help) . this is a common known issue with the Resolve and they haven't been able to fix it in years

Uli Meyer · January 17, 2022

3 minutes ago, aapo lettinen said:

I am using the paid version too. does not help at all. It is based on pure luck if you happen to see the waveforms or not. You can for example see them for the first 5 minutes when editing and then they suddenly disappear and never come back whatever you do (you may even start a new project and does not help) . this is a common known issue with the Resolve and they haven't been able to fix it in years

As I've said, I've not come across that problem. I must be very Resolve wave form-lucky ?

Matthew W. Phillips · January 17, 2022

37 minutes ago, aapo lettinen said:

this is a common known issue with the Resolve and they haven't been able to fix it in years

Is it? I have never heard of this, heard of anyone having it, and never had it myself? I have made hundreds of instructional videos editing in resolve (using voice over audio) and never had this problem. I don't doubt that it happens to some but I would find it far fetched to believe that it is all that common.

Daniel D. Teoli Jr. · January 17, 2022

I use Movavi. It is a good intuitive program for dummies. I learned how to use it by playing with it. I'm an old still film photographer, not a young, savvy video / computer person. (But I know how to run a nitrogen burst processor and make dye transfer prints.)

I can't say Movavi is a good video program compared to the big boys. But it works great for a simple to use program for archival use and the types of films I've made. The Russians make it, and support is spotty. Color correction and post work is limited. Zoom options seem to be limited. Those are the only areas I wish it did better.

Here are a few films I made with it. (I've used it for hundreds of shorts.)

This shows samples of the scene transitions with Movavi.

Sodbusters In Transition D.D.Teoli Jr. : D.D.Teoli Jr. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

NSFW

China Doll D.D.Teoli Jr. : D.D.Teoli Jr. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Showcases audio mixing from 5 files.

NSFW

I tried all the free crapper video programs when I first started. I could not make heads or tails out of most of them. Movavi fit the bill almost perfectly for me. I downloaded the free DaVinci...I gave up.

They have a new Movavi, mine is an older version, so they may have improved it. But I think it is a subscription model. You can download a free trial version of Movavi to try it.

Cine' film is only a small fraction of my work.

Collection Scope Of The Daniel D.Teoli Jr. Archival Collection : D.D.Teoli Jr. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

So can only spend so much time on it. If cine' was all I did, then I guess I could do better. Still, for archival work, you don't have to be that good. You are not replacing sky's and all the BS they do. But great post work would be a plus. Archival material can benefit from good color and contrast grading.

Good luck!

Edited January 17, 2022 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

Stephen Perera · January 17, 2022

9 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

What's a great, simple editing program that's easy to use for someone new to it all, that is preferably free or low-cost, and good enough to provide great-looking videos for clients? I will be using a PC, and most likely working with ProRes 442 and ProRes 4444 files. DPX, H.264 and custom file outputs are possibilities, too (I'm quoting the business I use for film scans). I've done a lot of editing with physical film, splicer etc, but I've not done digital editing yet. I will be doing simple editing (nothing terribly complex at this stage). My footage will be scanned 16mm film. Thank you for any advice! What is editing like using DaVinci Resolve? Is this really more of a color grading program?

DaVinci Resolve is my fave....free version....and easy to get the hang of it.....I use it to easily ingest my DPX files from my 16mm film footage as sent by the lab I use in UK: Cinelab London

Aapo Lettinen · January 17, 2022

5 hours ago, Matthew W. Phillips said:

Is it? I have never heard of this, heard of anyone having it, and never had it myself? I have made hundreds of instructional videos editing in resolve (using voice over audio) and never had this problem. I don't doubt that it happens to some but I would find it far fetched to believe that it is all that common.

yes Google knows a lot about the waveform issues of Resolve. I have used Resolve for work pretty much every day for the past 8 years and have had countless reliability issues with it, inluding ones which cannot be resolved in any way like the audio waveform visibility on certain random computers. Meaning that when the program decides not to show them, you may not see them EVER again no matter what you do and how much you try to change the settings or reinstall everything or clear caches or change them. It shows just a blank grey line in place of the waveforms and that's it. turning waveforms on and off just turns the grey line on and off, it does not revive any waveforms back to life.

By my experience they changed something after the version 14 and the waveforms haven't worked correctly ever since on certain computers. It is probable that it just does not like certain computers for reasons unknown and refuses to work correctly even if you reinstall the operating system and all the programs.

might have something to do with the cache though updating and resetting cache settings does not help on my computers. I first though it would be a mac vs pc issue but the pc laptop does not show waveforms either and it is not source format dependent either.

-----

It is the same thing with people claiming that Blackmagic cameras or Premiere Pro are "absolutely reliable because I have never had an issue with them in my life". I have personally seen and used faulty and unreliable Blackmagic cameras and have had Premiere crashing and ruining stuff for the past almost 20 years so I can tell for sure they are not "absolutely reliable" and that they CAN fail you when you least expect it.

Uli Meyer · January 17, 2022

For those who've had thie waveform issue (I haven't), there is apparently an easy fix ?

Matthew W. Phillips · January 17, 2022

1 hour ago, aapo lettinen said:

It is the same thing with people claiming that Blackmagic cameras or Premiere Pro are "absolutely reliable because I have never had an issue with them in my life".

I wouldn't argue those points. I have personally had issues with Premiere Pro and am not a fan of it. And the BM camera issue is well documented. When you try to order an Ursa Mini from LensRentals, they actually have a disclaimer that says that the camera is not recommended for professional work.

Matthew W. Phillips · January 17, 2022

For reference...

Aapo Lettinen · January 17, 2022

2 hours ago, Uli Meyer said:

For those who've had thie waveform issue (I haven't), there is apparently an easy fix ?

except that it does not work on my Resolve

Aapo Lettinen · January 17, 2022

making a completely new project may sometimes help. but not always.

The issue may have something to do with the previously imported media having been offline at some point and being linked again. that might confuse the program I think, especially if some of the media stays offline during editing

Jon O'Brien · January 18, 2022

Thank you for all the advice everyone. It's very helpful. At this stage I'm tending towards trying out Davinci Resolve. I did try this once years ago on a PC and had problems figuring out how to use it. I recall someone saying it wasn't so good for use with a PC. Is it now okay using this with a PC?

Matthew W. Phillips · January 18, 2022

6 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

I recall someone saying it wasn't so good for use with a PC. Is it now okay using this with a PC?

It is amazing on a PC. Since PCs tend to have more "bang for your buck" than a Mac, you are likely to get better performance per dollar spent on a PC. Most PCs that are priced in the range of Apple products will have far superior graphics cards which will give you great performance.

Stephen Perera · January 18, 2022

the cotton pickers shots are superb....note the grayscale.....unequaled in modern digital cameras.....i will argue with anyone all day and night about how film is soooooooooo different in B/W haha

Tyler Purcell · January 18, 2022

On 1/17/2022 at 8:58 AM, aapo lettinen said:

I have used Resolve for work pretty much every day for the past 8 years and have had countless reliability issues with it, inluding ones which cannot be resolved in any way like the audio waveform visibility on certain random computers. Meaning that when the program decides not to show them, you may not see them EVER again no matter what you do and how much you try to change the settings or reinstall everything or clear caches or change them. It shows just a blank grey line in place of the waveforms and that's it. turning waveforms on and off just turns the grey line on and off, it does not revive any waveforms back to life.

Yea, there are a lot of odd bugs. Blackmagic has done a great job at updating the software to fix them, but every release there are new bugs.

The waveform issue is directly related to the codec of the source. If you use WAV and AIFF audio, mixed with Pro Res video, it's always flawless. If you start using .h264/.h265, it falls apart fast, especially the ladder. I've had nothing but trouble getting those extremely compressed files to even playback smoothly and consistently. The less compressed .h264 is a lot better, but only in it's I frame XAVC variant. Once you start mucking around with long gop files, especially from low-end cameras, it's over. This is a problem with ALL editors by the way, not just a resolve issue. If anything, having used FCPX and Premiere on the very same system I use Resolve on, I'd say Resolve handles itself better over-all with those files.

Tyler Purcell · January 18, 2022

17 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

Thank you for all the advice everyone. It's very helpful. At this stage I'm tending towards trying out Davinci Resolve. I did try this once years ago on a PC and had problems figuring out how to use it. I recall someone saying it wasn't so good for use with a PC. Is it now okay using this with a PC?

Resolve works great on all systems. I'd say however, that the hardware integration they have with Mac's is better for sure.

To make Pro Res from Resolve PC, simply buy Voukoder plugin for resolve. It will do ALL flavors of Pro Res in the normal export page. It's limited on export speed, but it will create very Mac friendly pro res files, which is nice for delivery.

Resolve is by far the best tool because it has everything in one. I highly suggest having a very fast computer AND the full license. If you're looking for an inexpensive editor that will run on a potato, Resolve is not it. You will need a high speed NVME based boot drive AND cache drive for it to work properly. Without those things, it can get super buggy and laggy/slow. You'll also need a fast GPU, 1080ti would be the lowest I'd go and it's recommended that you use a 2080ti or better on the "low" end of things. CPU wise, doesn't matter too much, but 10th gen intel i9 8 core or Ryzen 9 8 core or better, is suggested. I've used Resolve on the lowest possible hardware before and it's just been a dog. It's better on Mac OS due to the Metal integration, so the GUI no matter what is smoother, but you can still feel the lagginess without the fast cache and fast GPU.