Since I was a kid I’ve always loved editing videos. There’s something very satisfying about taking some clips and dropping them onto a timeline and crafting them into something much more than what they are.
A list of the editing software I’ve used since childhood:
- Windows Movie Maker– This is how it all began for me. I started off using Movie Maker on my dinky Windows XP computer way back in the day. I used it, and used it until I had reached the point where I had gotten all the usage I possibly could out of it.
- Pinnacle Studio – When I was 14 I was walking through Staples with my mom. She was looking for things she needed for work when I saw a Dazzle sitting on the shelf. I had seen videos in the past about them and how they made the process of capturing video from game consoles way easier. I proceeded to beg my mom to buy one saying I’d do a ton of chores and clean my room if she did. Because I’m a spoiled brat of course she caved and bought it for me, and it came with a copy of Pinnacle Studio. I used this for 2-3 years before moving on to bigger and better things. Pinnacle Studio was more advanced at the time than Windows Movie Maker was, but not quite what I needed. It had a much better titler, and could obviously capture from the Dazzle better, but it only really had 2-3 tracks to edit on, and back then it ran like hot garbage on my PC.
- Corel Video Studio – Corel Video Studio was probably the first decent editor I remember using as a kid. It had up to 12 tracks, a titler that was on par, if not better than Pinnacle Studio, ran better on my pc, and at the time I could export straight to YouTube which was a MASSIVE feature for me at the time.
- Kdenlive – Unfortunately my PC I had used for many years ended up dying on me. My step-dad at that bought me a used $100 Compaq PC that was very long in the tooth even for the time. However, I’m very adaptable, and have always been a firm believer in using what you’ve got. The PC’s hard drive had been wiped, and my copy of Windows XP’s serial code had already been used 2-3 times so I wasn’t getting any use out of it. I installed Ubuntu Studio on it after Google searching all the different free OS’s I could find. I then found out about Kdenlive and had a field day finding all of the different things I could do with it. Kdenlive is by far the best free and open source video editing program on Linux. It’s far from the perfect though. It’s very buggy, crashes often, and you have to find your way around the programs plethora of technical issues. I would recommend it to those with few options, or for those who are patient and can work with something a little unstable.
- Final Cut Pro 7 – By this point I was in high school and was recommended to take the AV-Tech program, which of course I did. In the AV-Tech program we used Final Cut Pro 7 on some older iMacs. It was definitely one of my favorite editors for the time was an industry standard, but it was Mac only. It also hasn’t aged very well now, but for the time it was very solid.
- Final Cut Pro X – Final Cut Pro X is my favorite video editor. It combines simplicity with function. I love the magnetic timeline. You never have to bother with ripple deleting! It has compound clips (similar to nested sequences in Adobe Premiere) and overall smooth performance on my older Macs.
- Adobe Premiere Pro – It’s basically Final Cut 8. If you liked Final Cut 7, you’ll like this. I like Premiere, though it runs horrible on anything other than a super computer from my experience. I also don’t approve of the cloud-subscription service model. It’s good as a CHOICE, but not as your ONLY OPTION.
- Hitfilm Express – After switching away from Premiere Pro I used Hitfilm Express for awhile. It’s a smooth combination of Premiere and After Effects and is the best free video editor in general.
Somewhere in the middle of this timeline I also used Sony Vegas 5, and Vegas 12 but I cannot remember where. I think it’s between Kdenlive and Final Cut X though. Vegas was a decent editor, but I never cared for the interface. I’ve still got a copy of it somewhere on DVD and would gladly use it if I had to, but it’s only IF I had to.
For the past 2-3 years I’ve been back using Kdenlive after having some massive pc failures. I was back using Ubuntu which Hitfilm doesn’t currently support, and it was better than I remember but still very glitchy and rough around the edges. I finally got a new Windows laptop on Memorial day 2021 and it has ran everything I need perfectly fine, though it’s not a powerhouse. I’ve mainly been using Kdenlive on this computer as well.
I’ve been looking for a better option. Then one day I was scrolling through Odysee and came across a video titled Free Video Editor for Mac and Windows – VideoProc Editing Full Tutorial
It displays a new editor that recently came out called VideoProc Vlogger. It’s an editor that is very simple, but also has some more advanced features. It’s targeted more so at content creators rather than film studios, it runs well on my pc, and is very solid.
Videoproc Vlogger has the same magnetic timeline setup as Final Cut, but less advanced, a similar style to Corel Video Studio (from my memory), and some very stylish video filters.
It came out very early this month. I downloaded it 3-4 days ago and received an update just this morning so it’s being well maintained thus far.
THE DOWNSIDES:
- A CHINESE COMPANY – The company that makes VideoProc Vlogger, Digiarty is based in China, the program is 100% free, but requires you to input your email for them to send you a serial key. Those are some red flags.
- Limited audio bitrate – when exporting a video your audio bitrate is limited to 160kbps. Which is perfectly fine for a normal vlog, talking head video, speech in general, but not good for a music video, or something with really complex audio editing.
- Video track orientation – I love the way that the timeline in VideoProc Vlogger works similarly to the magnetic timeline in Final Cut Pro X, however it does for some reason orient tracks in a semi-backwards manner. It has overlay tracks UNDERNEATH the primary video track, which is mildly confusing, and you can’t seem to change it. You can move the overlay tracks around, but can never place them above the main track. After all of my years editing video I can adapt to it, but I’m sure there are many who couldn’t.
Despite it’s flaws, and not being the BEST free video editor out there I’m making VideoProc Vlogger my new video editor of choice. It balances good performance with a solid feature set and is perfect for content creation. I’ll be watching how the software continues to develop and will keep you guys up to date on it!
You can download it here if you’re interested.