Actually, it just downright stinks! I’m a poor blogger! Not someone who has an A movie hollywood budget!

If you are in my boat, then I bet that you have been through a collection of video editing software as well. All the online tutorials seem to feature Windows Movie Maker as the premier low-budget video editing package of choice. And if your budget is a collection of pocket lint and some moths then that may be the ONLY package of choice.

But let me point something out. Have you every noticed that no good movies ever come out of Windows Movie Maker? They all look like some 12 year old made them. Often times because that is exactly what happened.

Furthermore, everyone who recommends Windows Movie Maker doesn’t actually USE Windows Movie Maker for their own productions. They just don’t seem to tell you what they are actually using to create their productions.

Then there is a whole collection of freebie video editing programs which come with Cameras like the Flip Mino HD. But those video programs are obviously included as a statement of “we want you to actually be able to use our camera” and provide really limited editing capability.

So then, what is available for video editing projects? In my journeys through the web, this is what I have discovered.

Magix Movie Edit Pro

Magix Movie Edit Pro is a movie editing software which is surprisingly powerful considering its low price tag. The basic version clocks in at only $50, and since the plus version was only $89 I have to admit that I ended up purchasing the plus version and never looked back.

The things which turned me on to Movie Edit Pro are things like:

• Multi-track timeline editing.
• Multi-camera support
• It can get video into it in a variety of ways including Mini-DV over firewire, Importing from a file, or if you have the right equipment, it’ll rig up to your VCR.
• It has a masterful set of video modification tools including several badly needed ones by low quality cameras (such as white balance). You also get pretty nice control over video brightness, contrast, etc.

I often use Movie Edit Pro to put together advertising shorts for web projects that I am working on for myself and for work.

I can use the titles (specifically “Font Bottom”) to make a really nice text effect to allow people to know who is talking, etc.

What are the pain points?

To be honest, I am very happy with the product that they have released at Magix. But if I was going to look at it with a critical eye, there are a few things missing from Movie Edit Pro which could REALLY make it shine. Note that these following features are really more for my advanced purposes for the program, and not really required for the purpose of the software.

First off, masks. I have been wanting to use masks in Movie Edit Pro for a while. If I could create some kind of alpha channel mask then I could really have fun with the video layers in the program. I can do this to a minor degree with the chroma-keying features of Movie Edit Pro, but I am not exactly thrilled that I have to setup my masks in a separate post-production software and then import them into Movie Edit Pro.

Secondly, it has a difficult time working with MP4 files. I know that MP4 files are not really suitable for frame-by-frame editing, but it is possible to do that. Movie edit pro can show the effects you apply in real time for most effects, but when you are working with a HD video file, Movie Edit Pro chugs along. If they could improve the playback and editing features for MP4 files, that would rock.

Lastly, Movie Edit Pro has an amazing batch export feature. This has been a life-saver for me. Instead of having to sit there and que up several movies one by one and wait for them to export. I can set it up to do a batch export and edit a ton of movies at the same time. This has been fabulous for things like when I want to put together a module of lessons for some of my work projects. But for some reason I cannot batch export to MP3 or wave files. Instead, I find myself exporting to Windows Media or something similar and using another software to strip the video out and create playable audio files. This has been a real bother to me, personally, because sometimes (like in above mentioned video lessons) I want to create an MP3 version for people to download on the go. Batch exporting audio tracks would be a very useful feature.

On the whole, Magix Movie Edit Pro is the top video editing software for a budget.

If you are sporting a very lean budget for your video editing projects, then this is the software for you.

Check it out: Magix Movie Edit Pro.