Need Some Video Editing Advice

BobPA
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2/5/2019 6:49pm
So to start things off, I am a complete rookie when it comes to editing video. I played with it 15 years ago as a kid on a BMX bike....But the times have changed. I recently picked up a Hero 7 Black, and I am leaning towards a Sony a6000 mirrorless camera. It seems to fit the bill for ease of use and relative affordability.

I shot some quick footage around my house and loaded it into Davinci Resolve 15 (free version) and wanted to just get into the swing of the software....See if i actually enjoy it. Turns out, my current laptop does not have the stones to run the program without massive glitching. My girlfriend is in school and we share a single laptop. I figure I can upgrade and she can use the current setup, as it is still a nice machine.

So my main question is, what PC/laptop do you guys use? I have looked into the minimum requirements for the program and have found a few machine that should would. Again, I will admit that I know very little about hardware for computers. I understand RAM and memory, and I am leaning towards something in the i7 processor range...But the options are nearly endless. Any help to get started would be great. I do not want to spend a metric fortune as it might just be a phase....But it has been something I have wanted to try for a long time.
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akillerwombat
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2/5/2019 7:01pm Edited Date/Time 2/5/2019 7:02pm
I know I'm a "liberal hollywood guy" so it's obvious I'm going to recommend Apple, but everyone I know uses one because they're that good.

I've been using them for production for 10 years now; editing, color work, vfx, animating, etc. and I've yet to have an issue that wasn't software based (Adobe is a bitch sometimes).

Worth spending the extra couple bucks for. Get a bare bones one and order some ram for cheap at www.crucial.com
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BobPA
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2/5/2019 7:07pm
I know I'm a "liberal hollywood guy" so it's obvious I'm going to recommend Apple, but everyone I know uses one because they're that good. I've...
I know I'm a "liberal hollywood guy" so it's obvious I'm going to recommend Apple, but everyone I know uses one because they're that good.

I've been using them for production for 10 years now; editing, color work, vfx, animating, etc. and I've yet to have an issue that wasn't software based (Adobe is a bitch sometimes).

Worth spending the extra couple bucks for. Get a bare bones one and order some ram for cheap at www.crucial.com
I was actually hoping you would chime in. I remember you mentioning you were in the business. I have also read that Final Cut Pro is some of the best software to deal with. I will not be doing anything too complicated. Just some moto edits, and I've got a descent plan for a vlog series on YouTube for restoring an old raceboat. I DO NOT plan to make any money from videos or anything of that nature. Just have some fun and get some good footage before my friends and I get old and slow. I will also be using it for some golf related videos.
akillerwombat
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2/5/2019 7:17pm
BobPA wrote:
I was actually hoping you would chime in. I remember you mentioning you were in the business. I have also read that Final Cut Pro is...
I was actually hoping you would chime in. I remember you mentioning you were in the business. I have also read that Final Cut Pro is some of the best software to deal with. I will not be doing anything too complicated. Just some moto edits, and I've got a descent plan for a vlog series on YouTube for restoring an old raceboat. I DO NOT plan to make any money from videos or anything of that nature. Just have some fun and get some good footage before my friends and I get old and slow. I will also be using it for some golf related videos.
I believe they stopped making new versions of Final Cut; I might be wrong though.

Most people use AVID or Premiere... but for all my film work (both professional and personal) I use Premiere. Much much more user friendly and far more common for personal projects than anything else. I used to be a Final Cut guy but they started falling really behind feature wise.

Being that most people use Premiere you also have access to a shit ton of Premiere tutorials for free on Youtube.
XXVoid MainXX
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2/5/2019 7:21pm Edited Date/Time 2/5/2019 7:36pm
I also use Davinci Resolve 15 (paid version) with a GoPro Hero 7 black and a Hero 5 session. I had to buy a new machine to run it but the one I got works great. I got the HP Omen with the Intel i7-8700K 12 core, 16GB mem, 2TB hard drive and a 512G solid state drive, and an nVidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. I record in 2.7k @ 60fps and Linear FOV and upscale everything to 4k at 60,000 kbps in Davinci. Makes nice YouTube videos. So glad I shelled out the cash. My old machines couldn't come close to what this one can do.

The Shop

XXVoid MainXX
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2/5/2019 7:25pm Edited Date/Time 2/5/2019 7:28pm
Here's the most recent video I made. I need to get better with the color profiles. I heard I need to turn off the GoPro color and use Davinci to get the colors right. It's a little beyond my understanding currently but I am getting there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7v1hTXu3kA

Here's a race video that was shot on a gloomy day. If I knew what I was doing with Davinci I am sure I could have made it look a lot better. This was also before updating the firmware on the Hero 7 Black to fix the jerky panning in the corners:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRisGag36Y

Hopefully this year I can makes some better videos.
avidchimp
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2/6/2019 6:04pm
As said above, Davinci Resolve is a great free platform, as is Premier. I will also add that Avid Media Composer First is a great option as well. It's free and bare bones, but it will more than do what you need it to do (full disclosure, I've been editing on an Media Composer since 1997).

As far as a laptop goes, I'm with Wombat, a Mac is the only way to go.

https://www.avid.com/media-composer-first
JM485
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2/6/2019 8:45pm
I'm gonna get reamed for this but here we go anyways.

If you look up my youtube channel, all of my edits were made with Windows Movie Maker. No it's not the best, no you aren't going to make cinematic quality stuff with it, but it's free to play around with and if you're just starting out it might be a good tool to learn with. It's relatively intuitive as far as I can tell and it does most of what I need, so maybe look into it just to get you going then move on as you outgrow it.

I'll see myself out now

*ducks as angry Mac user throws empty kambuka tea bottle*
DoctorJD
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2/7/2019 6:26am Edited Date/Time 2/7/2019 6:27am
JM485 wrote:
I'm gonna get reamed for this but here we go anyways. If you look up my youtube channel, all of my edits were made with Windows...
I'm gonna get reamed for this but here we go anyways.

If you look up my youtube channel, all of my edits were made with Windows Movie Maker. No it's not the best, no you aren't going to make cinematic quality stuff with it, but it's free to play around with and if you're just starting out it might be a good tool to learn with. It's relatively intuitive as far as I can tell and it does most of what I need, so maybe look into it just to get you going then move on as you outgrow it.

I'll see myself out now

*ducks as angry Mac user throws empty kambuka tea bottle*
Movie Maker is about as simple as it gets as far as video editing. Like you said, it has its limitations, but it's a great platform to learn on. And your computer doesn't have to be on steroids to run it. I only do stuff that I share with family and friends on my YouTube, and it's far from cinematic quality. I picked up Sony Vegas a few years ago. The learning curve is pretty steep, but you can do pretty much anything an amature editor would want to do. And yes, you need a pretty jacked-up system (see Voids specs, mine is almost exactly the same as his) to get the most out of it.

I've got a new Hero 7 Black, so I want to get back to doing some short, simple, edits to post on my mtb clubs social media page. I have my daughters hand-me-down Macbook Pro, so I'm interested in giving iMovie a try, as well as Quik.
cjmx
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2/7/2019 12:08pm Edited Date/Time 2/7/2019 12:33pm
have you tried the free software from GoPro? quik and gopro studio. works pretty well and doesn't take a lot of resources to run. Unless you're gonna get super serious, save your money and buy a Windows laptop. It will run Davinci. I own a MacBook and several windows machines. Yes, the MacBook runs adobe premier and final cut wonderfully but if I'm just making a quick edit or a family movie from a vacation, the windows machine works fine. You can find an i7 16GB RAM machine for half the price of a equivalent Apple product. If you are going to get serious, then yes, look into apple and spend the money.

Lots of cheap and good options here

https://www.microcenter.com/

XXVoid MainXX
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2/7/2019 5:30pm
I got my Omen from MEI Micro Center. As far as Quik which I believe is the only editor that GoPro still offers, I found it to be about as useless as tits on a boar.
BobPA
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2/7/2019 7:33pm
Thanks for all of the advice, I have been researching quite a bit the last few nights. Still have not made a decision....The Mac stuff looks great, but they are certainly pricey. I am going to give it a few days and pull the trigger on something this weekend.
cjmx
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2/8/2019 6:20am Edited Date/Time 2/8/2019 6:25am
I got my Omen from MEI Micro Center. As far as Quik which I believe is the only editor that GoPro still offers, I found it...
I got my Omen from MEI Micro Center. As far as Quik which I believe is the only editor that GoPro still offers, I found it to be about as useless as tits on a boar.
Quik is what organizes your vides, and yes is not really needed. But the editing features are easy to use and allow the additional gopro gauges.

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