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Best Video Editing Software for YouTube

Lex DeVille

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What software do you use for video editing? Talking head videos in particular.

I use Camtasia. It's designed for screen recording, but works for talking head.

Problem is...it's buggy and crashes a lot. Mismatches my voice with videos too.

Not worth the $300 price tag.

So I'm wondering what do you use? Any recommendations for 2019?

I searched Google, but it seems every blog and influencer has an agenda so it makes them hard to trust.

Would rather hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
 
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Lex DeVille

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Adobe Premiere Pro 100%, atleast.. for me :).

Is that a monthly payment or one-time? I'm open to either. Just curious for reference.
 

jon.M

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DaVinci Resolve is feature-rich and kinda easy to get the hang of, similar to Adobe Premiere IMO. Free and paid versions.

Personally, I use Openshot Video editor. It's open source, and really simple to use. But I only use it for basic editing. It seems more stable than Camtasia, which is what I used a couple years ago as well.
 
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Andy Black

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What software do you use for video editing? Talking head videos in particular.

I use Camtasia. It's designed for screen recording, but works for talking head.

Problem is...it's buggy and crashes a lot. Mismatches my voice with videos too.

Not worth the $300 price tag.

So I'm wondering what do you use? Any recommendations for 2019?

I searched Google, but it seems every blog and influencer has an agenda so it makes them hard to trust.

Would rather hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
Do you have issues with screencasts using Camtasia? I mostly use it for screencasts and haven’t encountered bugs or anything. Wondering if it’s a PC thing or I’m blessed by not doing talking head videos?
 

RazorCut

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For professional content creation Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro depending on OS. You could also look at Avid Media Composer

I have Camtasia but it seems stable so I have no reason to change right now as my video stuff is more slide-decks than talking head.
 

Lex DeVille

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Edited my reply, it's in there!

How's the audio when you upload to YT? One of the more annoying problems I'm having is my audio changes when the video gets processed for YT. My voice doesn't sound as good on YT as it does in the video editor, and it doesn't sound as good in the editor as it does when I record it in the camera.

Do you have issues with screencasts using Camtasia? I mostly use it for screencasts and haven’t encountered bugs or anything. Wondering if it’s a PC thing or I’m blessed by not doing talking head videos?

I don't really do any screencasts. Only talking head mostly, or a combination of the two. My PC is built for heavy video processing, so it shouldn't have any trouble editing or running the software, but even just opening Camtasia takes forever.
 
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RazorCut

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My PC is built for heavy video processing, so it shouldn't have any trouble editing or running the software, but even just opening Camtasia takes forever.


What's forever? I just opened Camtasia (even though I have a shit load of apps open) and it took 4 seconds.
 

Lex DeVille

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What's forever? I just opened Camtasia (even though I have a shit load of apps open) and it took 4 seconds.

It doesn't do it every time, but I'd say 3 out of 5 opens takes more than a minute of loading.

This has been my experience on this PC, as well as past PCs and also when I had the Mac version.

I intended to switch previously, but stuck with Camtasia since I knew how it worked and didn't want to learn a new program.
 

Lex DeVille

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What's forever? I just opened Camtasia (even though I have a shit load of apps open) and it took 4 seconds.

I'll go check and see if maybe there's an update or something I missed. It's possible I'm using an outdated version. I thought it updates automatically, but that might be worth checking into.
 
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RazorCut

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Hell that's slow. And on a high end PC? Something is wrong. Any chance you can run it on a fresh windows install somewhere? When I said 4 seconds I actually timed it.
 

Lex DeVille

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Hell that's slow. And on a high end PC? Something is wrong. Any chance you can run it on a fresh windows install somewhere? When I said 4 seconds I actually timed it.

That's the only computer we own with Windows now.

Just checked for updates. Apparently there's an upgrade to the 2018 version, but I'm not paying $100 for something that has a history of not working well for me.
 

Andy Black

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That's the only computer we own with Windows now.

Just checked for updates. Apparently there's an upgrade to the 2018 version, but I'm not paying $100 for something that has a history of not working well for me.
Can you contact their support? Maybe there’s some conflict or other known issue they can diagnose.

Also ask if you can upgrade and see if the issue is resolved, and if not, downgrade again and get a refund?
 
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Lex DeVille

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DaVinci Resolve is feature-rich and kinda easy to get the hang of, similar to Adobe Premiere IMO. Free and paid versions.

Personally, I use Openshot Video editor. It's open source, and really simple to use. But I only use it for basic editing. It seems more stable than Camtasia, which is what I used a couple years ago as well.

Thanks! I'll check out Openshot. I like open source options. At a glance it looks similar to Camtasia, and pretty straightforward. Not sure I need the capabilities of Adobe Premiere, but I'll keep it in mind as it's the one I've seen promoted most often.
 

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How's the audio when you upload to YT? One of the more annoying problems I'm having is my audio changes when the video gets processed for YT. My voice doesn't sound as good on YT as it does in the video editor, and it doesn't sound as good in the editor as it does when I record it in the camera.

Never had this problem. Are you sure your audio is compressed well? Right audio track etc?
Could be Camtasia compressing audio itself when you render it. You should be able to see that in the render options. What is your output file format?
 

Lex DeVille

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Can you contact their support? Maybe there’s some conflict or other known issue they can diagnose.

Also ask if you can upgrade and see if the issue is resolved, and if not, downgrade again and get a refund?

At this point I want something different. Camtasia and their support hasn't proven themselves to me as a customer. I've searched solutions for some of these problems, found others do have them, and also found Camtasia either didn't bother responding, or didn't offer a solution.

I'd rather try something else and compare the results rather than spending more time on Camtasia.

Never had this problem. Are you sure your audio is compressed well? Right audio track etc?
Could be Camtasia compressing audio itself when you render it. You should be able to see that in the render options. What is your output file format?

I'm outputting into Mp4. There's not many options for audio. I searched the problem through Camtasia's forums and others had it and explained it has to do with encoding features that Camtasia lacks. I'm not a super techy person with video and audio, so my explanation probably isn't the best, but in Camtasias features there are very limited audio options (at least in the version I have).
 
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RazorCut

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At this point I want something different.

I'd give Premiere a go then if you don't mind the investment in time to learn it. I've been using Adobe products (predominantly Photoshop) for over 20 years and is something I would never consider moving away from. Rock solid with good support and a wealth of online user knowledge.
 

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Free is an option, would recommended. Since it lacks alot of features if you really go deep into video editing. It's okay for your holiday video's and make a compilation ;).

I have no plans of becoming a professional. All I need is a bit of editing for my business for Facebook ads. Something ideally free with a fast learning curve, all I need is replace soundtrack, add share/like and maybe the name of product and price on my videos.
 
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Jeff Noel

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I'd stay away from AVID, as their support will only help you if you have "recommended AVID hardware" which is an official hardware parts list they have. At least that's the trouble we had with our video editors here. We switched to Premiere Pro. Way easier on the PC.

Premiere Pro is easy to use once you're used to its hotkeys.

There's also Sony Vegas Pro (Not "Edit", Pro). Really easy to use too.
 

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What software do you use for video editing? Talking head videos in particular.

I use Camtasia. It's designed for screen recording, but works for talking head.

Problem is...it's buggy and crashes a lot. Mismatches my voice with videos too.

Not worth the $300 price tag.

So I'm wondering what do you use? Any recommendations for 2019?

I searched Google, but it seems every blog and influencer has an agenda so it makes them hard to trust.

Would rather hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
Temi is awesome for capturing text from videos
 

DustinH

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Anybody use ScreenFlow? I was thinking about purchasing it to do YT videos and live casts.
 
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Hgbf

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I've been editing videos for some extra money for a few years, and I'd recommend Hitfilm. It is, in my opinion, by far the best free alternative. You can see it as a mix of Premiere and After Effects, but without the Adobe subscription model. If you want to upgrade to pro, I think it's a few hundred dollars in a one time payment.

HitFilm Express: Free editing & VFX software - fxhome.com
 

akTwelve

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+1 for Hitfilm Express on Windows. I do screen captures with OBS, record head captures with iPhone XS on a tripod, audio with a Blue Yeti microphone. Then my wife does noise reduction and normalization with Audacity before importing to Hitfilm Express for video editing. All free software. As for learning curve, my wife had never done any video editing before and it took her a couple weeks to feel comfortable with it.

I was using Blender to edit my first few YouTube videos, but despite how much I wanted it to work, it just wasn't an efficient tool for that.
 

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+1 for Hitfilm Express on Windows. I do screen captures with OBS, record head captures with iPhone XS on a tripod, audio with a Blue Yeti microphone. Then my wife does noise reduction and normalization with Audacity before importing to Hitfilm Express for video editing. All free software. As for learning curve, my wife had never done any video editing before and it took her a couple weeks to feel comfortable with it.

I was using Blender to edit my first few YouTube videos, but despite how much I wanted it to work, it just wasn't an efficient tool for that.

That's why I call creativity and teamwork! ;)
 
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