AVS Video Editor 8.0.4.305

AVS Video Editor is intended to create your own clips. It has a very nice interface; however, it may not be appropriate for inexpert users. Thus, it is excellent that the product comes with a sample project to help you understand its various features. The application has a simple workflow that starts when you import the required resources. Then, you can place them on the timeline and make the desired changes. Finally, you will be ready to produce the resulting clip.

The editor supports a wide range of media formats, including video, audio and image file types. Besides, it can capture video from a camera using AVS Video Recorder or from the screen with AVS Screen Capture, two applications that are included in the program’s installation package. Additionally, you can record audio directly from a microphone or the sound card.

Once you have created a media library, you can start arranging the objects on a timeline. This way, you can have separate tracks to work with video and image objects, video effects, video overlays, audio mixes and microphone recordings. Yet, if you do not have much experience using a timeline, it is probably a good idea to switch to storyboard view, which gives you less possibilities but is definitely much simpler to use.

The program supports various editing operations. Thus, you can use it to insert transitions between video segments. Besides, there are nice visual effects to choose from. Likewise, you can add text as titles, comments and credits; again, it is good that you do not need to have special design skills as there are multiple templates available.

Once the editing part has been done, you can proceed to export the resulting film. At this stage, you should not worry about not knowing how to configure output parameters because there is a wizard to guide you. There are various output profiles to match your intentions: saving to file, burning to disc, uploading to the web or playing on a portable device. In the case of DVDs, the program also helps you manage chapters and create beautiful animated menus.

All in all, AVS Video Editor certainly has more features than many other similar programs available. Still, it is no match for the most sophisticated (and expensive) video editors. In this respect, it has some limitations, including the impossibility of working with multiple video layers and manipulating video sprites. Nevertheless, this does not make it less valuable. Fortunately, its trial version can be used with a few restrictions only.

Pedro Castro

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