What is Video Editing?

If you've ever peeked into an edit suite, then you've seen it. Someone surrounded by computer screens lost track of time. That person is either a teenager watching a movie and texting friends for a film or video editor. In this case, an editor. But what are they really doing in there? Editing is the process of selecting needed data and removing unwanted data from anywhere, i.e., it is from a photo, video, sound, text, whatever it may be. The process is just checking or rearranging the content.


Want to make stunning video montages but can’t afford a high-end computer just yet?

Software vendors often forget about adapting their products to mediocre PCs. Good news: there are programmes made especially for slow computers. In this video, we will show you the best video editing software for low-end PCs.


"Our rating is aimed at Windows users (starting from Windows 7 and higher), with at least 1 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM"

CLIPIFY:

The first place is occupied by Clipify. It’s an easy-to-use video editor for home users and video bloggers who don’t want to bother with their computer specs. Clipify has a convenient timeline, with tracks for clips, music, texts, voice comments, and clipart. You can split, cut, and join your videos, as well as change their speed and stabilize shaky footage. What’s more, you can enhance your clips and photos automatically.


  • Alternatively, you can enhance videos manually with Curves. There is a wide selection of special effects that you can edit to your liking: control their amount, add scratches, grain, stripes, etc.
  • You can save the newly created effect and apply it to other clips later. Clipify offers a huge collection of titles and footage for any occasion: wedding, birthday, presentation, travel, etc.
  • Just drag and drop a title or footage to your project and it’ll be added automatically. If you don’t like to waste hours searching for the right music, then Clipify will save your time. You can pick from 200+ royalty-free songs divided by genres, tempo, duration, etc.
Clipify also provides some pro features like the Chroma Key filter or capturing from a webcam. They will be very helpful if you want to make a video blog. As for the export, you can create videos for TV, DVD, smartphones, social media and even upload them directly to YouTube.Also, you can fine-tune the sound directly on the Timeline with audio points. Clipify has a few downsides, though. The trial version will last for 5 days and your videos will have a watermark. There's currently no version for Mac, but it's no big deal for PC users.
VIDEOPAD:

We give second place to VideoPad. It is a video editor for low-end PCs with a slightly steeper learning curve. However, newbies can still enjoy this program: there are pre-made templates for intros, outros and some themed presets for weddings, birthdays, memorials,s and other videos.


  • As for more advanced users, they can create video montages by adding more tracks to the Timeline. If your videos turn mediocre, you can enhance them by applying auto or manual color correction.
  • To highlight a certain moment, you can create a zoom & pan effect. If you are into video blogging, then you’ll enjoy the Chroma Key filter that you can apply with a click and change your video background.
  • What’s more, there is a vast selection of music and sounds from the vendor’s library. When you’re done creating your video, you can export it to all popular formats, including MP4, DVD, Blu-Ray, or upload it to YouTube and Flicker.
There are some downsides, though. Most of the visual effects are outdated. Moreover, you can’t create your own effects. The interface is rather dark, with lots of small buttons, so it will take a bit of time to get on with VideoPad.

LIGHTWORKS:


Who’s in third place? It’s Lightworks! This is more advanced video editing software for a low-end PC. Lightworks lets you create an unlimited number of tracks on the Timeline. Apart from that, there are lots of blending modes you can use to overlay media. Together with different split-screen presets and a green screen filter, these features give you true creative freedom.

  • You won’t get lost while editing - all the effects are connected with lines on the Routing tab, so you can easily attach and unattach them. The color correction here is very deep. You can control white balance, RGB channels, use HSV color space or work with Curves. Instead of sliders, you have color wheels.
  • Alternatively, you can use 3D LUT presets. Lightworks gives you access to an online library where you can search for birthday, wedding, memorial music, etc. You can apply audio effects and adjust volume with an equalizer. With Lightworks, you can export to all standard video formats: AVI, MP4, DVD, upload to YouTube or Vimeo.
NOTE: "The cons of getting Lightworks are the following: it’s very expensive (more than $400 for the PRO version with all effects), it’s hard to learn and it can’t capture clips from a camera."