Recommended Game Recorder for Mac to Capture Video Gameplay with Sound With the abovementioned factors kept in mind, a great number of video game capture software are filtered out. Only a few one, like MacX Video Converter Pro, stands out from the crowd, since it is an excellent product for simple 1080p HD game recording on Mac in real time.
Not an expert? Don’t know how to edit videos, or have a bona fide video specialist to shoot and cut your features? That’s alright! The goal of today’s blog is to show you that with the right video editing software, you too can churn out sleek, professional video content—regardless of experience—and keep your content strategy ahead of the curve. Let’s dive in! Here are our recs for the top 10 best pieces of video editing software or video editing apps for beginners—from cheapest (i.e. Free!) to most expensive.
Apple iMovie. Ok—so to those of you working with PCs, this one won’t really apply; but we’d remiss to leave it off the list. If you’re looking for simplicity and elegance, it doesn’t get much better than. IMovie’s ten high-fidelity filters are some of the classiest in the video editing game; and if you’re shooting on your iPhone, or have been editing a project on your iPad, you can use AirDrop to wirelessly and seamlessly transfer your project over to your Mac. One of iMovie’s most coveted features is its green-screen, or “chroma-key” tool, which allows you to place your characters in exotic locations—Hawaii, say—at a moment’s notice. Want to overlay the scene with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”?
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IMovie ties directly in with iTunes and GarageBand, so you can easily implement custom tracks and sounds. When your movie’s finally ready to ship, release it into the wild using iMessage, Facebook, YouTube, or any other of iMovie’s succinctly connected platforms. Standout Features: Seamless Apple product integration; green-screen; audio and social platform integration Pricing: Free with the purchase of a Mac.
Lumen5 markets itself as a tool that turns blog posts into social promos. While the process isn’t perfect, and you’ll likely have to do some tinkering to get your blog content looking just the way you want it, the rest of the video creation process is a cinch.
Merely refine some copy that teases your blog post; drag and drop some gifs, screengrabs, or video clips; add some music; and your engaging social video will be ripe for Facebook and Twitter. Standout Features: Blog-to-social-promo creation; drag-and-drop interface Pricing: Create as many 480p videos as you want with the free version; or, for $50 per month, upgrade to 1080p HD.
One of the cheaper options around ($49.99), Nero Video holds its own on this list—it comes well-stocked with a lot of the tricks and effects you’ll find among other products vying for video editing supremacy, and as far as software for beginners, you can certainly do worse. If you’re going to spend money learning how to edit videos, however, you might want to steer clear. Nero just doesn’t have the speed and functionality of some of the other products listed here, and if it’s is its price, $50 is still not all that cheap. Standout Features: Low pricing Pricing: One-time payment of $49.99 4. Corel VideoStudio. Has all the characteristics of the other top-of-the-line products on this list, including 360-degree VR and 4k support, but it also has the distinction of being the first piece of consumer video editing software to offer motion tracking—which, if you’re not already familiar, is a feature that allows you to track specific objects throughout your cut (if you wanted, say, to point an arrow at one of your characters, blur out his face, or bestow him with a funny hat). Most of the products on this list come equipped with motion tracking, but VideoStudio still boasts one of the best motion tracking systems around.
One of the knocks on VideoStudio is its speed, which lags notably behind some of the faster systems on this list, like CyberLink PowerDirector and Pinnacle Studio. Still: for a one-time payment of $51.99?
You can do much worse. Standout Features: Motion tracking Pricing: One-time payment of $51.99 5. Filmora from Wondershare.
4k and gif support are boilerplate features for most video editing products today, but one thing Filmora does particularly well is titles. Title tools are trending in video software, and while Filmora’s doesn’t have the functionality of say, an Apple Final Cut Pro X, which can superimpose 3D titles over your videos and rotate them on three axes, it nonetheless has some snazzy titling features for the money you’re spending.
Another Filmora feature beginners to video editing will find attractive is “Easy Mode,” which allows you to create fun, polished edits by merely dragging and dropping clips, choosing a theme, and selecting music. Standout features: Title tool; mobile and screen editing; “Easy Mode” Pricing: Starts at $59.99 for a lifetime license; or, $39.99 for a year. CyberLink PowerDirector. Don’t be scared of CyberLink’s extra features; just be wary of your commitment level! In terms of rendering, PowerDirector is regarded as one of the fastest video editing systems around. It also operates consistently in the sphere of the innovative and cutting edge.
PowerDirector led the charge in the switch to 4k, and today, it’s one of the first systems to support 360-degree virtual reality footage. Price: you get what you pay for! $79.99 gets you unlimited access to one of the most capable pieces of video editing software around. Standout Features: Lightning-fast rendering; comprehensive suite of effects Pricing: One-time payment of $79.99 7.
Adobe Premiere Elements. We include on the list mostly because it’s been an industry leader in the video editing game for some time. And $79.99 is not egregious, but we’re here to say that at that price, you’re mostly paying for the name.
In the time since Premiere Elements’ inception, too many other products have surpassed it in speed and capability for us to place it among the cream of the crop. That’s to take nothing away from Premiere Elements’ usability, though—specifically for beginners. The Guided Edits feature makes Adobe Premiere a particularly attractive option for beginners, as it allows them to take on both quick edits and advanced projects with substantial assistance from the software. At the higher end of the Corel product line is —which, at $129.95 (the amount you’ll need to pay to edit 360-degree and 4k content with the “Ultimate” version), costs more than twice as much as VideoStudio.
What do you get for the extra money? Well, not only does Pinnacle come readily equipped with all the features you’d expect from an upper-echelon product—motion tracking, 360-degree VR support, 4k support, multi-cam, etc.—but you’d be hard-pressed to find a faster product on the market in terms of rendering. For all of its features, Pinnacle’s interface is still as user-friendly and intuitive as anything on this list.
Thus, is you have the need for speed, and you don’t mind shelling out a few extra bucks for it, Pinnacle might be the product for you. Standout Features: Top-of-the-line rendering speeds; full range of features and support Pricing: One-time payment of $129.95 9. Adobe Premiere Pro. With a virtually unmatched suite of features, 360 VR and 4k support, and a newly implemented ability to store, organize, and share assets online with a team, is perhaps the most complete piece of video editing software around. Here’s a recent video promo for our we cut using Premiere Pro. One of the more dazzling of Premiere Pro’s tools is the Lumetri Color tool, which offers color adjustment and manipulation on par with that of a Photoshop.
The multi-cam feature is also a winner—whereas most systems allow you to work with a limited number of camera angles, Premiere Pro’s latest iteration allows for an unlimited amount. Throw in a wealth of titling options, readily connected ancillary apps (like Photoshop and After Effects), and a flexible, easy-to-use interface, and Premiere Pro is a no brainer. Standout Features: Multi-cam and coloring options; title tool; easy integration with Adobe Products; straightforward interface Pricing: $19.99/month 10. Apple Final Cut Pro X. For the most advanced, least fiscally prudent of beginners, there’s. $299.99 might be a little steep for a product you may well have a difficult time understanding; but for those among you who enjoy a challenge, and who aspire to some level of professionalism in video editing, why not go for it?
Apple has made the transition from iMovie to Final Cut Pro more painless than ever—so if you’re the kind of guy or gal who enjoys him/herself an Apple product, and has worked with iMovie to the point of mastery, it might be time to splurge on Final Cut Pro. The power is still daunting; the interface, significantly less so. Standout Features: Magnetic Timeline; Touch Bar support Pricing: One-time payment of $299.99 Some Final Thoughts Are you a content or social media marketer looking to get in the video editing game for the sake of keeping up with the growing video trend? Don’t stress!
Any of the above software apps would make a fine choice for a beginner. Think about your budget, your current level of expertise, and how much time you’re willing to devote to learning a new skill. Whether you're looking for the best video editing software for YouTube, or the responsibility has simply fallen on you to get your team’s up to snuff—don’t wait around deliberating! Get invested in one of these video editing products, and make it yours.
Reader Bruce Harris would like to get double-duty from a gaming device. He writes: I purchased a PlayStation 4 and an extra DualShock 4 controller for two-player games. I rarely use the second controller and wondered if I could use it to play games on my Mac. You can, though with some games you’ll need extra help. Before we get to that let’s start with the hardware configuration. As you know, the DualShock 4 controller has a micro USB port on the back, just below the status light.
You use this port to initially pair the controller with the PS4. But it can also operate as a link between the controller and your Mac. Just string a USB cable between the two and the controller is ready to use. But, in some cases, you don’t need the wire.
The DualShock 4 performs its wireless magic via Bluetooth so, in some instances, you can control your Mac games from across the room. To set up the controller for Bluetooth use, detach the USB cable, launch System Preferences, select the Bluetooth preference, make sure Bluetooth is switched on, and then press and hold the PlayStation and Share buttons on the controller until its status light blinks rapidly.
The DualShock should then appear in the list of devices as Wireless Controller. Just click Pair and you’re connected. Note, however, that not all games support a wireless connection. You can pair your DualShock controller with a Mac via Bluetooth. Speaking of which, a word about compatibility. With some games, the connected controller will work from the get-go. For example, Feral Interactive’s works perfectly with the controller without you having to do a thing.
Other games, however, work a little bit or not at all. For instance, with Valve’s Portal and Portal 2 (available via ) you can’t use the controller to move around or look up or down, even though Steam itself recognizes the controller and lets you assign functions to it. And Aspyr’s is entirely unaware of a connected DualShock. So it’s really a matter of the original developer making their game compatible with these kinds of controllers. Because you could wait a long time for this to happen (in some cases, forever) you should consider taking matters into your own hands by using a third-party controller utility. One such utility is Chibata Creations’ $5. With it you assign functions to the controller’s joystick or buttons.
These generally come in the form of mouse movements or keystrokes. For example, you might assign the Mac’s W key to the forward motion of the left joystick and the Fire function to the controller’s O button. According to the developer's notes, wireless control from a DualShock 4 is not yet supported. If a game doesn't natively support your controller, use a tool such as Joystick Mapper to get the job done. Another option is OrderedBytes’ $25.
This is a far more sophisticated utility that allows you to create triggered actions by stringing together building blocks. If you want to go beyond the basics with your controller, it’s worth your while to download the demo and run through the tutorial to see just how powerful it can be.
The upshot is, yes, you can use a controller like this with your Mac. If you’re an enthusiastic console gamer more comfortable using a controller than a keyboard or mouse it’s something I’d urge you to try.
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