There is a free sound effects library for adding effects, and you can also record and use your own narration on top of your images. That said, you can import and mix music tracks to enhance your movie, and create your own soundtrack from scratch using the multi-track mixing software. NCH VideoPad gives you a decent audio editing suite although you will only find the basics in this software. HD editing is supported using the VideoPad tools. You can also edit in 3D and convert 2D movies to 3D. Reverse video clips, speed them up or slow them down, reduce incidences of camera shake, add in your own stills photos, and adjust the color and other aspects of the visual presentation of your video. There is a ChromaKey green screen effect and the length of transitions can be customized. Obviously there are no professional-standard effects and tools but what is on offer does add interest and flair to home movies. NCH VideoPad offers over 50 different transitions and visual effects, which isn’t bad for the price you pay.

Does it work well? With limited features and tools the program is easy to handle and you can edit clips by dragging and dropping them, ordering them, then applying some transitions and effects. The VideoPad editing suite is simple to look at and designed to give you a fast way of creating a full-featured video.

VideoPad supports DV and HDV camcorders as well as webcams, mobile devices and audio files from avi. Just about any different type of input device is supported so it is simple to take your raw data and add it into the software for editing. You will need adequate free disc space and a processor with a good speed – a lot of disc space if you are editing HD videos. You need Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 or MAC OS X 10.5 and above. We didn’t encounter any problems setting up and installing the NCH VideoPad system on a PC. We looked at exactly what NCH offers the amateur video editor with this software. But others won’t find anything particularly exciting here. NCH VideoPad will be just right for people who don’t want to spend much on a video editing package and who want some visual effects and features to enhance their home movies. For a free, basic editor VideoPad does a decent job although more experienced editors, and movie makers looking for value-added features and tools, will want to look elsewhere. If you’re just looking for a simple editor to fit together video clips for a home movie then the free version of NCH VideoPad should suit you well.

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