Many users may need to improve the quality of their existing videos using the program. This may be due to identified shortcomings when watching a recently filmed video, or the need to get rid of various flaws in an old video that we have stored for many years. In solving such problems, we will be helped by video editor programs, the functionality of which has special tools for combating poor levels of brightness and contrast, the presence of noise, unnecessary artifacts and other flaws identified in the video. In this article I will talk about programs that can improve video quality, describe their specifics and functionality.
We analyze software to increase video quality
Adobe Premiere Pro
Professional software for non-linear editing, which allows you to improve the quality of video footage. This is a powerful program for Windows 10 with support for all popular formats, using artificial intelligence technologies and used for editing multimedia files. It offers a wide range of options, including color correction settings and the use of integrated or external effects. The trial period for using the software is 7 days.
Peculiarities:
- convenient interface with Russian language support;
- a large set of editing tools;
- applying filters, effects, adding text;
- capture video from camera;
- support for all modern formats, including 4K Video and 5.1 Audio;
- integration of new options through VST add-ons;
- multi-track mode;
- Compatible with other Adobe products.
Charge the battery
Shooting video, especially in 4K format, uses a lot of battery power on your device. Before you start capturing some unforgettable moments, make sure your battery has enough charge. If you have a spare removable battery or power bank, take it with you.
There are also a few things you can do to improve battery life while recording videos. One of them is the use of airplane mode, the activation of which will allow you to disable all network applications that, when running in the background, reduce battery power. Another battery killer is the LED flash. Not only is it somewhat limited in terms of full illumination of the subject being photographed, but it also “eats” battery energy like a horse.
If you need additional light for your video recording, consider an external light source when shooting at different times of the day (if possible). As a last resort, take an external battery with you to use in difficult times.
VideoMONTATION
A simple domestic video editor to improve video quality for Windows. The program is distinguished by a wide range of functions for processing videos, support for numerous formats and a convenient interface in Russian. The ability to increase the quality of video material is achieved through the use of automatic enhancement tools and manual adjustments of brightness, contrast, saturation and hue.
Peculiarities:
- simple and convenient interface;
- image stabilization to prevent blurring;
- editing, installation of video material;
- adding audio, graphics and titles;
- built-in collection of background music;
- special effects, filters, transitions;
- working with files of various formats;
- video recording for mobile devices.
Windows Movie Maker
The Windows Movie Maker editor is a very simple and little-functional program, but its options are enough to improve the quality of your video. The advantages of this program are a very simple interface and general access, since the program is completely free and in early versions of Windows was included with the operating system. The downside is the limited functionality and support for not all video clip formats (MP4).
How to use Windows Movie Maker.
Open the program and select “Import video” on the left side of the window, select the file we need and wait for it to load into the program.
After our video has loaded, we need to drag it to the bottom of the window in order to start working with this video clip.
After dragging the video into the work area, click “file” and then select “Save movie file...”.
In the window that appears, select “My Computer”.
Next, select the folder where to save the new video with improved quality, and set a name for this video.
In the next window, click on “Show additional options...”.
Next, in the additional options, select the “Other settings” item and apply the “High-quality video (large)” option, then click the “Next” button and wait for the video to finish saving.
Movavi Video Editor
Movavi Video Editor also offers extensive processing capabilities, including improving poor quality video footage. The program includes automatic editing tools (to apply options you only need to press the appropriate button) and manual settings that allow you to improve your video footage by changing image brightness, contrast, and color correction. In addition, the editor offers video transformation capabilities, for example, you can rotate captured videos, and also allows you to add an audio track and titles.
Peculiarities:
- automatic (Auto Contrast function, which increases image clarity, image stabilization, and others) and manual correction methods;
- application of transitions and special effects;
- editing options, adding audio, photos, titles;
- export the finished video in any popular format (supports AVI, MP4, MOV, WMV, FLV, MKV, 3GP, etc.).
FilmoraGo
The program boasts its own licensed music library, which you can use when creating your masterpieces. It is also worth noting that the application interacts well with popular social networks (in this case we are talking about importing and exporting videos). In addition, the program is able to adjust the video format for specific purposes by changing its aspect ratio.
The main functions of the application include: trimming, combining, adding or removing an audio track, slow, fast and reverse playback, and rotating the video. The program comes with a variety of templates, effects and themes for your projects, including various transitions. Adding titles and texts is also supported. Notably, FilmoraGo has its own store where you can purchase many great video making tools.
- Download on Play Store: Free
Tipard Video Enhancer
An excellent video enhancement and editing program that provides noise removal, artifact removal or smoothing. The video editor uses advanced technology that automatically increases low video resolution to high resolution, as well as AMD and NVIDIA CUDA technologies for high-quality video processing. Optimization of brightness and contrast is ensured by automatic adjustment of the balance of dark and light, elimination of exposure errors or blur.
Peculiarities:
- improved color balance and resolution;
- adjusting brightness, contrast, hue;
- elimination of interference, compensation for lubrication;
- extensive editing and editing capabilities (3D, cropping, adding effects, text, watermarks);
- conversion to 4K UHD and 1080p HD;
- you can increase the resolution from 480p to 720p, from 720p to 1080p, from 1080p to 4K;
- All popular video formats are supported.
Editing is also important
These days, it is important to determine the scope of activities that contribute to producing truly high-quality video. Of course, videography and the skills you use are important in themselves, but so is what you do after you've finished recording the video. Post-production is the aspect through which you can turn your good videos into great ones. Some editing can be done directly on your device, but downloading dedicated video editing software will help greatly to get the best results.
Videos can be improved during post-production, as long as you have the right footage to work with.
Corel Video Studio Ultimate
An intelligent video editor with optimized settings, improved color correction tools and new tools for creating media content. The program has everything you need to increase the quality of video material. With its help, you can stabilize video shot with a hand-held camera, eliminate picture twitching, and restore recordings by adjusting the color balance and applying various effects. The original image can be enlarged and modified to create a background using tools that allow you to adjust the magnification, sharpness, and color.
Peculiarities:
- mask tools (applying effects only to selected areas of video footage);
- selecting speed, playing the video in reverse order;
- use of artistic effects, transitions, filters;
- tools for creating animated graphics, title animation;
- elimination of any defects;
- support for 4K, HD and 360° formats.
Use both hands
Two hands are often better than one, and capturing smooth, stable video with your smartphone is one of those times when this is true. Nothing detracts from a video more than awkward jerks and jumps that could have easily been avoided if you could have held your phone more steadily.
The new flagship models also have stabilization settings in the video app. If you've had a tendency to move your camera around while filming or find that your videos are often a little jerky, you should try this tip. Some users may find that pressing their elbows closer to their body may also be beneficial.
Cyber Link Power Director
A simple free video editor with the ability to capture video from external sources, which has a convenient and simple interface, ideal for working even with no skills. The software uses advanced, yet simple tools for creating professional video material, allowing you to quickly and efficiently process amateur video, turning it into a high-quality video.
Peculiarities:
- high speed;
- editing and editing tools;
- stabilization, correction of shaky camera effect;
- effects, transitions, subtitles;
- creating slide shows, interactive menus, etc.;
- expanded support for high definition formats;
- disc creation functions, including Blue-ray;
- the ability to upload a video file directly to social networks in HD quality;
- download to mobile devices.
Not all high quality videos are equally heavy
1080p video provides more than double the resolution compared to 720p (1920x1080 vs. 1280x720 pixels). Therefore, processing it is a more resource-intensive task. But picture resolution is not the only characteristic of a video file that affects the difficulty of its playback. No less important is the degree of compression used in the codec and determines the bitrate of the stream. You often come across HD video with a bitrate of 1–2 Mbit/s—even low-power processors can process such a stream. However, on the Internet you can also find real 1080p “heavyweights” - rips from Blu-ray discs, which differ little from the originals in both quality and weight. Their volume is 30–40 GB, and the bitrate can reach 25 Mbit/s. It’s not easy even for a dual-core processor to reproduce such a stream without delays, and you definitely can’t do it without the help of a graphics accelerator. But even in this case, the correct codec will help.
DaVinci Resolve
Professional free video editor for Windows, Linux and MacOS includes a wide range of tools for editing, processing, color correction, working with sound and creating visual effects. The software offers everything you need to create a high-quality video and allows, among other things, to correct shortcomings in the video footage.
Peculiarities:
- professional set of tools;
- non-linear video editing;
- advanced color correction tools;
- effects, animation, VTS plugins;
- cross-platform.
Watch for areas with high contrast levels
Be careful if you have areas with strong sunlight, artificial lighting, or deep shadows. Your smartphone will struggle to balance these moments, and you'll end up with washed-out colors with dark areas and poor detail. Try to choose a place to shoot where the contrast will not be so high. High contrast may look cool for photos, but it's not great for videos. Remember this.
It doesn't take a genius to recognize that this is not suitable for quality video.
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate
A popular program with powerful professional-level functionality for editing and editing, allowing you to process 4K/HD. The software includes modern video editing tools (video masks, multi-camera editor, chromakey effects, etc.), supports setting hotkeys and allows you to effectively organize projects.
Peculiarities:
- support for Nvidia CUDA and Intel Quick Sync technologies;
- a wide range of processing tools, editing in 3D format;
- color correction during editing, image stabilization;
- processing of sound, pictures and frames;
- more than 2000 high-quality effects and filters;
- support for all popular formats;
- work with drives, CD/DVD, and Blue-ray;
- built-in set of plugins, ability to install third-party add-ons;
- export directly to YouTube;
- Russian interface.
Rule of thirds
Of course, the more general camera skills you can apply to your videos will improve the overall quality of your footage, but one fairly simple concept you'll likely find useful is the rule of thirds.
You may have seen a 3 x 3 grid like this on a still camera shoot - your phone may even have the ability to display it in your camera app, but you're unlikely to have this feature for shooting video. However, you can still use the same principle to get the angles and frames you want. The idea is that you want to create different aspects of the video to fit into this grid. An example of such a good idea is if you are filming a person by positioning their head over the section of the frame where the lines intersect.
vReveal
A simple and convenient program for improving the quality of video content, allowing you to process videos as quickly as possible. During the processing process, an algorithm for recognizing problematic frames is used, restoration is performed using Nvidia CUDA technology, which eliminates blurring, darkening, image jitter, noise and other defects.
Peculiarities:
- high speed;
- high-quality processing, selection of presets and additional settings;
- eliminating video defects;
- editing and editing tools;
- double the expansion without loss of image quality;
- automatic optimization of contrast, saturation, brightness;
- ready-made settings templates;
- publishing a video directly from the program to social networks.
Always clean the lens
This will probably sound funny, but you're unlikely to be able to take great photos if there's a layer of dirt or grease on your smartphone camera lens. So, use a glasses cleaning cloth or some kind of cloth to wipe your phone's camera lenses.
This is perhaps the single fastest and easiest thing you can do to instantly improve the quality of your video shooting, but it's also one of the things that many people don't do every time they shoot video on a smartphone.
AVS Video Editor
An excellent program for processing video files, including many settings to improve the quality of video material. The software has a user-friendly interface with support for the Russian language and will be useful for both amateurs and professionals.
Peculiarities:
- capture from various sources;
- editing and editing tools;
- adding audio tracks, titles, watermarks;
- use of effects, transitions and filters;
- downscaling and upscaling;
- creating movie menus, burning DVDs.
Each of the products reviewed has decent functionality that allows you to solve the problem of improving video quality. The main advantage of the programs is the presence of automatic correction tools that effectively eliminate video defects, while the user has the opportunity to use manual settings to perform editing at their own discretion.
Speeding up YouTube
The experimental service www.youtube.com/html5 allows you to watch online videos on devices without Flash support. YouTube video hosting is becoming a daily site. But it publishes a lot of 720p video, which, coupled with resource-intensive Flash technology, becomes an impossible task for low-power PCs. Thus, in windowed mode, YouTube videos are usually displayed in 360p format, but when switching to full-screen mode, the resolution automatically increases to 720p, and the display of the image noticeably slows down.
Adobe has provided hardware acceleration for online content in Flash Player 10.1. The same video cards that were discussed in the previous section of the article can take over most of the load from the CPU. If the load on the central processor has not decreased, you should check whether the checkbox in the “Options” menu of Flash Player 10.1 is checked next to the “Enable hardware acceleration” item. If your connection speed allows it, there will no longer be any delays when watching 1080p videos on YouTube.
