Video Editing Software For Your Camcorder

In 2009, Canon camcorders shipped with four different discs: a digital instruction manual / music CD, a 'digital video solution' disc (with drivers and an image browser for photos), and two discs for the PIXELA application. Disc one has the transfer utility (for copying files from your camcorder onto your computer), and disc two is the actual editing program. This is a lot of discs for one camcorder and enough to make you pull out your hair, even if you aren't easily intimidated by technology.

If you own a Windows computer, you may be prompted to install a driver when you first connect your camcorder via USB. If so, use the 'solution' disc. Whether you have a Mac or PC, you can also use this disc to install ZoomBrowser (Windows) and ImageBrowser (Mac), for viewing and organizing photos.

The most important element of all these discs is Pixela Disc 1, which has the transfer utility you'll need for getting videos off your camcorder and onto your computer. Neither standard definition nor high definition files recorded by Canon can simply dragged and dropped onto your desktop for viewing. You need to use some kind of editing software or transfer utility first. Using ImageMixer to transfer files is fairly straightforward: probably easier to use than expensive third party editing software, but just as easy to use as iMovie or Movie Maker.

Note: None of the PIXELA programs are compatible with a Macintosh operating system. You will need to use iMovie or another third party application to transfer files and/or do video editing.

PIXELA ImageMixer 3 SE is the heart of the software. There is a library for viewing all your clips by date, title, album, etc. This interface isn't very user friendly and it isn't designed with the novice or the technophobe in mind. Simple tasks like burning a DVD or uploading to YouTube are not as simple as they should be.

The Editing/Authoring portion of ImageMixer is also complicated to use. It does, however, include several options that intermediate video editors will welcome. You can adjust the volume of your video, add your own audio files, add text/titles, or do some basic splicing and trimming. It's a little less user friendly than iMovie, but it has the same bare bones functionality.

Though ImageMixer is at the heart of Canon's included software, it also comes with a separate photo viewer/editor and a program for transferring your own audio files onto the camcorder (for use with playlists and Video Snap).