While Nerovision theoretically does exactly what I want, it has proved utterly unusable in real life situations. As an aside, the guys at Nero ought to be ashamed to market NV as commercial software (/END RANT)

Anyway, my needs are for software that will let me combine slideshows and AV files with transistions (fades) at the beginning, in between and at the end of the clips. Like this

[FADE IN] [CLIP1] [TRANSITION] [CLIP2] [TRANSITION] [CLIP3] [FADE OUT]

and render the lot to a single AV file. CLIP1 and CLIP3 are usually a short slide show.

I have tried a number of software packages but none except Nerovision seem to let me insert a transition (FADE IN/ FADE OUT] at the beginning or end.

Any suggestions or recommendations?

Womble MPEG Video Wizard is particularly good at fades and transitions, because it only re-encodes the few video frames around the join. It is a great editor with really fast scrubbing. Although it works entirely in MPEG1 or 2, IIRC ther latest version has an MPEG4 export facility...

Free one month trial from the site here:

http://www.womble.com

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I downloaded the trial copy. Initially it seemed impressive but a couple of failings soon became apparent-

1) I couldn't find a way to fade in at the beginning of a clip. The help file implies that only fade out at the end of a clip is possible.

2) 16:9 aspect ratio clips are re-rendered as 4:3, irrespective of template settings.

Shame, because it does seem to be very well thought out software. Anyway, I've emailed the authors so maybe they'll respond. Let's hope they're better than the tiresome folks at Nero.

regards

You can fade in either audio or video, or both, at the beginning of a clip. Just right-click on the clip when it's on the timeline, select 'Fade...' and there are settings for the duration of fade for both beginning and end, for audio and video.

You change the output aspect ratio under the 'Advanced' setting for the MPEG2 video in the 'Export' dialogue.

OK, again many thanks for the lead to the software. It is exceptionally well thought out and works a treat. I emailed their support and they addressed the remaining issues I had.

Good one!

regards

Just a quick thanks for the link to Womble MPEG (DVD) Video Wizard- We've now been using the software for several weeks. For the sort of editing and DVD preparation we need to do the software has proved easy, intuitive and fast to use. And unlike NeroVision, it doesn't fall over every five minutes.

Again, many thanks.