Surface Go Video Editor Comparison Notes

Reference Articles:

https://turbofuture.com/graphic-design-video/3-Free-Video-Editors-for-Slow-Computers

https://thetechtop10.com/10-video-editors-for-weak-computers/ 

Ranking, sorted by least HW requirements first

1. vsdc

2. videoPad

3. videoProc

4. shotcut

5. filmora

Surface Go Video Editor Comparison Notes

After spending far too long reviewing posts on lightweight editors that may work with Surface Go and some Surface Go Specific video editor reviews. I downloaded around 6 editors (per recommended  articles) and executed a similar edit test case for each, including input clips, effects, edits and output. My Surface Go system specs are here 8G RAM, 128 GB HD, 1.61Ghz

Below are a summary of notes & observations, these are merely cliff notes of my experiences, I did not have time to capture every detail. A ubiquitous result was clear, Surface Go does NOT operate with so called light weight editors, instead only 2 editors were near operational for me, Fimora & VideoPad. Editing, scrubbing, program navigation and exporting are near impossible in all other editors.

If anyone else has differing results I would love to know if they deviated from the default editor install settings.

Surface Go Video Editor Comparison Notes,

Render test Summary:

Baseline editor android V405TA, Editor Action Director:

        Project Input: 2 clips 4K 60fps, 3 transitions, 1 title, 2 edit cuts, 2 edit crop

Duration: 01m04s

result: Res: 3840X2160 Rat: 16:9 fps: 60fps Duration: 25s, bitrate: 50Mb/s

vsdc:

Project Setup

Editing, Unable to scrub, Choppy, Unreliable

Export Project: 

Duration: 04m+!!

result: Res: 3840X2160 Rat: 16:9 fps: 30fps bitrate:30Mb/s

videoproc:

Project Setup

is NOT an editor without paying $$

Shotcut:

edit: useless, choppy, delays, scrub, edit, all tools have delay

Export: 3 min to export 25 sec

ActionDirector

Unusable: barely edits

produce: 15 sec (OK)

VideoPad

Project: 80% Useless, Choppy, Delays, Scrubbing Kind of works, 

  Export: Need $ to export 4K

Export: 25 Sec (GOOD) 

Filmora.8.5

1. edit, smooth, not choppy, can scrub OK, some delay in effects, however it is the closest to android. 10X better than the closest VideoPad

2. Export, Slow, 25 sec, 2K clip took over 2 min (140sec) 

3. Export Settings: 

Hardware Requirements Per

vsdc

Windows OS: XP SP3 / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10

Intel, AMD or compatible processor with the working frequency at 1.5 GHz or higher

Screen resolution: 1024x768 pixels with 16-bit color or higher

RAM 512Mb for the video editing software

Microsoft DirectX 9.0с or higher

300 MB of free disk space minimum

shotcut

Operating system: 32- or 64-bit Windows 7 - 10, Apple macOS 10.10 - 10.15, or 64-bit Linux with at least Glibc 2.19.

CPU: x86-64 Intel or AMD; at least one 2 GHz core for SD, 2 cores for HD, and 4 cores for 4K.

GPU: OpenGL 2.0 that works correctly and is compatible. On Windows, you can also use a card with good, compatible DirectX 9 or 11 drivers.

RAM 1. Minimum 4GB RAM for SD Editing 2. 8GB For HD Editin 3. 16GB For 4K Editing

GPU OpenGL 2.0 or DirectX9 or 11

Storage 1 GB Minimum For Installation

videopad

Windows OS 64 bit: 10, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1

Processor: 1.5 GHz

RAM: 4 GB

Disk space: 100 MB

filora

Operating System Windows- 7/8/8.1/10 (64-bit)

Mac– 10.7 to 10.15

RAM Windows– 4GB Minimum

Mac– 8GB Minimum

CPU Windows– Intel i3 with 2 GHz frequency

Mac– Intel i5 with 2 GHz frequency

GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 or later; Intel HD Graphics 5000 or later; AMD Radeon R5 or later.

Hard Disk At Least 10 GB

videoproc

System Requirements

Windows Version Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 or later (32-bit and 64-bit versions supported)

Mac Version Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina (10.15), Big Sur

Processor 1 GHz Intel® or AMD® processor (Minimum)

RAM 1GB RAM (Recommended: 2GB or above)

Hard Disk Space 200MB of hard-disk space for installation