video editing software for cropping vids

[SalsaMan]

I've tried out a couple of different programs, including PowerDirector and Ulead Video Studio. But still haven't found a program that will do a specific function that I need:

I'm looking to crop the video and cut out some of the edges, for example a clip of a salsa performance; I want to cut out the audience from the bottom of the video and also from the top I want to cut off the top of the stage curtains.

If anyone has any suggestions/experience with a program that can do what ai need, I'm all ears .

Gracias.

[AugustoP]

Try Adobe After Effects, it has extensive masking capabilities. But for simple cropping VirtualDub should be enough.

[lightshow]

I can crop with Adobe Premier Pro v2 (earlier versions also work -> though not tested, I just opened in premier to confirm the following)

Put the video in the timeline, go to video effects, choose Transform -> clip or crop. Mess with those two settings and you can re-adjust your picture (without the selected parts) with some zooming or you can just put black bars on the top and bottom to even out what part of the shot you deleted.

You may want to put the main video in Video track 2 and put a black .jpg in video track 1 to make sure you have a black background.

[SalsaMan]

cool thanks guys I'll check out those programs.