Best Video Editing Software?

[Shawn]

I just bought a Canon VIXIA M300 and I am looking for some good video editing software. I used to use Pinnacle Studio 10 and while it was easy to use it was a buggy piece of crap. Are there any good alternatives?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Seems to me that Sony Vegas is the most recommended consumer level package...at least that I see. I find VideoStudio from Corel to be buggy as well.

 

[angry hampster]

Pinnacle's products have always been horrid. I use Vegas Pro and LOVE it. Very easy to use and tons of features.

 

[Gintaras]

http://www.videohelp.com/edit

 

[Muse]

Seems to me that Sony Vegas is the most recommended consumer level package...at least that I see. I find VideoStudio from Corel to be buggy as well.

I see 7 different software products ranging from $40 to $600:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware

I have some decent sized AVI files, as big as 25GB, a couple weddings I shot at around 480p (?) using a Canon Optura 20 (Minidv cassette) Digital Video Camcorder.

From Canon's specs page for this video camera: EIA standard (525 lines, 60 fields) NTSC color signal. Is that 420p?

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/camcorders/minidv_camcorders/optura_20?selectedName=BrochuresAndManuals#Specifications

I created the AVI's by transferring the data via firewire from the camera to my computer HD. I want to edit the AVI files, nothing fancy, just remove some short segments, maybe drop in some still shots here and there (e.g. an invitation, whatever, probably JPGs) for a few seconds in a few places. I know that's pretty rudimentary, but my main concern is to maintain as much of the quality as possible when burned to DVD. I was disappointed in the loss of quality (i.e. resolution) when I did this before and I shelved the projects. I don't want to pay several hundred dollars for software just for this. What would be OK?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Actually, I think that's 480i

Anyway, you'd probably want one of the Movie Studio 10 HD versions. Looks like the "production suite" version simply includes Soundforge + effects and tracks if you want to fool around with audio editing.

IIRC, from back in the day when it was still owned by Sonic Foundry, Soundforge was pretty kickass audio editing software.

edit:
Before paying for stuff, you might honestly try Windows Movie Maker. Your description sounds pretty simple, and something that WMM should be able to handle.

 

[tvdang7]

I used Premeire pro, power director ,vegas pro all were pretty complicated for me. Ended up with Premiere elements and was much easier to use. This is from a noob so don't listen to me otherwise.

 

[Rottie]

Adobe Premiere Pro requires a lot of knowlege of video editing and Premiere Element does not. I run both on PC and Netbook.

 

[mmntech]

Final Cut Express or Premiere Elements. Vegas has a horrible interface.

 

[Muse]

Actually, I think that's 480i

Anyway, you'd probably want one of the Movie Studio 10 HD versions. Looks like the "production suite" version simply includes Soundforge + effects and tracks if you want to fool around with audio editing.

IIRC, from back in the day when it was still owned by Sonic Foundry, Soundforge was pretty kickass audio editing software.

edit:
Before paying for stuff, you might honestly try Windows Movie Maker. Your description sounds pretty simple, and something that WMM should be able to handle.

Thanks. I agree, 480i sounds more likely. I think 480p is DVD quality (or just about). The stuff I shot is a tad below DVD quality, IIRC.

Actually, I did unsatisfactory experiments (a fe years ago) with these softwares:

1. Ulead VideoStudio 5.0 DV DVD
2. Ulead VideoStudio 6.0 SE DVD (upgraded with the 6.02 patch)
3. Nero VisionExpress 2.0

I got the Ulead DVDs with a couple of hardware purchases some years back.

Would WMM be able to write the results to a DVD without noticeable degradation of the ~480i resolution? Or would I be using another software to do the actual DVD-R writes? I do have Nero 6.

 

[Karsten]

I am in the same boat and have been looking around. I just tried Power Director 9 and so far it has been working great and fast.
http://www.cyberlink.com/store/powerdirector/buy_en_US.html

Here is a video I just did today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YijcHI3nklY

Editing was easy, options plentiful and when I uploaded the codec was right for youtube. So as soon as it was uploaded it worked in all resolutions.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Would WMM be able to write the results to a DVD without noticeable degradation of the ~480i resolution? Or would I be using another software to do the actual DVD-R writes? I do have Nero 6.

I know Windows Live Movie Maker can write the DVD, and it should look just fine.