Video Editing Software
- Thread starter Shakamaka
- Start date
Premiere is good for the n00bs.
If getting into more professional stuff, you should look into Avid Xpress DV and Final Cut Pro.
If getting into more professional stuff, you should look into Avid Xpress DV and Final Cut Pro.
Maetryx
Diamond Member
- Jan 18, 2001
- 4,849
- 1
- 81
I like to use Pinnacle Studio 8. It's affordable for someone just getting into it, like myself. I've tried the Ulead product and found it counterintuitive because of it's attempt at trying to look friendly (fashion over function). Adobe Premiere is expensive but has the most features and thus a larger learning curve.
I'm not a big fan of Premiere, but it is good for new people and Pinnacle Studio 8 is good as well.
Otherwise, buy AVID for Windows PCs.
I like Final Cut, but as I can't afford an Apple just for editing I am stuck with Premiere. It is definitely more for the advanced home user segment of the market, but I've managed to do some pretty good things with it, though it could have been done much faster in Final Cut. Anyway, I managed to make it through my film minor with only Premiere, so it's not the best but it works.
I've seen Premiere bundled with hardware for under $200; that's quite a bit cheaper than buying it by itself. I didn't think the learning curve was particularly steep, but I haven't tried to do anything too exotic with it so far.
Before Premiere had native DV support, I used a few other lower-end packages for their 1394/DV support and generally hated them, especially the one I'd gotten from Ulead--enough that I'd be hesitant to get another Ulead video-editing product. Compared to the lower-end packages I've tried, Premiere seems a lot easier and fool-proof to use. One down side is that Adobe dropped their built-in RS-422 device control support with version 5, and I've been too cheap/lazy to track down the appropriate plugins for my non-DV decks.
I just got in a copy of Avid Express DV, but haven't quite worked up to building a system for it yet, so I don't have enough experience to compare the two on the PC platform. I don't know what other people's experiences have been trying to run it on non-qualified systems, but I find Avid's qualified hardware list to be dauntingly minimal, and I'd be much happier building a system from scratch than going out and buying one of the four Compaq or three IBM machines that are all they've ever tested it on. If Avid is as picky about hardware as their website leads me to believe, I see that as the biggest argument against going with Avid.
I have a Sony TRV520 DV camera. I need to get a firewire cable to connect to my comp... i found sever 4pin/6pin 4pin/4pin... what should I get? Also, are there any sites where I can get those cables for less, they seem quite pricy.
DivideBYZero
Lifer
- May 18, 2001
- 24,117
- 2
- 0
PC: Avid or Premiere.
Premiere is good but has flaws. Avid is complicated and expensive but very powerful.
Apple: Final Cut Pro is as good as it gets for mainstream NLE. There are bigger packages but few better.
For compositing, Shake 3.0 is tops.
Premiere is good but has flaws. Avid is complicated and expensive but very powerful.
Apple: Final Cut Pro is as good as it gets for mainstream NLE. There are bigger packages but few better.
For compositing, Shake 3.0 is tops.
true. but apple is planning on making Final Cut Express (a watered down, more basic version of Final Cut Pro) available on PC either later on this year, or jan. 2004, i'm not really sure of the exact date.
Final cut does run on Apples only.
Avid is so expensive because it's the best out there. Their DV editing software is comparable to Final Cut Pro, both have their pluses and minuses, but anything more and you can't go wrong with an Avid.
Avid has strict hardware requirements because they don't want their NLE's to run like @ss. They can either tailor their software and/or hardware to run solid on a select number of machines, or okay on a wide vareity of machines. Better hardware and software integration means more stability and fewer conflicts. That's one reason Mac hardware is/has been so popular in the post industry. Speed is nice but stability is a requirement.
Getting back on topic...
For the PC I'd recommend Vegas Video. Premiere, IMO, is a PITA and should be avoided at all costs. Avid's XpressDV seems to be geared more as a low-end machine to edit projects off-line that will later be transfered to an Media Composser for on-lining/final editing. While a better editor than Vegas, it's not as well rounded/stand alone of a program for finishing progjects. Avid's Xpress Pro, which is coming out soon, seems to be a bit more well rounded/powerful of a system but it's probably out of your price range.
For the Mac, well, FCP is where it's at. You can't go wrong w/FCP unless you really need, and can afford, the things a Media, or film, composser can do that FCP can't.
Lethal
If you have XP on your box, and dun need something really professional, i suggest downloading the upgrade to Windows Movie Maker 2. it's plenty easy to import the video files, and mess w/ vairous effects. give that a shot, before putting down some cash for premier, or even lurking the warez sites ^ ^
I remember when final cut pro first came out, the staff at MSU's Multimedia dept had nothing but praises about the $1000 software, and some of the features rivaled that of more expensive vid editing solutions. it is def a step up from premier, but alas, it is apple only ^^;;
as for the firewire cables, for most camcorders, you'll need to pick up a 4 pin to 6 pin cable, since the camcorders usually have a 4 pin connector, but the other end depends on the firewire card that you have. i got my cable bundled w/ the card that i won in an ebay auction. that was the cheapest way to pick up the cable that i needed.
I remember when final cut pro first came out, the staff at MSU's Multimedia dept had nothing but praises about the $1000 software, and some of the features rivaled that of more expensive vid editing solutions. it is def a step up from premier, but alas, it is apple only ^^;;
as for the firewire cables, for most camcorders, you'll need to pick up a 4 pin to 6 pin cable, since the camcorders usually have a 4 pin connector, but the other end depends on the firewire card that you have. i got my cable bundled w/ the card that i won in an ebay auction. that was the cheapest way to pick up the cable that i needed.
Windows Movie Maker 2 is pretty good if you're a total noob, and just want to get acceptable looking videos made. It's easy to use, just like most windows included software, even my mom uses it. Of course you're not going to do anything fancy with it.
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