What software offers good DV editing AND DVD authoring in one package?

[ahurtt]

So I got myself a Panasonic MiniDV video camera (the PV-GS400 if it matters) a while back and I have accumulated several hours worth of footage of our baby daughter and various other family events on several DV tapes now. I want to try my hand at some DV editing and produce some DVD's for playing on set-top dvd players to distribute to various relatives. I don't need a video capture card since my computer has a firewire port and the camera has DV output via firewire. The camera came with a rudimentary digital video editing program that can edit the .AVI files once transferred to the computer but it isn't very feature rich. And it does not have any DVD authoring capability. So I'm hoping maybe some of you guys with experience in this kind of thing can guide me toward what is some of the most popular or "best of breed" digital video editing software for "semi-enthusiast" type use. Ideally I'm looking for something that has .AVI editing, AVI to MPEG-2 compression/conversion, and DVD authoring features/capabilities in one product but I'm not adverse to using separate products if there are certian ones that really shine. Any ideas here?

I'm also in the market for an internal DVD burner (non-blue ray too expensive, dual layer preffered) and all the reviews of them I seem to be finding online are several years old. Is there anything more current anybody knows of or are DVD burners so common now that they are all pretty much equal? Am I ok to buy whatever $30-$40 burner happens to be on special over at newegg?

 

[gsellis]

There are 4 major packages that are in the $50-125 range for end to end authoring. Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas Movie, Adobe Premiere Elements, and Ulead's package (IOW - I cannot remember the name )

All 4 import via firewire as DV-AVI for standard definition video (SD). They then allow editing and encoding and authoring to DVD. Each has a different workflow, so they each have their own fan base. Me, I like Studio.

A 5th option is Movie Maker in Vista. It is rather rudimentary and requires.... Vista.

Adobe's and Sony's versions are "lite" versions of their main editor. The look and feel is similar to the pro products, so there is migration in use if you go up. Studio's big brother is Avid Liquid, which has a 'Studio' style interface mode, but is still different in how it works (Studio uses the Liquid engine). Premiere and Vegas work better with nVidia cards while Studio works better with ATI cards (OpenGL vs DirectX architecture.)

As for burners, someone else plz. I have 2 NEC 3xxx series that are rock solid. They have not made them for a little while. I think BenQ is the hot ticket, but I am sure I am dated on that (they may be one of the ones that closed that division recently?)

Oh, Studio 11 does HD-DVD authoring on red DVD. Not really a feature you would use as you are standard def. Nice choice for a SD camera. One of the better consumer SD cameras ever made.

 

[AmigaMan]

doesn't XP come with MovieMaker 2?

 

[ahurtt]

Thanks, gsellis. Can you say what it is about Pinnacle Studio that you like over the other products you had mentioned and a little bit about why you picked it?

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: AmigaMan
doesn't XP come with MovieMaker 2?

Yes, but in Vista, you Export to DVD and the DVD tool creates motion menus, etc. A feature not in XP.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: ahurtt
Thanks, gsellis. Can you say what it is about Pinnacle Studio that you like over the other products you had mentioned and a little bit about why you picked it?

With scene detection, it breaks the on/off parts as clips and you drag and drop in timeline mode. The workflow is similar to what Windows Movie Maker, but you have far more control of the razor blade, etc.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: gsellis

Originally posted by: AmigaMan
doesn't XP come with MovieMaker 2?

Yes, but in Vista, you Export to DVD and the DVD tool creates motion menus, etc. A feature not in XP.

I don't have Vista anyway. Only XP Pro. I seriously doubt if Movie Maker that comes with Windows is even as capable as the editing software that came with the video camera. I'm really looking for something a little bit more specialized and feature rich for a semi-enthusiast. I may be new to DV editing but I am pretty competent with most things digital and computer related in general. The concepts are not foreign to me so I think I will learn pretty fast. I have done linear editing and analog production work in the past so some of the concepts of general video editing will carry over. I don't want to spend more than about $150 if I don't have to though.

 

[gsellis]

You can get the Studio Ultimate package for under that price and it used to even come with a piece of green screen.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: gsellis

Originally posted by: AmigaMan
doesn't XP come with MovieMaker 2?

Yes, but in Vista, you Export to DVD and the DVD tool creates motion menus, etc. A feature not in XP.

I don't have Vista anyway. Only XP Pro. I seriously doubt if Movie Maker that comes with Windows is even as capable as the editing software that came with the video camera. I'm really looking for something a little bit more specialized and feature rich for a semi-enthusiast. I may be new to DV editing but I am pretty competent with most things digital and computer related in general. The concepts are not foreign to me so I think I will learn pretty fast. I have done linear editing and analog production work in the past so some of the concepts of general video editing will carry over. I don't want to spend more than about $150 if I don't have to though.

My first DV to DVD project was made almost entirely in Movie Maker 2 in XP (kept crashing on one specific task that I can't remember now, so I switched). I moved from Movie Maker 2 to Studio 8.x, which cost me something like $5 after rebate, and I still felt ripped off (I definitely was not a fan of Studio 8.x). The new studio is supposed to be nice, but I haven't tried it. I didn't like Ulead's basic offering at the time either, but this was back in 2004-05, so things have probably changed. I liked Sony Vegas 5, but never really dug in deep with it. You might want to try Avid Free, or whatever it's called; it's a lite version of Avid's product , but it's free, so it's worth trying before spending ~$100 on Studio.

The part that sucks the most is just transfering the footage from DV to your PC since it happens in real time, so 60 minutes of footage will take 60 minutes to record onto your hard drive.

Any DVD burner should work fine. No reason to spend extra on a Plextor and such when so many quality burners exist in the $30-40 range and all will handle basically any disc type you throw at it, including DVD-RAM and DVD Dual Layer.

Most importantly, have fun!

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: tdawg
The part that sucks the most is just transfering the footage from DV to your PC since it happens in real time, so 60 minutes of footage will take 60 minutes to record onto your hard drive.

Advanced packages (not directed at you tdawg) have a more unique approach. In the capture tool, I can mark the end of a tape, rewind and mark the beginning and either start the capture or save it for batch later. The cool part of such logging tools is that you can delete any captured media and just save the projects. Later, you can recapture the media just be loading the right tapes and batch capturing the footage again. While it is doing it, you do something else.