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Which Video Editing Software??

J

jojo29

Member
Ok i've recently got into 'video editing' scene and have been using Window's Movie Maker. Now i was reading up on Sony's Vegas+DVD software, and it looks to be real promising. What my question is, is the Sony software good to use? If not, what would you guys recommend? all i have right now is Movie Maker so please help me out.
 
Sony is good as is the Pinnacle Studio series. Both do HDV, but if you don't have camera, that means nothing. Adobe also makes a Premiere lite version. Each has a different interface and will work differently based on computers. Pinnacle likes your video card (and uses it), so I would lean that way on the basic packages. Also, there is a Ulead editor that some folks like.

But it all depends on what you want to do. What have you outgrown in Movie Maker? What is it you wish you could do?

And no, if you like Sony Movie, you won't go wrong.
 
For editing and slight effects then Sony Vegas is the best.

For more effects then look elsewere, but still use Vegas for editing.
 
Try the demos.

I prefer Ulead, although for sheer simplcity - I love Muvee. . .
I never could get into adobe vid editors - even though I use photoshop constantly.

 
Hope you don't mind if I crash this thread...

I did minidv videos at a couple of weddings around 2 years ago, and still haven't managed to create DVD's for the participants (the married folks and their parents, etc.). The videos came out beautiful, but there's around 2 hours video for each and the .avi captures I did to HD total around 25 GB for each wedding. I'd like to create 1 to 3 DVD+-R disks for each wedding, make copies and distribute them. These people had professionals make videos for them, but what I did definitely adds something. I recorded some events that the pros didn't, for instance.

I have Ulead version 6 and Nero 6 Ultra, managed after some work to do some editing, but was disappointed in the quality of the DVD's. I'm sure it's because the compression routines that these programs are using are simply too primitive to produce quality video. The .avi files look quite noticeably better than what I've gotten so far. I got frustrated and gave up. I'd really like what I distribute to look virtually as good as the originals, not obviously inferior. I'm not all that picky. I use DVD Shrink to rip DVD's and find that even 55% rips look reasonable to me. Can I get a recommendation for a program that will work for me? All I want to do is cut out a 5 minute botched segment here and there and maybe add a few still shots for a few seconds into the movies (i.e. pictures I made of invitations, etc. with my digicam). Thanks!
 
Originally posted by: IamDavid
Ulead or Cyberlink make the easiest & best products to learn.
Click to expand...
OK, I have two versions of Ulead VideoStudio:

1. I got the Version 6 SE DVD with my Winfast TV2000 Deluxe TV card.
2. I got the Version 5.0 disk that says "DV" with my Canon Optura 20 minidv digital camcorder.

Is either of these acceptable? Or is the encoder in some other version significantly superior? Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: Muse
Originally posted by: IamDavid
Ulead or Cyberlink make the easiest & best products to learn.
Click to expand...
OK, I have two versions of Ulead VideoStudio:

1. I got the Version 6 SE DVD with my Winfast TV2000 Deluxe TV card.
2. I got the Version 5.0 disk that says "DV" with my Canon Optura 20 minidv digital camcorder.

Is either of these acceptable? Or is the encoder in some other version significantly superior? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Well, they probably will be way 'behind' the current version is 10 I believe. The software they provide with stuff is usually 'limited' in either age or function. But yea, they will work.
 
I love Adobe Premiere Pro but you can learn from using lite version of Premire Element very cheap price.
 
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Not Pinnacle.

I like Vegas myself.
Click to expand...
And I like Pinnacle 😉 Now that V10 has been debugged... Mostly built on the Liquid engine. Now does MPEG native edit and believe it has the Liquid save engine (saves changes 30 times a second, so if something crashes, changes are not lost and undo still works.)

I use Liquid almost exclusively now as 7.1 added the last tool I needed that Studio could previous only do. It added easy capture without full logging - the Liquid logger would drop frames on the 4200rpm drive on the lappie.

The logger and mulit-line edit are the huge differences between consumer and pro these days. A logger allows my to scroll through my tapes and mark in/out all the parts I want with a scrubbing tool in the window or jog shuttle (a hardware device). I can record them then or finish the tape and tell the system to batch capture everthing I logged. Even cooler, I can save my project without any of those files (backup). I can at a later date restore the project and just put the correct tapes into the deck/camera and batch load all the segments I need again.

Multi-line is not just for picture in picture. I can use it to create crossfades that might not be a stock effect (I have cross fad, but I can control it with keyframes when overlapped.) A good example is a special effect where I have two different elements in green screen over a matte (that is three lines), and I can add another matte over the top like a motion background at the bottom and another line for text or a track matte (Alpha/clear text which then plays another video or effect that shows in the text). On a consumer editor, you usually have effect, video, audio, and maybe another video. Oh, and my pro version can have 4-8 channels of audio for effects, music, dialog, and do it as 5.1.
 
It really depends on your needs. If you just need simple editing and simple menus, any of the packages listed above will work. If you want to do multiple menus and more advanced correction and effects, you will need something a bit more expensive. I have now migrated to Pinnacle studio 10 PLUS titanium because it was the cheapest software that I could find that would do all of those things to the extent that I need and it has good picture quality. It is buggy, but its results are better than many others including Nero. You can often find it on ebay and amazon for around $55 or a little more. Adobe makes some great stuff, but it is more complicated and more expensive! I did not like Ulead or many of the other cheaper/low end products.

Try the demos to see what you like!
 
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