Video Editing Software Options...What do you use?

[Dayna]

I currently use Pinnacle Studio version 9 and 10. I am used to this program even though it is SO BUGGY all the time. What is a great program that you guys use the most that maybe doesn't give errors and shutdown all the time. I do video editing as a small home business and would like to explore other options. I had bought so many addons to Pinnacle - like transitions, etc. And was hoping there was a good program to use that had nice transitions, menus, and not too much of a huge learning curve from Pinnacle. Any Suggestions?

[harley2ride]

Why not look at getting Pinnacle Liquid Edition. You can pick them up on ebay fairly reasonably...
Otherwise I would suggest Vegas 6 or Adobe Premiere. Other options include Ulead Studio 9, Ulead Movie Studio.

[Tom Saurus]

Dayna: I use Mpeg Video Wizard for edited video. It is quite a nice program and it does not overtax your computer's resources. As for DVD Authoring I use Tmpeg DVD Author 1.6

[FulciLives]

VEGAS 6 seems to be the favorite of the advanced editing packages.

There are even more advanced programs but then you are talking tons of money and VEGAS 6 is expensive to begin with!

One nice thing about VEGAS 6 is that it integrates easily with SoundForge which is an advanced audio editing program with many options.

Both VEGAS and SoundForge are made by SONY now.

VEGAS also comes with the Mainconcept MPEG encoder and can do excellent AC-3 encoding.

All around a super program although the price is a bit steep.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Safesurfer]

I use Puremotion EditStudio Pro for video editing and DVD Lab for DVD authoring. Both are relatively inexpensive ( a lot cheaper than Vegas and Premiere) and very powerful.

[lordsmurf]

What is a great program that you guys use the most that maybe doesn't give errors and shutdown all the time.

Adobe Premiere 6.5, use it all the time. I think it crashed on me twice last year, that's it. Not the newest version, but that just means you can get it a lot cheaper.

had nice transitions, menus, and not too much of a huge learning curve from Pinnacle. Any Suggestions?

That sentence sounds more like AUTHORING software, not EDITING software.

[julitomg]

I have a Pinnacle Studio Deluxe card with Studio 9.4x; basically I only use it for capture (either from analog sources, as S/VHS, Hi8, etc..or directly from a DV camera), then I load the DV encoded AVI clips into Premiere 6.5 (wich came with an ADS Pyro firewire card that got damaged and didn´t have analog inputs anyway) and do all my editing/encoding/authoring with other programs, never Studio 9 (I have downloaded the . 4xx upgrades just because in the latest ones you can also extract video from a DVD source, sometimes it´s useful)
Premiere 6.5 is a very powerful software, not difficult to use and I personally prefer it over the more "pro" and Final Cut-like Premiere PRO. I tried Sony´s Vegas once but got very confused with it´s interface...although I admit I´m very used to the Premiere interface (from the days of version 4.2, then 5.x, etc..)

[InXess]

I like editing in Pinnacle Studio 9.x and outputting to DV (if from miniDV). I encode it separately with one of the higher end encoders (Procoder). You get unmatched ease of use, fast great quality encoding, and superb results.

[Dayna]

Thanks for all the replies! I thought of using Sony Vegas 6. I just had a friend tell me a while back that it was hard to learn to use. Not sure if its true or not though. I have been using Pinnacle Studio for over a year now and it took me a little while to learn to use everything in it and still have things that I haven't really learned how to use in it, like the PIP. I like the program due to all of the extras I bought for it. I have over 1000 transitions and a lot of nice menus to use and I like the smartsound feature. I am "hopefully" getting another new computer, one of the new AMD dual core machines and putting an ATI X1600 Pro 512MB crossfire ready card in it, which Best Buy had on Sale this week...not sure if Pinnacle is a program that would even take advantage of the AMD Dual core. I thought of the Pinnacle Liquid Edition 6 or 7, but I played around with the demo and it looked confusing on the interface. And someone told me that it was more for multi camera shots. I have used a few Ulead products before, and thats what I started with and when I started using Pinnacle, I liked it a lot, even though it had the problems and you have to wait for a patch to fix them. A few weekd ago, I downloaded trial versions of about 5 different softwares and did not find one I liked better.

Someone mentioned that it sounds like I am talking about an authoring software and not editing...I guess what I am meaning to say is one to use that is good for the whole deal - capturing, editing, and making the disc. And one that can also import photos and use the pan and zoom option on them. I do a lot of photo slideshows for people and the PIZ is really nice for those becuase the photos aren't just sitting still.

[guns1inger]

Premiere Elements or Vegas Movie Studio sound like they they fit the bill better than their big brothers.

[Dayna]

Questions about Adobe Premiere...

1. What version to get? 6.5?
2. Does this have features like "pan and zoom" for photos and "chroma key"?
3. What type of transitions and menus does it have?

Thanks!

[indijay]

Wish someone would develop iMovie and iDVD for windows, its so damn easy to use and free (comes with Mac OS)
I only miss adding subtitles otherwise its just brilliant.

I think best deal for you would be Premiere elements, have seen couple of friends using it, at least they don't have any complaints as on today!!

[guns1inger]

Why not go to the Adobe website and look at the features ? Compare Pro against Elements and see if one fits.

Premiere 6.5 doesn't have any authoring at all. Premiere Elements has some. I believe Premiere Pro 2 has rudimentary authoring for creating dailies type discs. If you want to edit with premiere 6.5 or Pro, you will have to invest in an authoring application as well.

I would suggest you do the same for Vegas and Vegas Movie Studio.

[Dayna]

I have been looking on the site and the internet and I have seen that the Adobe does have the pan and zoom option. I am just not sure which product I should buy for what I need it for. There are so many. I transfer videos to dvd and make photo slideshows as a small home business. Just looking for a pretty stable software to use to do this.

Is Adobe easier to learn than Vegas? Can anyone suggest which product of Adobe I should look into getting for what I am needing it for as specified above? Thanks for any help.

[harley2ride]

Google, and find some tutorials for the softwares and view them. That will give you an idea of how they work, and if they meet your comfort level. Both Adobe and Vegas have tutorials right on their web sites that give you a basic overview of how the softwares work..

[rsgars]

I use Premiere Pro 1.5 for editing and author with Adobe Encore DVD. They just work so nicely together. I am very familiar and comfortable with using both and enerally get excellent results. I'm sure there are others that can work just as well, possibly even better, but I started on Premiere and have never had any major issues that weren't my fault. The truth is I haven't even scratched the surface of what it is capable of doing, and I've never really gotten into using After Effects.

Now that Premiere Pro 2.0 is out I would think you can get a good deal on 1.5

[lordsmurf]

Is Adobe easier to learn than Vegas?

I think so. I prefer the straight-forward interface that lacks all the "pretty" stuff. I think everything is laid out well.

Others find Vegas easier.

It depends on how your mind works.

[thecoalman]

Any of the better editors are not going to be easy to learn how to use. They are geared for professional use to create professional looking videos. You can't have all the features they have and expect it to be easy.

Which brings me to another point. Anything you can do with your pinnacle product can be done in anyone of those editors. In most cases with much more control and options.

[Dayna]

With my recently purchased video cards, there is a software disc it came with I just happened to have run across that says $99 value Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0.
Is this just like an SE version, although it doesn't say SE on the disc....maybe its the full version What is the difference in 2.0 and 6.5?

[lordsmurf]

"Elements" is the new buzz word for "Limited Edition" (LE) that Adobe used to use.

[Dayna]

I heard that Pinnacle wasn't a multi threaded software that using a dual core processor would take advantage of....is adobe a multithreaded software?

[solarfox]

For video editing, I use ULead Media Studio Pro 7. (I notice they're up to version 8 now, but I haven't yet felt the urge to upgrade. ) A little pricey for some, maybe, but I like it...

For DVD authoring, I used to use ULead DVD Workshop 1.3... and sometimes still do, but more and more I've been using Mediachance DVD-Lab Pro.

[Dayna]

I just received an email about the new Ulead Video Studio 10 Plus. I am downloading the trial version of it to check it out. Anyone who has Version 9, is it as good or better than Pinnacle?