Alternative To Premiere Elements 2019

[AfxTwn]

Hi, I am looking for an alternative to Premiere Elements for editing HD videos I make on my phone and then copy onto my PC (currently looking round for a used HD camcorder). I have been using PE19 for a few years now but just find it quite buggy, it crashes and freezes a lot and I find the workflow to be quite annoying sometimes. For instance, sometimes I will be dragging a clip around on my timeline to place it on a video track above an already occupied one, so that I can adjust each tracks opacity for layering but for sometime the software decides to split the clip underneath, for no reason and other times it works perfectly fine and allows me to drag the new clip above the current clip without splitting it. There are lots of other little niggles and things that annoy me about it, such as not being able to zoom in and out of the timeline with my mouse's scroll wheel, it seems a bit unintuitive to do a lot of things.

Anyway, I tried Premiere Pro briefly as that is the flagship product but I found that a lot more difficult and even less intuitive to use than PE, plus it didn't really come with any video effects like PE does (or at least I couldn't find them) and it seemed like you also needed After Effects to do that sort of stuff which is another £20 per month on top. It's just way too expensive and I don't like the whole subscription model anyway (especially at these prices), where you never really own anything and have to pay forever.

So I was hoping someone here would be able to give me some recommendations on some good budget and beginner/novice-friendly editing software. I am not trying to make CGI masterpieces, just some daft home videos for my friends to watch. Would Magix Movie Studio Suite be a good option or something else? I used to have Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 years ago and it liked it but a lot of the effects didn't work (especially the NewBlue FX) and it took ages to render/export videos. I see there is a new Vegas editor but again it's a subscription model.

Any help would be great, thank you.

[TreeTops]

"I see there is a new Vegas editor but again it's a subscription model."

Not true. You can still purchase a version that is not subscription.

[AfxTwn]

Ah, sorry I just found it. You have to click on the little blue arrow just below where it says "Annual Subscription", this then opens up a list of other payment options including a one-time payment for a new licence which is currently £119 (normally £179) for Vegas Edit or £199 (normally £299) for Vegas Pro. This is still quite a lot for an amateur/casual user. I could upgrade to Premiere Elements 2023 for £70.91.

Magix Movie Studio 2023 Suite is currently on offer for £54.49 till the 15th November. Then there's DaVinci Resolve 18 which is either free or £330 for the full version (way out of my price point). I also see that there's an offer on Corel VideoStudio; Pro at £49.99 and Ultimate at £64.99.

Which of the pieces of software I've mentioned would people recommend?

[TreeTops]

Magix Movie Studio 2023 is an entirely new program from the old Movie Studio. Stay away.

[TreeTops]

Interesting that 'VideoProc Vlogger' was noted to be the 'best' of all that were reviewed but it is not listed in this site's software download section. In fact not too many posts mention it either.

[Brainiac]

See here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/388684-Vegas-Pro-14-available-for-20
Make sure you scroll down and read the last post.

[AfxTwn]

Thanks for the replies. I haven't heard of VideoProc Vlogger and there's not much in the way of reviews of the software elsewhere on the net. I can't see any comparisons with it and other editing software so I'm a little a reluctant to give it a try. I saw the recent Humble Bundle containing Vegas Pro 18 and Movie Studio 2022 but as both products are owned by Magix which has itself changed quite a bit from the old days, I think I might give them a miss.

I am going to upgrade to Premiere Elements 2023 I think as I have read that the new version uses your GPU with rendering so that may speed up the process and hopefully the overall software will be a bit more stable.

In truth, I have too much time invested into PE and have become very familiar with it which is making me reluctant to change, especially when I can't afford the one-time purchase costs of the alternatives and don't want to go for a subscription model. I think an issue I may have been running into was also having Premiere Elements on a different drive than my Windows drive, along with some of the project save folders being on another drive and some of the video footage on yet another (a mix of HDD and SSD/NVMe drives). Messing about changing file locations and stuff has probably caused some conflicts etc. My whole PC storage structure is a mess really so I am going to uninstall everything and start again, with PE23 on a NVMe drive, along with the videos I want to edit.

[ricardouk]

So I was hoping someone here would be able to give me some recommendations on some good budget and beginner/novice-friendly editing software. I am not trying to make CGI masterpieces, just some daft home videos for my friends to watch....Any help would be great, thank you.

Hi, if you're looking JUST for that kind of usage there's loads of options.

HItfilm express has a very polished GUI and easy software, if you're exporting to 1080p like you said...it's free, DavInci resolve is also another great and free option, if you're using Elements in timeline "view" instead of storyboard you wont have much difficulty getting used to it, altough hitfilm express might resemble more to premiere interface.

If looking for other alternatives i suggest Kdenlive or openshot, not a polished interface like hitfilm or resolve but fully functional up to 4k exports with loads of filters etc etc, if you're using elements in storyboard mode these are not for you, if using any of these the save button is your best friend altough kdenlive has been pretty stable for me.

altough i never tried it you can use vsdc free video editor aswell

here's some quick video guides:

Hitfilm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qc2KWIVPLA
resolve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ln33O4p4c
kdenlive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V18BX15KbKs
openshot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-JeXyvy7PA
vsdc video editor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=admhYajNOl4

hope it helps

[_Al_]

In truth, I have too much time invested into PE and have become very familiar with it which is making me reluctant to change, especially when I can't afford the one-time purchase costs of the alternatives and don't want to go for a subscription model.

Vegas Pro Edit 18 / former Sony Vegas / former Sonic is for sale (for free basically as of Jan 3,2023 for more two days): here, it is legit (you can even pay by Amazon if you he an account there) , I had gotten it in the past and upgraded to v.19 for $80 or so, you do not have to, because as you said, you need that for "basic trimming", v.18 is just fine.
I quoted your text, because in the past I was a dedicated Premiere Pro user switching to Vegas and was just overwhelmed how things can just be more simple, how much better was to edit clips especially just basic stuff:
Trimming, how to handle audio is simple, to select type of curve on transition is in right click. Transition is simple by pushing a clip into a clip. Having effects possibly on a clip (event), a track or master track. Selecting bunch of clips and pressing "G" will just group them. Using 'U" will make them a unique clips(events) again....

Premiere Pro (btw. you had Elements so learning would be necessary also) has a sense if you use it with Photoshop, After Effects and other Adobe interconnecting software (called Adobe bridge? not sure now). That looks nice. In US high school kids have for a year or so (I guess when school has money, they might cut it in this second half) a chance to use all online package for all Adobe software's, my son is checking it all for free right now and basically that is the way how they get potential customers I guess (that package subscription is expensive).