Which editing software should I buy?

[tomld]

I used Adobe Premier Pro and After Effects during their trial periods and really like them, but they are so damn expensive to buy. Is there another program that can do everything those two combined can but is affordable? Or should I buck up and shell out the hundreds and hundreds to buy them? WHat do you guys recommend? I was using Premier for all editing and After Effects for making cool text effects.

[lordsmurf]

It all depends on what you're trying to do.

[MJPollard]

Sony's products are pretty damn good. On the high end, you have Vegas 6.0, which you can get stand-alone or bundled with DVD Architect 3.0. Those'll run you at least $500 or so (more with the Vegas+DVD combo). On the low end, you have Vegas Movie Studio+DVD, which goes for about $100. All of these products have trial versions, if I recall correctly. Go to the Tools section to get the lowdown.

[waltzingandy]

Have you tried Adobe Premiere Elements? Like you, I've used Premiere Pro for some time (somebody elses...) and am looking to buy my own at a mush lower cost! I've tried the Vegas suite as well and the low-end version is pretty good, although I do prefer the Adobe apps.

There is an eval of Premiere Elements (no MPEG2 enocding...) that shows you enough to see the differences from Pro.