Recommend video editing software for total newbie

[rabby22222]

Hi guys i got a dv camcorder recently and have installed a firewire card on my pc to download the video to my hdd . As for software i have adobe premiere v6 and ulead videostudio 6 , so far all i have done is transferred viseo to my hard drive and i dont have much idea what to do as far as editing goes .
Is premiere a bit complicated for a newbie ?
Is there a better editing software thats easier to use ? I know someone with studio 7 should i try that ?
Any advise would be great as im kind of puzzled with how to edit video .
Do you know of any newbie tutorials on video editing ?

[spiderman2k1]

Hi I real think DV right not might be the wrong way to go about video editting when you have to encode the AVI file back to DVD format or SVCD or VCD. even thow you have a Digital capture card it all come's do to what software you use to encode the video back when I rip DVD's I like DVD2SVCD and I use CCE 2.50 plugin I can not tell the SVCD From the DVD. So if I was you get the CCE 2.50 plugin all the other plugin are kind of choppy. As for the Video editting If you want a analog capture card I like the Dazzle 2 you can get it real cheep at http://www.shopharmony.com/ it's a great capture card does have some problem with some AMD mother board's you can see what mother board's work with no problem http://stop.at/dazzle2 I had two mother board's that did not work with this card it's the via and sis chipset's they make for AMD there are some Intel I think that might have some problem's to. For video editting I use MPEG2VCR it's the fastest editter out there. I capture from my satellite dish to SVCD and I have caputed DVD format also very good quilty. I also use TMPG if there a problem cutting a file but 97% of the time I use MPEG2VCR. I also have a ALL IN WONDER Radeo card that capure's good only in Window's 2000 and XP ATI make a fire DV and also capture's analog also. If I was only to get one get the Dazzle 2. See even that you have DV it all come down the plugin if you have a not so good plugin a analog caputre card can look better but if you use a DV camcorder and the CCE 2.50 plugin that's the best you can get but it will take time and lot's of hard drive space as with the Dazzle 2 chip set is so go that most people would think it was DV. So if you looking for real easy video editting get the Dazzle 2 and MPEG2VCR and also get TMPG and ever thing will be a peace of cake

[EricB]

Now the opposing opinion:

DV is definitely the way to go when EDITING video. The DV format is very lightly compressed so the quality is great. When you edit, only the parts that are changed are re-compressed. You can store your masterpieces back out to the camera for later editing. Finally, when you encode this source material to VCD, SVCD or DVD whatever you like, the results are fantastic.

As far as editing, Premiere has a steep learning curve which is worth it when you get the hang of it, but you might get very frustrated before that happens! I like VideoStudio 6 and it does a good job. Just remember to stay in DV format until you encode for VCD or whatever.

Finally, Studio7 may be the easiest of all to use up front. Some people have problems with bugs (visit their forum) but that could be said of most of these programs. I suggest picking one, and hanging with it for a while to give a good evaluation.

[Tommy]

I would suggest get getting a book for premere. If you like, get one with lots a pictures. At the very least go to a bookstore and take a look in a few books if you still feel its to hard than.... go with studio 7.

Good choice on using DV.