Recommended Software For A Complete Beginner (Help)

[wee]

Could anyone please recommend the best software for my needs, I am a complete beginner and want to capture video from my Sony digital 8 camera and edit and add music,titles and burn to a VCD with the ability to do DVD when I buy a DVDR. Thanks to all who can help, it's a bit of a minefield out there........BTW I am somewhat constrained by $'s but I use Ebay for seconds.

[holistic]

Seems to me the art of research is dead...With that said.

I started out about 3 years ago with similar spec to yours, so the equipment is satisfactory (but as always new is better)

HARDWARE :
firewire card
bigger drive suggested

SOFTWARE :
DVIO (free) will 'transfer' your DV onto your computer.
VirtualDub (free) will cut and add filters then can "frameserve" to a MPEG encoder
AviSynth (free) a framserver
bbMPEG (free) encoder
TMPGEnc (trial /free MPEG1) encoder

For a few dollars now : Vegas Video 4 is a good rounded package.

If you want 'the ability to do DVD' later on then it is proberly best to make miniDVD then you will have valid resolutions and audio.

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[wee]

Thanks for the tips, I will check out the freeware.

I have done research but as I said it's a bit of a minefield out there and I was merely asking for help from some experts.

Concerning $$ software I was considering Adobe Premiere 6 or 6.5 and Nero 6, would this be a good idea?

[accountwiz]

I will throw out a thought. Give a try to Ulead DVD Movie Factory 3. If you like the trial, it's just $100 and I don't believe you'd need to buy any other software at all.

I really dig this software package.

[daamon]

Hi wee,

I use Premiere 6.0 and it's a very powerful tool for video editing. I believe that 6.5 is an enhancement and not greatly different. However, if you're short on the $'s i hope you're sitting down - it's in the region of $700.

As with anything (usually), the more powerful the tool the more complex it is to use to its full potential. That said, there are books that can be bought - I can't remember the title of the one I've got off the top of my head. PM me if you want it.

Nero 6: There's fans and then there's those who say it's unreliable. Download a trial and judge for yourself. I believe that the latest version (6.3.0.2) is supposed to be better with DVD burning.

Check out other burners in the "Burn" section under "Tools".

[Leoslocks]

A good idea would be to invest several months learning the free software. The mine field never goes away. Education and experience is preferred over trying to buy your way through the video authoring process.

The hardest part of learning to capture/edit/encode/author/burn a DVD or SVCD is setting up the hardware. No, the hardest part was recognizing the final result (burning a DVD) was a multi step process.

I have Nero 6. All I use it for is burning the DVD. It may be a good software solution when the bugs get worked out. . . at least for the undiscriminating.

[wee]

Thanks Daamon,

Premiere 6 and 6.5 I can pick up on ebay for less than $100 if i'm lucky and I also did research and found that Adobe's Classroom in a Book with CD is a good buy for it.
I tried out Movie Factory 2 but it had quite a few bugs and crashed my computer several times.

[holistic]

If you can get Premiere 6.5 for $100 then go for it.
The program has a huge learning curve but worth it.
6.5 offers an intergrated MPEG2 encoder (MainConcept)

Premiere will do everthing you wanted to do in your first question except author and burn the disks.
And as I previously stated, you are best to either make miniDVD .... OR make your VCD and make DVD compliant masters for future burn to DVD

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[daamon]

Hi wee,

Thanks Daamon.

Pleasure.

If you want a separate encoder to MainConcept (seems to have a reasonable following in these forums), check out TMPGEnc (also popular) - cheap, good results, but a little slow. I just leave my encodes running overnight... If you do go for TMPGEnc, then PM me as there's a guide for video only that I use and I'll let you know how I do my audio separately.

For authoring and burning DVD's, TMPGEnc DVD Author is a good place to start - it's on a free 30 day fully functional trial, and beginner friendly. There are others, check 'em out under "Tools".

[awlchu]

My usage is almost identical to your's:

Editstudio Video Editing (1st class s/w and support!)
DVD-lab DVD authoring (ditto)
Dvddecrypter burning ISO images (free!)

With Editstudio you can buy the mpeg encoder (mainconcept) for $40US. With DVD-lab you can buy the TPMCenc encder for $35US.

Buy both packages (ES and DVD-lab) together and save $$$.

I always output from DVD-lab as an ISO image.

There's no doubt that Premiere etc. are first class products that will more than fit your needs. However, for the price of the software alone, you can get ES and DVD-lab, and a nice DVD burner and a few hundred DVD disks to get you going.

Editstudio
www.puremotion.com

DVD-Lab
www.mediachance.com

Usual disclaimers,

[jaxxboss]

Since you're a beginner, I would have to offer this. If you have XP, I would just use the windows movie maker that came with ur PC. Then get tmpge and dvd author. Thats all you need for right now. as you progress you can start wanting to do other things and then at that time you take your nest step. These 3 are pretty much all you need for right now and cheap if not free/trials.