Premiere Pro 2.0 vs. Avid Liquid 7 Pro - which to buy

[videojoev]

Hi. I'm wondering whether I should be getting Priemere Pro 2.0 or Avid Liquid 7.0. I will be using the software to edit video for webcasts and multimedia (web based trainings, often flash). I'm wondering which is the better software to use and also to know.

My two main concerns are functionality and skill set.

For functionality, I'm more concerned with which software is easier or better to do the same task in... I'm not so concerned with # of effects or that kind of thing, but more for every day editing.

For skill set, I mean which software package is better to know when looking for an editing job. Eventually I would like to go into sports editing and would like to learn the software that is best for my career as well.

I am an average video editor and used to edit in Media 100 and Final Cut Pro. My company is purchasing the software so purchase cost is not a factor. Macs are not supported, so Final Cut is not a choice.

I have to make the decision within the next few days and am turning to you guys for help since I'm so undecided. Thanks very much for any and all input!

Hi.
Welcome to VideoHelp. Please do not post this sort of question in the NEWS section. Moving you to Editing, cutting and joining
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[BJ_M]

Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas would be good choices .....

download demos of both and try them out

[offline]

Both have a fair learning curve. As BJ_M suggested, I'd look at Vegas, particularly if you are coming from Final Cut Pro.

Here are some interesting comments (in the tools section) on all three:

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Pinnacle_Liquid_Edition

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Adobe_Premiere_Pro

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Vegas_5

which software package is better to know when looking for an editing job.

Good question. Premiere Pro I'd say.

[BJ_M]

which software package is better to know when looking for an editing job.

I would have to say Avid and FCP nowdays - though really it helps to know your way around a few others

[Guiboche]

For functionality, I'm more concerned with which software is easier or better to do the same task in... I'm not so concerned with # of effects or that kind of thing, but more for every day editing.

For better, I don't think either is. For this case, they can do what you need equally good.

For easier, (and if you haven't used any editor at all) definitely premiere pro.

Avid is based mostly on shortcut keys, so it's hard to pick up in the beginning. With Premiere, you can begin drag and drop editing the second you open a project. In avid, you can't even see a timeline when you begin a project.

For skill set, I mean which software package is better to know when looking for an editing job. Eventually I would like to go into sports editing and would like to learn the software that is best for my career as well.

Well, the answer is hands down the Avid. (I'd actually say Final Cut, but you're buying PC only).

Final Cut Pro or Avid Xpress are running at nearly every TV station or Post-Production house I've seen. I haven't found any running Premiere Pro........yet.

If you know Premiere Pro though, you essentially know Final Cut. I've use both. The timelines are near identical.

Avid on the other hand is on it's own. Knowing Final Cut or Premiere isn't going to help with Avid and vice versa.

I am an average video editor and used to edit in Media 100 and Final Cut Pro.

I come out of Media 100 as well. And moving over to Final Cut and Premiere Pro was easy. And, since you say that you've already used Final Cut, then I think they'll be no learning curve for Premiere Pro.

One thing that you might be (which I also am), us Media100-ders (if that's what you call them ) always like to drag and drop things. Final Cut and Premiere Pro show leniency towards this. Avid on the other hand, forget it. Try and drag and drop a clip from your project window into the timeline and nothin's gonna happen.

Hope this helps with your decision

[Cornucopia]

I disagree.

For one thing, the OP is talking about AVID Liquid7. All that is is re-branded Pinnacle. Pinnacle has a few cool features, but lacks power and is buggy as hell, as is pretty much all their stuff. Only reason AVID bought them was to get some good quality news-titling technology and to expand their lowend consumer market. This is NOT an "AVID" type product. At least yet.

WRT being "easier", for the OP's purposes, actually the AVID/Pinnacle is more user-friendly for a newbie.

Next, I would say that any time you really learn an app from a workflow and basic discipline perspective, you will be able to fairly easily tranfer that skill to any other (normal) good competing app. I say this from experience.

I've worked on AVIDs (the real ones), Media100, FCP, Premiere, Vegas, Edius, Ulead MSP, Pinnacle Edition and a few others, and while the terminology may change and each will have its own quirks, the general procedure for putting together a show goes the same way...
1.Digitize/Import
2.Make/Organize Bins/Storyboards/Scripts
3. Add to Sequence/Timeline
4. Trim/Edit/Composite
5. Add and Tweak FX & Titles
6. Rollout/Export/Render

Guiboche, maybe you haven't used an AVID in a while, but it's quite easy to drag and drop to a timeline/sequence. The KEY commands are there to help speed you up with repetitive actions, they're not the only way to do things. Where I work, one thing we do is we make insurance commercials with individualized tags (#1 Agency!) and can put out hundreds in a week. You can't do that (re: heavy duty volume) with drag and drop. The only way quicker would be batch scripting & render/conversion farms (which I'd love to do, but others won't hear of it. "Got to have a body review everything").
It's also 1 keystroke/menuclick to get a timeline in AVIDs (as well as in Premiere).

BTW, I personally would rank (in terms of POWER/DIFFICULTY):
1. AVID
2. Vegas
3. FCP
4. Edius
5. Premiere
6. Ulead MSP
7. Media100
8. Pinnacle Edition


Scott

[spanky123]

Question

Is Premiere Pro CS3 significantly better than v2.0?

It looks like it integrates very well with all the other Adobe products - Photoshope, AE, Encore etc.

[dun4cheap]

I use Avid Liquid 7.2 on a daily basis. I have tried a lot of editors, from ulead, pinnacle studio, sony, arc soft and I have come to be really comfortable with liquid. The 7.2 release has solved alot of the dvd export problems that we had with this product. I will just mention the immediate disappointments with liquid and a couple of the big highlights that I like. I have edited hundreds of hours both SD and HD footage.

Down Falls:
#1 It does not support AVHCD yet
#2 It does not Support export to HD-DVD or Blue Ray

Plusses:

It is quick and very responsive both for HD and SD video.
DVD Authoring is right from the timeline (Advanced menus and all, I love this)
Project Saving is automatic (I have never lost a project in Liquid!)
Project orginization (I edit a lot of team sport events and I am able to orginize sequences easily and media)

I think at this point, your best bet is to try before you buy. No matter what you do, make sure your system is adequate enough to run any of these software programs.

You may also want to check out the support forums for these programs.

[Autostream]

I use Avid Liquid 7.2 on a daily basis. I have tried a lot of editors, from ulead, pinnacle studio, sony, arc soft and I have come to be really comfortable with liquid. The 7.2 release has solved alot of the dvd export problems that we had with this product..

Did you mean 'enhanced alot of the DVD export problems'?
Even the Liquid moderators dont recommend exporting through Liquid. (you fuse and goto tmpg)
You CANNOT export uncompressed (which is unheard of anywhere in the industry)
Since 7.0 there is no more official Dolby 5.1 support.

And these are just export issues...

I learned editing on Liquid since the V5.6 and studio days and while I 'could' love it because its powerful, the immense amount of bugs almost kill me on a weekly basis. So I highly recommend you steer clear of it.

And forget the Avid support forums, if you have a problem that there is no workaround for it, you are accused of 'user error' and ignored. And when I posted there what I said above, I was censored and the thread was locked.

[edDV]

...

I will be using the software to edit video for webcasts and multimedia (web based trainings, often flash). I'm wondering which is the better software to use and also to know.

...

My two main concerns are functionality and skill set.

For functionality, I'm more concerned with which software is easier or better to do the same task in... I'm not so concerned with # of effects or that kind of thing, but more for every day editing.

For skill set, I mean which software package is better to know when looking for an editing job. Eventually I would like to go into sports editing and would like to learn the software that is best for my career as well.

I am an average video editor and used to edit in Media 100 and Final Cut Pro. My company is purchasing the software so purchase cost is not a factor. Macs are not supported, so Final Cut is not a choice.

For project:
"I will be using the software to edit video for webcasts and multimedia (web based trainings, often flash)."

That screams Premiere CS3 + Photoshop + Dreamweaver + Flash and the rest of thee Adobe CS3 suite. This is Adobe's niche and nothing integrates for web and flash like Premiere. Adobe is also strong for corp training and marketing.

For skill set:
"I mean which software package is better to know when looking for an editing job. Eventually I would like to go into sports editing and would like to learn the software that is best for my career as well."

For sports editing, this would depend more on where you worked. I don't think any one program dominates for sports editing.

For "multimedia and web" Adobe leads. For film and TV series editing, AVID still has best share. Post houses like to use somewhat "generic" Final Cut Pro freelancers, also specialized animation/compositing systems like Discreet* (Flint/Flame/Inferno/Combustion).

TV stations will be using editing programs that integrate well with their news systems (e.g. Avid News Cutter, Canopus-Grass Valley, Sony). Cable-local broadcast targeted quick turn ad producers often use hardware accelerated products from Canopus, Matrox, Pinnacle and Sony. Much of this centers around flying logos and titles (think infomercials and used car ads).

Independent "one man band" producers (lots of them doing education, corp. promo or wedding work) like Vegas, Final Cut Pro and Premiere + others.

If you want to work for others, take a tour of their facility and see what they use.


* AutoDesk acquired Discreet, Adobe acquired Macromedia, Sony acquired Sonic Foundry's Vegas, Avid acquired Pinnacle and Grass Valley/Thomson acquired Canopus.

[stiltman]

I would agree, Avid Newscutter, Xpress Pro and Edius for TV Stations.


I think it goes back to the OP's original requirements for Flash and web....Just for that fact alone I would say Adobe.

However if you want to learn Avid, you can get AvidFreeDV. It doesn't have all the perks like the full versions, but you can learn the interface and grasp all it's setting and stuff.

[Cornucopia]

Yeah, but AvidFreeDV is kinda buggy (very particular with certain hardware) and hasn't been updated in a while (expecting Win2k OS). So this may not be very representative...

Scott

[stiltman]

Yep, but it pretty much duplicates Newscutter and Xpress's interface....Then again that's also why Avid really doesn't tell anyone that it's out there to begin with

I found it by chance when I was searching their KB

[spanky123]

A bit off topic, but do you think you could master most of the CS3 suite or at least Premiere Pro in a couple months?

I'm talking about having full control over everything and being able to use just about any feature if you want.

Also, can anyone recommend any of the video tutorials - Lynda, Total Training etc. ?

[edDV]

A bit off topic, but do you think you could master most of the CS3 suite or at least Premiere Pro in a couple months?

I'm talking about having full control over everything and being able to use just about any feature if you want.

Also, can anyone recommend any of the video tutorials - Lynda, Total Training etc. ?

Possible with training. Lynda and Total Training are a good start but their projects are canned. You need a project assignment and then "lab" help when you get stuck which will be often after you venture outside the canned tutorials.