Video editor options? Don't need free, but $600 is too much

[magic612]

So I'll be upgrading my computer to a dual or quad core system here in the near future. I have a Canon Vixia HF-R100 camera that produces .mts files. Presently I have to upload them, convert them to a lower quality (!!!) then edit from there. Not ideal, obviously.

Currently using Corel Video Editor, I think it's an older version (12x or something?). Obviously, it won't edit the .mts files. But for future HD work, honestly the kind of capability that offers is fine for me, even if I'd prefer a few more "pro" looking text graphics, and perhaps another audio / video track or two. But I could get by with what that does. Most of what I'm doing is simple cuts / crossfades, overdubbed audio tracks, text titles, and some chromakey. Nothing hugely fancy or anything, and when I've looked into new NLE software, it seems comparable to something like Adobe Premiere Elements at around $80.

I've also looked into Adobe Premiere Pro, and it looks great, but WOW - there's no way I can afford the $500 or $600 that will be. Plus, I'm not sure I NEED that right now - maybe later when I've made a few bucks from doing some video shooting / editing, but not at the moment. And I don't need to have something that's free either - Windows Movie Maker worked fine for a bit, but the Corel VideoStudio software was a nice big step up from WMM.

But is there anything that is sort of "in between" the Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Premiere Pro types of software? Something in the $150 or $200 range that sort of splits the difference between the "low cost" editors and the better "pro" ones? If not, which of the lower cost ones do you like for NLE of HD video, and why?

[edDV]

For cost effectiveness, you can't beat Sony Vegas.

Vegas Media Studio Platinum 10 or 11 ($60-120 street)

Vegas Pro 10 ($599 list but look for seasonal discounts up to 30%) includes DVDA DVD/BluRay/3D authoring.

A good buying strategy is to first get Platinum, then watch for a discount upgrade offer.

[pepegot1]

Try Corel's Videostudio Pro X4 -easy to use and powerful

[Bonie81]

Cyberlink and Corel you can get it around $50/- in deals, sometimes in chain-link-retail stores!
but, Vegas is robust and as said by edDV is unbeatable for sure.

[magic612]

I guess I should ask this as the reviews on Amazon for both Corel and Vegas indicate issues with them being 32-bit. I'll be getting a Windows 7, 64-bit system. Are the 32-bit software options going to slow things down, as many reviewers seem to indicate?

Thanks in advance -

[zoobie]

Vegas or VS for starters

[jagabo]

I guess I should ask this as the reviews on Amazon for both Corel and Vegas indicate issues with them being 32-bit. I'll be getting a Windows 7, 64-bit system. Are the 32-bit software options going to slow things down, as many reviewers seem to indicate?

I don't know about Corel VS and Vegas but most software gains very little from 64 bits.

[aedipuss]

seconded or thirded...

For cost effectiveness, you can't beat Sony Vegas.

Vegas Media Studio Platinum 10 or 11 ($60-120 street)

[magic612]

Cost effectiveness aside (or perhaps included in your response), why is Sony Vegas better than, say, the Corel VideoStudio product? What makes it better in your opinion? I appreciate the recommendations, but I'm curious as to specifically why you prefer it over other NLE's?

[aedipuss]

vegas is intuitive and very good at what it does. it makes good use of normal windows type commands/features. it's a high powered program that can be learned alone, unlike some editing software that takes ages to figure out or an internship at a network.

[chowmein]

Vegas has a proven track record & a good reputation for reliability and robustness.

Personally I dig Magix :P

[budwzr]

Vegas has lots of tools that you don't even know you need yet, and takes a while to grow into it, whereas other NLE's start to stumble as you get more advanced and expect more.

Avoid "suite software" that comes in "modules". One of the bigger names makes you buy a whole other $1000 program to do special effects and compositing.

Another big name software favors their own proprietary brand of codec and you'll have a miserable time converting everything to it just to be able to start editing.

[magic612]

You guys are really starting to sell me on the idea of Vegas. Is Platinum 11 the one to get, given my camera and (soon to have) computer?

Also, how easy is it to do chromakey (I do a fair amount of that)?

[poisondeathray]

I think it's a good choice in that price range, but you can try the software out before you buy

Also, how easy is it to do chromakey (I do a fair amount of that)?

I don't have the studio version, but the pro version is ok. (I'm assuming if the chroma key plugin is the same) . It lacks some of the features that dedicated compositing software has, but I don't know what your expectations are

Good / easy keying is more about lighting and setup than anything else. It also helps to record in higher chroma resolution (4:2:2 or better) with more expensive cameras

[magic612]

I don't have the studio version, but the pro version is ok. (I'm assuming if the chroma key plugin is the same) . It lacks some of the features that dedicated compositing software has, but I don't know what your expectations are

Good / easy keying is more about lighting and setup than anything else. It also helps to record in higher chroma resolution (4:2:2 or better) with more expensive cameras

I guess my expectations are to do at least as well as I have been with the Corel software. I know lighting is an issue - as are what clothes one wears! - and I've achieved what I think are very good results with my chromakey efforts so far. The biggest problem for me is having to take an HD file and reduce it to something that is not as good. That's probably my biggest gripe, but that's not the software's fault - that's my "not fast/powerful enough" computer.

Here's a sample of what I've done with chromakey and what my expectations are for something comparable out of Vegas (starting at 14 seconds in):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf2KhFAI0F4

Thanks for all the advice and thoughts - I really appreciate everyone's input. It's helping me narrow down what I will eventually do.

[poisondeathray]

I think it would be easy to get comparible lower resolution results like that, but you can use the free trial periods to "test drive" them

But when you do it in higher resolution, the defects become more readily apparent. Edge details and fine details like hair & fiber get erroded , and micro amounts of spill can cause havok

Lighting is the most important by far, but like you said "what clothes one wears" - I guess a green shirt would be a bad idea too

[budwzr]

Also, how easy is it to do chromakey (I do a fair amount of that)?

VERY easy.

[magic612]

Lighting is the most important by far, but like you said "what clothes one wears" - I guess a green shirt would be a bad idea too

Well, I actually use a blue background (that's the material my wife happened to have on hand that I could - *ahem* - "borrow"), since I started with Windows Movie Maker and it looked for a blue screen. But even after going to Corel, it was amazing to me how purple, maroon and even other seemingly much differently colored fabrics (like red - RED!) would still "bleed" background. White, yellow, beige, black, grey - those have all worked well for me. But I really should get a true "chromakey green" background to use. That will probably eliminate some problems with foreground fabrics.

But I digress - my real interest was in the edge of the chromakey, and also how easy it is to use when editing. Corel is pretty fast / simple, now that I have it figured out.

[magic612]

Also, how easy is it to do chromakey (I do a fair amount of that)?

VERY easy.

Excellent! That's good to know - thank you.

[edDV]

When I mentioned bargain, Platinum brings most of the core Vegas Pro features* down to the $100 range. Adobe Premiere forces you to buy a >$1000 suite to get similar features to Vegas Pro.

Magix is an alternative targeted more to the home hobbiest vs. Premiere Pro/Vegas Pro. Corel Video Studio (ex ULead) has always targeted the consumer.

You should try the demos to determine whether you want consumer, advanced hobbiest or pro features.


*this wasn't always true. Earlier Vegas Movie Studio versions were so dumbed down as to be unusable. The Platinum version is one you want.

[magic612]

edDV, thank you for the summary comparison between the products. I expect to receive my new computer this week, and will be downloading several trial versions of software to see what works best for me.

Thanks again for everyone's help - I must say though, I'm excited to try the Sony Vegas Platinum product.

[kev921hs]

All - I'm trying to make the same decision. In a nutshell what I'm looking for is a comparison - pros, cons, features, whatever - of:

• Cyberlink Power Director
• Corel Video Studio
• Vegas Movie Studio
• Adobe Premiere Elements

Anyone have knowledge of than one program that can compare/contrast?

EDIT: if it helps, my setup is Windows 7, Intel i5 quad-core, 8 GB RAM, no graphics card yet - waiting to decide on software in case certain programs benefit differently from different quality GPU's. If I'm wrong about this feel free to correct me as well, thanks...

-Kevin

[edDV]

All - I'm trying to make the same decision. In a nutshell what I'm looking for is a comparison - pros, cons, features, whatever - of:

• Cyberlink Power Director
• Corel Video Studio
• Vegas Movie Studio
• Adobe Premiere Elements

Anyone have knowledge of than one program that can compare/contrast?

EDIT: if it helps, my setup is Windows 7, Intel i5 quad-core, 8 GB RAM, no graphics card yet - waiting to decide on software in case certain programs benefit differently from different quality GPU's. If I'm wrong about this feel free to correct me as well, thanks...

-Kevin

Explain your source/destination formats and edit features you need.

[_Al_]

With all this praise for Vegas products (I use it too) I have to say that their managment is reluctant to enable easy smart render for AVCHD files. Power Director, Corel Video Studio, Magix they jumped into that bandwagon, are trying hard, but Vegas is behind. It is a very powerfull and cooperating editor but with this weakness or as would it's managment perhaps like to say, it is not targeted for those needs ...Pros don't need it anyway ...

So if anybody asks for editor should specify what he is actually going to do with his video. Some would just like to join clips together , trim it , shuffle them around and then get it all out not changed , ...,so it all depends ...

[kev921hs]

Explain your source/destination formats and edit features you need.

No problem. Regarding formats - source is AVCHD from my Canon Vixia HF R20. Destination... not sure on specific format, I don't know enough about that yet. My intention is to output to HD files for viewing on HDTV via a media server setup I have yet to implement; I may also burn to DVD but I have no plans to get a Blu-Ray burner at this point so that would probably be lower resolution.

As far as edit features... We're talking about home movies of my daughter, family, dogs, etc. I'd like to go beyond the basic cuts and transitions editing and be able to adjust color and lighting as necessary, edit the audio - strip it out of certain clips, add voice-overs in places, normalize or clean it up when necessary, etc. I want to be able to control the speed of clips - speed up or slow down. I could use a decent library of background music too. Having the ability to pan around in pictures - as I'll probably integrate them into my movies, kind of documentary style - would be great. Not sure what other features are out there in my budget (< $150 for sure, prefer $100 or less) and I'd like some room to grow into the program. At the same time I'd like something intuitive where I don't need to spend a lot of time with tutorials. One thing for sure, I have no need for 3D video.

Hope that helps you help me... thanks.

[kev921hs]

With all this praise for Vegas products (I use it too) I have to say that their managment is reluctant to enable easy smart render for AVCHD files. Power Director, Corel Video Studio, Magix they jumped into that bandwagon, are trying hard, but Vegas is behind. It is a very powerfull and cooperating editor but with this weakness or as would it's managment perhaps like to say, it is not targeted for those needs ...Pros don't need it anyway ...

So if anybody asks for editor should specify what he is actually going to do with his video. Some would just like to join clips together , trim it , shuffle them around and then get it all out not changed , ...,so it all depends ...

Sure thing. Similar answer as above...

I'm talking about home movies, nothing professional, but I want to create something of quality. I played around with the software that came with my camera - Canon Vixia HF R20 - and had probably 15 or 20 clips of my wife and dogs that I trimmed, added transitions to and was adding some text when the program crashed. It would have been sufficient for my first movie but by my second or third, not nearly enough. I could already tell I'd like to go farther and be able to adjust color and lighting as necessary. Also a couple times I wanted to edit the audio - strip it out of certain clips, add voice-overs in places, normalize or clean it up when necessary, etc. I really wanted to be able to control the speed of clips - speed up or slow down. More flexibility with added text would be really nice. I could use a decent library of background music too. Having the ability to pan around in pictures - as I'll probably integrate them into my movies, kind of documentary style - would be great. Not sure what other features are out there in my budget (< $150 for sure, prefer $100 or less) and I'd like some room to grow into the program. At the same time I'd like something intuitive where I don't need to spend a lot of time with tutorials. One thing for sure, I have no need for 3D video.

Hope that helps you help me... thanks.

Also I've read that Vegas Movie Studio is 32-bit, whereas I'm running 64-bit Windows 7. I assume that makes it a poor choice for me?

[NJRoadfan]

I haven't seen in mentioned here, but if you are a student/teacher, Adobe does give a pretty good educational discount on their products.

[Cauptain]

Cyberlink Power Director 10 is a great software for a 'new guy on video demand". Its has a option to 64bit Os, have many options for edit video, good capture feature, easy tools for create CD/DVD/BD/DIGITAL ONLINE, responsive forum support, better then Corel Videostudio X4.

I always recommend to my friends or some clients.


Claudio

[_Al_]

I use 32bit Vegas on win7 64 bit. I'd go with that Platinum version http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/compare- if you choose Vegas.

[pippas]

But is there anything that is sort of "in between" the Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Premiere Pro types of software? Something in the $150 or $200 range that sort of splits the difference between the "low cost" editors and the better "pro" ones?

Edius Neo3 may be worth a look? ---30 day trial available.