Editing software

[Spittmonkey]

I didn't really see a section for it so I'll post here.

http://www.facebook.com/spittmonkey/posts/531996683484317?ref=notif&notif_t=like

As the article states I am trying out three video edit softwares. Up until this point I have just been using Windows Live Movie Maker. It's fast and easy to push out videos. Now I am finding myself wishing to expand a bit on my editing. Both in improving the quality of the photo/video after they are loaded to the computer as well as movie making features. i would still like to keep the ease of use and not take forever to push out the material. The three I am currently looking at:

PowerDirector 10
Corel VideoStudio Pro X5
Adobe Premiere Elements 10

Anyone use these? Use others? Prefrences? discussion?

I have all three trial versions and it almost seems that I am looking at the same thing with little differences.

 

[rongen]

Hi,
Seems you run Windows; on Mac the Final Cut Pro is very good. The "Elements" are just that, a very simple version.

I work with an old programme , Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, which is very good and is indeed professional.; double editing screen, one for scenes, one for whole film, various sound and video layers, 16:9 editing or 4:3, Dolby stereo or 5.1 etc. Later versions of Premiere Pro are even better. It's a bit more complicated in the beginning, but far more versatile.
Best wishes,
V.

 

[diversteve]

A couple others in the sub-$100 range to look at - both have free trials also:

Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 12 Movie Studio Platinum 12 Overview
Pinnacle Studio 16 Pinnacle Systems - Product summary - Studio 16

Of the two, Pinnacle Studio is easier.

 

[drbill]

When I was shooting SD footage I used Premiere 6.0 but once I switched to HD I first tried Premiere Elements and found it adequate but slow. Then I went to AVCHD and found Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum far outperformed Premiere Elements in comparable releases so I've pretty mu8ch stuck with it except for the MPV format which I still use Premiere Elements 10 for.

 

[Dauntless]

PowerDirector 10 64 bit if you have a 64 bit OS. It will out perform anything out there, it's the only 64 bit software (although someone said Sony Pro Version was 64 bit) Haven't tried the 32 bit. Have tried all of the ones you mentioned and Powerdirector is by far the best. Also better than iMovie or Final Cut express on my MacBooK Pro. Will render in about 20% of the time it takes the Mac. Better output to DVD and BluRay builtin. All kind of cheezy effects and templates.

 

[DevonDiver]

I use Vegas Pro. Very nice...lots of functionality and quite easy to get your head around.

 

[soundfield]

I’ve used Power Director for a few years with SD footage and it worked fairly well. When I got into AVCHD footage things changed; lot’s more crashes, videos rendering with errors and burns to HD DVD also had errors. If you are only going to make short videos (under :20min), I’d say you probably will be ok. It has problems with longer videos. I just finished an hour long video (AVCHD) and the program had some problems. My frustrationled led me to buy a high end Mac with Final Cut Pro X. If you’re looking for an “easy” program, forget Final Cut. For the $, I’d give Power Director a shot. If you out grow it as I did over the years, you can always move up. When it works, Power Director is easy and fun to use. It has a very good white balance correction feature; better then Final Cut Pro X (if you can believe that). The creative side of editing is a lot of fun, dealing with the technical side of HD editing and burning to HD DVD or Blu-ray isn’t. You would think you’d just edit and burn without issues, but that’s not the case. Sometimes it took me 15 DVD’s to get a clean burn with Power Director (h.264). It’s a big can of worms you’re opening up if you’relooking to burn 1080P to HD DVD "without any resolution loss". I’ve pulled my hairout over it these past few months. Good luck, hope you have an easier time then I did with the Hi Def stuff. You want the finished HD DVD’s to look as good as it does coming off the camera direct to the TV (via HDMI) and that has been challenging. Getting the videos on youtube is no problem, but I like to watch it on the big 50" HDTV.

 

[Dauntless]

I’ve used Power Director for a few years with SD footage and it worked fairly well. When I got into AVCHD footage things changed; lot’s more crashes, videos rendering with errors and burns to HD DVD also had errors. If you are only going to make short videos (under :20min), I’d say you probably will be ok. It has problems with longer videos. I just finished an hour long video (AVCHD) and the program had some problems. My frustrationled led me to buy a high end Mac with Final Cut Pro X. If you’re looking for an “easy” program, forget Final Cut. For the $, I’d give Power Director a shot. If you out grow it as I did over the years, you can always move up. When it works, Power Director is easy and fun to use. It has a very good white balance correction feature; better then Final Cut Pro X (if you can believe that). The creative side of editing is a lot of fun, dealing with the technical side of HD editing and burning to HD DVD or Blu-ray isn’t. You would think you’d just edit and burn without issues, but that’s not the case. Sometimes it took me 15 DVD’s to get a clean burn with Power Director (h.264). It’s a big can of worms you’re opening up if you’relooking to burn 1080P to HD DVD "without any resolution loss". I’ve pulled my hairout over it these past few months. Good luck, hope you have an easier time then I did with the Hi Def stuff. You want the finished HD DVD’s to look as good as it does coming off the camera direct to the TV (via HDMI) and that has been challenging. Getting the videos on youtube is no problem, but I like to watch it on the big 50" HDTV.

Also noticed that the longer the video, the less stable the program, in Powerdirector or anyother program that I ran. Never tried with AVCHD so can't commment. However, Powerdirector has a lossless H.264 codec that you can render video and use that in whatever burning program you like.

As an aside, any experience with H.264 video from camera and processing and outputting as AVCHD or has BluRay jumped over that format.

 

[DMDavid]

My frustration led me to buy a high end Mac with Final Cut Pro X.
If you’re looking for an “easy” program, forget Final Cut.

So if money is no object, are your saying Final Cut Pro X is the way to go?

 

[soundfield]

AVCHD (h.264)to HD DVD plays the same as Blu-Ray on a big screen HDTV, the only difference is that a dual layer HD DVD will hold about 50 minutes and a Blu-Ray is 2+ hours. It's only the storage space on the disc, picture is the same. It's agreat way to get around not having to buy a Blu-ray burner and expensive Blue-Ray DVDs.

Final Cut, if you have the $ for a good Mac and the time and desire to learn the program. Final Cut on a Mac is what is being taught at the Colorado Film School and there is a reason for that. If it's good enough for Hollywood, it's good enough for you. But be forewarned,you will be investing a lot of time learning it. It's a slow process and you will not figure it our on your own easily. Get Lynda.com tutorial DVD to get you started, after that you can take classes on it.

I'd like to see how PowerDirector works on a "high end" PC. If it makes it through an hour long movie it would be really good for dive movies. Easy and inexpensive to use for sure.

Good luck with your quest!